‘Life at Vet U’ captures the real life drama of Penn Vet

If you love animals, “Life at Vet U” is a show you should be watching. Airing on Saturday nights, it follows the lives of six students on their journey to graduate from Veterinary School at Penn Vet in Philadelphia. Veterinarian Clint Kuban has since graduated but took time to talk about his time on the show, what inspired him to become a vet and filled us in on what it’s like to work with a camera watching your every move.

What made you want to become a vet?
I actually didn’t know I wanted to be a vet until I graduated as an undergrad from the University of Hartford. Initially I was a major in Psychology with a minor in Criminal Justice. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do with my life, but in the late half of my career at the University of Hartford, I had some extra credits so I decided to take organic chemistry — just because I wanted to. I found out that I loved it. I grew up with two dogs and three cats. My father really had this passion and respect for animals. Once I graduated from Hartford, I decided to go for Vet Med.

What’s the process to become a vet?
It’s four years of vet school but apart of that, there are also prerequisites you have to take in your undergraduate. So four years of undergraduate and four years of vet school. Then, if you want to go onto a residency and specialize, you have to do your one-year internship and then a three-year residency.

That’s a lot of dedication. Now how long did you film the show for?
It was very dependent on the cases that we had. They filmed us for the last three months of our vet school career, including graduation. In the morning, we would get a text from the crew, “Do you guys have any cool cases coming in today?” You know it was really a unique show in that it didn’t have any type of say in what happened. It was just there to observe. This is such a dramatic profession in that we deal with these crazy, intense, really sad cases but also really happy ones.

What’s it like having the production team in the room with you when you’re working?
At first it was a strange thing to get used to — having a big camera there. But I’ve gotten very used to getting in the room and really connecting with the client and really paying a lot of attention to my patient. So it was pretty easy to kind of ignore the cameras and just focus on my job.

Do you think the show is good for Penn Vet?
Absolutely. It’s going to do wonders. Just in the very first episode,Dr. Brady Bealedoing the cataract surgery. She is such a rock star and it kind of shows the world the really advanced techniques we have available at Penn Vet. It is kind of your one stop shop for the cutting-edge of science and I am sure a lot of people have come to Penn Vet since the show was aired, seeking the same type of treatment for their animals.

An all-new episode of “Life at Vet U” airs on Saturday at 10 p.m. on Animal Planet.