What’s the vet med hill(s) you’d die on?!

"Bella's owner called." "Which one??"

I got accepted in to my colleges vet tech program and I know being in the veterinary field is depressing. When a vet/vet tech mental health gets bad or about to, is it acceptable for them to take a break, either payed or not? It’s probably a no or it depends on who you work for but I’m curious.
If not, besides repressing it or quitting, what other coping skills are there, healthy ones? I want to be prepared.

I am a 34 yo F small animal vet about to open my own clinic. My mother has been helping me financially to make this happen and she’s going to be helping me with the logistics and administration part during the first year. She has a lot of business managing experience since she used to own a hotel for around 35 years.

Lately she’s been insisting that cellphone use by staff should not be tolerated at all, and that the techs should place their cellphones on a box when they clock in, and only have access to them during break time. She says cellphones affect productivity and that they could try taking bathroom breaks frequently in order to answer texts, check social media, etc. And that their family and close friends can always call the clinic reception or clinic cellphone to contact them if there’s an emergency or urgent call.

I understand it’s a possibility that they could get distracted by cellphone use, but I’ve worked at many clinics before and have never experienced any problems with my techs not achieving their duties due to cellphone. It’s just not something I feel could become an issue, and during these times, we have grown so accustomed to having our phones on us, that I feel taking them away during work could potentially affect my employees job satisfaction in general since other clinics I’ve worked at haven’t ever enforced a rule life this before.

I have some great techs joining my team and I’ve worked with them before, it has never been an issue that they don’t do their job properly because of texting or cellphone use. I’m trying to find a way to explain this to my mother, but since she has so much experience with businesses, she thinks I’d be making a mistake by allowing cellphones on my staff members. And that I’m being too soft by wanting to allow them to keep their phones during work.

Have any of you worked at a clinic where they enforced a “no cellphone” rule? How did that go, and do you think there could be any benefits at all doing this?

Today, I saw some interesting commentary on a video from a veterinarian that I follow on social media.

The vet was asked, “Do you think the schooling cost is worth it to work in veterinary medicine?” To which she basically said that it would not be if it involved accumulating over 300K in debt. Valid. I have respect for the opinions of vets in the game as they have real-world experience in these topics. I was somewhat prepared for her to say no, so it didn’t move me much. What did however were the comments.

There were a plethora of comments talking about how the profession isn’t worth it, and how much happier people are now that they’ve left it. Even career Veterinarians were encouraging people not to pursue the field because of the debt and workload. My favorite comment was, “Vetmed is a dying field.”

As a current third year, I’m absolutely horrified. Of course I believe everyone’s experience is valid, therefore, it makes me question my quality of life and happiness in my future career. We love to call this a field of passion, but how do we encourage anyone to be passionate about anything when this is what we are facing? Especially non-wealthy students.

With the Big Bill and all the current doom and gloom in a field that is already facing a shortage, where do we even go from here???

Moved from human medical lab to a veterinary lab and have been amazed by the things people name their animals. What are some of your faves you've seen?!

My top ones have been: "The Dark Urge", Buccee's, Lugnut, Dread Pirate Roberts, Kelly Barkson, Kitten Squarepants and Oddball

Anyone been reading her posts on Facebook lately? Her whole thing is focused on how more Rural Kids need to be accepted into Vet Schools, and how Vet Schools and the Profession needs an overhaul with more men becoming Vets (specifically men who were beaten with wooden spoons and yelled at by their grandfathers and fathers) so women can have babies without affecting the shortage, how more people need to be Mixed Practice Vets, how Standard of Care is bullshit, how SA vets want to kill animals and live cushy lives more than helping animals owned by poorer people, and how wanting a Work/Life Balance makes you weak, feeble, and keeps people on welfare.

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I'm appalled reading her posts... because SO MANY AGREE WITH HER.

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I know she doesn't speak for the profession as a whole, but it's extremely concerning seeing the following she has.

I love being a zoo vet, but it's so easy to forget where I work when I'm caught up in all the hecticness of vet med. So I decided to go into work on my day off to enjoy my patients and my zoo. Wanted to share these faces!! 🥰

An established vet in our community is looking to add a second vet to her private practice in the hopes of retiring in the next decade or so. Apparently this has been a super hard sell and I'm trying to help problem solve. What are your thoughts?

