European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 17, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Veterinary Medicine turns High tech for those who can pay the Price by Sandy Rovner the Washington Post at first glance the place resembles a typical big City Hospital with its pungent pervasive smell of disinfectant and its cadre of intense looking doctors a their stethoscopes stuffed in the pockets of their White Coats a conferring hurriedly at the nurses station. Orderlies wheel Metal crash carts Down Long in corridors past the bustling recovery room and blood Banks. The big difference Here is the patients who often Flop on the floor and yowl. One named Chelsea lies on a child size Gurney hooked up to an intravenous line he is a 1-year-old English sheepdog who suffers from inexplicable sneezing fits that have been videotaped by his owners. A Small examining Bay just off the emergency room contains , a 7-year-old Bull mastiff brought in because she had swallowed a fishing line. In the process of removing the line a surgical team has. Discovered a Large cancer in her Abdomen. Upstairs a dog recovering from a hip replacement lies on a heated water bed. This is the veterinary Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia a Century old teaching Hospital that specializes in the care of Quot companion animals Quot primarily dogs and cats. Just a decade ago euthanasia was Standard treatment for sick aging or injured animals. These Days veterinarians say there Are Tew sophisticated procedures done on humans that cannot be performed on the 23,000 dogs and cats it treats annually. Hip replacements Ultrasonography to detect tutors open Hearl surgery chemotherapy and radiation to treat cancer Root canals and pacemaker insertions Are performed Here every Day on animals whose owners have the Money and the inclination to buy such High tech and expensive care. Although procedures on pets average about one tenth the Cost of the same operations on humans most of the Cost is borne by pet owners directly because few people have pet health insurance. In the Case of a hip replacement for example that Means an outlay of $2,000 per hip. Quot owners expect for their pets anything they be heard about for people Quot says Stephen Kritsick staff veterinarian for the humane society of the United slates. Quot animals Are members of the family and the attachment is deep and the explosion in pet Medicine has been fuelled in part by the growth in the number of pets. Americans own about 54 million dogs and 63 million cats compared to about 49 million dogs and 50 million cats in 1985, according to the pet food Institute a Trade association. Changing demographics Are partly the cause. The dramatic increase in single person households veterinarians say corresponds to an increase in pet ownership. Now More than Ever veterinarians report pets Are members of the family. Early one morning on the third floor of the Penn veterinary Hospital doctors and technicians huddled Over the anaesthetized body of quantum an 11-year-old Gray cat with serious dental problems. Quantum who had been brought in by his owner a surgeon for a Root canal was undergoing a series of full Mouth a rays. The a rays disclosed progressive tooth disease and doctors decided that they had no Choice other than to pull ail the cat s Teeth a an exacting and painstaking procedure because 1 diseased Teeth crumble when touched. Penn dental surgeons reassured quantum s relieved owner that the cat will thrive on soft food and that his Lack of Teeth won t prove to be a serious problem because he does t go outdoors in another room surgeon David Holt performed a delicate vascular operation on a 1-year-old cat named Dickens. Dickens Portal vein which should guide his blood through the liver to filter out a variety of impurities has an abnormality that spills All the impurities into his circulatory system. This causes food poisoning and damage to other organs. Holt must find the source of the problem a no easy task a and then tie it off. Blood vessels in Small animals As in human infants Are the size and consistency of Limp Spaghetti. The operation on Dickens takes More than two hours but it is a Success. Dickens will spend a few Days in the Hospital at a Cost to his owners of about $1,500. A the technical ability to do for a dog what you can do for a person has probably always been there because most of the techniques were developed partly on animals and partly on people Quot says Joan Hendricks chief of critical and intensive care services at Penn. Quot but the demand of the Public to have these services has been the most dramatic change i be seen in the last five veterinarians acknowledge that the growth of High tech Medicine for pets in an Era of escalating debate about the Quality and Cost of health care people receive raises ethical questions. Some people among them pet owners consider it morally questionable to spend thousands of dollars on animals at a time when increasing numbers of a a people find themselves shut out of the health care. System. Veterinarians not surprisingly see things Quot differently. Some note that expenditures on pet Medicine Are discretionary similar to buying a sports car. And they note that procedures performed on animals which have helped further knowledge about treating disease in people Are financed largely by pet owners not by Public funds. Although big hospitals like Penn buy secondhand equipment such As Ultrasonography machines at reduced prices from human hospitals whose staff is replacing equipment some veterinarians Are Able to use the most modern Hospital equipment a at off hours. One of these is veterinary neurologist Lawrence Gainsberg of Baltimore who says he performs cat scans at night on his canine patients a with the it permission of a Baltimore Hospital he declined to name. Common medical problem by Sandy Rovner the Washington Post a _ _ a. O f the nations 50,000 veterinarians 3,420 Are specialists in treating animal diseases ranging from cancer to cataracts. There Are veterinary neurologists ophthalmologists oncologists cardiac surgeons and even