A UNIQUE AND EXCLUSIVE SURGICAL LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR VETERINARIANS
SPAY ACADEMY
Develop your confidence with surgical spays at the most supportive training course in Europe.
5 days of 100% practical surgery
Outstanding supporting environment with two dedicated tutors and an RVN
High standard practice with IV access, multimodal pain relief and gas anaesthesia
BRINGING CONFIDENCE TO ROUTINE SURGERY
Veterinarians often struggle to achieve surgical competence and this undermines their confidence in their skills.
Why We Struggle
Lack of Opportunities
In many countries, due to the structure of clinical practice, you don’t even have the opportunity to practise surgery.
When you don’t have adequate support, you don’t feel good about practising new surgeries on your patients completely alone.
Even when you do have the ability and knowledge to perform surgery, sometimes cases are not frequent enough for you to feel like you are keeping your skills up to date.
In a busy practice, it is common for surgeries to be completed by the most experienced vets, as this is the most time efficient, with best outcomes. This starts a cycle where inexperienced vets do not have the chance to improve.
THE COURSE EXPERIENCE
Spay Academy is an immersive and intensive experience lasting for 5 days in an incredibly sympathetic environment. You will be supported throughout the course by one or two highly experienced tutors who will help you develop your skills.
Around You
We provide a supportive and relaxed learning environoment.
With You
You will have experienced tutors available to guide you.
For You
You are responsible for each procedure from start to finish.
I now not only feel confident with my spays but also efficiently opening up the abdomen and performing proper surveys which will be invaluable for other abdominal surgeries.
~ Simone Cuttler
You will be going through a unique experience in one of our three locations.
In Spain, we work with the international rescue centre Scooby in Medina el Campo, which that specialises in rescuing Spanish Greyhounds.
In Romania, we work with Animal Spay Neuter International just outside of Bucharest to perform surgery in street and owned dogs.
In Portugal, we work from our training center on the outskirts of Lisbon to perform dog and cat spays in partnership with the local Council dog ward and animal associations.
In any location, you will be able to perform surgery with the standards and conditions you would expect to find in UK private clinical practice.
Support
From a bit of reassurance to gowning up and digging in to help, our tutors are always there for when you need them. They will give you advice or put down a fire!
Experience
You will be the only surgeon doing surgery on your patient. Delegates average 8 surgeries during the course and perform them from start to finish.
Standards
Despite the different environments, you will always find fully operational and equipped theatre rooms with top conditions, as you find in UK private practice.
Community
Our tutors will be there to give you support during and outside of the course. Enjoy time off with them and your colleagues and experience the country culture.
LIMITED VACANCIES
Next Courses
We accept veterinary graduates as well as final year veterinary students in our courses.
Spay Academy Romania
March 2023 - 27th to 31st (Monday to Friday).
Suggested arrival on the 26th and departure on the 1st of April. FULL.
May / June 2023 - 29th to 2nd (Monday to Friday)
Suggested arrival on the 28th and departure on the 3rd. LAST VACANCY.
Spay Academy Portugal
May 2023 - 22nd to 26th (Monday to Friday).
Suggested arrival on the 21st and departure on the 27th. FULL.
September 2023 - 11th to 15th (Monday to Friday).
Suggested arrival on the 10th and departure on the 16th. FULL.
November 2023 - 20th to 25th (Monday to Friday).
Suggested arrival on the 19th and departure on the 26th.
TRAVEL, STAY AND MEALS
We now provide three different locations for this Academy to try to meet demand.
In Spain, the course takes place in Medina del Campo, Spain, about 2 hours Northwest of Madrid.
In Portugal, the course takes place in Vila Franca de Xira, just outside of Lisbon, 20-minute drive from the airport.
In Romania, the course takes place in Piteasca, on the East side of Bucharest, and we organise your transport from the airport to the training center.
We will offer you accommodation at a local hotel (in Spain, the Hotel Reina Isabel and in Portugal, the hotel DP Apartments) or directly on site (in Romania), where you get your private room. We will arrange for your accommodation. This cost is already included in the course fees.
We will also provide all meals from Monday to Saturday morning and accommodate preferences and intolerances. These meals are also included in the course fees.
Download the brochure for all the information.
What location should you choose?
Each location provides a different experience. They also have different prices. Below you have a quick comparison table highlighting the differences between the different locations.
We recommend you speak to us after your pre-registration so we can advise you on the best location for your case. You can also get in touch with us by email.
Join Us
How to Book a Course
Each course has a limited vacancies depending on the location.
Spain - maximum of 8 vets
Portugal - maximum of 2 vets
Romania - maximum of 6 vets
Choose a preferred date
Have a look at the dates available and suit the one that is better for you to join the course. We usually run 2 to 3 courses per location in the year, but only one or two will be available for registration.
Pre-Book
Once you know what date suits you, send us your intention to book a vacancy by leaving your details in our registration form. You can access this below on the button "REGISTRATION FORM".
