The nurse, anesthetist and lab tech of the animal clinic. Two years of college (three in Quebec), hands-on every day, and a Job Bank median of about $48,000 a year.
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The median pay is about $48,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $35,000 at the lower end to about $69,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
2 years after high school, on the usual route.
$7,900 to $17,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
It depends where you work. You need a licence, certificate or registration in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan. Elsewhere there is none to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$48,000
Lower end
$35,000
Upper end
$69,000
This is the honest downside of the job. Job Bank's national figures for 2023 to 2024: a median of $23 an hour, about $48,000 a year at 40 hours a week, with a lower end of $17 and an upper end of $33.16 an hour. Job Bank does not break the pay down by type of employer.
$25.00 an hour
The median in Saskatchewan, about $52,000 a year, the highest of the provinces
Yukon's median is $25.71. Alberta and Manitoba are at $24.00, Ontario at $22.00, and Newfoundland and Labrador is the lowest, at $18.50.
About 25,800
Veterinary technicians working in Canada in 2023
Job Bank sees a moderate risk of a shortage across Canada to 2033: more openings than trained people to fill them.
Roughly, all in
$7,900 to $17,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a two year accredited diploma at a cheaper college at 3,000 a year, the cheaper end of books, scrubs, a stethoscope and the required immunizations including rabies vaccine, the licensing exam, and one year of provincial registration. The high end is the same two years at 7,000 a year with fuller kit costs. The VTNE (Veterinary Technician National Exam) is billed in US dollars, so the amount you pay moves with the exchange rate. Registration costs about 270 a year in Ontario, plus tax, afterward.
Roughly $6,000 to $14,000 in tuition, or about $7,900 to $17,000 with kit, the exam and a first year of registration.
Usually no pension
Private clinics rarely offer one. Research labs and universities do.
Health and dental
Common at larger clinics after probation. Small clinics may offer nothing.
Discounted pet care
Almost universal, and worth real money if you have animals.
Continuing education
Most employers pay for the courses needed to keep your registration.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Outside Quebec: two years, one national exam, and you are in a clinic. Quebec has its own route: tap Quebec route to add it.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Grade 12 biology, chemistry, math and English. Many colleges require documented hours in a vet clinic or with animals.
Accredited veterinary technician diploma
2 years
Two years in a program accredited by the CVMA (Canadian Veterinary Medical Association) or, in Ontario, by the OAVT (Ontario Association of Veterinary Technicians). Anatomy, pharmacology, anesthesia, surgical assisting, lab work, radiography and animal handling, with live animals from the first term.
Write the VTNE (Veterinary Technician National Exam)
After graduation
The same exam used across North America, offered in several testing windows a year.
Register with your provincial association
A few weeks
For example the OAVT (Ontario Association of Veterinary Technicians), which also asks for a criminal record check and an ethics workshop. That gives you the RVT (registered veterinary technician) title.
Biology
Required.
Chemistry
Required at most colleges.
Math
Drug and fluid calculations every day.
English
Client communication and records.
Co-op at a vet clinic or farm
Some colleges will not take you without animal hours.
There are accredited programs in every region. Some examples:
Seneca, Algonquin, Northern College, St. Clair
Ontario
Olds College, NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology), Lakeland College
Alberta
Thompson Rivers University, Douglas College
British Columbia
Saskatchewan Polytechnic, Red River College
Prairies
Dalhousie Agricultural Campus, Truro
Nova Scotia
Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and BC (British Columbia) require registration, which you get after passing the VTNE (Veterinary Technician National Exam). In Ontario that means the RVT (registered veterinary technician) title from the provincial association. In BC, technologists register with the college that licenses veterinarians. Other provinces and the territories have no licence; Quebec's order of technologists only protects the title. Because the exam is national, moving provinces is simple. Unregistered assistants can work in clinics, but only registered technicians can do the medical tasks like inducing anesthesia and taking X-rays.
In Quebec the training is a 3 year college program, not 2, and there is no separate animal health order: the technologist title comes from the OTPQ (the Quebec order of professional technologists).
Finish Secondary V
Age 16 or 17
With Secondary IV Environmental Science and Technology (or Science and the Environment) and Secondary IV math in the Cultural, Social and Technical option or higher.
Animal Health Technology DEC (Diploma of College Studies)
3 years
3 years at a CEGEP (public college). The current version is 145.D0, which replaced 145.A0 by 2025 to 2026. Offered in French at several colleges and in English only at Vanier College.
Work under a veterinarian
After graduating
The DEC (Diploma of College Studies) is what lets you do delegated tasks such as taking samples and giving injections, under a veterinarian's supervision.
Join the OTPQ (Ordre des technologues professionnels du Québec)
After graduating
Membership is needed to use the title of technologist. There is no entrance exam. A draft regulation published in February 2026 would widen what members may do.
Optional: the certified title
Any time
The ATSAQ (the Quebec association of animal health technicians) runs the ENTSA (Examen national des techniciens en santé animale), a national exam. Pass it and keep up 20 hours of training every 2 years to be a certified technician.
Quebec government figures for animal health technologists and technicians.
Things you don't need, but that help.
VTS (veterinary technician specialist)
Advanced certification in emergency and critical care, anesthesia, dentistry, internal medicine and more. Years of case logs and an exam. Recognized in specialty hospitals.
Emergency and specialty hospitals
Night shifts and sicker patients.
Laboratory animal science
Research facilities and universities. A pension and regular hours.
Practice manager
Running the business side of a clinic.
Industry
Pet food and drug companies hire technicians as sales and technical reps.
Clinic hours before you apply
Required at many colleges, and it tells you whether you can handle it.
Farm or horse experience
Programs cover large animals too.
Comfort with blood, needles and death
You will assist with euthanasia regularly.
Customer service skills
Owners are stressed and you are the one at the counter.
Universities, hospitals and drug companies run animal research facilities that hire registered technicians to care for animals and support studies. It is quieter work with regular hours and a pension. Not everyone is comfortable with research on animals.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
You arrive before the vet to check on overnight patients. Mornings are surgery: you place the catheter, induce and monitor anesthesia, take X-rays, run bloodwork and do the dental cleaning while the vet operates. Afternoons are appointments where you take histories, draw blood, give vaccines and explain home care. You also clean kennels, restrain frightened animals and comfort owners during euthanasia. Days often run past closing.
The good
The hard parts
Like the field but not this exact job?
Things people don't tell you.
Only 7% of veterinary technicians in Canada are 50 or older, and their median retirement age in 2023 was 64, says Job Bank.
The VTNE (Veterinary Technician National Exam) is run by an American board and used by most states and provinces to credential technicians, so the same pass counts on both sides of the border.
The CVMA (Canadian Veterinary Medical Association) accredits 20 veterinary technician programs across Canada, 7 of them in Ontario. The oldest accreditations, at Olds College and Northwestern Polytechnic in Alberta, date from 1976.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Animal health first, then the rest of the field. See every career in health.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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