We provide state of the art medical care to canines, felines and pocket pets.  We are equipped to perform surgery, labwork and advanced diagnostics which include digital radiographs, dental radiographs and ultrasound. All radiographs are sent telemedicine which are read by a board-certified Veterinary Radiologist to assure accuracy in our diagnosis.  We are one of the first hospitals in the region to utilize anesthetic monitoring for our surgical patients and we are also American Animal Hospital accredited.

Mtn Valley Veterinary Clinic is two doctor mixed animal practice, specializing in no particular field, but treating all animals with the exceptions of snakes and exotic avian. We pride ourselves in having a practice that provides high quality of medicine, while at the same time being a high volume practice.  Our small animal medicine ranges from spaying/neutering to tumor and soft tissue surgery to internal medicine and wellness exams. Our large animal side ranges from DA/csections to internal medicine and herd health on cows/horses/goats/sheep/pigs. 

Furthermore, another aspect of veterinary medicine is the understanding of the business/money part. As a result, we expose all of onsite volunteers/veterinary students to the fact that we work a difficult job that does not pay us for what we are worth, but at the same time we work in a profession that can give you a quality of life that you cannot get in other fields. 

In closing, our practice enjoys teaching and giving students/volunteers the opportunity to experience what is great about this profession. At the same time we help them to understand what is not so great. Thus, we allow them to be exposed to the many aspects of the profession that a person will encounter working in a rural community mixed animal practice. 

Students will have the oppurtunity to participate in the Large and small animal practice. As well as we have emergency after hours services. 

During this externship students will be able to follow accompany a licensed veterinarian to various livestock farms and see how Animal Welfare Approved (AWA) audits are performed. These audits include an assessment of animal welfare, as well as and may also involve review of different standards and policies related to grass-fed, organic, or and non-GMO certification. AWA has developed standards for a wide variety of domesticated livestock species, including dairy and beef cattle, dairy and meat sheep, dairy and meat goats, pigs, laying hens, broiler chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese and bison. Students will have the opportunity to learn how farmers working with a variety of species make management decisions that affect animal welfare, economics, farmer well-being and their local ecosystems, and the trade-offs involved in this decision making process.

In addition to farm visits, students will may also have the opportunity to meet with local veterinarians or other providers who are knowledgeable about support animal health and welfare in organic and/or pasture-based production systems. They will observe first-hand some of the stresses and struggles experienced by farmers striving to optimize human, animal and ecosystem health, and will also be able to learn about how veterinarians can apply standards, audit process, summary report verbal and written communicationswriting process to enhance farmer knowledge while supporting continuous improvement in food animal well-being. Finally, students will , and have the opportunity to write a report about a topic of their choosing related to animal welfare.

PLEASE NOTE: This rotation does not always take place in the same location! Students can discuss where they would like to perform audits and what species they would like to work with with Dr. Burton.