Penn Vet Students to Star in New Animal Planet Series, Penn Vet

Photo | Penn Vet

The next time your new kitty won’t eat and keeps coughing up hairballs, you might want to check the mirror before you rush her off to Penn Vet. Animal Planet just announced a new series featuring “the first-ever behind-the-scenes look at the University of Pennsylvania’s highly competitive veterinary school.” Taking advantage of what it promises is “unprecedented access,” the series, titled (duh) Penn Vet, will shadow students in their fourth and final year as they’re taught and mentored by Penn’s renowned animal docs.

The show will feature students as they cope with cases both at West Philly’s Ryan Hospital, which handles mostly dogs and kitties (and the occasional bird and ferret), and at the New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, which deals with large animals (read: farm critters, racehorses and the occasional Navy goat mascot). Penn Vet is being produced for Animal Planet, part of the Discovery Channel group, by High Noon Entertainment, whose other shows include Cake Boss for TLC, Fixer Upper for HGTV and Prospectors for the Weather Channel. The show is set to debut this year.

Penn’s vet school, with more than 30,000 patient visits a year, has treated everything from guinea pigs and iguanas to zebras and is known for, among other innovations, founding the world’s first animal bloodmobile. “We’re kind of freaking out with excitement over here,” says Ashley Berke, director of communications for the school.

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