Kirstie's Report

What is it like to be a retail vet?

Pet shops are a popular destination for families. Pet shops have changed in many different ways over the years. They now have more species of animals but have a lot less of them. The animals are looked after better than they used to be, with a much bigger space to live in temporarily. The vets try to keep the animals as comfortable as possible so that they are tame for their new owner. These are some well looked after fish. They are happy because they have other fish for company and they have lots of weeds, bark and stones so it makes them think that they are in their natural habitat.

 

On the 8^th of June some students from Worser Bay School went to Miramar pet shop to interview retail vet, Rachel. Her job is to look after animals, help people learn how to look after their pets, make sure her clients are happy, help customers decide whether their pets need anything for example: toenail clipping or injections, sell products and do surgery to help sick animals get better. These are some of the products that they sell: cat/rabbit food, collars, squeaky toys, bones, fish tanks, cat baskets and pebbles.

Rachel got her job eleven and a half years ago.

She saw an advertisement in the paper, after passing her first year of animal care, wrote a cover letter and got hired. She is one of the more experienced staff so she has to teach the younger staff members new skills.

These are some of the skills that Rachel has to teach the younger staff: how to use the vet computer system, teach them all about the premium food that they sell because they need to be able to explain to the customers about it, how to use the cash machine and how to use the eftpos machine.

Rachel likes her current job more than her last one, customer services. That is because she likes looking after animals, talking to people and doing surgery on the animals. Rachel likes doing surgery because she enjoys seeing how thrilled the pet’s owners are (if their pets are well) and seeing a happy healthy pet.

These are some of the tools they use to fix up the animals.

Rachel doesn’t like working on Saturdays.

That is the day when they get the most customers. They have less staff working on Saturdays, so it’s harder work. Rachel doesn’t get to go and see the nurses or do any surgery. Since there are lots of customers she does a different job on Saturdays which is: help clean out fish tanks and animal cages, work in the reception area, to make up the fire eating piglet stories for the empty cages and to sell lots of products.

She would prefer to sleep in and do some of her hobbies which are: looking after her two cats, writing stories and going for walks.

Rachel wants people to know that rabbits are not a boring pet.

They are very interesting animals and each has their own personality. Rabbits can be very easily toilet trained so make great indoor pets. Rabbits love attention and they love to play. Pet rabbits live for 8-10 years, and can live even longer (although older than 13 is rare). Large breeds live shorter lives than dwarf breeds. There are lots of different breeds of rabbits which come in all sorts of different sizes and colours.

These are baby rabbits, also known as kittens.

 

Pet shops have changed in many ways throughout the years. The pet shop staff members have to care for the animals very well   so that they are tame for their new owner. A retail vet’s job is to care for animals that are unwell and sell enough products so that all the staff have jobs. Being a retail vet is a great job for anyone who likes to work hard to get a good end result. They need to not mind getting messy because that’s what happens when they do surgery. Pet shops are very important because without them there would be lots of stray animals and some species of animals that are alive now would become extinct.

It sounds like a fun, varied job where you would face different challenges every day.

By Kirstie Rae