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People, pets and the profession have lost a good friend
By Dr. Marty Becker
April 25, 2007
I want to add to Kim’s post on Dr. Richards.
The world’s cat lovers suffered a great loss with the passing of Dr. Jim Richards. The Director of the prestigious Feline Health Center at Cornell for the past 10 years, Dr. Richards was an internationally renowned feline authority and a passionate, positive, proactive spokesperson for cats, cat owners, feline medicine specifically, and veterinary medicine in general. Literally every major feline study, symposia, roundtable or initiative had his intellectual and emotional DNA in it. Most recently he was working with his colleagues on raising the awareness of heartworm disease in cats, something so important, I talked about it during my Good Morning America appearance last week.
In writing my newspaper columns and books, I’d tapped into Jim’s cat expertise many times. In dozens of phone calls, he always took time he didn’t have, to answer my questions with authority, but always in a way that was easy to understand and resonated with readers. He was always in an upbeat mood, passionate about cats, and excited about the subject. We also both acted as media spokespeople for various projects and we compared notes on how to do our job better, knowing we were blessed to get to speak on behalf of pets, people and our beloved profession. Speaking of blessed, Dr. Richard’s faith always shined bright and he served as the faculty advisor to the Christian Veterinary Fellowship (a student organization) and the Pet Loss Support Line. He was past president of the American Association of Feline Practitioners.
Cat lovers, please join us in honoring Dr. Jim Richard’s life and impact on the health and well-being of cats by making a memorial gift in his memory to:
Cornell Feline Health Center
College of Veterinary Medicine
Cornell University, Box 13
Ithaca, NY 14853
(Update from Gina: Here’s a longer tribute, with more on the difference Dr. Richards made in helping pets and the people who love them. We’re going to hold new posting until noon PT, in honor of Dr. Richards.)
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Rest In Peace Dr.Richards.
Comment by MARRY ANN — April 25, 2007 @ 9:47 am
This is so sad… my heart goes to everyone who lost a friend and an advocate. My guess is he’ll still be helping, from the other side.
Comment by Kim — April 25, 2007 @ 10:20 am
Very sad indeed. The kitties have lost a crusader.
Comment by Nadine Long — April 25, 2007 @ 10:43 am
Dr. Richards will be missed.
Comment by petlover — April 25, 2007 @ 10:47 am
Oh no, this man will truly be missed….
I knew Dr Richard through his wonderful and informative website of questions and answers. BAck in 1997 I used to ask him questions and read ALL his answers to other cat lovers.
I’m sure he’s being well cared for by all the cats in heaven now.
Warm Regards
Felice
Comment by Felice — April 25, 2007 @ 11:51 am
So very sad. The kitties have lost a powerful voice on their behalf.
Comment by CatLady — April 25, 2007 @ 2:24 pm
I posted this on another thread, but it makes more sense here:
THANK YOU to Gina, Christie, Marty, Kim, and the whole crew here at PC for all you do, on the recall AND stories like this.
Your posts intrigued me enough to look into Dr. Jim Martin’s work at Cornell on feline heartworms. And that prodded me to ask for a heartworm screening for my cat yesterday morning when I had a checkup appt. for her.
Long story short, she has heartworm. BAD deal. But it seems as though we may have caught it early, which increases her chances of surviving it. I would NEVER have thought to ask for the test if I hadn’t read your post here, and my vet didn’t suggest it, either, since my cat is a strictly indoor cat. (Imagine my horrified surprise to learn that more than a quarter of cat heartworm cases are in kitties who never go outside. :( It’s nowhere near as rare as I thought.)
Anyway, this is a roundabout way of saying thanks for all the work you do here. I don’t know if my cat will survive - but I know her odds would have been worse if it hadn’t been for this site. I can’t tell you how thankful I am for that.
Comment by Laura — April 27, 2007 @ 7:32 am