Unique veterinary options presented at open house

The Veterinary open house included a petting zoo, tours of the animal hospital and a dog show.

By Allie Blood

Published April 22, 2008

MU’s College of Veterinary Medicine invited students and community members to horse around at the school’s annual open house Saturday.

The open house began at 9 a.m. and lasted into the afternoon. Guests participated in a variety of events, such as a petting zoo, tours of the animal hospital and a Purina dog show.

At the reptile exhibit, MU Herpetological Society members displayed some reptiles for visitors to hold or touch. External Adviser Dave Doyle talked about venomous snakes in Missouri. Doyle said that there are 52 types of snakes found in Missouri.

“All of which are avid swimmers,” Doyle said.

Included in the 52 types, five are venomous, including the most common of the five, the Copperhead. Doyle said the best way to spot one is the “Hershey Kiss” pattern on their bodies. Even the venomous snakes are scared of people, so as long as hikers or campers don’t bother the reptiles, they’re unlikely to get hurt, he said.

MU Herpetological Society President Quentin Hall presented Chiller, an alligator Hall rescued from a criminal environment. While some of the rescues the society does are from criminal backgrounds, such as methamphetamine labs, the majority of rescues are from people who don’t realize how big or dangerous reptiles can get, Hall said.

Hall said he would take care of the alligator until it grows to about five or six feet long, and then send him to a no-kill shelter in Texas.

He said he would give the alligator up because they become dangerous and require a lot of food.

“We feed them blue gill, chicken liver for protein,” Hall said.

Full-grown crocodilians, alligators, crocodiles and the like are a danger to people who are untrained in their care. Hall said the most dangerous part of a crocodilian is not its mouth.

“If a full grown crocodilian whipped you with its tail, it could crush your rib cage,” Hall said.

Another reason reptiles can be dangerous pets is they don’t become affectionate toward humans the way dogs or cats do.

“They’ll recognize handlers for food, but that’s about it,” Hall said.

At the petting zoo, the veterinary medicine students presented animals ranging from baby ducks to full-grown cows. One station allowed for visitors to milk cows or even stick their hand inside one cow’s stomach.

The cow had an operation called a fistula, in which a hole was cut in its side, leaving an opening to the stomach. Second year veterinary student Leslie Pope said fistulas are comparable to a piercing, where the body heals to allow the hole to exist without harming the cow.

“Cows have a really strong immune system,” Pope said.

The reason for the operation is to research how cows digest different kinds of foods. By reaching into the cow and pulling out the digested material, researchers can see what is best for cows to eat. They can remove bacteria from the cow to give to sick cows to make them better.

“She can still have babies and milk,” Pope said.

Visitor Abram Spradling, 7, put his arm into the cow’s stomach.

“It looked dark,” Abram said. “It’s kind of weird that it doesn’t die.”

For prospective veterinary medicine students, tours of the hospital were available. On the tour, first-year veterinary student Kelvin Urday talked about all the different specialties the school offers. For example, MU offers both cardiology and ophthalmology, which is rare for a veterinary school, he said.

MU offers veterinary services to animals from zoos in St. Louis and Kansas City. Students have performed on animals such as zebras, tigers and leopards, he said.

“We have a world-class orthopedic component to our hospital,” Urday said.