Have Clinic, Will Travel: Kathy King, DVM, Ph.D.October 28, 2009 Give Cathy King two hours and she can turn a Third World outpost into a bustling hub of surgical precision. Just stand back as she lays out four duffle bags full of surgery packs, stethoscopes, headlamps, catheters, anesthetics, antibiotics and, for special occasions, Beanie Babies. As director of the nonprofit outreach organization World Vets, King, DVM, Ph.D., is an unassuming leader of a quiet revolution, one that exports free veterinary care and safe pet population control to pockets of the world where such services are needed most. Eight years ago, when the idea to combine adventure travel with volunteer clinic work first gave rise to World Vets, Dr. King never anticipated that her trips would become so broadly popular or that she would become so widely traveled. Dogs await their surgeries in Loreto, Mexico. “If you had asked me two years ago, I would have said there was no way we would be making a trip a month,” says King, who owns a small-animal practice, Hometown Animal Hospital, in Deer Park, Wash. “I hoped World Vets would grow, but I didn’t anticipate so much interest so fast. A lot of people have requested …
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Going Nuts Over Boltz: Rachel Boltz, DVMOctober 28, 2009 Lisa Lotti was distraught. Her be-loved boxer, Barkley, had died in his sleep. Her husband was out of town. Nearly in hysterics, not sure what to do, she called her veterinarian, Rachel Boltz, DVM. Dr. Boltz didn’t hesitate. She left her Los Altos, Calif., office and drove straight to Lotti’s house, where she hugged Lotti, then carried Barkley to her car and went to the clinic to make final arrangements. “I will remain grateful for this extension of compassion throughout my lifetime,” Lotti wrote in an essay about Boltz, adding: “If you are looking for an absolute star in the veterinary field, you need to look no farther. This woman is amazing.” The experts judging the second annual “Thank Your Vet for a Healthy Pet” contest agreed. Boltz, 37, was named the national winner of the contest, sponsored by the Morris Animal Foundation, Hill’s Pet Nutrition and Veterinary Practice News, Dog Fancy and Cat Fancy magazines. She will receive the award this month during the Western Veterinary Conference in Las Vegas. The contest honors America’s veterinarians for their skill, dedication and commitment to ensuring that pets are healthier, happier and living longer lives. To …
Problem Solver: Sophia Yin, DVMOctober 28, 2009Update: On September 28, 2014, Dr. Yin passed away. Read more here. Soon after Sophia Yin, DVM, graduated from veterinary school in 1993 and started in private practice in California, she realized that many of the animals she saw didn’t have health problems. They had behavioral problems. She saw cats that urinated on the couch instead of in their litter boxes, dogs that snapped while seemingly unprovoked or that barked at nothing, and animals of all types that were nervous, aggressive or just scared. The owners needed guidance on how to help their pets fit into the family and live happier lives, but a 20-minute appointment at the vet’s office didn’t provide enough time. And though her training at the University of California, Davis, had given Dr. Yin confidence in medical matters, it didn’t give her much insight into why an animal acted the way it did. So she set about teaching herself. Yin went back to UC Davis and earned a master’s in animal science with an emphasis on animal behavior—from chickens to wolves to horses to garden-variety cats and dogs. Along the way, she forged a new career path as a writer, speaker, peer educator and consultant …
Capital Asset: Lee W. Morgan, DVMOctober 28, 2009 Mary Lynn Reed and Scott Sonntag have been clients of Lee W. Morgan, DVM, Dipl. ABVP, almost from the day he took over the Washington, D.C., veterinary clinic they frequented. When one of their golden retrievers, Beau, was dying, Dr. Morgan insisted on going to the house so the dog wouldn’t have to endure the pain of traveling for treatment. He was there when Beau died. Last summer, when another golden, Connor, had minor surgery that turned complicated, Morgan took him home for overnight monitoring. In fact, Reed says, Morgan slept on the couch next to the dog for several nights, which she learned only because Morgan’s 7-year-old son spilled it to her after the fact. “Dr. Morgan would have never told us that,” Reed says. “But it was so revealing about the way he is. ... Even though he’s in this big capital city, he runs a small, very personal office, like a country vet.” Reed’s husband, Sonntag, agrees: “He treats you like you’re family.” Georgetown Veterinary Hospital has been in business since the late 1940s. Morgan bought the practice in 2002. Such above-and-beyond feats have become the hallmark …
Exotics Expert: Marla Lichtenberger, DVMOctober 28, 2009 Marla Lichtenberger was 22 and had never been on an airplane when her parents dropped her off at the Milwaukee airport as she headed for veterinary school half a world away. This was in the late ’70s, when female veterinarians were less common. A few years earlier, a high school counselor had flatly told her to pick another career, something more suitable “for a girl.” Her home state of Wisconsin had no school of veterinary medicine at the time, and she had not been one of the few out-of-state students granted admission in neighboring Minnesota. At the suggestion of an Indian-born veterinarian she had worked for, Lichtenberger looked into veterinary schools in India. Soon, she was jetting to Punjab Agricultural University, where, after struggling with malaria and dysentery, strikes that idled classes for months at a time and a rabid water buffalo, she earned her DVM degree in 1985. “It was quite an adventure,” says Lichtenberger, Dipl. ACVECC. “But I would never give up this experience. It made me grow up very fast, and it gave me an incredible background.” For one thing it gave her early interest and experience in working with exotics, which, …
