Compassion in practice,
at home and abroad.
FARVets plans, organizes, and implements clinics to assist animal welfare groups in the US and abroad. We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit run by veterinarians and technicians who have been leading clinic trips together since 2010.
Goals that guide every clinic, every trip, every student.
FARVets works across borders to reduce companion animal overpopulation, deliver compassionate care, and train the next generation of globally minded veterinarians.
Read our full missionPartner for change
Collaborate and partner with grassroots animal welfare organizations abroad and domestic to address companion animal overpopulation through sterilization clinics.
Care for communities
Provide people in underserved communities with veterinary care for their pets while embracing the human-animal bond.
Raise awareness
Increase awareness of canine and feline health issues among local citizens and pet owners.
Build student skills
Nurture confidence and hands-on skill in clinical procedures and surgery for student participants.
From neighborhood clinics to remote villages.
We have partnered with small grassroots animal welfare groups in Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Grenada, Nicaragua, and Bulgaria — working alongside them in needy places abroad and in the US.
Our teams run sterilization and wellness clinics, deliver care and vaccinations, and train local practitioners and veterinary students so care continues long after we leave.
Where we workWhat students say about a FARVets trip.
“My week with FARVets at Coco's Animal Welfare in Mexico was nothing short of amazing. The Mexican veterinarians who taught us were both talented and patient, and the group of students and Dr. Emerson were a pleasure to work with. I not only greatly improved my surgical skills, but also gained a new appreciation for different techniques that can be used in surgery, especially in a low-cost, high-volume environment. Aside from all this, the trip was simply a lot of fun. I would not hesitate to recommend a FARVets trip to any veterinary student who wants to gain experience in surgery and learn about veterinary medicine abroad.”
“As a pre-vet student, my tasks were mainly to make sure all of the patients had a smooth recovery. This meant I spent a lot of time with the owners of MAOW, the organization we were working with, and I was able to practice Spanish to communicate with owners while the vet students were busy in surgery. On my trip I learned a lot about basic care and monitoring from both Dr. Maza and the vet students on the trip. Many of the vet students went out of their way to teach me sutures and hand ties, and gave me an idea of what life as a Cornell vet student is like. Being a part of my FARVets trip not only gave me experience working with small animals in a foreign country, but it also gave me valuable connections with the other trip members.”
“Having never been to Central America before, FARVets provided me with not only the opportunity to provide basic veterinary care to an underserved area but also an experience to become immersed in a foreign culture. This trip has taught me how adversity can be overcome with fortitude, diligence, and teamwork. Overall, I've gained technical, leadership, and collaborative skills that will benefit me throughout the rest of veterinary school and my career to come.”
“I enjoyed the challenge of having to try and converse in Spanish. The experience definitely makes me want to practice my Spanish a lot more so as to improve. The immersion in the different cultural and socioeconomic environment made me realize how a veterinarian must be adaptable to their surroundings, especially when immersed in another country. By this I mean, we did not have all the resources that we normally would have in the U.S. but that did not stop us from practicing good veterinary medicine. This experience has made me interested in doing more service trips with complete immersion in the future.”
The quiet moments matter too.
Recovery time on the floor with two small patients waking up from surgery — the human-animal bond is the whole reason we do this work.