December
23
What college education is required to become a veterinary assistant?
Comments(2) | Under: Education Topic
I have been doing a lot of research on the topic but so far I have been receiving different answers. Does anyone know what, if any, college education you need?
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December 23rd, 2009 at 2:50 am
No. You do not have to go to college to be a veterinary assistant. The veterinary assistant schools that are out there don’t teach anything practical. They are usually on-line programs and don’t teach anything hands on. Veterinarians want hands-on experience in their assistants, not someone who took on-line classes to learn about the different breeds of dogs.
Veterinary assistants are mostly responsible for feeding dogs and cats, cleaning cages, and doing other cleaning activities around the clinic like mopping, sweeping, dusting etc. You don’t need an education for that.
Some clinics will allow their assistants to learn on the job how to do more advanced things like drawing blood, placing IV catheters, cleaning ears, giving vaccinations, etc.
If you want to go to school and then work in a vet clinic a technician goes to school for 2 years and learns how do do all of the hands on things like taking X-rays, placing catheters, dental cleanings, taking blood pressures… They also learn about animal disease, common drugs, vaccines, and treatments.
A technician on average will earn $40-50,000/year whereas an assistant will earn 20-25,000/year.
I worked as an assistant when I was in high school. I know that a lot of those jobs are taken by high school or college students who are interested in becoming veterinarians or veterinary technicians not be people who were wanting it to be their lifetime career. Think about whether or not you really want to spend the rest of your life picking up dog poop?
December 23rd, 2009 at 2:50 am
Depending on how long you want to go, it can be from 3 months to 18 months.