When Guinea Pigs Become Patients

By Christine Gorman

Without extensive tests on animals, many of medicine's most spectacular advances, from antibiotics to heart transplants, would never have occurred. But increasingly, the tables have been turned: the guinea pigs have become the patients. Today veterinarians treat cancer, implant artificial joints, even perform open-heart surgery. Animal medicine in the U.S. has been transformed into a $5 billion industry that rivals human health care in sophistication. Says Franklin Loew, dean of the Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine in North Grafton, Mass.: "There are no technical boundaries to the application of human medicine to animals."

Four-legged patients are treated for conditions that just a few years ago would have meant putting them to death. The Coast Pet Clinic of Hermosa Beach, Calif., ministers each month to 50 new cases of cancer, primarily in cats and dogs, with a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. At Tufts, plastic surgeons graft skin onto badly burned animals. Vets at special wildlife clinics monitor birds for internal bleeding by taking their blood pressure with cuffs similar to those developed for people. Pets even benefit from therapies not yet available to their upright companions. Veterinary Cancer Specialist Ann Jeglum of the University of Pennsylvania, for example, , uses promising antitumor vaccines, still in the testing stage for people, to treat dogs with lymphoma and cats with breast cancer.

Already the day of the bionic dog has arrived. For the past three years Tufts Veterinary Surgeon Randy Boudrieu has implanted artificial hips in dogs whose own joints no longer work because of malformation, arthritis or injury. Canine hip problems are fairly common, Boudrieu explains, especially in such larger breeds as retrievers, setters, German shepherds and Rottweilers. The operation, which is now offered by only a few animal clinics nationwide, can cost as much as $1,500, or one-tenth the price of a similar human procedure.

For pooches with an irregular heartbeat, there are human pacemakers. In St. Petersburg, the Pinellas Animal Foundation supplies donated human pacemakers to vets who request them for needy canines. Mrs. Florence Myers, 84, who once owned a dachshund, plans to donate her $8,000 pacemaker to the foundation when she dies. Says she: "I just feel it would be nice if someday some dog could use it."

Valuable race horses have long been prime candidates for sophisticated medical techniques. Until recently, however, even a spectacular champion like Ruffian, the filly who was unbeaten during her brief career in 1974 and 1975, had to be put to death after shattering a leg. No more. By screwing metal plates into the broken bones, a practice adapted from human orthopedics, surgeons can repair the damage well enough for the animals to stand comfortably after the operation without a splint. (Earlier attempts frequently failed when the high-strung animals destroyed their casts, reinjuring their legs.) At Tufts, rehabilitation after surgery includes therapy on a gaited treadmill that can be set from a walk to a hard gallop. After recovery, many of the animals return to racing; otherwise, they serve their owners lucratively as brood mares or by standing at stud.

Preventive veterinary medicine is burgeoning. Animal doctors now routinely use X rays and other imaging techniques to detect nearly invisible hairline cracks in horses' legs before fractures occur. For tendon and ligament injuries, says University of Pennsylvania Veterinarian Virginia Reef, "diagnostic ultrasound has been a big boon in racing and horse-show circles." Racing has become such big business that young horses increasingly compete regularly when they are only two years old, before their bodies are fully mature. Equine Specialist Howard Seeherman of Tufts uses the treadmill % to condition yearlings in order to reduce injuries and improve performance. Says he: "There are so few months between their first saddling and their first race that most young horses need specialized training."

Professional animals have been covered by insurance for years. But who foots the growing medical bill for the high-tech treatment of pets? Many clinics provide advanced cancer treatments at a reduced fee to dogs and cats as part of collaborative studies with nearby medical schools. To pay for more traditional therapies, owners in some areas can now purchase pet health insurance, starting at $44 a year for puppies. The plans do not cover such routine care as vaccinations or neutering, but they pay claims of up to $1,000 for fractures, cancer treatments and cardiac surgery. The Veterinary Pet Insurance Co. of Garden Grove, Calif., formed in 1982, currently boasts 50,000 policies in 27 states and expects to add 13 more states by mid-1988. Few people doubt that they will make their goal: medical costs for animals climbed 183% from 1981 to 1986, in contrast to only about 59% for their masters.

With reporting by Suzanne Wymelenberg/Boston