Life of a Veterinary Nurse

Just realised my last post on this blog was dated 2 years ago - damn that was one long hiatus. Anyways, in this 2-year period, I was busy. Busy with my new job, which I totally enjoy it. A lot. And just being busy with life.

I realised that many think that being a veterinary nurse is an easy job - all you have to do is to sit there and play with animals. Nope, you're totally wrong.

Being a veterinary nurse is more than just being a vase on display. It requires critical thinking, awareness, medical knowledge. It requires so much more of a normal person that some may not be able to handle.

This is how our day goes.

We start off with switching on our computers and blood machines, count the cash in the register, check if every rooms have the necessary supplies and also treatment for the patients who are hospitalised.

The first wave comes in at 9.30am. Counter gets busy registering clients - some who are really nice while some simply can't wait. They'll get annoyed with us, talk to us rudely or some even raise their voices at us. But we keep going on, doing our job, with smiles on our faces. Because this is our job and this is how the service industry should be. We appreciate the clients who are willing to wait for their turn; the ones who smile at us genuinely; the ones who strike genuine conversations with us; the ones who crack jokes with us; the ones who come bearing gifts for us; and most importantly, the ones who thank us.

Meanwhile, the consult nurses start rushing about as the vets see cases - holding on to various animals - hamsters, tortoises, turtles, guinea pigs, chinchilla, hedgehogs, cats, dogs. There are the ones who don't even struggle, which makes things easier for the vets and vet nurses. There are the ones who struggle like mad even though it's just one tiny injection. And there are the ones who bite, scratch and will do anything just to get you away from them. We know that it's their instinct to do so, and we absolutely do not blame them. However, we start the blaming when owners refuse to let us muzzle their dogs or scruff their cats, resulting in injuries being inflicted on the vets and vet nurses. We value our hands as much as we value your pets - because we use our hands to save your pets. Let us do our job in the safest way possible while treating your pets. Muzzling for a few minutes wouldn't hurt, nor does scruffing. While seeing cases, the consult nurses have to run blood tests as well; clean up the consult rooms after every consult; write up vaccination cards and/or microchip certificates.

At the same time, there are nurses who are on treatment duty - they clear the cages; take temperatures; walk them; feed them; do blood draw to run tests; sun-basking and warm water soaking for the turtles and tortoises; monitoring blood glucose levels every 2-3 hours; monitoring heart rate and respiratory rate every 15 mins for a few hours for the dog going through chemotherapy; checking on the animal categorised under 'critical care' once every hour. It gets tougher when the animals are aggressive or refuses to eat. What's worse is when clients come in, sit in front of their pet for a long time, which hinders our treatment for not only that pet that the client is visiting but for the other patients as well.

Once in a while, an emergency case comes in - heat stroke, seizure, crashed, etc. We rush the animal to the surgery room, give it oxygen while another nurse brings along the crash kit and the vet tells us what to do next - i.e. CPR, draw out adrenaline, draw out diazepam, etc. And we just hope for the best. Hope that whatever that we've done for the animal is enough to bring it out of critical stage; hope that the animal is strong enough to pull through. Then there's that disappointment when we've failed.. The disappointment when our pulse oximeter told us there's no SPO2 rate nor heart rate. The disappointment when the vet announced the time of death. But we don't show it out. Because we know sometimes even if the pet is able to pull through, the brain damage is done. Most likely the pet may not remember the owner, may not even know how to eat or drink. The vets would deliver the news to the owners and they'd come in, sobbing or crying. What's next is the worst part - when owners blame us for not saving their animals despite doing everything we can. They reprimand us, they shout at us. But we just stand there, keeping quiet. Because we know whatever we say cannot appease their anger nor their sadness.

Many ask us how can we treat death like it's nothing? We don't. And I'll elaborate on this in another post.

Finally, lunch time. But it isn't really lunch. It's when the vets and vet nurses gobble their food and start surgeries or cleaning up the clinic. It's when vet nurses at counter settle the accounts in the morning while waiting for the next shift of counter nurses to take over. Because when we're closed, we still have clients coming in, requesting to see the vet for an 'emergency' although most of the time it isn't, or there are those who come strolling in to get merchandise. So technically speaking, we're not really closed.

Then the clinic reopens, and everyone gets busy again. All in the name of saving animals while risking getting bitten/scratched and infected from the bite wounds. Yes, we do complain, because we're tired, but we still continue, doing our jobs. For me, it's because I love animals. I love seeing them being able to run about, playing with their owners. I feel a sense of achievement when an animal comes in, looking like its life is coming to an end but gets discharged a week later, looking like it was never ever sick before.

And finally when the day ends, the clinic is closed, the vets go home. But the veterinary nurses stay back to clean up the entire clinic, to settle the accounts, to make sure that the clinic stays prim and proper for the next day. It's tiring, indeed. And as I walk to the bus stop from the clinic, sometimes I wonder if it's all worth it. But when I think of all the animals we've saved, as a clinic, I realised that this is what I've been working hard for.

One day, I want to be a vet. I want to do surgeries and save animals. I want to be authorized to do what all vets are able to do. But for now, I'm a veterinary nurse. And I am proud to be one.

P.S. I'm not writing this post to complain about being a veterinary nurse. I'm writing this to let people realise that we have to work hard in our jobs too. And that it's not as easy as you think it is.

His photo.

A few days ago, my boyfriend's aunt asked me, "Why don't you put his photo as your phone's wallpaper?"

I couldn't come up with an answer then.

But today, I have an answer: I don't need the whole world to know he's mine. As long as I know he's mine, and that he has my heart like how I have his, that's what matters to me. I don't need to show the whole world that he's my guy when I'm using my phone. I don't need people to ask me, 'Who's this? Your boyfriend?' when they see my phone's wallpaper. I don't need to show him off to the world.