By Marilee Griffin

Dr. James W. Lloyd

James W. Lloyd, D.V.M., Ph.D., has been named dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Florida.

“I am confident that our internationally recognized veterinary college, hospitals and clinics will flourish under Dr. Lloyd’s leadership,” said David S. Guzick, M.D., Ph.D., senior vice president for health affairs at UF and UF&Shands Health System president. “He brings a wealth of expertise to our team. I look forward to working with him in continuing our tradition of excellence as the state’s only college of veterinary medicine.”

Lloyd was chosen after a nationwide search led by co-chairs Teresa A. Dolan, D.D.S., M.P.H., a professor and dean of UF’s College of Dentistry, and John P. Hayes, Ph.D., a professor and dean for research at the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

“Dr. Lloyd will make an outstanding addition to the leadership team at the University of Florida,” said Hayes. “I am particularly excited by his vision to position the College of Veterinary Medicine at the forefront of efforts to link health sciences, agricultural sciences and veterinary medicine to address some of the most important issues facing our society. He brings a tremendous set of skills to the table, and we are very excited that he will be joining us at the University of Florida.”

Lloyd will officially begin his new job in July, when he will become the college’s sixth permanent dean.

“I’m thrilled with the opportunity to lead the College of Veterinary Medicine at UF,” said Lloyd. “It’s an outstanding institution with a core of exceptional faculty, staff and students. Together with the leadership team, I look forward to working with both internal and external stakeholders to build on the college’s existing strengths in research, teaching and service and to expand the college’s recognition as a respected leader in academic veterinary medicine.”

The unique opportunity to collaborate with the Health Science Center and UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is exciting, Lloyd said. He’s also looking forward to active engagement with alumni and practitioners in the Florida Veterinary Medical Association, and to working closely with Florida’s diverse animal-owning public — including pet owners, horse owners and the livestock industries.

“We look forward to working with Dean Lloyd to grow the size, scope and diversity of these programs and bring ever greater visibility to the College,” said Jack Payne, Ph.D., senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources at IFAS. “IFAS is very proud of its partnership with the College of Veterinary Medicine in our joint research and Extension efforts, such as the Extension efforts in livestock, aquatic animal health, environmental toxicology, the Food Animal Reproduction and Medicine Service and the Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank.”

Lloyd most recently served as the associate dean for budget, planning and institutional research at Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. He maintained joint appointments as a professor in the departments of large animal clinical sciences and agricultural economics at MSU, and was an adjunct professor at MSU’s Eli Broad College of Business.

He earned a doctorate in veterinary medicine from MSU in 1981 and a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from MSU in 1989.

Lloyd has published more than 165 journal articles, technical reports, proceedings and book chapters. He has successfully secured grant funding for veterinary education and animal health projects, as well as for his research interests, which include non-technical behaviors that contribute to veterinarians’ success, markets for veterinary medical services and financial dimensions of veterinary medical education.

In addition, Lloyd has delivered more than 330 presentations and workshops nationally and internationally, including sessions on leadership development, teaching hospital management, curriculum, academic admissions and various scientific topics at 22 of the 28 U.S. colleges/schools of veterinary medicine.

During this time, he also taught extensively in both pre-clinical and clinical courses, with an emphasis on epidemiology, food safety, herd health management, production medicine, veterinary medical career development and veterinary practice management.

Lloyd is an active member of professional veterinary organizations, including the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Association of Bovine Practitioners and VetPartners. He served on the executive committee of the Michigan Veterinary Medical Association for four years and was its president in 2010.

“Dr. Lloyd’s experience as an agricultural economist, veterinary practitioner, educator and associate dean responsible for budget, planning and institutional research have prepared him well for the leadership position as dean,” said Dolan. “I have no doubt that he will work to develop an outstanding leadership team and advance the College of Veterinary Medicine to one of the top programs in the country.”

UF’s first total knee replacement surgery in dog successful

Dr. Justin Shmalberg, chief of the integrative medicine service, examines Mica, a 9-year-old Labrador retriever, during a check-up visit to UF’s Small Animal Hospital on Oct. 12. Mica received rehabilitation therapy following total knee replacement surgery in February. (Photo by Maria Farias)

Nearly eight months after undergoing total knee replacement surgery at the University of Florida Small Animal Hospital, a 9-year-old yellow Labrador retriever named Mica is racing through fields four days a week, sniffing out ducks in blinds and swimming while she trains for her master hunting title. It was the first time the procedure has been performed at UF.

