Yoda, a therapy sheep at the Ranch Hand Rescue Counseling Center and Animal Sanctuary, has made history by undergoing Patent Ductus Arteriosus ligation. Sometimes observed in humans after birth, PDA is a heart problem in which the ductus arteriosus blood vessel remains open, which allows blood to recirculate into the lungs. Surgical repair has been done on children, dogs and cats, but never a sheep.
The Oklahoma State University Veterinary Center for Veterinary Health Sciences team that included Drs. Ryan Baumwart and Danielle Dugat, got Yoda up and running again.
Source: American Heart Association, January 24, 2017.
The surgery is probably not that much different from human surgery,” said Dr. Dugat. “A lot of what we do in animal surgery translates back and forth from human surgery . . . We all take innovations and use them to learn.”
Source: OSU Center for Veterinary Health Sciences, January 30, 2017.
He is expected to live a full life. His life expectancy isn’t going to be cut short. His heart looks great. We don’t have to do any follow-up. His medications that he was on are getting reduced.
INSIGHTS: Before you faint at the $5,000 spent to save Yoda, see the Rescue Ranch’s website and watch the comments from ranch founder Bob Williams on the website and at the OSU link. Also note the AHA mention of Barbara Nelson-Horowitz’s book, Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us About Health and the Science of Healing (Knopf, 2012). If you deal with cats, cattle or something close, it is well worth reading.