Kennel tech - veterinary or animal experience?

[WildZoo]

I couldn't find a thread about this though I'm sure there probably is one somewhere. I wanted to ask about this before I apply for a kennel tech job. It would be at a private practice animal hospital and the responsibilities are bathing, walking, feeding, generally taking care of the boarders. There is also the occasionally opportunity to help with restraint for fecal/blood samples and stuff like that. All these responsibilities are overseen by the vet techs and the vet herself. Would this be considered vet experience, or animal experience?

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[Rainheart]

Personally, what I would do, would be to have two separate sections. One for just kennel work under animal experience and the other under veterinary experience where you helped with restraint, etc.

 

[MysteryCat]

Personally, what I would do, would be to have two separate sections. One for just kennel work under animal experience and the other under veterinary experience where you helped with restraint, etc.

This! My kennel job was really a lot assisting, so I always counted that as vet experience, but if yours will be mostly in the kennel, then I'd split it up.

 

[DVMDream]

I worked as a kennel assistant starting out too and honestly, I am going to say that it really depends. My duties did have some assisting the techs involved, but much of it was cleaning/stocking/etc; however I started at a really small hospital and the vet was constantly around and he made an effort to teach me things about vet med as well. I learned about all the different medications, how to restrain, different blood tests, etc, etc, he would even quiz us on these things. So, I say it really depends... while my "duties" involved mostly cleaning I learned a lot about the vet field still and I was still supervised by the vet; I was then moved up to a vet tech later on, but I actually counted all of it as vet experience. So, I would see how much you are learning about vet med/working in a vet clinic and then decide if it should be vet or animal experience from there. That is just my opinion though.

 

[LetItSnow]

I'd count it as veterinary experience.

Are you supervised by a vet?

There's more to 'veterinary experience' then medicine. If you were the business manager working a front office and never touched an animal I'd count that as veterinary experience, too.

 

[WildZoo]

I'd count it as veterinary experience.

Are you supervised by a vet?

There's more to 'veterinary experience' then medicine. If you were the business manager working a front office and never touched an animal I'd count that as veterinary experience, too.

I think this is the big thing that had me leaning more towards veterinary experience. I volunteer at the zoo under the supervision of keepers - not health professionals, therefore not vet experience no matter what I'm doing. But for this potential kennel tech position, I would be reporting to the vet who owns the clinic. It seems to me that it would count as vet experience as much as shadowing would, since it's still getting experience in a veterinary setting with the supervision of a vet.