Universities Go Mobile: Mobile veterinary clinics help train future veterinarians
January 22, 2026 | 0
When it comes to studying any form of medical practice, hands-on training is a must. And that goes for veterinary students, too. While general practice veterinary students aren’t required to perform a lengthy residency in the same way medical students are, veterinary schools still require hands-on exam and surgical experience. This is most typically accomplished through the college’s on-site veterinary clinic, which is open to the public. Students can also complete internships with local veterinarians. But for many colleges in recent years, there’s another opportunity for their students to learn in the field, and that’s through community service work. It’s through this last avenue that many colleges have decided to invest in mobile veterinary clinics.
Often termed Shelter Medicine or Community Medicine, veterinary colleges throughout the U.S. are deploying mobile veterinary clinics to get their students real-world surgical experience by providing free and low cost spay/neuter surgeries to local shelters.
Kansas State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, for example, launched their shelter medicine program in 2015. Since inception, vet students have performed over 40,000 spay & neuter surgeries.
The program was “established in 2015 with the goal to produce more ‘practice ready’ veterinarians by building clinical skills in surgery, physical examination, diagnostic/therapeutic plan development and client communication,” K-State wrote on their website. “These foundation skills are performed as service-based curriculum which provides medical and surgical are to those with limited access.”
As a result, K-State says that graduates of their veterinary program average 50-55 spay/neuter surgeries before they graduate, rather than the standard 4-5.
It’s truly a win-win. Veterinary schools provide a valuable service for their communities in helping to reduce pet overpopulation, and students gain valuable experience.
The program has been so successful, that K-State has steadily expanded it over the past 10 years. They started with only one trailer, but now have a small fleet, with two trailers and a driveable coach. They’ve also branched out to provide mobile vet services to more than just shelters, partnering with other local entities to provide low-cost vaccinations, micro-chipping, and wellness visits.
“In K-State’s Wellness on Wheels (WOW) vehicle, fourth-year veterinary students bring care to pets that will never visit a veterinarian otherwise due to cost, location or a lack of information about basic pet care,” wrote the KSU foundation. “This could be individuals who are elderly, experiencing homelessness, living in a remote location or people with serious illnesses.”
To pay for their mobile units, we’ve seen universities utilize a variety of funding sources, including grants from non-profit organizations, public funds through state organizations, direct donations from private donors, or project-specific capital campaigns.
From Kansas State to Louisiana State to Michigan State, universities are seeing the value in deploying a mobile clinic for both their students and their communities. La Boit offers both trailers and driveable coaches up to 40ft. Our plug and play units have proven floor plans that can support multiple surgery tables, cages, storage space, and even an on-board restroom. Contact us to request pricing and floorplans.
About La Boit Specialty Vehicles
La Boit Specialty Vehicles president Gil Blais first started La Boit in his garage in 1981, where he hand-made organizational boxes for traveling veterinarians. Fast forward to today, La Boit Specialty Vehicles is now a leader in specialty vehicle manufacturing for the Veterinary, Spay/Neuter/Adoption, Dental, Medical, Command, and Bloodmobile industries.
La Boit Specialty Vehicles offers a variety of vehicles to suit your needs, from 18ft pull-behind trailers to 40ft drivable coaches, none of which require a CDL to drive. Best of all, our vehicles are commercially-built from the chassis up for your specific needs, and are never converted RVs.
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