Road to becoming an RVT!

 Welcome back lovelies!

I hope you all are doing swimmingly (and yes I mean swimmingly lol!) This is the blog where I discuss my road to becoming an official RVT. When it really started picking up, how I achieved the schooling for it, my experiences, and where I am now. I hope you’re excited!

When I was a sophomore in highschool we had a college speaker visit my first period class. Up until then I had know idea what a vet tech really was. I knew there were “nurses” in the veterinary field to assist the doctors, but I didn’t know what all they do or that they are called vet techs. This speaker was for the International Business College in Indianapolis and she went over all the programs they had to offer. This was a technical college so it was more accelerated than a traditional 4 year college. Their biggest program they offer is the Vet Tech Institute where you learn everything to become an RVT. It really caught my eye when she was going over a brief description about the program. I knew I wanted to help animals and this was going to be the way to do it.

I did more research throughout highschool on different programs that offer the education and training of becoming a vet tech. I was stuck between Purdue and IBC. I liked Purdue because I would get that traditional college experience, but on the other hand, if I went to IBC then I could finish much sooner and not have to take all the gen ed classes that I would have to take at Purdue. I decided to go tour both schools my senior year and get a feel at which one I would be more comfortable at. When I toured IBC, I liked it, but it did not blow me away. It’s not your traditional college. It was just a small building with a few class rooms. One thing I loved though was that they keep real shelter dogs and cats so we can have hands on training, not just 24/7 text books. They didn’t have dorms like a normal college, but there was an apartment place across the street that they would rent to students as a dorm fee. At Purdue it was so big, nice, and full of energy. It was kind of overwhelming at just how big it was and all the requirements for their program. We toured the whole campus and by the end of it I was lost, but I did love seeing all the other students be together and so care free. 

I weighed my options for the next few weeks but I knew I couldn’t take too long or I would miss registration deadlines. After a hard consideration I decided to go with IBC. I figured with their program I would get all the same amount of schooling and be done by the time I was 19. I wouldn’t have to take really any gen ed classes that I already took in highschool, plus like I mentioned earlier, I get a ton of hands on work. To this day I do not regret my decision. I do at times wish I went to Perdue because I did miss the campus life, but with everything going on now I am happy I am not in school anymore. Another thing that pushed me more towards IBC is the fact I didn’t have to have SAT or ACT test scores. In my opinion, I saw that as one less stressful test I would have to take. 

Once I made my decision, we headed back to IBC to talk with financial and registration. That was a long and tedious process that I honestly don’t remember much of (I mainly just autopilotted my way through that process.) We signed some paperwork, got some loans, and I took their application test to see if I could get in. On that test I remember having to write a short essay as to why I wanted to be in the program. I wrote that what drove me to wanting to pursue this as a career was simply Reggie. Once he got hit by that car, it was like my whole perspective on dogs and their health changed. I did not like not knowing how I could help. They can not simply tell us what hurts and why, so I was determined to learn how I could figure it out and how I could help. 

I was so nervous for the application test. I thought it was going to be a test you schedule an appointment for and come back to take. That was not the case. Right when we visited to get started they had me take the test. The scariest part was that I had to wait like two weeks before I even knew if I got accepted. Longest two weeks ever! It was a relief once I was notified that I got in. I remember opening the letter and confetti saying “Congratulations!” fell out. I was so ready for this next chapter.

This program was 18 months of straight schooling...no breaks. I would be going Monday through Friday 8:00am-3:30pm. We got the occasional breaks like for holidays, but not week long breaks like we did in highschool. I was excited to be moving out, living in an apartment, and getting roommates. When we toured the school they told us it would be a one bedroom apartment and 2-3 people would stay there. When my letter arrived saying who I was rooming with, it told me I was going to be in a two bedroom apartment with 4 other girls! I don’t know about you but that is a lot of girls to stick together. My first day of college was going to begin in the beginning of July of 2018...that meant I only had one month of summer break after graduation. It was fun, I was still so eager to start that to me it felt like it didn’t come soon enough. Moving in was the stressful part. It all had to be done a day before school started and we had 5 people total trying to bring everything in. We eventually after a couple weeks got all settled in. It was time to start my path officially.

