What is the difference between a Veterinary
Technician and a Veterinary Assistant?
There IS a big difference between a Veterinary Technician, Veterinary
Technologist, and a Veterinary Assistant. Both professions’ goal is
providing proper medical care to animal patients.
The difference lies in the training and certification. In the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Veterinary Technicians and
Technologists have graduated from an accredited 2- or 4-year
Veterinary Technology program offered at select colleges that are
approved by the AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association).
They have also taken a comprehensive exam and are recognized by
the Massachusetts Veterinary Medical Association as Certified
Veterinary Technicians (CVT). Veterinary Technicians or
Technologists have a much larger skill set such as being fully trained
to perform venipuncture, IV catheter placement, and administer
parenteral injections. They also have more material they need to
learn, and the curriculum is much more rigorous since it is at the
college level.
Veterinary Assistants, on the other hand, assist Veterinary
Technicians and Technologists, as well as the Veterinarian in multiple
tasks. Just a few of those tasks are being responsible for restraining
animals, setting up tools for procedures such as IV placement and
surgery; and basic care of animals such as cleaning, feeding and
watering. NAVTA (National Association of Veterinary Technicians in
America) now offers a designation as an Approved Veterinary
Assistant (AVA) for students graduating from approved programs and
passing the national exam. Our program is a NAVTA approved
veterinary assisting program, so our students qualify for this
designation.