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College of Veterinary Medicine Advance Newsletter

Saving Birds of Prey

WSU wildlife veterinarian Nicky Finch with Amicus, a blind Golden Eagle
Down a long, narrow, dim hallway is a door with a gold metal number 10. We stop outside and listen to an owl hooting. Dr. Nicky Finch, wildlife veterinarian at the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine, opens the door a crack, then slowly walks in. “Gus,” a Great Gray Owl, is inside. He has strips of leather on his legs, called jesses. Dr. Finch puts on a leather gauntlet, which covers her forearm. » More ...

Improving the Health of Children and Dogs in Rural Tanzania

East African children lined up to receive deworming medication
On February 1, we began our first field season to investigate whether administering mass dog rabies vaccinations, along with mass deworming of children in hard to reach communities such as Maasai villages in northern Tanzania, can more effectively reduce the incidence of both diseases. » More ...

Scholarship Helps Make Dreams a Reality

Floricel Gonzalez (’16 BS) was attending the School of Molecular Biosciences scholarship awards ceremony holding a letter in her hand. She knew she’d received a scholarship, but didn’t yet know which one. Carefully opening the letter, she read the name: The Elizabeth R. Hall Endowment Scholarship. “My jaw dropped,” says Gonzalez. The prestigious award, given to promising students in medical microbiology, was $4,000. “It was a breath of fresh air that I don’t have to worry about tuition or books for my last year.” » More ...

Awards and Achievements: Tom Besser Rocky Crate Endowed Chair; Drs. Leathers and Foreyt Retire

Tom Besser has been selected as the Rocky Crate D.V.M. and Wild Sheep Foundation Endowed Chair in Wild Sheep Disease Research. After serving a combined total of 79 years with the college and teaching approximately 4,000 veterinary and graduate students, Charles Leathers and Bill Foreyt in the Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology retired on January 31, 2016. » More ...

Pet Memorial Program: Offering compassion to grieving pet owners

Smudge and Melissa
In March we proudly launched a new and improved Pet Memorial Program website so it would be even easier to express sympathy and compassion to grieving pet owners by memorializing a pet and submitting a story. Over the last 20 years, tens of thousands of beloved animals have been memorialized by donations made in their names from pet owners, family members, friends, and veterinarians. » More ...

WSU’s Pituitary Team Leading the Nation in Pituitary Surgical Treatment

Tina Owen and Annie Chen-Allen performing surgery
Anna, a 10-year-old chestnut colored boxer with dark brown ears and a white patch on her chest, had always been a healthy and active dog. But in the spring of 2014, her owner, Sundays Hunt of Salt Lake City, Utah, noticed Anna grew lethargic and was less interested in playing with the other two dogs. She was also eating all the time. » More ...

Shelter Training Better Prepares Veterinary Students

Veterinary student Kristen Ronngren with WSU alumnus Gary Marshall at Island Cats Veterinary Hospital
Like many veterinary students in their final year of school, Kirsten Ronngren (’15 DVM) was eager to get more surgical experience before graduation. So when she got the opportunity to spend two weeks at Seattle Humane as one of her fourth-year rotations, she jumped at the chance. » More ...

A Puppy Mill Dog’s New Chance

Holli, Linda, and Tandy kneeling with Leah the dog in the WSU veterinary teaching hospital intensive care
For three days, “Leah,” a charcoal gray Cane Corso, or Italian Mastiff, with a white patch on her chest had not been breathing on her own. Hooked up to a ventilator in the intensive care unit of the WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital, the machine delivered each breath to her weakened body. After so much time, her owner Holli Peters wasn’t sure Leah was going to pull through. “I thought about taking her off the ventilator, because her prognosis was not good,” she says. But on the fifth day, Leah started showing signs of improvement. She was starting to breathe on her own. » More ...

Message from the Dean: Eliminating Rabies

Portrait shot of Bryan Slinker
Rabies is never far from our minds here in your College of Veterinary Medicine. Aside from the occasional bat or other critter in the news, as we heard about here in Washington State this year when a cat was found infected with a strain of bat rabies, most people in the United States pay little heed to rabies. And with good reason. » More ...