Construction is expected to begin this November on a new companion animal center at the N.C. State College of Veterinary Medicine, according to Dr. Michael Davidson, the associate dean and director of Veterinary Medical Services.

The College of Veterinary Medicine has been working with University Planning for the past four years on this plan, Davidson said.

“The general contractor is a company called Bovis,” he said. “They have done a lot of work for the University on buildings and projects. The University architects and the Facilities office contracts out to outside architecture and engineering firms.”

The center, officially named the Randall B. Terry Jr. Companion Animal Medical Center, is expected to cost a total of $72 million. That figure includes the hospital itself, a 530-space parking deck, road realignment and infrastructure changes such as storm water management, power, chilled water and steam, according to Davidson. The Terry Center will be built over the current surface parking at the college.

“The big news and the good news from this legislative cycle is that the North Carolina Legislature had appropriated $38 million for that purpose,” Davidson said. “We have the other $34 million from privately raised money.”

Randall B. Terry himself made a $20 million contribution in the form of a pledge, in addition to $7 million previously. He became a friend and patron of the college after his seven golden retrievers were treated at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Davidson said. Terry was not married, and his dogs were like his family, according to Davidson.

“Mr. Terry is the primary donor and patron of the project,” said Davidson. “It was his vision to develop the center.”

Terry served as the president of the North Carolina Veterinary Medical Foundation, which supports the College of Veterinary Medicine. Terry was also active in raising scholarship money for students and became interested in a new companion animal center toward the end of his life, Davidson said.

A companion animal is generally a dog, cat or other small animal, according to Davidson.

“One of the things that has happened in veterinary medicine in the last 20 years is there has been a trend toward specialization away from general practice,” Davidson said. “When the current hospital was built, it was designed as a large general practice. Over the last 20 years, it has evolved into a referral center with a large specialty practice.”

According to Dr. Warwick Arden, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, the college needs a center devoted to treating companion animals.

“We do a lot of work with companion animals, and many of our students go into companion animal work,” he said. “This will be a state of the art facility that will allow us to provide among the best training in the world. It will have a tremendous impact on our outreach to the community.”

According to Davidson, small animal services such as internal medicine, cardiology, opthamology, dermatology, neurology, emergency and critical care, surgery and oncology will be moved to the Terry Center when it is finished. The current center will be renovated to house services such as dentistry, a reproductive and breeding service, a behavioral clinic and a clinical nutrition program.

The current center, built in 1982, was designed to handle a capacity of 12,000 cases a year.

“Last year, we saw almost 20,000 small animal cases,” Davidson said. “The biggest reason [for the Terry Center] is we have so dramatically outgrown our current capacity. The Terry Center will double our capacity and allow us to handle the 20,000 cases and grow up to about 25,000.”

According to Arden, the Terry Center will be approximately 115,000 square feet, while the current center is about 56,000.

“We will also retain some of the space in the current hospital,” he said. “Altogether, we will almost triple space for the companion animal program. It will be equipped in a state-of-the-art way and will allow our students to use state of the art equipment. [The center] will have a dramatic impact on the way we service our clients.”

Keara Boss, a fourth-year veterinary student, said there is a need for a new companion hospital because of the evolving nature of veterinary medicine.

“The expectations of clients for the care of their pets have increased dramatically as people are willing to go to incredible lengths for medical treatments for their animals,” she said. “The new companion animal hospital will allow our veterinary school to offer more advanced care and treatments for pets, while clients will enjoy the aesthetics of the new facilities.”

Boss said she is personally interest is small animal oncology, and she is especially excited that the Terry Center will include a “brand new multi-leaf collimation linear accelerator for radiation therapy for pets diagnosed with cancer.”

“We will be one of the very few veterinary schools to have this technology, and it will allow us to better treat animals with radiation therapy,” Boss said. “Our oncology department at our veterinary school is already one of the premier oncology teams in the country, and the addition of the new machine will make us even stronger.”

Even before being built, the Terry Center is, “a source of pride” for the College of Veterinary Medicine, according to Boss. Although she will have graduated by the time construction on the Terry Center is finished in 2009, Boss said she will be back to see the completed center for herself.sly