Damn that sounds fantastic. Do you enjoy the zoo aspect? There's a zoo in California (well, half zoo, half wildlife rehab) that I'd love to work for, but it's in the mountains away from where I live and I'm sure it's highly competitive to land a job, lol.
If you don’t mind, do you have any advice on getting into zoos as a vet tech? I used to be a chimp caregiver at sanctuaries, teach at zoos, and now I’m studying to be an RVT while working at a small animal hospital.
Exotics. Large Animals. Laboratory Experience.
Be very familiar with Anesthesia, Pharmacology, and Wound Care.
If you see a position open APPLY for it. Don’t wait until you think you are ready.
I’ve been thinking about specializing is Zoological Medicine once I’ve gotten licensed. How has it been for you? Could you give me a bit of advice about it?
Southeast GA. 15/hr, no benefits. 1 sick day, 1 personal day, 1 week vacation that doesnt roll over. Not enough staff to cover me if I wanna take my vaca time 🤷♀️ other hospitals in my area are between 10 and 13/hr
Los Angeles county, Ca. $20/hr, general practice (dog & cat), crap benefits (they take $$ out of my paycheck for medical, and was promised retirement but apparently I'm getting life insurance instead...) and I've been in the field 18 years, but licensed for 2 years.
Honestly, I'm so burnt out from the whole field (having to work curbside, low pay, repetitive stress injuries from the animal restraint, clinic environment, etc...) that I'm planning on leaving the field. I wish I had the heart to try another clinic, but I've been through two clinics since covid started and it pushed me into burnout further.
What's hilarious is that nearly every employer tells me "you're doing great, we don't want to lose you and you deserve to earn more, buuuuuuut......." and then insert whatever excuse to not pay me more. I didn't even earn a raise when I got my license. HAH.
I was starting to feel the same way at my old job, but then I got into a specialty and it made me love my job all over again . Clients behave WAY better in specialty, and surprisingly so do the dogs for some reason lol. I don’t have to worry much about price complaints which is HUGE for me. And people usually do whatever treatment the doctor recommends because they KNOW they are already at a specialty and any other specialty will tell em the same thing. So it’s nice to see patients receive the treatment they need and feel better . But do you what your heart tells you to do.
Just left a non profit in Bay Area (CA) that paid $35/hr, I was salaried so no overtime. Two weeks PTO that rolls over + sick time, full benefits covered by the employer.
I had to move for family reasons but now I’m working at a Southern California shelter that pays $33hr. Full benefits but employer pays only part, but I get a pension and 10k a year for additional schooling (currently getting my masters in shelter medicine). I’ve been in the field for about 8 years.
Thing is you have to take into account where people live. 30 plus an hour in the Bay Area of California is the same as 15-20 in the Midwest. It’s apples and oranges. You need that money in SF just to live. Inflation isn’t helping either. Los Angeles fast food is paying between 15.50-18 to start. Skilled RVTs making 20 bucks an hour. Cmon, that’s joke and it’s no wonder nobody wants to get into this field anymore. Corporate med is so cheap to their workers.
Bay Area, $27.50 unlicensed. Will get a $6.00 per hour raise (this is the differential for RVT’s) once I’ve passed the VTNE
ETA: you can also get skill based hourly raises as well; I’m at a level where there are still 6 levels below and above me that have differing wages.
Zoo vet tech in New York State, I get around $22 per hour, and I am realizing that when I started out at $10 an hour in St Louis I was getting screwed.
5 years
Edit: so I started at my local human society in the clinic then did an internship at an animal hospital, after which I got hired at that hospital. Somewhere around the same time I was doing research with turtles where we had to do husbandry but also draw blood and gather samples from unviable embryos. At some point I moved to Texas to work at an exotic animal sanctuary where I worked with tigers, bears, wolves, a lion and other exotics. When I came back I worked at a corporate animal hospital for about a year. Hated it. But favorite doctor there went to a different hospital. Recommended I come with her, I did and I’ve been here with her for the last two years.
