Vet Gazette

Annamaria Tadlock is a third year student in CVM and a past-president of the Student Ambassador club. Their purpose is to promote veterinary medicine and the college to the public, and she has led various events in the Corvallis community doing just that.

One event in particular took place last summer and Annamaria was eager to share her experience with me. The ASE (Apprenticeships in Science and Engineering) conference was focused on presenting the basic ideas of veterinary neurology to interested high school students. The program, designed by Annamaria and her colleagues, had a great balance of lecture and hands-on work. They presented information to the students first, then had a demonstration of a neuro exam done by Tabitha Wolf on her very own dog Diezel! The kids were then sent off to explore the several stations set up in the anatomy lab with videos of different animals with neurological disorders.

The goal of each activity was for the groups to decide together where the animal’s lesion was. The entire day emphasized interactivity and learning. Annamaria and her partners circulated the room answering and asking questions like, “If an animal is limping, how would you tell if it’s because their nerve is damaged or if they just broke their leg? What kind of test would you do next?” Annamaria explained, “The goal for the kids was to think like a vet and try to localize a neurological lesion to a specific part of the animal’s nervous system.”

When asked about whether or not she felt the event was successful, Annamaria conveyed her initial fear that the workshop was too advanced, but then went on to express genuine excitement at how well the conference went. “The kids were actually really quick at learning and were able to localize most of the lesions correctly!” She was impressed with the students she worked with, saying, “I think Tabitha and I were both thinking, ‘and it took us vet students how long to learn to do this?!’”

Posted by guest blogger, Josey Sechrist.

Fourth-year students in the Sheep and Goat Medicine & Surgery elective help clean and feed lambs delivered by C-section.

Monica Tam is from San Francisco, California and had never worked with sheep or goats before signing up for course number VMC740. The Sheep and Goat Medicine & Surgery elective taught by Dr. Erica McKenzie provides students like Tam with valuable animal handling and clinical practice opportunities. “I gained a lot of experience using the ultrasound to diagnose pregnancy, learning how to disbud and dehorn, as well as castrate sheep and goats,” she says. “There was some practice in foot trimming as well.”

The class also visited several farms to see how ruminant producers manage their operations.  “Visiting farms was a great experience and learning how people manage their flock and facilities was good to know,” says Tam.

Large animal surgeon Dr. Michael Huber provided the fourth-year students an opportunity to observe and assist in several C-sections on sheep. They also go to work with the newborn lambs, a favorite part of the class for everyone.

The International Symposium on Wildlife Utilization in Southern Africa (ISWU) is a biennial symposium dealing with veterinary involvement in wildlife management. It serves as a platform for a variety of leading speakers to address veterinary students on a host of wildlife management topics and the role of the veterinarian in wildlife utilization. Speakers are both local and international and are from all facets of the wildlife industry in Southern Africa.

ISWU is organized by the Symposium Committee (SYMCO), a non-profit student organization affiliated with Pretoria University. The eighteen-day symposium costs approximately $3,000 and the number of delegates chosen is limited to 60 international and 10 South African students. Applications are open to all veterinary students worldwide; closing date is October 2014. Delegates can expect a busy two weeks filled with relevant lectures and hands-on experience, including opportunities to get up close and personal with South African wildlife.

For more information, visit the ISWU website.

At the Pilchuk Veterinary Hospital in Snohomish Washington, beavers are everywhere. Not the aquatic, furry kind; the OSU Vet Med kind. Three co-owners of the practice are OSU alums: Tim John (class of 1990), Jeff Duke (Class of 1984), and Kevin Wilson (Class of 2001).

Dr. Duke’s areas of special interest are surgery and small animal reproduction; Dr. Wilson focuses on disease prevention and pain management; and Dr. John is interested in internal medicine and cancer therapy. Oh, and his newest interest is flies.

“My wife and daughter are passionate about horses,” he says. “I was reading a journal article about the problems of developing an effective new fly spray, and it got me thinking about fly sprays in general.” Dr. John started looking into the topic and became intrigued and concerned.  “Most fly sprays fall into one of two categories: Pyrethrin-based or essential oils.  Pyrethrins have been around for quite awhile and some are starting to lose their effectiveness, but more alarming is that current research has shown a link as an estrogen disruptor.  Essential oils, on the other hand, typically are not very effective and don’t last very long.”

Fortunately, as his investigation of fly sprays continued, he came across a researcher in California that had discovered a compound of FDA-approved, food-grade fatty acid that repelled and killed flies and mosquitoes. That’s when the lightbulb went off. “It was a totally new way to rid ourselves of these pests,” he says. “The most exciting part for me, as a vet, was that it repelled the Cullicoides flies (midges) that start the immune reaction that leads to Sweet Itch.”

But taking a great idea and making it a useful reality can be a long and rocky road. As anyone who watches the television show ‘Shark Tank’ knows, many great ideas have stalled from red-tape, lack of funding, and/or the right connections.”I was pretty naive, some would say delusional, about bringing this product to market,” he says. “It involved a lot of bureaucratic approval, to say the least” But he didn’t give up and now is able to sell his Ecovet Fly Repellant in the Northwest. He hopes to take it to national markets soon. “I can say that it has truly been fun and also quite a growing process,” he says.

Glen Pfefferkorn, Morris Wendorf, and Chris Cebra.

Dr. Chris Cebra, Professor of Large Animal Internal Medicine and Head of the Department of Clinical Sciences, has been chosen for the Glen Pfefferkorn and Morris Wendorf Endowed Professorship of Camelid Medicine. It is the first endowed professorship in the OSU College of Veterinary Medicine, and the only endowed professorship of camelid medicine in the country.

“An endowed position is one of the highest academic recognitions that the University can bestow on a faculty member and is also an enduring tribute to the donor who establishes it,” says Interim Dean Sue Tornquist. “The College is very fortunate to have enjoyed two decades of generous support for camelid programs from Glen Pfefferkorn and Morris Wendorf.”

Pfefferkorn and Wendorf founded Glenmor Forest Llamas in 1982, and in those years their 100+  llamas were one of the largest herds in Oregon. “OSU students had access to these animals for learning and many of the llamas participated in research projects,” says Tornquist. Pfefferkorn and Wendorf also established an endowed scholarship to benefit veterinary medical students interested in camelid medicine.

Dr. Cebra has been working with camelids for over 20 years, has written or co-authored over 70 scientific articles concerning camelids, has been involved with over 40 camelid research projects, has presented at conferences worldwide (including in 9 countries on 4 continents) and hosts the International Camelid Health Conference at Oregon State University every other year. In his new position, Dr. Cebra will focus on teaching, research, outreach and clinical care of camelids.

The half million dollar endowment was funded 1:1 by the college and the donors. An additional $62,500 was provided through the OSU Provost Faculty Match Program. “Congratulations to Dr. Cebra and our most sincere thanks to Glen and Morris for this generous contribution to camelid medicine and to the CVM at Oregon State University,” says Tornquist.

Join the fun at this year’s Ride the Heart of the Valley charity bike ride on Saturday, April 26th. Organized by the OSU Student Chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the ride benefits the Olive K. Britt foundation and the Johnson Dental Clinic at the Boys and Girls Club.

The Olive K. Britt Foundation provides assistance to low-income clients of the Lois Bates Acheson Veterinary Teaching Hospital whose pets require emergency care.

This One Health Event features three bike routes around the Corvallis area for riders of all abilities. This year’s theme is “Food Safety”, and as always, costumes are encouraged! For more information and to register, visit www.ridetheheartofthevalley.com