Career Path

I work in the animal industry and whilst I always knew I would struggle with the euthanasia side of things, I thought I'd be able to cope. Six months into it, I'm finding that I'm really struggling.
It's obviously only a small part of vet nursing, but it can have a pretty big affect.

Volunteering in both industries is a great idea so you can get a practical gauge of what you'd rather.

if you want to do the librarian thing, its always easy to help animals on the side, by volunteering at shelter on your days off etc

Just some useless information for you- I know 3 vegans who are librarians...I always thought that was odd considering it's not every day you meet a librarian and they just all happen to be vegan and AR activists.
But back to the actual issue...at the end of the day I would weigh up what is going to make you happy and easy for you to get by. Things are getting more and more expensive these days and while many women have low paying jobs and do alright with a joint income (them and their partner's) it's great to be self sufficient. Some people say money doesn't matter but personally I think it really does. Money is security. $30,000 p/a really isn't much at all.
I considered being a vet nurse for a while and then thought about all the sad situations like when a person won't pay for expensive surgery or medication and so the animal is put down- I wouldn't be able to handle that well or perhaps I would harden as a person and I didn't want that either. You can always help animals in other ways with a better paying job and as a librarian you could get great AR literature onto the shelves

But this is all just my biased opinion. It just seems like since you didn't have the dream of vet nursing in the first place that you should go with your original idea. My feeling was psychology through most of high school....then I gave up on it, tried a bunch of other things and ended up coming back to it because I KNEW it was what I wanted.

hey, I used to be a vet nurse and yes the pay is crap. You do that job because you love animals and not for the money, however, if you can get into ICU/emergency hospitals, the pays not too bad cause u work night shift and stuff - but u earn more packing shelves at Woolies. But be prepared to have to inflict pain on animals, its not for the light hearted. And I don't mean inflict pain as in torture, but when u have something like a hit by car cat come in, you have to move them, do rads, palpate abdomens and limbs to assess and place catheters so you can help them. If an animal is dying you don't have time to feel sorry for them, you just have to do your job as painlessly as you can. And not to mention all the stupid clients that don't give a shit about their animals. It can be hard some nights. And also is the issue of working in a field that relies on the medical and pharmaceutical industries and all that is related to testing on animals. Sorry don't mean to sound hard, but you've got to have a stomach. But, I'm the sort of person that cries in a fictional movie when an animal dies and I survived ICU/emergency so it can be done if your a softy. You just have to be committed to animals despite crap pay and hours.

This is very true, I've worked in vet nursing before and it's not a good paying job, but it's very rewarding as long as you have the stomach and spirit for it. Vets deal with the euthanasia side of things usually, if that helps at all.

And yes, sometimes you will have to be rough or cause pain to an animal for it's welfare, this is a given. You will see tragic things that will break your heart.




My advice is to do whatever you really want to do. If you've wanted to be a librarian for a long time now - pursue it. Working in a field which isn't directly helping animals does not make you a bad person!

I've been vet nursing for 8 years and absolutely love it! As the others have said you need to have a strong stomach and be able to control your emotions, it's not for the faint hearted. However, it's also very rewarding.

The pay will depend on how many hours you work and where you are working. I'm at a small clinic (1.5 vet) and our pay ranges from $20K-$51K Pa. Larger clinics, Emergency or Vet Specialists will pay more. As PHS said, we do it coz of our love of animals, not the money.

Thanks for all of the help everyone

Yeah, I know CK. But still you need to be able to afford to live.