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Stable condition
Veterinarian William Ferguson, left, helper Shannon Wagner and anesthetist Laura Mandas prepare for surgery on Bud at the Rogue Valley Equine Hospital near Eagle Point. A growing horse population brings with it the need for hospitals By BILL KETTLER The chain hoist in the operating room ceiling tells you straight out that this surgery center serves some mighty big patients. A half-ton cutting horse named Bud lay on his back in Eagle Point recently while a team of veterinarians removed an undescended testicle from his abdomen. The scene resembled any other modern surgery suite - men and women wearing masks and gloves, surrounded by electronic monitors, talking quietly as they worked - except for the size of the patient. Southern Oregon's growing horse population has prompted local veterinarians to provide surgery services that were formerly available only at veterinary hospitals on distant university campuses. Rogue Valley Equine Hospital recently opened its equine surgery center near Eagle Point, and Crater Animal Clinic in Central Point is finishing construction on a similar operating room. "There are enough horses around here now," said Central Point veterinarian Eric Keiser. "The cattle are leaving and the horses are taking over. They're valuable to people emotionally and financially." No one has exact figures for how many horses live in Jackson County, but people in the horse business put the number at 10,000 - and growing. "It's been increasing by at least 2 or 3 percent every year," said Randy White, who works with horses and livestock for the Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center. "Look at all those white fences going in." Veterinarians looked at those figures, added thousands more critters in southwestern Oregon and far-Northern California and decided the region could support its own horse hospitals. "It seemed logical for us to go forward with it," said Eagle Point veterinarian Tom Timmons, who built the surgery center with his partners, William Ferguson and Cary Hills. Veterinarians have done the most basic equine surgeries for years in open fields or a barn. Horses such as Bud that needed abdominal surgery were typically hauled to Corvallis or Davis, Calif., where teaching hospitals on university campuses provided the nearest sterile operating environments. "The (horse's) abdomen is a sacred place," Timmons said. "You don't go in there except under very strict (sterile) conditions. If you have one fly in the (operating) room, it's an issue." The long haul wore down the horses and their owners, too, said Ashley Magee, a Portland board-certified equine surgery specialist who will travel to the new Eagle Point surgery center to work with Ferguson, Hills and Timmons. "During the winter months especially, it can be a hairy drive," Magee said. "It's very stressful to trailer a horse like that for a long distance. It puts them more at risk for (post-surgical) complications and pneumonia." Magee said people usually had to make the trip twice, because a horse would typically spend three to six days at the hospital before it could get back into a trailer and travel home. The costs of traveling and the time commitment made the whole experience something of an ordeal. "I'd much rather take my horse here than Corvallis," said Julie Estremado of Gold Hill, who visited the Eagle Point clinic last week to make arrangements for an exploratory surgery for a horse with a chronic jaw infection. "It's great not to have to haul him anywhere. You have to take time off to take him up there, and maybe stay there." Timmons said surgery prices at the new center will be competitive with costs at Corvallis and Davis. "It comes down to a question of service," he said. "This is a service we want to sustain. We want to make people happy and have them keep coming." The new surgery centers will do primarily elective procedures, such as exploratory surgeries, or arthroscopic joint repairs. "Horses, being athletes, commonly have problems with their joints," Magee said. "Arthroscopic surgery is much less invasive and much easier on the horse than open joint surgery." In the future, they may staff the center around the clock for emergencies such as colic (a common and potentially fatal equine ailment). "For that, you need a day staff and a night staff," Timmons said. "That'll be down the road." Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail bkettler@mailtribune.com |
