The veterinarian / vet student / vet school thread

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Pet Island > The veterinarian / vet student / vet school thread

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

Depending on where you live you don't really need to take a class to be an assistant. In fact, if you're going to take courses I'd just go all the way and get your certification as a vet tech.

I'm pretty new to this, though. I have 4 years or so experience being an assistant and I'm getting back into the field and I just feel like most of what I do I can learn very well on the job.

# ¿ Jul 1, 2012 07:57

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# ¿ May 19, 2024 18:38

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

Man, how do you guys remember all of this stuff? I'm a kind-of-rusty veterinary assistant in the market for a job in a different state I was trained in. I'm trying to read up and remember all the state legislative stuff and I'm just overwhelmed.

I've been doing self-study by reading vet tech textbooks and I'm just overwhelmed.

# ¿ Jul 4, 2012 03:36

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

Dr. Chaco posted:

Ear plugs help keep it all in once you get it there.

Oh good, I have a box of 200 earplugs from when I was living with my ex. I'm going to remember everything!

Just out of curiosity, what do you think clinics expect out of techs? I feel like I get mixed messages at every interview I go to. Some want me to do a little bit of everything, some want me to just basically draw blood all day.

I had a really weird interview where the guy wasn't even entirely sure why I was there (I don't think he read my resume before hand, considering he asked me if I even graduated HIGH SCHOOL).

# ¿ Jul 6, 2012 01:36

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

Yeah, at my old job where I was an assistant the vet did 90% of the work. It was a 1 doctor, 1 tech practice and she liked being hands on.

With all that said, what about an assistant? that's where most of my experience is. Of course I'm willing to learn everything I need to to become a technician in the future but going and getting certified isn't going to happen right now.

# ¿ Jul 6, 2012 15:42

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

HelloSailorSign posted:

Of an assistant, I'd expect:
Appropriate animal restraint (of most animals, certainly not the crazy ones), routine blood draws (not like on a dehydrated kitten or anything, and that comes with experience), SC/IM injections, and the rare surgical assist (holding instruments in place, but not necessarily knowing their names), and then clinic upkeep (cleaning, stocking, etc.).

With an assistant, you may just start with some animal restraint - or even just the clinic upkeep. Really, as time goes on at the clinic you work at, you'll know if the techs/docs are willing to put the effort into teaching you more things or letting you do more things. It also counts as to what your attitude and interactions with the staff - if you're happy and helpful, even with the most menial of tasks, I see people be far more amenable to showing the "cooler" things an assistant can learn. In addition, if they know you're looking to do technician schooling, they may be more inclined to teach you things.

At the clinic I worked at before vet school, I was an assistant. I told them I wanted to go to vet school. Because of that, they were more likely to teach me things than the other assistants.

Cool, that's kind of exactly where I'm at right now. Most of the clinics I've interviewed at seemed OK with training me because I've expressed interest in getting certified.

I'm a bit more confident in my abilities now, thanks guys :shobon:

hopefully I can get a job soon

# ¿ Jul 6, 2012 16:34

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

YourCreation posted:

Shnooks, check out this website, it may be quite helpful: https://www.atdove.org/

Whoa, this is overwhelming. Thank you so much. I have two "working" interviews at some clinics next week. Wish me luck :unsmith:

Edit: Wait, do I have to be with a practice to register for this? I'm not with one right this moment.

# ¿ Jul 7, 2012 03:15

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

Boo, that site is awesome but a lot of the videos are for premium users which is $300 a year

I'd shell out but I'm kind of in between jobs. I like the videos, though, so I guess I'll peruse youtube

# ¿ Jul 8, 2012 21:34

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

HelloSailorSign posted:

If you're looking for another site for tech/assistant stuff, you could also check out http://www.vspn.org/. It's a sister site to VIN (Veterinary Information Network), and the thing that caught my eye is the FREE thing (with registration). I haven't looked around it much at all. Sounds similar to VIN in that it has message boards, CE, and handouts on various things.

