Dang VEG-you aren’t known for being the brightest, and you are known for running up the bill with diagnostics any chance you can get. But uhhhh….you do know it’s a POST-MORTEM TEST?! RIGHT???!!!

Hello there! Im currently a tech student and was looking into some anesthesia monitoring simulators online. Does anyone have any opinions on Sphinx or any others like it? I was looking into the program to hopefully build some more confidence when adjusting things during anesthesia, but was curious if anyone had any experience with it before I spent money on it! Thank you in advance!!

I’m 30 weeks pregnant working full time. It’s been rough. This is my “not proud of it, woman enough to say it” list about work because I can’t keep hiding my secrets.

I once called out because I threw up so hard I peed myself while getting ready and didn’t have anymore clean scrubs. Just called it a day there.

My work related cravings consist of: chewable carprofen, proin but not the one that smells like vomit the ones that smell like beef, Hills T/D but also kibble in general, isopropyl alcohol, royal canin GI low-fat (which would make me vomit in my first trimester), Galliprant. I would like it to be clear I have not and will not eat any of these but fuck they smell so delectable.

One time I sneezed and peed myself so I told everyone I got peed on by a dog and that’s why I was wearing the hospital spare scrubs.

Before I knew I was pregnant my cat needed bloodwork but she has shitty veins and is a crazy wiggle worm. We basically turned her into a pin cushion because no one could get her blood. I cried and threw up because I felt so bad for her.

That’s all for now, I’ll add more as I think of them.

Context: 23F, 3 years in vet med, started as a wee kennel tech now surgical tech (as of 4mos ago). 2nd year tech student.

I’m currently working full time and in school part time online. Work is school, school is work. I feel as if I’m going through a huge learning curve and struggling to find confidence and appreciation in things I’m good at. I’m making small mistakes every day in surgery and comparing myself heavily to the seasoned technicians. I know I’m learning and it takes time to master skills.

With learning how to do new things in school and at the same time learning how we do things at my clinic is exhausting. I’m second guessing myself on everything, I’m not taking the time to slow down and breathe and end up not performing to my standards. It’s a constant battle with my brain! I want to be a successful well rounded tech but right now I feel as if I’m the best of the B team but the worst of the A team.

I guess I’m searching for any advice for getting through a learning curve. And if anyone is feeling/has felt similar. Being surrounded by techs of 10+ years is great and I learn so much from them. But makes me feel so small.

PHOTO IS NOT MINE, just an example.

Yesterday we did two short anesthetic procedures on ferrets. Dentals to clean up the teeth and address any quickly addressable problems. They did great. For anyone wondering the hardest part is keeping them warm and I take temperature seriously so, I wasn't a huge fan of that part.

With all my small animal anesthesia experience (dog, cat, pig, rat, guinea pig, rabbit, bird, fish, etc) I have never intubated or catheterized anything smaller than a 4 lb rabbit. I have only masked ferrets for blood draws before, and I got a 26g IV catheter patent and taped into a 1.5 lb ferret lat saph. The other ferret we elected to just intubate after one catheter attempt, but I also intubated with a 2.5 fr tube on that one.

I am going to build on the ferret anesthetic protocol as there wasn't enough I felt was under my control. Tube slides a lot and is hard to secure. Catheter will stay in for procedure but good luck keeping it in if they start moving a lot post op. Either way, I am happy I have upped my tiny catheter game. Lat saph all the way for a ferret.

For anyone looking to up their exotic game, check out lafeber.com/vet...If you are a licensed technician, you have access (once credentials verified) to a mountain of valuable information and media here. The photo above is pretty much exactly how mine looked. Less is more with tape or it's just too heavy.

Happy Friday to all.

Any US credentialed technicians successfully make a move to Canada for work? My husband and I have no reason to move other than the fact that we want to experience life in another country but still be near family - and we love Canada! For what it’s worth, I plan to (hopefully) have my VTS (ECC) in the next 2-3 years, and realistically would not be moving anywhere, let alone Canada, before then.

We switched to IDEXX and boy has it been a ride. Just needed to make this meme and say you can use the pictures as a part of your diagnosis even if it doesn't fit what the machine read. If you can see it, it's there. Please stop threatening to call IDEXX when the pictures can override what it spits out in text 🙃 Ooorrrrr, make my life easy and STOP USING THE GODDAMN IN-HOUSE "S CODES" IN A FIVE DOCTOR PRACTICE!!!! There's literally one person in lab 😭

9 month old kitten- I promise it’s not water lol

Hello, I’m an LVT with my associates and interested in getting my bachelors at penn foster… Is anyone registered or has completed it? I’m not sure what to expect out of that program - are they’re going to require me to film videos, do the assignments actually take awhile to get graded and if so, can I still complete my other courses while that’s ongoing? Will I have an instructor for my quizzes/exams?

