The stick jutting from the chest of a border collie named Koda was a shocking sight. A CT scan revealed the full extent of his injuries, showing the stick had pierced a lung, his diaphragm, and his liver but narrowly missed his heart. It was up to the Small Animal Surgery Service to save him. 

It took two procedures to remove the stick and damaged tissue, repair his injuries, and confirm no pieces of the stick remained in his abdomen, but six days later, Koda left the Veterinary Medical Center (VMC) and has since made a full recovery. 

While not every case the service sees is an emergency like Koda’s, the Small Animal Surgery team performs hundreds of procedures each year that save and improve patient lives. 

The service is split into three speciality areas: orthopedic surgery, soft tissue surgery, and sports medicine and rehabilitation, also known as medical orthopedics. Together, they tackle issues that span the entire body, from mending broken bones to removing tumors to preventing injuries to joints, limbs, and muscles.  

One of the most common cases seen by the orthopedic surgeons is a cruciate ligament injury, which is comparable to an ACL tear in humans. One treatment for this injury is a procedure called a tibial-plateau-leveling osteotomy, which stabilizes the joint by cutting the tibia (shin bone) and reattaching it with a bone plate to give the leg muscles an advantage. The team performs an average of two to four of these surgeries every week. 

On the soft tissue side, surgeons often see everything from common problems like bladder stones to complicated cancerous masses that require advanced medical imaging for surgical planning to remove. 

“Surgery gives us a chance to cure disease or significantly reduce pain and suffering, whether we are removing a mass or fixing a broken bone,” says Wanda Gordon-Evans, professor of surgery and head of the service. 

The sports medicine and rehabilitation team often sees sporting or working patients—think hunting dogs, K-9 officers, and canine athletes—with injuries related to their activities. The team works with these patients to heal and prevent these types of injuries. Its members also see other surgery patients for follow-up care. 

Regardless of the type of surgical care, the surgery and sports medicine team seeks to improve their patients’ quality of life with each procedure. However, that path isn’t always straightforward. In fact, there’s a saying on the service that “the patient didn’t read the book,” a quip that highlights how being innovative and inventive is a must for the team. 

That’s because not every injury or ailment has a documented solution, so developing new approaches, techniques, and treatments is often necessary to improve patient health. This is especially true in sports medicine, which is a relatively new specialty in companion animals. 

In some patient cases, this involves channeling expertise from across the surgical team and other specialties. 

Take Bernard, a Boston terrier born with an extra pair of hind legs, two sets of male genitals, a missing kidney and several other complex internal abnormalities that the surgery team partnered with other VMC services, including Medical Imaging and Neurology, to treat in 2025. Bernard recovered very well from surgery and continues to be an ambassador for the rescue that saved him.

“The best thing about working at the University of Minnesota in this collaborative environment, with people coming from different backgrounds and specialties, is that we are willing to try when no one else will,” says Josh Merickel, a veterinary surgeon and assistant professor. 

Meet the Service is a monthly feature spotlighting the people and work of the University of Minnesota Veterinary Medical Center's care services across its hospitals and clinics.