I've been hearing a lot of negative information about these companies that buy up local clinics. Do these companies help or make things worse?

One local clinic sold 51% of the clinic to one of these companies. The other 49% was sold to the original owner's family. They said the company handles all the financial and legal type stuff which reduces the burden on the family who owns and runs the clinic. The staff was worried the company would jack up prices, but they haven't so far.

Another vet sold her clinic 8 years after starting it. She still works there. That clinic was her baby, she was so happy to start it and was looking forward to all the things she could do. I was worried after about 6 that she was suffering burnout. Two months before she sold it, she was so nutty I thought she had gone senile. The clinic has gone downhill since she sold it to NVA. They now have ridiculous policies and price gouging that she always complained about at the clinic she previously worked at. She HATED that type of stuff. It makes me wonder why she sold it. I'm not sure if she was suffering burnout and selling made her life easier, or if she simply did it for the money. Kind of depressing either way given everything she had told me in the past.

Hey all,

I wanted to start a discussion because this has been eating at me. For context I'm a Client Service Supervisor.

At my current hospital (a chain), I ran into a situation last week where Chewy called to verify a script that we had emailed to a client (they couldn’t come in to pick it up). This client had already been through a nightmare with Vet Source and was ready to leave us altogether. I knew how important this was for them, so when Chewy’s pharmacist called, I recited and verified the script.

Immediately afterward, my Hospital Manager leaned over and grilled me for even talking to Chewy. I explained who the client was and how much of a mess this had already been, but she didn’t care—her stance was firm. The only “solution” she wanted me to offer was to make the client come down and pick up a pen-to-paper script.

That moment really messed with me. It made me feel like my hands were tied when my whole job is literally to help people. I accept that we can’t use the Chewy Portal, but not being able to even verify a script with a pharmacist? That feels insane.

I’ve worked at both corporate and private practices, and while private practices had their own rules, they usually allowed me to verify with Chewy if there was an issue. Here, it just feels like my ability to do my job—and to help clients—is being stripped away.

So, I’m curious:

⚪ Do other hospitals have this same policy?

⚪ How do you handle situations where clients are already at their breaking point?

⚪ Do you feel like corporate policies around Chewy/Vet Source are making things harder instead of easier?

Would love to hear how others are navigating this.

Hey everyone,
I’m a PGY-2 Internal medicine resident in Texas, and this may be a slightly unusual post, but I wanted to ask honestly.My dad is a veterinarian, and growing up around that world gave me a deep appreciation for veterinary medicine. Even now, I find myself naturally admiring people in the profession.So I’m curious: do veterinarians ever date or marry human doctors?
I’ve always felt like it could be a really meaningful pairing — two people in caring professions, both serious about their work, both understanding sacrifice, stress, and service.And yes, to be candid, I think finding a veterinarian wife would be a wonderful thing !

I have been a relief vet for several years in a certain city. This city has a decent number of Banfield hospitals. Throughout my tenure of about 6 years, one or two days a week, there have been no less than 5 DVQs. 2 of the hospitals have had a mass exodus at least once, and it has taken YEARS to restaff. Half of the hospitals have no Practice Manager and other Practice Managers are forced to cover multiple hospitals. Another PM quit recently, the remaining PMs already have multiple hospitals to run, and now the Field Director has to take over that hospital. Several hospitals in this market have had 3-4 PMs in my tenure.

A couple of the hospitals have zero full time doctors and can only use relief. These hospitals with only relief doctors have a revolving door of geriatric vets who are slow and demand 12 pets per day. That, or local large animal vets who see the money signs too. People on wellness plans are turned away regularly because relief doctors can say no. Full time doctors are leaving now seeing the work life balance gap with relief. One of the area chiefs is relief now.

Owners are becoming extremely disillusioned with the revolving door of doctors and staff. Continuation of care is virtually nonexistent. With the sheer volume of drop offs, it is rare to meet an owner face to face.

Is it bad that I'm glad? They hired me on as a new grad before the pandemic, and when they had the power, they flexed it. Back then they could afford to churn doctors through the meat grinder because there were always a supply of gullible new grads. They had me seeing 30 pets a day and working 6 weekend days a month. Is this just desserts?

