A good vet

I went into veterinary school in part because I was inspired by our family vet, Dr. Francisco Cortez.

In vet school, I realized there was more to being a vet than dogs and cats. We had to study many animal species, all the way up to exotic pets like parakeets and turtles. Only fish were out of our domain, left to our neighbor at that time, the College of Fisheries.

The most difficult part was not being able to ask our patients how they felt, where the pain was, how they got sick or injured.

If you want to know the complex worlds of vets, I’d recommend reading the semiautobiographical novels of James Herriot—in real life a veterinarian, James Alfred Wight, who practiced in the English countryside. In vet school, I devoured three of his wonderful books: “All Creatures Great and Small,” “All Things Bright and Beautiful” and “All Things Wise and Wonderful.”

I practiced veterinary medicine only briefly and went on to human public health and anthropology. But through the years, I kept in touch with one of my veterinary professors, Dr. Teodulo Topacio, who it turned out had a life as colorful as James Herriot’s.

Somehow, our paths would cross. For example, when I would attend meetings of the National Drug Committee in the Department of Health, I would run into him because he was serving in a similar committee for veterinary medicine.

I knew of his work in veterinary public health, particularly in microbiology. He was recognized as the expert on leptospirosis, with an important discovery that pigs could also be infected and could then infect humans. He also worked on many other animal diseases and was a prolific writer.

I would also run into him at meetings of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), where he was venerated as one of the oldest and most hardworking National Scientists.

At one meeting of NAST, he whispered to me: “I heard you have been nominated to be chancellor in UP Diliman. You must run; it will make me so proud if you make it.”

When I did get appointed chancellor, he was one of the first to ask for a meeting. His agenda was to better manage the large number of dogs and cats—the latest estimate is about 10,000—in UP Diliman. Many of the dogs are stray animals, left behind by irresponsible owners as well as transients like construction crews. Others have owners, but have turned vicious because they are kept chained, on a short leash.

He asked, and got support, for his annual rabies vaccinations in the communities, supported by his fraternity Beta Sigma, the Rotary Clubs in Quezon City and a wide network of contacts in the city government.

It turned out he was one of the moving spirits behind the Animal Welfare Act, and had been steadfast in trying to get it implemented, especially in Quezon City. That meant overcoming obstacles like procuring vaccines, training people to round up dogs and cats, and getting communities to cooperate.

He was already close to 90 at that time, but was still reporting almost daily to the vet hospital in UP Diliman and occasionally to the vet school in UP Los Baños. We met several times a year to talk about the campus animals; he constantly reminded me that my being a vet meant I could deal with a very important, but unrecognized, challenge in many campuses.

Because of his prodding, we’ve kept moving in UP Diliman with our program for vaccination, spaying and neutering, the training of students and staff on responsible pet stewardship, and even training dogs to become emotional support animals. I was the excited one, like a student reporting to a teacher, telling him how UP Diliman had brought me back to veterinary medicine through One Health, which involves integrating human, animal and environmental health.

I saw less and less of Dr. Topacio because of his failing health. His last email to me was about his experiences eating tamilok! I regret that he missed our first mass spaying held last month, involving almost 300 dogs and cats.

Dr. Topacio passed away on July 9, aged 94. He will be missed, this good vet—good at practicing the profession, and good as a person dedicated and kind in all he did.

mtan@inquirer.com.ph