Course Descriptions

Provides a foundation of knowledge in the welfare, behaviour, management and nutrition of the common animal species including companion animals, emphasizing the role of the veterinarian. Concepts of animal welfare, herd management, health and production interactions, and the common management practices of various animal industries will be described. Laboratory exercises will emphasize hands-on experience in animal handling and restraint, while seminars will allow time for small-groups discussions, students presentations about real case scenarios.

Restriction(s): Must be enrolled in the first year of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.) Program.
Note: Students with credit for VLAC 211 will not receive credit for this course.

Provides a basic foundation of knowledge in the husbandry, nutrition and breeding of the common animal species, featuring the veterinary aspects of the various animal industries and the contemporary role of the veterinarian in servicing them. Concepts of herd management, health and production interactions and the makeup of various animal industries will be emphasized for the various species groups.

Restriction(s): Successful completion of Year 1 of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.) Program.
Note: Students with credit for VLAC 310 will not receive credit for this course.

Students will learn how to apply the concepts of evidence-based medicine to veterinary practice. The course provides students with the basic skills necessary to evaluate the scientific literature with emphasis on clinical trials, choose diagnostic tests and interpret the results, and investigate and control outbreaks of disease. In-class exercises will provide students with practical experiences for each of these core objectives.

Restriction(s): Successful completion of Year 1 of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.

This course is intended to introduce veterinary students to what public health is and emphasize how public health is protected in Canada through various activities undertaken by both public and animal health professionals (whether in veterinary practice or other non-practice roles) by using real life examples.

Restriction(s): Successful completion of Year 1 of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.) Program.

Provides an overview of animal disease principles in which disease mechanisms, body response to disease, diagnosis, control and prevention are emphasized. Special attention is given to infectious diseases of cattle that are of economic importance to the Saskatchewan livestock industry.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Restriction(s): Enrolment in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources.

A series of lectures that deal with the specific diseases of domestic agricultural animals (cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry). Emphasizes the etiology, epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical and laboratory findings, diagnosis, treatment and control of the common diseases which occur in domestic farm animals. Some lectures deal with the important exotic diseases that are potential treats to the livestock industry.

Restriction(s): Successful completion of Year 2 of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.) Program.
Note: Students with credit for VLAC 452 or VLAC 472 or VLAC 482 will not receive credit for this course.

This course will introduce veterinary students to concepts and principles of zoonoses via examples of zoonotic diseases, zooeyia and injury due to animals. Presentation of diseases will emphasize their importance to human health, their effects on domestic animals, importance of wildlife reservoirs, surveillance and methods of control/prevention. This course will be a mixture of lectures and in-class discussion. Focus will be on diseases of importance in Canada but some discussion of international diseases will occur.

Restriction(s): Successful completion of Year 2 of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.
Note: This is a Year 3 elective for students in the D.V.M. program. Students with credit for VLAC 431 will not receive credit for this course. This course was labeled VLAC 431 until 2014.

This is an introductory course to provide a background to why veterinary medicine is practiced the way that it is. The course will focus on developments over me relating to medicine, surgery, pain control, infection control and public health.

Prerequisite(s): Successful completion of Year 2 of the D.V.M. program.
Note: This is a Year 3 elective for students in the D.V.M. program.

Designed to examine the bovine health issues raised in the food animal medicine course and to examine them in much greater detail. Particular emphasis will be placed on the control of the diseases at the herd level.

Restriction(s): Successful completion of Year 2 of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.
Note: This is a Year 3 elective for students in the D.V.M. program.

Will expand the student's knowledge of swine diseases, with particular emphasis on clinical expression, the age group affected, differential diagnosis, control and prevention. A case oriented, comparative approach will be used, and the content will build on material presented in the core swine disease and production courses. The elective will also enhance the student's understanding of nutrition, reproduction, farm records, pigflow, ventilation, meat production, and farm economics through lecture, seminar and laboratory sessions.

Restriction(s): Successful completion of Year 2 of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.
Note: This is a Year 3 elective for students in the D.V.M. program.

This course is designed to provide veterinary students with an interest in small ruminants with basic knowledge in small ruminant health management. The emphasis of the course will be on increasing student understanding of small ruminant health management in Canada with a focus on important infectious and production-limiting diseases incl. reproductive management. Content will also focus on appropriate and available drug therapies in these minor species.

Prerequisite(s): Successful completion of Year 2 of the D.V.M. program.
Note: This is a Year 3 elective for students in the D.V.M. program.

Designed to provide practical training to veterinary students in procedures and techniques that are required in bovine practice.

Restriction(s): Successful completion of Year 2 of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.
Note: This is a Year 3 elective for students in the D.V.M. program.

