Veterinary Assistant

Petco•San Antonio, TX

18h•Onsite

About The Position

The Veterinary Assistant position at Petco is crucial for providing excellent medical care to Vetco Total Care hospital patients and phenomenal customer care to their owners. This role embodies Petco's mission and values, setting the tone for technical and customer support within the hospital. All team members are responsible for fostering cohesion and motivation, ensuring patient needs come first, creating exceptional customer experiences, resolving issues promptly, and promoting teamwork. Petco is a category-defining health and wellness company focused on improving the lives of pets, pet parents, and Petco partners. With over 29,000 partners, Petco operates 1,500+ pet care centers, including 250+ Vetco Total Care hospitals, hundreds of preventive care clinics, and eight distribution centers across the U.S., Mexico, and Puerto Rico. The company is purpose-driven, believing that what's good for pets, people, and the planet is good for Petco.

Requirements

Must have excellent written and verbal communication skills
Must be compassionate and sympathetic, and be able to maintain a professional attitude and demeanor during emotional and stressful situations
Must have telephone and computer skills
Must be a team player willing to learn new techniques and treatments, offer creative ideas, and accept change

Nice To Haves

At least 1-year previous experience working in veterinary practice or sufficient relatable animal care experience to ensure excellent performance at the above-listed skills

Responsibilities

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.
Collect thorough patient histories and document the patient visit in the EMRs.
Assist doctors with appointments (routine and emergency), surgery, dentistry, and euthanasia, under supervision from the veterinarian credentialed veterinary technician, HOM and HLOD.
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.
Schedule appointments, provide client education, relay test results to doctor and clients, and maintain and update client/patient records.
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, 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.
Under supervision of the veterinarian and/or veterinary technician, perform in-hospital treatments for sick patients including giving injectable and oral medications as well as intravenous fluid therapy; keep patients clean, watered, and fed (when indicated and directed by doctor), safely walk canine patients when necessary for elimination.
Under direction of the HOM/HLOD, assist in the training of new staff members and general dissemination of knowledge as required.
Keep hospital environment neat and clean; perform regular cleaning of environment based on necessity as well as based on a pre-determined maintenance schedule.
Perform additional duties as assigned
Provide backup phone and front desk support as needed