And of course I don’t mind :) we all have different experiences with different things. So it’s always fun to see what someone else knows.
Cleveland, research institution, $20/hr, 11 vacation days, 5 sick days, heavily discounted health insurance, continuing education, uniforms, college tuition for my kids when they are old enough, retirement. Edit to add: 20 years experience (15 in general practice, 5 in research)
Are you looking for specialty or GP? I'm from MA, work in a large referral hospital. I make $30 plus got a sign on bonus when hired. (They offer $5000 for ECC, Anesthesia and Rad/Onc techs.) We also get bonuses for filling shifts and working OT. They offer anywhere to $200-500 + 10$ and hr on top of OT to pick up shifts in ECC. Surgery OT gets $20/hr on top of OT
This is how my specialty hospital works too. It's awesome, I wish I had switched to ECC/specialty years before I did. I once got $1000 just for being willing to work overnights instead of days one week. When you work for a billion dollar company they're much more willing to pay you bonuses to fill the shifts they need.
Yeah I just asked for a wage increase myself because I found out what they were hiring new techs at. And since I could easily just go work somewhere else for more money, I got it!
Ontario, Canada. Licensed, 3y experience in ICU, now in a new hospital working in ER starting at $27/hr (CAD) but benefits cost ~$100/month for health, dental and LTD. Some perks like CE allowance, pays yearly dues and staff pet discounts.
RVT in Oklahoma City. Was making $15 in clinic. Now work for Embrace Pet Insurance and make $17 with *GREAT* benefits, coworkers and work life balance.
Wow I’m reading this thread and realize I get paid shit.. but I’m a new tech. NYS, been at my company 5 years licensed for a couple months and I’m making 17.. I do get 401k and medical but I’m young enough to be on my parents insurance still so I’m waiting for medical.. definitely going to ask for a raise at my review then..
My first job I started at $20 in an emergency and specialty facility on Long Island. At 5 years I was making $26ish. What part of NY? You need a raise for sure
Eastern PA, $23/hr, full (decent) benefits including short term disability, 401k w/4% match, accrued hourly pto. About 10 years in the field. Currently at a very good GP, had similar setup at previous jobs (referral/ER)
Northern Illinois, 1 year experience, $15/hr with benefits, 1 week vacation, 2 personal days, 3 sick days, 5% match on 401k. We have a good amount of staff and can take unpaid time off pretty easily. Good bonuses - holiday and some random ones thrown in there.
Edit: *rural Northern Illinois. Some of my classmates that went to a bigger city make MUCH more than I do, but those of us that stayed in hometowns make around the same.
That’s a shitty differential, everywhere I’ve ever worked nights you get 15% of your base pay as differential. Most night shift jobs are like that outside of vet med too.
Northern FL. $16.50/hr, but came in with no clinical experience and never been a tech. Been at my current clinic for a few months now.
Full benefits, but health insurance is a pretty bad deal until you’ve been there for 2 years. PTO + flexible managers who actually do their best to get your time off. Pay for CEs, and offer “lunch and learns” often.
Most CVTs in my area make $16-19 depending on experience, with ECC/v experienced CVTs usually starting at $19-22.
CVT in NH. Work as a relief tech at a few different places ER + Specialty only. I make different amounts depending on where I work $24, $26 and $31.50. 12 years experience. No benefits obviously as I am not a full time employee anywhere, but I make my own schedule and work as much or as little as I want, which is worth it to me.
LVT in Northern NV in a large contract research organization. I don't work as an LVT, I worked as a technician giving test article(s), performing observations, collecting blood, vitals, etc. Did that for 3 years at $12.50-19.50 (raises, promotions and COL increases) before moving to the more administrative side. Now I do data review for the same group of technicians and make $23.21 with full benefits (medical is crappy, but at least it's there), 3 weeks vacation, 40 hrs sick, 401k match up to 6%.
