Quote Originally Posted by luckies4me
As much as people don't want to believe this, 90% of vets are in it for the money, not to help the animals. It's horrible.
I've seen similar comments like this all over the place and I've come to the conclusion that the area I live in must either have more than their share of good vets (cares for the animals) or everyone else has more than their share of bad vets (money grubbers).

Not having worked at all the other vet hospitals and clinics in our area, but just going by what me, my family, and our clients have experienced at other vet hospitals & clinics in our area...I'd have to say our ratio is more like 40-60% or better, meaning 40% that may be gouging prices with varying levels of care for the patients, and 60% that care for the animals and only charge what is necessary to stay in business and make a living, going above and beyond in patient care.

From all the bad vet things I've read around here, I hope I never have to move out of the area because I don't think I could handle the horror stories I hear about on here about vets. Not that we don't have a few of them in our area too, but not so many of them compared to the flip side of the coin.

On the vet tech thing...

I've only ever been called a tech by the big boss man when it comes to seminars. Some seminars I'm very interested in, or the boss thinks would be beneficial to me, but are limited to techs & vets only. So in those situations for a day I get to be a tech in name only. Once in a while some of the info is a bit over my head but mostly I understand the seminars and get alot of useful info from them.

On the job I'm often a 'jack of all trades' meaning I help out all over the hospital if we are short handed, someone is sick or on vacation or something like that.

Most of the time I'm just doing vet assistant stuff which does include helping in surgery. I can't operate on anything, I can't do dental cleanings, I can't do the anesthesia, I can't do blood draws. I can't do basically anything involving poking or cutting into an animal with anything, well except for nail clippers on toenails or the hair clipper on fur. I do get to clean out ears on anesthetized animals though, just the basic cleaning like you'd do at home, I can't do ear flushes or stuff like that. Other times I only assist in the exam rooms or the lab. On a good day I get to do all at some point during my shift.

Of course there are days I get the people who keep insisting I look at their animal for what they percieve is a 'simple' thing (which usually isn't) and I have to keep telling them, 'trust me you don't want ME diagnosing/treating your animal, I'm not qualified, you'll have to wait for an open appt. slot for the vet to see the pet'.

Although I confess when I'm working the lab or exam room I like to guess what the problem is just to see if I'm right. Sometimes I'm dead on including which med to treat, sometimes I'm so far off it reinforces the reason I'm not a vet! LOL