Courtesy of: Kaitlyn – Veterinary Administrative Assistant Student Volunteer

Volunteering at Truro Vet was a very good experience.  All the people I met were amazing and helpful, and all the animals I met I fell in love with.  I will never forget them.  I wish I could stay with their team forever but I need to spread my wings.  They helped me grow and move on.  Working at an animal hospital you need to have compassion for every animal that comes in the hospital as well as the owner.  You need to think of it as your pet and how you would feel in the owner’s shoes.

Working at this hospital for 6 weeks, I thought it was going to be the longest 6 weeks of my life and to tell you the truth I didn’t even want to go there in the first place, because I thought I would do nothing but clean kennels!  Now that I only have 2 days left I don’t ever want it to end!  The 14 people I met while I was there, you couldn’t ask for better co-workers; they are an awesome team of people.  There are 3 Technicians (#1 – the youngest, #2 – always has the chair sitting on the ground, #3 – ask her anything and she will give you the definition);  3 Doctors (#1 – you can ask her if she needs help but she never does, #2 – she’s the shortest, #3 – she will answer any questions you have); 4 Assistants (#1 – she’s very emotional, #2 – always cleaning, #3 – very tall,  #4 – always laughing and making jokes); and 4 Receptionists (#1 – always asks about my dog, #2 – went school with her, #3 – she never gets mad, #4 – she hates if you ring the bell more than once).  What the heck…why don’t we just make it 5 Assistants!?!

The things people do for their animals are the same things they do for their kids, and for some owners, their pet is their kid and they want them to be the happiest little cat or dog.  Sometimes, that means their kid is a little rounder then others, but that’s why they go to Truro Vet so they can get help with any problems.  The people at Truro Vet will never forget your animal because they all have so much compassion for their job.  Something I was told from one of the other assistants when I was there was “Never stop caring “and I will never forget that.

One of my favourite memories volunteering happened on a Friday afternoon around 3pm.  A beautiful dog came in that wasn’t in very good shape and needed our help.  I fell in love with him at first sight, all I wanted to do is cuddle him (but at the same time I didn’t because he didn’t smell too good) but that didn’t stop me.  I sat with him for 2 hours and then it was my time to go home .  I didn’t want to, but at the same time I knew he was going to be in good hands.  Monday came and all I could think about all weekend was that cute dog I met on Friday and I hoped he went to a good home, but there he was still at the hospital at 9am Monday morning.  The first thing I did was ask about him and then I jumped in the cage with him and started to cuddle him like I did Friday.  Then one of the Technicians came over and told me the bad news, and it was that he wasn’t doing so good, his kidneys were failing and there was nothing else they could do for him.  All I could do is cry and smile, and now you are probably wondering why I was smiling?  That’s because I knew he didn’t have to suffer any longer.  That dog was a strong dog, a loving dog, a dog I will never forget, he’s the reason I want to help animals.