Now i’m not going to really go into detail about my roommates. We all did relatively good being stuck together for the majority of the 18 months. I’m still really good friends with 2 of 4. I did have a fall out with one towards the last couple months, and our 5th roommate switched a lot so I never got the chance to get close to them. We did have a 5th roommate who stayed for a few months and I still love her to this day. She did unfortunately have to move out in the middle of the program but always stayed a good friend to us and did finish the program. Overall I had a wonderful time with my roommates, although not all good, I don’t regret it. I will always cherish all of our wild (and I mean wild) experiences! (If either of you two are reading this, I want to say, “Hi and I love and miss you guys!”)

We had this thing called “kennel duty.” Kennel duty was where either before or after school once a week we would come in and take care of the dogs and cats that were staying at the school. That would consist of taking them on a walk, cleaning their kennels, fresh food and water, cleaning cat boxes, new blankets, and etc. We also had to come in one either Saturday or Sunday once every other week. It got laborious at some points, especially when we had more animals to do then people able to help. I had Tuesday morning kennel duty. Every Tuesday morning I would have to meet at the school at 6:00am to help with everything. The stressful part about morning kennel is that you have to be done by 8:00am because classes start. If you had an evening kennel then it didn’t start till 4ish and you had all night if it took that long. As much as I hated getting up at 5:00am every Tuesday, it was nice having to be done by a certain time. My roommates all had evening kennel so there were some nights they didn’t get back until 7 or 8 at night. As for weekend kennels, I only had to go every other Sunday morning. Weekend kennel was the same as weekday kennel. Weekend kennels also started later in the mornings since we didn’t have classes. I didn’t have to be there till 8:00am which was nice. Let me tell you, kennel was not fun when it would rain or snow. We would still have to walk the dogs in no matter what weather that way they could go potty. I was with the cats mainly. Every once in a while I would be a dog walker, but most kennels I was caring for the cats. I enjoyed the cats, there were more of them to do cleaning wise, but it went faster than the dog cleaning. 

Classes were a mixture of fun and stressful. I enjoyed all my teachers and miss them greatly. Since this was an accelerated program, our classes would last 8 weeks then we would start a new schedule. That means midterms the first 4 weeks and a final in the last 8 weeks. That was overwhelming, constantly finishing one large test to take another. With this program there were no breaks. Always had homework and always had a test to study for. We also had some classes we would only go to on certain days, but on those days the class lasted 3 hours. While sitting in the class it was relatively fun. The teachers always tried to make it a great time, easy learning, and hands on learning also. I was always taking notes during class. We would get a powerpoint packet of all our slides the teacher went over and I would basically highlight the whole thing. I also rewrote EVERYTHING. As homework for myself, I would go back through the notes and rewrite it all. If the teacher said something then it was written down. Yeah… I was that kid! It’s a tough program and everyone tells you that from the beginning. Missing one day of class is equivalent to a week. Plus if you missed any tests then you couldn’t make them up. If you knew you weren’t going to be there then you had to take it in advance. Also there was no collecting late homework because it always had to be on time. You can probably see why I went to such extremes to make sure I remembered everything and didn’t fail. I went through 30 pens and 25 highlighters within that whole 18 months. I always made sure to do my all the homework the night it was assigned. That way I could have whatever free time I could squeeze out of the busy schedule. This program took dedication. I would use every study tool in the book from flash cards, to quizlet, to rewriting, and etc.

