Oregon State University mascot, Benny the Beaver, visited the Lois Bates Acheson Veterinary Teaching Hospital to get a checkup in preparation for the upcoming football season.

You can tag along with him in this video!

Despite a ninety-year sports rivalry between the OSU Beavers and the Oregon Ducks, doctors and staff at the OSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital are committed to saving the lives of all animals, even ducks. Especially when a badly injured duck belongs to a young girl who is very fond of her pet.

April Merton has a small, urban farm on the outskirts of Corvallis. There, she and her two daughters have eighteen goats, numerous rabbits and chickens, and seven ducks. Ten-year-old Meredith Merton likes the ducks best. “They are nicer than chickens,” she says. Her favorite duck is Issanah because she is “friendliest with people.”

Last month, they found Issanah bleeding from multiple throat lacerations. April Merton thinks she may have been mauled by a racoon. “We’ve had problems with raccoons,” she says. “They opened the latch on the hen house and killed some chicks.” Meredith was very upset and asked her dad if they could take Issanah to a veterinarian. He agreed and they rushed her to the OSU veterinary hospital.

Usually, the hospital refers avian medical cases to a private practice veterinarian. But when the Mertons showed up with Issanah, Dr. Jorge Vanegas made an exception because the duck’s injuries were severe, including a lacerated esophagus and fractured right wing. He sedated Issanah and sewed up her neck with dozens of small stitches. “It was difficult,” he says, “because there is so little skin and muscle in a duck’s neck.” Then he set the wing with two tongue depressors for a splint.

Fortunately, student Katelyn Hollars was on duty that day and was familiar with raising ducks. “She was very helpful,” says Dr. Vanegas. “She helped calculate the medication dosage and wrapped the repaired wing next to the duck’s body.” He sent the Mertons home with an antibiotic to add to Issanah’s water, and instructions to keep her quiet and confined to a small area.

Meredith took extra good care Issanah, but one small hole in her throat was not healing well, so Dr. Vanegas added more stitches on a follow-up visit. That did the trick. “I wasn’t sure if she would make it, but I guess ducks are tough,” he says.

Now Issanah is doing great, scurrying around the farmyard with the other ducks in their little family group. “She went right back to laying eggs,” says April Merton, who now has an incubator with eggs from two ducks; the white ones with brown speckles look just like their mom Issanah.

When a coworker asked Kirk Rogers if he was interested in adopting a dog, he said, ‘Probably not.’ Then he saw Rusty’s happy face and big, goofy feet, and fell in love. Rogers took Rusty home that day.

Rogers was not the only one to fall for Rusty’s charm. The two-year-old Bassett Hound-mix makes friends wherever he goes. On a recent visit to the OSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital, he trotted into the lobby and immediately went around the room saying ‘Hello’ to everyone by politely standing in front of them and wagging his tail. “To him, everyone is a friend,” says Rogers. Rusty was feeling especially good that day because he had recently resumed normal dog activities. Just two months earlier, a seizure left Rusty unable to move his two right legs.

When Rogers adopted Rusty, they started a daily routine, taking one or two walks where Rogers allowed the dog to follow his nose. As a scent-hound, these walks were Rusty’s favorite activity.

But a few weeks after settling into his new home, Rusty started acting like his neck was stiff and sore, so Rogers took him to a veterinarian who prescribed NSAIDS and rest. Rusty got better. Then it happened again a month later, and periodically after that.

One day, while out on a walk, Rusty had a seizure, collapsed, and could not get up. Roger’s immediately took him to his veterinarian who referred him to the OSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital. There, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Wendy Baltzer ordered an MRI which revealed a fracture of the C2, the second cervical vertebra in his neck. The C2 forms a pivot upon which the C1 vertebra, which holds up the head, can rotate.

The C2 fracture was causing dislocation of the two vertebrae and resulting in a severe compression of Rusty’s spinal cord. Dr. Baltzer recommended surgery.

The atlantoaxial joint, in the upper part of the neck, lies between the first and second cervical vertebra; it is a complicated set of bones and ligaments. Dr. Baltzer stabilized this joint using four screws, two wires, and bone cement, effectively fusing the C1 and C2 vertebra together (see image at right).

Following surgery, Dr. Baltzer placed a brace on Rusty’s neck and, for 72 hours, the hospital ICU closely monitored him for any sign of spinal cord swelling or breathing difficulty. Overall Rusty did really well and soon began standing, and even taking short walks.

Rogers was able to take Rusty home with instructions for seven weeks of gentle physical therapy movement. But, to allow his neck to heal properly, Dr. Baltzer advised strict limits on Rusty’s activity. This meant keeping the dog in a kennel for a large part of the day, and allowing him no walks other than potty breaks: not an easy task for the owner of an energetic hound. “It was really difficult keeping a nose-dog confined to a small kennel, even with anti-anxiety medication,” says Rogers.

Despite the frustration of enforced confinement, Rusty did not lose his happy disposition and, on weekly visits to the hospital to get his neck splint changed, he quickly became a favorite with the staff, students and doctors. “The students and veterinarian were all great,” says Rogers. “I appreciated that everyone fell in love with Rusty.”

Finally the two month ordeal was over and the happy day arrived: x-rays revealed that Rusty’s neck was healing nicely and the neck brace was removed. Dr. Baltzer released him to normal dog activity, even running, but cautioned Rogers to restrict play with other dogs. Rogers is happy to have his best pal back on the trail. “I really missed our daily walks,” he says.