Course covers information and training on use of transrectal ultrasonography for mare management, and diagnosis of reproductive problems. Topics include stallion physiology, spermatogenesis, semen collection, and breeding management. Hands-on laboratory includes in-depth use of ultrasonography, AI, cytology, culture, uterine treatment and biopsy techniques in the mare, and semen collection, analysis and processing in stallions.

Restriction(s): Successful completion of Year 2 of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.
Note: This is a Year 3 elective for students in the D.V.M. program.

Comprehensive overview of pressures on world ecosystems, focusing mainly on developing countries.

Restriction(s): Successful completion of Year 2 of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.
Note: This is a Year 3 elective for students in the D.V.M. program.

This elective course is designed to expand the student's knowledge of the dairy industry by building onto previously taught core courses such as VLAC 310 and VLAC 482. Specifically, the structure, organization and economics of the dairy industry will be covered in greater detail alongside animal management and dairy animal health and welfare. The course is directed at students who are considering a career associated with the dairy industry.

Restriction(s): Successful completion of Year 2 of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.
Note: This is a Year 3 elective for students in the D.V.M. program.

A series of lectures dealing with medical, surgical and peripartum reproductive diseases of horses. In lectures, emphasis is placed on clinical signs, pathophysiology, diagnosis, management and treatment of common diseases, conditions and injuries of horses in Western Canada.

Restriction(s): Successful completion of Year 2 of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.
Note: Students with credit for VLAC 452 or VLAC 472 or VLAC 462 will not receive credit for this course.

This course is designed to enhance the students' knowledge of normal reproductive patterns of sheep, goats, swine and cattle and to foster a greater understanding of modern assisted reproductive technologies and to develop a level of knowledge regarding the diagnosis and management of reproductive problems suitable for those entering clinical practice.

Restriction(s): Course only open to students in Year 3 of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.
Prerequisite(s): Successful completion of Year 2 of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.
Note: Students with credit for VLAC 460 or 470 will not receive credit for this course.

This course is designed to enhance the students' knowledge of normal reproductive patterns of companion animals to foster a greater understanding of modern assisted reproductive technologies and to develop a level of knowledge regarding the diagnosis and management of reproductive problems suitable for those entering clinical practice.

Restriction(s): Successful completion of Year 2 of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.
Note: Students with credit for VLAC 460 or 470 will not receive credit for this course.

This course is a continuation of VLAC 310: Animal management and production II. This elective course is designed to provide veterinary students with an interest in beef food supply medicine a background to the beef industries structure, organization and economics. The major areas of focus will be methods of disease prevention, economics, health/production record keeping/analysis, and methods of enhancing growth promotion.

Restriction(s): Successful completion of Year 2 of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.
Note: This is a Year 3 elective for students in the D.V.M. program.

The course will cover nutrition basics, evaluation of the equine diet, ration formulation, and the interpretation of nutrient analyses. Students will gain a deeper understanding of the role diet can play in various diseases (nutritional and non-nutritional diseases) and will gain confidence in advising clients on diet selection to prevent or treat nutritional diseases. Hands-on labs will include gross inspection of feed and body condition scoring of horses. Topics will include feed identification and forage analysis, ration analysis, life stage feeding, and feeding to prevent and/or treat specific nutritional diseases, such as equine metabolic syndrome, gastric ulcer syndrome, laminitis, myopathies, and refeeding syndrome.

Restriction(s): Successful completion of Year 2 of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.
Note: This is a Year 3 elective for students in the D.V.M. program.

This course is a continuation of VLAC 211 and VLAC 310: Animal Management and Production 1 and 2. This elective course is designed to provide those students with an interest in food supply veterinary medicine a better understanding of the principles of nutritional management of beef cattle and dairy cattle. Lectures and practicums will focus on applied nutritional principles within these industries including grazing and feeding management.

Restriction(s): Successful completion of Year 2 of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.
Note: This is a Year 3 elective for students in the D.V.M. program.

This offering will build on information provided in the Equine Medicine and Surgery course with a primary goal of providing in-depth presentations in areas important to students interested in pursuing Equine Practice. In addition to didactic sessions, there will be opportunities to develop radiographic and ultrasound examination skills. The program will summate with a series of case based student presentations.

Restriction(s): Successful completion of Year 2 of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.
Note: This is a Year 3 elective for students in the D.V.M. program.

This course is designed to enhance the students' knowledge of, and technical expertise in, some of the common components of the health management of horses, including, but not limited to, dentistry, parasite control, and disease prevention. The course content may vary from year to year, but students can expect to expand their understanding of the veterinarian's role in equine herd and individual health management.

Restriction(s): Successful completion of Year 2 of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.
Note: This is a Year 3 elective for students in the D.V.M. program.

