How To Become A Veterinarian Assistant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a veterinarian assistant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a veterinarian assistant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $26.4 an hour? That's $54,915 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 19% and produce 20,000 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreVeterinarian AssistantUS Average

Salary

4.3

Avg. Salary $54,915

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.2

Growth rate 19%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

0.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.14%

Asian 3.22%

Black or African American 2.69%

Hispanic or Latino 17.75%

Unknown 6.84%

White 69.36%

Gender

female 79.18%

male 20.82%

Age - 27

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 27

Stress level

7.2

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.6

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

10.0

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a veterinarian assistant

Explore veterinarian assistant education requirements

Most common veterinarian assistant degrees

Bachelor's

43.4 %

High School Diploma

23.3 %

Associate

22.4 %

Start to develop specific veterinarian assistant skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	16.15%
Surgery Room	10.52%
PET	9.84%
Routine Laboratory Tests	6.60%
Scheduling Appointments	5.77%

Complete relevant veterinarian assistant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New veterinarian assistants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a veterinarian assistant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real veterinarian assistant resumes.

Research veterinarian assistant duties and responsibilities

Talk with DVM about patient.
Assist with blood draws, examinations, setting iv catheters, etc.
Provide all aspects of daily care for USDA cover large animal species.
Assist license DVM's with veterinary medicine procedures to include surgeries, radiographs or emergency care.

Prepare your veterinarian assistant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your veterinarian assistant resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a veterinarian assistant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable veterinarian assistant resume templates

Build a professional veterinarian assistant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your veterinarian assistant resume.