{"id":3079,"date":"2023-04-20T20:26:19","date_gmt":"2023-04-20T20:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vetmed.iastate.edu\/future-dvm-students\/programs-of-study\/small-animal-option\/surgical-training\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T17:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T17:00:14","slug":"surgical-training","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vetmed.iastate.edu\/future-dvm-students\/prospective-student-information\/vm4-species-track-options\/years-1-4\/small-animal-option\/surgical-training\/","title":{"rendered":"Surgical Training"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<div class=\"paragraph-widget paragraph-widget--text-html\">\n\t<div class=\"text-content\">\n\t\t<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" style=\"max-width: 280px; width: 100%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/vetmed.iastate.edu\/future-dvm-students\/wp-content\/uploads\/SurgicalTraining_DSC_3903_web.jpg \" alt=\"surgical training\" \/><\/p>\n<p>At Iowa State University&#8217;s College of Veterinary Medicine, surgical training runs throughout the four years a student spends on campus.<\/p>\n<p>The College of Veterinary Medicine teams up with area animal welfare organizations to provide free wellness and spay\/neuter care for animals in the college&#8217;s hospital facilities. Participating organizations bring their cats and dogs to Iowa State where third-year veterinary students, under the supervision of clinicians, provide medical assessments and preventive care, as well as spay\/neuter surgeries as part of their Surgical Education Program.<\/p>\n<p>During the surgical laboratory class students will conduct:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Multiple medical exams before and after surgery to ensure the patient is healthy for surgery and experiences a normal recovery<\/li>\n<li>Evaluation pre-operative bloodwork including red blood cell counts, total protein, blood glucose, kidney indicators, fecal parasite exams and urinalysis<\/li>\n<li>Multiple pain scoring examinations and responsibility for making sure the patient has adequate pain control<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Medication administration including becoming familiar with the common protocols and products for vaccines, deworming and prevention of heartworm, fleas and ticks<\/li>\n<li>Diagnosis and treatment of common problems encountered in pets including ear, skin and urinary infections, internal and external parasites, eye problems, skin masses and minor wounds<\/li>\n<li>Perform spay\/neuter surgeries<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The program provides students the opportunity to learn about canine and feline preventative care for all life cycles including vaccines and parasite treatment, prevention and productions. This has a significant impact on preparing students for their fourth-year clinical rotations and life as a veterinarian.<\/p>\n<p>Since the program&#8217;s inception in 2016,\u00a0 veterinary students have helped over 6,000 dogs and cats from two dozen organizations on their journey to forever homes.<\/p>\n<p>The surgical training program also includes a live animal laboratory held during the spring semester, in which second-year students neuter intact male cats.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Thank you to our industry sponsors who have provided assistance for the program<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Hill&#8217;s Pet Nutrition<\/li>\n<li>Purina<\/li>\n<li>IDEXX Laboratories<\/li>\n<li>Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedia, Inc.<\/li>\n<li>Zoetis<\/li>\n<li>Ethicon<\/li>\n<li>Securos<\/li>\n<li>World&#8217;s Best Cat Litter<\/li>\n<li>Boys Foundation<\/li>\n<li>Dave and Jeanne Allbaugh<\/li>\n<li>Bayer Animal Health<\/li>\n<li>Merial<\/li>\n<li>Ceva Animal Healt<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"paragraph-widget paragraph-widget--button-set\">\n\t<div class=\"iastate22-button-set\">\n\t\t<ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"iastate22-button\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t   href=\"mailto:slpeters@iastate.edu\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tContact Program<span class=\"arrow\"><\/span><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"paragraph-widget paragraph-widget--link-block\">\n\t<div class=\"link-block\">\n\t\t<h2>Learn more about the program<\/h2>\n\t\t<div class=\"link-set\">\n\t\t\t<ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/vetmed.iastate.edu\/vcs\/academics\/community-outreach\/\" class=\"link-set__link iastate22-link-secondary\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCommunity Outreach<span class=\"arrow\"><\/span><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/vetmed.iastate.edu\/vcs\/academics\/community-outreach\/participating-organizations\/\" class=\"link-set__link iastate22-link-secondary\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tParticipating Organizations<span class=\"arrow\"><\/span><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":3066,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3079","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - 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