Dr. Jane Brunt: The Making of a Feline Veterinarian

By Donald F. Smith, Cornell University

With co-authors Julie Kumble and Melena Hagstrom

Cats are aloof, independent, and capable of dealing with pain on their own. These false assumptions still abound, and contribute to the startling figures: cats, despite being the number one companion animal in the US, are brought to veterinary clinics half as often as dogs. No one is more familiar with this situation than Dr. Jane Brunt, eminent feline expert and cat advocate.

           

It may come as a surprise that the cat was not the focal point of Dr. Brunt’s first strides in her career as a veterinarian. A Jersey girl-turned-Kansas resident, she completed her undergraduate and DVM degrees at Kansas State University (KSU). The strong agricultural presence at the university and the surrounding state gave Dr. Brunt a thorough background in ruminant medicine, and her initial inclinations after her 1980 graduation were to work with small ruminants, or perhaps go international.

A year later, after doing some dairy work and general small animal medicine, Brunt emerged an independent veterinarian, finding ways to work without direct guidance or constant mentoring. “I know I did things that weren’t necessarily the optimal way each time, but I learned independence.”  As to continuing to do large animal work for a career, she opined, “I could treat a cow with a prolapsed uterus in the middle of the night as well as any new veterinarian. I knew I could do it, farm calls and that lifestyle, but I also knew I didn’t have to.”

So Dr. Brunt changed course, and for the next three years, worked at a five-doctor cat and dog practice in Baltimore.

Then into her life walked the cat!  Feline medicine had been lurking in Dr. Brunt’s mind for a while, a ghost in the form of a cat nutrition sophomore project at the KSU veterinary college under her former professor, Dr. Russ Frey, and a chance experience during fourth-year clinics where she amazed herself by successfully placing an intravenous catheter in a sick cat. “That was a pivotal moment for me,” she says.  “Somebody let me do something and recognized my accomplishment, and I suppose it became a seed that grew.” 

To confirm her new career interest, she visited four veterinarians who owned feline practices: Drs. Marcia Levine in Buffalo, Joanna Gugliemino in Rochester, Sue MacDonough in Philadelphia, and Tom Elston in Boston. Dr. Brunt was inspired by their quiet and calm surroundings, the colleagues’ gentle ways, and their gracious hospitality. With the realization that she could do this as well, and her fascination with the quieter and more mysterious species, she engaged in “shoe-leather market research” and picked a place in Maryland where she felt a practice could thrive.

Here, she founded the Cat Hospital at Towson (CHAT), the first feline-exclusive clinic in the state. As with any practice, there were unexpected setbacks. “My associate fell in love with the contractor of the new practice location and they moved away,” she laughs. But she was successful nonetheless, and eight years later opened the Cat Hospital Eastern Shore (CHES), an hour from the first. (1)

These clinical efforts earned her recognition as a feline expert, and it opened new and interesting doors. Her current interests lie with the non-profit CATalyst Council, (2) formed from grassroots organizations within veterinary medicine, the shelter/animal welfare movement, and related Industry entities such as foundations, Cat Fanciers, the media, and commercial companies. As chair of the CATalyst Summit in 2008 and later her appointment as executive director of the Council, she attempts to further improve feline medicine and address the importance of feline care to the wider public. By virtue of open and inclusive structure of the CATalyst board, and Dr. Brunt’s direction, its associated bodies are able to represent a broad range of diverse stakeholders in feline healthcare and welfare.

In addition to her feline medicine interests, Dr. Brunt’s career has included her leadership in many aspects of organized veterinary medicine, including the Maryland Veterinary Medical Association (MVMA), American Animal Hospital Association, and a delegate in the AVMA House of Delegates representing the American Association of Feline Practitioners. In 1996, she founded Animal Relief, Inc., to assist organizations in the healthcare of animals, and cats in particular.

Dr. Brunt’s life with the cat reflects the modern version of such legendary feline veterinarians as Louis Camuti, (3) Jean Holzworth, (4) Fred Scott, (5) and Jim Richards. (6) Though she dismisses those comparisons too quickly, she does know her strength of character.

I know that I’m driven and directive, but my personal core values are of integrity and honesty and a sense of humor.  I believe that everyone has a gift.  That’s my basic value and maybe should go on my headstone some day!

Inspired by the aloof creature that is the cat, Dr. Brunt has lifted the veil and made the cat more accessible, personal, and, ultimately, less of a mystery.

