Many people love animals. But some people love them so much that they decide
to spend their lives working with them.
"I love animals and have devoted my life to helping them," says Marie Clark,
a certified veterinary technician in Arkansas. "Helping animals is more of
a calling to me than a profession. I volunteer some of my time with the local
humane society and national disaster relief organizations for animals just
to help better the lives of animals."
Clark decided at the age of nine that she wanted to be a veterinarian.
While she isn't sure why that goal came so early, she's pursued it ever since.
Finances were a hindrance, so she started her education at a vet tech school
in Denver.
"I enjoy the hands-on relationship with the animals and owners that being
a tech provides me," she adds. "I've found that many people are intimidated
by doctors and feel more comfortable around technicians and nurses."
"Veterinary technicians are important members of the animal health-care
team," says Thomas Colville, a veterinarian and a professor at North Dakota
State University. He has worked as a vet in New Orleans and Virginia.
"Veterinarian technicians do much of the work done in human hospitals by
nurses, medical technologists, radiography technicians, anesthesia technicians
and so on," he says.
"Their work is often exciting, exceptionally rewarding and extremely important.
They make important contributions to the health and comfort of animals and
their owners."
Jim Allison is an anesthesia technician at the veterinary teaching hospital
at Washington State University. He left a 12-year career in computer graphics
to get into vet medicine.
"It's a total change of careers," says Allison, adding that the change
has been a good one. "I enjoy very much what I'm doing -- I'm not making as
much money as I was, but I enjoy what I'm doing and I enjoy working with animals."
Lauren Kaufman is a certified veterinary technician working at Colorado
State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital. She is involved with equine
surgery and with numerous research projects. "When I was younger, I wanted
to be a veterinarian," she admits. "But now I truly enjoy the work, plus I
don't have to deal with the business end of it."
Kaufman also has a bachelor's in animal health agriculture and many years
of experience on her family's sheep, cattle and horse farm. "I've loved animals
all my life," she says.
Animal health technologists' biggest joy is seeing their work heal an animal
and stop its suffering.
"It's a very rewarding career," says Christina Pander, a vet assistant
in Pennsylvania. "I love animals and I love to help make them better."
Pander worked for a veterinarian in high school, but after graduation chose
to become a licensed practical nurse. It was only much later that she would
return to the world of animal medicine.
"I love people, but I was burned out after 15 years," she explains. "Nursing
was getting too rushed, starting with the HMO [health maintenance organization]
concept. I didn't have time to really talk with someone. It wasn't rewarding
anymore. I needed a change."
Since leaving nursing, Pander has been trained in the office to perform
laboratory tests such as stool samples, urinalysis and blood tests; to clean
teeth; and to take X-rays. She's learned techniques to assist the veterinarian
with surgery and monitor the anesthetic.
Not all animal health techs work in pet clinics. Sandi Hass supervised
the health program for 3,000 cattle on a feedlot. The animal health technician
started her day by checking the animals for any physical ailments
like pneumonia or foot rot. Hass checked the herd pen by pen, each pen holding
100 to 200 cattle.
If any illness was discovered, the animal was taken to the on-site veterinary
hospital and treated. She repeated the same routine in the afternoon. Hass
also vaccinated, wormed and branded incoming animals before they were introduced
into the herd.
Pander says this is a challenging profession. "You have to be compassionate
here and ready to learn new things. The field is always changing. There is
new technology and new equipment. We just got some new machinery to clean
teeth for the animals."