To retrain as a vet nurse in my 40s?

[InterloperMum]

I recently re-trained as a healthcare professional (occupational therapist) and have realised it is not for me due to the lack of role clarity / definition. Currently work in NHS.

I'm thinking of re-training again. I have always loved animals. I wanted to be a vet when I was younger but knew I wouldn't be able to meet the academic requirements.

I'm a very practical person, not squemish, don't mind cleaning, good with customers and physically fit.

I have two children at school, am London based.

Has anyone ever re-trained as a vet nurse? Do you work as a vet nurse? Would you recommend it? What are the downsides? I realise the pay is not great.

How might I go about it? I would need to earn whilst training.

Any advice would be gratefully received. Thank you.

I’m a vet - try the RCVS website for info on training options now: there are several routes, including a degree, but iirc you can’t earn much, if anything, on the day release type training.
It’s not a living wage imo but obviously that depends on your circumstances.
I work with a woman who retrained as a mature person after leaving another profession - I can ask her for insight.
My observation would be that RVN’s feel a lot of the same pressures as vets do but with a reduced sense of control eg surrounding ethics and welfare.
I have great respect for RVN’s - I don’t know how they do it!

It is hard to get a training position.check out the rcvs website and maybe the college of animal welfare,they do online learning/blended options.for me the main problem whilst having children is the on call/overnights/late hours,there's really nothing that works with school hours so depends on your kids ages/partners work?it's a very demanding course and is a very stressful low paid job.i would recommend going to 'see practice' -volunteer in a vets for a bit as a good way to get a feeling for it and a good pathway to getting a training position.

Thank you @BottomsByTheirTops, that's really helpful info.

Are earnings better on completion of training?

And yes please, if you are able to gain any insight from your career changer, I'd be very interested to hear their thoughts.

Ex vet nurse here. Qualified at 22yrs old, gave it up around 42yrs old. Was a mostly lovely career but the pay is so poor, the work day was extremely awkward hours, spent a lot of time in physically awkward positions, on knees, holding heavy limbs, uncomfortable lifting, uncomfortable arm and hand positions, being on call some nights and so many repetitive explanations to clients who won't listen properly because they think you're just after their money. (We're not.) It became difficult and very frustrating and I also found retaining new information harder as I got older.
Make no mistake, it's a PEOPLE job as well as an animal and cleaning one. Dealing with people in very emotional states a lot of the time. For pretty low pay.

Thank you @tonyhawks23, yes I would need to think about the hours and impact on family life. My partner works mostly from home and my youngest starts secondary school in 2027.

Good idea re work experience.

There's different training pathways so earnings whilst training differ depending on which way you take but will be likely to be below minimum wage,some pathways do unpaid job placement.course is about 2 years.as a qualified vet nurse you are looking at the 25,000 kind of area,bearing in mind that includes long hours/often overnights.depends on practice/area etc of course.

A good website is vetnurse.co.uk too.

When comparing wages don't just look at the pay either. Many vet professionals do not get sick, maternity, pension above statutory. Likely to be far removed from NHS benefits. Agee with @BottomsByTheirTops RVNs are amazing but they are certainly not well paid.

I'd suggest a year or so as a veterinary receptionist first before committing to a career change; you'll get paid and it'll be good experience to draw on when applying for VCA / student RVN roles.
You may find it a good "foot in the door" & potentially could then move in-house into a trainee role (if at a training practice). You may also be able to do some extra (likely unpaid) hours in a more hands-on role or seeing practice. I had several reception colleagues who did this and later became RVNs.

Have you thought of other careers working with animals where you could start earning straight away such as dog walking? That would probably pay more and you would have more autonomy over your working hours etc.

One of my close friends was a vet nurse having trained from school and found the same thing.

It's a really physically demanding job (my friend is about 4'11 and helping to lift Great Danes into operating tables in her forties was no joke!) with a lot of ongoing training, and potentially commitments outside of standard working hours.

She stepped back in her mid forties and essentially became a practice manager whilst running some pet wellbeing workshops and things that didn't require constant upkeep of qualifications.

10 years on she works remotely for an animal related company and fosters pregnant cats and kittens!

Assuming your a band 5 occupational therapist?

Have you looked at different roles? Sideways moves?

