Become a Veterinary Assistant III: Practical Skills

Course details

Learn the practical skills you'll need to be a valuable veterinary assistant or educated pet owner. Taught by a practicing veterinarian, this course is the third installment in our "Become a Veterinary Assistant" series. Please join us as we explore all the many duties that a veterinary assistant typically performs. Through instruction and demonstration, you'll learn how to safely restrain an animal for blood tests, urine collection, and injections. Then you'll find out how to obtain blood samples, which needles to use for which patient, where the best anatomical sites for collecting blood are located, and how to catheterize a bladder. We'll also review the basics of blood and urine interpretation so you'll come to understand how veterinarians diagnose various conditions. You'll gain a throughout understanding of examination room procedures, including disinfecting, prepping, and taking a patient's TPR (temperature, pulse, and respiration). Other handy skills we'll cover include expressing anal glands, bathing, cleaning ears, giving medication, establishing the sex of a young kitten, puppy, or bunny, determining age, and trimming nails. Throughout the course, you'll benefit from videos that demonstrate many of these procedures and techniques, as well as state-of-the-art interactive graphics. It's as close as you can get to actually being right there in the veterinarian's office! Updated on 15 March, 2018