Covers background information on embryo transfer with special emphasis on bovine embryo transfer. Specialized techniques e.g. embryo freezing, sexing, and splitting will be reviewed and in some cases form parts of laboratory exercises. Laboratory exercises will be conducted primarily on cattle. These will include superovulation, artificial insemination, embryo collection and transfer, and embryo handling techniques. Designed to provide the student with sufficient knowledge and laboratory experience to conduct the entire procedure in one species.

Weekly hours: 1 Lecture hours and 1 Seminar/Discussion hours
Permission of instructor required.

This course will introduce students to the concepts and basic methods of epidemiology used to evaluate the distribution and determinants of disease and health interventions. The course will have a specific focus on epidemiology, as it pertains to animal health issues.

Note: Students with credit for PUBH 800 or CHEP 800 will not receive credit for this course.

This course provides applied epidemiology training for graduate students enrolled in the first year of field epidemiology focused project-based (non-thesis) MSc degree. The goal is to prepare students through applied opportunities to master skills in applied epidemiology and complete the required list of competency outcomes; surveillance, risk communication and dataset analysis. Grading is based on the graduate students’ completion of the required competencies, their participation and performance in structured learning opportunities and their ability to communicate appropriately with peers, veterinarians, and the lay public involved in outbreak investigations.

Weekly hours: 3 Practicum/Lab hours
Prerequisite(s): A D.V.M. or equivalent, and enrolment in the M.Sc. project-based (nonthesis) focused on applied/field epidemiology training.

This course provides applied epidemiology training for graduate students enrolled in the second year of field epidemiology focused project-based (non-thesis) MSc degree. The goal is to prepare students through applied opportunities to master skills in applied epidemiology and complete the required list of competency outcomes; surveillance, risk communication and dataset analysis. Grading is based on the graduate students’ completion of the required competencies, their participation and performance in structured learning opportunities and their ability to communicate appropriately with peers, veterinarians, and the lay public involved in outbreak investigations.

Weekly hours: 3 Practicum/Lab hours
Prerequisite(s): A D.V.M., or equivalent, and enrolment in the M.Sc. project-based (nonthesis), focused on applied/field epidemiology training with successful completion of Field Epidemiology Competencies I.

This is an introductory graduate course for clinicians and clinical researchers who need a basic understanding of clinical trial design/experimental design to carry out their own clinical research. The course will cover important aspects of designing clinical trials, including appropriate reporting of clinical trials.

Note: The course is meant to be taken with the Statistics for Clinical Research course (VLAC 812.2). If the student's research involves observational study designs more than the clinical or experimental designs emphasized in this course, the Introduction to Veterinary Epidemiology I (VLAC 808.3) should be taken instead.

This is an introductory graduate course for clinicians and clinical researchers who need a basic understanding of clinical statistics and clinical epidemiology to carry out their own research. The course will cover areas of applied medical statistics. Common parametric and non-parametric statistical tests that are used in medical research will be presented and used.

Prerequisite(s) or Corequisite(s): Completion of Clinical Trial Design (VLAC 811.1) or enrollment/completion of Introduction to Veterinary Epidemiology (VLAC 808.3) and permission from the instructor.

This is an advanced graduate course for clinicians, epidemiology and clinical researchers who need more advanced knowledge of statistical techniques to carry out their own research. Advanced parametric and non-parametric statistical tests for more complex research designs will be presented.

Prerequisite(s): Completion of Statistics for Clinical Research (VLAC 812) and permission from the instructor.

Will focus on the characterization and distribution of diseases common to animals and man. A selection of important zoonoses and food safety issues will be specifically covered with an emphasis on the principles of zoonotic disease transmission and control, risk factors to humans, and surveillance methods.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours

This two-term 800-level course is open to students enrolled in graduate program or residency in large or food animals who want to expand their understanding of current topics in swine medicine. Each biweekly class will feature a different topic for discussion centred around a case reports/series, original research, or review paper selected from peer-reviewed journals. The papers selected will be mainly clinical in nature on topics related to and swine health, production, and broader industry issues. Students will present in rotation, and when not presenting, will prepare a written critique. The course aims to improve critical thinking skills and evaluation of scientific literature. Students can enrol and receive credit for this course in successive years because the literature selected and topics will differ each year.

Permission of the department required.
Note: Students may take this course more than once for credit, provided the topic covered in each offering differs substantially. Students must consult the Department to ensure that the topics covered are different.

The anatomy, pathophysiology and surgery of the equine species will be studied with respect to the basic principles of wound healing, tissue response to trauma and the related physiologic responses. Regular seminars based on current literature reviews of selected topics will be required of candidates. Weekly case-based discussions will be used to bridge from the classroom to the clinical patient. Advanced equine surgery I will focus on general surgery in the horse.

