------------- Health News
------------- Written by: TOM MOONEY, Journal Staff Writer
Advances in animal care
draw vets to workshop
The
Providence Journal
PROVIDENCE -- The Shih Tzu wore a diaper.
And a chariot-like harness with rubber wheels that allowed the tiny dog to pull its paralyzed back end along as it walked.
And walk little Charlie did yesterday, down past the vendors hoping
to entice more than 600 visiting veterinarians with the latest in
ultrasound imaging technology, microchip tracking devices for that
wandering wolf hound, and new pharmaceuticals to ease the rigors of
feline kidney dialysis.
Charlie, visiting from a Long Island animal hospice where he usually
makes tracks, epitomized in his furry way why so many people were
gathered in the Rhode Island Convention Center for the second annual
Northeast Veterinary Conference.
People love their pets, perhaps more so now than ever before,
veterinarians say, and they are willing to go to great lengths -- and
often great expense -- to show it.
It hasn't always been this way, said Dr. Anthony Schwartz, executive
director of this year's conference and a former associate dean at
Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University.
Twenty years ago, he says, fewer people treated their pets as members of their family.
He attributes the change in attitude to the growing animal-rights
movement, which has "elevated the public's sensitivity" toward animals
in general.
Linda A. Ross, an associate professor at Tufts veterinary school,
says she likes to think that perhaps people have become more
compassionate -- and appreciative of "another living creature that can
give fulfillment to a person's life."
Or it could be, she said, "that what we can do for pets has changed so much."
Today at the Tufts veterinary school, pets regularly receive kidney
transplants, cancer-fighting chemotherapy, open-heart surgery and
complicated orthopedic procedures.
This summer at the Cummings School, doctors implanted a pacemaker in a pet ferret.
The limits of animal medicine seem limited only by the pet owner's
wallet, because much of this advanced medicine isn't covered by health
insurance.
The American Veterinary Medical Association reported in 2001 that
37,900,000 American households owned 61,572,000 dogs, and 33,186,000
homes owned 70,796,000 cats.
That's a lot of ear scratching.
During this weekend's conference, sponsored by Tufts' Cummings
School and the Rhode Island Veterinary Medical Association,
veterinarians will attend various educational workshops on
state-of-the-art medicine and procedures.
Dr. Henry Childers, president of the American Veterinary Medical
Association, and owner of the Cranston Animal Hospital since 1957, said
yesterday that people's sentiments toward their pets haven't changed so
much as their willingness to express them.
"Probably before, they thought people would think they were crazy if
they spent all this money on a pet. Now they hear others are doing the
same and they don't feel so foolish."
Susan Marino is a veterinary technician and the proud owner of Charlie the Shih Tzu.
Thirteen years ago, she opened what she said was the nation's first
animal hospice, on Long Island, so animals "could live out their lives
with dignity."
Now animal hospices are scattered around the country.
"I like to think we're evolving as human beings," she said. "And a
great part of that is being there and being available to the animals
who can't care for themselves." Recommend this article...
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