General Practice

Welcome!

We would like to welcome you to The General Practice Service at the University of Minnesota Veterinary Medical Center. You and your pet are very important to us!

Offerings:
We are dedicated to provide your companion with comprehensive medical and preventative healthcare. We offer a very wide variety of diagnostic, treatment and preventative healthcare options. Some examples include:
 

• Complete physical examinations
• Individualized vaccination protocols
• Strategic and preventative parasite control
• Blood testing (complete blood count, biochemistry profile, heartworm testing etc.)
•  Urine tests (urinalysis, urine culture / sensitivity, etc.)
• Fecal testing
• Geriatric screening and support
• X-rays
• Ultrasound
• CT scans
• MRI’s
• Fluoroscopy
• Mass (lump) testing (biopsies, aspirates etc.)
• Small mass removals
• Microchips
• Acute and chronic disease management

What makes us unique:

The Veterinary Medical Center is a very unique place! Not only do we offer
top quality General Practice care, but we also have ready access to board-certified specialists that can be consulted when needed. There are specialists in surgery, nutrition, anesthesia, dermatology, ophthalmology, dentistry, behavior, reproduction, acupuncture, cardiology, oncology, internal medicine, emergency and critical care.

Another unique aspect of the Veterinary Medical Center is our students. Our goal is simple: we want to provide you and your companion with the best medical care possible and teach our students how to provide that same great medical care when they graduate. Not only are you receiving the best possible care for your pet, but you are also contributing to the learning of our future veterinarians.
 

WHAT TO EXPECT AT YOUR VISIT

            Most appointments have a senior veterinary student involved in some way. Normally what will take place: A senior veterinary student will take you and your companion back to an exam room and they will listen to your concerns. They will take all of the information you provide to them and put it in our electronic medical record. They also perform a complete physical exam and if needed; they will take your pet to obtain what ever samples needed (blood, urine etc.) for testing. After they evaluate your pet, the student then reports the findings and the plan to the doctor. The veterinarian will then come into the room to verify everything do their own physical exam and to answer any further questions that you may have.

            The appointments sometimes take longer than they would in a non-teaching clinic, due to the teaching process involved. However, most of our clients tell us that the quality of care is worth the extra time.

GENERAL PRACTICE STAFF

Veterinary Technicians
We have two full time veterinary technicians. Veterinary technicians perform duties similar to human nurses. They take care of hospitalized patients, provide care/husbandry recommendations to owners, organize and assist during minor procedures, inoculations,  plus many other essential jobs. 

Our veterinary technicians not only help clients with questions, they are also responsible for teaching and coaching our veterinary students. For example they teach the students how to draw blood (phlebotomy) as well as proper animal restraint.

Lori Schmieg, Senior Veterinary Technician

Lori has been with the University of Minnesota, Veterinary Medical Center, since 2000.

Lori attended The Veterinary Clinical Assisting Program at Globe Collage/ Minnesota School of Business from 1993-1995. In addition to being a veterinary technician Lori is also a professional pet groomer.
 
Lori shares her home in St. Paul with three Cocker Spaniels: one rescue (Buster Brown) and two retired champions (Darby and Soda). She also has four senior citizen felines (Kayla, Calvin, Boo and Paige). Some of her outside interests include scrapbooking, gardening, camping, reading and spending time with family and friends.

Lori is cross trained in Emergency /Critical Care and Theriogenology (reproduction).

Stephanie Stelter, Veterinary Technician

Steph has been with the University of Minnesota, Veterinary Medical Center  since 2002.
 
She lives in White Bear Lake with her husband Scott and her 3 dogs: Reed (Lab/Pointer cross), Bruno (Basset hound) and Saber (Lab/Collie cross). She started assisting her local veterinary clinic when she was 16 and has been in the animal care field ever since!

She enjoys going to the cabin, hiking, camping, fishing, crafts of all sorts and most of all spending time with her husband, dogs (fur children) and her family!

Steph is cross trained in Radiation Therapy and Cardiology and also as a member of the wards team.

Our Veterinarians
General Practice has two full time veterinarians. Their duties include diagnosing and preventing disease, teaching and mentoring students as well as making sure that your pet lives a long and healthy life!

Sue Lowum, DVM  

Dr. Sue Lowum graduated veterinary school from the University of Minnesota with many awards and honors. She then went on to complete a rigorous rotating internship at the University of Minnesota where she gained experience in emergency medicine, surgery, and internal medicine. She joined our General Practice Service in 2008. Dr. Lowum’s medical interests are numerous but include geriatric medicine, preventative medicine, endocrine disease, cardiology, oncology, and gastrointestinal disease.

She loves to spend time with her own pets. She has two senior Labrador Retrievers named Furgie and Sydney who are always trying to encourage her to exercise more. She has two young cats, Tico and Tancat, who she adopted through the Foster Kitten program when she was a student. They are always getting into trouble and trying to blame the dogs for their messes. Dr. Lowum’s most recent adoption was a beautiful ruby Cavelier King Charles Spaniel named Isis who needed a home after Dr. Lowum performed an emergency surgery on her. Although the last to join the family, Isis rules the household.

Sherry Fonseth, DVM
DVM Dr. Sherry Fonseth is a 2002 graduate from the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine.  This is her third career, if you count raising three children to adulthood.  Her first career was working as a Registered Nurse in Labor and Delivery.

After graduating from the College of Veterinary Medicine with honors, Dr. Fonseth worked in the northwestern suburbs of the Twin Cities as a full time veterinarian in a large comprehensive small animal clinic.  She provided medical and surgical care to dogs, cats, and other furry mammals. In December of 2008, she was offered a position at the University as a General Practitioner and Assistant Clinical Professor.  In this position, she has the opportunity to provide health care to dogs and cats, and to help the students in the college with their training to become fantastic veterinarians!

Dr. Fonseth shares her life with her husband of thirty years (Charlie) and three kids (Joe, Mike and Maddi).  She currently has five pets: Gertie ( a retriever cross who sings with the piano), Osmo (a rowdy lab that eats everything), two counter cruising cats (Patches and Naomi), and a cockatiel named Bibs.  Dr. Fonseth loves world travel, gardening, planning parties (this may be her fourth career!), and family time.

How to schedule an appointment

Please contact the Veterinary Medical Center at 612.626.8387 to schedule an appointment in General Practice. We look forward to meeting you and your pet!