“She loves being back to work,” said Mica’s owner, Kathleen Hornsby, of Archer, Fla. Mica has also competed in conformation, holds a companion dog obedience title and was trained for tracking. “A younger dog not as thoroughly schooled as Mica might have had a harder time remembering everything, but a lot of the work these dogs do is instinctive. She just went right back to it, even the blind retrieves.”

UF’s veterinary surgeons performed the procedure Feb. 22 with the help of Matthew Allen, D.V.M., an Ohio State University veterinary surgeon with expertise in canine knee replacements. On Oct. 10, Mica received her latest clean bill of health during a check-up at UF.

“Total knee replacement is a new treatment option for dogs with severe osteoarthritis,” said Stan Kim, D.V.M., an assistant professor of small animal surgery at UF. “Due to the equipment and surgical expertise required, the procedure can only be performed at a small number of institutions in North America. We now have the ability at UF to restore excellent function to dog’s knees that are affected by a variety of disorders.”

The two-hour procedure involves completely replacing the surface of the stifle, or knee joint, with an implant that mimics the normal anatomy of the knee. Kim and Antonio Pozzi, D.V.M., an assistant professor of small animal surgery, performed the procedure with Allen.

Kathleen Hornsby is shown with Mica and Dr. Stan Kim in the Small Animal Surgery treatment area of the UF Small Animal Hospital during a recheck appointment on Oct. 12. (Photo by Maria Farias)

“These implants took years to develop and are largely based on human total knee replacement systems,” Kim said.

In Mica’s case, her problems actually began when she was a 3-month-old puppy, racing around in the yard with her mother.

“Her mom raced over her, right on top of her left knee,” Hornsby said. “She screamed and hollered and limped for awhile and had surgery, but the veterinarians said back then that her knee would never be 100 percent normal, and she’d probably have arthritis in it.”

Mica’s owners treated her arthritis with medication, and the dog never limped when working, Hornsby said, adding, “When retrieving was on her mind, she didn’t even think about it.”

But in the past year-and-a-half, the limping grew worse. When Hornsby brought Mica to UF, surgeons said both her anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments were severely damaged, and the cartilage in her knee was completely worn away. This meant that the procedures UF veterinary surgeons typically use for an isolated anterior cruciate ligament injury would not work.

“They told us the only alternative was a total knee replacement,” Hornsby said.

UF veterinarians had never performed the surgery before, so they brought in Allen to assist and train them how to do the procedure.

Although humans have benefited from knee replacement technology for years, it has only been used in dogs with knee problems since 2007. Approximately 30 dogs per year have received the procedure since then, The New York Times reported in January 2011.

Total knee replacement is expensive, costing around $5,000, but Kim said UF is currently offering about a $1,000 discount — the cost of the implants, which are being provided free of charge — to owners of all dogs qualified to receive the procedure.

Mica is back at work and pursuing her master hunter title. (Photo courtesy of Kathleen Hornsby)

In the months following Mica’s surgery, she didn’t require retraining in her hunting abilities, just extensive physical therapy to build up her strength. Underwater treadmill therapy, stretching and bending twice a day and mile-long walks on a lead were part of the dog’s healing process.

UF veterinarians wouldn’t allow Mica to go off-lead for months after the procedure, saying the twisting and turning the dog might do if unsupervised could put unwanted stress on the knee prosthesis. But Hornsby said Mica ran her first post-surgery hunt test in August, and another one a month later with no leg problems.

Mica’s progress has exceeded veterinarians’ expectations, Kim said. Now, UF veterinarians will continue to monitor her annually to make sure she is doing well. During Mica’s check-ups, veterinarians use a weight-bearing machine known as a force plate to objectively measure how well she is using her leg.

“The most recent evaluation showed that her affected hind leg is gradually approaching the level of her normal hind leg,” Kim said.

The UF Small Animal Hospital is currently seeking dogs for a clinical study on total knee replacement. Dogs with severe osteoarthritis of the knee may be eligible.

Anyone seeking further information about the study, visit the website here or contact  Kim or Pozzi at 352-392-2235.

Dr. Dan Brown and bioscientist Dina Michaels use a fluorescence microscope to analyze cells of the canine immune system during infection with Mycoplasma canis. (Photo by Maria Farias)

By analyzing the genes of bacteria, University of Florida researchers have moved a step closer to pinpointing how two brain disorders common in small-breed dogs occur.