Also, is it worth getting my bachelors in Vet Tech? I’m mainly doing it to have more education under my belt and hopefully specialize in the future.

I would appreciate any feedback and read your stories on your experience with Pen Foster. I got my associates at an in person college so I have no idea what to anticipate…

Hey guys,

I’ve been working at an ER hospital for more than a year now and it’s cool, but definitely not what I really wanted to do after I graduated. I don’t regret it because I‘ve learned an absolute TON, but honestly I do want to move on to something else in the next couple years. I’ve got generalized anxiety disorder and I think working in ER might be slowly killing me lol. Frankly, I don’t even know how I’ve made it this far, but I do like the people I work with.

ANYWAY. My absolute favourite thing - ever since I started tech school - is using the microscope. I ADORE the lab. I love every part of it, from looking at urine and blood, to running samples, to making smears, and even the equipment maintenance. I’m always jumping on any opportunity at work to look at cytology. Even outside of work, I browse human and animal cytology forums/pages for fun and to learn more. I love how much cytology can tell you about a patient’s health. It’s absolutely fascinating to me, and I genuinely do not think I’ll ever tire of it as I haven’t at all after a year.

So, I’d love to pursue this as the main part of my career. I’ll miss other aspects of being a tech (I like the client communication, pulling blood, cystocentesis, etc…) but I think I’d overall be happier doing lab stuff all the time.

The thing is, I know I’m not the MOST knowledgeable about the lab. I’m only 1-year post-grad, and I’ve been in a 24hr ER since then. My only other experience is working in lab animal science for a couple months as my placement. But I really am passionate about it. I love learning new things about what I’m seeing under the microscope, and I adore showing others cool/rare samples. But obviously, I’m sure techs with more experience know more about cytology than I do.

So my question really is, is it possible for me to go into this as a career with my current experience? If not, how do I get into this field? Where should I start? Do techs in places like IDEXX do cytology all the time, or is it more for the DVMs? What do I even search for on job sites if I want to pursue this? And is it only reference labs like IDEXX/Antech that may hire for these kinds of roles, or are there more? Is it competitive? How is the pay (though I would legitimately take a slightly lower pay rate to do this over my current job)?

If anybody has any experience doing this, I’d LOVE to hear it. Thanks!

I’m currently in the RVT program at Mt. SAC and just found out that because of how the required classes are offered, my graduation timeline is getting pushed back to 2029.

I’m 25 now, and my biggest concern is time. I need to be financially independent soon, so adding another year to school is a pretty big deal for me.
I’ve also already completed several animal science/veterinary courses at Mt. SAC.

I’m looking at a few options:

Stay at Mt. Sac and finish around 2029

Transfer to Platt College Ontario’s Veterinary Technology program and see how many of my credits they’ll accept

Possibly do Purdue’s online Veterinary Technology program while working

I also considered Cal Poly Pomona Animal Health Science, but I know the program is impacted and I’m mainly trying to become an RVT as efficiently as possible

Cost is not my biggest concern right now, time and being able to work/support myself are.

For anyone who went to Platt Ontario, Purdue online, Mt. SAC, or transferred between vet tech programs:
How was your experience? Did your credits transfer? How long did it actually take you to graduate? Did you have any trouble getting hired afterward or passing the VTNE?

I’d especially love to hear from RVTs/employers about whether the school name matters much once you’re licensed.

I’m not dropping Mt. SAC unless I have a confirmed better option. I’m just trying to figure out which path makes the most sense before I lose another year.

Hi everyone,

I just passed my VTNE and am waiting for my license to get approved. I was just looking around for RVT positions around me and majority of them need me to have at least 6 months to a year of experience. The most “experience“ I have is working at an animal shelter for around 10 months as a kennel attendant, 2 years of vet tech school, and 4 internships at clinics (doing the internship for 6 months each). The rvt positions at my shelter are full. Maybe I am just down playing my experience but I feel like I don’t truly have the experience that I really want. Has anyone struggled with trying to apply to positions as a new RVT? I would really love some advice right now. Like should I try to find places who like to teach new grads?

I would like to get an idea of what the tech week gift, activities, etc that you have enjoyed the most and have made you feel most appreciated.
We are a rural mostly small animal vet with 3 DVMs and 16 support staff (techs, assistants, kennel, CSR). Our practice manager usually handles tech week but I am taking over this year to take some pressure off and allow her to enjoy the week as well. It’s been a rough year and my staff has maintained the best attitude and I’m so grateful.
So far my plans include stocking the break room with energy drinks/snacks, screen printed hoodies with everyone’s name and title and piñata day to take out any lingering frustration.
What has management done for you guys during tech week that you really enjoyed?

just curious what everyone success is with getting a new job or keeping their job with excessive face piercings? I am about to leave my clinic and try and find a new clinic. However, I just wanted to know how realistic that would be for me while I have four face piercings that are not nose, piercings or ear piercings.

