Bob and Sandy’s dog, Billy…In the span of a week, our dear dog Billy lost an eye.  In the span of a week, Bob and I had our lives drastically changed.  And in the span of a week, we discovered a vein of gold stuck inside a cramped, outdated building.

On a Friday night in December of 2007, Billy yelped in pain and red serum leaked from his right eye. We went to the emergency vet, who kept him overnight and then transferred us to UGA to be seen by the ophthalmology department there. GVS has an ophthalmologist, but the procedure Billy needed was beyond her training, so to Athens we went. Drs. Weinstien and Accola came in on their day off and worked on Billy into the wee hours of Sunday morning. A condition our veterinarian had mistakenly treated as rather routine and benign had cost Billy his right eye and severely damaged his left one. Grafting the ulcer in his left eye was no guarantee he would be able to keep it but it was his only shot, so it was one we had to take. The doctors and hospital staff treated Billy as if he was their own. They did the surgery, kept him in ICU for a week, and then sent him home with us.

Sure, there were instructions for his care…4 pages of them.

Sure, there were eye medications to be administered…nine different meds on 6 different dosing schedules meant that we were sticking something into poor Billy’s eye 42 times a day.

Sure, there have been better Decembers in our lives, but we made it through all the work it took to keep Billy’s remaining eye healthy by reminding ourselves of the team we had on our side at the University of Georgia’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

Each time we went back for a follow-up visit, someone who had cared for him during surgery or in ICU afterwards popped their head in the door to visit with Billy and see how he was doing. They ruffled his fur like he was an old friend, and he gave out kisses in a never-ending supply. And when, late one night, we looked at his eye and saw trouble, we went straight to Athens to the only place where we knew that eye would have a chance, and again, Drs. Weinstien and Accola were there to meet us and evaluate the problem. At midnight on a Monday night, they both came in and put their heads together to try to save one dog’s eye.

Billy’s nine years old. I hope we have at least another 5 or 6 years with him, and hope he gets to keep his eye that whole time. There are no guarantees, but he’s got a lot going for him…two people who love him and two doctors who are determined to give that eye and our dog the best chance possible for a sighted life.

Were it not for the doctors and staff at UGA’s vet school, Billy would have no eyes. Please donate to the UGA Teaching Hospital Building fund…there’s a link on this page that will take you to the secure UGA giving site, and your donation is tax-deductible.

On behalf of Billy and the rest of the animals that have been helped and will be helped at the University of Georgia, thank you.

In May of 2003, I was given a baby Senegal Parrot as a birthday present. I named my baby Harley, and we bonded very quickly! In October of that year, Harley began scratching and preening furiously as if he itched or was experiencing discomfort from something. This concerned me, and I took him to a local veterinarian who decided to give Harley a subcutaneous injection of Ivermectin a common cattle wormer, in case he had mites. I was unsure about this, but the vet assured me it was completely safe so I agreed.

Within the following half-hour, Harley became lethargic and was uninterested in food. I tried to convince myself that it was just because of the stress of going to the vet's office, but I was worried. I continued to monitor his behavior throughout the evening, and he became increasingly listless. I was very worried at this point, but did not know who to call after hours. Harley was, and still is, my best friend and I was worried that I was going to lose him!

At around 1:00AM when I checked on him, he was sitting on the bottom of his cage with his head drooped. There was regurgitation around his feet and on his beak. Desperate, I began calling the offices of every avian-certified and exotic specialist veterinarians even remotely nearby, and one had instructions on their answering machine to contact UGA if there was an emergency after normal business hours. I contacted the school and got directions from their staff. Everyone was very kind, and told me that the exotic specialist at the school would meet me there. At about 2:00AM, we set out on the three hour drive to Athens with Harley who was unresponsive and barely clinging to life.

When we arrived at UGA's School of Veterinary Medicine with Harley, the students welcomed us in, offered us something to drink and pointed out the restroom since we'd had a long drive. They started the exam, getting his vital signs. The exotic specialist veterinarian was so kind to come into the clinic so early in the morning, and he examined Harley. He explained to me that Harley's chance of survival was only about 5% at best, and that all they could offer was oxygen, warmth, and fluids, which would give Harley the strength to fight if he wasn’t too far gone already. The Ivermectin interrupted his body’s chemical signals to and from his brain, but it might be possible to flush it with fluids. I wanted to do anything possible to help Harley, regardless of cost. I brought his favorite toy to put in his oxygen tank with him, and when I left I thought I was going to lose my little friend.

