Fourth year veterinary medicine student Ari Aycock changes Saint Bernard Charlie Walraven’s IV as Dr. Joshua Bartoe and Michael Davison of Mississippi State University perform surgery on the area surrounding his eye. Charlie’s surgery will prevent his eyelids from turning over and rubbing on his eye, a trait common in his breed.
Pat LeBlanc’s primary concern is quality — the quality of the education delivered to the future specialists training at the MSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital and the quality of the care given to the animals.
LeBlanc, who is an MSU alumnus and board certified veterinary anesthesiologist, has worked as the director of the hospital for about five years.
The hospital is comparable to a regular human hospital and offers many specialized services that other private veterinary practitioners do not, said Sarah Abood, doctor of veterinary medicine, doctorate student, programs coordinator and small animal clinical nutritionist.
The hospital is open to the public and is used by some clients for their animal’s regular veterinary care, not only for emergency care, she said. They work with a range of animals, from guinea pigs to horses, she said.
There is a common misconception that the services provided should be free of charge because it is a teaching hospital, LeBlanc said.
The hospital must be run as a business to some degree, because only about 15 percent of the hospital’s expenses are paid for by the university, he said. The hospital depends on the support of its clients in order to operate.
“We really care about the education our students are getting and we also care deeply about the quality of the medical care we provide,” LeBlanc said.
The hospital does not work with venomous animals, wolves or wolf hybrids, or large zoo animals, but faculty may visit a larger animal in a zoo to provide medical care to them if necessary, LeBlanc said.
LeBlanc said they do not work with wolves primarily because it is illegal to own one, and the hospital is ill-equipped to deal with them.
About 70 framed photos of hospital staff with their own pets are hung throughout the hospital’s halls as a reminder to clients that the hospital staff understands the bond that many people have with their animals, LeBlanc said.
“In the last decade or two we’ve seen people’s attitudes about animals change – they are truly part of people’s families,” said LeBlanc, who currently owns four dogs, four cats and five horses.
LeBlanc said the hospital offers grief counseling and support services for people after their animals die.
“We can’t cure everything, but we can try to heal,” he said.
All hospital faculty must be board certified specialists in a particular area of animal health care, such as dermatology, oncology, cardiology or dentistry, LeBlanc said.
There also is an Emergency and Critical Care Service available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year round. LeBlanc said it’s probably the only building on the MSU campus that never closes.
There are three small animal certified emergency critical care doctors and three large animal certified emergency critical care doctors on staff, LeBlanc said.
Linda Chadderdon, communications manager for the College of Veterinary Medicine, said she has been impressed by the hospital’s use of new technologies in recent years.
“The thing that has impressed me a lot recently is our development and use of minimally invasive techniques,” she said. “That’s the name of the future of medical treatment of animals.”
She said that type of medical care is commonplace in human hospitals and many clients that bring their animals to the hospital expect the same quality of medical care that human patients would receive, which is why technological advancement is important.
The hospital is the only veterinary facility in Michigan that can perform laser lithotripsy, which utilizes a tiny camera and a laser to find and break apart urinary stones, LeBlanc said. The hospital is also developing elbow prosthesis for dogs, he said.
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“We not only use the latest technology, we create it,” LeBlanc said.
