Vet Tech for Homeless Pets

Genesis Rendon makes sure her car is stocked with pet food, blankets, and toys. She’s a registered veterinary technician who assists veterinarians at an animal hospital. As she drives around Los Angeles, California, she looks for unhoused people with pets. If she sees anyone, she stops to ask if they need supplies.

Ever since I was a kid, my mission in life has been to save animals. When I was growing up in the city of Long Beach, California, I had a miniature farm in my backyard. I would take in sick or injured strays all the time, like mice, rabbits, chickens, and of course, cats and dogs. I would rehabilitate them until they were healthy and find homes for them. Once I took in a pregnant cat and didn’t tell my mom. She was shocked when she walked in one day and found kittens!

A vet tech examines an animal and takes its vital signs before the veterinarian sees it. Vital signs include temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate. We also administer medications, take X-rays, clean teeth, help bandage broken legs, and assist in surgery. We basically do everything that a nurse does for human patients, but we have to know how to do it for many species. I work with a lot of dogs and cats, but I’ve handled everything from ferrets to monkeys and hyenas!

People love their pets very much. For those who are unhoused, their pets are often their lifeline. Caring for their pets gives them something worth living for. One pet owner we helped through Project Street Vet was named Justin. He had a cat named Um. Justin had found Um abandoned behind a dumpster as a kitten and raised him. He would skateboard with the cat in a little carrier. One day, Um got hit by a car. Luckily, we were able to save his life. And we had the chance to help Justin too. He mentioned that he was having problems with the tent he lived in, so we brought him a new one, along with a collar for Um. Justin cried—we were all crying—because he had never received that kind of help from anyone.

As a kid, I never knew there were doctors and nurses just for animals. But as a vet tech, you can specialize in different types of care. There’s rehab therapy, where you might help an animal recover from an injury through exercise on a machine that resembles an underwater treadmill. Or you can do oncology, where you treat animals battling cancer. You can specialize in zoo medicine and work with elephants and tigers! There’s a whole world of careers in the field of veterinary medicine.

It’s not always easy. I might need to set up an online fund to help an unhoused person raise money for a pet’s surgery. Or sometimes we can’t save an animal. Things like that can take a toll emotionally. But doing this kind of work is so worth it. It’s a beautiful thing to be able to be a voice for animals who are innocent and helpless.