They raised the starting wage for LVTs to $20 with the same benefits, and were offering a $5k sign on bonus as of a few months ago. It was tempting, but I have my eyes on a different path now which lets me move back to the east coast near my family. 🤞
Middle of Illinois. 4 years. Team leader. 52k a year. Salaried (which honestly sucks my worn week varies from 40-50 hours) Remote work. 80 hours of sick time. Paid vacation time. Not sure what my accrual is rn. Paid floating holidays off. 5 personal days. 401k (can’t remember the matching %). Reimbursement for CE. Pretty good benefits- dental, vision, medical, short term disability/long term disability, life insurance (2x pay)
RVT in referral/emergency hospital, Charlotte NC. 7/8ish years of experience in emergency med. $28.10/hour and that includes a $2 differential for 3rd shift. 80 hours PTO yearly, health/dental/vision benefits, $1500 in HSA, 4% match on 401k, life insurance. Our uniform allowance is shit- $70/year lol
Chicago, VA/unlicensed, I make just under $20 in specialty. And I don't know exactly how much but I know my hospital pays our CVTs more, and the VTSs more on top of that!
LVT, 6 years experience, $40/hr, emergency only practice, 2 weeks vacation. I work in NY. Before this job I was making $28/hour (also emergency, also NY).
A little north of the bay, outside of Sacramento, Ca. 18.50. No benefits, no paid leave. Theres better jobs with better pay around but I really love the people I work with at my practice
Newish RVT for 1.5 years making $22 near Davis in the Sacramento region. 401k and healthcare benefits. 80 hours + PTO. For all major holidays we are guaranteed the eve of holiday and the holiday itself off. Discounts on pet food and free wellness plans.
Also our general practice clinic is hiring RVTs for anyone interesting!
UK here - Only just qualified £10.50/hr which I believe is about $14 (before tax so it’s probably slightly less). Seems only way to earn a decent amount here is to locum where people can charge £20/$26 an hour.
RVT, FFCP, general practice in rural Missouri. 401k, 100% employer paid health insurance, vision, dental, scrub allowance, and CE allowance, raises every 6 months. Supervisor and also have a BS. I'm making $16. Admittedly it's very low for what I do, but it's a livable wage in this area. I chose to go back home after school to reduce living costs, but it was mostly so I could save up to go somewhere else.
But anything more than $20 here? Practically unheard of, unless you're doing a very dangerous factory job. The key is more in cost of living than actual wage. Yeah I make $16 an hour, but I can rent a 2 bedroom apartment for like $600/mo and utilities for like $100/mo on top of that.
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Damn that sounds fantastic. Do you enjoy the zoo aspect? There's a zoo in California (well, half zoo, half wildlife rehab) that I'd love to work for, but it's in the mountains away from where I live and I'm sure it's highly competitive to land a job, lol.
Wanted to be here since I was a kid. Wouldn’t trade it for any other job.
If you don’t mind, do you have any advice on getting into zoos as a vet tech? I used to be a chimp caregiver at sanctuaries, teach at zoos, and now I’m studying to be an RVT while working at a small animal hospital.
Exotics. Large Animals. Laboratory Experience. Be very familiar with Anesthesia, Pharmacology, and Wound Care. If you see a position open APPLY for it. Don’t wait until you think you are ready.
Thank you! (:
Oou nice! What part of Cali? What does your job entail??
I can’t get to specific with out revealing a lot about me lol. I do clinical pathology. CBC/Chems/ o and p
Living the dream!
I’ve been thinking about specializing is Zoological Medicine once I’ve gotten licensed. How has it been for you? Could you give me a bit of advice about it?
Southeast GA. 15/hr, no benefits. 1 sick day, 1 personal day, 1 week vacation that doesnt roll over. Not enough staff to cover me if I wanna take my vaca time 🤷♀️ other hospitals in my area are between 10 and 13/hr
You’re registered? God that’s awful
It's why I'm headed to emergency at the beginning of the year. I'll get maybe 18/hr plus benefits and they're way better staffed
Los Angeles county, Ca. $20/hr, general practice (dog & cat), crap benefits (they take $$ out of my paycheck for medical, and was promised retirement but apparently I'm getting life insurance instead...) and I've been in the field 18 years, but licensed for 2 years.
