As Barbara Currie waited in the College of Veterinary Medicine, she’d made up her mind that she wanted Julep—a maltese and beagle mix—  before the puppy was brought into the room.

“As soon as I saw Julep, I knew she was going to be trouble because she was 16 pounds, fat as a butterball. She came in and the first thing she did to impress me was to squat on the floor and pee,” Currie said.

Thirteen years later, former research dogs Julep and Champagne are a happy, but costly part of Currie’s life as a retired state employee. Her situation has prompted her to seek a financial support system for the medical costs of ex-research animals like hers.

Three years removed from the death of a previous pet and ready for another animal to love, Currie  adopted Champagne and Julep nine months apart in 1999 and 2000 after a neighbor who attended the veterinary school introduced her to the adoption program.

“I thought [a research dog] would be a good thing to have.  It would be nice for them to have a home,” Currie said.

Both dogs were bred to carry puppies for an allergy research program, according to Currie. Julep had two litters and Champagne fostered a puppy after her litter died.

Currie was first notified the dogs had allergies when she adopted Champagne.

 ”I would have taken her whether she had any allergies or not,” she said.

The allergies were more or less managed over the years, but occasionally accidents would happen, Currie said.

“I let [Champagne] have a dog cookie,” she said. “She got sick and it probably cost me $ 300-plus.”

While Julep’s allergies haven’t been as bad as Champagne’s, in spring 2010 she began to have seizures and was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.

Due to Julep’s age and condition, she is on seven medications for everything from seizures to eye infections.

“Just the normal cost of having dogs can be a little expensive,” she said. “It is breaking my budget with all of the medicine she is taking.”

Currie is seeking a support system to alleviate the medical costs incurred by Julep, Champagne and Misty, a non-research dog Currie has fostered.

David Bristol, interim dean of the veterinary school, said the school does have a fund for indigent clients.

“It is for folks who don’t have the funds,” he said, as long as they qualify. The budget amounts to around $200,000 a year.

However, Currie said she is not indigent, but there is no other support system at the school that would help former research animals.

“We have to focus our resources on the education of our students,” Bristol said. “The money we earn at the hospital goes back into running the hospital. It is not a profit center.”

Currie said she doesn’t blame the vet school for her dogs’ ailments and recognizes the school’s financial issues caused by the economy.

“I don’t want to make the school feel like they can’t adopt these animals out. They adopt these dogs out as is. They don’t make any promises for these dogs as to health,” Currie said.

Bristol said the vet school’s adoptions are just like those of animal hospitals.

“Once it is yours it is yours,” Bristol said.

Currie said she doesn’t want free care. She wants to see the research animals who gave part of their lives receive affordable care in return, whether it comes from the veterinary school or not.

“If there was some sort of private fund that would help people maybe with tests or blood tests just at cost—[as opposed to] not giving anyone anything.”

Among Currie’s ideas for funding sources was the Wolfpack club—taking care of their own—and private businesses that benefit from the research.

Bristol, however, said that the situation is complex and could in some cases lead to more euthanasia if companies decide that is cheaper than adopting out and paying for care. 

“It is easy to say that others should pay towards adopted animals’ health care,” Bristol said, “but doing so could have unintended consequences.”

Currie said she realized that, given Julep’s condition, the help she is seeking is not for Julep’s benefit.

“[Julep] is getting a little worse now,” she said. “She is starting to lose her balance on one side. She is coming close to the end of her road.”

According to Currie’s veterinarian, Joseph Gordon, Julep has put up a strong fight.

“Julep has been a remarkable patient to survive as long as she has without more serious affects of the brain tumor.”

But Currie is focused not just on her dogs.

“I just think it would be nice for little dogs like Julep—and she really is a Wolfpack dog—to have some type of support,” Currie said.