The well-thumbed magazines and stacks of newspapers in the sunny lobby of the Small Animal Hospital at OSU represent many hours of patient waiting for the thousands of pet owners who visit the Lois Bates Acheson Veterinary Teaching Hospital each year.

Referred by their family veterinarian, most of the hospital’s clients bring pets with complex health issues like cancer, compound fractures, heart conditions, or rare diseases. With the largest group of board-certified veterinary specialists in Oregon, and state-of-the-art facilities, OSU can bring together diverse resources and a team effort to heal these challenging conditions.

A recent example of complex teamwork kicked into gear in January when a twelve-year-old Weimaraner visited the hospital with a swollen toe.

Alijah was an outwardly healthy, active dog but his family veterinarian was concerned about a small growth on the second toe of his right foot. She referred his owners to OSU for further evaluation.

Dr. Stuart Helfand is a veterinary oncologist with thirty years of experience in cancer care for companion animals. When the x-rays he ordered for Alijah revealed a suspicious area in his lung, Dr. Helfand was able to consult with Dr. Sarah Nemanic, a veterinary radiologist at OSU. They advised Alijah’s owners  that a Computed Tomography (CT) scan would help determine the nature of this suspicious mass.

The OSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH) has a 64-slice CT scanner that is currently the fastest, and only one of its kind, used in veterinary medicine in the United States. This high-speed and precise machine is capable of capturing detailed, 3-dimensional images of the entire body of small animals, providing diagnostic information that cannot be obtained using other imaging techniques.

Alijah’s CT scan revealed a two-centimeter, irregular lesion on his left lung. Based on the shape of the lesion, Drs. Helfand and Nemanic decided it was likely to be a lung tumor. The CT also revealed a ten-centimeter mass in the dog’s spleen. Dr. Nemanic then did an ultrasound-guided biopsy of the lung lesion which was tested in the OSU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and found to be cancerous.

As with many cases at the VTH, doctors offered Alijah’s owners several options for treatment, from continued monitoring to surgery. His owners elected to have Alijah’s spleen, second toe, and right lung surgically removed. This option was possible because a dog doesn’t need his spleen, the second toe is not a major weight- bearing toe, and the loss of one lobe of the lung does not create a major impairment.

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Andy Michaels’ goat Henry is a bit of a couch potato. Although he shares a goat house next to the Michaels’ family home with his buddy, Chris, Henry rarely joins Chris on a stroll around the yard. “He is no athlete,” says Michaels. “He never climbs up on his house and he doesn’t walk about. He is more of a cuddler.”

Michaels’ fondness for the two goats is obvious, and they are definitely pets rather than livestock, so when Michaels found Henry laying on his side, unable to rise or stand on his own, he took the goat to the local veterinary emergency room.  There Henry was diagnosed with mild anemia and intestinal parasites, neither of which explained his lameness. Henry’s x-rays were normal so the veterinarian recommended Michaels take Henry to OSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

When Henry arrived at OSU, large animal veterinarian Keith Poulsen ordered diagnostic tests, but it was a simple physical exam that gave him his first clue to Henry’s problem. Dr. Poulsen detected significant muscle atrophy in Henry’s legs. He suspected Henry was suffering from white muscle disease, so while he waited for the test results, he put Henry on vitamin supplements and a high protein diet.

White muscle disease is a degenerative muscle condition caused by deficiency in either selenium or Vitamin E. Selenium is a trace mineral found in soil and it plays a critical role in reproduction, thyroid hormone metabolism and muscle cell health. Most livestock producers in the Pacific Northwest know that Oregon soil contains very low amounts of selenium, so animals whose primary nutrition comes from pasture and locally grown hay or alfalfa need selenium supplements. But people who own a couple of goats or horses as pets are often not aware of the problem.

Before a pet owner considers adding selenium to an animal’s diet, they should check with their veterinarian. Most dog and cat food already contains selenium and too much selenium can be toxic.

Once Henry’s diagnosis of white muscle disease was confirmed, Dr. Poulsen ordered selenium supplements and a program of rehabilitation for nerve dysfunction and muscle weakness. This included acupuncture, range of motion exercises, physical therapy and walking on the underwater treadmill.

How hard is it to get a goat to walk on an underwater treadmill? Depends on the goat. Henry’s mellow personality made it a cake walk, so to speak. Fourth-year student Giovanna Coto was assigned to Henry’s care while he was in the hospital and quickly became attached to the affectionate, easy-going goat. “He’s a love,” she says.

Every other day, for the first week Henry was in the hospital, Coto loaded him onto to a wheeled platform for his journey through the large animal stalls, down the hallway to the treadmill. He required no straps or sedation, but quietly lay still for the entire ride. Once there, Coto sat with him, stroking his back and talking to him while he waited his turn for the rehab room.

At first, although supported by a sling, Henry had trouble moving his legs on the treadmill and required help. But within a week, he showed marked improvement in strength and coordination. By his eighth treadmill session, he was able to walk from his stall to the rehab room on his own, use the treadmill without help, and walk back to his stall.

Now home with his family, Henry is fully recovered with no residual lameness, but it might be hard to tell because he is back to his sedentary ways. The weeks on the OSU treadmill did not turn him into an exercise afficianado. “He still looks like a stuffed goat,” jokes Michaels,”but he can get around just fine.”

Watch video of Henry on the underwater treadmill.