Shelby Mangus, right, monitors anesthesia levels for a dog named Ace as Taylor Boles neuters him inside the mobile surgery unit of Kansas State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. The unit visited the Lawrence Humane Society Wednesday. The students expected to perform about 30 surgeries that day during the unit’s first tour. Mangus and Boles are both fourth-year veterinarian students.

Fourth-year Kansas State veterinary student Shelby Mangus neutered a pug-mix on Monday at Topeka’s Humane Society. On Tuesday the dog was adopted.

“It really feels great to be helping out,” said Mangus, an aspiring small-animal veterinarian.

Shelby Mangus, right, monitors anesthesia levels for a dog named Ace as Taylor Boles neuters him inside the mobile surgery unit of Kansas State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. The unit visited the Lawrence Humane Society Wednesday. The students expected to perform about 30 surgeries that day during the unit’s first tour. Mangus and Boles are both fourth-year veterinarian students.

Wednesday, Mangus said she performed just under 10 spay/neuters at the Lawrence Humane Society in the veterinary school’s new and “state of the art” mobile surgery unit.

“I’m learning a lot of different techniques,” she said.

Mangus is one of three fourth-year students traveling to humane societies around Kansas with the school’s inaugural Shelter Medicine Program, led by Dr. Brad Crauer.

The program offers students an in-depth look into the field and valuable hands-on experience, Crauer said. At the same time, the group provides each shelter with much-needed assistance in the spaying and neutering of animals.

Typically an average veterinary student might graduate having performed only a handful of surgeries, Crauer said. But through the school’s new program, graduating students will have performed between 40 and 50 surgeries.

Crauer estimates the group performed around 35 surgeries in Lawrence on Wednesday.

Brad Crauer

“It really improves their surgical confidence and tissue-handling skills,” he said. “And it makes them more hire-able.”

Crauer said the program will increase the quality of veterinarians coming from the school, but he also hopes it will act as a “magnet,” attracting students to the school.

Taylor Boles spoke softly and deliberately as she sewed up the underside of a young, male miniature pinscher.

“I’m going to be a vet in the Army,” she said. “They’re putting me through school and I’m giving them a bit of my time when I’m done.”

Although Lawrence is only the group’s second stop with the program, Boles said she’s already noticed a stark difference between performing surgery in a classroom and in a mobile unit.

The Kansas State University mobile veterinary unit visited the Lawrence Humane Society Wednesday.

“The big thing is efficiency,” she said. “Here we’re just trying to get as much done with the least amount of resources while still being sterile and healthy.”

“It’s a lot more fun too,” Boles added. “But yeah, I’m already exhausted.”

Aside from Topeka and Lawrence, Crauer said the group will visit Emporia, Junction City, Salina, Beatrice, Manhattan and Ottawa. Then he catches a breath and heads out for another two-week session with a fresh crop of students.

Lawrence Humane Society executive director Kate Meghji agreed with Crauer that the program is a great learning opportunity for students, but emphasized the impact the group will make performing spay/neuters at each stop, free of cost.

“A lot of shelters in Kansas don’t have a full-time vet like we do,” Meghji said. “And they’re spending thousands and thousands of dollars taking animals to a vet to get them spayed and neutered.”

Between 3 million and 4 million animals are euthanized across the country each year, Meghji said.

Many of the euthanized animals are the result of accidental or irresponsible breeding, exacerbating an overpopulation issue, she said — an issue that can largely be addressed by spaying and neutering.

“I want this to be my retirement job. I want one of these,” Meghji said, laughing and gesturing to the mobile surgery unit. “And I want to drive around the country spaying and neutering.”

On average, the Lawrence Humane Society houses 300 animals at a time, and it services around 3,500 animals a year, Meghji said. Two-thirds of those animals are stray or lost animals — more often than not the result of accidental breeding.