Our entire Stone Ridge – Conroe veterinary team is devoted to caring for your beloved pet each and every day, from puppy- and kittenhood, well into old age. As National Veterinary Technician Week rolls around from October 11 to 17, we want to showcase our vet techs’ incredible skills and knowledge. Although each team member is essential for certain aspects of your pet’s care, our vet techs form a critical part of our care team. Let’s take a closer look at the important tasks they perform throughout the day as they cater to your pet’s health and well-being.

A vet tech’s morning

Each morning, our vet techs pop out of bed, alert and eager for a day of new challenges—although significant caffeine intake may be required after a night of checking on the hospitalized puppy suffering from parvovirus. After they punch in, they set to work checking in their surgical patients, performing physical exams, establishing baseline vitals, and obtaining pre-anesthetic test results. By evaluating our patients’ health prior to surgery, we can address potential illness or disease before anesthetizing your pet, and minimize the risks. 

Our vet techs will examine your pet thoroughly before their surgery,  checking from nose to tail, inside and out, and then create an individualized anesthetic protocol, as they will for each surgical patient, based on their health status and surgery type. Some pets require additional pain-relieving options, such as local anesthesia blocks, while others may need extra sedation to remain calm after surgery. During a typical morning, our vet techs may assist with orthopedic surgeries, like tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO), cruciate repair, or a femoral head ostectomy (FHO). They are also highly skilled at spearheading their own procedures, including comprehensive oral health assessments and treatments, or dental cleanings. They will carefully check your pet’s teeth for disease and damage, scale away plaque and tartar, polish tiny imperfections from the enamel, and apply a strengthening agent to form a protective barrier on the teeth.

After your pet’s surgery, our vet techs become their caretakers, closely watching them for pain or discomfort. A vet tech will monitor your pet until their temperature is normal and they’re fully conscious, provide postoperative medications, and create and explain discharge instructions, until your pet is ready to return home. 

A vet tech’s lunch

Our vet techs seldom stop—they usually stay busy through lunch, diligently helping as many pets as they can. They may answer phone calls, respond to emails, enter patient notes, or discuss parasite prevention and vaccination protocols with pet owners. In emergency situations, they will likely grab lunch on the go, eating a sandwich or protein bar while sitting with a hospitalized patient and monitoring their continuous rate infusion (CRI) of pain medication. Our vet techs are always there for your pet.

A vet tech’s afternoon

During the afternoon appointments, our compassionate vet techs, assistants, and client care specialists all work together, using their expertise to help our veterinarians handle their heavy caseload. Appointments can range from routine wellness visits to sick patient exams that require intensive diagnostic testing to determine the cause of a pet’s illness. Our vet techs also are the masters of our in-house laboratory, and understand the ins and outs of obtaining the appropriate sample to run the correct test. 

While running from exam room to exam room, our vet techs may experience the joyous celebration of a new puppy or kitten, or mourn the loss of a beloved furry family member during a euthanasia appoinment. But, during every appointment, no matter the outcome, you can count on our vet techs to care for your pet—and your family—with compassion, respect, and the utmost devotion.   

A veterinary technician’s evening

As an afternoon’s appointments wrap up, our vet techs will finalize their nursing care tasks for the day. That’s when our client care representatives will often receive a call that an emergency is coming to the hospital—for example, a young Great Dane who is struggling to deliver her puppies, and needs our help. Although it’s almost closing time, our team won’t turn away a pet in need, and will always agree to stay late and perform emergency care, a Cesarean section (C-section) in this case.

At the end of a long day, covered in all sorts of unsavory stains, our team is exhausted, but satisfied. While working late tends to be part of a veterinary-field job, nothing is more rewarding than bringing new life into the world, providing excellent nursing care to our patients, and ensuring they return home happy and healthy. 

No matter what time of day your pet needs highly skilled and dedicated TLC, you can count on the Stone Ridge – Conroe team. Contact us to schedule an appointment.