University of California faculty, staff, and retirees can now add their four-legged family members to their insurance. Pet insurance is being offered through Nationwide with preferred pricing for two plan options — coverage for accidents and illness, or more comprehensive coverage that also includes preventive care and wellness services. Plans are available for most house pets – dogs, cats, birds, small mammals, even exotic pets such as reptiles. Animals categorized as livestock (including horses) are ineligible.
A UC Davis veterinary patient is being described as a miracle by her owner. When Ethel, a 2-year-old Yorkshire terrier, was rescued by MaryAnn Lawson, the rambunctious pup was in a cast for a broken leg. Unfortunately, two previous surgeries failed to properly heal her broken right ulna and radius (equivalent to both bones in a human’s forearm). Lawson forged on and consulted with other veterinary orthopedic surgeons, all of whom recommended amputating the leg.
A San Joaquin County K-9 who nearly died in 2014 after being stabbed by a suspect, was being saved yet again, this time by the veterinary team at UC Davis.
This past March, seven-year-old K-9 Haakon was taken to the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Hospital for a ruptured bladder.
Coconut, the snow leopard cub born at the Sacramento Zoo earlier this year, underwent a rare eyelid surgery on Wednesday, October 24. UC Davis veterinary specialists and the Sacramento Zoo veterinary team collaborated to correct a congenital eyelid defect known as colombas. This ocular deformity is sometimes documented in snow leopards under human care.
Bees are one of our planet's most important animals. They produce honey and they are the primary managed pollinators for a majority of high value specialty crops grown in the contiguous states of California and Oregon, such as nuts, stone fruits, vegetables, and berries. A problem looms for our animal friends, the bees. Colony losses are high due to a variety of environmental and biological causes including bacterial diseases.
When Madonna’s abdomen recently became distended, she was examined by the UC Davis veterinary hospital’s Aquatic Animal Health Unit of the Companion Exotic Animal Medicine and Surgery Service.
If you give a hoot about raptors, come visit the California Raptor Center’s (CRC) Open House on Saturday, Oct. 20th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. We have two new owl residents for you to meet—a barred owl named Tadita, and Ember, our first barn owl education ambassador in six years!
Equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) is relatively widespread in horses; approximately 60 percent of healthy horses harbor the virus. While the more common form of EHV-1 can cause respiratory illness as well as abortion, it is rarely fatal. However, a neurological strain of this virus, also known as equine herpes myeloencephalopathy (EHM), can kill 30 to 50 percent of affected horses. That's why it is critical for the California Animal Health & Food Safety Laboratory to be able to use PCR testing to differentiate between strains.
Dr. Rodrigo Gallardo may be a poultry medicine specialist who helps improve the wellbeing of chickens through research and education, but he also sees the far-reaching impact of his role. “By helping villages in other parts of the world maintain healthier poultry flocks, we’re assisting communities as a whole,” Gallardo explained. “If families can increase egg and meat production in their chickens because they are healthier, they have more financial resources to spend on health care and sending their children to school.”
From Ebola to swine flu to HIV/Aids, viruses borne by animals have caused some of the most devastating epidemics in history. What will come next? In Sierra Leone, Joe Shute (a reporter with The Telegraph) joins PREDICT scientists working to find Disease X – a virus that is as yet undiscovered, but which could have the potential to ravage populations.
Please join us for the Oscar W. Schalm Lectureship featuring Dr. James A. Roth. He will present: “Response to an Outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in the U.S.”
12:00 p.m., Monday, October 8
1020 Gladys Valley Hall, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
A multidisciplinary UC Davis team, including the veterinary school's Dr. Pam Lein, received the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award to study genes unique to humans that may contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders including autism.
Dr. Benny “Ben” Norman, a long-time UC Davis Extension Veterinarian and mentor to many at the School of Veterinary Medicine over the years, died on August 17 at the age of 82. Norman was a 1960 Oklahoma State University DVM graduate and also had an M.S. degree in veterinary pathology (1966), a Ph.D. degree in Animal Nutrition (1970), both from OSU, and an MPVM degree from UC Davis (1996).
UC Davis researchers announce in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesthis week a breakthrough in understanding which cells afford optimal protection against Salmonellainfection—a critical step in developing a more effective and safe vaccine against a bacterium that annually kills an estimated one million people worldwide.
Dean Michael Lairmore welcomed new individuals to the school’s community during the annual Fall Faculty Reception on September 20th and acknowledged those in outgoing and incoming leadership roles. The school also honored faculty members with awards for excellence in teaching and research, along with volunteers honored for their service.
