The Oregon State University Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine is providing veterinary care to animals affected by the Oregon wildfires. To best utilize our resources, we are focusing our care on:
Consultation related to small animal burn and smoke inhalation emergency and critical care. Tandi Ngwenyama, D.V.M. ACVECC, is available for consultation. She can be reached at 541-737-9836 or tandi.ngwenyama@oregonstate.edu.
More than 110 CCVM veterinarians, technicians, staff and students have volunteered to provide care. Financial assistance is available for treatment of injuries and illnesses sustained due to wildfire.
Gifts to the Dean's Fund for Disaster Response are used for the treatment and care of animals affected by disasters where our veterinarians play a critical role in helping these animals.
Special thanks to both the American Veterinary Medical Foundation for its generous $10,000 gift and to the USEF Equine Disaster Relief Fund for its generous $7,500 gift supporting our wildfire response efforts.
Oregon Department of Agriculture Animal Tracker
(For helping Oregonians looking for animals displaced during the wildfires.)
Caring for livestock after a wildfire
State of Oregon wildfires and hotspots dashboard
Benton County, Oregon wildfire response
Pet disaster preparedness and recovery
Equine emergency disaster and preparedness
What to do: Run under cold water for at least 20 minutes. Evidence suggests that this can reduce pain and edema, reduce the depth of the burn, decrease the overall inflammatory response, improve the speed of wound healing and minimize scarring.
Pain management should be a priority: Treating pain early and aggressively has been shown to prevent psychological trauma and even to improve healing. A multimodal analgesic approach is recommended.
What not to do: Treat with ice. Ice causes severe vasoconstriction and can even deepen the burn.
Similar to humans, smoke exposure can have negative effects on animal health. Monitoring air quality with sites like airnow.gov, can help you make decisions about when to bring animals indoors, transport them, let them out or even potentially allow light exercise like walks. Owners should also remain cognizant of their own exposure to poor quality air during animal care activities.
Animals exposed to thick smoke and direct fire situations can develop severe thermal injury to their airways which can cause life threatening respiratory distress — animals in these situations should be monitored closely for signs of disease and veterinary assistance should be accessed. Animals with pre-existing problems such as asthma may also have disease signs exacerbated by poor air quality and may need veterinary attention to adjust medication regimens.
On the ground at the evac centers with Dr. Kate Schoenhals
Media contact: Jens Odegaard, director of marketing and communications, jens.odegaard@oregonstate.edu or 541-737-3844.