How to Turn Your Passion for Animals into a Career

Imagine having a rewarding job where you get to do what you love every day. If you love being around animals, your ideal career may be working as a veterinary assistant. With the Veterinary Assistant Diploma Program at High Desert Medical College (HDMC), this could be the first step to a great new career. In less than a year, you will be ready to enter the job market as a Veterinary Assistant, putting your passion and natural talents to work in a meaningful way caring for animals.

What Does a Veterinary Assistant Do?

The program at HDMC will prepare you to handle routine animal care and help scientists, veterinarians, and veterinary technologists and technicians with their daily tasks. This could include feeding, bathing, and exercising animals. Veterinary Assistants help restrain animals during wellness checks, examinations, and surgical procedures. They can also care for animals after surgery and give medication and prescribed immunizations.

HDMC Gives You Hands-On Experience

HDMC ensures that you are ready to enter the job market as a veterinary assistant with a combination of classroom theory, demonstrations, guided practice, hands-on lab procedures, and clinical hours. Classes cover veterinary terminology, veterinary pharmacy, animal husbandry, and the nursing and care of animals. At the end of the program, you will hone your skills with an externship in a clinical setting where you will work alongside veterinarians and veterinary technicians. Our Veterinary Assistant students receive CPR and First Aid Certification from the American Red Cross.

The program is designed to teach you how to:

• Take patient history and maintain medical records
• Administer medications and immunizations
• Assist with radiology and ultrasound imaging
• Use proper restraining techniques
• Collect samples
• Maintain and sterilize equipment and facilities

How Long Does It Take to Become a Veterinary Assistant?

HDMC offers a flexible schedule with both day and evening courses so that you can fit classes into your lifestyle. You can complete the morning program in as few as 35 weeks and the evening program in 42 weeks. At the end of your studies, you will have the hands-on skills to assist with veterinary animal care tasks and pet owner education.

Career Outlook

Veterinary assistant ranks among the fastest-growing occupations in the U.S., with employment projected to grow 19% through the year 2028. Veterinary assistants are qualified to work at veterinary offices, veterinary hospitals, research facilities, animal shelters, wildlife refuges, and zoos.

Job Placement Assistance

At HDMC, our class size is small, so you will get to work with instructors that are focused on helping you succeed. Not only is HDMC committed to your education, but we continue to offer support after you have completed your Veterinary Assistant training. We provide job placement assistance to all qualified graduates to assist you in finding employment. As an animal lover, you understand the caring and compassionate nature it takes to work with sick or injured pets.

Let HDMC provide you with the education and experience to prepare you for the job you’ve always wanted as a veterinary assistant. Veterinary Assistant classes are enrolling now. Click here to get started today.