Veterinary Assistant Job Description, Key Duties and Responsibilities

This post provides complete information on the job description of a veterinary assistant, to help you learn the duties, tasks, and responsibilities that they typically do.

What Does a Veterinary Assistant Do?

A veterinary assistant is a staff whose role is to assist the veterinarian in administering care to animals and also assist owners of pets brought to the clinic in answering their various questions and concerns.

The Job description of the veterinary assistant is to ensure that all animals brought to the clinic are in good condition by facilitating good hygiene and feeding them regularly for a healthy living.

They also help in administering medication to these animals as prescribed by the veterinarian.

The assistant will constantly clean the animal environment to ensure that it’s danger free for the pets, and apply disinfectants to kill germs that could infect them with diseases, and also bathe the animals to keep them clean.

As a means to make the job of the veterinarian easier, the assistant prepares animals for testing by collecting their blood, urine and tissue samples needed to carry out test for diagnosis, and performs the testing in the laboratory under the veterinarian’s supervision.

In the event of surgical procedures being carried out on animals, veterinary assistants ensure that surgical equipments are duly sterilize to avoid further transmission of diseases to the animals from contaminated equipment.

After surgery, it’s the responsibility of the assistant to keep a close eye on the animals, to observe how well they are recuperating.

Often times, the veterinary assistant is the first point of contact in the clinic, and as such, welcomes pet owners in a comfortable manner, and inquires the reason for their visit.

They provide answers to clients’ worries about their animals and general pet care, and direct them to the veterinarian for further consultation.

Veterinary Assistant Job Description Example/Sample/Template

The daily work activities of most veterinary assistants consists of the duties, tasks, and responsibilities contained in the job description example given below, which are key to the industry.

• Keep clear medical records of all animals attended to at the clinic and answer all inquiries made by clients at the front desk
• Carryout laboratory testing of blood, fecal, urine and other subjects
• Ensure that animals are well prepared for surgery and medical examination
• Administer medication to animals, facilitate dispensing of medication and also develop X-rays
• Ensure that the clinic environment is clean and sanitized, clean animal cages and sanitize all surgical tools to prevent contamination
• Carefully handle animals during visit to the clinic for testing, injection and other clinical procedures that they may undergo
• Make available drugs prescribed by the veterinarian to the patients and instruct pet owners on how to administer them to their animals at home
• Monitor patients after surgical procedures to ensure that they are recuperating well and report negative changes observed to the veterinarian
• Enlighten and educate pet owners on treatment, surgical procedures and medication for their pets
• Ensure that pets are properly fed as instructed by the veterinarian, and keep their feeding utensils clean to enhance good hygiene

Veterinary Assistant Job Description for Resume

The above job description sample can be found valuable in writing a resume for the veterinary assistant job, especially in making the employment history part of the resume.

Veterinary Assistant Requirements: Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities for Career Success

The skills, knowledge and abilities mostly required to work as veterinary assistants by employers include the following:

• Must be passionate about animals
• Have good human relations to attend to visitors at the front desk and pet owners
• Have a recognized qualification in animal science
• Being patient and calm
• Must be physically fit to retrain pets