Our veterinary assistants are helpful all around the hospital! You may have seen an assistant helping one of our veterinarians in an exam room. When you board at our hospital, our vet assistants are the heart of our boarding facility--they take care of greeting our clients and boarders, taking care of the pets staying with us, and make sure to get pet belongings together for their trip home. Vet assistants are also a major help for our technicians as they assist in blood draws, communicating with clients about pet care, keeping our technicians safe with great pet handling techniques, and more! If the assistants aren't helping in our treatment area or boarding, you may also see them helping to answer phones and charge out clients in our front desk area. Our veterinary assistants are a very friendly and helpful team!
- I actually LOVE being a Veterinary Assistant. I love meeting all of the new furry friends that come visit us here at the hospital. Also, making sure all of the animals are comfortable and taken care of is very important to me and drives me to be the best veterinary assistant I can be. -Sami
- Wearing the same uniform each day makes morning routines easy, haha! But seriously, it's been an amazing experience to get to know our clients and patients that I've met these past 14 years. This position challenges both mentally and physically which makes each day different and interesting. I've learned a lot about animal behavior, pet health, and many useful techniques. And of course, it's so much fun to see new puppies and kitties! -Danielle
- Being able to help with sick and healthy patients is very rewarding. -Laura
- I like being a veterinary assistant because I have always had a passion for animals. I love seeing different personalities in different breeds and enjoy working with them. -Maleah
- I love working with the animals! My goal is to make their experience enjoyable. My heart breaks when my patients are anxious or scared. -Rhea
- I get a closer look on what the doctors and technicians do. I also form relationships with the animals. -Sophia
What skill did you learn that makes you feel the most proud of?
- My favorite skill I have learned at Hatton Veterinary Hospital is being able to assist on surgeries. This is a skill I take a lot of pride in because it is important that I do my very best and pay attention to many different things in order to ensure the safety of our patient. -Sami
- I am one of the assistants that takes care of our Facebook page and helps Dr. Ku with our monthly blogs. I am proud to be a part of our social media presence! -Danielle
- Drawing blood and learning how to take care of patients. -Laura
- Throughout my time at Hatton Veterinary Hosptial, I have learned a lot about animals and their behavior. I am able to identify when an animal is in distress and handle the situation accordingly. -Maleah
- Skills learned: behavior and obedience training. I have gone through many years of obedience training for my own dogs (smart, difficult Border Collies and Australian Shepard) and have learned a lot. Those skills have helped me understand the behavior of dogs and have make my animal handling skills better. I've also taken many CE (continuing education) classes on animal behavior which I'm able to implement with my job. Over the past 19 years of working at Hatton Vet and taking CE classes, I have learned many skills to give my kitty patients a positive experience. I adopted a kitten a few years ago named Banshee. We named him that because he would scream for attention. While growing up, we noticed if he did not want to do something, he would get aggressive with us and try to bite and attack us. We tried multiple traditional behavior training techniques that were not successful. After many conversations with Dr. Ku, we figured out a way to correct his behavior enough that I can now trim his nails and he stopped attacking us. He still has a hard time when he has to come in for treatment, but I am able to handle him. This experience and my years of training has made me a better kitty handler and I am able to educate my patient's parents on behavior training. -Rhea
- How to communicate with the animals and help them have a better experience. -Sophia
If you could travel anywhere, where would you go and why?
- I would love to travel to Dubai because it's known for luxury shopping, ultra modern architecture and a lively night scene. -Sami
- Any Disney Parks! The dream is to go to Disneyland Paris one day...in the meantime, my Husband and I love going to Disneyland or Disney World--our favorite places to have fun, enjoy good food and escape reality; Hakuna Matata! -Danielle
- I would love to travel the world!!! There is so much to see and explore. -Laura
- If I could travel anywhere, I would go to Paris because I have always been amazed with their sights. -Maleah
- Hawaii; I've never been and I want to explore and see all of the different animals. -Rhea
- Anywhere in the Caribbean because it's the right amount of tropical and warm weather and I love beaches. -Sophia
