"Every day in my clinic is like a visit to the zoo," says David Eshar, a new veterinarian at the Ontario Veterinary College Health Sciences Centre. While cats, dogs and livestock make up the majority of most veterinary practices, Eshar specializes in birds, reptiles and other exotic pets.

On this particular afternoon, he's just finished overseeing work on a guinea pig's overgrown molars; next he will be treating a gecko and later a hawk. On other days, Eshar has provided care for a serval cat, a baby lion, lizards, snakes, tortoises and many birds. "Parrots are a significant percentage of our clients," he adds.

Eshar, who was born and raised in Israel, has always been interested in these less-common animals. "As a child I had all kinds of animals as pets. When I started vet school, I would go to the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo on weekends to help out and learn more about the different animals."

For more, read the feature in At Guelph.

The Ontario Veterinary College announced today that Dr. Sherri L. Cox has been appointed associate dean, administration and chief operating officer of the Ontario Veterinary College Health Sciences Centre, effective August 17, 2009. The announcement was made by Dean Elizabeth A. Stone, who chaired the search committee.

"Dr. Cox was instrumental in taking the primary healthcare initiative from vision to reality," said Stone. "With this continuing level of professionalism and expertise, I am confident that she will work enthusiastically and collaboratively with OVC faculty, staff, and students to ensure that all facets of our OVC Health Sciences Centre are successful."

The OVC Health Sciences Centre integrates animal, human and ecosystem health. The Health Sciences Centre will support partnerships and collaboration with multiple stakeholders within and external to the university to provide outstanding educational experiences, innovative research programs, and high calibre health care."

In making the announcement, Stone expressed gratitude to the members of the search committee, which included faculty, staff and student members, for their hard work and commitment, and the OVC community for its participation.

"I am deeply honoured by this decision," said Dr. Cox. "I look forward to working with OVC faculty, staff and students, along with all our stakeholders, in helping the OVC Health Sciences Centre become a reality."

Dr. Cox recently graduated with a DVM degree from OVC and an MBA degree from the College of Management and Economics, at the University of Guelph, and has also studied at York University and Seneca College. For the past 8 years, she has been the President of Veterinary Business Consulting. In this capacity, she has worked with a number of private veterinary practices within California and Ontario, helping them to reach their organizational goals. Among her other activities, she is on the Board of Directors for the Toronto Wildlife Centre and has volunteered for many years in wildlife rescue and rehabilitation.

As associate dean, administration and chief operating officer for the OVC Health Sciences Centre, Dr. Cox will use her 20 years of organizational experience to focus on strategic and immediate operational needs for the OVC Health Sciences Centre. She will build on the momentum that has been created to increase opportunities for learning and research while maintaining the exceptional quality required to meet the expectations of all OVC stakeholders, including animal owners, veterinary professionals, government, related industries and the general public.

"Together, we can build an exciting future for the OVC Health Sciences Centre," Dr. Cox commented. "We will all share in the success as we create a global model for the improvement of health for animals, people, and the environment."

Canine blood donors give the gift of life at Ontario Veterinary College.

Lennox was obviously in pain when he arrived at the Ontario Veterinary College Teaching Hospital in August 2008. Diagnosed with a twisted bowel, the five-year-old boxer needed immediate surgery and many units of blood for severe gastrointestinal bleeding that had started the night before.

After a two-week stay in the intensive-care unit, Lennox went home with a clean bill of health. The blood he needed during his stay in ICU was available because of the dogs that participate in OVC's blood donor program.

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Internal medicine specialists see a wide range of cases at OVC teaching hospital .

OVC faculty Dr. Shauna Blois is featured in this month's publication of At Guelph .

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The halls are decked, the tree trimmed, everyone's busy being jolly and the kids are wondering what the heck are sugar plums anyway. Then along comes Rover, scarfing down the contents of an open box of chocolates (leaving behind only the orange-nougat-marzipan-filled kind that nobody likes) before chasing the fluffy new kitten up the tree and getting tangled in the lights.

The season of giving is full of fun and excitement for everyone but the holidays are also a perilous time for the family pet. The OVC reminds animal owners that prevention is the best medicine at this time of year.

Read more in the U of G news release.

