The Reproductive Medicine team at the OSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital works mostly with horses and dogs, providing breeding services like artificial insemination and pregnancy evaluations. Last month they did something different: a laparoscopic spay surgery on a cougar.
The Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon recently acquired a female cougar. Although she was kept in a separate enclosure, a nearby male cougar got so agitated by her, he managed to get through the fence enough to bite a chunk out of her tail. Because the game park has plenty of cougars, they decided to solve the problem by spaying the new female.
OSU Drs. Hernan Montilla and Charles Estill performed the surgery in the Wildlife Safari hospital with assistance from theriogenology resident Dr. Clare Scully and staff veterinarians at the park. They also invited fourth-year student Ashley Runey to participate.
Runey is writing her senior paper on advanced reproduction techniques in large cats. “What is so wonderful about our clinicians, is they all get to know each and every one of us and our interests in veterinary medicine,” she says. “Then they truly try to give us as many opportunities as possible for hands-on experience in the field we hope to pursue.”
The OSU surgery team used a laparoscopic, minimally invasive surgery technique to spay the cougar. Several incisions, about the size of a quarter, were made to accommodate a tiny camera and the surgical instruments. The veterinarians then operated while viewing the procedure on a video monitor. The ovaries were removed through the same small incisions. “I was surprised how quick and clean the procedure was,” says Runey.
Minimally invasive surgery is especially beneficial for wild animals. “It reduces pain, recovery time, and aftercare,” says Estill. A post-surgery dog can be given a collar and be kept fairly inactive until his incisions heal. Obviously, it’s not that easy with a wild cougar.
Careful planning and teamwork are also critical pieces of wild animal surgery. “Everyone had a job and each step was meticulously planned for the safety of us and the cougar,” says Runey.
The cougar recovered from the surgery quickly and is doing well. OSU’s collegial relationship with Wildlife Safari includes future collaboration, particularly on the park’s cheetah breeding program.
Meanwhile, Runey appreciates the unique opportunity the partnership with Wildlife Safari provided her. “It was great to work with some phenomenal veterinarians in the field of study I would like to pursue,” she says. A big ‘thank you’ to Dr. Alcantar at Wildlife Safari as well as the great advisors who care so much about our education: Dr. Montilla, Dr. Estill, and Dr. Scully.”
