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Veterinary Nurse
(Animal Nurse, Registered Veterinary Nurse, Veterinary Nursing Specialist, Animal Nursing Specialist)
Agriculture & Environment
Salary
€28,000 - €48,000/yr
Level
Professional
Outlook
Growing
Sector
Agriculture & Environment
What does a Veterinary Nurse do?
As a Veterinary Nurse you support veterinarians in the diagnosis, treatment, and care of sick and injured animals across a range of species. Your daily duties include preparing animals for surgery, administering anaesthetics under veterinary supervision, taking X-rays, collecting blood samples, and providing hands-on nursing care to hospitalised patients. You also play a vital role in advising pet owners and other clients on topics such as nutrition, vaccination schedules, parasite prevention, and post-operative home care. You work closely with vets, vet technicians, and reception staff in veterinary practices, animal hospitals, or specialist referral centres, and you are responsible for maintaining accurate clinical records in line with Irish legislation.
A Day in the Life
Listen: a day as a Veterinary Nurse
Your alarm goes off at 7.15 a.m. You are due at the small-animal practice in Athlone for 8.00 a.m. to help with morning rounds before the consult list begins. You change into your scrubs in the staff room, check the hospitalisation ward and top up water bowls, check drip lines on the two in-patients from yesterday, and note any overnight observations left by the out-of-hours service in the patient records on the practice management software. By 8.30 a.m. the first surgical case of the day, a four-year-old spaniel booked for a routine spay, is admitted. You carry out the pre-anaesthetic checks, confirm the owner signed the consent form, weigh the dog, and calculate the drug doses with the supervising vet. You place the intravenous catheter, administer the pre-med, and monitor the animal through induction and throughout the procedure, recording heart rate, respiratory rate and temperature on the anaesthetic chart every five minutes.
Videos about Veterinary Nurse
Discover Veterinary Nursing | Athlone Institute of Technology
Athlone Institute of Technology
Required Education
Leaving Certificate subjects such as Biology, Chemistry, Agricultural Science, and Mathematics provide a strong foundation for entry into veterinary nursing programmes. The main route in Ireland is a Level 7 or Level 8 honours degree in Veterinary Nursing, offered at institutions including UCD, ATU Sligo, TUS, and DKIT; entry is through the CAO. Some graduates choose to top up a Level 7 ordinary degree to a Level 8 honours degree through an additional year of study. All practising veterinary nurses in Ireland must be registered with the Veterinary Council of Ireland (VCI), the statutory regulatory body, before they can work professionally. A small number of further education pathways and pre-veterinary nursing PLC courses at Level 5 exist and can help strengthen a CAO application. Continuing professional development (CPD) is required to maintain VCI registration throughout your career.
Required Skills
Career Perspective
Most veterinary nurses begin their careers in small-animal general practice, gaining experience across a wide range of routine and emergency cases. With a few years of experience you may move into specialist referral hospitals, university veterinary hospitals, research institutions, the pharmaceutical industry, or take on roles in equine or farm animal practice. Senior veterinary nurses often take on supervisory or head nurse responsibilities, mentoring student nurses and managing the clinical team. Some experienced practitioners pursue postgraduate qualifications or certificates in areas such as emergency and critical care, anaesthesia, or dentistry, which can open doors to specialist nursing roles and higher salaries.
AI Impact on the job
AI-powered diagnostic imaging tools are beginning to assist in the interpretation of X-rays and ultrasound scans, which can speed up diagnosis and reduce the burden on vets, though veterinary nurses still play an essential role in acquiring high-quality images and caring for the patient during procedures. Automated monitoring equipment and electronic patient record systems are making clinical data management more efficient, allowing nursing staff to focus more time on direct animal care. The hands-on, physical, and empathetic nature of veterinary nursing — handling animals, providing comfort, and communicating with worried owners — means the profession is well insulated against wholesale automation. AI is more likely to enhance and support the work of veterinary nurses than to replace it.
Career Ladder
→ Veterinary Nurse (Current role)
Related Studies
Employers in Ireland
Organisations in Ireland that employ people in this occupation.
Belfield, Dublin 4
Nurse referral cases and exotic species in a teaching hospital setting.
Dublin, Cork, Nationwide
Provide small-animal nursing care across busy urban practice network.
Dublin, Cork, Limerick
Deliver out-of-hours emergency and critical care nursing to animals.
Dublin and surrounding counties
Support vets in small-animal consultations, surgery, and hospitalisation.
Naas, Co. Kildare
Assist in surgical prep, anaesthesia, and post-operative patient care.
Cork City and County
Nurse companion animals and advise clients on preventive healthcare.
Grange, Co. Meath; Moorepark, Co. Cork
Support animal health monitoring in livestock research and farm trials.
Phoenix Park, Dublin 8
Provide veterinary nursing care to exotic and wild animal collections.
Keenagh, Co. Longford
Triage, treat, and rehabilitate neglected and surrendered animals daily.
Kildare Town, Co. Kildare
Assist equine vets with diagnostics, surgery prep, and horse nursing.
Galway City
Support mixed-practice team treating farm and companion animals daily.
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