The patients and the people of the OVC Teaching Hospital are featured in the 2009 Dogs in Canada Annual, on sale now at bookstores and newsstands across the country.

Guelph-based writer and multi-media artist Dawn Matheson and photographer Dean Palmer spent two days documenting life and death stories in the Small Animal Clinic and the hospital’s intensive care unit. The 8-page spread follows a Bouvier with a broken leg, a large mixed-breed dog paralyzed by a fall, and a 12-year-old Pomeranian with an enlarged heart and respiratory issues.

The Dogs in Canada Annual is the nation’s best-selling all-in-one guide for raising a puppy with distribution of more than 150,000 copies.

Science may be a step closer to solving the riddle of a deadly wasting disease that affects more than 50 species of birds including macaws, cockatoos and cockatiels, parakeets and parrots.

OVC researchers are collaborating with scientists at the University of California who recently identified a virus they believe to be the cause of PDD, or proventricular dilatation disease. Called avian bornavirus, it belongs to the same family that causes encephalitis in various mammals, including horses and cats.

Dale Smith, Pathobiology, and Michael Taylor, an avian and exotics specialist at the OVC Teaching Hospital, are working with the California group to learn more about the virus and develop techniques to diagnose and treat the disease.

The Guelph team also includes Davor Ojkic and Josepha Delay of the Animal Health Laboratory and DVSc student Raj Raghav. Another collaborator is Ady Gancz, an Israeli veterinarian who obtained his DVSc in Guelph.

Smith was one of the featured speakers at the Canadian Parrot Conference held Nov. 15-16 at the Holiday Inn Guelph. She provided an update on PDD research to the annual conference that brings together bird enthusiasts and avian experts to share knowledge about the care, behaviour and husbandry of parrots. To learn more, visit the website where you can watch a clip of Smith’s recent appearance on Rogers TV. 

Geri Higginson enjoys tackling new challenges.

The registered veterinary technician, who also has a BSc in zoology and environmental science, has worked for 10 years at the OVC Teaching Hospital, much of that time spent caring for birds and other exotic pets. She recently completed a MSc degree, focusing on the effects of diet on blood clotting in birds.

This fall she began a new role as the clinical research co-ordinator for the OVC animal cancer centre, part of the University of Guelph's Institute for Comparative Cancer Investigation (ICCI). This key position is funded by supporters of OVC Pet Trust.

"It's a brand new position, so I'm looking forward to the challenge of building something from the ground up," said Higginson, who has also worked in the hospital's oncology service, caring for patients, providing treatments and counselling owners. "It's very exciting to be involved in an initiative that is going to be such an important part of the future for the OVC and for people with pets stricken with cancer."

Higginson's duties will include recruiting patients for clinical trials, co-ordinating sample collection for the ICCI's tissue bank, communicating with clients and acting as a liaison with other hospital services and referral clinics as well as cancer scientists at the University of Guelph and beyond.

She will be an integral part of Canada's first comprehensive animal cancer centre, said Dr. Paul Woods, ICCI co-director.

"We're very grateful to OVC Pet Trust supporters for providing the funds for this position," he says. "Geri's first-hand experience as a caregiver and her science background will help us give our pets the best available cancer care and pursue new research into the many facets of cancer."

Every day, music and pets provide millions of people the world over with solace and escape from life's hardships.

In keeping with that spirit, a friend of the Ontario Veterinary College has organized a very special event in support of the intensive care unit at the OVC Teaching Hospital.

On Friday, Oct. 3, renowned jazz musician Peter Appleyard and his international quintet will take the stage at War Memorial Hall in A Concert for Cleo, a benefit organized by Appleyard as a thank-you for the care his dog Cleo received at the OVC this summer.

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Gifts to support DVSc position in surgery

The Ontario Veterinary College has created a fund to honour the memory of Dr. David Holmberg, who died suddenly last month.

The fund was announced on Monday as friends and colleagues shared in a celebration of his life at the OVC Lifetime Learning Centre. It will support a graduate student DVSc position in small animal surgery as a tribute to David's many contributions as a surgeon, teacher and scholar.

The head of small animal surgery in the Department of Clinical Studies, he was a highly valued member of the faculty at the OVC since 1986.

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