Have you ever known a veterinarian so skilled and gentle, you wished vets treated people? Your internist had the edge, though, in high-tech equipment and procedures…
Now, even that gap is starting to narrow. Veterinary Specialty Services, a hospital in Ballwin, is hiring a veterinary neurologist and adding 4,000 square feet to house a new MRI unit. Before, your terrier either had to travel to Columbia, Mo., or climb into a human MRI—and even the best “down-stay” wouldn’t have lasted long enough. At VSS, pets can be safely anesthetized for a state-of-the-art MRI, and the hospital recently replaced its CT scanner, too, so it’s now the only facility in St. Louis with both pieces of equipment on-site.
The main advantage will be for spinal-cord surgeries. Dr. Mark Anderson, a veterinary surgeon who’s one of VSS’s owners, already performs such surgeries routinely; he’s done delicate disc replacements and restored movement to plenty of dachshunds with paralyzed hindquarters.
On the lower level, VSS has a pool for hydrotherapy and just added a diagnostic lab. Two underwater treadmills allow physical therapy without the stress of weight-bearing. “They’re using underwater treadmills for people now, too, and raving about it,” Anderson says. “We started this 13 years ago!”
VSS has the only board-certified animal cardiologist in the St. Louis area, Dr. Cecilia Marshall, and she’s able to use a fluoroscopy unit—with a camera shooting a continuous X-ray—to place pacemakers or avoid surgery by passing a coil through a long catheter, repairing blood vessels that haven’t closed properly.
One of the simplest VSS procedures can prevent dogs—even older females, who before now had to take replacement hormones or wear “bitch’s britches”—from dribbling puddles of urine all over the house. “We use a hydraulic device, a piece of plastic that goes around the urethra,” Anderson explains. “You fill it full of water and control the tightness of the sphincter.”
He continues listing specialties: Two veterinary oncologists oversee courses of chemotherapy refined to have minimal side effects. Two internists handle upper and lower gastrointestinal problems—“and you don’t have to get a colonoscopy just because you’ve turned 50!”
