13 Things You Might Not Know About Penn’s Life at Vet U TV Show

Clint Kuban examines a patient at Penn Vet. | Photo courtesy of Animal Planet

We were agog with excitement when news broke earlier this year that Animal Planet had been shadowing six fourth-year students at Penn’s veterinary school for a reality TV show, Life at Vet U, based on their experiences. It felt so right, so familiar! Like many people with pets in the city — especially those with accident-prone cats — we’ve been to Penn Vet a kazillion times, and we’ve always come away awed by its students’ calm assurance and expertise. Now, finally, the show is debuting, at 10 tomorrow night. To tide you over, and to celebrate the fact that October is National Dog Show Month, we thought we’d share some info on the stars — and their pets.

1. Max Emanuel is 26 and from Connecticut; he fell in love with animals on a trip to Kenya with his grandparents when he was a child. He now lives with classmate Melissa Milligan in West Philly.
2. He spent a summer volunteering in South Africa at a clinic that treats the highly endangered rhinoceros.
3. He and Melissa have a West Highland white terrier named Bonnie.
4. Rebecca Bernstein, 28, was born in Manhattan and raised in Florida. She was a business major at Northwestern but decided six months before graduation to go for a veterinary career instead.
5. She met her longtime boyfriend, Ryan, when he volunteered to carry a huge sack of chow for her Great Dane, Humboldt, up the stairs.
6. Melanie Lang, 35, who’s from Munhall, Pa., near Pittsburgh, majored in English lit and embarked on a career in business. But she, too, felt a different calling, and after six years, she hung up her suits and enrolled at Penn Vet.
7. Her two cats are named, somewhat confusingly, Rabbit and Dr. Butterfat.
8. Lindsay Gallagher, 26, grew up in South Jersey and went to Georgetown U. undergrad. Her family always had pet dogs and cats, and her grandfather had a farm with cows.
9. She competes with her Australian shepherd, Gretzky, in dock diving and agility; they’ve won blue ribbons together.
10. Clint Kuban (pictured above), 28, has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Hartford, where he minored in criminal justice. In his first year at Penn Vet, he worked at the Working Dog Center and met Tsunami, a German shepherd ovarian cancer detection dog. He’s now her permanent foster owner and is committed to staying in Philly until she retires from her work.
11. Kuban and Tsu share their apartment with cats Penny and Rafiki.
12. Morgan Taylor, 25, is an equine major from northeast New Jersey; she hopes to work as a racetrack vet in California someday.
13. Taylor has an Australian cattle dog mix, Millie, but dreams of another pet: a Mustang. A 1960s Mustang coupe, to be precise, which she hopes to one day buy and restore herself. (She’s a gearhead!)

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