Vet Nurse/Receptionist?

I am good with animals of all kinds from snakes to dogs - worked in various jobs from offices to shops to painting murals. I am middle-aged now - but think that perhaps my patience, maturity, experience of dealing with lots of life and work situations (people and animals), and non-squeamishness ... perhaps I would be suited to a part-time vet receptionist nurse helper type of job ... what qualifications or training would I need? Would I be considered for training at an older age? Would it cost anything to retrain?
Obviously I fall apart when dealing with my own animals! but can make decisions, take charge of situations and deal with other peoples animals efficiently (most recently I made my old neighbour hold her cat whilst I removed a thorn from its eye she couldn´t see the thorn for bad eyesight then got it to the vet and continued to treat her cat for her. Thanks

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04. Vet Nurses and Animal Care Studies

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01 Sep 2010 12:32

victoria clough

Many practices will take receptionist or veterinary helpers with little or no experience, its just a matter of finding a vacancy. They will look for someone who has good customer service skills (friendly/helpful) but be prepared to work hard for a minimum wage x

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06 May 2010 17:26

Patricia Fordyce-Gale

When we had our veterinary surgery we liked to train our receptionists in house, that way things were done the way we liked them to be done, no we were never put off by anyones age in fact prefered older people, training to be a nurse is much more involved as Cally has explained below, good luck with whatever you choose.

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03 Nov 2009 22:28

Cally

Hi Claire,

Sorry for such alate reply, but I saw that no one had commented, so I thought I would! For a qualification in Veterinary Nursing, you can do and NVQ, which I understand you do it on a work-based approach. You need to get a job with a training approved veterinary surgery that will take you on as a student nurse (which is handy as you can earn while you learn!). Youusually get a day or a block release where you have to go to a college, and it usually takes 2 years full time to complete the NVQ. And of course you would be considered for training at an older age!

Another route is the degree, but in my opinion is a lot of tution fees when you could be doing the NVQ and earning money at the same time, plus you already have a job at the start of the NVQ, whereas once you´ve finished the degree you haven´t got that security.

Hope this helps!

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