Small Animal Option

**Small animal option students, VCS 455 and 456 each must be taken at least once. One of the courses satisfies the overall required block requirement, the other satisfies the small animal option requirement.

Required Block: (Total 20 Credits required of all students)

Course	Title	Credits
VCS 7453	Small Animal Medicine	2
VCS 7455 or VCS 7456	Small Animal Soft Tissue or Small Animal Orthopedic Surgery (as assigned by the schedule optimizer)	2
VCS 7457/VCS 7464/VCS 7458	Equine Medicine (7457)/Equine Field Service (7464)/Equine Surgery (7458) (must have one equine course as assigned by the schedule optimizer)	2
VCS 7460	Radiology	2
VCS 7463	Primary Care	2
VCS 7466	Anesthesiology	2
VCS 7468	Intensive Care/Emergency Med	4
VDPAM 7477	Food Animal Medicine and Surgery	2
VPTH 7456 and 7457	Necropsy and Clinical Pathology (Taken together as one 2-week block)	2
VCS 7495	Seminar (non-credit)	R
		20

Required courses for Small Animal Option ONLY= 6 credits:

Course	Title	Credits
VCS 7453	Small Animal Medicine	2
VCS 7455 or VCS 7456**	Small Animal Soft Tissue Surgery or Small Animal Orthopedic Surgery	2
VCS 7469	Ophthalmology	2

Selective Choices (Total = 0 credits required):

There are no selectives required for this track.

Electives (Total = 18 credits required):

Electives strongly recommended by the VCS Curriculum Committee for students planning on entering small animal or mixed animal practice include:

Course	Title	Credits
VCS 7409	Oncology	2
VCS 7441	Canine Rehabilitation	2
VCS 7446	Neurology	2
VCS 7452	Dermatology	2
VCS 7475	Cardiology	2
VCS 7482	Veterinary Dentistry and Oral Surgery (not currently offered)	2

Electives may include external experiences for credit including: shelter medicine external electives (VCS 7459 and VCS 7437) and VCS 7423 zoo preceptorships; preceptorships at private, corporate, ISU-affiliated, or public practices/institutions that fulfill the requirements for VCS 7419 (Preceptorships in small animal or equine) for a maximum of 6 credits; and/or any other course offered by the College. Preceptorships, defined as learning experiences or time spent at a veterinary practice away from the College, must follow course guidelines to qualify for credit.

Students may repeat any course offered in the general core, required small animal track, or electives one additional time (above that required) for credit, depending upon availability and with permission of the instructor-of-record for that clinical rotation unless otherwise noted in the ISU Catalog.