July 30, 2008

State fair is showtime for Purdue School of Veterinary Medicine

For the 24th year, the Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine is teaming up with the Indiana Veterinary Medical Association to demonstrate surgical procedures and give presentations daily during the fair, which runs Aug. 6-17 in Indianapolis.

The surgeries and the presentations will be in the Our Land Pavilion. The spaying and neutering surgeries are done in a glass-enclosed operating room that allows fairgoers to watch from seats outside. Overhead cameras in the room feed outside monitors that give observers a bird's-eye view. 

Most of the surgeries will be done by IVMA veterinarians. Assisting at each surgery will be a senior veterinary student and an anesthesia technician from Purdue, and a surgery technician from either Purdue or IVMA.

Those watching can hear the surgeon and assistants in the operating room. A veterinarian or veterinary technician from either IVMA or Purdue will be stationed outside to provide details on what's happening and answer questions.

"It's quite a production," says Kay Knox, regulatory compliance technologist with the veterinary school who coordinates the state fair events.

 "We're doing this to promote spaying and neutering while also giving fairgoers a chance to actually witness a real veterinary surgery. We want to show that a spay or neuter is a fairly routine surgery, and yet it requires all of the care and sophistication that you would see in a human medical facility.

"We talk about the reasons to do the surgery. We answer commonly asked questions, and we debunk myths about spaying and neutering."

The cats and dogs being spayed and neutered will come from the Indianapolis Animal Care and Control shelter. The animals will have been adopted but must be spayed or neutered before they are released from the shelter.

 Surgeries will be done at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. each day except Aug. 6 and 13, when the only surgery will be at 1 p.m. On the fair's Purdue Day, Aug. 15, the morning surgery will begin at 10. On that day, Purdue veterinarian Lynetta Freeman will perform laparoscopic spaying, a minimally invasive surgery that involves three small punctures rather than an incision.

"It's a chance to show the latest technology being used," Knox says.

In addition to the surgeries, the veterinary school will sponsor nine presentations dealing with animal health. On opening day, Aug. 6, Annette Litster, an assistant professor of veterinary medicine, will talk about feline health, aided by some of the cats on exhibit at the fair. On Aug. 10, Beth Bretweiser of IVMA will get help from 4-H'ers' rabbits for a discussion about which breeds make good pets and which don't.

On two days, Aug. 7 and 8, fairgoers will get a tour of a horse's stomach. Michell Levy and Janice Kritchevsky, both associate professors of veterinary medicine, will sedate a horse brought in from the veterinary school and perform gastroscopy, which uses a slender optical instrument to give a look at the horse's insides.

Other topics include stuff dogs have eaten, Aug. 9, and when to get a second opinion, Aug. 12.

On Aug. 11, Steve Thompson, an associate professor of veterinary medicine, will talk about his research with the endangered timber rattlesnake. Knox notes that while Thompson will have lots of photos, he won't be bringing any live rattlesnakes to the fair.

Writer: Judith Barra Austin, (765)-494-2432, jbaustin@purdue.edu

Source: Kay Knox, (765) 494-1453, kek@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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