The Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine Shelter Program

SIMPLE SUMMARY: First initiated in 1995 to provide veterinary students with spay/neuter experience, the shelter program at the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine has grown to be comprehensive in nature incorporating spay/neuter, basic wellness care, diagnostics, medical management, disease control, shelter management and biosecurity. Junior veterinary students spend five days in shelters; senior veterinary students spend 2-weeks visiting shelters in mobile veterinary units. The program has three primary components: spay/neuter, shelter medical days and Animals in Focus. Student gain significant hands-on experience and evaluations of the program by students are overwhelmingly positive. ABSTRACT: The shelter program at the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine provides veterinary students with extensive experience in shelter animal care including spay/neuter, basic wellness care, diagnostics, medical management, disease control, shelter management and biosecurity. Students spend five days at shelters in the junior year of the curriculum and two weeks working on mobile veterinary units in their senior year. The program helps meet accreditation standards of the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Council on Education that require students to have hands-on experience and is in keeping with recommendations from the North American Veterinary Medical Education Consortium. The program responds, in part, to the challenge from the Pew Study on Future Directions for Veterinary Medicine that argued that veterinary students do not graduate with the level of knowledge and skills that is commensurate with the number of years of professional education.