The researchers found that the bacteria, known as Mycoplasma canis, invade dog’s cells and suppress their immune system responses.

“This could explain how the bacteria are able to enter the brain in certain circumstances,” said lead investigator Daniel Brown, an associate professor of infectious diseases at the UF College of Veterinary Medicine. “If our theory is correct, it is possible that antibiotic therapy aimed at the mycoplasma could be beneficial if the condition is diagnosed early enough.”

The findings, which appear in the August issue of the Journal of Bacteriology, were also presented at the annual meeting of the International Organization for Mycoplasmology in France.

The researchers studied two common brain syndromes called granulomatous meningoencephalomyelitis, or GME, and necrotizing meningoencephalitis, or NME, which occur primarily in small toy-breed dogs such as pugs, Malteses, Yorkshire terriers, Chihuahuas and Pomeranians. The diseases affect the central nervous system, causing brain damage and symptoms such as seizures, decreased alertness and difficulty maintaining balance. There is no cure, but drugs can control the brain inflammation by suppressing the immune system.

No clear data exist on how widespread the disorders are.

“Although reliable information on new and existing cases is pretty scarce or nonexistent, inflammatory central nervous system disease is certainly one of the most common problems we deal with as veterinary neurologists,” said Christopher Mariani, D.V.M., Ph.D., an assistant professor of neurology at North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Mariana was not involved in the UF study.

The syndromes previously were thought to be caused by a virus or by an attack of the body’s own immune system. But University of Georgia researchers Renee Barber, and Scott Schatzberg, and colleagues, including Brown, reported earlier this year that whereas viruses were absent from the brain tissues of dogs with the diseases, the bacterium Mycoplasma canis was unexpectedly common. Interestingly, the researchers also found traces of the bacteria in some dogs that did not have the disease.

The bacteria would not have been detected by the methods used previously to search for a presumed viral agent.

In the new study, Brown and colleagues examined five strains of Mycoplasma canis isolated from three different parts of the body — the brain, the genital tract and the throat.

They found no difference between the genetic makeup of the bacteria from brain tissue and that of the bacteria from other sites.

What they did find was evidence that the bacteria don’t just sit on the surfaces of cells, but actually penetrate inside cells. That may be what enables entry into the bloodstream and eventually, to the brain, the researchers said.

“This finding is tantalizing, because it may offer an explanation as to why scientists have never been able to specify a viral, autoimmune or other cause of GME and NME,” Brown said.

In addition, different strains of bacteria were not equally efficient at suppressing the dogs’ immune responses.

The researchers are continuing to analyze the effects of bacterial infection on immune system cells known as macrophages to determine how the bacteria could breach the blood-brain barrier. Later, they will extend their studies to examining how the bacteria interact with different types of brain cells.

“The study is intriguing, but more work needs to be completed to determine the significance of these bacteria as a possible cause of GME and NME,” said Karen Vernau, an associate clinical professor and chief of neurology/neurosurgery at the University of California, Davis’ College of Veterinary Medicine, who was not involved in the study.

Drs. Luiz Bolfer, Carsten Bandt and Gareth Buckley stand at the “CPR station” near an emergency crash cart just prior to the public sneak preview of the new UF Pet Emergency Treatment Services after-hours emergency clinic.

A new after-hours University of Florida pet emergency clinic in Ocala is officially open for business, giving pet owners access to urgent care during time periods when veterinarians’ offices are typically closed.

The UF College of Veterinary Medicine teamed with a group of Ocala veterinarians to establish UF Pet Emergency Treatment Services, a 5,000-square-foot clinic located near the Paddock Mall at 3200 SW 27th Ave.

The clinic provides basic to advanced emergency care between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m. during the week and is open around the clock on weekends and holidays. UF small animal emergency and critical care clinicians staff the clinic, with the help of additional support personnel. The staff will rotate shifts in Ocala while continuing to provide services at the UF Small Animal Hospital in Gainesville.

“We’re all proud of this new relationship, which represents a meaningful collaboration among Ocala-area veterinarians as well as with the University of Florida,” said Dr. Dion Osborne, an Ocala veterinarian and graduate of the UF College of Veterinary Medicine. “This is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to provide even better service to our clients.”

Osborne and other veterinarians in Ocala formed the Pet Emergency Treatment Service corporation in XXXX with the goal of creating a new emergency clinic in Marion County. Soon after, the group began working with UF leaders to find a way to better serve pet owners in the Marion County region.

