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 …
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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 …
Making A Difference Through Pet Poison ControlApril 17, 2009Who knew that an elephant could drink a gallon of paint and survive the experience none the worse for wear? Steven R. Hansen, DVM, Dipl. ABVT, head of the ASPCA's Animal Poison Control Center, knew. Luckily the paint was lead free and the only damage was cosmetic; elephants are not the tidiest imbibers of liquid refreshment. "The elephant was really a mess," Dr. Hansen recalls. While the tale of the painted pachyderm ended happily, it began with the same urgency and concern as most of the several thousand calls that pour into the center annually. Typically, it's the curious Labrador that gulps human prescription medication or the cat that chews the Easter lilies, a deadly snack if the animal is left untreated. The historic flood of calls during last year's pet-food recall was unusually mammoth, but still there was a universal urgency to each: What should I do? Calmly but quickly responding to each and every one with expert advise is what Hansen's team of veterinary toxicologists do 24/7 from their offices on the campus of the University of Illinois, Champagne-Urbana, and was the sort of work for which Hansen was honored in February at the annual Show Dogs Awards. …
Challenging The Status QuoApril 17, 2009Originally published in the November 2007 issue of Veterinary Practice News After struggling with an especially unmanageable case of diabetes mellitus in her own cat for almost a year and hearing euthanasia recommended by colleagues, Elizabeth Hodgkins, DVM, went back to the drawing board. It was 1994 and she had left her position as vice president of marketing at Hill’s Pet Nutrition to start law school. She began studying ingredients on the label of dry food she had been feeding the 4-year-old cat. What she discovered not only cured her Punkin of diabetes in five days but also led to her patenting a canned food for diabetic cats and developing her “Tight Regulation” protocol, which she says has permanently cured several hundred diabetics in her feline practice. Spreading the Word In her new book, “Your Cat: Simple New Secrets to a Longer, Stronger Life” (Thomas Dunne Books, 2007), Hodgkins shares her rationale and offers case studies from her Yorba Linda, Calif., practice, All About Cats Health Center. She also explains the history and influence of the pet food industry to help readers understand why today’s cats are being fed dry food, which she firmly believes is causing a multitude of …
A Model For Researchers In Veterinary MedicineApril 17, 2009While in graduate school, Janice Miller, DVM, of Ames, Iowa, found the virus that causes bovine leukemia, and that discovery set the tone for her whole veterinary career. "At that point in time, a lot of people thought that it was going to be found that all cancers were caused by viruses," she says. "Of course that didn't turn out to be true. But we're talking about almost 50 years ago." After gaining a reputation for finding the virus, Miller got a job at the National Animal Disease Center in Ames. As a federal research laboratory working strictly on diseases of food-producing animals, it had a project on bovine leukemia, so Miller fit right in. "I was really fortunate that I got a job where I spent my whole career doing nothing but research, because that's what I always wanted to do," Miller says. Miller says working in research keeps her very busy. "You're doing literature searches to find out what's known about a subject, you're planning the research that you're going to do to try to answer a question that hasn't been answered, and you're involved in working out techniques to solve that problem," she says. "Usually you've got …
A Pioneer In Animal Rehab EducationApril 17, 2009 Six years ago, Janet Van Dyke, DVM, packed all her surgical tools into a big blue Rubbermaid plastic tub. Best to keep them handy, she thought. This new idea about starting a canine physical rehabilitation business might be the biggest stumble of her career. “I gave myself six months’ sabbatical to try and make this thing happen,” she says. She needn’t have worried. Today the Canine Rehabilitation Institute Dr. Van Dyke founded in Wellington, Fla., is a thriving business with a second facility opening this spring on the campus of Colorado State University in Fort Collins. The institute has certificated about 100 students, attracted an impressive roster of physical therapists and veterinarians to teach its courses and become a model provider of animal rehabilitation certification–even as the veterinary community works to create a governing body to oversee the certification of this emerging specialty. And if there’s one sure sign that a trend is sticking, it’s the arrival of healthy competition in the form of similar certification programs, which Van Dyke welcomes. “A little competition forces us to stay on our toes and do the best that we can do,” Van Dyke says. Competition has …
In Search Of SelfApril 17, 2009The events of Sept. 11, 2001, were a turning point for America, and for thousands of Americans. J. Brooks Slaughter II, DVM, was one of them. Dr. Slaughter watched from his Lutherville, Md., office as the World Trade Center in New York City was targeted by terrorists who brought down the corporate headquarters of financial services firm Morgan Stanley, where he was a securities principal and first vice president. “I had, in a 15-year career, achieved a lofty perch in the industry,” he writes on his website. But the attacks “made me realize it was time for a more loving way to make a living.” “I saw the buildings collapse while watching CNBC,” he says. “Glued to the station, which appeared in a corner on my computer monitor, I immediately started calling clients. I needed to inform them of the news, and assuage any fears that their assets would disappear. I was managing over $20 million. “On the other line was a long-term client who expressed dismay and anger that I was unable to process her mortgage paperwork due to the collapse the towers. I realized it was the beginning of the end for my love of the securities industry.” …
