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Messages - slj84
16
« on: July 05, 2016, 05:07:49 PM »
Ask to volunteer without paying for school. Here most vets don't want registered techs anyway and train their own.
It's great your wanting to volunteer like that. I am sure someone would want your time even if they didn't. Call different rescues and vets.
Depends on the clinic, and the laws in their state on what registered vs non registered can do. Ohio is a bit lax vs some other states. With the NAVTA pushing for all states to recognize us as one name (they are apparently wanting veterinary nurse which I'm not sure how because human nurses have the title protected) I think they will also be pushing for clear laws to define what a "tech" vs "assistant" can do, which will force clinics to hire RVT/LVT/CVT instead of training a new hire. Which is good on one aspect because it will help increase pay, but on the other I have meet many wonderful people who are not registered that are amazing, that would either have to stop or goto school. It's going to be messy once this all start to happen, and we won't see changes for a few years but they are happening. Years ago I would of said the same, start out as a assistant and if you really love it and feel you want the RVT after you name go for it. Now if I get asked that with all the changes starting to happen I just recommend looking into tech school. They would either be forced into it in the future or have to stop a job they otherwise may love. I would of never guessed how much politics there are in the vet world, it's crazy! Sukey your not alone in the work abuse. Sadly it happens all too much in the veterinary community. I've been lucky that other then the three months I worked in a bad environment at that shelter I've had two great clinics in 9 years. When I started getting treated like a working machine at my last clinic without them really seeming the care they were burning me out I decided I needed a change. It's sad how this is becoming a bad trend when there is already so much that is emotionally pulling on you in the line of work. I have a bad back and have decided if I can't tech I'm getting out in the far future, once my back can't handle it. I absolutely love what I do but eventually physically and emotionally I won't be able to anymore and I really don't want to do practice manager or reception jobs. Their jobs are equally as draining.
17
« on: June 30, 2016, 05:06:34 PM »
I am a Registered Vet Tech. It was a two year degree and I had to take exam to actually get my registered status. You can also get a bachelors in some states or become specialty in a certain field. You also need to do so many hours (depending on state) of continuing Ed, but there is so many fun conferences for that! I will say I love my job and cannot see myself doing anything else at the moment, but kellyponyfeathers is right the pay is very little even being registered. The NAVTA is working on getting the same name for all LVT/CVT/RVT across the USA and hopefully start getting us more recognition and pay, but that's a long ways down the road.
I started school in 2006, graduated in 2008. I did a lot of my internship in shelter medicine and loved it. So that's where I looked for my first job. I lasted 3 months in shelter medicine, the fit there was not right for me. The people were back stabbing and incredibly difficult to get along, but I actually loved what I did in general.
I then switched to private small practice. I fell in love with where I worked and who I worked for and had close friendships with my coworkers. After 6 years there things slowly started to change in a direction that I felt was unhealthy for me. So I found another small animal practice and that's currently where I'm at.
Too say it's a easy job would be a lie. Veterinary medicine is one of the top fields for suicide sadly. You are mentally, physically and emotionally drained at times. Add low pay to it and it's a tough field to be in. But other times the job is so fulfilling. If you do decide to go this route, find a place where people lift you up in your career. So many people get so stressed in this field that people start to tear each other down and it's a terrible cycle and drives people into burn out and compassion fatigue.
So my recommendation is goto to different places and shadow for a few days. Get a feel of what clinic life is like. It's not for everyone, so many people only see a small fraction what I do and they think I just stand and hold the animals all day. Or "play with puppies and kittens" all day as I've been told. But if it is something you find you have a passion for go for it. I will warn you though it does consume you, it's not just a job or career for me, it's part of who I am.
18
« on: March 09, 2016, 04:34:26 PM »
I work in the veterinary world so I'll put in my two cents, it's honestly just my opinion on food. It's a hot subject and everyone has their opinion, honestly though as long as your pet does well on the food it's on that's what matters most.
