Become an Animal Health Technician

The Animal Science career diploma program prepares students for a career as an entry-level animal care and service worker.

Upon completion of the program, students will be able to:

• Recognize, write, and pronounce medical terms used in a veterinary practice
• Identify the major categories of animal behaviour and identify the restraint techniques and equipment used to restrain small and large animals
• Use correct language in both spoken and written business communication and create professional business correspondence
• Know the office functions within a veterinary practice as well as how to keep financial records for the practice
• Identify the parts of the animal skeletal systems and know the functions of the integumentary, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, reproductive, urinary, nervous, and endocrine systems, as well as the sensory organs
• Discuss how to care for animals nutritional needs, know how to tend to animals emergency situations, and identify the proper ways to maintain, change, and remove bandages, splints, casts, and slings
• Discuss the animal care worker's role in biomedical research and explain the laws, regulations and guidelines governing animal use in biomedical research
• Know the animal care worker's role before, during and after surgery and how to function as a part of a surgical team
• Describe dog, cat, and horse shows and summarize the process for finding, purchasing, caring for, and training show animals
• Discuss genetics and the stages of dog, cat, and horse breeding from mating to birth as well as growth and development, and explain how to manage a kennel, cattery, and stable

The advantages of learning at home; types of study materials; types of examinations; accessing and using the features of our website; determining what kind of learner you are; establishing a study schedule; using study tips; preparing for and taking examinations.

Career opportunities in animal care; certification; animal care skills.

Types of animal behavior; behavior counseling; and common animal behavior problems.

Handling and restraint of dogs, cats, birds, horses, and other animals; transporting animals.

Basic elements of communication; essential personality traits; professional interactions with clients; prejudice, insensitivity, and discrimination; barriers to effective communication; improving your speech; stress and defense mechanisms.

Veterinary staff roles; procedure and personnel manuals; facility cleanliness and safety; inventory and supplies; records and logs; admission and discharge; records retrieval and protection; basic filing systems and equipment; screening and processing mail.

Parts of speech; sentence structure; sentence sense; common grammatical problems; punctuation; capitalization.

Qualities of effective correspondence; writing with style; shaping paragraphs; conveying an impression; kinds of business correspondence; parts of a letter; letter styles; selecting and addressing envelopes; common business letters; reports; checking your work.

The importance of a good vocabulary; developing your reading recognition vocabulary; developing your writing and speaking vocabularies; making nouns plural; making nouns possessive; using a spell checker; homonyms as misspelled words.

Learning Aid: Dictionary

The role of the immune sysstem; The causes of poor pet health and animals' ability to maintain their health; The positive aspects of natural healing for pets; The signs of a healing crisis; Effective training methods and equipment; Food and meat preparation methods for pet meals.

Six important acupuncture points in dogs and cats; Methods of preparation for flower essences; Benefits and risks of vaccinations; Cancer remedies; Components of a healthful environment.

Caring for birds and rabbits; Ailments that affect cats, dogs, birds and rabbits; Emotional and spiritual aspects of owning companion animals; End-of-life issues faced by pet owners.

Alphabetical and numerical filing systems; confidential files; financial files; filing equipment.

Whole numbers, fractions, decimals; percents and percentages; calculating income; gross pay versus net pay; hourly wages.

Fee collection procedures; banking; accounts payable; computerized accounting.

Anatomical and veterinary procedure terminology; Metric terms and abbreviations.

Orientation and location of animal body parts; Cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems; Classes of joints.

Structure and function of skin and the animal’s fur; The glands and their secretions; The structural and functional differences between the organs of the upper and lower respiratory system, The lungs and the parts of the respiratory system.

The organs of the digestive system; The stomach and large intestine of carnivores and herbivores; Male and female reproductive systems; Anatomy and functions of the urinary system.

How the nervous system receives and interprets stimuli; The four senses and their primary function; The endocrine system; The major glands and hormones that maintain body homeostasis.

Nutrients; animal foods; methods of feeding; developing the diet for different species; managing the anorexic animal; nutrition and therapy.

Triage and readiness; common emergency presentations; chemical and physical disorders; client communication and grief management.

Types of wounds and wound healing; wound care; bandages and bandaging techniques; special bandages; casts and slings; caring for bandages, casts and slings.

Importance of animals in biomedical research; the animal care worker’s role in biomedical research; laws, regulations and guidelines governing animal use in biomedical research; animals that contribute to biomedical research; surgery; animal facility operations.

History of veterinary pharmacology; routes and techniques of drug administration; systems of measurement in veterinary pharmacology; dose calculations; anti-infectives, anticancer, corticosteroid veterinary drugs; vaccines; gastrointestinal and respiratory drugs; cardiovascular drugs, diuretics and fluid therapy; hormonal, reproductive and growth drugs; drugs affecting the central nervous system; drugs affecting muscle function and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents.

Commonly performed surgeries; preparing for surgery; assisting in the operating room; anesthetic procedures and equipment; anesthetic drugs; monitoring anesthesia; anesthetic emergencies and recovery; postsurgical procedure.

Dog shows; buying a puppy to show; caring for your new puppy; training your puppy; your puppy’s first show.

Ethical dog breeding; canine genetics; breeding your bitch; growth and development; essentials of kennel management.

Cat shows; getting ready for your cat show; training your show cat; your cat's first show; traveling with your cat; at the show.

Responsible versus irresponsible cat breeders; basic genetics; understanding breeding theory; making breeding arrangements; mating and pregnancy; the birth; growth and development; cattery management.

Horse classifications and breed registries; light horse breeds; draft horse breeds; pony breeds; finding a horse; selecting a horse; purchasing and owning a horse.

How horse shows operate; English horse shows; western horse shows; other types of horse shows; selecting and caring for a show horse; training a show horse; participating in horse shows.

Horse breeding; basic genetics; reproductive anatomy and physiology; stable management; types of farms and stables; the business of stable management; stable requirements and routines; diet and nutrition; maintaining health and combating disease.