How to become a Veterinary Nurse

Getting into veterinary careers

If you love animals and want to help nurse them back to health, you could make the life of pets a happier one as a veterinary nurse. You’ll be carrying out medical care in the world of animal health, but you don’t need a degree to do this job. Read on for useful work experience and qualifications to get you started in a purrfect career.

It’s a Vet’s Life

You’ll help the veterinary surgeon in all sorts of ways, from calming animals to taking x-rays, keeping instruments spick and span and helping to keep animals sedated during life-saving operations. You could work with all creatures great and small… from beloved family pets like Fluffy and Spot to animals in a zoo!

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Useful Skills To Put On Your CV:

• Self-belief skills to help you handle animals in a confident and soothing way
• Communication and customer service skills – you will need to be tactful and sympathetic with pet owners
• Administration and IT skills to keep records on pets up to date and work on the reception desk as needed
• Practical skills to assist with cleaning the veterinary practice and equipment, as well as being able to handle larger animals like the larger dog breeds

Top Skills-Boosting Tip

Your self-belief skills will grow over time as you learn through experience, working with animals of all breeds, shapes and sizes to help the veterinary practice keep them in tip-top shape.

How Do You Get These Skills?

Vocational qualifications and work experience will help you build these skills over time.

Build Your Skills With the FREE Young Professional Programme

School, college and training

Normally you’ll get started through the RCVS veterinary nurse training scheme. It usually takes around two years to complete, and leads to Level 2/3 diplomas in veterinary nursing.

To get on this course you must:

• Have five GCSEs grades 9-4/A*-C (or the equivalent) including English, maths and a science subject (i.e. biology, chemistry or physics)
• Be working as a veterinary trainee in a training practice that’s registered with the RCVS.

Alternatively, you can do an RCVS-approved higher education course in veterinary nursing.
Together with your GCSE qualifications, either being employed as a trainee or going on a relevant higher education course will enable you to take part in the RCVS veterinary nurse training scheme.

Once you’re on the scheme, you’ll carry out a range of supervised nursing activities as part of your training. You’ll normally work in a practice but also have college-based training on day or block release, with exams at the end of the first and second year.

Animal Care Vocational Qualifications

An HND in veterinary nursing normally takes two years.

Animal Care BTECs

You can do BTECs in Animal Care once you turn 16.

Animal Care T-Levels

T-Levels are a choice for learners after GCSEs alongside apprenticeships and A-levels. During a 2-year programme, you can learn the main knowledge and skills needed for entry to a range of animal care and management careers.

Animal Care Apprenticeships

You can seek out veterinary nursing apprenticeships with organisations like Find an Apprenticeship and the PDSA.

University degrees and graduates

You can do:

• Foundation degree in veterinary nursing
• Degree in veterinary nursing (normally takes three or four years)

To get on a foundation degree in veterinary nursing, you may need one A-level (or two H grades).
To do a veterinary nursing degree, you will usually need two A-levels (or three H grades) along with your GCSEs or their equivalent.

As a veterinary nurse you could move on to become a supervisor or manager. You could take on more responsibilities, like training new staff or working in veterinary supplies.

With extra training you could specialise in working with animals in zoos, wildlife parks, charities, kennels or pharmaceutical companies.

Work Experience Tips

To become a veterinary nurse it will help you to have previous work experience caring for animals. This will help you demonstrate to employers that you can be motivated to work with all creatures, not just your favourites.

Aim to get relevant work experience to build your CV as early as you can. This can involve:

• Pet-sitting for your neighbours over the holidays
• Jobs, work experience or placements in kennels and catteries
• Animal care and veterinary placements.

Work experience tips

Volunteering Tips

Any extra-curricular time you spend looking after animals or working with them will really help you get a feel for what’s involved in this career, and if you would enjoy doing it.

• Look for volunteering opportunities with an animal charity
• You can also explore volunteering opportunities to work with animals abroad.

Volunteering tips

• Speaking to pet and animal owners – this could be to reassure them that their pet is in safe hands, or to find out more about the nature of the problem
• Handling animals and keeping them calm while they’re being examined and treated by a vet
• Collecting samples for diagnosis (these can include blood and urine)
• Administering injections and medicine to animals when needed
• General cleaning activities – including the sterilisation of surgical instruments

• General cleaning activities – including the sterilisation of surgical instruments
• Carrying out simple lab tests and taking x-rays
• Supporting the vets during operations, for example by handing them instruments or checking anaesthetic levels to ensure the animal patient is properly sedated. You will also help to prepare the animals for treatment before their operation.
• Updating records and helping out in the reception area as needed.

To find jobs for young people in this role, search on jobs boards for early career roles with these words in the title:

• Student veterinary nurse
• Veterinary nursing apprentice
• Veterinary nursing trainee

You can also take a look at our database of local opportunities to see if there are any relevant jobs, work placements, or careers events and workshops to help you get started.

These websites might be able to help you find veterinary experience or a veterinary role that’s a good fit for you:

• Find an Apprenticeship
• People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA)
• British Veterinary Nursing Association (BVNA)
• Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS)
• Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA)
• Scottish SPCA
• College of Animal Welfare (CAW)

These employers all carry our Youth Friendly Employer Mark. We work with them to make sure that they are providing great support and opportunities to young people.

Click on an employer to find out more about them and the youth-friendly opportunities they offer, from work experience and apprenticeships through to graduate schemes.