This May we celebrate Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month. Niamh Kavanagh, O Connor Julian Veterinary, Cashel, Tipperary tells us about her love for the profession as we Celebrate Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month.

Ever since I was very young, I knew I wanted to work with animals but I wasn’t entirely sure what profession to look at until I was in transition year in school and had work experience in a local vet practice, it was here I saw first-hand what amazing work RVNs do within the team and from then on I was determined to be a veterinary nurse. I “put the head down”, as my mother would say, and in 2016 I qualified as an RVN and my career began.

I know how much my two dogs mean to me, Shadow a 12 year old golden retriever and Rocko a 4 year old Siberian husky, and I love being part of a team that makes a difference for pets and their owners every day.In the veterinary world, no two days are the same, I love the variety every day brings and having the opportunity to build relationships with pets and their owners, whether it be while doing some reception work, over the phone or during nurse consultations.

There are so many aspects of a veterinary nurse’s role, but my personal favourite is wound care and wound management. In my opinion, there is very little more satisfying than knowing I had a vital role to play in getting a patient that was very painful from a wound back up and running and that “halleluja” moment when you see them walk out of a kennel to be discharged home.

I understand how much pets mean to owners whether it be a dog, cat, rabbit, lizard or anything in between so I have always and will always treat them like family whilst they are in my care and it’s not unlike me to take some baby animals under my wing and hand rear them until they are big enough and strong enough to live independently!

Since qualifying, there hasn’t been a single day where I thought “This job isn’t for me”. I was meant to be a veterinary nurse and I can’t wait to see what the rest of my career has in store for me and all those furry faces I yet have the pleasure to meet.