Glossary
Veterinary Technician Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential veterinary technician terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key veterinary technician vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in veterinary technician training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Anesthesia monitoring
- Tracking vitals during anesthesia.
- CBC
- Complete blood count.
- Chemistry panel
- Blood test of organ function.
- Euthanasia
- Humane ending of life.
- Intubation
- Placing a breathing tube.
- IV catheter
- A tube placed in a vein.
- Prophylaxis
- Dental cleaning.
- Radiograph
- An X-ray image.
- Restraint
- Holding an animal safely.
- SOAP
- A medical record format.
- Triage
- Prioritizing patients by urgency.
- Urinalysis
- Urine testing.
- Venipuncture
- Drawing blood from a vein.
- VTNE
- Veterinary Technician National Exam.
- Zoonotic disease
- Disease that spreads from animals to people.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Veterinary Technician practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Veterinary Technician training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.