Jennifer Jones changed her focus from teaching students to caring for animals. She’s now a licensed veterinary technician | Business







jennifer jones

Veterinary Technician Jennifer Jones at Pittsfield Veterinary Hospital. 



PITTSFIELD — Jennifer Jones has always felt a need to help others. Her professional career choices have reflected that aspect of her personality.

A Spanish major who minored in linguistics at St. Michael’s College, Jones began her career teaching English as a second language at the University of Cincinnati. Then she turned her focus to another group that needed assistance — animals.

The 34-year-old Williamstown native went back to school and became a licensed veterinary technician. She has currently served in that position for two years at Pittsfield Veterinary Hospital.

We spoke with Jones recently about why she chose this profession, the duties that veterinary technicians perform, and what her future aspirations are in this field.

Q: What interested you in becoming a veterinary technician?

A: I grew up around animals all the time … horseback riding, always had a lot of dogs at home, and I’ve always just had a drive to want to help … It’s just something about helping others and growing educationally that’s been a huge drive of mine. I used to be a teacher so when I kind of realized that maybe teaching wasn’t for me, I was in a place in my life where there was a great veterinary technology school near me (at the University of Cincinnati). So I decided why not go with my passion and see where it leads me.







jennifer jones

Jennifer Jones is a veterinary technician at Pittsfield Veterinary Hospital.



Q: So how do you become a veterinary technician?

A: That differs state to state. For me, how I became (one), you have to go to an accredited college, get a degree and then you have to pass a national board’s test, just like registered nurses, and then you become a licensed technician. Different states have different requirements of veterinary technicians; not all states require you to be a licensed technician, and you can kind of just work your way up by doing it. But in order to become a licensed technician you have to go to an accredited college and pass your national boards.

Quite frankly, moving into veterinary technology was a very appropriate step for someone who loves to learn because requirement-wise to be a licensed veterinary technician you have to do continuing education every year. You have to get a certain amount of credits every year. So I get to keep being a student that way and keep learning and spread my knowledge to other people as well.







jennifer jones and dog raclette

Veterinary Technician Jennifer Jones puts her dog, Raclette, an 8-year-old bulldog mix, back into her crate at Pittsfield Veterinary Hospital. Raclette came with Jones to the vet last week to be treated for an oral hematoma, caused by shaking her head too much. 



Q: How long is the board exam?

A: Oh boy, about three to four hours.

Q: It must be like taking the law boards.

A: Yeah, it was a lot. And you never know what species they’re going to ask you about. They can ask you literally any question.

Q: What does the job entail?

A: Most people see the very minimum of what vet technicians do. You see us in the room just kind of holding the animals, giving a history of what’s going on with the animals. But there’s actually a lot more than that in what happens behind the scenes in the treatment areas. Day-to-day I’m an anesthesiologist, a phlebotomist, a nurse, an X-ray technician, a dentist, an educator and a pharmacy technician.

The vast majority of people think we just hold animals, play with puppies and kittens and probably clean up their messes. But there’s actually more education and knowledge and skill that goes into everything that we really do.







jennifer jones and dog raclette

Veterinary technician Jennifer Jones and her dog, Raclette, an 8-year-old bulldog mix, at Pittsfield Veterinary Hospital. Raclette came with Jones to work on March 31 to be treated for an oral hematoma, caused by shaking her head too much. 



Q: Of all of those tasks you just mentioned, which is the most difficult?

A: Honestly, it’s probably anesthesiologist. We are the ones who are giving the sedation. We are the ones monitoring the patients under anesthesia, making sure they’re in the right plane, making sure your patients wake up and recover well. We’re monitoring their EKG waves, their blood pressure, their temperature, their blood-oxygen levels and making sure we’re keeping patients safe under anesthesia. We say that if you’re not nervous about going into anesthesia then you shouldn’t go into anesthesia because their lives are truly in your hands as a veterinary technician.

Q: Is giving anesthesia to animals different than giving it to humans?

A: Yeah, you have to know all the different parameters for each species that you’re working with because they can vary drastically. So you have to understand what is normal for every species and how to keep them within those normal planes of anesthesia. And then you also have to look at is there an animal that has a cardiovascular issue? You have to treat them very differently than a healthy one year old animal that doesn’t have any issues. Is there any animal with kidney or liver issues? You have to assess that and that changes kind of how you deal with them under anesthesia as well.

Q: What’s the most exotic animal that you’ve ever treated?

A: Oh boy, along with Dr. Devereaux at Pittsfield Vet, we’ve worked on bearded dragons (1-to-2-foot-long lizards), chameleons; we’ve worked with different kinds of birds, snakes, guinea pigs, rats, we see rabbits often. Reptiles are probably the most exotic ones I’ve worked with.

Q: You’ve done rats, too?

A: Yes, we do rats often.

Q: I’m surprised people would bring those in.

A: I know, it’s shocking what people bring in.

Q: What’s the best part of your job?

A: Watching patients get to go home to their families and knowing that you helped and maybe solved a problem and made them feel better. Pets aren’t just like second-class citizens to families. They’re huge family members. Just getting to keep them healthy and safe and get them back to their families and see them grow over the years.   







jennifer jones

Veterinary Technician Jennifer Jones at Pittsfield Veterinary Hospital. 




Q: What’s the hardest or worst part of your job?

A: The worst part of my job is probably the end. We’re doing euthanasia’s all the time, or seeing really sad cases that have had bad accidents or things like that, having to like hold their paw at the end, be there at the end. It’s definitely a very emotional trying thing and it weighs on all of us very heavily. It’s something that we carry home with us all the time.  

Q: I’ve had to go through this with my animals, too, and it’s not easy. But you guys have to go through it constantly. How do you deal with it?

A: Luckily, most of the time when it comes to things like euthanasia you know that it’s time. Sometimes these patients are ready so just feeling that you helped them cross that bridge is a good feeling because they’re not suffering any more. So I try to look at it that way. Some of the hard cases, like you have a young animal that comes in that’s been hit by a car, we see that sometimes, and that’s a hard thing. I just go home and hug my animals. It weighs on you for sure … I just try and go back and do some good the next day.

Q: What advice would you give to someone who wants to be a veterinary technician?

A: My first piece of advice is go and shadow someplace, make sure that it’s what you want to do. There’s plenty of places. I know we do a lot of internships and shadowing stuff at Pittsfield Vet … Really try and immerse yourself in it and see if it’s what you want to do because it’s a lot of work and it’s an incredibly difficult job. And then if it’s what you want to do, go to school. Get the education. I think that you have people’s family members in your hands and I think going to school and getting an education is more important. All schools will require you to do externships, you’ll get experience as you go along, and you’ll be a hot commodity going into the field after school. There’s a huge need for veterinary technicians.

Q: What’s your ultimate goal in your profession?

A: Right now I’m just trying to still grown and learn. Down the line maybe specializing would be fun.