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College of Veterinary Medicine Advance Newsletter

Message from the Dean: Spring is a Time of Change

Seeing the rolling green hills of spring on the Palouse is a striking metaphor for positive change. It has me thinking about similar changes in the college—changes underway, and future changes as we continue to meet our new challenges and opportunities. Over the coming year, for instance, you will see many changes to patient services at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital. We seek to perform more efficiently and effectively, which will improve our service to clients and referring veterinarians. » More ...

Meet Mr. Bear: One of thousands of patients that has been helped because of MRI

Beryl Swanson veterinary student with Mr. Bear
After noticing an odd lump on his dog’s head in the spring of 2013, Joel Greenhalgh of British Columbia, Canada, took Mr. Bear, a then 11-year-old Australian Sheppard-Rottweiler mix, to his local veterinarian. At first the advice was to watch and see, but when it didn’t go away, his veterinarian took a biopsy. Mr. Bear had cancer. » More ...

The WSU Clinical Simulation Center

Veterinarian Julie Cary with veterinary student Amy Berry
In a large room filled with a half dozen tables, groups of students are following what might appear to be sewing instructions with stich names such as “cruciate” and “simple interrupted.” At the top of the sheet it reads: Practice Made Perfect. For the WSU veterinary students who are actually learning basic surgical suturing skills, this kind of practice gives them the confidence they need to perform surgeries later in the program. » More ...

Meet Scout: One of thousands of patients that has been helped because of MRI

When "Scout," a 9-year-old German Shepherd mix, walked into the WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital, he went to work right away. Calm and obedient with friendly eyes and a large scar across the top of his head, he lies down on the mat his owner, Anne Hensley, puts down for him. She kisses his head, and he watches her as she sits down. Scout is a therapy dog. » More ...

A Lifesaving Amputation Gives a Dog a Fighting Chance

Wrigley was an active, loyal, outgoing dog. One fall day after running on the beach at Point No Point near Hansville, Wash., Greg B. noticed Wrigley was limping. Worried that he had sprained his leg or had a torn ligament, Greg contacted his friend, Dr. Jerry Demuth, at Summit Veterinary Referral Center who suggested he bring him in for an x-ray. "All the signs pointed to osteosarcoma," said Greg. Two days later his veterinarian did a bone biopsy and the next day it was confirmed that Wrigley had bone cancer. » More ...

Making Teaching Matter: How Our Instructors are Enriching Student Education

Drs. Nelson and Gwinn are looking at an xray.
After giving a test to third-year DVM students in her small animal medicine class, associate professor Lynne Nelson made a startling discovery. She found that when students were given the name of a disease, they had no trouble listing the symptoms. But when presented with a patient scenario listing those same symptoms, many students were unable to work backward to make a diagnosis. "It really showed how well they do on recall versus clinical problem solving,” says Nelson. “I wondered why there such a big difference in skills and how I could help them get better at using the knowledge.” » More ...

Survey Launched to Help Improve Family Health

Two Kenyan community volunteers standing in a field conducting the interview with a Kenyan woman.
Traveling by bicycle, community interviewers visit homes in Asembo, Kenya, to learn how animal and human disease impacts a family’s health, access to education, and economic well-being. They will visit more than 1,400 households four times each year over several years to ask about their nutrition, family members’ health, household assets, and health of their animals. They collect the data on a handheld computer, or PDA, so that it can be sent back to Pullman the next day for analysis. The goal is to reduce poverty and hunger and improve health and education. » More ...

Vaccinate a Dog and Save a Child’s Life

Dr. Lankester with a Maasai giving a puppy a rabies vaccination.
At 8:00 a.m. people in an East African village have already begun to line up with their dogs. Mostly it is young boys with their pets coming to one of the many free rabies vaccination clinics set up around the Serengeti National Park in northern Tanzania. “There can be 200 people in line at a time and we may vaccinate as many as 1,000 dogs in a day,” said Dr. Felix Lankester, clinical assistant professor in the Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health. They never turn anyone away. » More ...

An Adopted Tabby’s New Lease on Life

Chester lying on a WSU cougar pillow
Roya Eshragh and Gyan Harwood of Vancouver, British Columbia, wanted a cat. So they did what many animal lovers do; they went to their local shelter to adopt an older animal in need of a home. They fell in love with an orange tabby and named him “Chester” (he had previously been called “Cheetoh,” but they thought he looked more like a “Chester”). On January 30, 2012—Chester’s adoption day—his life changed forever. » More ...

A Dog May One Day Walk Again Thanks to the Good Samaritan Fund

Juno at a campground
On a Sunday morning in October 2012, Tara Johnson and her husband heard their dog "Juno," a 4-year-old Husky, whimpering several yards from their house. They ran to find her lying on the ground not moving. Although they couldn't see any bite marks through her fur, they did see saliva on her neck. "That would be typical of a wolf attack," said Johnson. "We'd had several wolf sightings near our house a few months before she was injured." » More ...