About the Veterinary Teaching Hospital , Mō Tāwharau Ora

Our companion animal, farm and equine clinics make up the Veterinary Teaching Hospital. They provide real-world experience and training to our final year veterinary students, interns and residents.

Three veterinary students examining a tuatara

What is a Teaching Hospital?

Our veterinary teaching clinics are fully equipped, offering excellent service to clients and their animals, all the while teaching our final year students the ins and outs of working in a Veterinary Practice.

  • Across all clinics we have over 40 vets and 50 support staff (nurses, techs, receptionists and administrators).
  • We have specialists covering a range of our services across all 3 clinics.
  • We have advanced diagnostic equipment to support our staff and students, such as CT and Fluoroscopy.
  • Our shared services of Anaesthesia, Imaging and Pathology are staffed with experts in their fields.

Our three clinics offer final year vet students an opportunity to get hands on experience while under the supervision of our skilled veterinary and nursing team. This means every patient has a special role to play in educating the future generations of vets for New Zealand and the world!

Students are involved in almost every aspect of your animals’ care, meaning more care and attention. A student may conduct your initial consultation, take history and perform an initial clinical exam before discussing with an experienced Veterinarian. The consultation may take longer than commercial practices, but the level of discussion, contemplation and assessment is far more robust and allows time for the student to take the lead in a controlled environment. The client's input and patience is invaluable.

Diagnostics and procedures are performed under strict supervision and will have different levels of student involvement, depending on the procedure and student’s experience and confidence.

Communication is a vital part of the veterinary practice; students will conduct daily calls to clients and follow up on discharged patients. Writing daily patient notes, inputting treatment plans into our Patient Management Software, and learning to produce estimates and invoices are all part of our students' education and ensure a well-rounded experience before graduation.

State-of-the-art equipment

Our vets and students have access to a huge array of state of the art equipment and facilities.

The Veterinary Teaching Hospital has dedicated orthopaedic and soft tissue surgical suites, as well as diagnostic imaging, separate and fully equipped isolation units and much, much more.

Our clinics

Whether you have a cat, dog or other pet, horse, farm animal or need help for an injured wild native animal we have specialty vets who can help.

Companion Animal Hospital

Our team works with Massey vet students to care for sick and injured pets of all shapes and sizes.

Equine Veterinary Clinic

We provide world-class medical care and surgery for horses at our clinic in Palmerston North.

Farm Services Clinic

We provide expert care for farm and lifestyle block animals, and hands-on experience for final-year vet students.

Companion animal internships

Our veterinary school ranks among the top 50 schools in the world and offers clinical training for post-graduate veterinary professional through our Companion Animal Internships.

Donate to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH) fund

Every year, we treat hundreds of sick and injured pets. The VTH Fund provides the equipment and expertise to allow our vets to treat as many animals as possible. The fund also provides financial assistance through “not so lucky” grants, given to animal owners who are unable to meet the full costs of specialist veterinary care required to treat, and often save the life of, their beloved pet.

Vet referrals

We welcome referrals from vets for:

  • specialist treatment
  • second opinions
  • diagnostic procedures.

Vets can refer a horse or companion animal to us.

Accreditation

American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)

Massey’s BVSc is accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education with minor deficiencies; graduates can work in North America. Last evaluation: 2021. Next evaluation: 2028.

Learn more

Australasian Veterinary Board Council (AVBC)

Accredited. Last evaluation: 2021. Next evaluation: 2028.

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QS Ranking - Veterinary Science

The Veterinary School is ranked by QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) as 21st in the world for veterinary science, the highest ranked school in the southern hemisphere.

Learn more

Contact and hours

Veterinary Teaching Hospital Director

Jane Langton Burnell: j.langtonBurnell@massey.ac.nz

Companion Animal Hospital

Hours

8am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday. Closed on Public Holidays

Routine appointments phone
Pet emergencies phone (any time)

0800 PetEmergency (0800 738363)

Location

Physical address
Massey Vets - Companion Animal Hospital
University Avenue
Fitzherbert
Palmerston North 4474

Practice Manager

Pauline Nijman, p.a.nijman@massey.ac.nz

Pet Emergency Centre

Hours

Open 24 hours a day from Monday 8am to Saturday 8am. Weekend emergency care for Community Practice clients only.

Phone

0800 PetEmergency (0800 738363)

Weekend phone

Weekends (8am Saturday to 8am Monday) call Totally Vets Fielding on +64 6 324 0812

Location

Massey University Veterinary Teaching Hospital
University Avenue
Palmerston North 4474
New Zealand

Equine Veterinary Clinic

Hours

8am to 4.30pm Monday to Friday

Available for emergency appointments 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Phone (including on-call staff after hours)
Emergency phone

+64 6 350 5328 (dial straight through on mobile)

Location

Massey Equine Veterinary Clinic
University Avenue
Palmerston North 4474

Clinic Manager

Alaina Tessier, a.tessier@massey.ac.nz

Farm Services Clinic

Hours

8am to 4.30pm Monday to Friday

Available for emergency appointments 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Phone (during office hours)

+64 6 350 5328 then option 1 (Farm Animal Clinic)

Phone (after hours)

+64 6 350 5328 then option 1

Location

Massey Farm Services Clinic
University Avenue
Palmerston North 4474

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