Veterinary Assistant

Veterinary Assistant

The veterinary assistant is a vital part to the vet clinic and overall shelter. Flexibility and adaptability are keys to success as you will be providing a spectrum of care to shelter animals and owned pets through our community outreach programs. Within the vet clinic you learn and develop the skills to provide the needed care for surgery patients, daily preventative needs, ongoing medical treatments, and overall care for isolation or advanced treatment patients. The vet clinic provides 365 days of care to the shelter animals. Additionally, the responsibilities of a veterinary assistant extend outside the clinic with our community outreach programs and the need for professional collaboration with other Wayside team members.

The approach the shelter veterinary team takes is one of exploring realistic treatment options, seeking improvements in standards that are sustainable. Flexibility and adaptability to meet the many changing variables, and responsibility to make teamwork and supportive collaboration a priority.

Veterinary Assistant Responsibilities:

• Daily assessment of medical items and/or general population issues by running reports and entering items.
• Performing vaccinations, medicating animals, collecting and running lab work tests (includes blood and feces), and microchipping.
• Safe and effective restraint of animals for examinations, procedures, and sedation.
• Primary responsibilities within the surgical area, including intubation and sterile preparation of patients, monitoring of surgical patients, recovery and extubation of patients. There are opportunities for further surgical experience after mastery of skills and with demonstrated interest in growth.
• Review, treatment, and collection for testing of ringworm patients.
• Complete care and cleaning of animals within our canine isolation area and/or animals housed within the vet clinic.
• General and deep cleaning of all areas of the vet clinic and isolation on a scheduled rotation.
• Filling and logging of various medications prescribed by the veterinarians and for surgery patients.
• Calm, professional communication with members of the public for post adoption concerns or general questions, and with other members of the staff and volunteers.
• Calm, professional communication about discharging or common shelter conditions to adopters, other staff members, and volunteers.
• An interest in and demonstration of growth over time in skills and abilities.
• Assistance with and support of all Vet Clinic Tasks.
• Comply with all of Wayside Waifs policies and best practices.
• Additional tasks as necessary.

Position Requirements:

• Schedule of 5 days at 8 hours during weekdays with varying start and finish times to account for a 365 day operation. This will include 1 weekend day at 8 hours.
• Rotation of holiday or inclement weather coverage with all other clinic staff.
• Education = High school diploma or GED.
• Preferred experience with companion animals.
• Preferred 6+ months of animal experience.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and good problem solving skills.
• Ability to work with people and animals in a variety of high-stress and emotional situations while maintaining a composed and professional demeanor.
• Physical Requirements:
• Must be able to lift 50 pounds to waist height for various tasks.
• Repetitive bending, kneeling, stopping, and similar movements required.
• Must be able to physically restrain animals weighing up to and including 125 pounds.
• Able to work with exposure to wet and/or humid condition and outside weather conditions.
• Must be able to perform a significant amount of standing during a typical day, exposure to fumes, airborne particles, and possible zoonotic diseases.
• Noise level is moderate to high.
• Exposure to animal waste.