Lol this place rejected my application because I am currently not a veterinary technician and assistant. Oh well!

# ¿ Jul 9, 2012 01:51

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

If anyone cares the interview was an absolute blast. I forgot how much I missed doing this work. I asked a ton of questions about everything which I hope wasn't too annoying. I even got to see a yeast infection from a cat's ear under the microscope

and I got complimented on my restraint skills

# ¿ Jul 9, 2012 16:22

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

Omg thank you for your help guys. I got a call from TWO clinics today offering me a position as a tech. I'm so excited.

# ¿ Jul 30, 2012 14:55

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

Ok, so now I got the job but I need to buy scrubs. They offered me a pair but I said I'd buy my own because I'm pretty petite. I know they make petite size scrubs which I'm probably going to cash in on, just because I'm so short and I don't want to hem anything.

Do any of you have recommendations on what brand of scrubs I should get? I have no clue how many pockets I'll need or like if I need a "modern" elastic waistband or what. I don't want or need any of those fancy ones that don't really look like scrub tops.

Also, how many pairs do you think I should get? Like, two pairs of pants and 3 tops or something? I feel like they get nasty really fast.

Wtf do you do during the winter, anyways? Do you wear like legging or something underneath? The clinic I worked at in high school didn't require scrubs so this is new to me.

# ¿ Aug 1, 2012 22:14

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

Asstro Van posted:

Congrats on the new job!!!

It depends on how much you want to spend. Some of the nicer ones that are tailored in shapes other than box can more expensive. Plainplainplain ones seem to be marked down to $9 a top a lot, while tailored ones can be $28 a top. I like the tops I have from Dickies. They are more flattering than others I have tried and they have some cute patterns, if you are allowed to wear them. I am tall though, so I have no idea what brand works best for petite ladies. Does your new clinic have color requirements? I prefer drawstring waist because elastic annoys me and I feel less likely to be pantsed by an excited lab when I can tie them, but it's really a personal preference.

I'd get just as many pants as tops. They are just as likely to be messy, especially since they are right at dog-level. Beyond that, I guess it depends on how many days you will work in a row and how often you want to do laundry. Squeamish paranoid me doesn't really like the idea of rewearing dirty scrubs at all, since you have no idea what you are carrying from one patient to the next over the course of several days.

When it gets cold, I just wear ugly ol' long underwear but I'm sure leggings would work too. Turtle necks can look pretty snazzy under scrub tops and add a lot of warmth. They also make scrub jackets, but I have never been cold enough at work to bother getting one.

I'm not too concerned about price right now, I'd just rather they be comfortable. I take public transportation and will be working 35-40 hours a week so I want to be comfy. I mean, I don't want to spend like $50 for a top but I'd be ok spending $20. The clinic has no color requirements, but the junky scrubs I have now are maroon and I learned pretty fast that was a bad idea. They didn't say anything about fun prints, but everyone seems to have plain colored scrubs.

And yeah, I'm not too crazy about wearing the same top at least over and over. We have to pay for laundry so laundry is an every 7-10 days thing. Do I wash them separately with hot water?

I'll snoop around a bit. I'll probably buy some underarmour or something and wear that with my scrubs in the winter. I wear them to the gym so it'll just be a two-in-one kind of thing.

# ¿ Aug 1, 2012 22:46

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

HelloSailorSign posted:

I prefer washing scrubs in a hot water cycle. I have no idea if there's any proof behind it, but I feel that compared to cold water, they should be "cleaner."

If you do laundry every 7-10 days, I would recommend having as many sets of scrubs as there are workdays in that period of time +25% - so if you were going to buy 8 scrubs I'd buy an extra 2, but err on the side of more. You want to bring backups in case bad poo poo (literally) happens.