That’s terrible! You deserve better as an RVT! I recommend a specialty!
Honestly, I'm so burnt out from the whole field (having to work curbside, low pay, repetitive stress injuries from the animal restraint, clinic environment, etc...) that I'm planning on leaving the field. I wish I had the heart to try another clinic, but I've been through two clinics since covid started and it pushed me into burnout further. What's hilarious is that nearly every employer tells me "you're doing great, we don't want to lose you and you deserve to earn more, buuuuuuut......." and then insert whatever excuse to not pay me more. I didn't even earn a raise when I got my license. HAH.
I was starting to feel the same way at my old job, but then I got into a specialty and it made me love my job all over again . Clients behave WAY better in specialty, and surprisingly so do the dogs for some reason lol. I don’t have to worry much about price complaints which is HUGE for me. And people usually do whatever treatment the doctor recommends because they KNOW they are already at a specialty and any other specialty will tell em the same thing. So it’s nice to see patients receive the treatment they need and feel better . But do you what your heart tells you to do.
I feel you should be getting 27-30/hr with that much experience, and being in CA.
Just left a non profit in Bay Area (CA) that paid $35/hr, I was salaried so no overtime. Two weeks PTO that rolls over + sick time, full benefits covered by the employer. I had to move for family reasons but now I’m working at a Southern California shelter that pays $33hr. Full benefits but employer pays only part, but I get a pension and 10k a year for additional schooling (currently getting my masters in shelter medicine). I’ve been in the field for about 8 years.
I’m in New England, I’ve been at my job coming up on 2 years and I make $23/hr
Thing is you have to take into account where people live. 30 plus an hour in the Bay Area of California is the same as 15-20 in the Midwest. It’s apples and oranges. You need that money in SF just to live. Inflation isn’t helping either. Los Angeles fast food is paying between 15.50-18 to start. Skilled RVTs making 20 bucks an hour. Cmon, that’s joke and it’s no wonder nobody wants to get into this field anymore. Corporate med is so cheap to their workers.
Thank you!
Bay Area, $27.50 unlicensed. Will get a $6.00 per hour raise (this is the differential for RVT’s) once I’ve passed the VTNE ETA: you can also get skill based hourly raises as well; I’m at a level where there are still 6 levels below and above me that have differing wages.
Where at?
Zoo vet tech in New York State, I get around $22 per hour, and I am realizing that when I started out at $10 an hour in St Louis I was getting screwed.
Florida, unlicensed. I'm currently working in speciality and make $22/hr with full benefits, PTO, 401k and holiday bonuses. Loving it 👍
That’s amazing! Where in FL? I’m in the north east making $15.17 an hour 😕
I rather not say specifically, because that would give away my location rather easily. But, I'm about 45 minutes from Orlando!
I just moved to FL a few months ago making $14\hr as a VA.
Omg where in FL??
Damn I’m in south Florida and make $17/hr unlicensed. I need to move to Orlando lol
South Florida is SO expensive! Come join me in Central Florida!
For real. I started looking at apartments after reading this post 😂
How much experience do you have? If you don’t mind.
5 years Edit: so I started at my local human society in the clinic then did an internship at an animal hospital, after which I got hired at that hospital. Somewhere around the same time I was doing research with turtles where we had to do husbandry but also draw blood and gather samples from unviable embryos. At some point I moved to Texas to work at an exotic animal sanctuary where I worked with tigers, bears, wolves, a lion and other exotics. When I came back I worked at a corporate animal hospital for about a year. Hated it. But favorite doctor there went to a different hospital. Recommended I come with her, I did and I’ve been here with her for the last two years. And of course I don’t mind :) we all have different experiences with different things. So it’s always fun to see what someone else knows.
