What Can a Vet Tech Do in Texas?

Texas's rule lists specific tasks for a licensed veterinary technician (LVT), a certified veterinary assistant (CVA), and a veterinary assistant (VA), each tied to a supervision level, rather than leaving delegation entirely to the veterinarian's judgment.

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Code § 801.363 adds that the supervising veterinarian still sets the appropriate supervision level and protocol for a delegated task, and may extend more responsibility to an LVT than to a CVA or VA for the same task.

A handful of tasks this page tracks — intubation, ongoing anesthesia monitoring, radiographs, IV catheter placement, cystocentesis, and dispensing — are not named in either provision; they fall under the general "other tasks... as assigned by the supervising veterinarian" clause rather than a tiered, task-specific rule, so this page reports them as not stated rather than guessing whether they are included.

Texas's rule uses direct or immediate supervision for an LVT's suturing, anesthesia-induction, and dental-extraction tasks, and the looser general supervision for blood draws and diagnostic sampling.

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Code § 801.002 defines direct supervision as the veterinarian being physically present on the premises, general supervision as the veterinarian being readily available to communicate, and immediate supervision as the supervising person being within audible and visual range of both the patient and the person supervised; 22 TAC § 573.80 restates the same three definitions for the board's own rules.

A practice building a delegation policy around these tiers should confirm the current definitions with the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners.

Both the statute and the rule bar an LVT, a CVA, and a VA alike from performing surgery, an invasive dental procedure beyond the one narrow extraction task named for LVTs, diagnosing or determining a prognosis, prescribing a drug or appliance, or initiating treatment without the veterinarian's prior instruction except in an emergency.

This reserved list applies at every supervision level — no amount of direct oversight moves one of these five tasks into a non-veterinarian's scope.

A job seeker or practice manager should read any "expanded duties" job posting against this list before assuming a task is delegable.

An LVT may induce anesthesia under a veterinarian's direct or immediate supervision.

A CVA or VA may induce anesthesia too, either under a veterinarian's own immediate supervision or under an LVT's immediate supervision — two separate routes to the same task.

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Code § 801.364 nor 22 TAC § 573.10 separately names endotracheal intubation or ongoing anesthesia monitoring as a tiered task for any of these categories — those fall to the general delegation clause rather than a named permission, so this page reports them as not stated rather than guessing whether they are included.

An LVT may extract a loose tooth or dental fragment from a dog or cat, by hand and without an elevator, only where periodontal attachment is minimal, and only under direct or immediate supervision — a narrowly drawn permission, not a general dental-extraction allowance.

Any extraction beyond that description is an invasive dental procedure reserved to the veterinarian under § 801.364(d).

Texas is unusually explicit here: 22 TAC § 573.10(d)(2)(C) bars a CVA or VA from performing this same narrow extraction task under any level of supervision — a rare outright bar written directly into the board's rule, rather than a task the rule simply leaves silent.

An LVT may suture to close an existing surgical skin incision or skin laceration under a veterinarian's direct or immediate supervision.

A CVA or VA may suture the same existing incisions or lacerations too, either under a veterinarian's own immediate supervision or under an LVT's immediate supervision.

The permission is limited to closing a wound that already exists — making a new incision is surgery, which § 801.364(d) reserves to the veterinarian at every supervision level.

Both rules are written for "a non-veterinarian" generally rather than naming the LVT specifically.

Euthanasia may be performed by a non-veterinarian only under a veterinarian's immediate supervision, and a rabies vaccine may be administered by a non-veterinarian only under a veterinarian's direct supervision and only after the veterinarian has established a veterinarian-client-patient relationship.

That means an LVT, a CVA, or a VA can each qualify to perform either task once the stated supervision level is met — this page does not present either as an LVT-exclusive permission, matching how Texas actually wrote the rule.

A CVA or VA may suture to close an existing incision and induce anesthesia under a veterinarian's own immediate supervision.

Under an LVT's immediate supervision instead, a CVA or VA may perform those same two tasks plus draw blood, take diagnostic samples, and take on other veterinary-medicine tasks the supervising veterinarian assigns under a protocol.

The LVT immediately supervising that broader set of tasks is responsible for conduct that violates laws, including board rules, related to the practice of veterinary medicine — placing the compliance burden on the LVT, not just the assistant.

The one hard line for a CVA or VA either way: extracting a loose tooth or dental fragment from a dog or cat is barred at any level of supervision, even though an LVT may perform that same narrow task.

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Code § 801.266(a) bars anyone without an LVT license from using the title "Licensed Veterinary Technician" or "LVT," and separately bars advertising or offering services in a way that would lead people to believe the person is licensed — even though obtaining the license itself is optional to do the underlying work.

That second clause reaches beyond the bare title: an ad or posting that implies licensure without holding one risks the same statute, even if it never uses the exact words "Licensed Veterinary Technician." For a job seeker, that still means a Texas posting for a "veterinary technician" does not by itself confirm the person doing the work holds an LVT license.

22 Tex.

Admin. Code § 573.10 is shown at its 2016-08-22 effective date, and Tex.

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Code § 801.364 traces to the 83rd Legislature's 2013-09-01 effective date.

No scope amendment to either provision was found in the sections read for this page.

A technician, assistant, or practice manager relying on this page should still confirm the current text with the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, since either provision can be amended between this page's verification date and when it is actually read.