I like pockets, so I would say to look for scrub pants that had the more "normal" pockets (if you want pockets on your pants) - I hate mid-leg pockets. I like having pockets on scrub tops too, but I like the ones that are waist-ish level. The main downsides to having pockets are when a patient does some bodily function in them, or you put an extra blood tube/pen in the pocket and forget about it... until after it's gone through the wash/dryer.

You could also look into schnazzy utility belt things for pens, notes, bandage scissors, hemostats, etc. Kinda like this stuff: http://www.custommade.com/by/hipnotionstoolbelts/.

It hit me that you're starting a new gig and my boss mentioned hiring someone new. I got all excited and then saw your profile said Boston. I'm in California.

Man, there's so many options. I can sew so eventually I'll probably just sew my own scrubs, but right now I can't. It didn't seem like the clinic was going to cover the price, but oh well.

And yeah, I'll be at a tiny clinic in Boston. It has good reviews on yelp, so I figure that's good!

# ¿ Aug 1, 2012 23:18

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

I got a pair of dickies scrubs cus there's a store near where I work now that sells them. They're not super soft. Boo.

# ¿ Aug 4, 2012 22:18

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

Carebear posted:

My dog didn't do so well with Certifect the other day. The next day after I applied it, I noticed he seemed a bit off, then when we got home from a quick walk, he collapsed. His CRT was 3 seconds, his mucous membranes were paler than normal, and his heart rate was around 80 (he is a 40 lb dog). I bathed him as I waited for a taxi, but later had to rebathe him because I stupidly used dog shampoo instead of dawn soap.

By the time we got there, he was feeling better. The vet said his HR was 90 but he was okay; the amitraz in certifect had caused this. Its amazing how I'm such a wimp with my own animals, it makes me feel guilty at rolling my eyes at clients.

Actually, the main part of this was that I wondered if anyone is familiar with certifect? A coworkers dog has the same reaction, and one of the vets today told me she won't even prescribe it anymore. My dog turned out to be perfectly fine, but it was pretty scary for me, and clients are never told about that being a possible side effect. Should we be mentioning this to clients?

I think the clinic I just started working at carries Certifect. They told me not to give it to anyone without checking if they had a heartworm test done very recently because of the risk of anaphylaxis if they do have heartworms.

But to be honest I'm really overwhelmed with everything and I've never seen it before. It's dog only, right?

# ¿ Aug 13, 2012 02:53

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

sat. posted:

I can understand someone who respects homeopathy as one of the milestones that led to modern medicine, but to actively practice it as a veterinarian today is just...

I don't like to admit it but I trained at a homeopathic vet :shobon:

. She did typical spays, neuters, and dentals on top of it and tended to lean towards propofol for most minor surgeries. Dunno if that's normal or not. She also practiced acupuncture.

Usually the homeopathic stuff came out when a dog came in with say...incurable cancer! or colitis! And then they'd get a diet change and THEIR SYMPTOMS MAGICALLY GOT BETTER. So she's either ripping a ton of people off and knows it or she's really just that dumb. Her entire family are veterinarians so it's not like she didn't have a background in modern veterinary medicine.

That being said she does prescribe real medication and is fairly knowledgable about modern veterinary medicine, she just seems to choose to advertise her practice as a homeopathic vet. She isn't particularly keen to vaccinating but always did it unless an owner said otherwise.

I'm pretty embarrassed that I even worked there.

# ¿ Aug 30, 2012 01:34

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

sat. posted:

I'm thinking of the right homeopathy right? Where if, say, a dog has a cough you give it a substance that causes it to cough, then dilute it, give it again, dilute it again, etc until the cough goes away? I didn't know there were vets out there that do that still.

Man, the VIN boards sound like fun. If I put on my VMCAS application that I want to get into vet school just so that I can post on VIN would that get me in?