Every time that I called to check on him throughout the day, to my surprise he was still fighting! The students there contacted me a couple of times each day to inform me of Harley's status. There were not many changes in his condition the first day, but the fact that he was alive at all was surprising to everybody! The next day, Harley was more responsive, and he was gaining weight. Everybody was getting more hopeful that somehow he was going to pull through! The students and staff seemed to really care about Harley.

The third day, Harley was normal, other than a slight twitch that he did not have before his ordeal. They told me that I could take my baby home that day! We drove back out to Athens with fruits and veggies for Harley to snack on for the ride home, and when we arrived at UGA we were greeted warmly again by the students and staff who had been so compassionate to Harley and to me during this emotional time! The student on his case told us that Harley had been riding on her shoulder all day, and that everyone had been rooting for him. They informed me that he may suffer some slight neurological "ticks" from the coma caused by the Ivermectin, but that he should be otherwise completely normal. On the ride home, we even discovered that Harley had started mimicking the beeps of equipment he had heard during his stay, and he quickly lost the little twitch.

I cannot begin to demonstrate how much respect and gratitude I have for the students and staff at UGA's School of Veterinary Medicine. They gave Harley the life-saving treatment he needed, and they also understood the pain I was in at the prospect of losing a beloved feathered family member. Today, Harley is happy, healthy 5 year old parrot. We have a very special bond, and without the awesome students and staff at UGA I would not have my baby today. He is simply the best friend that I could ask for!

We have a Boykin spaniel whose name is Buddy and he is now 8 years old.  When he was approximately 1 year old, his back paw was shattered.  Our local vet said he needed an orthopedist to repair his paw.  So I contacted our vet in Florida, who I have the utmost respect for, and she said UGA was where we needed to be treated, so off to UGA we went.  The doctors, interns and staff were extremely professional, compassionate and caring.  Whenever I called they gave me an update on this progress.  Buddy had the intern wrapped about her finger.  He got special “ice cream”, treats and whatever else he could get out of her.  Approximately $3,000 later his back paw was repaired and you wouldn’t know today that anything had ever happened.  I am so thankful for the compassionate and caring staff at UGA.  After 2 years of loan payments, I wouldn’t have done anything different.

In 2006, I fell and shattered my ankle.  My orthopedist gave me stainless steel plates, pins and screws for around $26,000.  Buddy has titanium plates, pins and screws.  My dog has better hardware than I do and at a fraction of the cost.  Go figure.

Keep up this good work.

Bentley is not just our family pet, he’s a retired show dog and the most valuable employee at our business, at the Marietta Wine Market. He’s our official greeter, and has been known to recruit customers by charming the passers-by on our side street just off Marietta Square.

For the first year he lived with us, Bentley suffered from ear infections. As an English Springer Spaniel, a breed with dropped ears, it’s not uncommon to have to treat ear infections, but his never seemed to get better or go away. We tried standard ear infection treatments for over a year, but after seeing no improvement, our vet sent a culture to UGA College of Veterinary Medicine. They diagnosed a resistant strain of bacteria and compounded exactly the drug that Bentley needed to be infection-free.

It’s that kind of service that makes the UGA Teaching Hospital vital to pet owners all over the south. Bentley didn’t even have to go to Athens to be helped by the staff of the hospital. We appreciate the attention, and better yet, the cure, given to Bentley and hope that you’ll support Billy’s Building Fund so even more animals can be helped.

Wanda Stover writes:

This is a story not about one of my pups, but one of our Southern Cross rescue dogs. His name is Phoenix.

Phoenix was on death’s doorstep when we got him to UGA. He was starved, had horrible skin infections, and ended up with pneumonia. When a dog has been starved for a long time they often wolf down the first few bowls of food, and that’s what Phoenix did. He aspirated some of that food, which brought on the lung infection. The staff at UGA was wonderful! They were so amazed by this dog’s will to live, and amazed that in spite of his obvious problems, his blood work was normal! They worked with him and nursed him back to health. He spent a week there, charming Dr. Bell and his assigned vet student, Tracy Brown, who ended up being his foster mom until a forever home could be found. Phoenix now has a wonderful home in Pennsylvania and weighs 85 pounds and has a full cost of fur.

