“Why I’m a Vet Nurse” – Matt Rendle

21 May 2025

May is Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month (VNAM), led by the BVNA to recognise and promote the vital work of veterinary nurses. This year’s theme, ‘Progression’, focuses on the skills, development, and achievements of veterinary nurses, showcasing how the profession continues to grow and evolve.

To do this, we spoke to several BSAVA volunteers about why they are a veterinary nurse, what their journey has looked like so far, the most rewarding parts of their career, any challenges they’ve faced and most of all, what inspired them to become a vet nurse.

This story comes from Matt Rendle, a volunteer on our Congress Committee and frequent BSAVA event speaker!

How did you get into the profession and what inspired you to become a Vet Nurse?

My career started kind of by necessity. I didn’t do very well at school, was getting in trouble with the police and then I got sent by a school teacher of mine to do work experience in a practice. I went to what was Johnson and Daniels in Watford at the time and I did one day a week with them. That was the first time I really experienced what veterinary nurses were.

Up until that point, I’d had no career advice at all on what I could do as a veterinary nurse or what I could do to work with animals, and veterinary nursing was never mentioned at all. I went to my career’s teacher and at the time they said as a boy, I could work in a slaughterhouse, or I could work on a farm… so that was not very supportive.

I was really aware of how the veterinary nurses were kind of the glue that kept everything going, and the ambassadors for animal welfare, they were brilliant. I was very lucky to have those first few encounters with veterinary nurses, I was just really inspired by them.

I had to go back to school and do some retakes of my exam, and then I went on to be a student at that same practice to work and be trained under those nurses. I think those first nurses you’ve worked with; they really mould you as a nurse.

What has your journey as a vet nurse looked like so far?

I’ve been qualified for 33 years this year! I’ve done big chunks in different kinds of roles, but my interest has always been zoo wildlife and exotics nursing. I qualified and then stayed at the same practice, working my way through and becoming Head of the Operating Theatre. I enjoyed the surgical side, so I stayed there for about 13 years, and then I got asked to apply for a job at London Zoo. I went to work at London Zoo as a Nurse and then went on to be Head Nurse there and stayed there for about 13 years as well.

I then left to do practice management for a big referral centre in Leeds which again was great, and I learned a huge amount about people’s skills, managing people and what good looks like in terms of management, which I think all vets and nurses should learn a bit more about.

Currently I’m doing freelance consultancy, and I look after three different projects for Wildlife Vets International. I look after a vulture project in India which I started working on in 2010, all about avian trauma to do with the Kite Festival. I host a conference with some Indian colleagues and some English vets and nurses called Operation Avian, which has been very successful. I also do sea turtle work with Wildlife Vets International, supporting vets and nurses who are looking after sea turtles with things like life support, anaesthesia and more.

I’m also currently doing my advanced certificate in zoo wildlife and exotics nursing at Harper Adams, whilst looking for other opportunities!

What’s been the most rewarding moment of your career?

I helped to establish the Association of Zoo and Exotic Veterinary Nurses (AZEVN) in 2016, which is doing really well now and supports a lot of nurses with nursing the type of animals that I work with. I know that I would have loved to have had that association when I was a student so it’s great that we’ve been able to create that. I also train students and seeing my most recent student get through her NPL and finish it, and seeing the excitement of her qualifying was fantastic.

I think also just keeping going, I’m still here and nursing in my 50s as a male nurse, which is unusual. I still enjoy it most of the time and I still think I’m current and up to date. I also won the BSAVA Bruce Vivash Jones Veterinary Nursing Award in 2020. It’s a huge honour to have a positive impact on the profession that you’re in, and I’ve been able to do some good things along the way.

What’s a challenge you’ve faced, and how did you overcome it?

I’ve had two or three episodes of wanting to give up when I made the decision to leave the Zoo in 2017. It was a really hard situation where I was not aligned with that situation anymore, I wasn’t enjoying it and it was having a negative impact on me, so I decided to leave which then had a really bad impact on my mental health.

I think it’s important to not let those things define you. You feel like they make you more empathetic and they make you understand people’s situations better, and I think they make you a better nurse because you become more aware of what other people’s challenges might be.

Those challenges when you’re in them are incredibly daunting, but you find out who your friends are and your ‘nurse family’. I’m very lucky I have a lot of nurses around me that are very, very close to me and we are like a little family which has been very supportive.

I would urge anybody that’s feeling that way to just reach out and get help. You’d be surprised how many people you talk to, but then say, you know what? I had a similar incident happen to me. We need to talk about that a bit more. It’s important that kindness trumps everything, being really kind and empathetic to the people around you makes a huge difference.

The profession itself, I think is still quite hard. We’ve got a lot of growing to do as veterinary nurses. I’ve been involved in veterinary politics for over a decade now, and it’s driven by trying to do my bit to make the profession better for the next generation.

What do you wish more people knew about vet nurses?

I wish more people knew about vet nurses! It’s painful to say, but I still get people say to me, “So when are you going to be a vet then?” And I’m like, no, I never wanted to be a vet. I always wanted to be a veterinary nurse, and I definitely don’t want to be some mini vet. I’ve got no intention or desire to be a mini vet. I just want to be a nurse and do my job.

There’s over 25,000 RVNs on the register, so we’ve got a good number of people, the level of knowledge and understanding within the profession now is massive, especially compared to when I started. So, the key thing is making nurses talk more about their own profession. I think vets need to understand us a bit more as well, we don’t have those in-depth coffee cup conversations that we probably should have, just talking about our strengths and weaknesses. So, if I could change that, that would be pretty cool.

How do you see the role of vet nurses evolving in the future?

Being able to be delegated all the tasks that we can currently do, and hopefully the new legislation will help with that and firm up everything that we do well. When the vets and nurses are working well together, it’s brilliant and we end up with better patient outcomes and patient safety. So, it’s getting more delegation and more understanding of how delegation works between vets and nurses that would really help us.

What advice would you give to someone thinking of becoming a vet nurse?

I feel very lucky to be a vet nurse, I’ve been really fortunate. I’ve used my qualification to take me all over the world, and I’ve worked with some amazing species and amazing people in lots of different environments. I think it’s a brilliant profession.

We are 60 years in, but we’re still in our infancy, with a lot of growing to do and finding our own identity. Just accept that when you’re training, it’s hard. I would encourage anybody that’s thinking about the profession as an option for them career wise to go for it. But I think also accept that you might not fall into your first practice and it be your happy place. Your practice needs to be the right fit for you, and you need to be the right fit for them. Don’t be afraid to move around and find a training route that suits you, but also a practice that suits your needs and gives you the support that you need at that time.

It’s a brilliant profession and I feel very lucky to have become one because I nearly didn’t. Representing the profession through the RCVS and AZEVN, I hope that I’ve done my bit to make the profession a little bit better for the future.