Offsite Electives

PAWS Chicago’s Medical Center provides an immersive elective experience designed for veterinary students interested in high-volume shelter medicine, surgery, and community-focused veterinary care. Students will work alongside experienced veterinarians and technicians in a fast-paced, team-oriented environment that supports both shelter and our low cost public clinic.

Externs will participate in:

• Daily medical rounds and patient care within Shelter Medicine and Foster programs
• Hands-on experience with preventive medicine, diagnostics, and case management
• Observation and participation (based on skill level) in high-volume spay/neuter and other surgical procedures
• Exposure to infectious disease management, behavioral considerations in shelter environments, and operational flow of a large nonprofit medical center

Students will gain insight into how shelter and clinical medicine intersect to support lifesaving outcomes on a large scale. The experience emphasizes medical quality, efficiency, and collaboration while helping future veterinarians develop practical skills in communication, problem-solving, and teamwork.

Supervision and mentorship are provided by our Shelter Medicine and Clinic teams, with opportunities to tailor the rotation toward areas of particular interest (e.g., surgery, internal medicine, population health).

Copley Fairlawn Veterinary Clinic, a full-service small animal general practice located in Northeast Ohio, offers a comprehensive elective experience for veterinary students seeking exposure to a broad range of clinical services in a high-quality, team-oriented setting. Students will have the opportunity to engage in all facets of general practice, including preventative care, internal medicine, dermatology, ophthalmology, behavior, and client communication.

The clinic also manages a variety of urgent and emergent cases, allowing students to develop their triage and critical thinking skills in real-time. Surgical experience includes both routine and advanced soft tissue procedures, with exposure to orthopedic surgery one day per week. Students will also participate in advanced dental procedures, including full-mouth extractions, and will gain hands-on experience with digital dental radiology.

Diagnostic capabilities at Copley Fairlawn include full IDEXX in-house laboratory services, digital full-body radiography, and advanced imaging such as abdominal ultrasounds and echocardiograms performed on-site by specialists from Imaging4Pets. Therapeutic modalities include laser therapy for pain management and healing support. At Copley Fairlawn Veterinary Clinic our doctors have a strong interest and passion in anesthesia and pain management. The students will be encouraged to help formulate a multi-modal anesthetic and pain protocol tailored to each of our surgical patients.

Throughout the rotation, students will work closely with experienced veterinarians and support staff, actively participating in patient care, diagnostics, surgical prep and monitoring, and client communication. This elective provides a well-rounded experience in a busy general practice, ideal for students interested in developing their clinical competency across a wide range of medical and surgical cases.

Perform case work up with DVMs. Perform minor surgeries and assist on more complex surgical cases.

We are a full service clinic that offers hospitalization, full surgery, and case workup. We are by appointment only, but do take urgent care appointments during business hours. We have a mix of preventative care and emergency appointments during the day. The hospital is equipped with digital radiographs, ultrasound, full blood and urine machines.

You will gain experience with preventative medicine as well as internal medical cases most commonly seen in a small animal practice. We refer for CT and MRI cases to Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital. For surgical cases you will gain experience with not just spays and neuters, but other soft tissue surgeries such as cystotomies, abdominal exploratories, and complicated mass removals. We have dental radiographs and perform numerous full mouth extractions for stomatitis cases. You will also gain experience managing numerous types of internal medicine cases. These include simple metabolic diseases to more complicated cases such as severe cluster seizure dogs and difficult to manage diabetic cats.

Mapleview Animal Hospital is a small animal general practice located in Norwalk, Ohio. Founded in 1972 by Dr. James Lonz, Mapleview Animal Hospital provides full-service veterinary care for dogs and cats, including medical, surgical, and dental services. We take pride in our long-standing reputation in the community and our commitment to compassionate, high-quality patient care.

Our goal is to provide students with a supportive, real-world learning environment. We aim to demonstrate how long-term staff and loyal clientele foster trusting, communicative relationships that positively impact the daily operations of a busy veterinary practice.

Student involvement will include shadowing and assisting veterinarians during outpatient appointments, as well as surgical and dental procedures. Outpatient cases may involve internal medicine, preventative care, dermatology, ophthalmology, cardiology, orthopedics, and daytime urgent or emergent cases. Surgical and dental procedures may range from routine spays and neuters, dental prophylaxis (with or without extractions), mass removals, and hernia repairs to more complex or urgent cases such as cystotomies, amputations, urethral obstructions, and exploratory surgeries.

Opportunities under the direct supervision of a veterinarian may include:

• Participating in examinations, diagnostic/treatment planning, client communication and medical documentation
• Assisting with surgical procedures
• Supporting dental cleanings and extractions
• Administering medications and providing patient treatments

We offer a variety of general practice and surgery experiences for externs.  Observing appointments, discussing cases and the thought process of work ups, performing physical exams, participating in minor procedures.  If possible, the extern will be welcome to assist in surgery. 

7 doctor practice. General practice that typically sees dogs, cats, small animals (rabbits, rats, gerbil, etc), poultry. At our practice we do appointments (wellness and sick), surgery (mostly soft tissue), dentistry, radiographs, ultrasound, blood work, anesthesia, acupuncture, etc.

Students will be immersed in real life mixed animal practice serving an 80 mile radius with 7 communities, with a variety of emergency, medical and surgical cases. Receiving referral cases from over 8 other clinics in the area ensures a plethora of learning opportunities not available in a university setting. With 4 doctors on staff and ample support staff, a rounded approach to medicine is presented. Students leave with progressed surgical skills, ability to manage caseloads and an understanding the logistics of running a hospital. Undoubtedly more prepared for a rewarding career in a changing and challenging profession. 

Population Medicine Rotation

This four-week clinical rotation is designed to integrate fundamental and applied medical skills to address both infectious and noninfectious diseases in food animal populations. Conducted both on and off campus, this experience provides exposure to modern agricultural practices across the major food-producing species in North America.

During the rotation, students will:

• Review clinically significant diseases, treatment options, and the economic considerations involved in decision-making at both the individual and herd level.
• Tour modern production and harvest facilities.
• Explore diagnostic methods and testing procedures.
• Discuss the veterinarian’s role in disease control and learn how to design and evaluate field trials.

Second Two Weeks: Herd-Level Investigations (Late September/Early October)

Students will shift focus to herd-level diagnostics, disease prevention strategies, and conducting herd health investigations.

We are a small animal general practice and emergency practice. The primary case load is cats and dogs with occasional pocket pets (guinea pigs, rabbits) and birds. Daily cases range from routine preventative medicine to emergency intervention, surgery, and hospitalization. The facility includes dental suite, surgical suite, access to digital x-ray, dental x-rays, and ultrasound.

This externship is offered as an opportunity for students to gain experience working in both general practice with exposure to emergency cases in the state of Hawaii. Our goal is to help students gain confidence with seeing a variety of cases and encouraging them to come up with and develop diagnostic and treatment plans.