Dr. Brian Scansen is a professor and service head of the cardiology and cardiac surgery section at Colorado State University. He recently led several sessions on heart disease in dogs and cats at WVC 2023 in Las Vegas.
The puppy, Will, made the long journey from Puerto Rico to receive the rare cardiac procedure at CSU's veterinary teaching hospital.
The endowment, given by a donor who wishes to remain anonymous, will be split evenly between two faculty positions: an interventional cardiology and cardiac surgery chair and an orthopedic medicine and mobility chair.
Do you have a dog? Want to help scientists understand what happens as dogs and humans get older? The Dog Aging Project needs volunteers.
The $6 million gift will expand capacity for treatment, surgery and rehabilitation at the James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
Ivar the dog was born with a hole in his heart and veterinary cardiologists were able to close it with the help of a 3D printer.
"We got right to where we needed to be pretty quick. She was not terribly stable, her heart rate was erratic, her blood pressure fell," Dr. Brian Scansen, an associate professor of cardiology, says. "It was touch and go for a time."
We love who we love. That extends to our pets as well, said Erin Allen, a social worker at Colorado State University’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital’s Argus Institute.
"Our service prides itself on offering the highest quality medicine regardless of the species. We know about the snickers and comments, and I hope that people are able to recognize how the human animal bond exists for ANY species." -Dr. Matt Johnston
'Colorado’ is another song I really like, what’s the story to that? "I wrote this one about my dog believe it or not. There isn’t a cure for mitral valve disease in dogs. But, I wasn’t willing to accept that. So I did a bunch of research and found a veterinary cardiologist at CSU who was conducting clinical trials on a prosthetic mitral valve replacement."