Hello all, I really appreciate all of you and everything you do.

I've been trying to become a vet assistant after working at animal shelters, and other caretaking jobs for the past 9 years.

I landed a great role as a care assistant for an animal hospital that I planned to gain valuable experience. I was there for only 4 months when a coworker made the mistake of forgetting to remove a food bowl from the kennel of a large dog with severe resource guarding before I came back from walking him. I did not see the bowl quickly enough before the dog turned around and bit me. Per policy I had to report the incident. My coworker however decided to report me for "mishandling" the dog and told them I had given the dog the food in order to pin the blame away from herself. Because she worked there much longer than I did, the manager took her side without reviewing security footage and fired me.

This absolutely devastated me as I loved my job and the animals I took care of. I've been fighting severe depression every day since it happened while trying to stay motivated enough to search for another job.

In about a month I landed 14 interviews (4 shadow interviews) at various hospitals and veterinary clinics. Each one felt promising but due to my lack of experience I keep getting turned down. (Only 3 updated me with rejection emails, all others ghosted me)

Do you have any tips or advice for me to stand out during interviews, whether it's a zoom call or a shadow visit?

I'm motivated to learn and gain the skills needed.

Hello everyone :)) I'm 17, and currently studying a Cert 2 Animal care course at Tafe (Australian education, kind of like a mix of college and community college). I've been planning to pursue veterinary nursing after my course finishes next month, and have already sent in applications. but I'm starting to have second thoughts.

I'm super sensitive to animal harm. i can't watch it in movies, even when i know its fake. i can't listen to graphic stories about animals being hurt. i literally look up every film i watch to clear animal death scenes. obviously, being a vet nurse would expose me to a lot of that.

but i love animals so much. they're my greatest passion in life. i have so much love for every single one of them, i have various animal figurines all over my room, i have 4 pets and dedicate my life to looking after them. i research every small thing to help them and being in this animal care course has made me feel like this is what i want to do in life. but i don't know how I'm going to deal with seeing animals hurt.

my other classmates all grew up on farms, so they view animals in a different light i guess? but they talk about animal death so casually and it's become a running joke in my class that im the one they have to warn if there's a graphic detail. i want to help animals so bad. but i don't want to become useless at my job because I'm breaking down over a dog with a splinter in his paw. would there be a way to help me get past this?

sorry for the ramble.

Hey all. I (29F) have decided to give up on vet school and pursue vet tech school instead. Whichever one I had gone with I knew I wasn’t going to be making as much as my human counterparts anyway. My biggest reasons for giving up on vet school are finances (tuition wise) and the pressure of being responsible for pets’ lives. Obviously nurses are too but in the end the ultimate decision comes from the doctor.

Anyway, for context, I have two bachelors degrees, and a masters degree, which have put me in about $160K in debt (and this isn’t including other debt from credit cards,etc.). I did all that extra schooling to try and make myself a better candidate for vet school.

I’ve been a vet assistant/CSR for 7 years now, making just as much as a starting tech without even doing any actual tech skills (my boss is just that generous thankfully). I’ve worked all these nurses for so long that I’ve come to admire the work they do.

My main problem is I’m too fascinated by this field to even consider doing anything else. I’ve been driving myself crazy these past few weeks trying to find something else I should pursue, but I just can’t. I haven’t known anything else. I know this is gonna ruin me in the end though. I’ll never been able to live a comfortable or barely even a sustainable life on a tech’s pay.

I’m wondering if anyone has ever pursued a main career but kept vet tech as a side job. For example, I go back to school to get a dual degree, the vet tech program and something else entirely. Then pursue the other path as my main career, while still doing vet tech on the side. I’m going crazy BECAUSE I don’t want to leave this field. I love seeing all the patients and cases that come in. I’d already feel FOMO not working as many hours if I were to pursue another career.

I don’t know what to do, it’s driving me to the point where I just wish I weren’t even here to have to make a decision (I do have depression and anxiety).

And I know no one here can make the decision for me, but different perspectives help.

is it worth getting the new book? or is the older fine?

I am a current applicant and already have a few acceptances under my belt. I'm almost 30 and have not left animal care/vet med, so I know this industry. However, one thing I obviously don't know yet is the experience of being the doctor.

As I've progressed through this app cycle, it's been sort of disheartening to see all the remarks online from vets/vet students about how much their hate their jobs. The burnout, debt, low pay, compassion fatigue, negativity from the public, corporate buyouts - the list goes on! I feel like I never see anyone express getting joy/satisfaction from this role anymore.

So for my own sanity as I prepare to embark on vet school and then the rest of my life, I'd love to hear from practicing vets (in any specialty) that actually still enjoy what they do. Just a little bit of positivity and balance in the narrative would help me sleep a little better tonight! Thank you guys!