The first animal to be treated for repair of a fracture was the dog belonging to Mrs. Willenegger, the wife of the founding member Prof. Hans Willenegger, who performed the surgical intervention himself at the human hospital in Winterthur, Switzerland. The surgeons applied a Kuentscher Nail to a short oblique simple femur fracture with good success in 1943. 

1. Preoperative radiograph of the diaphyseal  femur fracture              
2. 14-week postoperative radiograph with the nail inplace
3. 16-week postoperative radiograph after implant removal 

Femoral shaft fracture on a dog treated by intramedullary nailing with V-shape Küntscher nail.
Performed by H. Knoll, H. Willenegger and J. Jenny in October 1943 at Kantonsspital Winterthur Department of Surgery.

In 1969, 11 years after the AO, AOVET was founded. Due to the fact that animals were an integral part of the research for humans, it was felt that the animals should profit from the same advancements in fracture treatment, which could be made in those 10 years.

In the early years human AO surgeons were helping the veterinarians interested in learning the new techniques and together slowly but surely the concepts for the veterinary applications of the Mathys and Strauman implanst were developed and the AO principles applied to small- and large animals.

The first president of AOVET was Bjiörn von Salis a private practitioner near Zurich who lead the small group of enthusiasts for several years. The pioneers of AOVET included among others, Feri & Geri Kasa, small animal practitioners from Lörrach, Germany (near Basel), Prof. Jacques Jenny, a Swiss veterinarian working at the University of Pennsylvania, Profs. Wade Brinker and Bruce Hohn, both from the USA. The following human surgeons were very active and supported the early veterinary work: A. Guggenbuehl, A. Daetwiller, and Prof. H. Rosen o name only a few. There are many more distinguished veterinary and human surgeons who contributed significantly to the development of veterinary trauma surgery through the years, but space available doesn’t allow mentioning them all. Nevertheless their contributions are greatly appreciated by us who profited from their pioneer spirit. 

In 1975 the AOVet Center was established in Waldenburg and initially directed by Dieter Prieur, a German small animal specialist. The AO Vet flourished under the wings of Fritz Straumann who was a devoted animal lover. At the veterinary courses in Davos, Switzerland, an annual honorary lecture is sponsored in his name and supported by his son. In 1992 the AOVet Center was moved to Zürich and is since then directed by J. Auer with the able assistance of Mrs. Monika Gutscher.

To continue with the history, in 1983 the fracture classification system for long bone fractures was developed by Maurice Müller and in 1984 AO was transformed into a foundation with the following bodies: Board of Trustees, Academic Council, Board of Directors. AO VET is represented at the board of Trustees by the president and either the president-elect or the past president. J. Auer is a member of the Academic Council. In 2007 AOVET was recognized as one of the four specialties of the AO Foundation: Trauma, Spine, Craniomaxillofacial and VET.