Veterinary Medicine

When Sarah Harper took her cat, Pete, to Banfield, the Pet Hospital, she was encouraged to sign up for one of the company's "optimum wellness plans." For an enrollment fee of $69.95 and $16.95 in monthly payments, Harper was told, Pete would receive regular vaccinations and exams, as well as discounts on a variety of medical services from the nation's largest chain of veterinary facilities. "They were talking about 'wellness' and 'healthcare,' " she said. "It seemed like insurance." It wasn't.

For the dog that has everything, including a weight problem, there is now a government-sanctioned diet drug. The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the first weight-loss drug for canines. The once-a-day liquid medication, Slentrol, by huge drug maker Pfizer Inc. will cost as much as $2 a day. That's more than what many people in the world live on. Should Fido be on an appetite-suppressing drug? "This is an additional tool in a weight-loss program," said S.

Back in Pennsylvania on Monday, a horse named Barbaro remained full of life, eating well and checking out the female horses. All things considered, he has a good quality of life. Here in Los Angeles, the people most responsible for that quality of life were getting a day's worth of public pats on the back for actions in the last 8 1/2 months that have turned a potentially devastating horse racing story into a "possible" positive. If Barbaro lives, the positive stands alone.

Perky, the ring-neck duck that survived being shot and spending two days in a hunter's refrigerator, has now had a close brush with death on a Florida veterinarian's operating table. The 1-pound female duck stopped breathing during surgery to repair gunshot damage to one wing. The vet revived her by performing CPR. "I started crying, 'She's alive!' " said Noni Beck of the Goose Creek Wildlife Sanctuary.

They can sit, and stay, and fetch. They can sniff out drugs, guide the blind, dial 911. Maybe they can even cure cancer -- or help cure it, anyway. Many scientists see cancer in dogs as an excellent model for cancer in humans, and evidence is growing that they're barking up a very useful tree. Late last month, a vaccine to treat canine melanoma won conditional approval from the U.S.

Cancer isn't the only medical condition in which studies on pet dogs are proving useful. Studies on dogs with naturally occurring spinal cord injuries are also yielding benefits for humans as well as the dogs themselves. At Purdue University's Center for Paralysis Research, director Richard Borgens and his colleagues have pioneered three successful canine treatments that are now in various stages of development for human use. * Helping nerves communicate.

Eli Lilly & Co., which built its reputation on insulin and antidepressant Prozac, launched its first prescription drug for pets. The company will market Reconcile, a beef-flavored chewable tablet that helps treat dogs for separation anxiety, in the U.S. The medicine is supposed to be used in combination with behavior management training to help dogs that have difficulty being separated from their owner or family members.

Why do people give up their pets? That was the question that Scott Sorrentino, president of the Rescue & Humane Alliance-Los Angeles, posed in the West Hollywood Auditorium on Saturday. He wrote the numbers 1 through 5 on a piece of paper and asked his audience for answers. "Moving," came one response. (the No. 2 reason). Behavior problems, someone suggested (No. 5). But the No.

Lt. Col. Randall Thompson knows his life has gone to the dogs. But that's probably a good thing for the Army, the canine corps and for him. One of only six clinical veterinary surgeons in the U.S. military, Thompson works to save the lives of some of the military's most valued assets: bombsniffing dogs that have been severely wounded in combat. He arrived here in October to open Iraq's first urgent surgical care ward for canines. Before Thompson's arrival, injured dogs were shipped to a U.S.

Arrest warrants have been issued for a pharmaceutical executive and two of his employees on charges they sold counterfeit veterinary drugs smuggled from Mexico. Veterinary Pharmaceuticals Inc. President Harold Des Jardins, James Mann and Marilyn Bracy were named in a criminal complaint in federal court. The firm sold about $2.5 million in counterfeit drugs from 2001 to 2005, the complaint said. The firm declined to comment.