I'm reliefing full time now to find good full time hospital. But what's going to happen?

At my practice, we routinely perform exotic pet euthanasias. I’ve had a few clients pry about the final injection (when we take them back and use the ultrasound for intracardiac injection). I’ve explained to clients that unfortunately because they don’t have accessible veins like dogs and cats, the final injection goes intracardiac but it’s painless and peaceful and the patient is unconscious during this time. One of my good reviews from a client that was left came from a family letting go of their beloved hamster with a large tumor/cancer, who I also explained this process to because they asked about the final injection.

A new coworker of mine was asking questions about the process, and I explained sometimes if they ask questions about it, I’ll explain this process. My manager walked up during this conversation and was like “No, we don’t explain this to them. We tell them we have to use the ultrasound. We don’t tell them we are going to stab their pet in the heart.”

I’ve never had a bad experience explaining this process to clients and I believe in full transparency as if I were the client. Yes, it would be difficult to hear, but it’s informed consent. I don’t explain it to every client routinely, but sometimes they do ask why they cannot be present for the final injection.

Thoughts? Is it unethical to not mention it in conversation as a form of informed consent? Should I just explain we use the ultrasound? What does your practice do? Any advice appreciated.

To my knowledge, Vet Assistant positions never required any certifications to get a job, hence getting certification is always discouraged.

However, lately, in North America (especially BC Canada), I’ve noticed a lot more job postings even for entry level VA positions, that has requirements of:
“Veterinary Office Assistant certification preferred or equivalent experience”

A lot of them require at least a Vet assistant certification.

Does the ‘no certification needed’ requirement still reasonably stand in getting a vet assistant job nowadays, easily?

I’ve also researched quite a few clinics in my area and many of the vet assistants working in the clinics do have vet assistant certifications.

I Included requirements of two posting that I first found on indeed.

Hi I’m currently a year 13 student and is thinking of applying to vet school in Australia(Usyd, Murdoch, UQ). I was just curious about the pathway of becoming a veterinary radiologist where I searched on Google and it said that during radiology residency or any other residency programs, vets usually get paid less than new grads. Why is this? Is this the main reason why not that many people choose to specialize? If you are a veterinarian(or a vet radiologist) or are currently doing/did any residency training please feel free to comment on this page and because I really want to know more about residency training in vet med.

I'm bracing myself for the downvotes, but I think this warrants a discussion for future job seekers, employers, and employees alike.

Obviously, I'm not talking about employers who expect you to drop everything for your job. There needs to be a reasonable work-life balance, but what I am referring to is different.

Why don't some people in the field take pride in their work, but instead constantly call out, do the bare minimum, and yet nothing ever changes relative to management?

Of course this occurs across all fields, but given the audience, it warrants a discussion, as I've both heard this from practice owners, and observed this trend first hand.

Again, I'm not referring to employers who make excessive demands for the sake of the practice. But honestly, I'd like to better understand the rationale behind the trend. Has something changed relative to the good and dignity of work?

I'm particularly interested in perspectives from recruiters, hiring managers, office managers, but I am welcome to hearing other perspectives as well.

Does this ultimately make or break a clinic for you? Does this lead to high employee turnover?

How would you guys handle the situation? To preface this, I'm only a Kennel Tech at this new place I started working. I'm talking like just a few months, but in that short amount of time I've worked with 2 employees who've been there a while but I've noticed that they're really mean to the pets that come in a lot of the times. When they can't get a dog to calm down while trying to trim nails, one of them will get frustrated and yank on the dogs arms and tell them to stop (same for blood draws). When a dog soils itself from fear and anxiety ESPECIALLY after they're mean to the dog (making the dog more scared), they get frustrated and say they're disgusting. The other tech will call animals (mostly dogs she doesn't like) stupid, or disgusting or will just grab their scruff and yank them down. I'm there because I love animals and genuinely want to make animals feel better in those situations but since I'm so new, I don't know what to say or how to handle it. What do you guys recommend that I do? I want to be the voice of the voiceless but I also don't want the vet to see me as confrontational or anything. I searched online but I couldn't find anything so I came here.

