Veterinary nurses help veterinary surgeons (vets) by providing nursing care for sick, injured and hospitalised animals. They also play an important role in educating owners on good standards of animal care and welfare. Often a veterinary nurse will have a hands on role with the daily running of the practice and an involvement in IT and administrative tasks.
If you love animals and want to look after their health, this could be ideal for you.
A veterinary nurse needs to be calm and confident when handling animals. A strong stomach and an interest in surgical procedures will also be required.
You can qualify as a veterinary nurse either through work-based training or by taking a higher education qualification.
Your duties would include:
- taking x-rays
- preparing animals for operations
- holding animals still and assisting the vet during procedures
- carrying out lab work
- giving owners advice
- comforting upset owners and animals
- caring for animals staying in the practice
You will generally work about 40 hours with evening, weekend and on-call duties included.
To be a veterinary nurse you need to be:
- of a calm disposition
- care about animals without getting too emotionally attached
- willing to carry out messy, unpleasant tasks
- organised and with good administration skills
- able to stay calm in a crisis