VTMED 6563 - Aquavet III: Practical Training in Aquarium and Captive Aquatic Animal Medicine

Summer. 5 credits. S/U grades only.

Prerequisite: formal course work in diseases of aquatic animals or appropriate experience and permission of instructor (available, by a competitive application process, to veterinary and graduate students). Course fee: TBA. Permission of instructor required. Offered at multiple off-campus locations.

R. G. Getchell.

A small group of students will shadow and assist veterinarians at the Georgia Aquarium for two weeks. Relevant lectures will be given each day. The next week is a hands on endoscopy training at the University of Georgia. Here lectures will be followed by individual training on rigid endoscopy of turtles and fish. Additionally each student will perform fish surgery. The last two weeks are cetacean medicine. Here the students will have training on all aspects of cetacean medicine at Dolphinaris in Cancun, Mexico. Cetacean specialists there will teach ultrasound of dolphins as well as species specific hematology, fecal and chuff cytology and general care and necessary medical training. The two week course in Cancun Mexico will start on Monday and end on a Saturday of the following week.