A New Perspective: Joel Pasco, DVMOctober 28, 2009Once he got over the shock that his cancer was terminal, Joel Pasco, DVM, realized that he had two choices. Dr. Joel Pasco with his five dogs at home. He could get depressed, feel sorry for himself and wait to die. Or he could stay positive and pack as much life as possible into each remaining day. To the California veterinarian, it was no contest. Told last year that he had as little as 12 months to live, Dr. Pasco, 62, decided to surround himself with family and friends. He would continue to pursue hobbies that brought him joy, like painting, sculpting, fishing and bonsai gardening. And, as long as he could, he would continue to practice veterinary medicine, the profession he’d loved for more than 30 years. Dr. Pasco with a tortoise patient. “People ask me, ‘Why are you working? You should be retired,’ ” Pasco says. “But my answer is, ‘I love what I do. I love my animal patients and I love my human clients, and my life would be very empty if I could not continue to do this.’ ” Life-Changing Moment The diagnosis came late last summer. A cancerous tumor …
Paging Dr. Green: Matt Rooney, DVMOctober 28, 2009 Of all the “green” features at Aspen Meadow Veterinary Specialists in Longmont, Colo.—the energy-efficient lighting, the recycled building materials, the on-site composting—which one gets the most initial attention from clients? The toilets. Dr. Matt Rooney is pursuing Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, certification for his clinic. Courtesy of Jon Orlando Photography They have a dual-flush design: Push one lever for a regular flush of solid waste, push the other to get a low flow for liquid waste. Common in Europe, such water-conserving toilets are rare in the U.S. “That one takes some explaining,” says clinic owner Matt Rooney, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVS. “Americans are very inquisitive, and we found out that at first a number of people were pushing them both. We had to put up little signs so people would know what to do.” Educating people about sustainable technology, not just toilets, is part of the plan at Dr. Rooney’s hospital. In turning a car dealership into an 8,400-square-foot clinic, Rooney aimed to be as environmentally friendly as possible. In fact, the veterinarian is working to obtain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification for the …
To Protect And Serve: Gary Riggs, DVMOctober 28, 2009 A pair of jaguars at the Akron, Ohio, zoo produced a litter of three cubs in 2005, one more than the mother could care for. So Gary Riggs, DVM, Dipl. ABVP, the zoo’s director of veterinary services, took home the rejected baby. He and his wife, Denise, hand-raised the tiny jaguar, getting up for middle-of-the-night feedings and checking on it pretty much around the clock. At 6 months old, the cub, named Maya, returned to the 50-acre zoo, eventually landing at the San Antonio Zoo. Dr. Riggs with an avian patient. That would be the end of the story, except it wasn’t. Dr. Riggs, 53, had been at the Akron Zoological Park for more than 20 years as it grew from a handful of mostly North American exhibits to more than 800 North American and exotic animals. Long interested in animal conservation, Riggs found himself profoundly touched by having cared for Maya so closely. He and Denise wanted to do something more. So in 2006, working with a handful of volunteers, the Riggs' started the non-profit organization Wild4Ever, a wildlife conservation foundation dedicated …
Neogen Launches Equine Loyalty ProgramOctober 27, 2009 Neogen Corp. of Lansing, Mich., recently launched its Equine Loyalty Program to provide rebates of up to 6 percent to licensed veterinarians who purchase eligible equine veterinary care items, including select sizes of AluSpray, Chondroprotec, EqStim, HyCoat, Liver 7, ThyroKare Powder, Tri-Hist Granules, Vita-15 and EquiSleeve. The program runs from Nov. 1 through Feb. 28. “Like every other business that has been able to weather the recent tough times, we owe our success to our loyal customers,” said Tracey Reynolds, Neogen’s ethical products marketing manager. “Our loyalty program is an opportunity for us to say thank you to our best customers, and go a little further than that by offering cash rebates for qualifying purchases.” To qualify for the minimum rebate of 3 percent, veterinarians must purchase at least $2,500 of the qualifying products during the program period; purchases of at least $5,000 can earn a 4 percent rebate; $7,500 can earn a 5 percent rebate; and purchases of $10,000 can earn the maximum rebate of 6 percent. Products can be mixed and matched. Earned rebates will be paid to veterinarians within 45 days after the conclusion of the program. One …
Opinion: Let’s Reform Health Care For A Better TomorrowOctober 26, 2009 Health-care reform would be especially good for our profession, as practice owners and employers wouldn’t have the financial burden and social obligation of carrying health insurance for their employees. Many veterinary hospitals, like other small businesses, don't always have the money or the will to offer health coverage as a benefit. One of my former receptionists, Martha, had health-care insurance during the six years she was on my staff. Then she went to work at another hospital that did not provide health insurance. When Martha developed symptoms of a urinary tract infection, she delayed going to see the doctor because she and her husband were saving for a house and she was uninsured. Six weeks later, she did go to the doctor and was told she had advanced cervical cancer. Martha died in three days. She was only 32 and had been married for 10 years. Everyone who knew Martha was upset that she put off seeing the doctor because she didn’t have health insurance. This is a sad but true story. Many people believe that not having insurance isn't a good excuse for not getting yourself checked out if a problem comes …
