CCJ21016

See, this kind of thing is why so many internet experts think you can just dart an animal and he or she will just drop. Huuuuge personal pet peeve.

It drives me crazy when I see all these people getting IV injections in some random place in the arm (and sometimes neck) with the syringe at a 90 degree angle! Really? Has no one on the set ever had their blood taken? Maybe it's easier to film...I don't know.

Only if you're one of 'those' nurses. I had one who treated her dog's arthritis with Aleve. Dogs don't process nsaids the same way we do and it took immediate and aggressive treatment to save his kidneys. Unfortunately most vet techs have many similar stories. For some reason nurses have developed a reputation for trying to treat their pets like small furry people, and believe they know better than the veterinarian and their staff, sometimes with tragic results. On the other hand, some of my absolute favorite clients are nurses!

Thank you for saying that! Of course I would give my patients the best care possible, I couldn't live with myself otherwise.

Thank you for the advice, it is much appreciated! Luckily I have been working a very flexible part-time job on the side so that should help some, but I think you're right that my full-time job would have to go. Especially since I want the option of continuing my education later so I need to get good grades. However, I know that returning to school is going to be a major financial hardship for my family so I've been researching the heck out of it. Fortunately for me, I live in a rural midwestern state so the job market isn't as tight as it could be. Plus I think my interest is going to be in psych (thank you veterinary clients!) and this area seems to have good prospects for that specialty. But there's also a lot of long-term care facilities around as well who are willing to take on new grads. I'm not going into this as a starry-eyed optimist, I just want to know that I can feed and clothe my kid and maybe even take a vacation every once in a while.

That's pretty much where I'm at. I've been a registered veterinary technician for 15 years. My husband actually makes less than I do, but we're easily amused so we've always gotten by. But we just had a kid and it is just not working. Not that I would consider nursing soley for the money, but it is a rather large consideration.

I've been lurking here for a while, and I've seen a few posts by former veterinary technicians who have made the jump to nursing. Are any of you still around? I'm curious how you like nursing. How is the job market where you are? How would you compare being a vet tech to being a nurse? What specialty did you end up in? How many of your skills transfer, if any? If you had it to do again, would you have stayed in vet med? I think that's a start. :)