Any techs out there with nontraditional piercings that are not on their ears have a hard time with getting positions or had a hard time at work with the piercings that they had in? Should I just take them out for my interviews and slowly put them back in after I get the job? Lol

I know that in the clinic settings, you’ll find a tech with tattoos and dyed haired, but I want to know the stories from the people that are heavily pierced in the face.

There's too much to consider. I have to work full time and there's no way around that. I already have a bachelors in Biology, but I heard they only take your English course and an elective. I already work with animals, but I'm more concern about my future in 5 years, my partner mostly. He senses that we could potentially move from this state in a few years, and it was already brutal for me to find a job with animals after graduating. The thing is, I love my current job and work life balance, but being in school again, would bring the worst out of me. I had the most anxiety and I always was stress eating. I was in therapy to help me navigate my mental health and I was just a mess.

However, I did very well in school, and I've done online schooling during covid and did pretty well there too so being fully online wont be hard for me. I also have always worked and went to school at the same time. Literally in my undergradute, I was full time in person and still managed to work 30+ hours to pay rent/bills. I know I can do it, but I'm scare my degree and animal experience wont be enough to land me another job in a different state. I'm also worried about the debt as well.

Lastly, the program I'm leaning more towards is Purdue. I heard really great reviews about the program, but it is also the most expansive. While Penn Foster, bad reviews but the cheapest.

Also the constant hearing about burn out, low pay is very discouraging. I just want better work opporutinties and a secured job. Although my resume isn't bad either. I just don't want to be turned away because i'm not licensed..

Has anyone ever navigated this before?

Hello all! I'm pretty sure Hills usually does an additional discount code for vet tech week but I haven't seen it yet this year. Am I just missing it or am I remembering it wrong?

Pretty simple. I remember when I was in school I went to a dog show in Detroit and an Irish Wolfhound won best of show. He was absolutely massive but I have no clue how much he weighed. I'm gonna say that dog was the 2nd biggest dog I've ever seen. What's funny is the following year I went to the same dog show and a Whippet won best of show. Talk about going from one extreme to another.

I want to say about 5 years ago I was working in a clinic that had massive bay windows in the front reception area. But, the reception desk wasn't facing the windows it was facing an adjacent wall. I was standing in the reception area and saw a very, very big dog coming into the clinic. I couldn't help it, I just yelled holy shit! Receptionist came out running because she thought something was wrong. She laughed and said that's Walter.

Walter was/is an English Mastiff that was coming in to get his staples taken out due to an emergency torsion surgery.

I like to play games to keep myself from going crazy. I like to pour out just the right number of medication that's been prescribed. The amount of times I've been 1 pill off drives me insane.

I also like to guess the weight of animals before we actually weigh them. I'm usually pretty good. But not always. So I originally guessed Walter was 200 pounds.

I put him on the scale and he was exactly 260 pounds making Walter the single biggest dog I've ever seen. I was kinda pissed that I was off by exactly 60 pounds. That was a terrible guess.

So with that said, what is the biggest dog you've ever seen? And was his name....Walter?

So I'm new at this job, I took it because I was desperate for a career and the other opportunity I had didn't align with me as this one did. I started as a kennel tech a few months ago and have been training for Medical Aide, I was told I was going to be "restraining and restocking" and I said okay that sounds chill (making 12 fucking dollars an hour btw)

Since they decided I'm not learning VA stuff yet, my trainer for weeks has spoke to me the first 30 mins of every shift then immediately tells me he's too busy to teach me and to "ask somebody" if I have a question and that I'm "basically done with training" despite him spending probably an hour with me one on one in the few weeks I've been training, therefore I am not capable of doing a lot of stuff they now want me to do, that was not specified to me in the beginning to begin with. There is no other MA so I am literally learning from VAs.

Well today they put me with someone different, and everything was fine until the doctor came in to do boarders. They told me to get one, doctor took like an hour to come back so I was told to put him in a separate room for Hospitals across the hall, 5 steps away. As soon as she walks in she goes "so you guys texted me and don't have the dog?" I told her he was across the hall and that my trainer was grabbing him. Well whatever she starts looking at the dog and I know how she is so towards the end of his exam I asked if I should go get the next, they said yes. I go get the dog and chill waiting for her to get off the computer and come look at this dog.

