Veterinary Assistants Assist veterinarians during examinations and treatments, as well as maintain accurate records. The salary of a veterinary assistant in North Carolina ranges from $16,000 to around $29,000 with experience.
Some experts say the average salary for a vet tech is between $24,000 per annum and $37,500 per annum. The range of salary can depend on whether you’re employed by a hospital or a private practice and whether you decide to focus your career on small animals or larger animals.
Veterinary Assistant Salary In NC Overview
If you’re looking for a way to make a difference, and make some money in the process, look no further than a career as a veterinary assistant.
The average salary for a veterinary assistant in North Carolina is $13/hr. That’s a solid starting point—but if you’re willing to put in the work, there’s plenty of room for growth. Take it from us: we know this because we’ve seen it happen with our own clients.
In fact, here are some examples of how our clients have progressed through their professional careers:
-First-year veterinary assistants make around $13/hr; second year assistants start around $14/hr; third year assistants make around $15/hr; fourth year assistants can make up to $16/hr.
-A veterinarian assistant who works at an animal clinic that has an adoption program can expect to earn an extra $5 per hour when they spend time helping potential owners find the right pet for their family.
As you can see, there are many ways to increase your salary as a veterinary assistant!
The Duties of a Veterinary Assistant
A veterinary assistant is a non-licensed veterinary care worker who, under the supervision of a veterinarian or other professional such as a vet tech, provides supportive animal care services. Among the most common duties of a vet assistant are the following:
- Ensuring that all animals under the veterinary practice’s care are properly fed and watered. In many cases, the vet assistant will be required to feed each animal according to a specific dietary plan. In addition, the vet assistant will also inform the veterinarian of any changes in the animal’s appetite.
- Cleaning and maintaining cages and other animal enclosures in order to prevent the spread of infectious diseases among clinic’s animals.
- Ensuring that all animals are housed in comfortable and healthy enclosures.
- Vet assistants will take biological samples, such as blood, urine or feces, for later testing by the veterinarian.
- The vet assistant will administer medication that has been prescribed by the veterinarian.
- In some cases, the vet assistant may be expected to work in the front office or otherwise interact with the general public.
Education Requirements for Veterinary Assistant in North Carolina
If you want to be good at something and ensure that you do your job well, you first need to learn how to do it.
More and more already employed vet assistants decide to enroll in courses to gain more knowledge and practice from experts.
You can get formal education and training along with a certification through vet assistant programs.
These are a few schools offering the program online or in-class in North Carolina:
- Central Carolina Community College
- Miller-Motte College
- University of North Carolina
The curriculum of the programs taught here is designed to teach you the following:
- How to interact with pets
- Anatomy and physiology of small animals
- How to take blood and urine sample
- Proper recording of patient information
With these, you’ll be confident and ready to perform the tasks assigned to you.
In other words, without the supervision of the vet, you can:
- Administer medications to animals in a safe manner
- Restrain them during exams without hurting them or yourself
- Take vital signs accurately
- Perform first aid on those injured
This will instantly make you a valuable member of the vet team.
Another institution offering the program is the National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America (NAVTA).
NAVTA has three options for you to become an Approved Veterinary Assistant (AVA).
- Externship Option
- Experiential Learner
- Veterinary Assistant Program
In their program, you can learn to become a skilled and caring vet professional.
They’ll teach you about the:
- Importance of good nutrition and safe environments for animals
- Clinical procedures
- Administrative and reception duties
Afterward, you can then take NAVTA’s certification exam.
Passing it will earn you the title of AVA, which you have to renew every two years.
Potential Salary for Veterinary Assistant in North Carolina
You’re probably like most vet assistants—performing the job because you have a desire to work with and help animals.
You want to support them in the worst moments of their lives.
So even though the salary is modest, you still find this fulfilling and rewarding.
In North Carolina, you can earn an average annual salary of $30,300 as of February 2022 (Salary.com).
A well-established vet assistant can earn somewhere between $24,414 and $36,548.
Here’s the salary percentile in the state for your reference.
Percentile | Salary |
10% | $19,055 |
25% | $24,414 |
50% | $30,300 |
75% | $36,548 |
90% | $42,237 |
Although, it’s worth noting that a vet assistant’s salary depends on many factors, both individual and social.
For individual factors, your education, skills, and assigned duties affect your earnings.
Further, you can’t expect to be paid equally as those with AVA if you don’t have a certification.
As for the social factors, it relates to the location of the workplace and the development of the area.
The table below shows the variations in salaries in the different parts of the state.
Average Annual Salary by Location
Location | Avg. Annual Salary |
---|---|
Charlotte | $30,225 |
Raleigh | $29,603 |
Greensboro | $29,488 |
Durham | $29,438 |
Winston-Salem | $29,559 |
Fayetteville | $28,313 |
Cary | $29,603 |
High Point | $29,664 |
Wilmington | $28,143 |
Asheville | $28,344 |