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What Does a Vet Tech Do? Duties, Credentials & Pay

By VeterinaryHire Team Published
A veterinary technician in blue scrubs and gloves pipettes a blood sample into an analyzer at the in-house lab counter, next to a microscope and centrifuge.

A veterinary technician is the nurse of the animal hospital. Techs induce and monitor anesthesia, take radiographs, place IV catheters, draw and run blood work, and teach clients how to care for their pets at home. The veterinarian diagnoses, prescribes, and operates. The tech carries out most of the hands-on care around those decisions.

It's a credentialed job. In most states you need a degree from an accredited veterinary technology program and a passing score on a national exam before you can call yourself a veterinary technician.

What a vet tech does on a normal day

In a small animal general practice, a tech's shift usually moves between four areas:

  • Surgery and dentistry. Setting up the anesthesia machine, inducing and monitoring anesthesia, prepping the surgical site, scaling and polishing teeth, taking dental radiographs, and watching the patient through recovery.
  • Treatment. Placing catheters, running fluids, giving medications the doctor has ordered, and collecting blood and urine samples.
  • Lab and imaging. Running in-house chemistry and CBCs, reading fecals and cytology slides for the doctor, preparing samples for the reference lab, and positioning patients for radiographs.
  • Appointments. Taking histories and vitals, restraining patients for exams and vaccines, and walking clients through discharge instructions.

Emergency and specialty hospitals add critical care: CPR, blood transfusions, constant-rate infusions, and overnight ICU monitoring. Mixed and large animal practices send techs on farm calls to work cattle and horses in chutes and stocks. Research labs, zoos, shelters, and universities employ techs too.

What a tech may legally do is set by each state's veterinary practice act. Diagnosing, giving a prognosis, prescribing, and performing surgery stay with the veterinarian everywhere. The rest of the list, and how closely the veterinarian has to supervise each task, varies from state to state. Your state board's rules are the final word.

Vet tech vs. vet assistant

The difference is education and credentialing. A credentialed tech has finished an accredited program and passed a national exam. A veterinary assistant usually learns on the job. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says most assistants have a high school diploma and get short-term on-the-job training. Assistants typically handle restraint, kennel care, cleaning, stocking, and sterilizing instruments.

In practice the line is often blurry. In NAVTA's 2024 survey of its members, 48% said there was little difference between the duties of credentialed techs and uncredentialed staff where they worked, and only 36% felt fully utilized (NAVTA, 2025). If you're a credentialed tech, ask how a practice divides the work before you accept an offer. The answer tells you whether you'll use your training.

How vet tech credentials work

The letters depend on the state. CVT (certified), LVT (licensed), RVT (registered), and LVMT (licensed veterinary medical technician, used in Tennessee) all describe a credentialed veterinary technician. Your state decides which title applies and what it allows.

The usual path has three steps:

  1. Graduate from an accredited program. Programs are accredited by the AVMA's Committee on Veterinary Technician Education and Activities (CVTEA). Most award a two-year associate degree. Some award a four-year bachelor's degree, which BLS classifies as a veterinary technologist. The AVMA publishes the full list of accredited programs, including distance-learning programs that let you study online while working in a clinic.
  2. Pass the VTNE. The Veterinary Technician National Exam is owned and administered by the American Association of Veterinary State Boards (AAVSB). It has 170 multiple-choice questions, 150 of them scored, and you get three hours (AAVSB). You take it at a testing center or with live remote proctoring.
  3. Meet your state's requirements. The AAVSB sends your score to the state, but the state issues the credential. Some states add a state exam, a jurisprudence test, fees, or continuing education to stay credentialed.

Some states have alternate routes for experienced assistants who didn't attend an accredited program. These are shrinking, so check with your state board before you plan around one.

What about "veterinary nurse"?

In NAVTA's 2024 member survey, 58% of respondents said they prefer the title "veterinary nurse" (Today's Veterinary Nurse, 2025). A few states have written the term into law as an equivalent of veterinary technician, including Maryland and New Hampshire, according to NAVTA's title guidance. NAVTA's position is that employers should use the "veterinary nurse" job title only for credentialed techs. Title rules vary by state, so check yours before you use either title.

Specializing: the VTS credential

Experienced techs can earn the Veterinary Technician Specialist (VTS) credential through a specialty academy recognized by NAVTA. There are 16 approved academies covering 27 specialties, including emergency and critical care, anesthesia and analgesia, dentistry, internal medicine, surgery, and behavior (NAVTA). Each academy sets its own requirements, which usually include years of experience in the specialty, logged cases, case reports, and an exam.

How much do vet techs make?

The median annual wage for veterinary technologists and technicians was $47,380 in May 2025, or $22.78 an hour. The lowest 10% earned less than $35,710 and the highest 10% earned more than $63,180 (BLS pay data).

Where you work changes the number:

  • Setting. Techs at colleges, universities, and other schools had a median of $52,200, compared with $47,170 in veterinary services. BLS notes that research positions often pay more.
  • State. The highest state medians in May 2025 were in the District of Columbia ($61,270), California ($60,630), Washington ($59,740), New York ($59,010), and Minnesota ($57,270), according to the BLS occupational profile. Higher pay usually tracks higher living costs.
  • Shift. Many techs work evenings, weekends, or holidays, and ER hospitals often pay a differential for them.

For a fuller breakdown by role and state, see our veterinary salary guide.

When you compare offers, look past the hourly rate:

  • Paid CE allowance and paid days off to attend CE
  • Whether the practice pays your credential renewal and association dues
  • Health insurance and the employee's share of the premium
  • Retirement plan and any employer match
  • Scheduled hours per week and how overtime works
  • Paid time off, and whether people actually get to take it
  • Pet care discounts, uniform or scrub allowance, and student loan help

Is it a growing field?

Yes. BLS projects employment of veterinary technologists and technicians to grow 9% from 2025 to 2035, much faster than the average for all occupations, with about 13,400 openings a year (BLS job outlook). Many of those openings come from techs who leave the field or retire. The job is physically and emotionally demanding, so the practices that keep good techs tend to be the ones that pay fairly, staff enough people, and use their techs' skills.

Questions to ask before you accept a vet tech job

  • What does a credentialed tech do here that an assistant doesn't?
  • How many techs and assistants work per doctor on a typical day?
  • Who monitors anesthesia, and what monitoring equipment do you use?
  • How are schedules made, and how much notice do you give for changes?
  • What does the CE budget cover, and did people use it last year?
  • How long have your current techs been here?

Ask to talk to one of the techs without a manager in the room. Their answers about workload and turnover will tell you more than the job listing.

Next steps

Browse vet tech jobs on VeterinaryHire and filter by practice type and location. If you run a practice, our guide on how to hire a veterinary technician covers writing a listing techs will answer.

Sources

The questions to ask a practice are practical guidance, not survey findings. Scope of practice and credentialing rules differ by state, so confirm them with your state board. Sources checked September 27, 2026.