As part of veterinary technician recognition week, I spoke with the lead veterinary technician at Bijou Animal Hospital. Paulette has been working at Bijou for 42 years, moving with the practice through three different locations.

When asked why she chose to become a vet tech, of course she highlighted her love of animals, science, and medicine. She chose the tech route vs. the veterinary doctor route because techs typically do more of the work with the pets than the doctors do, and she does not want to tell clients that their pets are dying.

A “typical” day in the life of Paulette starts with any animal who has been hospitalized overnight. She arrives in the morning and administers any medications, checks on equipment, and takes care of the needs of the overnight patients. Next, she preps for any surgeries that are scheduled for the day and assigns surgeries to the available staff. Her afternoons are taken up with inventory of meds/supplies and reordering whatever is needed. The rest of her day is nurse appointments and daily care. She stays very, very busy.

I asked her what her favorite part of her job is and, surprisingly, she loves the paperwork and inventory aspects. She said she used to love dentistry because it was so satisfying to see the difference after a dental cleaning. With advances in dentistry, the procedure has become much more complex and can take three hours, and she knows how much work she could get done in that time, so it is no longer as fun for her.

Finally, I asked if she had any advice for pet owners. She said owning a pet has, unfortunately, become a bit of a luxury due to the cost of care, so everyone needs to really plan for that. And, of course, always spay and neuter your pets.

Thank you, Paulette, for what you do for our pets and for taking the time to talk to us.