“Gus wasn’t lame,” she explains, leaning back in her office at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. “He was terrified of the tile floor. His owner had just renovated the kitchen with slick slate. He wasn’t injured—he was anxious. We treated the behavior, not the bone, and the ‘lameness’ vanished overnight.”
The intersection of (ethology) and veterinary science has evolved into the specialized field of Veterinary Behavioral Medicine (VBM) . This discipline focuses on how an animal’s health, genetics, and environment influence its behavior, providing essential tools for diagnosis, treatment, and welfare management. Key Concepts and Clinical Applications “Gus wasn’t lame,” she explains, leaning back in