News

Dr. Michelle Hawkins, VMD, DABVP (Avian Practice), professor in the Department of Medicine & Epidemiology, recently completed her leadership of the Association of Avian Veterinarians (AAV). She served as the organization’s president for the past year. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Dr. Hawkins is also a clinician in the veterinary hospital’s Companion Exotic Animal Medicine & Surgery Service and director of the California Raptor Center.

Tucked into a picturesque mountain range 175 northwest of campus sits the Eden Valley Ranch, where a menagerie of animals benefit from visits by UC Davis veterinarians and students.

As the academic year comes to a close, we present the annual highlights of the UC Davis veterinary hospital. The hospital’s more than 120 board-certified faculty and staff veterinarians, along with a team of 350 highly-trained staff members, saw approximately 50,000 patients for the year. Training in each of these patient visits were our 109 house officer veterinarians (residents, fellows, interns) and the 134 members of the Class of 2017. Our clinicians are innovators of some of the most cutting-edge procedures in veterinary medicine. The hospital has more specialty services than any teaching hospital in the country. Many services saw double-digit percentage increases in caseload: neurology, equine ophthalmology, behavior, zoological medicine, cardiology, nutrition, equine reproduction, community surgery, and radiation oncology.

Highlights of the year include:

Does the thought of leaving your pet behind in an evacuation keep you up at night? If so, you’re not alone. A recent paper in the American Journal of Public Health highlights how neglecting steps for evacuating animals, thereby forcing people to leave their pets behind, can have serious public health consequences for the pet owners—and for everybody else.

Makana, a 7-year-old female yellow Labrador retriever, was diagnosed with bilateral adrenal tumors so her owners brought her to the UC Davis veterinary hospital. Working together with the Internal Medicine Service, who were managing Makana’s case, surgeons with the Soft Tissue Surgery Service developed a plan to address her complicated condition. Surgeons at UC Davis are pioneering laparoscopic procedures for small animals, and have extensive experience in dealing with adrenal tumors.

While there is still much to be known about equine coronavirus, researchers at UC Davis are discovering many commonalities among horses infected with the disease and are hopeful to someday find the root cause. Their research is helping veterinarians better diagnose and treat the disease, as well as helping horse owners manage or even prevent an outbreak.

Hank, a 10-year-old male Australian cattle dog, lives with his family in a rural area in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. After roaming the property recently, he returned home bleeding profusely from the mouth, and it appeared his tongue was missing. Hank was taken to a local animal hospital where veterinarians were able to stop the bleeding and manage his shocked condition. Due to the severe nature of his wound, he was transferred to the UC Davis veterinary hospital.

Congratulations to Delaine Quaresma (’18) who will be presented with two awards from the American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP) during the annual conference in Omaha, Nebraska this coming September. 

Last week, the federal Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced the Safe Genes program to explore innovative genetic techniques to support bio-innovation and combat biological threats. The effort, supported by a $65 million grant from DARPA over four years, aims to harness gene editing tools in a safe, responsible manner to maximize the benefits of these technologies while minimizing their inherent risks. Vector biologist Greg Lanzaro joins the effort as part of the UC Riverside-led team. 

Summertime is made for hiking, swimming, camping and exploring—often with your dog. There’s more to consider though than grabbing the leash and heading out the door if you want to avoid possible health problems and a visit to the vet. Here are a few key tips for keeping your dog safe on those Instagram-worthy summer adventures. 

No matter where you stand at the racetrack, a catastrophic breakdown is horrendous, and the horror is compounded for people with a direct connection to the horse. But out of tragedy can come important lessons.

All day every day 50 horses from the University of California, Davis herd are under surveillance. The observations aren’t intended to catch the horses engaging in exotic behavior; rather, they are intended to help veterinarians, students, technicians and owners detect expressions of pain on horses’ faces.

We all know cats love boxes and other small spaces to climb into. Dr. Karen van Haaften, a resident in the Behavior Service, discusses some possible reasons why.

Six Davis High School students who took the inaugural veterinary science class at the high school this past year are now working side-by-side with UC Davis vet students and professors.