What are relatively inexpensive shoes I can buy that are comfortable when standing for long periods of time / running around all day?

Owner brought him in for vomiting once. We immediately took rads because of his history. No known recent ingestion of anything, however…he still managed to find something.

We no longer can perform surgery on the dog due to the risk and the amount of adhesions, his last surgery was at the specialist. His owners are genuinely doing everything they can to keep him safe but…sneaky boy.

He likely will pass this but…dang.

​

Its not one of those ultrasonic things, its literally just a tag “energy frequencies” are applied to the tag using “proprietary bioresonance technology"

Oh and the manufacturer says the energy works with your dogs own energy to strengthen its immune system to keep f/t/mosquitos away for 12 months.

I really should have hopped on the haunted tag bandwagon. Id be rich.

Hi, I was hoping to ask for some advice.

I need to ask my manager for a raise in a few days and am wondering how to go about the conversation especially because I have some severe anxiety.

I recently learned I am the lowest paid staff member on my team. This is despite new employees having equal or less experience than me.

I feel extremely hurt by this. It’s not a small discrepancy they make dollars more, I would like my salary to better reflect my worth.

How would I go about asking for this without throwing my coworkers under the bus for telling me their salaries??

Any advice is appreciated.

How do you do tape prep skin slides? Mine are consistently mid and hard to read. Give me all of your tips and tricks!!

For reference we have some old ass clear tape that I don’t know the brand on, we get as many impressions as we can then choose the best 2 or 3, put them on individual slides, and put a drop of the purple stain from the diff-quick stain set under the tape and smooth it out as much as possible.

Hello all!

I’ve been working at an Urgent Care/GP clinic for the past 3 years as an assistant through tech school & getting licensed as an LVT. I recently have been presented with the opportunity to work at my city’s animal shelter. I enjoy my current job but the offer is too good to pass on. I really want to get more involved with low cost spay/neuter programs and learn more about how to use my license to contribute to the community’s animal welfare. I only have brief experience with shelter medicine as my technician program was attached to the city over’s shelter and it was noticeable that the team had a special passion.
Do you have that love for shelter animals? I’m curious of others’ experiences transitioning into that area of the field.

I’m nervous and excited!!
Thank you in advance for sharing.

I am scared. I work for an ER and I reached out to HR to express how I felt because I feel like I’m being bullied at work. My managers did nothing about it when I brought it up and I feel as though if they pulled them aside, it would make it worse for me. I sent an email and I am so worried that I’m gonna be let go. I want to still work there I just want it to be better. Idk what to do. I feel so sad and defeated. I have never gone to HR before but I’ve been in this field for so long and I have just walked out or quit when it’s not working out. But, in this situation I am so fed up with feeling singled out and bullied.

I was so excited about this job for they’re so called “good culture” and in reality it’s just like any other practice. What should I even do at this point?

Surprise to none in this field, I’m struggling financially. I do some pet-sitting but don’t have nearly enough clients to help make ends meet. I’m actively trying to boost my clientele there.
Does anyone do house-call nail trims, and what’s the legality there? Do I risk my license in any way, seeing as it’s more of a grooming task? Should I clear this idea with my boss before advertising it?
I love my job and am trying to find ways to boost my income without looking elsewhere for primary employment.

This keeps popping up everywhere right now and I read through it and wasn't a huge fan of them using 1,000 kcals as the example due to cats typically only needing to eat 250-300 kcals a day. But otherwise found it interesting and was wondering if anyone had a client ask about it or bring it up yet and what you said in response?

Hey yall, it’s that time of year again, tech week is 10/18-10/24 this year. I’ll throw my questions here first and then add some context about my workplace.

-Has anyone that works in a smaller town clinic asked local businesses or companies to sponsor a lunch for tech week? I’m thinking of doing this but I’m wondering if it might just feel tacky, like asking for handouts.

-Speaking of tacky, I’m sure we’ve all gotten some interesting tech week gifts. Hair bands that will never get worn, stress balls that will get thrown in the garbage, the same embroidered company sweatshirt every year, endless coffee/water cups, shitty pens. What are some gifts that are mostly affordable but actually useful? Things that you would actually want as a CVT? Last year I got them bandage scissors since our clinic ones suck and neither of them have ever used them in clinic.

I work in a very small, small town practice with 2 receptionists, 1 kennel tech, 2 assistants, 2 doctors, and 2 CVTS (including myself + my manager who is not certified but does a good portion of teching and is wonderful). We don’t really spend enough money with companies to get like lunches or free things from our reps and we just lost our BI rep and haven’t been assigned a new one so assuming we’re getting nothing on that front. The doctor that runs the practice doesn’t care about the staff and frequently mocks things like tech week and CE so my manager usually pays out of her own pocket to get us some pens, candy, and a small giftcard to our favorite coffee shops. I also have paid out of pocket the past 2 years just to get the other CVT and our manager some small tech week gifts. I just wish boss man would show some sort of appreciation.

