Students in the veterinary program at JTED experience first-hand serious medical procedures on animals. “I go to Pima Animal Care Center once a week and am able to oversee surgeries and triage patients as soon as they come in the facility. For example, I spent 2 1/2 hours overseeing a surgery where one dog needed to be spayed, a hernia removed, both of its eyes removed, because of pain and it was already blind, and part of its tail amputated because the bone was sticking out at the end,” says senior, Taylor Gilmore. A normal day at JTED will consist of “giving shots, observing surgeries, taking vitals, cleaning cages, and giving dogs baths,” says senior, Griffyn Krause. Taylor says, “When I am at Tanque Verde I learn and practice my skills and then when I am at PACC it’s different every day. One day we can be cleaning kennels and washing dogs and the next we can be cleaning wounds off of a dog that had been attacked or hit by a car.”

For both Taylor and Griffyn, the hardest part of JTED is having to see the pain that some of the animals are in. “It does take some time to get used to,” says Taylor. “When a dog comes to PACC and they are not spayed or neutered they have to be. If a female comes in and it is pregnant they will still spay it. So the vet gets the uterus of the dog and cuts off the blood supply to the dog. They never come out of the uterus so it is more humane than taking them out, giving them life and then euthanizing them. Then we dispose of them.” Taylor’s favorite part of being in JTED is being able to save the lives of animals. “And that I am able to get so much experience before I go to college for vet school.” If someone is interested in getting involved with the vet program, they have to sign up for the vet assistance program at JTED.

It is a two year program and you can start when you are a sophomore.

You don’t have to do anything to join.