What Is a Veterinary Technician? | National Veterinary Technician Week

This year, National Veterinary Technician Week runs through October 13th - 19th. Veterinary Technicians are like nurses, but for animals. Unlike human nurses we are skilled in a much broader range or tasks and roles within a veterinary hospital.

I'm helping syringe feed a sick rabbit in this picture.

It's actually kind of hard to make a complete list of everything that Veterinary Technicians do. There is just so much to list! Instead, it might be simpler to just list what they are not allowed to do.

• Prescribe medication
• Perform surgery
• Diagnose a patient

That list is pretty short. These 3 tasks are up to the veterinarians themselves, but without the assistance of a good veterinary technician or two it would be pretty hard to accomplish these things. The main role of a vet tech is to perform technical duties. This way, a veterinarian has time to do other important tasks that they need to do. 

Here's a good list of what many veterinary technicians do on a daily basis. There is more that could be added to this list, but these are some of the main things that vet techs do. 

If anyone wants to share the above image this week, be my guest. And if you'd like to show your veterinary technicians a little appreciation this week they love breakfast foods, coffee, snacks, thoughtful cards, or a simple "thank you".