The Sheltering Veterinarians Club was established at Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine in the spring of 2003. The organization was created for future veterinarians that were committed to animal welfare.
The goals of this organization include:
- To promote spay/neuter to combat pet overpopulation
- To promote the health and well being of animals and people through public awareness and client communication
- To promote stronger relationships between veterinarians and animal welfare organizations (shelters, rescue organizations, etc.)
We have meetings each month, covering topics related to all aspects of shelter medicine and animal welfare. We try to bring in diverse speakers, ranging from shelter veterinarians and administrators, to private practitioners, and rescue organizations.
We host a spay and neuter wet lab every spring to provide an opportunity for students to get hands-on experience. Under practitioner supervision, first and second year students are able to learn and practice physical exam techniques, proper techniques in restraining animals and other procedures such as drawing blood and inducing/monitoring anesthesia. Third year students actually get to perform a spay and/or neuter surgery under veterinary supervision. Please feel free to look at the pictures from previous wet labs!
Field trips give us a chance to get away from school and experience shelter medicine first-hand. This year we are going to try to incorporate at least one field trip to a major metropolitan area in order to tour several shelter/rescue facilities.
In order to learn as much as we can, we try to attend as many conferences as possible. This year we are planning on getting a group together to attend the Animal Care Expo. This conference is hosted by the Humane Society of the United States and will be in Las Vegas, Nevada April 6-9, 2009.
We are a fun group of people from many different backgrounds. We are anxious to learn while having fun and we are looking forward to getting you involved!
