“Grammar was a very special being. She was independent, yet loving. She was cool and tough, but still let me put pink collars on her,” Grammar’s owner recalls. “She did not suffer fools – but also had a great love for other dogs.”

Grammar, a white husky mix, was one of two puppies found in the woods in southern United States in 2010. She and her puppy mate were starving, weak, and desperately in need of care. Grammar’s owner adopted her without hesitation.

By Nicole Close, Ph.D.

Our journey with UC Davis began out of desperation and turned into one of the most meaningful relationships of our lives. In March 2023, we traveled from our home in Mexico seeking answers for Thor’s persistent cough. What unfolded was far more complex—Thor was diagnosed with melanoma. But it was also when we first met an extraordinary resident who calmly walked us through the diagnosis and treatment options, outlining risks and hope on a whiteboard with a clarity and care that instantly grounded us.

When Ron and Kathleen Spicer first crossed paths as rodeo competitors in the 1960s, they were drawn to each other by a shared passion for animals and an interest in their health and welfare. Their backgrounds—Ron hailed from a farm in Minnesota, where as a young man, he was a sought-after horse trainer, while Kathleen grew up on a cattle ranch in western North Dakota—fostered a love for animals that came to define their lives together. The self-described “cowboy and cowgirl from the Midwest” inspired many with their devotion to horses, dogs and other animals.

A planned educational enclosure dedicated to raptors will bring some extraordinary birds even closer to the general public, thanks to a partnership with the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden and the UC Davis California Raptor Center (CRC). The new habitat will be funded through philanthropy – with fundraising efforts currently under way.

The Masters of Preventive Veterinary Medicine (MPVM) program is a vital part of the School of Veterinary Medicine, supporting students to become leading professionals in critical assessment and application of epidemiological and quantitative methods for solving animal, human, and ecological population health challenges. The program prepares veterinarians and physicians to address animal, human, and ecological problems and to design and evaluate disease control or other health programs.

Thanks to UC Davis, my 9-year-old Miniature Pinscher Terrier Reesie is alive and doing well. She had a difficult health journey for a while. In December 2023, she developed a respiratory infection. Then a month later, when she started to limp, we discovered that she had a mass on her right forearm. Our local veterinarian thought it may be a sarcoma, so we started to make a plan to resolve the mass. And then, suddenly, Reesie started to have seizures.

Handsome is not your typical ten-year-old Doberman pinscher. Not only does he have a very strong vocabulary (his owner Judith Friedman said he can be very demonstrative when he needs something), he is also the first participant in a clinical trial through the UC Davis Veterinary Center for Clinical Trials (VCCT) that has the promise of treating metastatic cancer in dogs.

Lin Zucconi’s dedication to animals started at an early age. She loved her sister’s cat and had turtles of her own. Her dedication to them earned her the nickname in her neighborhood as the “turtle doctor.” When she went away to college at the University of California, Berkeley, she ensured the turtles had a home at the Oakland Zoo. As she moved into adulthood, she stayed dedicated to animals, especially cats. 

“We were interested in exploring pilot project ideas that could be proposed for Center-scale research and received these unrestricted funds at the exact time we needed them,” said Christine Kreuder Johnson, VMD, MPVM, Ph.D., a professor of epidemiology and ecosystem health in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

Haidee Stade had a passion for animals—especially dogs. She helped many homeless animals by volunteering at her local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. While she passed away in 2014, her commitment to animals lives on through a legacy gift to the Center for Companion Animal Health (CCAH).

Lin Zucconi’s devotion to her three Abyssinian cats is well known throughout the CCAH. She drives more than 100 miles each way to and from her home in Truckee to ensure that Doc, Itsybelle and Pinky receive the best possible care at the UC Davis veterinary hospital.

Doc and Itsybelle contracted feline herpes virus in utero that resulted in significantly impaired vision. Doc also has early stage chronic renal failure, a common disease in older cats.

Harold “Hal” Parker was a proud member of the Class of 1952—the school’s inaugural graduating class of 42 students, nearly all World War II veterans. He was pivotal in building the foundation for excellence in veterinary medicine at UC Davis, starting with the groundbreaking ceremony for Haring Hall in 1948.

Dr. John Zimmerman, DVM ’62 can’t thank the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine enough for giving him the training to pursue a fulfilling career. After graduation, he worked in dairy production and equine medicine for two years in Los Angeles before establishing the Sonoma Marin Veterinary Service in Petaluma, California, where he has been practicing for 57 years.

“Veterinary medicine has been a great fit for me,” he said. “I like cattle and ended up coming back to my home town. It’s given me a wonderful life.”

Grateful clients, Bob and Colleen Haas appreciate the decades of exceptional care their veterinarian and friend, the late Dr. Paul Miller ’71 provided for their horses. To honor him, the Haases contributed a gift to name the Paul Miller Rounds Room in the Equine Performance Center (EPC), envisioned as part of the master plan for the new UC Davis Veterinary Medical Center.