Pet Professors: How Student Pets Play a Role in Education
How the beloved pets of CVM students and staff are educating our future veterinarians by volunteering to provide hands-on, real-life experience during clinical skills labs.
Making a Difference in Education
Volunteer animals, affectionately known as “Pet Professors,” provide innovative hands-on learning opportunities for future veterinarians.
Students in The University of Arizona College of Veterinary Medicine, the first public veterinary program in Arizona, rely on some furry friends to advance their education. Pet Professors — cats and dogs owned by students and staff — work as volunteers in clinical skills labs to provide hands-on, real-life experience to future veterinarians.
“There is a big difference between mastering something in the classroom and being able to actually do it on a live animal,” says Alyssa Rankin, class of 2024. “The pet professors program allows me to work with live animals early on in my training so that I can be comfortable doing this once I am out of school.”
Hands-on Training
The labs cover a variety of skills in which students need to become proficient starting on their first day as veterinarians. Several current Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program candidates mentioned that working with real animals boosted their confidence — especially when it came to making veterinary-level discoveries.
“One of my best memories working with pet professors is when I had the opportunity to do an abdominal ultrasound on one of my professor's dogs,” says Ricky Wagner, class of 2023. “During the ultrasound, I found a kidney infarction that my professor didn't know about. It was so memorable because as a student, I did not expect to find something like that!”
Clinical skills labs are part of the curriculum for the first two years of the three-year DVM program. These interactions keep current students motivated and connected to the aspect they love most about pursuing a veterinary degree: the animals themselves.
“I am looking forward to many things when I become a veterinarian. I am looking forward to being around animals all the time; I love the joy that they bring to my life,” Rankin says.
But, becoming a veterinarian goes beyond just helping animals.
“I am very eager to help not only animals but their humans, too,” says Shawni Wall, class of 2023. “The relationship between a dog and a human, in my opinion, is one of the most special things in existence.”
Pet professors have a way of making students smile. Take, for example, the experience that Wall had when she administered her first ultrasound.
“I have held dogs for ultrasounds thousands of times and know how wiggly and uncomfortable they can be lying on their backs. I was worried how this would go for us when trying to ultrasound live patients for the very first time,” she says. “My friend's dog Pixie not only held perfectly still for us, but she loved it so much we didn't even have to hold her — she just lay there on her back and wagged her tail the whole time. I remember thinking how I would never forget my first time trying to ultrasound a dog because Pixie was such a joy to work with.”
From their first ultrasound to their first day on the job, a love of working with and caring for animals drives DVM students toward their dreams. They’re on a path toward innovative learning, pursuing in-demand skill sets and being the reason behind more tail wags, purrs and smiles.