Veterinary Technician (Vet Tech) job description
265 verified openings in Veterinary Technicians
Anesthesia heads a vet tech's task list: giving it under a veterinarian's direction, then watching the animal's response so the dose can be adjusted. The rest of the day is nursing care, lab work, and restraint, mostly in private clinics and animal hospitals, with some technicians in research labs, colleges, and humane societies. BLS reports technologists and technicians on one line. Its median was $47,380 in May 2025, or $22.78 an hour. The bottom tenth earned under $35,710 and the top tenth above $63,180.
Core Duties and Responsibilities
After surgery, technicians care for and monitor animals as they recover. They keep the controlled drug inventory and its log books, run blood counts, urinalyses, and fecal tests, and prepare and give the medications, vaccines, and treatments a veterinarian prescribes. Restraining animals for exams, giving emergency first aid and resuscitation, and cleaning and sterilizing instruments all rate high in O*NET's survey. So does dental work: cleaning, polishing, and extracting teeth. Enemas, catheters, ear flushes, and intravenous feedings fall to the technician too, along with filling prescriptions and labeling samples for the lab.
Common Skills and Technologies
O*NET scores active listening and critical thinking highest among skills, followed by reading comprehension and speaking. The Handbook stresses a steady hand for dental work, anesthesia, and x-rays, and the strength to lift and hold animals, since this occupation has one of the highest injury rates of any. Microsoft Office tools are what postings name for software, with medical software carrying the patient record.
Education, Training, and Career Path
Job Zone Three. Technicians usually hold a two-year associate's degree in veterinary technology, and technologists a four-year bachelor's. O*NET's survey answers spread wider: about 41 percent named a high school diploma as the requirement and 26 percent an associate's degree. Most states require an exam, usually the Veterinary Technician National Exam, a 170-question test scored on a 200 to 800 scale with 425 to pass. Graduating from an accredited program is the usual condition for sitting it. States then certify, register, or license the credential, which is why CVT, RVT, and LVT all appear on name badges. Veterinary nurse turns up among reported titles too, but no state has adopted it as the legal title. Specialist academies in anesthesia, dentistry, emergency and critical care, and other fields offer the next step, and the Handbook projects about 13,400 openings a year.
Sources: O*NET 30.0, 29-2056.00 Veterinary Technologists and Technicians, https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/29-2056.00. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, 29-2056, https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Veterinary Technologists and Technicians, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/veterinary-technologists-and-technicians.htm. American Association of Veterinary State Boards, https://www.aavsb.org/students-exams/veterinary-technician-national-exam/. National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America, https://navta.site-ym.com/page/credentialing.