He is truly an amazing success story because of the care he received at UGA!!

Meredith Estep writes:

Spike, a long-haired tabby cat, was born on June 19,1992.  About 8 weeks later, I adopted him.  Spike offered me companionship that I will always cherish.  He knew when I needed his love and attention, and would jump in my lap, rub up against me and purr as loudly as he possibly could.  He slept on top of my pillow with me each night, and was he was cordial to other people and accepted other pets that we brought into the family over the years.

When he was about two, Spike started missing the litter box and having trouble eliminating.  I rushed him to my local vet who determined that he had a bladder infection, provided us with antibiotics and put Spike on a special diet.  Sadly, that didn’t resolve the problem.  He continued to experience problems when needing to use the litterbox, so back to the vet we went.  Again, the problem returned after only a few days.

Finally, my vet diagnosed a complete urinary blockage and recommended that I take Spike to the University of Georgia Teaching Hospital for emergency surgery.  When we arrived, the staff warmly welcomed us and took Spike under their wing.  I immediately knew he was in good hands, both during the urethrostomy surgery and his 10-day stay afterwards.  The staff and students took the time to educate me on what was going on, they kept me updated regularly on Spike's status, and they encouraged us to visit Spike during his stay after he was out of the ICU.

Although Spike is no longer with us, I will forever remember and appreciate the University of Georgia's Teaching Hospital for taking such good care of Spike (and me) during our time of need!

Susie Crockett writes:

Buster was a character, a trouble-finder and a dog with a huge heart.  He was our son’s dog, and got into as much trouble as any puppy could, from getting stuck under furniture, eating cash that had to be surgically removed, downing anti-inflammatory pills and needing his stomach pumped, ripping up carpeting, eating furniture, door frames, dog tags and rocks to spending the night in ICU after sitting on a nest of hornets.  It was for dogs like Buster that veterinary insurance was designed.  We, unfortunately, didn’t have it for him, but we loved him and took care of all the injuries his curiosity helped him incur. 

He began limping on March 12, 2006.  I thought he had probably jumped out of my husband's truck and sprained his leg.  I took him to Dr. Branch in Tifton (who knew Buster very well by then) and he thought it was probably a sprain too and gave me some medicine.  By Thursday, Buster couldn't bear any weight on his leg.  Back to Dr. Branch who did some x-rays and told me to come back that afternoon for a consultation.  He took me to the back of his office, which sort of scared me because we had never been past the exam rooms before.  He pulled up the x-ray and said he thought Buster had cancer.  I thought it wasn’t possible, that he had just done something crazy again.   But you could see a spot on the bone of his right front leg and Dr. Branch was pretty sure what it was.  He said we needed to go to the University of Georgia Veterinary Teaching Hospital to have them take a look.  I asked for an appointment the following week and he told me that we needed to be up there the next day.  I could see urgency in his face. 

So, off we went to Athens, still not expecting that it could be cancer.  After new x-rays, they thought it was.  On review of the biopsy results, one pathologist said it was, one wasn't sure, and one didn't think it was cancer.  We went home to Tifton to think about what to do.  The doctors recommended amputation of the front leg and then chemotherapy.  That would give Buster maybe a year, with luck.  If we did nothing, he had maybe 4 months. 
 A few days later, Buster had his amputation.  Three weeks later we began his rounds of chemotherapy, 3 doses of two different drugs, 3 weeks apart.  We met some of the greatest veterinarians at the University of Georgia that you could ever meet.  Dr. Burns did the surgery and Brennen McGoldrick was Buster's student teacher at the time.  I truly respect and admire the work they did with Buster on his surgery and rehabilitation. 

 We were then transferred to Dr. Melissa Parsons, Dr. Mike Childress and Dr. Nichole Northrup to begin the cancer treatments.  We met numerous students who were wonderful with Buster and I am sure have by now gone on to become fine doctors. In the middle of the chemotherapy treatments, we discovered 2 mast cell tumors that interrupted his chemo so they could be removed.  Through it all, Buster was a champ and the staff at UGA were our cheering squad and our life line. 

My husband was offered a job in Oklahoma at about the time I was scheduled to have a knee replacement and Buster was scheduled for surgery to remove a small lympoma that appeared on his remaining front leg, which was worth a million dollars to us all by that point.   

