In our service, veterinarians and staff work to prevent as well as treat injuries related to arthritis, old age, amputations, neurologic problems, and sporting and athletic activities. Our team of veterinary specialists helps owners rehabilitate their pets to pre-injury health, develops training programs to improve the athletic performance of companion animals while keeping them healthy and strong, conducts research to improve orthopaedic rehabilitation, and educates our veterinary students.

For patients, the service offers a variety of state-of-the-art surgical and nonsurgical treatment options for acute and chronic illnesses. Our goal is to improve patient comfort and accelerate surgical or injury recovery time for a wide range of small animals.

How Will Your Gift Make a Difference?

Your gift allows the service to acquire leading-edge technology for high-quality patient care and build the nation’s best small animal sports med/rehab clinical, educational, and research team. Most importantly, your gift ensures we can educate the next generation of veterinarians so that arthritis and injury prevention become a routine part of veterinary care.

Ways to Help

Clinical Service and Teaching

Studies show the importance of rehabilitation and comprehensive treatment, including nutrition and an exercise regime, after surgery and to prevent arthritis and injuries associated with athletic activities such as agility and field trials. These injuries also happen during every-day athletic activities such as hiking, playing catch, Frisbee, swimming, and playing.

To meet the growing demand for our service specialty, we are focused on bringing in the best and the brightest faculty, residents, interns, and technicians. To help us accomplish this goal, your gift can support:

• Full-time faculty member ($6 million gift to create a perpetually funded, named University Endowed Chair)
• Resident ($50,000/year with a three-year commitment)
• Technician/Client Liaison ($60,000/year with a five-year commitment)

Rehabilitation Equipment

Some treatment options in small animal sports medicine and rehabilitation are only available if you have the right equipment. No single option works for every patient. However, financial limitations require us to select certain modalities based on cost and availability. Currently, our greatest equipment needs are: 

• Therapeutic ultrasound for treatment of muscle injuries ($2,000)
• Underwater treadmill/pool ($60,000-200,000)

Facilities

The James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital is undergoing a major renovation. As a part of that construction project, the Small Animal Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Service will have its own state-of-the art treatment and rehabilitation clinic. Your gift can help make that happen.

Research

Current projects include accurate joint angle measurement and novel gait analysis methods to improve objective outcome measures. We also conduct clinical trials that build our knowledge and advance care.

Make a Gift

Make a gift now on our secure online giving page, or learn more about giving opportunities by contacting:

Dr. Felix Duerr
felix.duerr@colostate.edu
(970) 297-4140

Aaron Phaneuf
Director of Development
aaron.phaneuf@colostate.edu
(970) 491-2969​​