An official ribbon-cutting and open house was held June 30, giving the hundreds of people who attended a chance to glimpse the new clinic. During the event, Ocala Mayor Kent Guinn said he was extremely pleased to have the new “state of the art” clinic in his community.

“The location is so convenient. From town, you just turn on 31st Street to 27th Avenue and you’re there,” he said. “People will be able to easily get there from just about anyplace. And from an economic development standpoint, it’s important to have 20 new employees in the area.”

When the doors opened at noon for the public event, people poured into the doorways, touring the new facility, visiting with the UF and Marion County-area veterinarians who greeted them and enjoying refreshments on the sunny and hot last day of June.

“All of us were so grateful for the warm welcome we received from Ocala and for the huge turnout we received at this event,” said Dr. Glen Hoffsis, dean of the UF College of Veterinary Medicine. “We are looking forward to serving Ocala and Marion County by providing the very best emergency care possible to the pets in this community and by strengthening our relationships with Ocala practitioners, who have entrusted us to help them meet this need.”

Using gene sequencing technology, the researchers developed a “brain and immunity chip” to characterize molecular changes in the equine brain during illness and recovery from West Nile virus. The findings were published in the journal PloS One in October.

“We hope this will help us understand why some animals and humans become sick and others succumb to the virus resulting in severe illness, lifelong neurological debilitation and even death,” said senior author Maureen Long, an associate professor of infectious diseases and pathology. “Knowing this will allow us to come up with treatments that aid in recovery from illness.”

Lead author and Long’s former graduate student Melissa Bourgeois, created a gene library enriched for neurological and immunological sequences to develop the novel chip, which will help target genes that are active during brain disease states.

A gene chip, or microarray, is a slide with hundreds of pieces of DNA strands arranged in a regular pattern. When those strands, called probes, are exposed to genetic material from equine cells, researchers can identify genes associated with equine brain disease. The UF group relied on Agilent Technologies, based in Santa Clara, Calif., which has patented the probes.

In the end, the equine brain chip consisted of 41,040 genes and included many targets that have counterparts in human psychiatric diseases, such as depression and schizophrenia; and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Lou Gehrig’s disease.

West Nile virus is a potentially serious illness often transmitted by mosquitoes. Since 1999, more than 24,000 cases of West Nile virus encephalitis have been reported in horses in the United States, with more than 1,000 cases reported in 2006, according to the American Association of Equine Practitioners. In 2006, there was a 14 percent increase in human cases and new expansion of the virus into 52 U.S. counties.

Long and Bourgeois investigated the basic idea that certain families of genes change expression in
a consistent manner during West Nile virus infection, as well as during the disease and recovery from encephalitis caused by it.

“Although we knew there were microarrays that had previously been developed for horses, our goal was to create a brain and inflammation-based array to look specifically at how function was affected during brain infection,” said Long, who is also a member of the UF Emerging Pathogens Institute. “This chip has applications to many brain and spinal abnormalities of the horse including eastern equine encephalitis, equine protozoal myelitis, rabies, and even non-infectious diseases like Wobbler syndrome. This allowed us to detect changes that would not be common in normal horses.”

The UF study took more than five years and relied heavily on sequencing and bioinformatics expertise provided by the university’s Interdisciplinary Centers for Biotechnology Research.

“Analysis of the data found that many of the psychiatric, Parkinson genes and neuromuscular diseases were triggered,” Long said. “Then a computer program that can analyze hundreds of genes simultaneously was used to build models of various disease processes that may be affected in the acute disease and may result in other diseases once the infection is long gone.”

Data mining and testing of individual pathways of disease is the focus of current work in Long’s laboratory.

“The wonderful resources and excellent collaborators at the University of Florida will allow us to use the power of comparative medicine to contribute to the biology of brain infection in humans in animals,” Long said.

Bourgeois, who now works in the influenza division of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, said, “Information discovered in this research could eventually be used to combat not only outbreaks of West Nile virus, but also as a model to understand and reduce the impact of viral encephalitis in general.”

Other collaborators include UF’s Nancy Denslow, a professor of physiological sciences; David Barber, formerly an assistant professor of physiological sciences at UF; and Kathy Seino, an assistant professor at Washington State University.

