Veterinary Technician at University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto, ON

Job description

Union: Non-Union Number of Vacancies: 1 Replacement or New: Replacement Site: Multi-site  ( Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, PMCRT, Max Bell) Department: Animal Resource Centre Reports to:  Manager Wages: $31.02 - $38.78 per hour Hours: 37 . 5   hours/week Shifts: Saturday-Wednesday 7 am - 3 pm Status:  Permanent Full Time Closing Date: September 23, 2026 Position Summary University Health Network (UHN) is looking for an experienced professional to fill the key role of Veterinary Technician in our Animal Resource Centre. Veterinary Technicians, within UHN's Animal Resource Centre, are involved in basic animal husbandry of multi species of laboratory animals and are responsible for the health and welfare of animals in their care.  Duties include colony management, animal husbandry of a variety of species(large and small species), health monitoring, treatments and technical services such as blood draws, gavage and drug administration. Veterinary Technicians are involved in day-to-day communication with clinical veterinarians and laboratory staff, contacting them by phone and or email with any issues involving animal health and welfare. Duties Performing feeding, watering, cage changing as per ARC Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) appropriate for the species, as needed  Ensuring appropriate environmental enrichment (EE) for the species is offered as per ARC SOP Taking care of special research models as per protocol e.g., immune deficient mice Taking care of large animal species as per protocol  Caring for, cleaning and general maintenance of assigned animal housing rooms and associated equipment  Taking care of animals with Biohazard areas following proper SOP, personal protective equipment (PPE) and decontamination procedures for PPE, equipment and waste leaving the containment area Maintains responsibility for animal health/welfare for animals assigned to care; conducting daily visual inspections and observations on food and water intake, cage conditions, alerting on call veterinarian to health issues and submitting sick cases Carrying out veterinary instructions given either by written (sick case) or verbal instructions, including administering drugs  Updating sick cases and treatment sheets as required  Notifying lab groups of issues concerning their animals verbally or by email Performing necropsy or tissue collection e.g., ecto/endo parasite check, microbiological samples taken, blood and/or serum samples, tissue for histology as needed  Performing tissue sampling and post mortems, as directed by the attending veterinarian  Ensuring room and facility conditions are adequate as per provincial legislation (Ontario Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Rural Affairs) and federal guidelines (Canadian Council on Animal Care) for animal holding areas, record keeping environmental conditions; temperature, humidity, light, ammonia levels Alerting Supervisor and/or Physical Plant Staff of any issues regarding environmental conditions Carrying out QA measures as directed by Supervisor or Manager, including: pH reading and recording, using air settle plates, fomite swabs for room and equipment microbiological monitoring Overseeing responsibilities on QA being carried out in the dirty and clean cage wash up areas by Animal Care personnel, as required Packaging tissue and biological samples appropriately for shipment to various testing facilities, as required Carrying out technical services on a fee for service basis for laboratory staff on a variety of laboratory animal species, as required, including: breeding colony maintenance, identification, DNA sampling, drug dosing, blood or tissue sampling, injections, gavage etc.  Administration of drug or treatment as directed by on call veterinarian  Maintaining record keeping for breeding colonies Maintaining record keeping for technical services for billing and invoicing Cage inventory and/