For RVTs · Canada
Build your own book. Start with what is yours.
Your own in-home service: the non-clinical work on your own account, the clinical work on the pet’s veterinarian’s approval. Rules are set by your province. Here is what it takes, in order.
- 1Your scope
- 2What you need
- 3What it pays
- 4Hours that fit
- 5The tools
- 6Not alone
Written for Canada. Change your country at the top of the page and every step follows.
The short version
You’re already the practice.
The clinic bills your hands at practice rates and pays you by the hour. The skills, the calm and the clients who ask for you by name are yours, and every one of them comes with you when you leave.
Canada is the one market where independence is still being written into law. Veterinary medicine belongs to licensed veterinarians, and your clinical work is theirs to delegate. The business around it is yours to build now, and Ontario is changing the rest.
Step 1 · Your scope, in Canada
On your own account, and on the vet’s approval.
Every province restricts the practice of veterinary medicine, dentistry, obstetrics and surgery included, to licensed veterinarians. An RVT’s clinical work is a delegated act, so it needs the pet’s veterinarian. Pet care that is not veterinary medicine is not restricted, and that part is simply yours.
On your own account
- Nail and beak trims, hygiene and coat care
- Grooming, bathing and husbandry visits
- Pet sitting, medication-free home visits and pet escort
- Client education and home-care coaching
With the pet’s veterinarian
- Injections, oral and topical medications, subcutaneous fluids, bandage changes and suture removal, each approved by the veterinarian treating that animal
- Vitals and monitoring as that veterinarian directs
- Never on your own account: diagnosis, prescribing, dentistry, obstetrics, surgery
Regulation is provincial and the supervision each act needs differs. Only registrants may use the title RVT. Ontario’s Veterinary Professionals Act 2024 will move RVTs to an authorised-activities model and is not yet in force. Check your province’s rules, and get each client’s veterinarian to approve clinical work in writing.
Step 2 · What you need, in Canada
The paperwork, listed. Nothing hidden.
We do not arrange this for you. We tell you exactly what it is, and once you have it Qwoll keeps it current for you.
Your business
- Your province’s business registration, and a CRA Business Number when you need one
- GST/HST registration once taxable revenue passes $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters
- Income tax on your own return, with instalments once you owe enough
- Commercial auto cover on the vehicle you drive to visits
Your cover and your standing
- Professional liability and commercial general liability in your own name, extending to in-home work. The clinic’s policy does not follow you. A broker will size it. Store the certificate in your profile and get a reminder before it expires.
- Your provincial RVT registration current, and the title used only if you hold it
- Your province’s supervision rules in writing, and a standing arrangement with each client’s veterinarian for anything clinical
General information, not advice. An accountant and a broker will confirm what fits your province.
Step 3 · What it pays
The wage is the floor.
An RVT in Canada earns a median $23.00 an hour. One in-home visit sells for more than that on published price lists, and you keep what you charge.
You set the rate.
Pay figures: Job Bank, Registered Veterinary Technician (NOC 32104), Labour Force Survey wages for Canada — low $17.00, median $23.00, high $33.16 an hour, updated 19 November 2025. Ontario’s general minimum wage is $17.60 an hour, rising to $17.95 on 1 October 2026; minimum wages are set province by province. Prices are examples from the published price list of an RVT-run Toronto in-home service, checked 13 September 2026, not a promise of income.
A visit is 20 to 45 minutes of clinical time. The clinic pays for the hour. Independence pays for the visit.
Step 4 · Hours that fit
A few hours here, a few there.
“Going back to full shifts in clinic felt daunting. Honestly, it felt inaccessible. What I needed was a few hours here and a few there.”
Set your working hours, block time off, and let the calendar sync to your phone. School pick-up is a block on the calendar, not a negotiation.
Step 5 · The tools
Run the book from day one.
Bookings and your own client portal
Requests land in an inbox. Confirmed visits flow into a calendar built for the road. Your clients book and pay through your client portal.
Clinical records made for visits
Structured notes with vitals, photos and a private tech-only note. Send the visit as a PDF to the owner or the approving veterinarian.
Invoices and payouts, handled
Invoices auto-draft when a visit is done, in Canadian dollars, with GST or HST once you are registered. Payouts and earnings on one dashboard.
Registration and approvals kept current
Your provincial registration, insurance and CPD tracked with renewal alerts, and each veterinarian’s approval stored against the client it covers.
Step 6 · Not alone
Independent does not mean by yourself.
The founding cohort
Nurses have been running real books on Qwoll since July. The first of them are paying for it, and they shape what we build next.
The monthly catch-up
A standing call with the four of us and whoever wants to come. Bring a case, a question or a complaint.
Nurse-founded, Australian-owned
Built by people who have worked the floor. Qwoll is live in five countries, with support that answers.
Straight answers
The questions we get asked first.
- Can I run my own in-home service in Canada?
- Yes, for work that is not the practice of veterinary medicine: nail and beak trims, grooming, husbandry visits, pet sitting, client education. RVT-run in-home services already operate this way. Clinical work is a delegated act, so it needs the approval of the veterinarian treating that animal.
- So can I give injections or fluids at home?
- Only with the approval of the pet’s veterinarian, who has seen the animal and prescribes. Canadian RVT-run services publish exactly this: injections, medications, fluids, bandage changes and suture removal, each on the vet’s approval. The supervision your province requires is the thing to check first.
- Is this about to change?
- In Ontario, yes. The Veterinary Professionals Act 2024 moves RVTs to an authorised-activities model under a new College, and Bill 109 proposes pathways for RVT-owned businesses to perform authorised activities outside an accredited veterinary facility. Neither is in force: regulations are expected around the turn of 2027 and implementation after that. We are watching it.
- What insurance do I need?
- Professional liability and commercial general liability in your own name, and commercial auto if you drive to visits. The clinic’s policy does not follow you. A broker sizes it. Qwoll stores the certificate and reminds you before it expires.
- Do I have to leave my clinic?
- No. Many technicians start with a few visits a week around a clinic roster and grow from there.
- Does Qwoll find me clients?
- Not yet. Today Qwoll is the tools to run the clients you have. Your own clients never carry a Qwoll fee.
- What does it cost?
- 14 days free, then from C$49 a month. Your subscription and the invoices you send your clients are both in Canadian dollars.