Dr. Mike Walsh

Anyone paying attention to entertainment news these days knows about the new movie, Dolphin Tale, which opened Sept. 23 in theatres and tells the true story about Winter, a dolphin that survived entanglement in a buoy line by subsequently being outfitted with a prosthetic tail. What’s perhaps less commonly known is that the character of Winter’s veterinarian, played by Harry Connick Jr., is loosely based on none other than the University of Florida’s Dr. Mike Walsh.

Walsh, who is associate director of the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Aquatic Animal Health program, also performs veterinary services at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, which is where Winter has resided since being rescued by scientists from the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce back in 2005. Aquarium staff contacted Walsh, who was director of veterinary services at Sea World in Orlando at the time, to ask his advice about how to best obtain blood samples from the impaired dolphin.

“I first had contact with Winter when she was a baby, and because she was missing her tail, there was confusion as to how to get blood samples from her on a regular basis to keep track of what was happening with her,” Walsh said. “The probability of infection was high, so we needed to monitor blood on a regular basis.”

Winter, shown at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

Winter had lost her tail because the blood supply to it had been cut off when she was tangled in the buoy line, Walsh said. He recommended that samples be taken from the peduncle, the area between the dorsal fin and the tail since it could not be obtained from the tail, which is standard for obtaining blood samples from most dolphins but was impossible in Winter’s case.

A year or so later, Walsh was serving as the park’s veterinarian. Many companies and individuals had approached the park about creating some type of prosthetic tail, but deciding whether this was a feasible option – as an alternative to euthanasia – and what the safest approach was, took some time, Walsh said. Eventually the park wound up working with a company called Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics of Waterville, Maine.

“They had the best idea for achieving the goal without hurting Winter’s skin or causing other problems, and we thought that working with David Yates’ team at Clearwater was going to be a long term benefit for Winter,” Walsh said. He added that Winter’s success from a medical perspective was greatly impacted by Dr. Janine Cianciolo, who took care of her after her injury and nursed the dolphin, along with other members of the aquarium’s team, through infection, wound healing and growth.

Five years later, Winter is doing well, Walsh said. However, he cautions that managing her tail is an ongoing, lifetime issue.

“We still have a great need to continue to make progress and to make things even better over the long run,” he said, adding that as Winter grows, the needs of her tail change also.

Winter’s prosthetic fin is “like a sock made for a certain sized shoe,” Walsh said. “Her tail has been modified many times by the Hanger group team headed by Kevin Carroll and Dan Strzempka, and we have gone through numerous prototypes as a result as the need for change. Each time we introduce a new tail, we have to go through a readaptation process, depending on how well it fits and the degree of propulsion she gets from it.”

Veterinarians need to make sure not only that Winter is moving properly and building her muscles, but also that she can function well in a multiple animal environment with individuals that have normal tail structure, Walsh said.

“The challenge with Winter is coming up with solutions to a problem that no one has dealt with before,” Walsh said. “This is where the College of Veterinary Medicine excels.”

When filming took place for the movie, Walsh spent a day at the park with Harry Connick, Jr., talking to him about various medical issues experienced by animals there, including showing the star how some stranded sea turtles were being treated.

For his involvement, Walsh was offered two tickets to the movie’s premier in Los Angeles, although he turned them down due to other obligations.

Others from UF  have also played an important role in Winter’s care over the past few years, including Dr. Carolina Medina, chief of the college’s acupuncture and rehabilitation service, and Dr. Nicole Stacy, a clinical pathologist.

Medina said she had gone to see Winter several times in the past two years, adding that she performed acupressure, laser therapy and therapeutic ultrasound, and in addition, showed Winter’s trainers how to perform massage and stretching exercises.

Stacy has been involved in processing and interpreting diagnostic samples from Winter since 2009, “two to three times a week and more frequently during the time of filming last year for the purpose of monitoring her health during the process,” Stacy said.

Dr. Cuong Nguyen holds a microchip capable of stories thousands of individual cells, which are profiled through a process called microengraving. (Photo by Sarah Carey)

Tennis star Venus Williams’ revelation that she had Sjogren’s syndrome not only increased the world’s familiarity with the debilitating autoimmune disease, it also caused some buzz in living rooms and laboratories right here in Gainesville.

“This news generated a lot of discussion among members of the community, and among my colleagues,” said Dr. Cuong Nguyen, a new faculty member in the college’s department of infectious diseases and pathology. Nguyen’s primary research involves the immunology of Sjogren’s syndrome. 

He also happens to be an avid tennis player.

