Coming changes in veterinary surgery: what is or should be expected?

Due to social changes that occurred after World War II, public attitudes toward animal welfare have improved and veterinarians are increasingly expected to be informed about animal welfare in a broader sense than health alone. Traditionally, animal use resulting in harm or death in veterinary education in disciplines such as surgery is common worldwide, and there is no doubt that teaching of surgery like other disciplines, at whatever level, is inevitable of adapting with significant modern technological and social changes that affecting all aspects of our lives. However, the veterinary medical education should be refined and animal exploitation in education superseded by using non-harmful alternatives. Veterinary surgery needs to rethink how it can best serve the needs the veterinarian in training along with public expectation. The advancements in new technologies have opened up an excess of sophisticated tools and techniques that potentially can replace the old and outdated educational methods. This author invites veterinary surgeons to join in the ongoing debate favoring the successful adaptation of veterinary surgery to its new social and intellectual environment.