Essentially, yes. There was a few ways she gave "remedies". Either they were in those tiny little white balls you can get at health food stores and you put them in their mouth, or you put them or a liquid of the remedy into water (like...a LOT of water), and then give THAT to the pet. The two I can recall are sulfur and arnica. They'd base what remedy the pet needed around things like if the pet drank lots of water or not, if it liked hot or cold areas, if it had sensitive skin, and of course whatever the main symptom was.

I honestly can't say I ever saw it work successfully. In the end everything works out on its own anyways. If it doesn't they either came back and got Real Medical Treatment or were referred out to a huge clinic about 10 minutes away.

Edit: You have to pay for VIN, right? I finally got accepted to VSPN and registerred for a CE course, so we'll see how that goes. My application for membership was rejected the first two times! It was so bizarre.

# ¿ Aug 30, 2012 01:50

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

MrFurious posted:

I think you are confusing homeopathic with holistic methods.

She advertised as a homeopathic vet.

# ¿ Aug 30, 2012 17:10

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

Aren't horse people notorious for being absolutely bonkers, though?

# ¿ Sep 15, 2012 00:13

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

Eww, not bagging in general is super gross. What the hell was that person thinking.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2013 07:50

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

Wait what was a pregnant goat doing in a parking lot

# ¿ Mar 21, 2013 10:27

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

HelloSailorSign posted:

I really hate it when people sign off on an estimate and have no intention of paying. That's almost $350 not coming to the clinic! And then someone who we've never seen before wants us to trust them that they're gonna pay us in two days... Uh, yah, right. You and the last 5 people that said they'd pay us later (only two of those paid any amount at all).

I became a vet for the medicine. I'm not a drat accountant, finance planner, bank, or loan buddy.

Or, in addition, signing it and then being shocked at the price! It was on the estimate, people!

We started taking 25% of the low estimate for sick animals because people weren't paying. If it's a planned surgery you just pay at the end, but if your pet needs to be hospitalized that day we take the percentage. We have more trouble getting people to pay for labwork, to be honest.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2013 03:27

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

If you have to ask, you should probably take him to the vet

(Take him to the vet)

Also we have a cat megathread which you can ask there.

# ¿ Apr 27, 2013 11:27

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

Does anyone have that book that they'd potentially be interested in selling to me? I can't afford it new at all. I'd even take an old edition of it. I have a PDF of it but its hard to read.

# ¿ Apr 28, 2013 23:59

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

Crooked Booty posted:

You may already know this, but you can buy online access to the book and all the videos for $25 for 30 days.

http://drsophiayin.com/lsh/online/

If I had known about that book when I was a tech, I would have pushed for my boss to buy it for the benefit of all the staff.

Interesting! I'm pretty sure they wont buy it where I work but I will look into your link.

# ¿ Apr 29, 2013 00:44

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

HelloSailorSign posted:

Woo in 1.5 hours will be my 13th euthanasia of the last 36hours!

I guess one didn't count because it went agonal as I was trying to hit the heart, so...

:

What's going on over there?!

# ¿ May 7, 2013 01:03

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

Dr. Chaco posted:

May is the worst month. We're about ready to lock the doors and come back in June.

Really? We've had a rush of euths mid-April and now nothing. Lots of new patients, though. Christmas is when we're doing euthanasias like every day.

February-April was all constipated cats, all the time. Every day we had at least one constipated cat.

# ¿ May 7, 2013 01:35

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

I've learned that if you get a cat angry enough they actually start to fly.

# ¿ May 13, 2013 12:13

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

If you look far back in Pet Island I started a vet tech and assistant thread. We probably can offer you more help there. I believe it has the gross tag if that makes searching easier.

# ¿ May 25, 2013 02:14

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

Dr. Chaco posted:

Foxtail in the penis. Like, so far up the urethra I had to break out the ophthalmic pack to find an instrument capable of chasing it down. I now have a new differential for blocked cats.

Holywow

that's brutal. I feel like I don't see foxtails at all around here.

# ¿ Jun 1, 2013 02:39

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

Foxtails: The unknown killer.

