A group of final
year veterinary students at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies spent
three weeks of March partaking in the CEVA Animal Behaviour and Welfare
elective run by the JMICAWE team. In their final year of study, the students
get to choose electives which specialise in certain areas relating to
veterinary medicine, and we were thrilled that our group chose to learn more
about Animal Welfare and Behaviour over the other topics on offer to them.
The elective was
a mixture of taught and practical studies, including guest speakers from animal
health company CEVA (who very kindly sponsored the course) and pet behaviour
specialist Positive Imprint. The students took classes on pain and animal
behaviour, pharmacotherapeutics, the animal ethics dilemma, the use of an
interactive rat as opposed to a live one in a laboratory and a wide range of
other modules covering different species of animal and different behaviour and
welfare issues.
A number of day
trips were also included in the elective to allow students to see the
application of the animal behaviour and welfare topics being discussed; they were
able to assess the behaviour of cats and dogs in a shelter, explore the welfare
of animals at Edinburgh Zoo and research the welfare of farm animals.
The students
responded very well to the course, engaging with all aspects and topics, and
here are some of their thoughts…
“On practical
veterinary sessions, there have been questions asked by clients that I couldn’t
answer as I didn’t know very much about behavioural problems and how to deal
with them. I now feel in a much better position to do so!”
“The course has
really changed the way I think about an animal, especially when it comes to
assessing pain”
“It’s only one step
to recognise behavioural or welfare problems an animal is experiencing: it’s
something else to actually treat those”
“I really
enjoyed learning about new research that challenges concepts that have been
taught as fact for the last fifty years”
.JPG)