Purina has different grades of food, different price ranges and different qualities of food. Purina does a lot of research on their foods. I feed my own pets purina prescription foods. My cat Binx has explosive diarrhea on any food other the purina EN. He's been tested for lots of different things even irritable bowel with no real answers. Jasper my other kitty eats it because I can't risk Binx getting into any other brands of food. They are very healthy, great weights, shiny hair and yearly bloodwork is perfect. Jasper was on Fromm when he was a baby, and did great on Fromm.
My dogs are on Purina JM (joint mobility) because they are getting older and it has lots of great oils in it.
All 6 of my pets do very very well on their foods. They are also along the more expensive Purina lines.
Wet food is by far better then dry food for cats, especially male cats. It helps control weight better, cats in general do not get enough liquids from drinking water, so canned food helps keep kidneys working. In male cats this is very important to help prevent urinary blockage. It's also higher protein and less carbs which cats generally do better on.
Raw diets are great if you do them right. The problem we as a veterinary community hate raw is because people don't take the time to learn how to do it properly. It's takes time, it's expensive and you need lots of research.
Grain free and all that jazz are good foods, but if your pet have no issues with grains ect, then it's perfectly okay to feed it. By products are also not necessarily a bad thing but that's a whole nother discussion as to why.
Blue buffalo out right lied to consumers about what was in their food. The original owner was a advertising guru he made darn good commercials about why you should buy his food. Look up blue buffalo law suit it's a pretty interesting read.
So my answer when people ask me what to feed their pets, it's usually feed your pet the highest quality food you can afford and your pet does well on. Higher protein foods are excellent for your agility and working pets, but your couch potatoe pet or older pet won't need the same dietary needs, so you also need to realize food isn't a one size fits all kinda thing. But as I said these are just my opinion for what I have seen over the years. I think everyone ebhad very different options on pet foods and as long as their pet is happy and healthy then I won't argue with it, because that's all that matters.
19
« on: January 31, 2016, 07:03:10 AM »
I agree with clawleen on spirit, once was enough with them. I just flew out a few weeks ago by them for a work conference. Booked my seats in August for a January flight to make sure I got seats where I wanted. They offered 10 front big seats I booked 2 for both my flight there, flight back (my mom came with me) and one checked bag (we shared). Flight came to $211 a person so I was pleased with the cost. A few weeks before the trip I checked our flight status and seating. They changed the plane model,and reassigned our seats to the normal seating with no notice, and no refund for downgrading our seat. I was less the pleaded seeing I'm tall and read about how little leg room there is. When I called to complain, the call was outsourced and the person I spoke to did not speak very clear English and also did not understand what I was explaining the issue was. Finally she understood, said there was nothing she could do but give me a voucher that would expire in something like 3 months. I only fly every 2 years. After I said that was not acceptable I got put on hold for a good 20 minutes and she comes back says okay we will issue you a refund. We get that all squared away then she goes now you need to repay to re reserve your seats, because you can't have the seats we assigned you, those are for handicap people....
So they switch the plane model, don't notify me of the seat change, don't refund for the downgrade until o complain, reassign me seats I can't have, then made me pay to rereserve seats? Lovely customer service!
Then flying out, one of the seats broke. They were going to bump the person who was assigned that seat off the plane to tomorrow's flight because they had no more flights going out that day and don't offer to put them on another companies flights. She was flying out with her family of 6 to Disney for vacation! Luckily someone stepped up and said they would fly to another city that spirit was flying to, but really you just tell people sorry your out of luck. Who cares what plans you had or the cost you would loose on a hotel or work if you where heading home, they offer no compensation. That flight too off almost a hour late for no real reason.
Flight coming back they loaded is a 1/2 hour late for take off again for no good reason. The plane we left on arrived on arrived early to boot.
