Attending Veterinarian and Veterinary Care

Both the Animal Welfare Act and the PHS (Public Health Service) Policy require the designation of an institutional attending veterinarian. In this role, Mary Sauer is responsible for an overall veterinary care program that encompasses:

• Observation of teaching, testing, and research animals to assess their health and welfare;
• Prevention, control, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases and injuries;
• Provision of guidance to animal users regarding handling, restraint, anesthesia, analgesia, and euthanasia;
• and Monitoring of surgery programs and postsurgical care.

The attending veterinarian serves as a permanent member of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). This satisfies the federal requirement that one IACUC member must be a veterinarian with training or expertise in laboratory animal medicine who has “direct or delegated program responsibility for activities involving animals at the institution” (PHS Policy, 1986).

Contact

Attending Veterinarian: Dr. Mary Sauer
Address: 11 Kildee, 806 Stange Road, Ames, Iowa 50011
Phone: (515) 294-0266
Email: msauer@iastate.edu

LAR Veterinary Staff

The attending veterinarian also oversees the Laboratory Animal Resources (LAR) veterinary staff, a team that consists of the director, three clinical veterinarians, and one program coordinator. Veterinary staff are available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and are on call on a rotating basis on weekends and holidays.

Animal caretakers observe each animal under their care daily and report any illness, injury, or death to the veterinary staff. In addition, the animals in each facility are observed at least once every two weeks by a veterinary staff member.

Upon receiving a report of sick or injured animals, the clinical veterinarian examines the animals and consults with the principal investigator (PI), or the individuals authorized (those listed on the a-tune protocol) to approve medical care or euthanasia. If the PI or his designee cannot be reached in a timely manner, the LAR veterinarian will determine the proper course of action.

Contact

Director: Rob Shipley
Address: 1426 Vet Med, Ames, Iowa 50011
Phone: (515) 294-0538
Fax: (515) 294-3976
Email: rshipley@iastate.edu
LAR emergency on-call veterinarian: (515) 290-3012