TulsaPets Magazine May 2023

18 TulsaPets • May / June 2023 VET SPOTLIGHT Dr. Lou Anne Wolfe One Pigheaded Vet by Andrea Chancellor W hen Lou Anne Wolfe, DVM, encounters a challenge, you might say — with respect — that she is a little bit pigheaded. She won’t let anything stop her from finding a solution or suitable work-around for any issue. She faced perhaps her toughest challenge in the 1990s while attend- ing the Oklahoma State University College of Veterinary Medicine. She wanted to study pigs in depth, but no one else in the class shared that ambi- tion. Instead of squealing or bristling over the situation as a pig might have done, Wolfe tracked down a sow farm in Minco, Oklahoma, and arranged to work for a vet there for six months. Then she developed and proposed a plan to OSU that would allow her to study and be trained in pig medicine. In reality, Dr. Wolfe recalled, “I created my own pig major.” She delivered her senior grand rounds on swine production medicine, includ- ing semen collection, artificial insem- ination, and herd blood sampling to test for swine diseases. Marshall Man Inspires Career Earlier, it had been love at first sight when she attended an exotic-animal auction at the Oklahoma National Stockyards in Oklahoma City. “I was the highest bidder for a Viet- namese potbellied piglet and named it Marshall Man,” she said, adding, “We became bonded, and he changed my life.” Marshall Man inspired her to ap- ply to veterinary school. Her training included attending pig vet sympo- Otis gets his share of snacks from Dr. Lou AnnWolfe. Photo courtesy of Andrea Chancellor.