Weekly hours: 2.5 Seminar/Discussion hours

The anatomy, pathophysiology and surgery of the equine species will be studied with respect to the basic principles of wound healing, tissue response to trauma and the related physiologic responses. Regular seminars based on current literature reviews of selected topics will be required of candidates. Weekly case-based discussions will be used to bridge from the classroom to the clinical patient. Advanced Equine Surgery II will focus on orthopedic conditions of the horse.

Weekly hours: 2.5 Seminar/Discussion hours
Note: Students with credit for VLAC 852 cannot receive credit for this course.

The anatomy, pathophysiology and surgery of the equine species will be studied with respect to the basic principles of wound healing, tissue response to trauma and the related physiologic responses. Regular seminars based on current literature reviews of selected topics will be required of candidates. Weekly case-based discussions will be used to bridge from the classroom to the clinical patient. Advanced Equine Surgery III will focus on orthopedic conditions of the horse.

Weekly hours: 2.5 Seminar/Discussion hours

This is an advanced graduate seminar course for clinical residents and graduate students who need indepth knowledge of equine surgery. The course is designed to help residents prepare for equine and large animal surgery board examinations administered by the American College of Veterinary Surgery.

Weekly hours: 3 Seminar/Discussion hours

Consists of lectures, laboratories and seminars on equine reproduction. Candidates will attend lectures and present seminars on selected topics covering reproductive biology of the brood mare and stallion, reproductive diseases and management of brood mare farms. Laboratories include demonstrations of assisted reproductive procedures and practical techniques.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture/Practicum/Lab hours
Prerequisite(s): VLAC 460 or equivalent and permission of the instructor.

This class will give students theory and experience in the practical application of epidemiological methods in the investigation and control of outbreaks of disease and other animal-health related events.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Note: Students with credit for PUBH 809.3 may not take this course for credit. This course will not be offered every year and students can opt to take PUBH 809.3 instead.

This course will provide advanced training in the design and analysis of observational research in veterinary epidemiology and the application and assessment of veterinary diagnostics to manage disease in populations. The course will include interpretation of data, hands on practical experience in data analysis, statistical challenges and tools for analyzing data in groups of animals.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Prerequisite(s): VLAC 808 (or equivalent), VLAC 812, and VLAC 813 (or equivalent), and permission of the instructor.

This is an advanced graduate seminar course for clinical residents and graduate students who need in-depth knowledge of large animal internal medicine. The course is designed to help residents prepare for large animal internal medicine and bovine/equine practitioners’ board examinations.

An advanced course in normal and abnormal spermatogenesis and spermatology with emphasis on the bovine species. It includes prenatal and postnatal development of the testis, pubertal changes, detailed study of the cycle of the seminiferous epithelium, semen collection, evaluation and cryopreservation.

Weekly hours: 2 Lecture hours and 1 Seminar/Discussion hours and 2 Practicum/Lab hours
Permission of instructor required.

This course provides advanced clinical training for graduate students enrolled in year one of a LACS clinical residency and project-based MSc degree. The goal is to help students prepare for specialty boards, develop critical thinking and problem solving skills, and foster a culture of academic inquiry based on clinical experiences.

Weekly hours: 2 Seminar/Discussion hours and 2 Clinical Service hours
Prerequisite(s): Enrollment in the project-based M.Sc. program in VLAC, or permission of the department Instructors.

This course provides advanced clinical training for graduate students enrolled in year one of a LACS clinical residency and project-based MSc degree. The goal is to help students prepare for specialty boards, develop critical thinking and problem solving skills, and foster a culture of academic inquiry based on clinical experiences.

Weekly hours: 3 Seminar/Discussion hours
Prerequisite(s): Enrollment in the project-based M.Sc. program in VLAC, or permission of the department Instructors.

This course provides advanced clinical training for graduate students enrolled in year one of a LACS clinical residency and project-based MSc degree. The goal is to help students prepare for specialty boards, develop critical thinking and problem solving skills, and foster a culture of academic inquiry based on clinical experiences.

Weekly hours: 3 Seminar/Discussion hours
Prerequisite(s): Enrollment in the project-based M.Sc. program in VLAC, or permission of the department Instructors.

To be defined and described each time it is offered. A thorough study of a special topic pertinent to the specific goals of the candidate and their program.

Weekly hours: 3 Reading hours

To be defined and described each time it is offered. A thorough study of a special topic pertinent to the specific goals of the candidate and their program.

Weekly hours: 6 Reading hours

Serves to maintain full-time student status during clinical training.

Discussion on research plans, protocols, and results by graduate students and faculty. Graduate students are required to attend and participate. Faculty and visiting scientists may also contribute to the course.

Students enrolled in the non-thesis Master's degree (M.Sc. - Project Option) must register in this course when they begin their project.

Students writing a Master's thesis must register for this course.

Students writing a Ph.D. thesis must register for this course.