Working with Animals Careers--Veterinary Technician

A veterinarian tech holding a cat

Using your Psychology degree to become a Veterinary Technician

You might consider a psychology-related career can be as a veterinary technician. Veterinary technicians look after animals in animal hospitals and veteranary offices. They care for the well-being of animals (typically household pets) and are responsible for routine tasks such as feeding, weighing, drawing blood, pacing catheters, assisting during surgery,and taking the temperature of animals. Veterinary techician may also provide nursing care before and after surgery and other medical procedures. Duties are performed under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian.

Your psychology degree can work to your advantage with this type of job, because it is likely that you learned a lot about how animals behave. For example, when you were taught about conditioning (classical and operant conditioning) in your psychology classes, animal behavior was likely a big part of the course. In addition, those of you who took courses in physiological psychology or brain and behavior probably discussed issues that pertained to animals. Finally, you may have worked in the lab of a psychology researcher who studied animals.

Salary Information

usnews.com lists the average yearly income for a Veterinarian Technician at $32,500.

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Click on the links below to read about other Animal Care and Research Careers that only require a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology:

Animal Care and Research Careers--Research Lab Assistant

Animal Care and Research Careers--Wildlife Care and Conservation

Animal Care and Research Careers--Animal Training

Click on the links below to read about other Animal Care and Research careers that require a graduate degree:

Animal Care and Research Careers--Master's Degree in Psychology

Animal Care and Research Careers--PhD Degree in Psychology

Animal Care and Research Careers--Veterinarian (DVM)