VTMED 6623

Clinical Rotation in Shelter Medicine: Principles and Practice

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

This clinical rotation is embedded at the SPCA of Tompkins County with travel to other area shelters. During their time with MSMP, students will be exposed to the principles and practice of veterinary medicine in a functioning animal shelter setting. Students will provide direct veterinary medical care to individual shelter animals and apply population health principles, including infectious disease diagnosis, treatment, and management; shelter wellness and protocol-based medicine; high-quality, high-volume spay-neuter and dentistry; shelter animal behavioral assessment, pharmaceuticals and modification, low-stress animal handling, and population and capacity planning. Cases vary with season and shelter intake. The daily schedule includes topic-based online modules, in-person clinical work, and topic rounds. Students will also give a live CE presentation for shelter personnel. Although spay/neuter is part of shelter medicine and will be part of this rotation, this is NOT a spay/neuter intensive rotation; caseload depends on the needs of the shelters we serve. Weekend duty is optional and as-needed.

Prerequisites VTMED 5520.

Enrollment Priority Enrollment limited to: fourth-year veterinary students. Highly recommended prerequisite: VTMED 6425.

Last 4 Terms Offered 2026SP, 2025FA, 2025SU, 2025SP

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