As part of affirming my interest in small animals as a veterinary student, off-site involvements such as pet sitting/boarding would help me much. No experience as a pet sitter but worked as a veterinary nurse back in Singapore at a small animal clinic for 4 years. Have animal handling experience with rabbits, cats, dogs, and hamsters. Prices are negotiable and currently not taking any pets for boarding.

I worked as a veterinary nurse in a small animal clinic while undertaking undergraduate studies. Besides animal nursing and handling, performing radiograph imaging, blood smearing, venipuncture, and subcutaneous injections are among the duties carried out. I was also involved in procedures such as colon evacuations, and anesthetic monitoring for surgeries. I learned within the first week of joining that animal handling is an essential skill that I lacked, without it, there was basically not much I could do. Watching from one side and subsequently practicing on the clinic-owned cats and dogs was how I learned and adapted. Thus, in my honour’s year, I took on the opportunity to liaise with the university and the clinic on a 5-month accredited Final Year Internship programme. Previously, my work in the clinic was irregular as I had to juggle with my academics while working. This slowed down my learning pace due to lack of consistency and prevented me from bonding with clients as I only see them once or twice. The internship however filled in these gaps. Work became my priority over academics as it involved only a final report and presentation which I could do after work. I was able to bond with clients as they come for reviews, follow through the cases, feel the work stress, practice client communication, and most importantly, learnt the most.