Tree House Humane Society is a progressive all cat shelter with a socially conscious sheltering model. We partner with local municipal shelters, smaller rural shelters, and other out of state organizations to bring cats to our care and find them adoptive homes. We also accept sick/injured strays or other outdoor cats from vulnerable populations (i.e. young kittens). This year, we also opened our attached Veterinary Wellness Center focused on high-volume spay/neuter services and basic wellness care. This public clinic is low-cost and targeted to underserved communities in an effort to expand access to veterinary care for both cats and dogs. All cats are spayed/neutered prior to adoption in our resident clinic, which the student can perform with direct supervision and training.
Externs will be provided primarily with exposure to shelter medicine and feline medicine. This includes infectious disease management and control. While we offer expansive medical options, our decisions are tailored within the means of our resources. We manage several cats with chronic issues and address acute illnesses and injuries. We focus on enhancing public education and promoting well informed adoptions (e.g. FeLV positive adoptions). Financial resources may allow for consultation with specialty hospitals as needed. Time will also be available at our Veterinary Wellness Center for hands on exposure to owned dogs and cats. Students can observe client communication and assist with pre-operative examinations. While we do not allow students to perform surgery on owned animals, dog surgery may be available with our patients from other welfare partners.
Two full-time veterinarians with shelter and HVHQSN backgrounds and advanced training experience. Full time CVT (planning to hire second) and full staff of veterinary assistants. Two veterinary board members and 2-3 per diem veterinarians from private practice and ER available as needed or for consult. In-house Idexx pro-cyte, chem analyzer, and urine sedivue. Access to full Idexx laboratory diagnostic options sent to lab and in-house SNAP tests. Digital X-ray. Dental machine with digital dental X-ray. Full surgery suite and treatment areas in both the shelter clinic and wellness center. Other in-house diagnostics (microscopy, urine strips, incubation for in house cultures, refractometer etc) available.
Students will perform daily rounds of shelter animals, both on the adoption floor and within treatment or isolation wards. Students will also consult with the foster coordinator with any emerging health concerns. Veterinary and intake exams to be performed daily, exposing students to a high volume of hands on PE experience.
Spay/neuter experience will be provided with direct supervision. We perform ~20 surgeries per week on our shelter cats. Our veterinary wellness center performs about 100 spay/neuter surgeries per week. Additional surgical exposure (i.e. enucleation, dental extractions,amputation, wound repair, cystotomy, mass removal, VBO, PU, biopsies etc) will be available as needed by our patient population.
Journal review will be provided on topics of surgery and anesthesia, common infectious illnesses, and gold standard practices as determined by the Association of Shelter Veterinarians.
The student will be expected to be present for five 8-hour days per week or four 10-hour days per week, at minimum. The student will either shadow the attending vet directly or round regularly to discuss treatment plans, exam findings, etc. Two hours per week will be set aside for journal review and discussion. Each week, 1-2 days will be set aside for surgical training and experience.