Circle of Giving

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

The OSU Veterinary Medical Hospital is known for giving its patients excellent veterinary medical care. It’s their job, their purpose, their calling to provide that care while educating tomorrow’s veterinarians as fourth year students train in 17 clinical rotations. However, they routinely go above and beyond what is typically expected and that results in grateful client gifts. These funds are used to upgrade equipment, maintain the building and keep the hospital on the cutting edge of veterinary patient care. David Traub, M.D., of Tulsa, Oklahoma, is one such grateful client. He has been bringing his pets to OSU’s Veterinary Medical Hospital for the past seven years.

“Obviously, the excellence in care is what I like the best—really outstanding,” said Traub. “And then there are perks along with that. The people here care and I mean truly they care. And that makes a big difference for the health of the animals when they are recovering from surgery. I’ve been through this several times now and I think that’s what I like best.”

Traub has two dogs—Penny, a Golden Retriever, and Samantha, a German shepherd. Samantha has had knee stabilization surgery after she ruptured her cranial cruciate ligament. He also has three cats.

“The cats I found in my yard. I tamed them and brought them in the house. That was a project, but now they are all part of the family,” added Traub.

One of his orange tabby cats, Sardinia, was hospitalized in June 2015. He had surgery and then spent several weeks recovering in the hospital’s ICU. Being a feral cat at birth, he was not the most loving patient hospital staff and students have treated.

“Sardinia makes crystals in his urine and that obstructed his penis,” explained Traub. “He had acute renal failure. A mobile vet came to the house because the cats were feral and I couldn’t pick them up at the time. I can now; he’s been socialized. But at the time, we took him to a local hospital where a PU (perineal urethrostomy) was done. He didn’t do well so I called Dr. Rochat and explained what the problem was. He said bring the cat. I brought him that day and Dr. Rochat fixed him the next day by revising the PU. The surgery went perfectly.”

Protocol at OSU’s Veterinary Medical Hospital pairs a veterinary student with each patient. Taylor Holmgren, class of 2016, was assigned to Sardinia’s case.

“When I first saw Sardinia, I thought that he looked very scared and very sick,” said Holmgren. “I was worried that he would not like me because he wasn’t too fond of anyone else that he had come in contact with. At first, I would just sit at the edge of his cage with the door slightly open for about 10 minutes at a time. I slowly introduced my hand closer to him and by the end of the first week of caring for him, he was allowing me to scratch his head and hand feed him canned food. From then on we were friends! I continued to hand feed him and give him lots of attention for the next three weeks. It was amazing to witness what the human-animal bond can do.”

“Taylor did a wonderful job caring for Sardinia. She really went above and beyond what is expected and I truly appreciate that. The people here provide really outstanding care and they don’t do it for the money,” said Traub. “They are motivated by providing excellent care and by teaching other people how to provide excellent care and I can get into that. That’s a good motivation for me to help.”

And help he has. In the last two years, Traub has donated more than $40,000 to OSU’s Veterinary Medical Hospital. His generosity made it possible to install new state-of-the-art surgery lights with cameras that allow students to more closely observe the procedure in one of the hospital’s three small animal surgery suites along with other valuable pieces of equipment the surgeons need to maintain the high level of success they enjoy for patients like Sardinia.

“If somebody is motivated to want to help out beyond that, it doesn’t really matter how much,” said Traub. “Just giving something that you can comfortably reach, it goes to good work here.”

“I’m so grateful that Dr. Traub is so supportive of the veterinary hospital,” added Holmgren. “It is an honor to be part of such a great team here at OSU’s Veterinary Medical Hospital.”