Each 8 weeks brought something fun to the table. For every 8 weeks it would be called a “term.” Our first couple terms were getting used to the program and the rules of the school. We didn’t have as many hands on skills but mainly just working from books. Term 1 and Term 2 were mainly learning the basics like anatomy, normal values, breeds, dosage calculations, and etc. Once those terms were over we started to dive into more diverse categories. This is where we started taking lab classes and learning to read blood, urine, and parasites under a microscope. Lab was my favorite part of the whole program. I love running lab work in the clinics. We would also start learning about other species like reptiles, horses, birds, goats, cows, and so on. I enjoyed learning it, but my main focus was cats and dogs because I knew I wanted to work in a small animal clinic. A large animal clinic is where they would take care of farm animals (horses, cows, sheep, goats,…) overall I know some basics about other animals, but the information regarding dogs and cats stuck the most. Term 7 and Term 8 are the big hands on terms. In term 7, we would once a week go to a farm and practice blood draws and vaccinations on large animals. I had to give a horse an oral dewormer and that horse nearly lifted me off the ground! Great times! In term 8, that was our surgery term. I was TERRIFIED of surgery term because that is life or death right there. The role of a vet tech is basically everything a doctor can do EXCEPT prescribe medicine, diagnose, prognose, and perform surgery. A vet tech CAN anesthetize, assist in surgery, perform routine dental (cleaning teeth,) take vitals, and more. So being the anesthetist scared the living daylights out of me. I was going to be responsible for putting the animal to sleep, monitoring the vitals to make sure they are stable, then bringing them back up and awake. Surgery term ended up being really fun and not as scary as I thought. I actually ended up really enjoying it and doing it a lot once I was out on my own. I would have surgery once a week for the next 8 weeks, and I would have a different role each week. Sometimes I would be the anesthetist, sometimes the circulator, sometimes the primary assistant (the one who assists the doctor during the surgery,) and then the pre-op (which got everything ready for everyone else before the surgery.) That term was the term I studied the most for because I simply can’t go in there not knowing at all what I am supposed to do. I almost forgot to mention what we did on our surgeries! You remember how I said we used shelter dogs and cats? Well during surgery term we would make sure all of them are up to date on vaccines, at a healthy weight, and spayed/neutered before returning to the shelter for adoption. It was a win/win. The animals helped us with our education and we helped them get to healthy! 

Finally our last term was our externship. Now an externship is the exact same thing as an internship, but we aren’t going to school while working. We had to work at a clinic for two months as an intern and that counted as our grade. The clinic we chose to extern at would send in weekly reports on how we were doing and if we were meeting all the criteria. In return that would be our grade instead of getting paid. We also had to hit a certain amount of hours each week. We would need to work 30 hours a week at our externship clinic. While on externship we would stay at home, so that meant my roommates and I would have to separate. It was a bittersweet time. I did my externship at Binford Pet Wellness Clinic in Indy. I’m not going to go into too much detail there because it was not a very good experience for me. Good clinic, but not good with teaching new techs in the making. (disclaimer; this was in my opinion for my personal experience with them. (Disclaimer; this is just in my own personal experience. I don’t speak on the behalf of others. Thank you!) Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed seeing everything we learned in school actually happening in front of me. That was the best part of externship. Externship went all the way through to the end of December. However I was set to graduate in the middle of November. Basically we would walk across the stage, grab our “diplomas,” and have an overall normal graduation. After the actual graduation ceremony we still did our externships for around another month. We didn’t receive our actual diplomas until we successfully completed externship. I graduated with my associates in Veterinary Science in just 18 months at the age of 19! 

One thing I did almost forget to mention is, once you graduate that does not make you an automatic RVT. You must have the schooling in order to become one. Once you graduate you are eligible to take your national boards, the VTNE, and if you pass then you become a registered veterinary technician. As of right now that is what I am in the process of trying to complete. When I worked at my last clinic, I was technically considered a “Veterinary Assistant.” When you become an RVT you basically get a higher pay raise showing you’ve had schooling for the job. Anyone can become a veterinary assistant, but you must have the education to become a veterinary technician. To take you boards you have to sign up with the AAVSB and it costs around $350 to take the test. If you fail then you do not get a refund and it will cost that much again to retake it. The test is roughly 170 questions and is 3 hours long. 

It is always best to try and take the boards right when you graduate because everything is fresh in your mind. However for me, I did not do that. When I finished with college completely and graduated, that is when COVID first arose in the USA. Everything was changing and new protocols were being thrown from left and right. Events were getting canceled, places closing, and dates changed. That terrified me. My biggest fear was paying for this huge test and it being canceled or being moved and I end up missing it. I wanted to wait until everything either calmed down or they finally developed a new system with COVID protocols. That is where I am today basically. 

