Veterinary Assistant

Petco Petco · Retail · SJ Tully, CA

This role is for a Veterinary Assistant at Petco, focusing on providing medical care to animal patients and customer care to their owners within a Vetco Total Care hospital. Responsibilities include greeting clients, taking vital signs, assisting veterinarians with appointments and procedures, handling laboratory samples, dispensing medications, scheduling, client education, and maintaining patient records. The role also involves preparing patients for surgery, monitoring anesthesia, administering treatments, and maintaining a clean hospital environment.

What you'd actually do

  1. Greet clients and patients arriving for appointments and escort them into an exam room, obtain weight and vital signs (temperature, pulse, respirations) and record the electronic medical record. Veterinary Assistants will collect thorough patient histories and document the patient visit in the EMRs.
  2. Assist doctors with appointments (routine and emergency), surgery, dentistry, and euthanasia, under supervision from the veterinarian credentialed veterinary technician, , HOM and HLOD.
  3. Perform patient restraint, obtain and process laboratory samples, handle and dispense medications at the direction of the veterinarian and help maintain the electronic medical record.
  4. Schedule appointments, provide client education, relay test results to doctor and clients, and maintain and update client/patient records.
  5. Help prepare patients for surgical and dental procedures and assist doctor and/or veterinary technician in anesthetizing patients. Under supervision of the veterinarian and/or veterinary technician, assistants will maintain patients safely under anesthesia while monitoring vital parameters, help monitor patients during recovery and prepare them for hospital discharge or transfer to an overnight care facility.

Skills

Required

  • Veterinary Assistant experience
  • Medical care for animals
  • Customer service skills
  • Ability to perform patient restraint
  • Experience with electronic medical records (EMRs)
  • Basic laboratory sample processing
  • Medication handling and dispensing
  • Scheduling appointments
  • Client education
  • Assisting with surgical and dental procedures
  • Anesthesia monitoring
  • Patient recovery monitoring
  • Administering injectable and oral medications
  • Intravenous fluid therapy
  • Maintaining a clean hospital environment

Nice to have

  • Training new staff members
  • Phone and front desk support

What the JD emphasized

  • perform their duties in a way that creates an environment in which
  • The patient’s needs always come first.
  • every team member understands that they have the power to do what it takes to create an exceptional customer experience.
  • exceptional teamwork and commitment to shared goals benefits the entire organization.