What types of veterinary training involve animals?
2. Which animals are used? 3. What are the alternatives? 4. What can I do to help? 1. What types of veterinary training involve animals? Animals used in veterinary medical training are often used in “terminal surgeries”— procedures in which healthy animals are used in surgical training and then euthanized rather than recovered after surgery. 2. Which animals are used? Dogs, mice, rats, and birds are the most commonly used species in veterinary training. 3. What are the alternatives? More and more veterinary schools are using animals in the clinical setting to help train their students by spaying/neutering of cats and dogs from local shelters. This is a win-win-win situation for the school (which gains access to a low-cost source of animals for surgical training and enhances the school’s image in the community because they are providing a useful service), the shelter (which receives virtually free spay/neuter services), and the animals (who are more likely to be adopted afterward). One
