The Michigan State University Veterinary Medical Center is the only animal hospital in Michigan that offers more than 14 specialty services under 1 roof to large and small animal patients. On average, it costs $64,252 a day to support this expert treatment and 24/7/365 emergency care at the Hospital, a not-for-profit organization. Any and all funds earned by or donated to the Hospital are used to treat its patients, employ its staff, aid clients in need, and support business operations.
From the runs of the Small Animal Intensive Care Unit to the stalls of the Pegasus Critical Care Center for horses, the Hospital is a busy place. On any given day, one can expect to see senior veterinary medicine and nursing students typing up case notes between patient visits, residents comforting clients’ pets like their own, and surgeons scrubbing in for a quality-of-life-altering procedure.
This setting and level of care are uniform for the entirety of the Hospital’s caseload –30,854–an increase of just more than 9 percent compared to the previous fiscal year. With 14,460 new patients this year–12,325 of them being new emergency patients–the MSU veterinary healthcare team certainly felt some growing pains, especially during peak pandemic times. Hard hours became challenging shifts, which turned into a long year. Despite all that, these Spartan veterinary professionals are called to this lifesaving work to help the animals and families that need them most.