My surgery was scheduled a week after his, and when we were both home from the hospital, we recuperated together with help from my Mom, who came to stay with us. 
 After moving to Oklahoma, we found new vets to care for Buster.  When he began limping on a hind leg, the new vets thought his cancer had probably returned.  We knew it would, but because Buster had beaten the odds, we just thought maybe he had gotten past it or maybe it hadn't been cancer after all.  We had the same shock as the first time he was diagnosed.  It couldn't be, but it was.

I called Dr. Northrup at UGA, and even though it had been over a year since she had seen him, she remembered him fondly.  She thought we might have one option with a drug called summarium.  Buster had a weeklong treatment with this new drug, hoping it would stop the growth of the tumor on his hip.  It didn't.  Osteosarcoma is a beast.  It hits with a vengeance and just won't let go.  Buster began chemotherapy again and was put on medication for pain.

When the time came to make the hard decision, we made it, knowing that what he had given us was much more than we had given him.  For ten and a half years, he was our constant companion, our buddy and best friend.  For the last 33 months and 14 days, he was our champion prize-fighter, living much better and much longer than most dogs with this type of bone cancer.   And we credit the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine for his extra time with us. 

Dan Keenan writes:

Approximately 5 years ago I adopted a greyhound who was a successful racer, but had to retire early due to a rear leg fracture.  Fortunately the crew at the Wichita track where he had raced took care of him, and placed his leg in a cast.  An Atlanta-area adoption agency picked him up, and I was able to take him right after the cast was removed.  I'm explaining all this because he certainly worked hard early in his life, and has already endured tough times.

Well, it didn't take long for me to realize how goofy and sweet greyhounds are.  He has a unique personality, and seems to really enjoy life.  Three years ago I started noticing some build-up of an unknown substance in his ear.  It was very tender for him, too.  I took him to my regular vet, who could tell something was wrong, but didn't have the equipment to get a detailed look deep inside his ear.  The preliminary analysis was that the substance was dried blood, and he had a growth inside his ear canal.  I was referred to the University of Georgia Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

At UGA, they removed the growth and performed a biopsy.  It was negative.  After bringing him home, he was on antibiotics and pain medication for a few days.  Still, he seemed uncomfortable, and the ear continued to be tender.  I took him back to UGA, and he underwent some more tests,  including a CT scan.  The vets found that he had a couple of other growths deeper in the ear canal, and a large one in the middle ear that had burst his ear drum.  It wasn't a good situation.  The large growth was suspected to be cancerous, and the team faced the difficulty of how to remove it.  My options were to have them remove the ear canal and entirely close off the ear, or to attempt to remove the growths in the ear canal - and then drill through his skull to remove the growth in the middle ear.  The latter option would save his hearing in that ear.  It also ran the risk that the growths would simply come back in a few months.  And with all of that, there was also the possibility that he would need long-term cancer treatment.

They recommended that we remove the ear canal, and I eventually agreed.  My heart was in my stomach because I only wanted to do what was best for my sweet greyhound.  It wasn't an easy decision, because they warned me that the surgery had a risk of partial facial paralysis.  During surgery, they also performed a biopsy on the large mass in his middle ear.

The best of all possible outcomes happened:  the biopsy came back negative.  The growths turned out to be polyps instead of tumors.  After the surgery, my heart sank when I saw his half-shaved head, and the stitches which closed the ear canal.  Slowly, though, he recovered and became accustomed to the loss of hearing in that ear.  His fur grew back, and no one can even notice that one of his ears is sewn shut.

All of this happened two years ago, and I'm happy to say that he isn't showing any residual effects from his affliction or the surgeries.  I can't recall how many trips I took between Atlanta and Athens to drop him off and pick him up, or how much it all cost.  It was probably about 10 round trips and about four thousand dollars.  It doesn't really matter.  I'd do it all again.  The staff at the UGA Vet Hospital were incredibly supportive and professional.  I was truly impressed with their effort, and also their passion.  They really know that when people bring in animals, those animals are very, very important.  I'm so grateful to be close enough to Athens that I was able to have my buddy treated there.

My greyhound's name is Vestor.  He just woke up from a nap, and decided he wants to go out.  It’s wonderful to be able to do the routine things for him, and that’s only possible because of the extraordinary things done for him at the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine.  Everyone, from the students to the vets to those providing administrative and management assistance, was very kind and understanding.  I hope I don't need to take Vestor back there, but if I do I will have total confidence in what they can offer.