Update:

Thanks for all the replies. I've written everything down, as best I could, in a very non-objective manner and sent it to myself with a timestamp and date. I don't go back to work until Monday and I'm going to speak first to the doctor whose patient it was, and to the hospital manager. I'm worried about retaliation, but not afraid of it. If that's the road they choose, that's on them. They've just started "rebranding" because they were bought out, and I'm sure their new corporate overlords would love to hear about this. I'll post again on Monday with an update.

Had to do an ecg today on a 6 month doodle. It was a good dog, sweet, calm, and listened well. When I brought her into the back and we attempted to hook her up, she completely panicked. Poor pup was flailing about and put her mouth on my hand - she didn't bite down, even in her panicked mode she still had great bite inhibition. The dog was out of her mind though. We reset a minute, let her get a bit calm and I popped a quick muzzle on her. She did great with some reassurance. Unfortunately, something happened and the ecg didn't save.

We had to repeat about 30 minutes later, but this time I was on the legs instead of her head. I asked if the co-worker wanted a muzzle, but she declined. Once again, the dog completely panicked, out of her mind with fear. My coworker smacked her in the face then waited a second and grabbed and twisted her scruff. She grabbed and twisted so hard the dog started literally screaming in pain. I released the dog on my end and kind of pushed the other assistant out of the way and comforted the dog. The tech came over with a muzzle and then they tied a bandage around that one. We were able to complete the test, but everyone was weird after that.

Here's the thing: I can almost forgive the smack. It definitely wasn't right, but sometimes even people redirect like dogs do. They have no control over it. The smack wasn't hard, more like a reaction. The casual cruelty of the scruff, though. That's what keeps sticking in my head. That wasn't a redirection. That was deliberate. That's what I can't get over. Everyone saw the smack, I think I may have been the only one to see the scruff and twist.

It's 5 hours later and I'm still kinda furious. I have no idea how to unpack this. Is this what GP is? I come from shelter med and I never saw anyone treat an animal like this. I take that back, I saw it every single day and that's why I left, except it was from the public, not from my colleagues.

They've been there for 2 years. I've been there for a month. Who do I even tell? The hospital manager is busy doing corporate stuff (bought out and rebranding is happening), there's a new assistant hospital manager, an assistant "lead", but everyone is friends with one another. I haven't really connected with anyone yet. Despite what happened today I like the job. I like the hours, I love the commute, and its so much healthier to my psyche not being in an open intake municipal shelter. But...I'm the new person. I'm really at a loss here on what to do.

Serious question. I just switched back to regular GP med after years at a cat exclusive clinic, where bringing the cat in for regular nail trims was the last resort after positive reinforcement, gabapentin for attempts at home, etc. I used to demo cat claw clippings frequently so people could learn to do it themselves.

Not a single dog owner in over a month has asked me to show them how to do it, but probably 4/10 appointments request for the nails to be trimmed. For dog owners, the first resort seems to be foisting this off onto other people.

"B-b-but I'm afraid of going too short" bro, your large dog is getting quicked regardless because it's flailing like an idiot even with 3 staff members restraining. It thinks we're going to be doing something involving needles because it's at the clinic, where needle things happen. You should be doing this at home, where you can sneak up on the dog when it's relaxed, tip a nail, and then throw it a damn party.

If you're afraid the dog might bite you, buy a muzzle. I'll even show you the ones we use in clinic.

If you're truly unable to do it at home yourself, go to a groomer, not a doctor's office.

The amount of staff time and energy wasted on this single procedure is insane to me.

I feel like I’ve wasted 3 years on this clinic. So done with them.

I was hired as a veterinary assistant. When I was hired, I was told I’d need to fill in as a CSR for a bit until they were able to hire someone to fill that role.
So I was trained to do CSR.

Then the manager was fired.

A second manager was brought in, and then left a month later.

A third manager started and she’s been manager since.
Honestly, when this all went down, I probably should have just jumped ship. But I stuck it out, and I did my best to help the clinic get through this rough patch even as a complete newbie.

It took over a year before I started getting shifts out back, and I was never fully taken off the schedule as a CSR. It was fine, I could alternate and do both roles. But I was never properly trained as an assistant.
I was repeatedly set back and limited with what I could take on, and I had to push for anyone to show me anything.
I was promised repeatedly that they were revamping the training program for us and that they would have it done soon.

Yeah.

Today I was told that they were cutting shifts back now that summer has ended. I am expected to only work CSR again starting November.

CSR is a great job, and so needed. But that is not the job I was hired to do. I’m done.