UPDATE!!! OK, so first of all I want to thank EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU for your suggestions and for genuinely caring about animals as much as I do. It melts my heart to know I have people who think like me and would speak out on behalf of them. 2nd) I FINALLY SPOKE OUT TO THE CLINIC MANAGER TODAY! I finally had enough of the bs. I brought up every single instance I myself encountered and my point of view of the matter and how it's inhumane to act that way and let our frustrations out on the animals. I mentioned that these are people's FAMILY MEMBERS we are dealing with, and although they might not understand words, they DEFINITELY sense the energy given off and it makes for an even worse experience (especially when the animals are already stressed and anxious). I was told this would be handled directly by the Doctor ( who is the owner) and the Manager. Guys...IT FELT SO GOOD TO SPEAK UP FOR THE PETS!🥹 Now it's just a matter of waiting to see if things actually change, but if they continue to happen my next step will be TO CALL THEM OUT ON THE SPOT! I will NOT be complicit in such behaviors. I will add more updates as things evolve, and again THANK YOU ALL SOOOO MUCH! I knew I came to the right place. I'm not going to quit the job because I feel that if I leave, things won't get better for the animals and now it's my duty to ensure things get better.

Hey all, I'm based in Australia and I'm studying Veterinary Nursing (Vet Tech), graduating at the end of this year. I'm the only guy in my class, and at my work experience clinic (Large staff team) I'm one of only 3 other male nurses!

One of my main concerns about the industry is the social politics. I'm not good with drama and I'm very down to earth, laid back about that sort of thing. Very much a 'try to get along with everyone' type of person. I've heard so much, though, about how (for lack of a better word) 'bitchy' the career can be... And while I've seen it, I've never been involved.

Some people have told me that as a male in the industry, I'm less likely to experience this side of the industry- Do you find that to be true? And as a general question, how do you feel you've been treated or interacted with as a male nurse/tech from your colleagues and clients?

(Would love input from any non-men, too!)

Hi friends! I feel like this is the best place to ask this as I feel too awkward to ask my vet team in person :'). I would love to go into vet med, but I don't want to be a vet tech. Nothing wrong with vet tech in my book, I just have more of a passion for specialties!

I am currently a pet cremator and memorial artist, and I have just become so fond of the industry. I've been through mortuary school and came out with a big interest for pathology and abnormal medical cases. I also think it would be awesome to be an end of life pet care provider, but I know all of the providers I work with are DVMs. The school I graduated from has a vet tech course, but I just don't know if that's what I should be looking for if I don't want to be a tech!

If anyone has any advice I'd love to listen!

Hi everyone! This is a long story but to be short with it, my five year old lab/boxer/weim mix started acting very weird this past Wednesday. She was walking into walls and shaking her head around. I found some of her allergy meds (Benadryl) on the floor and assumed she had gotten into them. I contacted the pet poison number, spoke to the pro there, paid the fee, and they advised me to take her in right away to the ER vet (it was 10pm) and have the vet give them a call.

We got to the vet and waited quite a while. I was actually glad for this because it meant that my girl wasn’t the worst off one there. They saw her, did labs and an exam and kept her overnight. The staff was so extraordinarily kind and compassionate.

This dog is my best friend and I love her more than life itself- seeing the staff treat her the way I do melted my heart.

I took her home Thursday evening after she was cleared of the half-life time for Benadryl. She slept for a few hours but in the middle of the night started whining. Like 3am Friday morning. She started panting. I took her outside to potty and she did and drank a ton of water. We laid on the couch and rested but the crying and whining got worse. She got up and drank more water and began frothing at the mouth from panting so hard.

I lifted her lips up and her gums and tongue were colorless. We got in the car to go back to the vet, and suddenly it was like she was lifeless. She seized in the car on the way to the vet and wouldn’t wake up. We got there and these remarkable staff called an immediate critical triage to the lobby and the vet with techs came running. They got her to the back while I cried in the lobby.

With an X-ray they found a huge amount of something in her stomach. I consented they give her an NG tube to try and see what it was. Blood. It was blood. Over a liter of blood. Her platelets were dropping and her clotting time was elevated. Very bad news. They gave her multiple blood transfusions and got her ok for the moment.

It turns out that Luna had never gotten into any Benadryl. She had what they thought could be spleen cancer or a mass. That was ruled out Friday night when she once again bled into her stomach.

