Pets and Vets: New, state-of-the-art veterinary hospital opens

VCA West Los Angeles opened a new animal hospital March 16. The new, 42,000-square-foot facility, located just down the street from its former location, is touted as the largest small-animal hospital in the western United States. The facility will have state-of-the-art treatment equipment including a linear accelerator room to treat cancer patients, MRI and CT equipment, a physical therapy center including hydrotherapy, surgical suites, bone marrow transplant technology, pituitary tumor surgery facilities, alternative and holistic medicine specialists, and board-certified specialists in all areas of medical treatment.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANN FLOWER COMMUNICATIONS

Florida

A female crane was reported injured by the public around the outskirts of North Miami around the first of the year. Identified as #13-12, the bird was released into the wild at Horicon National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin as part of an effort to establish an eastern migratory population in October 2012. The bird showed signs of distress, acting listless and with an apparent injury to her right foot. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service captured the bird, handing her over to Scott Terrell, DVM, DACVP, an animal health director at Disney's Animal Kingdom, for treatment. Her right middle toe was amputated because of injury and infection. The crane was released at Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge in Meigs County, Tenn., Feb. 9.

The Florida Department of Agriculture quarantined the entire Marion County showground in Ocala, Fla., after six equine herpesvirus cases were discovered. The venue hosts the Horse Shows in the Sun event, which draws 3,500 horses each year. The department also quarantined areas from which the horses exposed to the virus had traveled, including about a dozen farms across the state. The first case was discovered Feb. 20.

Mississippi

The award-winning actor Morgan Freeman established an endowment in his name at Mississippi State University in1998 to support students and to attract veterinary students from diverse cultural backgrounds. Although applicants are predominantly Caucasian females, the percentage of minority students enrolled is increasing, according to the college's statistics. Underrepresented minority students make up 6.25 percent of the class of 2013. The scholarship is open to all students who apply to veterinary school. A standardized application form requires information such as grade point average, financial need, career goals, leadership experience and participation in extracurricular activities.

Missouri

The University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine received an estate gift of more than $5 million from Cottrell and Kay Fox of Town and Country, Mo. The couple bestowed the gift to recognize the work of their longtime family veterinarians James Schuessler and Fred Bendick from St. Louis, who are both alumni of the college. The gift will support an endowment in companion animal medicine in honor of the veterinarians and will also fund studies in comparative oncology as well as training for graduate students and veterinary oncology residents.

Virginia

The Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine announced a record-breaking number of applications for the program. Making up the fourth-largest applicant pool in North America, 1,220 prospective students submitted applications to the veterinary college last fall, according to figures from the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges. For several years in a row, the college has seen gains in application numbers for its doctor of veterinary medicine program, reportedly up 11 percent this year alone. Despite the high number of applicants, 273 candidates were interviewed at the veterinary college with hopes to fill only 120 seats in the class of 2017.

Washington

More than a dozen people attended to Boris, a 922-pound polar bear at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, Wash., to perform a root canal on an infected canine tooth and remove a mass from his right eye. They also trimmed the 27-year-old bear's toenails and rubbed ointment on a small cut while they had him under anesthesia in late February. Endodontist Edmund Kwan, DDS, MSD, PS, who has worked on animals from gorillas to hyena, performed the root canal on the 3.5-inch canine tooth. Despite being an older polar bear with arthritis and ongoing dental issues, Boris received a clean bill of health after the procedures.