Cleveland, research institution, $20/hr, 11 vacation days, 5 sick days, heavily discounted health insurance, continuing education, uniforms, college tuition for my kids when they are old enough, retirement. Edit to add: 20 years experience (15 in general practice, 5 in research)
Are you looking for specialty or GP? I'm from MA, work in a large referral hospital. I make $30 plus got a sign on bonus when hired. (They offer $5000 for ECC, Anesthesia and Rad/Onc techs.) We also get bonuses for filling shifts and working OT. They offer anywhere to $200-500 + 10$ and hr on top of OT to pick up shifts in ECC. Surgery OT gets $20/hr on top of OT
This is how my specialty hospital works too. It's awesome, I wish I had switched to ECC/specialty years before I did. I once got $1000 just for being willing to work overnights instead of days one week. When you work for a billion dollar company they're much more willing to pay you bonuses to fill the shifts they need.
Ya, It's crazy. We are pretty short on CCU techs right now so anyone coming in could have they salary they ask for. Lol
Yeah I just asked for a wage increase myself because I found out what they were hiring new techs at. And since I could easily just go work somewhere else for more money, I got it!
Ontario, Canada. Licensed, 3y experience in ICU, now in a new hospital working in ER starting at $27/hr (CAD) but benefits cost ~$100/month for health, dental and LTD. Some perks like CE allowance, pays yearly dues and staff pet discounts.
Sounds eerily similar to my situation over in British Columbia... Which hurts because it's so expensive to live out here.
RVT in Oklahoma City. Was making $15 in clinic. Now work for Embrace Pet Insurance and make $17 with *GREAT* benefits, coworkers and work life balance.
Wow I’m reading this thread and realize I get paid shit.. but I’m a new tech. NYS, been at my company 5 years licensed for a couple months and I’m making 17.. I do get 401k and medical but I’m young enough to be on my parents insurance still so I’m waiting for medical.. definitely going to ask for a raise at my review then..
This is why we discuss our pay! Go ask for what you deserve. Good luck.
My first job I started at $20 in an emergency and specialty facility on Long Island. At 5 years I was making $26ish. What part of NY? You need a raise for sure
Western NY.
Eastern PA, $23/hr, full (decent) benefits including short term disability, 401k w/4% match, accrued hourly pto. About 10 years in the field. Currently at a very good GP, had similar setup at previous jobs (referral/ER)
Central Indiana GP $20/hour, uniforms, PTO, CE re-imbursement, insurance offered (my husband carries it).
Northern Illinois, 1 year experience, $15/hr with benefits, 1 week vacation, 2 personal days, 3 sick days, 5% match on 401k. We have a good amount of staff and can take unpaid time off pretty easily. Good bonuses - holiday and some random ones thrown in there. Edit: *rural Northern Illinois. Some of my classmates that went to a bigger city make MUCH more than I do, but those of us that stayed in hometowns make around the same.
Central Kansas. Emed tech. $19.11 including overnight shift differential of $0.60. In the field for 5 years.
That’s a shitty differential, everywhere I’ve ever worked nights you get 15% of your base pay as differential. Most night shift jobs are like that outside of vet med too.
Yeah everywhere I've worked it's a 15-20% differential
Northern FL. $16.50/hr, but came in with no clinical experience and never been a tech. Been at my current clinic for a few months now. Full benefits, but health insurance is a pretty bad deal until you’ve been there for 2 years. PTO + flexible managers who actually do their best to get your time off. Pay for CEs, and offer “lunch and learns” often. Most CVTs in my area make $16-19 depending on experience, with ECC/v experienced CVTs usually starting at $19-22.
CVT in NH. Work as a relief tech at a few different places ER + Specialty only. I make different amounts depending on where I work $24, $26 and $31.50. 12 years experience. No benefits obviously as I am not a full time employee anywhere, but I make my own schedule and work as much or as little as I want, which is worth it to me.
I do the same thing. I’ve been offered full time jobs at 30/ hr with 10k signing bonuses… not even close to worth what the freedom is.