It’s a shame your job as an OT isnt working out. Did you have good support and supervision during your newly qualified period?
I struggled post qualification as my first job was completely different to my work placements and I felt out of my depth and clueless.

Are you working in an acute hospital ward setting? It can be quite hard to define your role as often it feels like you are simply facilitating discharge. A rehab or community setting can often be more rewarding and there are other non NHS roles for OTs.
Can you discuss this in your supervision sessions?

Lots of food for thought here, thank you everyone, really appreciated.

As it stands, I think I would be fine with manual handling, but realise this might not always be so.

Appreciate it is a very customer facing role, but I have lots of transferable skills.

The lack of pension contributions, etc, is off putting.

How recently is recently for being an OT? That's a lot of work in a tough role to walk away from if it hasn't been very long. The first year in a role like that will always be difficult and I'm not sure a veterinary nurse will have what you want in terms of role clarity either. There's a lot of grey.

I did know of (friend of a friend type thing) an RVN once who was also a human equivalent nurse. She had a part time job in each to get a best of both worlds package which worked for her. I have no idea how she organised her training though and am not really in touch to ask.

Have you maybe looked at some other animal based careers, maybe animal assisted therapies, or equine therapies?

I have been an OT (band 5) for around 18 months. First role was community neuro where I felt a bit out of my depth but had good supervision. I'm now inpatient mental health. I'm just not sure it's for me. Think I would prefer something more practical / tangible with more job definition. I am looking into sideways moves also.

You just need to find your niche in OT, OP. I’m guessing that you’re still a band 5 if recently qualified? If so, you’re only finding your feet and just need to give it time. I’m a band 7 physio, absolutely love my job and have had a brilliant career but won’t lie and say that the first few years weren’t testing! There are brilliant opportunities emerging in OT nowadays, particularly in the private sector with very good salaries to match. It would be such a waste for you to give it up - it’s one of the most up and coming allied health professions, you need to take advantage of this.

I have two nieces who are vet nurses - yes, they do love their jobs but the pay is dismal with little to no chance of progression. You’d make more working in a supermarket to be frank.

Thank you @Cadogan66

The pay is very poor compared with OT/nursing etc & virtually no career progression.

What's your animal experience like - are you confident handling equine & large farm animals for example?

Equine physiotherapy could be an option if you want to be self employed or have the skills to develop your own business.

I trained as a vet nurse & wouldn't recommend it as a career. I moved into cattle & equine AI & grew a successful business with my cousin.

I’m a RVN have been for 25 years.
As you’re aware the pay is very poor. Little more than minimum wage which considering I studied for 3 years to qualify is crap. There is no prospect of earning more. Little to no career progression.
I enjoy the work but at 43 I am starting to consider how long I’ll be physically able to crawl around on the floor and lift/restrain dogs who weigh more than I do.
Clients also think you’re out to rip them off and expect you should provide their animals care for free then blame you when you can’t.
You’ll be expected to work late evenings and weekends. It’s not a 9-5 job.
You’ll also be entitled to only statutory sick pay and maternity in most practices and the most basic holiday package 20 days plus bank holidays.
If I had my time again I would choose a different career and it’s definitely not something I’d consider training in my 40s

I’ve been a veterinary nurse for 32 years. Some parts of the job are rewarding but you will work very long, unsociable hours for very poor pay. It’s highly stressful and destroys your back and knees. You will spend a lot of time being yelled at by nasty clients who think you’re trying to rip them
off. I personally wish I’d tried harder to get into vet school. I wouldn’t recommend it as a career for an older person.

Hi Op, I am a equine veterinary surgeon and my only concern is regarding my colleague’s who I have a lot respect for and they do a wonderful job is I don’t think I could do their hours and work for what they get paid.

I think you should try OT placements that suit your requirements better first. Inpatient mental health will always be unpredictable and involve making it up as you go along, that takes a certain kind of person (not me either, although I'm so glad there are people).

Stroke rehab or osteo recovery have a lot more predictable steps to work through and a clearer goal to work towards that can be more rewarding for a lot of people. Helping people who have had hip fractures or replacements would be a good start for building your confidence as there's so many and a pathway in place.

Try that first, maybe you could move sideways to animal therapy or train a guide dog or something else to scratch to animal itch, but I wouldn't jump straight to more retraining because of one bump in the OT road.