always caring and learning: Ava Bartley, LVT

During the week, Ava Bartley, LVT, oversees campus outreach programs and externships for Banfield Pet Hospital, connecting with and advising aspiring veterinary technicians. On weekends, you might find her working with pets and people at a Banfield Pet Hospital in Washington, where she began her career.

Ava’s dedication to pets and the petcare profession is inspiring, which is why it was so great to speak with her recently. Hope you enjoy the interview – we sure did.

Passionate about helping pets and the people who care for them

When I was a kid, something just clicked for me. I remember realizing “I need to be an advocate for animals.”

I wanted to be a veterinarian, but it wasn't until I actually started working at Banfield that I realized I was more drawn to the nursing portion of the profession: the bedside manner, treatment delivery, things like that. I'm grateful that I had that exposure prior to taking that huge leap into a doctorate program.

I love working with veterinary technician students. They are just so passionate and caring in their hearts, and they want to get into this helping profession. This is not an easy job. Our patients can't communicate with us, and oftentimes they’re incredibly scared. But having that passion is really what drives you on those hard days.

Veterinary Technicians go through years of specialized education and we take a national board exam – after that, the state grants us a license. We work very hard to obtain this credential, and I am passionate about helping people get there. 

Treating pets and their owners with compassion

I still practice on the weekends, and I love interacting with clients. That's honestly a huge part of what this career is about. The owner is their pet’s advocate, they really understand the patient. I spend a lot of time counseling owners – for example, training them on how to take care of a chronically ill patient. We have cats that need to get subcutaneous fluids delivered at home and diabetic pets that need insulin injections – and veterinary technicians get to teach owners how to do that. It's one of my favorite parts of the job.

Also, it’s so important for to me to stay sharp and use my technical skills, to use those muscles. It’s especially true with something as important as surgery. That’s an area where I'm incredibly passionate – monitoring pets under anesthesia and assisting with surgery and dentistry. Helping a pet have a really safe and quick anesthetic procedure is so important and so vital, and I'm grateful to be part of the surgical team. It takes so many different steps, and Banfield has done such a great job of providing a really solid anesthetic protocol, which makes my job as a technician much easier.

Throughout veterinary technician training, students do a lot of things independently, but for any type of anesthetic procedure or surgical nursing, anything like that, they work in close partnership with a veterinarian. I personally was lucky enough to work under several really, really talented doctors in school and in practice (Hi, Dr. Bachelder @ #1248). I've definitely learned a lot from them along the way.

Staying active by cooking, baking, biking, hiking, and… working

In my free time, I love cooking and baking and finding ways to be active and enjoy the outdoors. So I run. I ride my bike. I enjoy taking barre classes. I do a lot of hiking. And I love to take weekend getaway trips to the coast.

Honestly, I would also say that practicing is a huge activity for me. I've been working in the same Banfield hospital since I was 18, and a lot of the people I've worked since the beginning with are still there. It's like going home, in a way.

Enjoyed the interview? You can also watch a fun video featuring Avaopens a new tab that we made a while back.