Q&A session and vacancy confirmation
Once we receive your booking, we will contact you by email or mobile phone to arrange a free Q&A session at your convenience. We will explain you what to expect and confirm with you whether we have a vacancy available or not (we try to keep this updated on the website and booking form but we often have many bookings).
Deposit and registration
After the Q&A session we hope you have all the information you need to make your decision. If you want to join us and we have a vacancy for you, we will send a deposit request for half of the course fee to secure your place. Once this deposit is received, your vacancy is secure.
PREVIOUS COURSES
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JOIN US
Three Good Reasons to Join
Spay Academy offers you a unique and unforgettable experience that you will not be able to repeat anywhere else.
40h of CPD
40 hours of certified CPD with a proficiency diploma at the end.
Support and quality
Expert tutors available for you and high standard working conditions.
Supporting neutering
Contributing to mass neutering for population control and charity support for rehoming.
What people say about our course
Thank you so much for the great course and the great time, Luis and Judy are awesome. This was an excellent experience and an outstanding course!! I have learned so much and I found the course one of the best courses I have attended. I feel so much more comfortable with surgery after only a week, definitely an invaluable experience for my future.
Clara Garcia
The course was great, I learnt so much from Luis and Judy-they were excellent teachers. I have gone from worrying about spays to now being comfortable in what I am doing and can’t thank them enough. It was a fun and enjoyable experience and I would recommend it to all.
Mia Kalyvides
This course exceeded any expectation that I had. I imagined that the first two days we would be confined to a chair and a desk as our mentors would theoretically talk about different techniques/anaesthetics procedures used in bitch spay. I couldn’t have been more wrong. We arrived at Scooby on Monday and as soon as the brilliant staff brought the first dogs we were doing bitch spays.
Stefana Trufin
Want to hear more?
Visit our testimonials page to see what the many delegates that have joined the course have to say about it.
Frequently asked question
Here are a few answers to our most common questions
Yes, this course is for veterinary graduates and final year veterinary students who want to develop their surgical skills and become confident with female neutering. Our location in Portugal is particularly good for 1-2-1 support.
Absolutely! It's not unsual for us to have vets that have been working for several years but have never had the opportunity to develop their surgical skills. This course is especially for vets who have limited experience or struggle with their confidence doing spays. We usually recommend Portugal as the best location to give you support.
The Academy runs in 3 different locations: in Spain, the course takes place in the rescue centre Scooby, in Medina del Campo. In Portugal, the course takes place in our training Centre in Vila Franca de Xira, just outside of Lisbon. In Romania, the course takes place in the Center of Hope training center in Piteasca, outside of Bucharest.
We don't want you to focus on the number of surgeries only (and we have methods to help you with this), but we have never had any surgeon perform less than 8 surgeries during the course. You can do more surgeries in Romania, as this location focuses on back-to-back surgeries.
There are one, two or even more experienced tutors available to help you in any way that you need help - from showing you how to do it step-by-step to gowning up and holding things for you.
In Spain there is also a registered veterinary nurse to help with the anaesthetics.
During this course, you may be grouped in pairs with another vet of similar experience and you will take turns between being the surgeon and the anesthetist (Portugal and Spain). That means you will be performing surgery, but you will also be placing IV catheters, inducing anaesthesia, intubating patients, monitoring anaesthesia and more. However, in Romania you will only be doing surgery, so you won't be dealing with animals that are "awake" and you won't need to monitor any anesthetics, giving you more surgical time.
The fee for the 5-day course with accommodation and meals included is £2500 for Spain and for Portugal; and £2800 for Romania. This value can be paid in two instalments.
Spay Academy will organise accommodation for you at the Hotel Reina Isabel, in Medina del Campo, if you go to Spain. If you go to Portugal, we sort this out with the hotel DP Apartments. In Romania, accommodation is in a private bedroom on site. The cost of the accommodation is already included in the course fees.
Yes, we will offer you breakfast, lunch and dinner from Monday to Friday. We will also accommodate your preferences and limitations.
We will help you organise your travel and provide you with information to comply with COVID-19 travel restrictions. However, you will have to make travel arrangements to arrive to Madrid (Spain), Lisbon (Portugal) or Bucharest (Romania).
We only ask that you bring scrubs to wear during the course and also your own stethoscope if you want. And we advise you bring comfy shoes! ;)
Every location is different. We usually recommend Portugal for students and new graduates that have little surgical experience or want to do cats, as this is the only location where we do cat spays. We recommend Romania for vets that want cases, learning how to deal with complications or have specific struggles / "blocks" with the surgery. Finally, we recommend Spain for vets that want a low stress environment and good caseload but also want to get more experience with anaesthesia.
Learn To Spay
A unique and unforgettable experience to develop your surgical skills and confidence in theatre, focused on a remarkable learning environment.
UniVets Global is run by AD-VETERPRISES LTD.
Head Office
272 Bath Street
Glasgow
G2 4JR
+44 07918796877
Hands-On Practical Courses
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