Volunteer Opportunities
RVT Volunteer Opportunities
Volunteering with the OAVT
The OAVT is looking for volunteers to sit on our committees! Visit the list of Volunteer Opportunities below for more information on being a committee volunteer!
If you have ideas for events that you would like to see YOUR association attend, or you are interested in volunteering, please contact us at events@oavt.org.
Volunteering can deliver a wealth of benefits including:
- Building self-esteem and confidence
- Learning and developing new skills and interests
- Enhancing and expanding your work experience
- Meeting and networking with other professionals in the industry and members of the public
- Making a real difference in your community and profession!
CE Credits are available for volunteer work. Amounts are determined on an individual basis. Contact Laurie@oavt.org to determine how many credits you might be eligible for based on your volunteer efforts.
List of RVT Volunteer Opportunities
What better way to feel connected and engaged than to volunteer?
Registered Veterinary Technicians are a tremendous resource of skills, training, empathy, compassion and energy. If you are looking to share your talents with your community or your association, check out the list of opportunities below. Please note that the volunteer listings are updated as requests come in, with the most recent opportunities on top. Check back frequently for more opportunities. (The OAVT does not endorse any of these volunteer opportunities. We are simply making their availability known.)
Animal Experience International
Are you ready to transform your life while helping animals around the world? Animal Experience International (AEI) offers safe, ethical, and authentic volunteering opportunities. AEI Experiences are specifically tailored to your needs as an RVT, run year-round, and require no lengthy application process. With 18 programs in 13 countries, we are confident that you will find the perfect experience!
AEI Experiences include:
- Wildlife rehabilitation in Australia
- Dog rescue in Nepal
- Sea turtle conservation in Costa Rica
- Shark rescue in South Africa
- Wild horse conservation in Mongolia
If you would like to gain practical experience, launch an exciting career, or just feel great that you are able to help animals around the world, an AEI Experience is the right choice for you. Volunteer with a friend, family member or partner – you don’t have to be a veterinary professional to travel with us! For more information, please visit our website.
Lifelearn Staff Webinar: Leaning Into Veterinary Medicine
Dr. Mark Stephenson from Lifelearn is asking for volunteers to take part in a panel discussion, led by an interviewer –
Lifelearn is looking for some seasoned RVTs working in high-volume busy practices, who might be interested in talking about their work. This is an internal initiative for Lifelearn, called “Leaning into Veterinary Medicine.” It’s a casual webinar for our staff, many of whom are not from the industry, to make them aware of veterinary practice roles and issues, so they feel more a part of the industry, and informed about what goes on. It makes them more intuitive about the things that we do here at Lifelearn, like marketing initiatives, etc..
If you would like to share your experiences and expertise with Lifelearn’s staff, please contact Dr. Stephenson for more information, at mark.stephenson@lifelearn.com.
One OAVT CE credit in Category 2 is available for participants.
The OAVT is looking for committee member volunteers
The OAVT Board of Directors is looking for committee volunteers! If you’ve ever been curious about how the regulatory work of the OAVT is accomplished, participating in a committee is a great introduction. Committees engage in such tasks as
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- debating the merit of a by-law change
- researching best practices
- drafting policy proposals
- upholding the regulatory standards of the profession
- ensuring democratic elections
- reviewing college accreditation
This is a great opportunity for those who want to contribute to the OAVT and the profession through regulatory activities while developing a skill set and network that will benefit you throughout your career. Check out this video for additional information about committee volunteerism. Please send an expression of interest, including a summary of any relevant experience, to Elise@oavt.org by March 4, 2024
If you would like more information on this volunteer opportunity, please take a look below at the webinar recording we about becoming a volunteer.
Community Health Partnership Program Volunteer Opportunities
The Community Healthcare Partnership Program (CHPP) identifies, understands and removes barriers to healthcare for companion animals in underserved communities. Together, veterinarians, registered veterinary technicians and student veterinarians’ partner with community organizations to help Indigenous communities, people experiencing homelessness and sheltered animals with primary and acute veterinary care at a subsidized cost. The CHPP is seeking volunteers for 2024-2025. View the opportunities here.
For more information and to sign up, please visit www.chpp.uoguelph.ca
Urban Tails Animal Rescue
Urban Tails Animal Rescue is a foster based, animal rescue charity that is dedicated to helping vulnerable animals in need and the communities they come from. Urban Tails rescues both dogs and cats of all ages, breeds, and sizes, including special needs, senior and palliative care cases in the Greater Toronto/ Hamilton Area.
