Need help on how to become vet tech./ass't

[kiarasmom]

Hello! I'm looking for any advice/wisdom on becoming a vet tech/ass't. I live in Ohio and none of the universities I've checked into here offer this. You can go into veterinary medicine but I don't think I could do that. I already have a degree in journalism so I'm not considered a traditional student. Does anybody know if the on-line degree programs are any good? Are they worth it? I can't borrow any money under government loans because I'm still paying off the first ones so I'd have to pay for it myself. Can anyone out here give me some ideas? I've given resumes to all the local vets but they're not hiring right now. I have six rescued dogs, six cats and two birds so I have quite a bit of experience in animal care and different diseases. Please let me know if anybody can give me some direction. Thanks!
Terri

[head]

in all honesty to be an assistant you need absolutely zero experience. I find this a bit disturbing myself being a RVT but that is just the way the veterinary buisness works. The online courses and those courses offered on television through correspondance are useless as well, they don't teach you half of what you should be learning and basically just focus on the health basis (i.e. this is how you bathe a cat, this is how you restrain.) I know many states do not even have a governing body or any regulations for veterinary technicians so my best suggestion to you is this-contact the AAHA (they have a website) and they should be able to point you in the right direction for your state.

As a side note-if you haven't taken any sciences back in highschool you might want to upgrade those courses. although you can apply as a mature student-the basics of pharmacology, anatomy, and physiology are things that you should have learned in science in highschool

[kiarasmom]

Thank you for responding. I will check that website and see if I can find out anything. It seems all the vets around here hire high school students for some reason (maybe family?). I really want to do this because I love animals so much. I also am volunteering through my vet's office for Sierra's Haven, a no-kill shelter they are building locally. I've helped with raffles and yard sales, but they haven't completed the facility yet so I'm not actually working with animals. You sound pretty knowledgeable about this. I would love to talk to you more so if you can please contact me at Tfportsmouth@aol.com. I took all the accelerated classes in high school (including physics and chemistry) but have honestly probably forgotten most of that. Journalism majors weren't required to have many of those type of courses. LOL!