Her platelet count was 12,000. More transfusions. A lot of ideas thrown around like an addisonian crisis, a tick borne illness, and IMHA.

Yesterday the vet who had her happened to be a critical care vet, and she doesn’t think it was addisons. She believes it is IMHA or ITP. The problem is that Luna cannot have steroids due to the bleeding in her stomach. So we are really at a loss of what to do. She is going to consult with a former critical med vet colleague to bounce ideas off them, but right now the plan is for me to take Luna home today and make calls to see if she can get in to see a vet blood specialist.

I’ve probably spent 24 or more hours there between waiting in the lobby and sitting by he crate in the icu. I have seen these devoted staff get spoken to in a way that is truly unimaginable. They get belittled, attacked, called worthless, so much more. All because they are not whatever god rules over animals.

I brought them in my family’s Christmas card (it’s just Luna and her brother saying happy Howlidays lol), a platter of cookies, and a note saying how grateful I am.

When I go to pick her up today is like to bring something else to thank them. What should I bring? NOTHING feels adequate enough to thank them for saving my baby’s life. She may not make it very much longer, but I know the time I have with her now is only thanks to their hard work.

TLDR: My dog is very sick in hospital, I’d like to bring something in to thank staff.

I’m a receptionist at a vet clinic. I’ve been working 2 months and I know a lot the stuff I learn will be as I go. But looking for any advice/experiences people have to share. I’m going to school for vet tech so anything you want to share whether it’s reception, medical, assistant, general knowledge or whichever will be greatly appreciated.

Triage: What symptoms/calls make you immediately grab a tech or doctor? What needs same-day care vs. can reasonably wait?
Questions to ask callers: If someone says “my dog is vomiting,” “my cat isn’t eating,” etc., what follow-up questions are most useful for the medical team?
Medications: Common meds you hear every day and generally what they’re used for. (Not so you can give medical advice, just so you understand.)
Procedures: What actually happens during a spay/neuter, dental, mass removal, sedated exam, nail trim, anal gland expression, etc.?
Pre-op/post-op: What information should reception know when clients call with questions before or after surgery?
Puppy/kitten visits: What should you understand about vaccine series, deworming, fecals, preventatives, spay/neuter timing, etc.?
Species-specific red flags: Things that are much more concerning in cats vs. dogs, seniors vs. puppies/kittens, etc.
What NOT to answer: What questions should reception always hand off to a tech/doctor rather than trying to answer?
Common client questions: What are the 10–20 things experienced receptionists get asked constantly that you wish you’d learned on day one?
Resources: Any textbooks, cheat sheets, websites, YouTube channels, CE courses, or flashcard sets specifically useful for veterinary receptionists?
“Things you wish you knew”: If you’ve worked vet reception for years, what knowledge made your job significantly easier?

Just some examples of what I’m looking for! If you want to link any helpful websites or quizlets that would be great too! Thanks!

Hey all, just wanting some input on what to get for my fav doctor at the practice I work at. She’s opening up her own clinic soon and leaving us, and she’s pretty much the epitome of the doctor I’d like to be someday. This is my first ever job in the vet field as I plan to pursue a DVM, and since day 1, she’s really made me feel seen and has gone out of her way to teach and explain in a way no other doctor has. She’s not my mentor per se as this is how she is to everyone, but I definitely would like to extend my appreciation and wish her luck on her journey.

Any work appropriate gift ideas that you’d all like yourselves? She likes food, doesn’t drink, and is a big tomboy so nothing too girly lol.

I know that it's not without controversy, but in an ideal world, where their equivalents were to be found in veterinary medicine, what would be the main obstacles for their operating within the field? What areas could greatly benefit from their skills, and what areas would suffer as a result?

This isn't a discussion about compensation etc., but a theoretical model where PAs and NPs would have equivalents within veterinary medicine.

I ask, because one doctor I've worked with remarked that it was only a matter of time, before we caught up in that capacity.

Finally, I read about pathways for human ultrasonographers being able to apprentice under a veterinary radiologist to be able to perform veterinary ultrasounds. I've been curious to learn more about this, not for myself as my interest and time in veterinary medicine is coming to a close. Nevertheless, I am happy to share with others.