nutritionists. Cats and dogs have four leading medical problems trauma resulting from Falls or being hit by vehicles cancer heart disease and deformed Bones or Muscles. Vaccinations can prevent such onetime major killers As feline leukaemia while a monthly Pill can prevent often fatal heartworm in dogs. Despite these advances dogs and cats Are susceptible to the major ailments that afflict people cancer. Oncologists at the University of Pennsylvania estimate that about 2 million dogs a a nationwide will develop cancer this year. About 2,000 of them will be treated at the University with radiation chemotherapy and surgery. While different Breeds Are vulnerable to different cancers cats and dogs Are most Likely to develop Lymphoma a blood cancer and breast cancer. Neal Mauldin a staff oncologist at the animal medical Center in new York City is experimenting with the use of the Quot tumor necrosis factors and interleukin natural proteins made by the immune system that have cancer fighting properties. Both Are the subject of research in humans at the National institutes of health. Quot we have a Little bit of an advantage Quot Mauldin said Quot because we can try some new therapies a Little bit faster than they can be taken to trial in cancer is often hard to spot in animals because they adapt to abnormalities with relative ease. Even so an animal with a diminished appetite a wound that does t heal a Lump or persistent lameness a should be seen promptly by a veterinarian. All of these sighs can indicate cancer. A neurological disorders. Only humans have More seizure disorders than dogs. However Many of the continued on Page 16 leftovers Are by John Mitchell Cox news service t never failed. Sabre. Sara Stone s 7-year-old norwegian elkhound would saunter into the Kitchen while she cooked stakeout a place to Perch then stare at her with those big Beady eyes. Before she knew it the Baylor University associate a professor would be spooning out chunks of ice Cream into a bowl for her pet. Cookies and Cream mostly. His favorite Stone noted. Quot after awhile you done to think of him As the dog you think of him As family Quot she said. A i d say he was a Good dog and it was a Nice present and he deserved fast food hamburgers late night Bacon egg and Toast breakfasts and leftover Sandwich bits and soup slurps found their Way to sabres dinner dish Slone revealed in giving gifts to her fur covered baby. Quot i grew up in a family where we were taught to clean our plates Quot she said. Quot it seemed like such a waste to dump it Down the Drain when the dog could eat but those Well meaning treats in reality Are nothing but trouble for animals veterinarians say. They note that owners who stray from a pets rationed diet by awarding table scraps May instead be bestowing stomach problems bad eating habits and obesity. Pooches with launches. Feeding dogs table scraps results in pets choosing them rather than eating balanced rations. Said or. Robert Barkley of Waco Texas Home to Baylor. Quot i Don t recommend it at All Quot said Hewitt veterinarian or. Robert Judd. Quot it tastes Good to people so they feel like it would taste Good dog. But dog food manufacturers have a specifically designed totally balanced diet for All the different Ages of Judd s response might be different if pets munched on the Gamut of human edibles. Instead Judco said pets typically receive leftover bits hardly representative of each food group. That Quot loss of balance causes a Lack of nutrition Quot when you re giving a dog straight meat he s missing out on a lot of the vitamins and minerals he needs Quot said Bellmead veterinarian or. Kenwood Keil. Quot often on these Little dogs it does t take very much to fill them up. Then they won t eat their regular dog no no a the majority of table foods Are filled with fat Judd said. Some Are too loaded if overfed to dogs Lor their pancreatic enzymes to break Down. As a result the animals suffer from inflammations of the stomach characterized by vomiting diarrhoea and abdominal pains. Quot this is very Judd said. Quot we see a couple or three of these every thanksgiving and Christmas. They give the dog dressing and Gravy and that wipes them out. They can handle Barkley said owners disagree with him on the value of fats often contending fido a coat turns Slick when they slip a supplement such As Corn Oil or Bacon grease into the bowl. Quot say thai vet is telling me something i know is wrong because my dad told me this Quot he Saidt dog Lood does have an amount of Lal but it is preserved so the meal does not become rancid he noted. Owners adding their own ask for trouble if professionals Don t Monitor amounts. Other internal problems that can result irom wrongful feeding include liver disease Calcium deficiencies and rubber jaw. With cats veterinarians see too Many people who serve milk to their pet a drink High in excess minerals the excess can cause obstructions that make a feline s urination painful Barkley said. Quot some of them can certainly drink it and not have a Judd said. Quot we do see a lot with diarrhoea and it s because the people have fed them in older animals ailments such As heart problems can Manifest themselves when too much sodium passes through the system Barkley said. Bad human habits also cause pets to grow overweight Keil said. Too Many owners believe they must feed their animals regularly each Day. Quot we have this mindset that dogs need to eat twice a he said. Quot sometimes he does t eat. When that happens we often go out and buy Good tasting Lulf. We re making them take in too Many calories Quot pets Are just like people health Wise Judd added Quot those who Lay around All Day Don t really need to a be eating a lot Quot he said. A those out playing need More because they Burn it Stone walked Sabre every Day and noticed lie lost weight As a Pup in the summertime irom eating loss but As he grew older he also grew larger Stone. Co Nimrod on Page 16 a military medical official left performs an Eye examination on a Security dog at Ramstein a Germany As the dog a handler and an Anima care specialist help steady the patient
