San Antonio vet named 'Companion Animal Practitioner of the Year'

By MONETTE TAYLOR | South Central Texas Edition

Dr. Thomas Hanna wanted to be a veterinarian most all his life. His compassion for animals is what earned him the award. -Staff photo by taylor

February 6, 2003 -- While growing up on a small, family farm in southern Missouri, Dr. Thomas L. Hanna knew, then, he wanted to be a veterinarian. What really sealed the deal was a term paper assignment from his English teacher.

"I had an English teacher assign me the project of writing a career term paper. I didn't choose a topic, so she said, 'Well, you like animals; write about a veterinarian!'"

That English teacher would be pleased to know that Hanna has been named the Companion Animal Practitioner of Texas by the Texas Veterinary Medical Association (TVMA), and will be presented his award at a banquet in March, along with winners in other categories.

Each year, the TVMA accepts nominations from across Texas, for the awards, and the individual's credentials are checked in order to determine the winners.

"This past summer, I had been out for surgery on my hip. When I came back, I got a phone call or a letter saying I'd been nominated and would I please submit ... something about me!" laughed Hanna.

It turned out that a junior associate had made the nomination, without Hanna's knowledge.

It all started at the University of Missouri in Columbia, where he studied veterinary medicine. After graduation in 1972, he did what most men his age were doing ... he joined the military. As he said, in those days, young high school graduates had the choice of going to college and making good grades, or seeing the world, courtesy of Uncle Sam.

Hanna chose to complete his college education and then joined the Air Force where he served until '84, and then as a reservist.

"In those days we had an Air Force Veterinarian Corp that provided all the veterinary support for the Navy, the Marine Corp and the Air Force. We took care of all the military working dogs. In those days, all of the military working dogs were purchased, trained and provided by the Air Force ... even the Army working dogs," said Hanna.

Around 1983, the Air Force dissolved the Veterinary Corp, and all who were still with the group became Army veterinarians. Now, the Army is the executive agent for veterinary services, he added.

When Desert Storm came along, as a reservist, Hanna was called to serve and spent four months back on full duty.

"I had started practice in August and got called up for Desert Storm in January," said Hanna.

While each facility had one or two veterinarians, animal practice was not their only duty.

"We, also, did all public work, including food inspections, restaurant inspections, sanitation and disease investigations," added Hanna.

After serving the Air Force in New Jersey, Germany and New Mexico, Hanna's last tour of duty was in San Antonio. His family, although originally from Missouri, "got to Texas as fast as they could," laughed Hanna, and he opened his practice in San Antonio, after an advanced course back in Missouri.

Hanna's practice consists "almost totally" of dogs and cats. While he wanted to practice with small, companion pets, he said he hadn't counted on the fact that many of the dogs chosen by suburban families would weigh at least 100 pounds, and believes lifting them for a number of years resulted in having to have both hips replaced. After moving into his present office in Encino Park in San Antonio, four years ago, he said he replaced his regular exam table with a "lift" table, which makes raising heavier animals to exam level much better!

The father of three grown children and husband of an elementary school principal, Hanna said he is looking forward to retiring and playing with grandchildren, including an "almost 2-year-old grandson."

The best part of his career has been being able to work with the animals, and the hardest part has been having to put animals to sleep.

"In pet practice, that's part of the life cycle. It's hard to hold a client's hand and go through that. I've lost enough of my own (pets). There's lots of empathy and sympathy," said Hanna.

Perhaps, it is just this type of concern that drew Hanna's associate to nominate him for the award he will be receiving at the 100th anniversary winter meeting of the TVMA, to be held in College Station in March.