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FeedThe animal doctor
Brightening animals’ futures, one eyeball at a time
As a child in Alberta, Canada, Nicole MacLaren rescued baby mice from the jaws of dogs on her family farm. She spent hours doting on the orphans and creating tiny rodent hospitals where she kept the babies and nursed them back to health. “My dad was not happy when he discovered my success in saving the mouse population,” says MacLaren.
“I loved animals and wanted to take care of them.”
From the time she was a toddler, animals have been a huge part of MacLaren’s life, so it’s no surprise that she is now a veterinary ophthalmologist, working with animals all over Utah and the western region.
On an average day, MacLaren might treat a dozen pets in her office, as well as wild creatures like red-tailed hawks, before driving across the valley to the Hogle Zoo to get a closer peek at the corneas of a howler monkey.
“I love working with all animals, which is the fabulous aspect of being a veterinary ophthalmologist, because I can treat any animal with an eyeball,” says MacLaren.
Because ophthalmology had always fascinated MacLaren, she caught the eye of her professors in veterinary school. “Even though I was a student, the professors knew of my interest and would often ask me to look at cases in the clinic for them,” she explains. “My interest grew from there, and I read all I could about this tiny organ that is so incredibly complicated.”
MacLaren graduated from veterinary school in 1989 and promptly began an internship in small animal medicine and surgery at the University of Illinois, and then went on to her residency in ophthalmology at Purdue University. Although MacLaren has been a solo practitioner, last summer she recruited other vets to start a new venture at the Veterinary Specialty Center of Utah.
The best part of MacLaren’s work is examining an animal that originally came to her blind and, because of her expertise, sees her face clearly for the first time and responds with genuine enthusiasm, such as a hearty tail wag or a climb into her arms to properly lick her face.
“The greatest part of my day is when a puppy born with cataracts, who I performed surgery on so he can now see, jumps into my lap and is excited to see me—literally!”
MacLaren rarely has a dull day. For example, during one house call to the Hogle Zoo she worked on a sedated polar bear that continued to rumble disapproval throughout the exam.
“The zoo staff tranquilized the bear with a blow dart and she settled partially on the ice-covered cement at the door of her enclosure. I lay down on my stomach, snapped on my head gear and began my exam eye-to-eye and nose-to-nose with her,” explains MacLaren. “Every time I began to open her eye, she would growl and move her paw.”
MacLaren got through the exam, though she wondered just how deeply the bear was sedated. “Moving quickly, I injected her eyelid, did a biopsy, then sutured her eyelid, still nose-to-nose with this enormous bear,” says MacLaren. “Efficiency was the order of the day.”
The bigger the animal, the tougher the job. “Clarissa was a huge camel, even by camel standards. One icy winter day she slid, fell, and injured her eye socket and needed surgery, but she didn’t think so,” laughs MacLaren. “She was furious at me for wanting to examine her. The minute I walked into her stall she tried to kick, spit, bite and yell at me.”
When MacLaren called the owner, she was told that it wouldn’t be a problem to treat Clarissa because they were going to bring in Jenny, a tiny pony that the giant adored. From the moment the petite horse arrived, Clarissa became much more manageable. “Clarissa smiled, the way only a camel can smile. From there on, we could medicate, sedate, anesthetize, and do orbital surgery on Clarissa.”
In 1995, when MacLaren arrived in Utah, she was 32 and single. “A friend of mine, who was coming to a birthday party I was throwing for myself, asked what she could bring,” MacLaren remembers fondly. “I told her to bring a bottle of wine and a man.”
The chardonnay her friend donated to the celebration was not memorable, but the man was unforgettable. His name was Dan Campbell, a professional photographer. During the following years the couple made several trips across the globe, taking photos of remote villages and exotic animals in locales like Morocco, Marrakech, Patagonia, Kenya and Canada. In 2001 their union culminated with a wedding at Sundance and a honeymoon in Uganda to see the mountain gorillas. They now have two daughters, Samantha, 5, and Cate, 4.
“I want to teach them that although work is an integral aspect of our lives, it should be enjoyable and fulfilling,” says MacLauren.
MacLaren is following her passion and brightening futures one eyeball at a time.
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