Vet Tech Pros and Cons: What Nobody Tells You About Working in Veterinary Medicine

Anyone who loves cats and feeds strays knows the feeling: every once in a while, you come across a cat that clearly isn’t doing well. Sometimes it’s manageable. Fleas, worms, a mild eye infection you can treat with antibiotic ointment — nothing too dramatic, nothing too expensive.

But what happens when the cat actually needs a vet?

Exactly.

Most of us already know what the “right” thing to do is. You take the animal to the clinic. The problem is that while we know how the story starts, we have absolutely no idea how much it’s going to cost by the end of it. And that uncertainty alone is enough to stop a lot of people — even serious animal lovers — from stepping in themselves. Veterinary bills can easily climb into the thousands, especially in worst-case scenarios.

That uncertainty is actually what pushed me, at one very confusing career crossroads, to apply for a job as a Vet Tech. I figured that even if the field turned out not to be for me, at least I’d learn something useful about animal healthcare, emergency situations, and the real costs behind veterinary medicine. And honestly? If I hated it, I could always leave.

So I did it.

And this is my personal experience working as a Veterinary Technician — which, to be clear, doesn’t represent every clinic or every country. Veterinary clinics are usually small businesses, and the culture can vary wildly from place to place. Requirements for the role also differ depending on where you live. But after spending way too many late-night hours reading Reddit threads before getting into the field, I realized there are a few things veterinary workers everywhere seem to agree on:

The job is physically exhausting.

The pay is rarely enough.

Working with animals can be incredibly healing for people who genuinely love them.

And there are certain things nobody really gets used to. (Yes, euthanasia is one of them.)

What It’s Actually Like Being a Veterinary Technician

First, I should mention that I worked in Israel, so some aspects of the job may look very different compared to the same role elsewhere in the world. That said, I tried to focus on the pros and cons that seem to follow Veterinary Technicians almost everywhere.

Also, if you’re curious about entering the field in Israel specifically, here are a few things worth knowing about the role itself — and what it actually takes to get hired.

Technically, there are professional training programs for Veterinary Technicians in Israel, including internships and even academic credits in some cases. But because salaries in the field are relatively low and clinics constantly struggle to recruit staff, many clinics don’t actually require formal studies. Most people learn on the job.

In practice, every veterinarian decides what matters most in their clinic. Usually, that means being hardworking, genuinely caring about animals, and not panicking around things like blood, bodily fluids, or medical procedures. Add a decent attitude and the ability to think on your feet, and you already qualify for more interviews than you’d expect.

The Pros and Cons of Working as a Veterinary Technician

Because I’m fundamentally an optimistic person, let’s start with the good stuff.

The Pros

1#You Get to Work With Animals All Day

This is probably the biggest reason people apply in the first place.

Whether you’re in the waiting room, exam room, surgery prep, or helping during treatments, you’re constantly surrounded by animals. In my case, mostly cats and dogs — every size, every personality type, every level of chaos imaginable.

And honestly? That part never stopped feeling magical.

2#Your Body Will Be Forced Into Shape

When I started working at the clinic, I had chronic lower back pain that radiated into my legs. After twenty years of sitting behind a computer, my body had fully adapted to the “creative industry shrimp posture” lifestyle.

The first few weeks at the clinic absolutely destroyed me.

I spent entire shifts moving nonstop between rooms: walking dogs on leashes, restraining animals during blood draws, carrying cages from storage, preparing surgery rooms, restocking syringes and needles, disinfecting surfaces, and cleaning at the end of every shift. There was always something happening.

I genuinely didn’t think I’d survive longer than a month.

And yet, somewhere between the chaos and the exhaustion, my body actually became stronger.

3#You Learn an Incredible Amount About Animal Health

Routine vaccines are only part of what comes through a clinic.

You also see chronic illnesses, emergencies, injuries, allergies, kidney disease, infections, neurological issues — and after a while, patterns start becoming familiar.

Working there completely changed how I care for my own cats. I became more aware of hydration habits, subtle behavior changes, and warning signs most pet owners would never notice.

After a few months, I could often guess what was wrong with an animal just from hearing the symptoms at reception.

4#Discounts, Freebies, and Opened Products

The clinic I worked at didn’t have an official employee discount policy, but the clinic manager usually gave staff reduced pricing on treatments and purchases.

As someone who feeds stray cats, the real perk was something else entirely: opened food bags, products near expiration, leftover supplies that were still perfectly usable but couldn’t be sold anymore.

Every time something was about to be thrown away, I could take it for my street cats or pass it along to other feeders.

That alone saved me a surprising amount of money every month.

