Jobs with animals?

[slj84]

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.

[DazzleKitty]

I am glad I read this thread myself. I was thinking about going to vet tech school,and some of the posts made me rethink things. I have a weak stomach when it comes to some things, even though I love dogs. Maybe I should keep my low-paying office job.

[Corona]

I'm a dog daycare handler. Basically I stand in back with the dogs, supervise them, feed them if they're boarding, and break up fights if they happen.

It's high injury and you need to be on your toes 100% of the time. I've gotten plenty of scratch scars and two scars from dog bites, one bite was bad enough to put my hand in a brace for a week and I had to work one-handed. And I say on your toes because the second you turn your back is the second a dog can decide to go postal. You need to have a fast response time and be able to reasonably read dog behavior objectively without "humanizing" them.

The good news is that really the only qualifications most of these places look for is experience handling dogs outside of having pets (volunteer work for an animal shelter for example.)

The bad news is if she's not motivated and just wants to hang out with dogs, this is not the job for her. Most of your time is spent cleaning, observing, and trying to stay two steps ahead by analyzing dog behavior. I've seen a lot of people get into this job just thinking they're going to play with dogs and then quit when they realize they actually have to do gross things and work (and put their cellphones down. I'm not even kidding when I say I've had to tell coworkers to stop playing on their cellphones in daycare.)

Sorry if I sound overly cynical! Been in this job for nearly 2 years now and I'm actually going back to school to get out and get into something I actually love more.