Working with animals

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I'll be blunt here I love animals of all shapes and sizes and can talk to anyone about them for hours. Humans on the other hand not so much. After a couple failed attempts at the job I originally went to school for I'm wanting to try and start over with a job working with animals. I've considered vet-tech but I'm not sure if they are the ones responsible for euthanizing the animals or not. If they are then there's no way I'll be able to to that.

I've also considered maybe groomer and working with any of the animals at a zoo would be a dream. You guys have any suggestions for any sort of job?

There is always a need for dog walkers or pet sitting services.
A few advertise near me, they would look after a pet in the home while the owner goes on holiday or is admitted to hospital etc. You'd be your own boss too!

I've thought about opening a dog and cat boarding service. On the farm, I could convert an old barn to that.

The only problem is that around here there just isn't that much of a demand for it.

^ That's a shame.
If you are in the desert what about plant watering as a service.

Dog walking is more of a city thing. You need people with busy schedules and disposable income.

You could try working at a vet or a kennel.

That's my main problem is that I live in a really small town so there isn't a big demand for those kinds of services, and we only have one vet in town and he's already got all the employees he needs. Though I haven't checked the humane society but I'm a little apprehensive about it since it isn't a no-kill shelter.

Working at a zoo can be really terrific. I volunteered at a zoo in high school and may go back if being a biologist is too stressful. If you want to try being a zookeeper I recommend volunteering someplace first. It'll get you valuable experience and allow you to find out if you really want to do the job after all. Most keeper jobs value experience over education, requiring only a GED. If you're in the US the AZA (Association of Zoos and Aquariums) website has a job board (www.aza.org/joblistings/) is excellent with jobs from zoos all over the country.

Does your town have a pet store? I've worked at a couple of pet stores and enjoyed them. They can also be a good way of getting animal keeping experience.

Best of Luck!

It probably depends on where you live and whose clinic you work at. I was a vet tech at two different places and I never put down any animals myself because they keep the euthanasia solution (pink lotion they called it) locked up because it's pretty dangerous and they don't let anybody touch it except the vets. That's how they did it at the places I worked.

However, depending on the vet you can do lots of things. I have done anesthesia on dogs during surgery when I worked for the orthopedic vet (yep, there was a specialist who had his own clinic, that's the second one I worked for) and I'd do post op care and all that and that was about it. He had surgeries scheduled all day long and we were in his little OR all day. They taught me what I needed to know, it wasn't complicated. However if you want to do that you will have to learn to intubate an unconscious dog and do it quickly because once the IV takes effect they are paralyzed and can't breathe. I learned by intubating dead dogs. These dogs were dead when I got there, at the clinic there was a night and weekend emergency clinic and two or three times a night somebody would bring in dogs hit by cars that they would put down. When somebody needed to tube dogs they would have you come do it as soon as you got there so the dogs could go to the freezer - if the owners didn't take them home to bury, which didn't happen often.

At the other vets office I did workups on dogs and cats which consisted of various vaccines, worm checks, ear mite checks, heartworm checks, expressing glands, treat minor skin problems, etc. They teach you all that on the job. It isn't hard. I did the anesthesia and surgery prep for all the animals too, and while they wouldn't let me handle the euthanasia solution they had no problems with letting me handle a wide range of pretty strong and widely abused drugs that we would use. I also learned to do cat neuters, and after doing a few to the vets satisfaction I did them all. I also did teeth cleaning as well. I was learning ear hematoma repair when I quit. My husband had gotten a job so I could go back home to my son.

Im not really sure about the legalities of letting a tech do some surgeries and treatments and such but if the vet was ok with it, I was ok with it and if I ever had a question or was unsure, I never hesitated to call one of them. I liked that part of the job but I did NOT like holding them while the vet did the workup and being the assistant that got peed on and bit and scratched. When the owner is in the room the vet does the actual stuff and the tech holds the animal but when they leave them there, the tech does the stuff and the kennel help holds the animal. The vet is checking over animals that need only a vets attention, because there are plenty of things that a tech doesn't know. I also did lab work and filled prescriptions, cleaned and sterilized instruments and syringes and needles, etc.

I was nervous about being there when they were put down myself, and I was told that nobody will ever make you see that or be there. One vet talked me into helping him and I did and I cried and he told me it was nothing to be ashamed of, everybody does at first and I would get used to it and I did but I would still get upset with some animals, and I saw the vet cry a few times over big dogs that he had treated for years that either had to be put down or died while he was trying to save them or during surgery.

I really encourage you to try being a tech. Duties will vary from place to place and so will requirements for the job. Some just want a willingness to learn and follow directions. I was told at the first place I worked that what got me the job was that when they asked why I wanted to work at a vets office I didn't give the "I love animals" type answer. I told them that I was interested in medicine and in my opinion there is no such thing as useless knowledge and I saw it as an opportunity to learn and get paid for it at the same time. I'd suggest something like that because you will stand out more. Leave the "loving animals" part for after you get hired and you are just having a conversation. Some vets don't go into it for love of animals, they go into it because they didn't do well enough on the MCAT to get into medical school so they go to vet school. Loving animals as the reason you are doing it won't work well with those types, although you may run across an animal lover, but I've worked with quite a few different vets and the two clinics I worked at and while none of them disliked animals I never ran into one who was over the top about them. None really believed in animal rights or things like that and a lot of them wouldn't hire someone who did. These are just the vets I worked with in the city I lived in. This is not to represent all vets, I'm just telling you my experience. Some places may make you have a degree or certificate in it from a trade school, while others will take you if you are smart and willing to learn.

Call around and talk to people at the offices. Take in a resume and leave it with the office manager. Ask to meet the vets. Make sure you stress interest in vet medicine over love of animals. Many people who work at vets offices because of love of animals can't keep up with the pace of the workday. Nobody has time to pet them or give them actual attention and a lot of animal lovers will try to do that, or they will say that they think the kennels are too small or the dogs should be let out in runs, etc. Vets don't like that, and while not all animal people are that way, the vets that I worked with said that their experiences with them were.

Get your foot in the door, check back with all the places every two or three months to see if they have an opening, because they may forget that you left your resume. Become a familiar face. If you keep checking back every two or three months, the folks there will remember you when they have an opening and eventually somebody is bound to hire you.

Good luck, and I'll answer any questions you want to ask about my experiences working there, but just like anything else, it may be nothing like where you are.

Thanks for the advice oliveoilmom. Yeah I love animals but I'm not one of those over the top ones. I know the kennels are small for a reason and most animals I'd imagine would prefer being left alone in such a situation rather than having some stranger trying to handle them all the time. It's kinda funny that you would mention not going with the loving animals line when applying because as a little girl I would study vet medicine all the time which is one of the reasons I even started looking into it as a career choice. Then a little thing called money got in the way and I couldn't afford to go to the only college in my area that offers a vet tech program.

Also I'll have to look up that site. There's a wildlife preserve and a zoo around me that I know takes volunteers though they're both over an hour away and I don't have the money to afford a car. In other words I'm stuck. I can't seem to keep a job long enough to get a car most of the jobs are to far for me to apply for without one.