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(1) Dr. Brunt sold this second practice eight years later.

(2) CATayst Council  http://www.catalystcouncil.org

(3) http://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/27/obituaries/dr-louis-j-camuti-cat-specialist.html     

(4)  http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=jean-holzworth&pid=86033590

(5) http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/obituaries/26richards.html?ref=obituaries

(6)  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/obituaries/26richards.html?ref=obituaries

Dr. Jane Brunt: Her Formative Years

By Donald F. Smith, Cornell University

Co-authors Julie Kumble and Melena Hagstrom

It was a gutsy move. Jane Brunt, an aspiring veterinarian, decided to move from metropolitan New Jersey to agricultural Kansas to attend college. Relocating to the Sunflower State to enroll as biology major at Kansas State University would boost her chances to gaining admittance to the state veterinary college, or so she thought. Little did she know that this radical change in life style and location would also result in a fulfilling journey of personal growth along with her professional success.

Jane Brunt, DVM

Adjusting to the wide-open, wheat-strewn state where people spoke an unfamiliar accent and chewing tobacco, was very different from the populous suburban life to which Brunt was accustomed. It was also difficult, to put it mildly. Support from her family, including her father who had once aspired to become a veterinarian himself before choosing a career in psychiatry, and her own personal ambition and budding independence, were strong areas of support.

Her life began to change.  “I was a pre-vet student majoring in biology, so I had to take the requisite animal science courses to fulfill the veterinary college admission requirements.”(1)

Embracing the strong agricultural presence at KSU, she worked hard during her first year of undergraduate college to prepare a Hereford heifer for participation at the University’s Little American Royal Show. For weeks, she led and groomed, fed and broke the heifer. When the day of the show arrived, her efforts paid off and she and her charge were awarded second place. Her family, who had traveled the 1,400 miles to provide their support, was unimaginably proud. For Jane, it was just the beginning of realizing her potential.

The new way of life in the state that Brunt would embrace for seven years threw a few curveballs. She recalled the story of the cowboy, the mice, and a hay bale. The man, while preparing the arena for the cattle show, unearthed a nest of young mice. Huddled under the bale of hay, Brunt considered the hairless mice to be valued, baby creatures. The cowboy, on the other hand, as he stomped on the mice and mercilessly smothered out their existence, saw them as no more than pesky vermin that spread disease. Although horrified during this incident, she came to admire the work ethic of the farmers, who loved and cared for their livestock, and who were on call for them and their sprawling fields of crops every hour of every day, from sunup to sundown.

After three years of undergraduate work, Brunt did indeed gain admittance to the veterinary college. Friends, mentors, and strong personal and professional relationships were cultivated. Many years later, in retrospection, she remarked:

I sometimes reflect on many of the 'things' that are listed on my Curriculum Vitae. Though they may seem impressive to others, to me they are really quite insignificant compared to the seven years I spent in Manhattan. The education I obtained there, and values I learned; the life friends that I made, and the many wonderful memories that I have: all that just gets one line on my CV. (2)

Today, Dr. Brunt is the executive director of the grassroots initiative called CATalyst Council. She is also owner of CHAT, a very successful feline-only clinic in Towson, Maryland. She enjoys her work as one of the pioneering feline specialists in veterinary medicine. Whether it’s her experience of going to school in a place so different from what she’d known during her formative years, or her natural warm, generous, and driven personality, Dr. Brunt knows how to bring a diverse community together.

During her many years in office at the Maryland Veterinary Medical Association, this ability became clear: “I try to be a voice of reason and bring people from different backgrounds together…You have to be persistent and positive, and make everyone see what can happen for the good of the whole.”

Her Type A personality and reflective lifestyle present a winning combination, and even today Dr. Brunt finds lessons for self-improvement. One of her more recent “aha’s” has been to try and be a better listener and be mindful of her tone of voice.

I’ve learned that “tone of thought” matters a lot, and I’ve discovered if I can be mindful and empathetic in my thoughts, it will show up in my words and actions.

This is, indeed, Midwestern kindness at its finest.

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(1) Brunt, Jane, telephone interview with Donald F. Smith (Cornell University) and Julie Kumble (consultant, Cornell University), March 3, 2015

(2) From http://www.vet.k-state.edu/alumni/awards/recognition/brunt.html