2010-2011 Annual Report to Donors - University of Georgia College ...

Steadfast love for feline friend yields scholarship forfuture veterinariansSylvia Byrd’s love for her favorite feline,Oreo, led her to leave a scholarship in hismemory that will benefit CVM students inperpetuity. While he only lived with Mrs.Byrd and her husband, Tony, for almost adecade, Oreo left a lasting impression on thecouple and forever bonded them to the CVM.“I loved Oreo, he was like my child. Andthey were so good to him. Every time Itook him to the clinic, the faculty, staff andstudents showed such compassion for myanimal and for me,” Mrs. Byrd recalled abouther trips to the Veterinary Teaching Hospitalwith her cat, Oreo, during the 1980s. “And,Tony felt the same way.”Oreo was a very young cat – between1 and 2 years of age, estimated Mr. Byrd –when he came to live with the Byrds in theearly 1980s. He belonged to a friend andco-worker of Mrs. Byrd, who worked inhealthcare. But Oreo’s owner was leavingAthens for a job at Vanderbilt University andwas unable to take him with her. Mrs. Byrdagreed to help her friend by keeping Oreo fora weekend.“So Oreo came home with Sylvia oneweekend and never left,” recalled Mr. Byrd.Oreo was the first companion animal thatthe Byrds owned together – and, thus far, thelast.“It took me two to three years to getover Oreo’s death,” Mrs. Byrd said. “I lovedhim too much. He ran our house. He was ahuman being. He was not a cat.”Not too long after they adopted him,Oreo needed a veterinarian. “I talked to alot of friends at Merrill Lynch (his previousemployer at that time) and in Comer (wherehe worked for Merchants & Farmers Bank),and they highly recommended the clinic runby the UGA veterinary school,” Mr. Byrdsaid.Unlike some cats that dread visits to theveterinarian, Oreo was different: “He’d walkall over the counters and stuff,” recalled Mrs.Byrd. “People just loved him; they didn’tmind that he walked all over everything atthe clinic. And, I just fell in love with theveterinary school.”By the mid-1980s, Oreo developed kidneydisease, and later, cancer, the Byrds said. OnMarch 31, 1987, Oreo went into shock anddied following a surgical procedure at thePHoto by Christopher b. herronPHoto courtesy of sylvia byrd32