Virtual Canine Anatomy

Virtual Canine Anatomy is an innovative anatomy program that has received outstanding accolades from members of the American Association of Veterinary Anatomists, students, and instructors both in the United States and internationally. Virtual Canine Anatomy enhances the students’ dissection experience and helps them learn anatomy efficiently (Linton, Schoenfeld-Tacher, Whalen, 2005). The program allows the luxury of self-paced, individualized learning and provides a focal point around which the instructor and student can exchange ideas and make interpretations of course content.

Our aim has always been to provide our programs freely on the internet and we were able to accomplish this aim with a free link to the Virtual Canine Anatomy program for a few years. While we are a nonprofit organization, we do have operational costs necessary to keep up with changes in technology so that we may continue to develop new programs. This work has been financially supported by the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (CVMBS), a legacy from the CSU DVM Class of 2021, the Alternatives Research and Development Foundation, and the CVBMS College Research Council USDA Experiment Station research grant, as well as individual program purchases and donations. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience, but we are no longer able to offer the Virtual Canine Anatomy version 3 (VCA3) program online for free. Nonetheless, you can still purchase this program or donate to our work. Your financial contribution will play a crucial role in enabling us to continue development our programs and hopefully provide them freely again.

You can view examples of Virtual Canine Anatomy or donate using the links on the left. You will need Adobe® Flash® Player 11.2 or higher to view any samples of our Virtual Animal Anatomy programs.

If you are an educator, please contact us for free educator access to the programs and for information about academic licenses to facilitate your students’ learning experience.

Disclaimer: The "Dissection Assistance" section on this website displays images of a dissected dogs and horses from the anatomy program. The strictest humane treatment was used during this project. All animals were euthanized prior to dissection. All work was pre-approved by the Colorado State University (CSU) Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), in compliance with Animal Welfare Act (AWA), which is enforced by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (PHS Policy), which is enforced by Office for Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). CSU is also an AAALAC (The Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International) accredited facility.