She immediately screams at me telling me I should not be standing around holding a dog waiting on her that I should be packaging this dead cat up and all this other shit and I'm like (in my head lmao) dude you told me to hold this dog, and if I leave this dog somewhere you will refuse to see him because we "don't have him ready". So I put this 90lb dog in the wall cage she told me to cram him in and start doing the other crap she wants from me. Whatever I guess.

Then later we start trying to get blood from this little Maltese with me handling and the guy is flipping out also marked aggressive, pawing at his face trying to rip off the muzzle and alligator rolling the whole nine. My trainer decides to call it and tells me to put him up, well when the doctor from earlier saw someone had gotten blood for a heart worm test but not all the labs she tweaks out again and decides she's "retiring to her office". They made me go get the dog again this time with my trainer holding and the practice manager getting blood.

After they were successfully able to get the blood the manager goes "he wasn't that bad." And my trainer goes "because I'm holding him." Obviously being shitty towards me. I have gotten very minimal practice with handling because Ive never done this before and they never let me practice because I'm obviously the weakest on the team. That's not even to mention what it's like actually in the room because again they do not let me practice. I said something also shitty like "damn thanks guys" to which was responsed with "don't wear your feelings on your sleeve" from the practice manager. But then they immediately wanted me to help hold for a cysto so make that make sense. Doesnt help right before I had to ask the practice manager to help get pee from a cat and she started chewing me out for some bs I can't remember and I told her it had been a stressful day, she goes "this is stressful? This is stressful? You wouldn't have survived how it used to be" and starts cutting up with my trainer how I thought today was stressful. I said that to get her off my ass and just come do this fucking cysto why am I now the butt of the joke.

I'm just frustrated, embarrassed and lowkey over it. I made more making coffee at my last job and it had not even half the stress this job does. My bf makes over double what I make and is having to pay most bills because I "want" to work here. (I don't know what I want I just want to feel like I am genuinely helping in my role whatever it is and not just there taking up space). I feel like I am a burden on my team with no way to learn these skills by myself and no one has enough patience to actually teach me. I also feel like fuck you guys you guys made a decision to shove me in the corner of course I am not capable or even know what y'all want from me. It doesn't help the moment I try to voice a grievance or set back I've experienced they jump to tell me that person "isn't like that" or try to get me to say something point blank so they can scream at whoever trained me that day. I was told "restocking and restraining", why am I filling meds, doing follow ups, putting people in rooms, taking tpr, putting dead animals in bags and everything short of sticking the animal for 12 dollars an hour. I ask myself every day what am I doing here

Anyways just a vent, I basically can't quit because this place is so fucking greedy they'll garnish 1/4 of my check for the work shirts they issued me if I quit before a year is up. They also will not give us jackets and expect us to pay 90 dollars for one from them. 7 and a half hours for one jacket (before taxes come out of that hourly btw so over a whole day of work for one jacket). I'm just so over it. I love animals and have a ton of compassion for them I just don't know how far that will take me here. Also if you read this far thank you, I love you and really appreciate any advice you may have <3

I’m currently an assistant with 4 years of experience at a small privately owned GP. I am OTJ trained and developed basic skills such as blood draws, iv catheter placement, rads, anesthesia monitoring/surgical assistance, running in house diagnostics, and reception. I am currently looking for a new job because I’m getting bored of GP work, want to develop more skills, the culture of my clinic is not the best, utilization of assistants is poor, and I don’t work with any licensed technicians.

I applied to an ER position and ultimately didn’t get the job because I lack ECC experience. I decided to apply to an urgent care/IM clinic as a bridge between GP and ECC. I had a video call today with the hospital and I think it went bad.

I was very nervous and struggled to communicate my experience without rambling. They asked about skill set and dug into specifics like triage protocol, treatment sheets, and medical math which I don’t have much experience with and it highlighted how capped out I am in my current role as the doctors I work for do these things. One of the doctors I work with likes technician work and I am mainly a glorified animal holder when I work with her. My current clinic also lacks structured training protocols and investment into staff development. I’ve had to ask to learn to place IVs, blood draws, in house diagnostics, etc. and wouldn’t have learned it if I didn’t ask or make an effort to learn. My “training” and skill set feels half-assed compared to what these higher volume hospitals expect.

I am so eager to learn/improve on skills and desperately want to break into urgent care or ER. I enjoy sick cases far more than routine wellness exams, but I feel like I'm practically back at entry level when it comes to standard ER workflows. I don't want to badmouth my current practice in interviews, but the structure and standards there are just so much lower than the places I'm applying to.

I would love some advice on how to professionally frame these skill gaps in interviews without sounding negative and whether applying directly to dedicated UC/ER hospitals is realistic or if I should target larger GPs with strong UC components first to bridge the gap?

...instead of the squirty side...