Veterinary Nurse: What They Do & Why You Should Consider the Career

Life as a veterinary nurse

Published on: May 13, 2019

During the month of May we celebrate Veterinary Nursing Awareness month; and I’d like to give you an insight into what we do. 

It is 35 years since I qualified as a Veterinary Nurse; many things have changed in that time.  When I started, we used to wear dresses, aprons, frilly armbands and hats which were very impractical for crawling around in kennels!  

The job description of a Veterinary Nurse is primarily to assist the Vet which has remained unchanged, especially in the last 8 weeks, with owners not being allowed in the surgery; every Vet needs an assistant. 

I think many people’s idea of our job is that we cuddle animals all day; certainly, this is an enjoyable part of the day, who doesn’t like to cuddle a puppy? This is however a very small part of what we do.  I certainly hadn’t appreciated when I started out how much time is spent talking to owners, reassuring, advising and hopefully making theirs and their pets’ life easier. 

In fact, the job is a very varied one:  from cleaning kennels and surgical kits, monitoring anaesthetic during surgery or being a scrub assistant to taking blood samples, giving i/v fluids or clipping hair matts and nails. Preparing food for poorly pets in our care, sometimes tube- feeding and often spending many hours tempting animals to eat. It is such a joy when they take a first mouthful.  Dressing wounds and bandaging often a long job, but very satisfying when the patient can be signed off. 

I am still amazed by the scrapes that animals get themselves into and some experiences over the years have stuck in my mind. One of the most memorable happened in my training practice when I remember a couple coming in worried their cat had swallowed a ring. We carried out an x-ray and there it was a diamond engagement ring! 

I have been privileged to be able to get close to wildlife, having a kingfisher bought in was a real treat, you never normally get a close-up view of these special birds.  Whilst I have been at Shepton Vets I have also had the opportunity to release a Buzzard back into the wild and watch it fly away; quite often these creatures are passed on to wildlife centres for rehabilitation. 

There are of course bad days when things don’t go well and patients don’t go home, it is good to have the support of colleagues at these sad times and also to share the joy when a long-term patient is finally well enough to go home.    

No day is ever the same and even after all these years I still learn something every day. 

Nurse Sue

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