“I was quite surprised when I heard Venus Williams had been diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome,” he said. “This disease occurs predominantly in middle-aged women. Therefore, it was quite a shock to hear the news, since she is only 31 years old.”

Sjogren’s syndrome is a chronic autoimmune disease in which people’s white blood cells attach their moisture-producing glands. As many as four million Americans live with this disease, and nine out of 10 patients are women, according to the Sjogren’s Syndrome Foundation. Hallmark symptoms are dry eyes and dry mouth, but patients with the disease may also experience extreme fatigue and joint pain.

“That could greatly impact (Venus Williams’) game,” Nguyen said. “In addition, the constant experience of thirst due to the disease obviously creates a disadvantage for her to compete at the highest level in her sport.”

A micrograph of antibodies microarray produced by microengraving. The different colors represent two different antibodies and a combination of those antibodies.

Nguyen, who joined the college’s faculty in July after completing a Ph.D. and postdoctoral work at UF in the Colleges of Medicine and Dentistry, examines the genetics that contribute to susceptibility to Sjogren’s syndrome. He is currently studying a group of immune cells that have been shown to cause damage to the salivary glands. To profile these cells, Nguyen uses an innovative technology called microengraving.

“This technology uses microchips that allow us to identify thousands of individual cells, and at the same time characterize the biological and immunological function of these cells,” Nguyen said. “As a result, we have devised several gene therapy approaches to suppress this cell population in animal models. We have obtained stunning and promising data that I think will be beneficial in human patients.”

In close collaboration with Drs. Carol Stewart and Indraneel Bhattacharyya from the College of Dentistry and Drs. Wesley Reeves and Yi Li from the College of Medicine, Nguyen looks at correlations between the animal models and humans to determine if it is possible to translate the gene therapy approach to human patients.

“We haven’t gotten there yet, but hopefully we will soon,” Nguyen said, adding that one intriguing aspect of Sjogren’s syndrome is that is has never been studied in animals.

“From conversing with one of our pathologists, Dr. Pam Ginn, I learned that certain breeds of dogs come down with keratoconjunctivitis sicca, or dry eyes, and that necropsy has revealed immune cells in the salivary glands,” Nguyen said.

“Clearly, these animals manifest a certain phenotype of the disease, but whether it is Sjogren’s syndrome-related or not requires more comprehensive research, which I find to be quite exciting.”

Although he called Williams’ situation “highly unfortunate,” Nguyen said he applauds her courage to come forward with her diagnosis.

“I believe her courage is creating a widespread awareness on the part of the general population to obtain routine check-ups,” Nguyen said. “Early detection with the appropriate intervention can slow down the deterioration of the glands.”

On the lighter side, he added his siblings and mother, who also play tennis on occasion, finally understand the research he has been doing at UF for the last eight years.

By Sarah Carey

Baby Girl gets a walk during post-operative rehabilitation at Kesmarc Farm.

Although the journey has been long and painful for a rescued 2-year-old quarter horse named “Baby Girl,” the gentle buckskin filly is now on the road to recovery thanks to successful surgery Oct. 11 at UF’s Large Animal Hospital, a committed owner, and an ongoing regimen of advanced medical therapy.

“She is very  bright and remains upbeat and strong,” said Theresa Batchelor, president of Beauty’s Haven Farm and Equine Rescue, Inc., a non-profit organization located in Morriston, Fla. “She looks good, still loves to eat, and cleans up everything when she gets her meals.”

At the time of her rescue in mid-August, Baby Girl suffered from numerous signs of neglect and injury, including trauma to the right side of her face. She weighed only 295 pounds and could barely eat.

“Baby Girl endured a lot of pain and discomfort for two months before finding her way to us,” Batchelor said. “When she arrived, she was starving to death, while fighting chronic infection. She likely wouldn’t have lasted another week.”

Beauty’s Haven immediately started Baby Girl on a special diet, and within just five weeks, she had gained more than 100 pounds. But the problems with her facial trauma and draining wound continued.

An initial surgery performed at another facility in September to remove bone fragments from the right side of the horse’s jaw resulted in improved range of motion and allowed her to start chewing comfortably, eat more and gain additional weight. However, the wound on Baby Girl’s face was not healing, so Batchelor sought another opinion. Dr. Michael Porter, who owns an advanced mobile diagnostic practice and frequently examines horses at Beauty’s Haven, subsequently referred Baby Girl to UF for a CT scan and surgery.

