Vet tech emergency stories, rabies shots, and farm animal care.

Episode 3 of Dad and the Vet Tech starts as a reminder at dinner and somehow ends with monkeys, rabies and fainting which pretty much sums up how these conversations usually go. A casual conversation with the Vet Tech's Mom brings back the memory of when Xena lost all her toenails, leading to a discussion about autoimmune disease, our German Shepherds Czar and Xena, and the vet visit that turned into an impromptu staff training session.

From there, the Dad gets a front-row seat to vet tech school realities, including pre-exposure rabies vaccines, why they’re required, what they cost, and if they go into the stomach. We also revisit one image every large-animal vet tech instantly recognizes.. a very long plastic sleeve and a bovine pregnancy check. Hands-on learning is not just a phrase here, it’s the entire experience.

The conversation moves into a semester spent working with rhesus macaques monkeys, covering daily care, enrichment, training, and the very human personalities of monkeys who watched TV, peeled oranges, and kept everyone on their toes. We wrap things up with our two-and-two segment, balancing feel-good rescues with tougher animal welfare stories, and end with a reminder that this work can be funny, heavy, and meaningful all at once.

If you’ve ever wondered what vet tech school is really like, or found yourself learning more than you expected as a parent, this episode is for you.

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🎧 New episodes drop every Sunday at 9 AM EST.
🐾 Visit us at dadandthevettech.com and go "Behind the Mic" after the episode with our blog.

Vet tech burnout, compassion fatigue, and hard cases no one prepares you for.

Vet tech programs teach the basics, but real emergencies rarely follow the book. We talk about starting in emergency clinics without a ramp-up, losing your first patient, and the emotional weight that comes with different circumstances around death. We explain what it’s like when clients are in shock after losing an animal, why anger sometimes gets directed at vet techs, and how hard it is to carry that while still doing the job.

Dad and the Vet Tech talk honestly about long hours, emotional fatigue, mental health, and self-care to reduce vet tech burnout after giving everything you have to save a life. They also share a bright spot, a cat from vet tech school who helped through overwhelming moments and eventually came home after college.

The episode wraps with the Cram Shack featuring anatomy and physiology questions, and the 2 and 2 segment covering two positive animal stories and two difficult ones from the news.

👉 Follow the show so you never miss an episode.
🎧 New episodes drop every Sunday at 9 AM EST.
🐾 Visit us at dadandthevettech.com and go "Behind the Mic" after the episode with our blog.

Vet tech training, early career reality, and what new vet techs should expect.

In this first episode, we explain how losing our German Shepherd, Czar, led to choosing the vet tech career path and what new vet techs can expect in school and inside a busy clinic. We cover how to choose a vet tech program, early challenges in the field, and how accreditation and scholarships affect your options.

We break down the difference between vet tech school and real clinic work, share early vet tech experiences, and talk about handling emotional cases for the first time.

You’ll step into the Cram Shack for rapid-fire vet tech study questions and finish with our 2 and 2 segment: two tough animal stories and two positive ones from the news.

👉 Follow the show so you never miss an episode.
🎧 New episodes drop every Sunday at 9 AM EST.
🐾 Visit us at dadandthevettech.com and go "Behind the Mic" after the episode with our blog.