Veterinary medicine hospital ready for the tough cases

Any pet owner can tell you that “Pets Make a Difference,” the theme of this year’s National Pet Week, May 4-10.

There are also a growing number of pet owners who can tell you that Wisconsin’s only school of veterinary medicine, located at the UW–Madison, has made a difference to their pets.

It’s a place where animal owners can get expert evaluation of even the most complicated pet health problems and where they can turn for the latest treatments.

“What is a perfect pet?” asks Nancy Fino, of Crystal Lake, Ill. “If you look in a dictionary, it should say ‘Max.'” Max is her 6-year-old black-and-white cat, who is still with her only because he had a kidney transplant at the UW-Madison Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital.

“When Max was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure, and I asked my veterinarian about kidney transplants for cats, he told me without hesitation that I’d want Wisconsin to do it because they pioneered it,” Fino says.

Only a handful of surgeons nationwide do kidney transplant surgeries for cats. Max has been a renewed cat since his surgery two years ago.

Every day the waiting room is full of animals ranging from tiny terriers to gangling Great Danes. They’re here for the routine dental exam, laparoscopic surgery or diagnosis of a neurological problem that no other veterinarian has been able to identify. More than 17,000 cases go through the hospital annually. Dogs and cats get a reprieve from cancer thanks to advanced cancer therapies. Paralyzed dogs are able to walk again.

Total hip replacements are another one of those complicated procedures where expertise counts.

“We’ve got our dog back,” says Dr. Dennis George, of Barrington, Ill., whose family owns a chocolate Labrador named Charlie Brown. Their dog developed severe hip dysplasia at a young age. Charlie Brown’s youth and “spectacular” personality convinced the family to pursue a total hip replacement surgery to relieve him of chronic pain.

“I’m very pleased with the results,” George says. “It was a worthwhile investment.”

Between 46 clinicians, 16 board-certified specialties are represented. One of the advantages of bringing an animal to the veterinary teaching hospital is the cross-consultation that goes on between specialists, yielding a more complete evaluation and diagnosis.

State-of-the-art equipment is another advantage. The school easily ranks as the Midwest’s premiere imaging facility – featuring everything from CT (computed tomography) scans to ultrasound to nuclear scintigraphy to the state’s only MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) unit used exclusively for animals.

Because of its breadth of services, veterinarians throughout the region refer their clients to the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. For example, Tom Truesdell of Truesdell Animal Care Hospital in Madison, has referred everything from surgery cases to neurology, ultrasound, radiology, orthopedics, internal medicine, dermatology and oncology cases to the hospital. “They’ll do what you don’t do,” he says. “I try to send referrals to the places where animals get the best care.”

He notes that the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital has raised the level of medicine in Madison. When he’s not certain of a diagnosis, clients are always appreciative after they’ve received an expert opinion from the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital.

“It’s nice to know that when a case doesn’t make sense, or you can’t do any more, the vet school is there,” he says.

Yet the facility provides more than service. It is also a training ground for future veterinarians. Eighty students per year enter the four-year professional degree program. Upon graduating with a doctor of veterinary medicine degree, the majority remain in Wisconsin to practice.

In addition, faculty at the school continually work toward improving animal health. They study ways to relieve joint problems in dogs, speed healing after spinal cord injury, improve the solution that preserves body organs prior to transplant, and many other health issues.