# ¿ Jun 1, 2013 12:22

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

Ambitious Spider posted:

I've been doing some assistant interning and run into crazy anti-vaccine people. I honestly wasn't expecting that to be a thing.

Yep. My mom's one :smith:

. Not with people, mind you - every person should be vaccinated. Just with animals. She doesn't really understand you can't "test" for rabies without killing the animal.

Fortunately we just run into a lot of raw food gently caress-ups at work, not too many anti-vaccine people.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2013 01:42

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

Read some referral info for a dog with sick sinus syndrome who had a heart rate of 24-30 and a systolic blood pressure of 36 mmHg :psyduck:

. I'm an assistant in general practice, we never see anything like that. As expected, he didn't last too many days after.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2013 02:25

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

Topoisomerase posted:

Not without a pacemaker, he wouldn't, nope.

16 year old min pin so it wasn't even an option.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2013 12:50

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

Any tips on venipuncture? I'm just starting to learn now and I'm having a lot of difficulty keeping the needle steady and everyone makes it look really easy.

# ¿ Aug 17, 2013 02:38

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

Dr. Chaco posted:

Practice makes perfect, so keep sticking things. Depending on what you are sticking, you may be able to steady your syringe with the hand that's not doing the poking, but ideally, you'll learn to stick the needle in and draw back on the plunger with the same hand, without having to reposition yourself, by using your ring finger and pinky to draw back. What I did to learn this technique was carry a syringe around in my pocket and play with it all day. Just get used to holding the different sizes you might use (probably just 1, 3 and 6ml) and moving the plunger back and forth without changing your grip.

I'm trying

Today I did my first medial saphenous draw on a cat and got at least a half cc before I collapsed the vein :downs:

. My coworker told me to use a 6cc syringe and I forgot about suction. All the doctors are pretty independent where I work so they don't like the techs to draw blood for them, so I'm trying to poke whenever I can.

That's a good idea with the syringe, though. My hands are small and I have a slight tremor, so I have all sorts of difficulty figuring out how to draw back with one hand right now.

# ¿ Aug 17, 2013 02:47

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

Thanks for the advice. I brought home some syringes and I've been playing with them at work to get the pulling back motion right. I pretended to draw blood from my pillow and then a stuffed animal I have, too :downs:

. Yesterday I drew blood from a dog's cephalic vein perfectly, except then the doctor I work with shamed me because she NEVER, EVER draws from a cephalic vein just in case they need an IV. She's an ex-ER vet.

Whatever man I got 2ccs on my first try and didn't blow the vein :smug:

Edit: Also never using a 6cc syringe unless I need 6cc's of blood on a cat. Wtf was my coworker thinking.

# ¿ Aug 22, 2013 14:55

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

UC Davis people - a coworker got an interview there but they're saying she's required to take physiology to be considered or something like that. They won't accept "anatomy & physiology", just physiology, which her current university doesn't offer. Anyone have a similar problem? She's looking for suggestions or places to take physiology online.

# ¿ Nov 23, 2013 02:40

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

HelloSailorSign posted:

Yeah, we have a kennel assistant who wanted to be a vet. I convinced him that being a tech was a better idea, from an economical, emotional, and job prospect level. I felt both sad and good about doing so.

Not saying a vet's pay is much better, but goddamn techs and assistants are paid utter garbage with no benefits. I mean yeah, it's less than vet school but ugh, still a huge loan burden compared to what you make yearly.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2014 03:10

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# ¿ May 19, 2024 18:38

Shnooks: Mar 24, 2007; I'M BEING BORN D:

HelloSailorSign posted:

So head tech says our supplier is suddenly out of euthanasia solution.

Proposal KCl for the... Win?

Edit: and the x-ray machine just broke and the other vet in town just sent us a fax saying they'll be out for the week.

It rains, it pours?

I heard there was a shortage of Pentobarbital.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2014 02:10

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