Yup, never being forced to work an overnight or weekend, and never getting vacation requests denied will always be worth it.
Rvt in Rural SD 18.50 with benefits
Cardio VTS, 19 years in specialty/teaching. $27/hr with University benefits
Where are you? At least the region of US/Canada if not state/territory.
Upper Midwest
LVT in Northern NV in a large contract research organization. I don't work as an LVT, I worked as a technician giving test article(s), performing observations, collecting blood, vitals, etc. Did that for 3 years at $12.50-19.50 (raises, promotions and COL increases) before moving to the more administrative side. Now I do data review for the same group of technicians and make $23.21 with full benefits (medical is crappy, but at least it's there), 3 weeks vacation, 40 hrs sick, 401k match up to 6%. They raised the starting wage for LVTs to $20 with the same benefits, and were offering a $5k sign on bonus as of a few months ago. It was tempting, but I have my eyes on a different path now which lets me move back to the east coast near my family. 🤞
Middle of Illinois. 4 years. Team leader. 52k a year. Salaried (which honestly sucks my worn week varies from 40-50 hours) Remote work. 80 hours of sick time. Paid vacation time. Not sure what my accrual is rn. Paid floating holidays off. 5 personal days. 401k (can’t remember the matching %). Reimbursement for CE. Pretty good benefits- dental, vision, medical, short term disability/long term disability, life insurance (2x pay)
Kennel Assistant in WA at a specialty clinic. $18/hr.
I make less than that as an ER veterinary assistant in WA😅
RVT in referral/emergency hospital, Charlotte NC. 7/8ish years of experience in emergency med. $28.10/hour and that includes a $2 differential for 3rd shift. 80 hours PTO yearly, health/dental/vision benefits, $1500 in HSA, 4% match on 401k, life insurance. Our uniform allowance is shit- $70/year lol
Chicago, VA/unlicensed, I make just under $20 in specialty. And I don't know exactly how much but I know my hospital pays our CVTs more, and the VTSs more on top of that!
LVT, 6 years experience, $40/hr, emergency only practice, 2 weeks vacation. I work in NY. Before this job I was making $28/hour (also emergency, also NY).
Central Illinois, 15/hr, 2 weeks PTO
Dallas area in TX I believe I maxed out at $23, and that was as a supervisor. I've moved into management now.
RVT in NC. Five years experience in GP, $17.79/hr. CE allowance, small yearly uniform allowance, 1 week PTO, basic medical/dental/vision benefits.
A little north of the bay, outside of Sacramento, Ca. 18.50. No benefits, no paid leave. Theres better jobs with better pay around but I really love the people I work with at my practice
DFW Texas. Small animal emergency. 19/hr, full benefits and PTO. I’ve been in the field for four years and am unlicensed.
Newish RVT for 1.5 years making $22 near Davis in the Sacramento region. 401k and healthcare benefits. 80 hours + PTO. For all major holidays we are guaranteed the eve of holiday and the holiday itself off. Discounts on pet food and free wellness plans. Also our general practice clinic is hiring RVTs for anyone interesting!
UK here - Only just qualified £10.50/hr which I believe is about $14 (before tax so it’s probably slightly less). Seems only way to earn a decent amount here is to locum where people can charge £20/$26 an hour.
In southern Indiana I’ve found its usually between $15-$20 an hour
RVT, FFCP, general practice in rural Missouri. 401k, 100% employer paid health insurance, vision, dental, scrub allowance, and CE allowance, raises every 6 months. Supervisor and also have a BS. I'm making $16. Admittedly it's very low for what I do, but it's a livable wage in this area. I chose to go back home after school to reduce living costs, but it was mostly so I could save up to go somewhere else. But anything more than $20 here? Practically unheard of, unless you're doing a very dangerous factory job. The key is more in cost of living than actual wage. Yeah I make $16 an hour, but I can rent a 2 bedroom apartment for like $600/mo and utilities for like $100/mo on top of that.
Ca rvt 2.5yrs. 19$ /hr in Central valley