The scan revealed that a large bone fragment was still present between her jawbone and her skull at the level of her temporomandibular joint. The fragment was dead and a large portion of the bone of both her jaw and skull was severely infected.

Dr. Ali Morton, an associate professor of large animal surgery, told Batchelor that the only viable approach to tackle the animal’s problems would be to surgically remove the problematic bone fragment. However, she knew the procedure would be very risky due to the proximity of the skull bone.

“Dr. Morton wouldn’t even give us 50/50 odds that she would come through the surgery,” Batchelor said. “It was pretty grim. I felt like someone had kicked me in the gut. Yet at the same time, I felt relieved to know what was really going on.”

Dr. Ali Morton, left, with Baby Girl in October at UF's Large Animal Hospital.

Morton said the horse’s fracture was unusual and in a very difficult location both to access surgically and to see on a standard radiograph.

“The CT scan was critical to identification of the problem and for surgical planning,” Morton said. “We are very fortunate to have this type of advanced-imaging capability.”

Morton said that in addition to Baby Girl’s fracture, the CT also revealed that she had severe infection of the bone of her jaw and of the thin bone of the base of her skull.

“The fragment was located just millimeters from this bone and the bone was so severely affected that it was questionable if it was even completely intact in the area covering her brain just next to the fragment that had to be removed,” Morton said.

Among the many hurdles Baby Girl had to overcome were recovery from two anesthesia procedures associated with her CT scan and surgery, recuperation from her severe infection and the healing of her wound.

“With the help of Kesmarc Farm, we added hyperbaric oxygen therapy to her antibiotic therapy, and Baby Girl has responded to every step amazingly,” Morton said. “She is still not completely out of the woods, but she is healing beautifully so far.  She is a special little horse, tough as nails, and loved by many.”

While cautioning that the horse is be prone in the future to developing arthritis in her jaw, UF veterinarians hope Baby Girl will regain more normal chewing function of her right jaw, and so far this improves daily.

Batchelor said the horse’s weight is now up to 450 pounds. She has responded well to the therapy at Kesmarc and is expected to return home to the farm in November.

“Between UF and Kesmarc, they saved this little girl,” Batchelor said. “I just can’t say enough good things.”

She added that many UF veterinary students volunteer at Beauty’s Haven and that a new group recently started working at the facility.

“God just brings people into your life when you need them most,” Batchelor said. “With Baby Girl coming home soon and these students here to help, everything is falling into place.”

She said time will tell what Baby Girl’s future holds.

“We just need to bring back her quality of life and let her figure out what she wants to do,” Batchelor said.

“I don’t see any limitations, but for us to keep her here indefinitely would not be fair to her. In my opinion every horse deserves its own human family.”

Anyone wishing to track Baby Girl’s progress may do so by visiting the Beauty’s Haven website at http://www.beautysequinerescue.org/daily_blog.htm

University of Florida researchers, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, report that a single dose of an immunocontraceptive vaccine controls fertility over multiple years in adult female cats.

Funded by Morris Animal Foundation, a nonprofit organization that advances veterinary research to protect, treat and cure animals, the five-year study was published in August online in the scientific journal Theriogenology.

The scientists hope their findings will aid in the registration and use of the vaccine to help manage overabundant feral cat populations humanely.

“Millions of free-roaming feral cats exist in the United States and in other countries around the world,” said Julie Levy, D.V.M., Ph.D., the lead researcher and director of the Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program at UF. “Unfortunately, their welfare is not always adequate, and they can have a negative impact on public health and the environment.

“We’re hoping this research will lead to a nonlethal method of control for feral cat populations that is less expensive, labor-intensive, and invasive than current methods, such as surgical sterilization,” Levy said.

GonaCon was developed by researchers at the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service National Wildlife Research Center. The NWRC is the federal institution devoted to resolving problems caused by the interaction of wild animals and society. The UF researchers involved in the testing do not have any licensing agreements with the USDA or any commercial interests in the vaccine.

In the study, 15 adult female cats received a single shot of the vaccine called GonaCon while five received a placebo. Following the injections, the female cats were allowed access to a breeding male cat and observed for breeding activity. All five placebo females became pregnant seven to 28 days after the male cat was introduced.

Cats injected with the vaccine, on the other hand, remained infertile from five months to more than five years. All of the cats were adopted at the end of the study.

