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Try to imagine you’re a Bengal tiger with a painful toothache. Now imagine you’re the dentist who needs to perform a root canal on the 500-pound animal. It is not unusual for large cats rescued by The Wildcat Sanctuary to have dental disease that impacts their quality of life. Too often they have been fed inappropriate or unhealthy diets that result in these problems. It can be very expensive and medically challenging to address sometimes advanced dental decay and more often than not private owners never treat the disease.
At 8 a.m. today dental specialists from the Peter Emily International Veterinary Dental Foundation (PEIVDF) arrived in Sandstone, MN, for what would become a marathon dental workday involving a tiger, Titan and a cougar, Cody at The Wildcat Sanctuary. Titan came to The Wildcat Sanctuary after Cyndi Gamble was tragically killed by another tiger Tango. Cody the cougar was rescued by the Sanctuary from deplorable conditions.
By Saturday afternoon, 4 root canals and 6 extractions were completed by four doctors in four hours on two patients. The surgeries was performed by a generous group of doctors from NM, CT, VA, IL and WI who donated their time, talents and the use of special equipment to make this weekend possible. “A lot went into making this weekend happen. Their dedication and compassion is so appreciated,” said Tammy Thies, TWS’ Director. “On top of traveling from several states, the doctors and staff had to hike in ½ a mile since our road is still impassable due to the spring weather.”
The Peter Emily International Veterinary Dental Foundation “Veterinary Dentists Without Borders” program provides veterinary dental services to captive animal facilities and animal sanctuaries. PEIVDF operations are conducted at no cost to the receiving nonprofit.
PEIVDF provides AVDC-certified veterinary dentists with experience working on the types of cases for which assistance is requested. If suitable, PEIVDF may bring veterinarians working toward their AVDC specialty certification, and/or veterinary technicians and/or DDSs interested in studying veterinary dentistry.
The dental weekend, coordinated by Dr. John Baillie of Cedar Pet Clinic Lake Elmo, TWS’ Medical Director involved the 6 PEIVDF doctors, Cedar Pet Clinic staff, The Wildcat Sanctuary’s Director and several staff.
Our sincere thanks to everyone involved, for their kindness, compassion and generosity.
Thank you PEIVDF specialists:
Kris Bannon, DVM, FAVD, DAVDC
Barron Hall, DVM, FAVD, DAVDC
Cindy Charlier, DVM, FAVD, DAVDC
Bob Baratt, DVM, FAVD
Brian Hoelscher, DVM
John Scheels, DDS
Melissa Gray, Assistant
Thank you Cedar Pet Clinic Lake Elmo:
Dr. John Baillie, DVM
Dr. Noemi Plantz, DVM
Sara Croft, Technician
The Wildcat Sanctuary (TWS) is a non-profit, no-kill rescue facility, located in Sandstone, Minnesota. TWS provides for the humane rescue and sheltering of unwanted, mistreated, and neglected privately owned wildcats that pose a risk to public safety. We do not buy, breed, trade or sell animals. TWS is committed to public education about the captive wildlife crisis; offering veterinarian training opportunities; and supporting legislative solutions to the public safety issues created by private ownership of wild animals.
