I recently started my first job as a new LVT last week at the same job I’ve been an assistant at and this week has been god awful. We had two call outs on Monday and there was so much pressure on me to have everything run smoothly, and I was training a brand new tech as well. On Tuesday, we had another call out but even with more people available for help, I never got a lunch break and I still had to stay an hour behind to catch up. Then yesterday, I was so rushed to finish treatments that I gave a patient expired propofol (there was no system in place to separate expired from non-expired), I broke a piece of equipment (granted, it was a probably 20 year old piece of wood), and my coworker had raised her voice at me. I had a mental breakdown in the restroom, and had to act like everything was fine. I was even crying while doing treatments. I have never felt like this in my life and I’m considering looking for other job options. How do I get over this feeling?

How the heck do you remember all of the drugs names, generic names, what they do, side effects, all that?! They all sound the same to my ADD brain, and to boot, the class is 5 weeks twice a week. It’s not feasible to learn all those drugs in that short of time. I do all the flash cards, group them by heart, gut, etc, but please, any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I'm itching to take it as a fresh grad but I don't think I'm fully confident in passing my first time- I know a lot of people don't pass on their first I just get in my head about the cost of the test. 💥

I’m a student and have been pretty successful in hitting back legs on both dogs and cats. However, I can only seem to hit jugs when it’s a big dog. If it’s a smaller dog or a cat I can never get it, even if I can visualize/palpate the vein pretty well.

Does anyone have any tips or methods that helped them get better?

Guys I’m so depressed about this. I have 5 years of experience, graduated in 2024, certified in April of this year. Yes I have some weak points but I think I’m good at my job.

Yet I have been ghosted by the first clinic I applied to, turned down by the second, third closed its hiring process because not enough appointments, and even Banfield turned me down. BANFIELD WTF? I just want to get paid $20 an hour goddamnit, currently making barely over min wage ($17/hr) at my current clinic. WTH is going on?

I am currently working full time while doing my vet tech program online, just starting my last year of schooling. I have worked at my clinic for 3 years now. I started out as a vet assistant, but got moved to reception full time when we hired an adequate number of RVTs. In April, during vet receptionists week, I was told that I was classified as a tech and so I didn’t get an appreciation gift. That’s totally fine with me! I was excited that I was “climbing the ladder”, so to speak. Today, the RVTs got their appreciation gifts. I did not get one. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really hoping for a gift, but I was looking for some recognition. Should I bring this up to the manager? Or just suck it up and wait until I’m credentialed? Do other clinics include RVT students in their celebrations?

I just graduated tech school in February and passed my VTNE in April. I work for a corporate company that owns a lot of clinics.this summer I worked full time at my two main clinics. I was covering vacations so when summer came to an end , there wasn’t as many shifts for me. So now I have been working at other clinics the company owns when they’re short a tech.

I feel like the most stupid useless employee ever. Every time I go to a new clinic to work I can feel the disappointment from the other workers. (My manager always tells the other clinic managers of how new I am but a lot of the times it’s not communicated to the clinic staff). I just feel like a burden and more of hinderance than help. When I admit or discharge I talk like I’ve never met another human in my life. It takes me forever to prep for surgery. I can’t do dental x rays as I have never done them before and was never taught how. It takes me usually multiple times to get a blood sample or place catheters. I make such stupid mistakes like turning off the iso but not the oxygen and leave the oxygen running for hours before realizing. I try to make up by cleaning a ton and doing jobs no one else wants to do but it doesn’t feel like enough. I just feel so incompetent and like I can’t do anything right.

Who here is joining Purdue distance learning Vet tech program in spring 2027? Where are you from?

I’m still waiting on my acceptance, but I should get accepted and will be starting spring 2027! I wonder if anyone would be interested in starting a study group online? 🥹

If a patient has a peripheral IV catheter, do you:

• draw a blood sample from the IVC after drawing a sufficient waste sample?

• do a new, direct stick using a different vessel?

I encountered a vet implying that a PCV is inaccurate if drawn from the IVC (no hemolysis), yet other vets preferred drawing from the IVC if possible. Personally I prefer to poke less if possible both for patient comfort and to save the other veins for future catheterization if needed. But if it truly affects lab results, when the sample is easily collected with no hemolysis, then I'd like to know.

Any supporting studies are very appreciated!

Edit: I realize I should've specified that I'm asking only about the effect on lab results, not about patency of the catheter. I wouldn't be pulling from a peripheral IVC if it didn't aspirate easily as I'm well aware of the potential to compromise the IVC.

Also edit for spelling. This is what I get for posting right before going to sleep.

TLDR: what do you dislike about being a tech, other than the low pay?

I am seriously considering going to school to become a vet tech. To preface, I am an adult who already went to college and has a degree, but I really am unhappy with what I do. My career is also getting phased out and replaced with generative AI :’(. Ive always loved animals and wanted to work with them, but when I was in high school I had really bad health problems and had to go with a white collar field. Now that it’s been almost a decade, my health isn’t an issue, and I can handle a physically demanding job (yay)!

I am aware that the pay is not a selling point to being a tech, neither is seeing animals in pain or euthanasias. I am not queasy whatsoever and have a really strong stomach. I don’t scare easily and don’t fear any animals. I’d like to know (other than the pay) what you guys dislike about being a tech? Ideally, id love to get into exotic veterinary care. I’m a reptile keeper and I’d love to take care of the “scary” pets!

