In Memorium

The veterinary community was rocked a month ago by the death of Dr. Tracy McFarland, a hugely influential veterinarian and the owner of The Cat Doctor. For those that didn’t know her, once Tracy was your veterinarian it was as though you were her family. She was particularly known for her devotion and kindness to cats and the people that love them, but to me she was my mentor and friend.
For many of us, we were devastated by the loss because our start in the veterinary field was at the Cat Doctor. When I was in my twenties, I first joined the Wayman Court Cat Doctor practice as a volunteer. I worked there for years until, supported by Dr. Tracy, I went off to vet school. When I first started, Dr. Tracy knew of my aspirations and was a constant wealth of information. She loved to teach her knowledge of feline medicine and every case was a learning opportunity in her eyes.
I still remember the first intestinal foreign body case I had ever seen. Tracy taught me to be suspicious when a young cat came in vomiting, that it might have something stuck in its intestines. It was holiday time, so she was automatically suspicious the kitty had eaten something holiday related, such as a decorative ribbon or tinsel from the Christmas tree. X-rays supported her suspicion and she took the cat to surgery while I got to watch her skillful removal of an almond from the cat’s intestine. We later learned the almond came from a decorative bowl of nut mix that had been placed for family visiting for the holidays.
Many knew Dr. Tracy for her devotion but my favorite memories of her include her consummate and superb skills. She used the perspective of the cat to determine the most likely illness for that situation and most of those cats left the practice in better health than when they came in.
There isn’t a day that goes by where I have a case that isn’t influenced in some way by Dr. Tracy’s teachings. There was nobody like her. We miss you Dr. Tracy.