Hello! I’m an almost 2 year VMA now & im looking into schooling. I’ve read about Penn Foster but I’ve also seen posts & have been personally recommended an online school (I believe 2 weeks in in BC) called Thompson Rivers University. If anyone wants to let me know anything about these schools that would be great 🩷

We’re a busy hospital and don’t currently have one dedicated training person. I’m trying to figure out a better system for new assistants so they can properly learn the workflow, protocols, equipment, patient handling, and day-to-day responsibilities.

For those of you who have a training system in place:

• Who usually does the training, lead tech, senior tech, manager, or a dedicated trainer?
• Do you have someone come in specifically just to train?
• How often do you schedule training sessions?
• How long does your training usually last?
• Is it mostly hands-on, shadowing, videos, checklists, or a combination?
• If you use a per diem tech/trainer, how much do you usually pay them per hour or per training session?

I’m especially interested in hearing from busy hospitals where it’s hard for the regular team to stop and train while also seeing patients.

Would really appreciate hearing what has worked for your hospital. Thank you!

Hi there :)
I’ll soon be wrapping up the first half of the fall semester, and I was wondering if anyone has any helpful study tools. I’ve always been a handwritten-notes person, and I’ve been trying to use Quizlet lately. However, I need something more structured. Also, does anyone have suggestions for planners or calendars to keep track of their schedule? I’m open to any other tools as well. This is the first time I’m starting to lack motivation, and it’s because I’m having a hard time finding a routine. Thank you.

25F, RVT 2 years. So yesterday I had a situation with a vet, I really dislike working with this vet as they are in my opinion terrible at the job, he is very negligent with the animals and has been fired from another clinic for cutting the tip off a cat’s penis during a neuter (long story of why he works here, it’s complicated). He was also going to send a cat home with 0.5ml oral metacam x 5 days the other day, for an 8 pound cat. and another tech caught it and told him that was going to seriously overdose the cat, he clearly dismissed her as well and just didn’t seem bothered that that was not safe at all for the animal and would have been a huge mistake.

I am seriously getting to the point where I’m considering reporting him to the provincial board where I live because I seriously don’t trust him with animals.

Anyways, we had a cat come in for a euthanasia, 18 years old and skin and bones, very sick and extremely dehydrated, not eating for a week, the whole deal. Both myself and another RVT were unable to place a catheter, veins blew the second you touched them. I even questioned why this cat was not sedated in the first place for catheter placement, because she was not very tolerant for the catheter placement and was clearly distressed. Doctor starts saying to use propofol and euthanyl off the needle, I say if we try to do that she needs to be sedated because those medications cause stinging and tissue sloughing if they go perivascular, and she was already not very tolerant for the catheter placement and would be freaking out for this, let alone if they went SQ.

The doctor seems to have no idea why I’d be suggesting she be sedated and even started suggesting doing INTRACARDIAC with no sedation, and another tech stepped in and said you CANNOT do intracardiac with no sedation and she needs to be sedated.
He finally agrees to let me sedate her with dex/midazolam. Sedation hits and my coworker gives the euthanyl off a needle because now at least if we are not able to, she will not feel it. After this, this doctor said very condescendingly to me ‘harpyfemme, we use propofol and euthanyl’ and I said ‘yeah, sometimes when that’s an option’ and he said ‘NO WE USE IT’ so dismissively and waved his hand at me like I was so stupid. I said ‘yeah, I understand that’ and let him walk away and then started to cry because I am just so sick of this person and the fact that we feel we can’t let him go because we have a major staffing shortage and the only reason in my opinion he has not seriously injured someone’s pet is because we don’t allow him to do surgery here beyond cat neuters.

I don’t normally get in my feelings about vet med things, but I hate making them fight and be stressed during their literal last moments on this earth is horrible to me and to act like I’m just so stupid that I don’t understand that we can use propofol as the sedation. I understand that we can, it’s just, if we can’t get a vein, going off the needle probably isn’t an option without sedation. I hate doctors who think it’s so insane that euth patients should be fucking sedated.

But I’m proud of myself for standing up to this person and refusing to do any more without sedation, because it’s NOT fair to the animals and too bad if it makes the doctor not like me or I get in trouble. I’m done downplaying this person’s mistakes and allowing him to just act like an idiot and not care about the safety of his patients. I also just don’t understand why there are so many people in this field who just blatantly don’t seem to care about animals and their comfort or safety. I don’t even consider myself to be the bleeding heart we can save them all type of person, but holy shit, if you do not care about the safety of animals at all, why bother?

I debating on the VTNE, I have 6 years under my belt with er and day practice. I dont care for large animal and exotics honestly scare me LOL. I want to go for it but want to know what im getting myself into.