A Day in the Life of a Vet Tech Student

6 a.m. – Each semester you are required to do two or three weeks of kennel duty (KD). You will perform the basic husbandry duties for the dogs, cats and small animals at the kennel. You are responsible for ensuring they are all fed, all runs, cages and kennels are cleaned, all dogs are walked and that all of the animals have some quality play and cuddle time.

8 a.m. – Four out of five days a week you'll be in class listening to lectures, guest speakers, student presentations and taking tests. The program is hard work and testing is frequent. You'll spend a great deal of time studying but come exam time you already know the material so well that exams are no where near as difficult to study for as with other programs.

Lunch time - This is when many of the VT students gather in the Haley Building lunch room. This may be a time to laugh and carry on or it may be time to study for yet another test or work a KD shift.

1 p.m. – Back to classes for the afternoon. Classes usually finish around 4:30 p.m. but may run late if there is a guest speaker or other event.

Of course, the schedule is completely different for clinic and lab days. Depending on which year of the program you are in, two entire mornings or two entire afternoons per week are set aside for lab and clinic.

Lab – Clinical pathology lab is where the VT student gets to use the microscope and other analysing equipment. Students learn methods in acquisition, assessment and compilation of data from a variety of biological sources - skills that are invaluable in the veterinary practice and an essential part a VT's training.

Clinic – This is where the VT student gets hands-on practice. The VT must learn everything from how to properly restrain an animal for a nail trim to how to manage a patient under general anaesthesia. In the clinic students learn how to perform a physical assessment on several animal species, take radiographs and administer medications and IV fluids. They will also assist in surgery, perform dentistry and learn similar nursing skills to those performed in human medicine. Clinic can be intense as mastery of skills is vital to the animal’s well being so all those hours spent studying the theory in class will pay off here.

Field trips - There are several field trips a year and they always vary. Most involve gaining hands-on experience with species not on campus, although some right here at NSAC. For example, classes sometimes go to the sheep barn and learn how to collect blood samples. There is always a lot of learning and laughter as you learn how to hold the sheep that don't want to participate and how to manage the ones that only want scratches.

5 p.m.  – This is either when you will be working your evening KD hours or your this will be your "free time". However, as a VT student, your "free time" is likely filled with studying, completing assignments, studing and more studying. There is a lot of work, but the skills you are building will lead you to a successful career as a Vet Tech.

It's also important to note that you will be spending one month at the Atlantic Veterinary College in PEI. This month will teach you a great deal about working with large animals, wildlife, exotics and fish. Of course, every experience is different as the patients are unknown until you arrive. However, the AVC staff makes every effort to accommodate NSAC VT students if there is a skill you want to try.