Rolling Dog Farm Blog

The Daily News, the local paper in Pullman, Washington — where Washington State University is located — published a front page story today on our visit to the veterinary teaching hospital earlier in the week.  The photos were taken by the paper’s photographer, Geoff Crimmins, while we were there Tuesday morning.  The reporter interviewed me on Tuesday and then spoke with all of the hospital veterinarians working on Brynn and Claude yesterday.  The fourth-year student interviewed in the article, Heather Knapp-Hoch, was Claude’s ‘case manager.’  She has already passed her boards to become a vet, even though she doesn’t graduate until May.  Then Heather is on her way to a residency in oncology, so one day she will be a board-certified veterinary oncologist.  Here’s the article:

WSU vet students learn lessons in life; every day a new challenge at vet teaching hospital

By Hillary Hamm, Daily News staff writer

Thursday, February 8, 2007 

Heather Knapp-Hoch knows veterinary science is rarely routine.

“It challenges me every day. I never feel that it’s mundane,” said the fourth-year veterinary student at Washington State University. “There are days that can be very stressful. For me I like the challenge. Every time you see something different, you learn from it.”

Knapp-Hoch experienced a challenge Monday, when two new patients were admitted for care at the WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

Claude, a 6-month-old Great Dane, has wobbler’s syndrome, a malformation of the neck vertebrae which causes pressure on the spinal cord. Claude’s gait is clumsy and his back legs easily give out. He also is blind and has hip dysplasia.

Claude was brought to the hospital by Steve Smith, owner of Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary in Montana, a facility that harbors dogs, cats and horses with disabilities. Claude was joined by Brynn, a blind 7-month-old foal who has a hole in her heart and malformed neck vertebrae that makes it difficult for her to graze. She also has been diagnosed with a disease that causes her urine to empty into her vagina rather than her bladder. Rarely able to control her bladder, painful urine scalds mark her backside.

The Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary in Ovando, Mont., was started in 2000, when Smith and his wife, Alayne Marker, quit their jobs with Boeing in western Washington and moved to Montana. The sanctuary now has 80 animals who suffer from disabilities such as missing limbs, blindness, deafness and other diseases.

Brynn and Claude are rare cases because of the combination of illnesses in each animal, said Claude Ragle, a WSU veterinarian and equine surgeon. Each new case is a chance for students to learn something new and work with modern veterinary tools.

“It’s real life. You can talk about something rare, but this horse didn’t come from the moon. It came from Montana,” he said. “One of our jobs here is discovering new knowledge. Having a facility of this capacity is really great.”

Fred Wininger, a resident WSU veterinary neurosurgeon who cared for Claude, agreed.

“We’re regarded as one of the premier hospitals in the Northwest. We take a lot of pride in our hospital and our students and our doctors. There’s a big team unit here,” he said. “Here, they get to see what can be done on the cutting edge of medicine.”

The WSU Veterinary Hospital receives referrals from across the country. The hospital’s client base has allowed for high-tech diagnostic tools, such as an MRI and modern surgery techniques. Students have their hands in every part of client care, from diagnostics to medication administration and even acting as aides in surgery.

“We get to see cases that the everyday private practitioner doesn’t see very often. We see a diversity of ailments,” Knapp-Hochs said, noting that every new case provides her with confidence in her field.

Smith said it was an easy decision to bring Brynn and Claude to Pullman, rather than have them receive care from his local veterinarian, who happens to be a WSU graduate.

“These two needed care that you can only get at a teaching hospital like this,” he said.

Just because the tools are high tech doesn’t mean every story has a happy ending.

Brynn’s prognosis is good, and veterinarians are discussing the options to reroute her urinary duct. Claude’s diagnosis is a bit more grim.

Smith made the decision Tuesday to refuse Claude the surgery that would stabilize his vertebrae with acrylic cement. The extensive surgery “would not make him better,” he said.

The decision to deny Claude the surgery was not dictated by the $6,500 price tag.

“People always second guess when you spend a dollar on an animal,” Smith said. “If an animal can enjoy life, we want to give them that chance.”

Smith said the animal sanctuary does have a ceiling for veterinary care for each animal because of the nonprofit nature of the business, but the choice to abandon the surgery was a quality of life issue.

“This was a very difficult decision to make. They didn’t give us any false hope or undue pessimism,” Smith said. “It’s a quality of life thing. We just concluded that in the end, we couldn’t do it.”

Instead, Claude will undergo medical management through decreased exercise, a prescription diet and steroids to control his vertebrae inflammation. Smith drove Claude back to Montana on Tuesday. Brynn will stay at the hospital for surgery.

Knapp-Hoch said telling owners bad news is extremely difficult, especially when animals are like members of the family.

“We provide all the options, but in the end, it’s frustrating to give bad news,” she said. “It’s very difficult. But to look at that animal, to know that I can’t fix it and can’t make its pain go away, is even harder. Those are important learning cases. It’s good experience. Compassion can be taught, but all of us are here for the benefit of the animals.”

Ragle said compassion is emphasized in veterinary teaching, just as it is in human medicine.

“It’s veterinary medicine, but animals all have owners. They have families,” he said.

Knapp-Hoch said every new case she sees solidifies her love of animals and veterinary medicine.

“Every animal deserves a chance, even if they have weird things going on,” she said. “I wouldn’t be in this field if I didn’t feel that way. I believe in giving an animal every shot you can give it.”