Large Animal

UC Davis has welcomed the latest standing equine PET scanner, the MILEPET, into clinical use.

Bella, a 20-year-old miniature donkey jenny, was brought to the UC Davis veterinary hospital for severe lameness and abnormally shaped hooves on all four feet.

On March 26, 2021, equine specialists from the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine's Center for Equine Health, Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, and the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory joined with the California Department of Food and Agriculture to present “Update on Equine Herpes Myeloencephalopathy for Equine Practitioners.”

When Bella, a 7-year-old Thoroughbred maiden mare, went into labor last month, her owners Tom and Nicole Bachman were excited and sprang into action. But they soon realized something was terribly wrong.

One year ago, on December 12, 2019, Santa Anita Park installed the world’s first MILE-PET device, a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner specifically designed to image standing racehorses. This installation, one of several measures to reduce breakdowns at the racetrack, received a lot of attention at a time when Santa Anita was just coming out of a challenging racing season, with a cluster of horse fatalities early in the year.

The UC Davis veterinary hospital’s Equine Reproduction Service has a newly renovated clinical teaching and research space at the school’s Center for Equine Health. Dean Michael Lairmore, Executive Associate Dean John Pascoe, and Executive Assistant Dean Mary McNally officially unveiled the newly renovated space, which includes four custom-designed stocks and all new flooring. The Equine Reproduction Service team, led by Service Chief Dr. Ghislaine Dujovne and newly acquired faculty member Dr. Pouya Dini, also has a new student meeting space and expanded laboratory as part of the renovation.

Georgia, an 18-year-old warmblood mare, was brought to the UC Davis veterinary hospital after a recent change of ownership. The previous owners disclosed she had been treated medically for chronic endometritis (inflammation of the uterine lining) over the past several years without resolution of the condition.

After decades of research and years of field trials, the beef industry now has a vaccine available to protect their stock from Epizootic Bovine Abortion.

Since August 19, the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine has been treating animals burned in the devastating LNU Lightning Complex Fire. Using a field-first approach, the school's Veterinary Emergency Response Team (VERT) deployed to Solano and Sonoma Counties to care for animals at evacuation centers and those sheltering in place on ranches. They also conducted search and rescue missions throughout the fire zones. Meanwhile, the veterinary hospital has been able to concentrate on only the most critical cases.