Our rescue is growing and we are looking for regular volunteer support in the following areas:
- Fundraising (Remote)
- Administration (Remote)
- Foster and Adoptions Advisor (Remote)
- Transport (in person)
- Dog walking & enrichment (Fergus, ON area)
If you’re interested in joining our team in any of the above mentioned areas, please apply online at https://www.urbantailsrescue.org/volunteer .
For more information about the rescue, visit www.urbantailsrescue.org
Worldwide Vets
Do you want to de horn rhino, collar elephants, participate in surgeries each day, provide care and education to the local community, examine monkeys, rehabilitate and release antelope, and work in the most beautiful conservation areas including the Amazon Jungle or the African Bush?!
Make an impact at our 13 animal projects around the world! View the flyer here.
An additional project in Zimbabwe is now available, learn more here!
For more information email: kasey@worldwidevets.com
OABP CE Planning Committee
The Ontario Association of Bovine Practitioners (OABP) has offered a bovine continuing education (CE) program to RVTs as part of their activities over the last decade, with support from OAVT. The planning committee is looking for 2-3 bovine RVTs to join our planning committee to help develop topic and speaker ideas and arrange events. The commitment involves 2-3 one-hour planning meetings by Zoom each year, and attendance at the in-person fall CE Day if you are able. Our next meeting will be late May/early June.
If you are interested in joining the planning committee, please let Cynthia Miltenburg know by email, cynthia.miltenburg@ontario.ca.
Toronto Cat Rescue (TCR) Foster Homes Needed
TCR is a non-profit rescue organization that is run by 5 staff and over 800 active volunteers! We cannot function without volunteers. TCR takes cats that are at risk of euthanasia from other shelters, animal control, hoarding situations, vet clinics etc. We take in cats that need more time to come out of their shell or those that need dentals and ongoing medical care that other shelters are not able to provide.
TCR is completely foster-based, meaning if we don’t have enough foster homes it is hard for us to continue to take in at-risk cats. We saw such an increase in foster home applications when COVID started of course, and now people are travelling again (which is great!) but we have definitely seen a drop off in active and prospective foster homes. We would love to invite RVTs to volunteer for our foster program. All training is provided online. For more information visit our website.
Are you a One Health champion? Do you want to be part of an outbreak response? If the answer is yes, WE NEED YOUR HELP URGENTLY!
Avian influenza is spreading rapidly in wild birds throughout Ontario, and we can’t get wild bird carcasses shipped to the lab fast enough. Starting immediately, we are looking for volunteers from around the province to fill a critical gap in our process. If we receive reports of dead wild birds in your area, we will provide you with coolers, shipping materials, PPE, and pre-paid shipping labels and ask you to pick up the carcass and send it in to us for testing.
This is One Health in action – don’t miss out on your chance to be a vital part of this response! Interested?
Contact on-nu@cwhc-rcsf.ca for more info or to sign up.
Veterinarians Without Borders
Canada supports a growing number of under-served communities in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Through partnership with the community, they work to enable community-led and sustainable solutions for both animals and people. This includes offering temporary veterinary clinics with the help of volunteer veterinarians and registered veterinary technicians. If you are interested in joining this team on a temporary clinic, express your interest through the survey.
The UCHS is Looking for Volunteers to Foster!
We are looking for fosters for animals who are recovering from injury, surgery or who need a bit more medical care than a typical foster home can offer. Interested? Email fosters@uppercredit.com for more information.
Nevis Animal Speak Volunteers Needed
Love working with companion animals? Love vacationing in the Caribbean? Love combining your passions? If you answered YES, Paws for a Cause @ Nevis Animal Speak Volunteer Holidays are for you!
For more information, visit https://nevisanimalspeak.org/volunteer-vets-holiday
Volunteer RVTs Wanted
Are you looking for an incredibly rewarding way to volunteer in an exciting and unique environment? Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary in Sunderland Ontario is currently looking to add dedicated and passionate volunteers to our team.
Duties will include but are not limited to:
- helping our Veterinarian and RVT with regular health checks and other minor procedures (anesthetic monitoring, physical restraint, blood draws etc).
- in-house fecal exams
- primate training
- record keeping
- cleaning enclosures
- feeding
- environmental enrichment
- and so much more!
If you are interested in applying visit https://www.storybookmonkeys.org/volunteering.htm