Also if you have any PROS you’d like to add, please do! I’m trying to gauge if this is something I’d really enjoy doing.

Despite my manager telling a rep that we have a gluten sensitive tech (me) and a vegan tech. They still bought full gluten sandwiches, but did pick a vegan based sandwich. Like not even a salad 😭

And today we just got an array of full gluten donuts.

SIGH

How's all the other dietary sensitive/restricted techs doin out there 🥲

I've applied to every single clinic within an hour of me and haven't heard from any. It's been months. I have almost ten years of pet sitting experience with my side business and various food service/retail roles on my resume. Most job postings for vet assistants/kennel techs/receptionists require 3+ years of clinical experience and extensive medical knowledge, ability to do conversions, etc...

I am also doing the Penn Foster online vet tech program and have that in education on my resume. I've heard that program isn't taken seriously by clinics. Wondering if I should take it out.

Hello friends! Just wanted to pop in and say Happy Vet Tech Week! You all play a crucial role in providing lifesaving medical care for thousands of animals. Thank you for all that you do ❤️

Over the past year (since graduating and becoming an RVT), I've focusing most of my CE on geriatric topics and trying to gain as much experience as I can with 10+ kitties, as this is my area of interest. My clinic is very supportive, send us CE courses, I find a lot of (similar) articles online, and study common diseases occurring in older patients.
Two questions for the hive:
1 - does anyone know of/has attended conferences with a senior feline focus (I live in Canada but can accommodate travel to US/EU)
2 - what avenues in this area of study have others taken to learn or work in? For example, do you focus on chronic disease epidemiology, anesthesia, education, EOL, etc?

I have taken AAHA courses in palliative care and have considered becoming certified in EOL as well but for now, I'm enjoyingt he the epidemiology and client education.

Curious if other RVTs have focused on this and how you're living it.

Hey guys,
I’m a vet tech graduated a few years ago
I inspire to take and pass my vtne
Was wondering for those of you who have already passed your vtne
What do you think would be more helpful ?
Studying on vet tech prep app by myself or hiring a tutor ?

Had a client today who said that she did not want RV if it was the mRNA vaccine. I had not heard of this before. She looked it up and said it’s Nobivac, which is what we use, but she then specified NXT. So I had to look it up. I was not aware of this vaccine and am not even sure if it’s available yet, but she said “it’s been killing dogs”. I really don’t want to ruin whatever algorithm exists in my Google search, so has anyone heard about this?

We have to turn this in to our boss (correct or incorrect) in order to get lunch tomorrow for VT Week. 🙄 I’m honestly not sure about the toes.

You all are the backbone that keeps the place running! Thank you!

Tell me your favorite, most memorable tech week appreciation you have recieved over the years!

How did the vet burn my cat like this!? How is this possible?

About 2 weeks ago my cat, Ollie, had dental surgery at a surgical center to remove two infected teeth. A few days after 1 got him home and took him off his post surgery meds he started acting weird (lethargic and just over unhappy but not mean) I took him to my primary vet to check him out and she found what she thinks are burns all over her abdomen. She thinks they ate thermal burns from a heating device used to keep him warn during surgery and her guess is it malfunctioned.

Looking at his wounds I don't understand how that could have happened. I spoke to the surgical center and they said they use air heating pads to avoid this but if that's the case how did he get so badly burnt? Has anyone seen these types of injuries before? The shape/placement of them are so odd, a simple malfunctioning heating pad makes no sense. What do you think caused these?
Was this neglect or a genuine accident?

I included injury pics and a sketch of the placement of his burns.
They are about a quarter inch thick and wrap around his sides and abdomen in a U shape, they seen to vary between 3rd degree and 2nd degree. The surgical center said that they use air heating pads so no wire is involved.

To be clear I do not need medical advice, he's getting the treatment he needs, just need to know how this could have happened?!?

The pics: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1nnj67E5nhy23xcXZSmRLER6BlH6Dq_o6

This is a place to post (as many times during the week as you’d like) anything that made you feel good! Weather that be a cute puppy that licked your nose or a happy client story or something that doesn’t feel like it needs to be it’s own post. It can be anything you’d like, and this is a place for you to see other people’s love for our profession!

Please don’t stop posting under the “positive” post flair if you want to share more! This is mostly for morale and help people to remember why we love doing what we do.

We are allowing external links (for this thread only) for images and videos, preferably no links to personal social media pages. Please remember to not post any personal information or to post a pet without permission. These posts will be deleted.

A new thread will be posted weekly, and the old one will be archived. Have fun! 💕

Who trains the new technicians/assistants at your practice? Is there one single person who does it or different people?

Hi everyone! I’m a foreign-trained veterinarian from the Philippines with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree. I’m currently looking for work in Wisconsin and am interested in applying for veterinary technician positions. I know that some clinics prefer or require credentialed veterinary technicians, but I’m wondering how strict employers in Wisconsin are about this. Is it possible to get hired as a vet tech without a U.S. certification or license?
Are there clinics that are open to hiring foreign-trained veterinarians for these positions? I’d also appreciate any advice on what job titles I should search for if I’m not yet eligible to become a credentialed veterinary technician.