Contreras Elena

Contreras Elena

 Elena Contreras

Elena Contreras, DVM, MS, PhD

Associate Professor, Animal Welfare and Behavior

  • BA: University of North Texas
  • MS: Colorado State University
  • DVM: Ross University
  • Internship: Colorado State University
  • Fellowship: Colorado State University
  • PhD: Colorado State University
  • Residency: American College of Animal Welfare (in progress)

contrerase@rowan.edu 

Dr. Contreras is an associate professor of animal welfare and behavior and a resident in the American College of Animal Welfare. Her teaching focuses on understanding behavior as a means to evaluate animal welfare. She also teaches introductory veterinary behavior topics and facilitates veterinary ethics discussions for veterinary students. Dr. Contreras’s research interests include the evaluation of chronic stress, distress, and positive affective states in animals; non-invasive methods to quantify biomarkers of stress or pleasure; and veterinary education’s impact on veterinary students’ attitudes and beliefs. Before becoming a veterinarian, she earned an MS in ecology and studied the effects of rural development on grassland bird populations. After receiving her DVM, she completed a small animal shelter medicine and surgery internship and shelter research fellowship at Colorado State University. Dr. Contreras’s PhD in Veterinary Clinical Sciences focused on feline infectious diseases, namely upper respiratory infections in shelter cats.

Publications

  • Contreras, Elena (2023). Feline upper respiratory tract infections. In: Ettinger, SJ, Feldman, EC, Cote, E., eds. Textbook of Veterinary Internal Medicine, 9th edition, Philadelphia: Elsevier Health Sciences, Chapter 205.

  • Contreras, Elena T. and Raphael Vanderstichel. (2025). Enhancing veterinary education through a novel animal welfare and behavior course at a new veterinary university. Journal of Veterinary Medical Education. doi: 10.3138/jvme-2024-0108. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39951258.

  • Contreras, Elena T., Kate Bruner, Courtney Hegwer, Andrew Simpson. (2025). Claw growth rates in a subset of adult, indoor, domestic cats (Felis catus). Veterinary Dermatology. 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1111/vde.13335

  • Ziogaite, B., Elena T. Contreras, Jason E. Horgan. (2024). Incidence of splenic malignancy and hemangiosarcoma in dogs undergoing splenectomy surgery at a surgical specialty clinic: 182 cases (2017-2021). PLoS ONE.19(12): e0314737.

  • Contreras, Elena T., Raphael Vanderstichel, Claire Hovenga, Michael R Lappin. (2021). Evaluation of feline hair and nail cortisol concentrations and preliminary associations with behavioral, physical, and environmental indicators of chronic stress. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine 35(6):2662-2672.

  • Contreras, Elena T. and Rollin, Bernard E. (2021). The convenient disregard for the Rattus species in the laboratory environment: Implications for animal welfare and science. Journal of Animal Ethics 11(2): 12-30.

  • Contreras, Elena T., Francisco Olea-Popelka, William Wheat, Steven Dow, Jennifer Hawley, Michael R. Lappin. (2019). Evaluation of liposome TLR ligand complexes for non-specific mucosal immunoprotection from feline herpesvirus-1 infection. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine 33(2): 831-837.

  • Wheat, William, Lynda Chow, Jonathan Coy, Elena Contreras, Michael Lappin, Steven Dow. (2019). Activation of upper respiratory tract mucosal innate immune responses in cats by liposomal TLR ligand complexes delivered topically. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine 33(2): 838-845.

  • Contreras, Elena T., Elizabeth Hodgkins, Valarie Tynes, Alexandra Beck, Francisco Olea-Popelka, Michael R Lappin. (2018). Effect of a pheromone on stress-associated recrudescence of feline herpesvirus-1 in experimentally inoculated kittens. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine 32(1):406-417.

  • Contreras, Elena T., Deanna R. Worley, Ross H. Palmer, Felix M. Duerr. (2018). Post-amputation orthopedic surgery in canine amputees: owner satisfaction and outcome. Topics in Companion Animal Medicine 33, no. 3: 89-96.

  • Contreras, Elena, Kristy Dowers, Scott Moroff, and Michael Lappin. (2018). Clinical and laboratory effects of doxycycline and prednisolone in Ixodes scapularis-exposed dogs with chronic Anaplasma phagocytophilum infection. Topics in Companion Animal Medicine 33, no. 4: 147-149.

  • Souza, Clarissa P., Rod A. W. Rosychuk, Elena T. Contreras, Jennifer R. Schissler, Andrew C. Simpson. (2018). A retrospective analysis of the use of lokivetmab in the management of allergic pruritus in a referral population of 135 dogs in the western USA. Veterinary Dermatology 29(6): 489-e164.

  • Souza, Clarissa P., Jennifer R. Schissler, Elena T. Contreras, Steven W. Dow, Leone S. Hopkins, Jonathan W. Coy, Rod A.W. Rosychuk, Jennifer R. Hawley, Michael R. Lappin. (2018). Evaluation of immunological parameters in pit bull terrier-type dogs with juvenile onset generalized demodicosis and age matched healthy pit bull terrier-type dogs. Veterinary Dermatology 29(6): 482-e162.

  • Torres-Henderson, Camille, Jamie Bunkers, Elena Contreras, Emily Cross, and Michael Lappin. (2017). Use of Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diet UR Urinary St/Ox to dissolve struvite cystoliths. Topics in Companion Animal Medicine 32, no. 2: 49-54.

  • Contreras Elena T, Urs Giger, Jennifer L Malmberg, Jessica M Quimby, Paula A Schaffer. (2016). Bilirubin encephalopathy in a domestic shorthair cat with increased osmotic fragility and cholangiohepatitis. Veterinary Pathology, 53, no. 3: 629-632.

  • Contreras, Elena T., Jennifer R. Hawley, and Michael R. Lappin. (2016). Effects of administration of Carnivora on clinical signs in cats after repeat challenge with feline herpesvirus. International Journal of Applied Research in Veterinary Medicine 14, no. 3: 208-216.

  • Tenne, Reut, Lauren A. Sullivan, Elena T. Contreras, Francisco Olea-Popelka, David C. Twedt, Jeffrey Fankhauser, Logan Mastrianna, and Michael R. Lappin. (2016). Palatability and clinical effects of an oral recuperation fluid during the recovery of dogs with suspected parvoviral enteritis. Topics in Companion Animal Medicine 31, no. 2: 68-72.