5#Shift Work Can Feel Weirdly Liberating

After years of traditional 9-to-5 jobs, shorter rotating shifts felt refreshing.

Suddenly, I had time again.

Time for personal projects. Time to schedule medical appointments I’d postponed forever. Time to exist outside of work in a way I hadn’t experienced in years.

And honestly? That flexibility mattered more than I expected.

The Downsides Nobody Romanticizes Enough

If this job didn’t come with serious downsides, it would probably be perfect. It isn’t.

1#The Pay Is Painfully Low

This is the one thing veterinary workers across the internet seem universally united about.

The pay.

Even in my case — where I was actually offered a higher hourly wage than what many clinics pay — the gap between how hard I worked and what I earned felt enormous.

Our schedule was usually five to six days a week, with four-hour shifts. On paper, that sounds manageable. Cute, even.

In reality, those four hours were intense, physically draining, emotionally demanding shifts that also included commuting back and forth. The constant scheduling made it feel like I was always working, while the actual paycheck at the end of the month remained… deeply underwhelming.

Four hours multiplied by a disappointing hourly rate still equals disappointment.

2#The Emotional Whiplash of the Workplace

To be fair, I actually worked in a relatively nice clinic.

Most of the veterinarians were kind and professional, and the Vet Tech team often felt more like friends than coworkers.

But the head veterinarian — who also owned the clinic — could be emotionally exhausting. Some days he was wonderful to work with. Other days, he was genuinely toxic.

You could walk into a shift in a great mood and leave emotionally flattened after one interaction.

Sometimes it was unnecessary criticism over tiny things while completely ignoring the extra effort we put in elsewhere. Sometimes it felt like he physically couldn’t tolerate seeing staff rest during a slow day, even after weeks of nonstop burnout.

At times, it genuinely felt less like having a boss and more like accidentally entering a relationship with a narcissist. I wish I were exaggerating.

3#Clinic Politics Are Very Real

One thing I noticed quickly was how uneven scheduling became.

The more senior employees consistently received better shifts, more hours, and therefore more money. Newer employees got whatever remained — often fewer shifts, less desirable hours, and almost no stability.

Naturally, a lot of newer workers quit before they ever had the chance to grow into the role.

Because at some point, loving animals simply isn’t enough to compensate for low pay and coworkers who are quietly trying to protect their own schedules.

In this particular clinic, there was a very established inner circle of veteran employees who always got the shifts they wanted. Everyone else rotated in and out every couple of months — students, travelers saving for trips, people testing the field, people burning out fast.

The result was a workplace where a small group stayed permanently comfortable while everyone else became temporary.

And honestly? That kind of instability changes the atmosphere more than people realize.

4#Euthanasia Never Really Becomes “Normal”

Like I mentioned earlier, euthanasia is not something you simply get used to.

Sometimes, it’s grieving people crying beside the animal they love while saying goodbye for the last time — and honestly, I often cried with them.

Other times, someone would walk in, place a sixteen-year-old dog on the table, pay, and leave with complete emotional detachment.

There was one case that broke me more than most: an elderly dog left alone for euthanasia after the procedure had already been paid for in advance. The amount of fleas covering her body completely crushed me. All I could think about was what her quality of life must have looked like if this was how her story ended — abandoned, alone, scratching herself through her final moments.

And then there’s the part nobody really talks about: the physical reality of death inside a veterinary clinic.

Placing a still-warm body into a sealed bag. Calling the cremation service. Cleaning the room afterward because another appointment is already waiting.

That becomes routine for people working in this field.

And yes, death is part of life. Every Vet Tech understands that eventually. But there are many ways people say goodbye to pets, and unfortunately, not all of them are gentle or peaceful or remotely “Instagram-friendly.”

Sometimes it’s the dog that was hit by a car and couldn’t be saved.

Sometimes it’s the cat arriving in complete renal failure, already at the end.

And sometimes the hardest part isn’t death itself — it’s witnessing how much love, guilt, neglect, grief, or indifference can exist in the same room at the exact same time.

Final Thoughts

In the end, the downsides of the job were ultimately what pushed me to leave and look for something new. But at the same time, I can honestly say I don’t regret the experience: I got to work with animals every single day and learn how to genuinely help them. I got to be the person sitting beside a terrified dog after surgery, helping him feel safe while he slowly came back to himself. And maybe most importantly, I learned how to take better care of my own animals, too.

But long term?

As much as I love cats (and dogs!), As long as the salary stays this low — and as long as the workplace culture continues rewarding burnout, emotional volatility, and impossible expectations — I personally couldn’t see this as a career where the benefits truly outweighed the costs. And honestly, that’s the sad part.

Images: Sara Oliveira, Portugal