“A total of 93 percent of the cats treated with GonaCon remained infertile for the first year,” Levy said. “In subsequent years, we saw a steady and expected decline in infertility as antibodies to the vaccine decreased. However, numbers were still quite high, with 73 percent of the cats remaining infertile during the second year, 53 percent in year three, 40 percent in year four, and 27 percent in year five when we ended the study.”

Although permanent sterilization is ideal, the relatively short lifespan of many free-roaming feral cats suggests that a contraceptive that blocks fertility for several years may be successful in reducing the population.

Joyce Briggs is president of the Alliance for Contraception in Cats & Dogs, a group advocating for non-surgical birth control methods to humanely manage populations of cats and dogs. She called Levy “a key player in efforts to advance new methods of fertility control.”

“We are intrigued by this study,” Briggs said. “Although a permanent sterilant would be ideal, a long-acting contraceptive could be an effective tool for managing feral cat populations, especially where surgery is unavailable or impractical.”

GonaCon is currently registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for use on female white-tailed deer; however, the vaccine has also proven successful with numerous other mammal species including feral horses, bison, elk, prairie dogs and ground squirrels.

The single-shot, multiyear vaccine stimulates the production of antibodies that bind to GnRH, a hormone in an animal’s body that signals the production of sex hormones, such as estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. By binding to GnRH, the antibodies reduce its ability to stimulate the release of these sex hormones. All sexual activity is inhibited, and animals remain in a nonreproductive state as long as a sufficient level of antibody activity is present.

Dean Hoffsis speaks to a group gathered for the grand opening of the new college auditorium on Aug. 19.

Clad in navy blue scrubs and surgical masks, the team swarmed around the small brown dog, swabbing the pup’s belly and prepping it for the day’s procedure. A camera in the University of Florida Small Animal Hospital operating room captured the activity.

A few buildings away, a crowd gathered in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s new auditorium watched the scene unfold live in high-definition on a white-screen wall as wide as the lecture hall itself. The ability to videoconference in high-definition with operating rooms and lecture halls at UF and around the world is one of the key features of the new space, which College of Veterinary Medicine leaders officially unveiled Friday Aug. 18.

“We can take advantage of this technology to enhance our teaching,” said Dr. Glen Hoffsis,  the college’s dean, as he demonstrated the room’s capabilities. “This can be a teaching tool for the whole class instead of just who is in operating room.”

The new auditorium, located behind the Veterinary Academic Building, seats 161 and has everything needed to not only connect to a wider audience but also do so in the most technologically advanced way possible.

The hall is equipped with three high-definition cameras, high-definition projectors, a sound system with flat panels embedded in the ceiling to capture not only what the lecturer says but also what students say and an expanse of white-screen wall large enough for three projections to appear at once. In addition, four large flat-screen monitors were placed toward the back of the room for folks sitting in the last rows.

Lecturers can use a desktop computer or laptop to present their material and a document camera is in place in case they want to project a specimen. A tarantula helped demonstrate this capability to the crowd, crawling across a staff member’s hand as every fuzzy leg was projected in high-def glory on the vast white screen.

To build the new auditorium, college leaders carved funds out of the Small Animal Hospital project, which was completed in late 2010. Like the new Small Animal Hospital, Hoffsis said the auditorium was needed in order to meet future needs. As the only veterinary school in Florida, class sizes will likely continue to expand in coming years and lectures remain the most efficient way to educate these students, an important fact in today’s economic climate, he said. Currently, there are about 100 students in each class, and second-year students spend the bulk of their time in lecture halls.

“We are going to be educating a lot more veterinarians and we are going to need more facilities. So our idea was let’s build this for the future,” Hoffsis said. “It was my wish that we would have lots of technology in here. That we would have a showcase for the whole campus and the technology would last long into the future.”

Aside from incorporating new technology, Hoffsis and other leaders also wanted the room to be comfortable for students. The lighting in the room is optimized for note-taking, wireless connections and outlets are available for laptops and the chairs were selected by this year’s sophomore class.

In addition to the new Small Animal Hospital and auditorium, the college is also poised to begin construction of a new education center, remodeling its reading room into a place where students can meet and use the same technology found in the auditorium in small groups.

“I hope with the facilities we have here that we truly can be leaders in veterinary education,” said Dr. Paul Gibbs,  associate dean for students and instruction at the college. “I think this s going to be an enormously welcome auditorium for the sophomores.”

A member of the second-year class, which will spend much of its class time in the auditorium,  agreed, saying: “We are excited to use this new technology and see where it comes into our learning. We are excited this is going to be our new home for the next year.”