This Blog will be about me working in a Animal Hospital. I am a Vet Tech turned Receptionist. For 10 years I was a Tech. Getting on the floor, wrassling animals for a large local animal shelter with a full service clinic attached to it. After leaving the Shelter and finding it extremely hard to make the switch to a private practice where price tags on simple animal procedures are through the roof I finally found my niche in a small private practice where life is good and all of our patients get the best care possible. Sometimes the best care when it is impossible!
It all started for me when I was 19 years old. I wanted to get out of Universal Studios and began not really caring about what I did there. I lost all of my points and got myself to the point where I didn't need to go back. I worked at The Virgin Mega-Store for a 2 week period before I decided everyone there was a snob and hateful and I applied at the local SPCA here. I got a call back about 1 month later and I was offered an interview and a working interview with the Techs there. That day changed my life. Every thing that had come naturally to me growing up with pets and a love for animals was here down the street my entire life. I would be able to learn all of the medical stuff I was naturally inclined to, and be able to implement it at the same time! Zowie! I also got to see dogs and cats go to new homes and learn what it was like to devote yourself to saving animals lives. Rescue work at at its hardest and its best. Needless to say I got the job. I must explain something to you reading this. Working with animals and working for people who work with animals are 2 different things. As a tech I was immediately responsible for cleaning just about everything. The only thing I did not have to do was clean and wipe peoples asses. I cleaned up feces, urine, vomit, dirt, mildew, hair, cages, kennels, sinks, toilets, body parts and dead and deceased pets. That was just about the only thing I was good for. Doing the laundry was about the nicest part of cleaning there was, mainly because Someone else had loaded the washer. I loved my laundry breaks. During that first year and splitting up my responsibilities with the older more experienced techs I was able to learn how to administer anesthesia IV and IM and do all vaccinations in their proper locations SQ. I was able to tube dogs and cats for their trach tubes for surgery and perform dentals. We did over 8,000 surgeries in the 1 year I worked there in between the public and shelter surgery rooms. I had a lot of exposure to everything. Poop and surgical procedures. I'll never forget one of my first days in surgery, I was pulling out a cat and Dee my trainer said, make sure he has both. I thought to my self, both what? And then quickly realized that she meant testicles. She joked later that day about how she is going to have to start checking her men for
'both". We laughed briefly then quickly got back to work. We had 2, 15 minute breaks, 1 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon and we had 1 hour for lunch. I went from having a rotation with maybe 5 breaks a day at universal to 2 breaks and I was tired every day when I got home. Not only was I moving all day but I was using my brain all day. Something I never did at Triceratops Encounter. I was never making myself better every minute of every day. At the SPCA I was. I loved every second of it.
When I wound up leaving the SPCA 8 years later I had achieved so much. I had been trained in every department, assisted with over 70,000 spay neuter surgeries, became a trainer for new technicians, became a lead for the technicians, assisted with triage for over 500 Hurricane Katrina intakes from Louisiana and Mississippi flew out to 2 different states to help reunite 3 of those Kartina pets, managed the Sanford Medical department for 3 months, and was finally promoted to Training and Safety Specialist for both facilities. I was an accomplished 20 something. I also had 1 knee surgery and a Gastric By-pass surgery, and was on crutches and a knee brace for over a year on and off.
During the time I was unable to bend, kneel, squat or wrestle any animals I was a receptionist. I had to deal with the worst people in the world. I was yelled at, screamed at mostly, insulted, shoved(once), and just never appreciated by any of our clients over the phone and behind the counter. When I was on the phones I would receive over 500 calls a day. I was always on a call so I never could answer the phone properly. I was always playing a game of catch up with messages from days before and stuck in a room hardly big enough for 2 people. Behind the counter I dealt with rude, confused clients who wanted everything their way with no knowledge of what it all takes and the cost of how much the best possible service could cost. You see in an perfect world one appointment should go like this.
Fluffy Carter!
Yes that's us....
Ok, Hi my name is Ragan. You will be seeing Dr. .Andersen. Lets go to the scale and see how much fluffy weighs. Fluffy is here for her annuals today, is that correct?
(dog stands on scale no problem and I get an accurate weight the first time)
Yes it is...
I'm going to put you in exam room 1 and the doctor and tech will be in shortly. Will you need any heartworm or flea prevention today?
Yes, Please... Heartgard and frontline please. (the best at that time)
Ok I will have that ready for you when you are done in the room. Be sure to talk to the doctor about all of your concerns and if you have any questions feel free to ask your technician or Dr. Andersen.
(appt goes by, and I finally see them up front)
Ok, Mrs. Carter I'm ready to check Fluffy out. I see here you have cephalexin and prednisone to go home. Do you have your medications?
Yes, I do have them...
Do you have any questions about your medications?
No I do not...
Please remember that any steroid can cause increased water and food consumption so don't be alarmed if fluffy wants to eat more and has to got potty more often while using it and never stop this medication abruptly, ok? Also the stool can be a bit tarry and darker while on AB so do not be alarmed.
Ok, thank you!
Your total including your heartworm and flea prevention is 250.00 dollars.
(handing me CC, I run it, it is approved, and I hand over the bag with prevention and put their meds in it)
Thank you so much, have a wonderful day!
Thank you, you too!
What actually happens is the complete opposite there. Chaos ensues... NO one knows why they are there, which doctor they are seeing and people are unhappy about low cost prices. Not one person goes in there thinking they have to pay for anything unless they have been there before. Most first-timers think every thing is free. No one wants to spend any money on their pet and they are so pissed that the people at the pet store didn't tell them that their female dog would be leaking blood all over their white couch and leaving bloody vulva prints on the floors and carpets. And no one said hey, this pit bull puppy is going to have huge gross balls and you wont want to look at them. Oh and be prepared to spend hundreds of dollars on your puppy for its first visit to any Vet because it will need vaccines every 3 weeks until it is 16 weeks old. And then you have to do it annually if you want the good FDA regulated products that actually kill fleas here in Florida. Clients spend hundreds of dollars on buying this cute little fluffy thing that didn't have an ear infection at the pet store, but now that it is home and not one person explained to them that they had to clean its ears, it has one! Now they are pissed at us! The ones trying to help them! Because we explain what could be going on with their dog, they get mad. We are providing a service to help you learn more about your pets. We are trying to promote client education and get you involved in your animals life. Its in the midst of all of this that I realized I had an choice to be a more proactive tech, and go over things more in depth and to do demos on ear cleaning and nail trims. And to go over meds and teach the owners what I learned directly from doctors. I needed to reinforce what the receptionists and doctors said so we could all be on the same page and never let some one leave confused or angry.
Sadly I no longer can tech. My knees are so bad I have to sit most of the day. I wish I could because I'm really good at it. I miss injecting and pulling blood the most. I am very good at veins... But now I do what I can to help clients live a better life with their dogs and cats. I hope that my approach to being a no nonsense owner and having a roll up your sleeves work ethic can help them see how seriously I take what I do. I can promote responsible human behavior towards animals and I can make clients and pets happy with just a few extra caring steps. I cannot make everyone happy. But I know I can make myself happy by doing the right thing every single day.
This blog is going to be dedicated to us Receptionists that have a far more interesting life in the lobby, then those behind the scenes. Not that techs do not have a wildly insane time in the back! I'm going to fill this blog with the things clients say and how I help them ultimately get to their goal. The things I have to put up with and how I take them not so seriously and I'm going to do a bit of venting as well! I hope you enjoy!