I briefly discussed in a previous blog about my experience at my first actual clinic job. I worked at a Banfield Pet Hospital for around 6 months. Within those 6 months it was a wonderful time. I loved utilizing my schooling tools and learning new tricks to previous tools. Oh and getting to work with puppies and kittens was pretty great too! I would get to see so many cute dogs and cats come in everyday. Some did not like coming to the vet so it made it a little difficult, but I understand, I wouldn’t like an unknown place either if I was in their paws...get it ;) While working at Banfield I got to get a lot of practice in assisting in surgeries and dentals. I loved the days I was scheduled for surgery. The day always went so much faster and smoother, plus after surgery term I learned to really enjoy it. On the days I was not on surgery I would take room appointments. Room appointments are basically when you bring your pet in for routine visits or if they are sick. I am the person who meets you and gathers all the history before the doctor comes in. If we collect any samples or run any tests on your animal then I was the one to do all that. I would do the lab work or x-rays and present the results to the doctor for diagnosis. Once diagnosed and the doctor prescribed medications, I would put the meds together and give them to you. It was a lot of work, but was totally worth it if it meant your pet was safe and getting better. There were cases where it would be heartbreaking seeing them in pain, but one thing I would have to remind myself is at least we are doing the steps to make them better. 

*Disclaimer; this section is touching on a sensitive topic, euthanasia. If you want to skip over it I completely understand, just skip to the next section. I want you to know I love you all and I’m here if you ever need someone to talk to. I wanted to stay real with you guys and show you the hard part of being a tech* The role of a vet tech isn’t always easy. The hardest cases are the ones where the pet is put down. Euthanasia is NEVER an easy job, and it’s a room no tech or doctor really wants to have to take. It’s hard to not cry for yourself when you're the nurse or doctor in that room. You feel sympathy for the owners and the pet. Most of the time a pet was presented for a euthanasia because they were terminally ill or in pain, and in that case all you can do is pray for the pet and family and know that they are not suffering anymore. The term “euthanasia” means “A good death.” It is a humane death if it means your pet is physically suffering.  I want you all to know something if you are in the position of trying to decide if it’s the time or not...I understand and I’m so terribly sorry. I know it is not a fun or easy decision and you might not know if it is the right time or not, but one thing my teachers and previous techs always taught me was that when it is time your pet will show you. Trust in them, love them, and cherish every moment. They will always be with you in your heart. 

When I left Banfield it was a very tough decision to make. I had loved the new family I had made there, and still do to this day. My original plan when I first started working there, after COVID had just hit, was to save enough money to pay for the test and a subscription to vet tech prep to help me study. In that last month I worked there I finally purchased the subscription to the studying tool. I’m going to be honest and say I didn’t really study a whole lot. That was a rough patch in my life and I was working 40+ hours a week. Whatever time I had to myself I used to relax and try to regroup with myself. While I was on a leave of absence I decided to finally take the leap and signed up to take my boards. At the time when I did that I had full intentions of stay at the clinic. I still didn’t study as much because that is when I started to make cupcakes. I signed up for the boards in August and I’m scheduled to take them in December. After coming up with the idea of starting Cupcakes & Canines, I started to focus on my studying so you guys would know that you pup is safe with a certified RVT! Plus it would be a nice fall back if I pick up a part time job at a clinic because then I will have a pay raise. I finally quit my job at the clinic to pursue my cupcake and dog care business full time. While doing that I have been studying for my boards every day for an hour a day till the day of my test. 

Now we are fully up to the present. To this day I am still studying to pass my boards, and let me tell you I AM NERVOUS!! I’ve been studying like crazy and I feel brain fried! I’m ready to take the boards but I’m not at the same time. I know all I can do is keep studying and trusting my knowledge. I always tell everyone I meet, “You got this!” Now I just have to keep repeating it to myself. 

That is my road to finally trying to be an RVT. I wish I had done it sooner right after college, but everything happens for a reason and I didn’t want to risk anything. I hope to further my future RVT stories as being an actual RVT. As for now, I just got to keep studying, preparing, and making cupcakes! I hope you all enjoyed the road with me. I love getting to tell a story and hopefully helping or inspiring others! I know it wasn’t the shortest but that is because it was a hectic 2-3 years of my life. That’s it for this blog! Continue having a wonderful day and remember…”You got this!”

Xoxo, Cupcakes & Canines

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