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No visit to Jefferson City is complete without a visit to the only museum in the United States devoted solely to veterinary medicine. Veterinary artifacts and instruments, many over 100 years old are on display. Instruments and equipment used in small and large animal surgery, old diaries and sample drug cases are a part of the display.

What strange objects does a veterinarian find in a cow’s stomach? What did a veterinarian use in 1929 to give Fido his medicine? Discover the answers to these questions at the Veterinary Museum.

The Museum has over 3,500 artifacts dating from the 1st century to the present day including: · manuscripts instructing Missouri’s first settlers how to care for horses · a steamer trunk filled with instruments used by a late 1st century horse doctor · an 1870s wooden operating table for small animals · 19th century instruments, such as a wooden balling gun, a hog catcher, a Swiss trocar and farriery tools · a 1920’s Shikles vaccinating kit for hog cholera · curious objects, such as huge horse pills and giant syringes

Visitors touch and explore materials, such as bones, animal skins and hairballs. Other discovery materials are specimens showing stages of a calf embryo and various animal diseases.

The Veterinary Museum is a place for children and adults of all ages to have fun together.

Monday-Friday 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Saturday, by appointment