20
« on: December 31, 2015, 05:16:10 PM »
I had a issue where I mixed up two twilights on eBay. Both the same but one with bangs and one without. I accidentally swapped them in boxes and the buyer of the one with the bangs was sad that they got the wrong one. I contacted the other buyer to see if I could either have them shipped both back to me or to each other at my cost of course. The other buyer also never responded to me, super frustrating. I did look for another twilight with bangs to replace the misent one, but ebay sellers had them listed way higher then mine sold for or I felt she was worth. I ended up offering the same thing to that buyer as you seller offered you. The buyer wasn't too happy (which I understand they really wanted that particular variant if her) but I had no other options.
21
« on: December 18, 2015, 05:44:08 PM »
Hi! I accidentally mailed the wrong twilight sparkle with out bangs to a buyer who bought once with bangs and mailed the one wit bangs to the person who bought one without bangs  anyway, I'm hoping to locate another one MIB as the buyer really wants the one with bangs so I can correct the situation. If anyone has a spare for sale please pm me. Thanks!
22
« on: December 01, 2015, 04:38:31 PM »
Even more added and more to come as I go through my boxes!
24
« on: October 05, 2015, 03:28:35 PM »
Just a few days left! Many are cheap with no bids! I'm always happy to combine shipping.
26
« on: July 08, 2015, 04:43:14 PM »
Chief cheif chief chief chief....
Can you tell I like cheif? I have 7 of him.
27
« on: June 12, 2015, 07:48:06 PM »
We had it at my previous clinic. I'm trying to convince my new clinic to carry it! Clients loved it. Expecially on the not friendly barn cats that would rather murder you then ever let you near their mouth. I also used it on my shelter rescue kitten and he responded well. I also used it on a adult foster cat who had never been dewormed in her life and came to me covered in fleas, no side effects from her as well. I currently have 3 foster bottle babies about 4 weeks old (I had 4 but the little girl passed away yesterday  , she wasn't gaining weight properly, all we can figure was fading kitten syndrome aka we don't know what happened). The family that found them watched for hours for mom to come back but she didn't. So we have no clue on the first 2 1/2 weeks of life. Anyways If I can convince my current place to order me some I will probably use it on them if I still have them when they are old enough. I also have a previous coworker who used it monthly in her two cats because they were constantly catching mice and contracting tapes. Never had a issue with it.
28
« on: May 16, 2015, 10:35:07 AM »
I'm a RVT (registered vet tech, also known as a CVT OR LVT) and I agree with the above. It's not for the faint of hearts and you need more then just a love for animals to do the job. At its worst it's disgusting and sad, but you also get the best side of it like a new adoption or seeing a very sick animal get better and go home. Your always beat up, bruised or scratched, and sore from fighting with or lifting a pet, and the pay is pretty crappy. I wouldn't trade it for any other job though. I love my job.
Burn out rate in any animal field is high, it's a exhausting job. So I would caution that if she really enjoys animals there is a chance she could burn out and loose empathy for them if she just can't handle it. I still adore animals but there are times I get home from work and I just have to have a few minutes of animal free destressing time before I can give my guys the love they need. Other times I need to pull my girls close to me in order to destress.
But Kennel work may be good for her, but no matter what animal job she would choose there is always going to be body fluids coming out at some point if she is squeamish about those.
29
« on: April 11, 2015, 06:55:08 PM »
I sold my extra MIB one for $43 in February on ebay which I thought was a crazy high amount! I noticed the high prices from other sellers too. I think they are just hoping someone will buy them at that price.
30
« on: April 03, 2015, 04:36:33 PM »
Sukey do we work at the same place... I just went threw some major drama at my job and today I accepted a new job because of it. Actually my coworkers are amazing. It was issues with the office managers and owners.
Ahh yes the escaping dog. Have had that happen twice because the owners put the collars on too loose!
How about a exploratory surgery that turned out to be a used maxi pad... That had been sitting in the dogs stomach for two days. The smell was so rancid!
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