Veterinary Assistant

PETCO Animal Supplies Stores, Inc.; Fort Smith (AR); On-site; USD 27,000 - 36,000; Full time

Job summary

Petco Animal Supplies Stores, Inc. is seeking a Veterinary Assistant for our Vetco Total Care full-service hospital.

You will represent the mission and values to clients, provide excellent medical care, and help foster a compassionate, collaborative team environment. The role involves greeting clients, recording vitals, assisting doctors during routine and emergency procedures, anesthesia monitoring, administering medications, and supporting training of new staff to ensure exceptional patient

Qualifications

• Experience assisting veterinarians with routine and emergency care.
• Ability to collect patient histories and document visits.
• Comfort with anesthesia monitoring and post-op care.
• Strong teamwork and customer service mindset.

Responsibilities

• Greet clients and escort patients, record vital signs in EMR.
• Assist doctors with routine and emergency appointments, surgery, dentistry, and euthanasia.
• Handle medications, collect samples, and maintain patient records.
• Schedule appointments and provide client education.
• Support anesthesia administration and monitor patients during procedures and recovery.
• Assist in training new staff and share knowledge as required.

Skills

Veterinary assistance

Client service

EMR documentation

Tools

EMR system

Laboratory procedures

Job description

Want to help pets live their best lives?

We’re proud to be where the pets go and where thepet peoplego. If you want to make a real difference, create an exciting career path, feel welcome to be your whole self and nurture your wellbeing, Petco is the place for you.

Our core values capture that spirit as we work to improve lives by doing what’s right for pets and people.

• Pet First – Protect & Empower. All pets should Live their Best Life. We put the needs of pets and pet parents at the center of everything we do.

• Foster the Fun – Connect & Bond. Our Passion for pets brings us together! We celebrate the journey of pet parenthood through distinct experiences, products, and services.

• Let’s Go! Own & Commit. We are stronger as One Petco team. We bring our unique superpowers and champion authenticity in everyone to drive success.

About Petco:

We’re proud to be “where the pets go” to find everything they need to live their best lives for more than 60 years — from their favorite meals and toys, to trusted supplies and expert support from people who get it, because we live it. We believe in the universal truths of pet parenthood — the boundless boops, missing slippers, late night zoomies and everything in between. And we’re here for it. Every tail wag, every vet visit, every step of the way. We are 29,000+ strong and together we nurture the pet-human bond in more than 1,500 Petco stores across the U.S., Mexico and Puerto Rico, 250+ Vetco Total Care hospitals, hundreds of preventive care clinics and eight distribution centers. In 1999, we founded Petco Love. Together, we support thousands of local animal welfare groups nationwide and have helped find homes for approximately 7 million animals through in-store adoption events.

Position Purpose:

The purpose of this position inherently involves providing excellent medical care to our Vetco Total Care full-service hospital patients and phenomenal customer care to their owners. The Veterinary Assistant represents the mission and values to all clients. Our Veterinary Assistants set the tone for the technical and customer support in the hospital, and are responsible, like all team members, for fostering cohesion and motivation within the practice.

All hospital staff are responsible for performing their duties in a way that creates an environment in which:

• The patient’s needs always come first.

• Every team member understands that they have the power to do what it takes to create an exceptional customer experience.

• contentious issues are dealt with and resolved as they occur when possible, or as soon as is possible.

• exceptional teamwork and commitment to shared goals benefits the entire organization.

Essential Job Functions

The incumbent must be able to perform all the following duties and responsibilities w_ith or without reasonable accommodation:_

• Greet clients and patients arriving for appointments and escort them into an exam room, obtain weight and vital signs (temperature, pulse, respirations) and record the electronic medical record. Veterinary Assistants will collect thorough patient histories and document the patient visit in the EMRs.

• Assist doctors with appointments (routine and emergency), surgery, dentistry, and euthanasia, under supervision from the veterinarian credentialed veterinary technician, , HOM and HLOD.

• Perform patient restraint, obtain and process laboratory samples, handle and dispense medications at the direction of the veterinarian and help maintain the electronic medical record.

• Schedule appointments, provide client education, relay test results to doctor and clients, and maintain and update client/patient records.

• Help prepare patients for surgical and dental procedures and assist doctor and/or veterinary technician in anesthetizing patients. Under supervision of the veterinarian and/or veterinary technician, assistants will maintain patients safely under anesthesia while monitoring vital parameters, help monitor patients during recovery and prepare them for hospital discharge or transfer to an overnight care facility.

• Under supervision of the veterinarian and/or veterinary technician, perform in-hospital treatments for sick patients including giving injectable and oral medications as well as intravenous fluid therapy; keep patients clean, watered, and fed (when indicated and directed by doctor), safely walk canine patients when necessary for elimination.

• Under direction of the HOM/HLOD, assist in the training of new staff members and general dissemination of knowledge as required.