Saving pets one day at a time

Broken ribs, fractured femurs, and perforated intestines are just some of the things one zWORKS member deals with on a daily basis. But not with humans, with animals.

Peter Noel is a veterinary radiologist who typically reads X-rays, CT scans and MRIs for dogs and cats. He is one of approximately 600 veterinary radiologists world-wide.

“I was hooked early and I just never gave up on it,” Noel said.

Noel works with five specialty clinics around America – including ones in Los Angeles, Nashville, Santa Barbara and Pittsburgh. Pet radiology has a lot of different opportunities, he said, so he can stay very busy while working remotely.

An Indianapolis-native, he went from Purdue vet school to Penn to a New York City residency. He made a quick stop in Chicago post-residency before he returned to Indy to work remotely.

“In a lot of ways, I was lucky,” Noel said. “There’s a road map to get there and if you work hard and follow the path, hopefully you get it.”

The hospitals he reads for are specialty clinics which often provide a variety of cases, some complicated. The cases include cats with asthma, King Charles Cavalier dogs with heart failure, nasal tumors with brain invasion and paralyzed Dachshunds.

A common case is a pet swallowing a sock or a toy. Training in New York City provided a few more unique cases. Unfortunately, “high-rise” cats are fairly common. If a cat falls off a balcony, it’s much more likely to get injured from seven floors or below. But after seven floors, terminal velocity is reached so a cat that falls 26 floors has time to right itself and only come away with maybe a broken rib. Yes, cats survive a fall from the 26th floor!

He said he often deals with misread X-rays where the pet does end up needing surgery.

“It’s a bit dramatic but you’re kind of like the unsung hero,” Noel said. “I sit in a dark room, often times hundreds or thousands of miles away and try my best to get an answer for the pet’s owner.”

Noel has always known he wanted to work with animals.

“I kind of got stuck on it when I was 7 or 8 and never kicked it,” he said. “Whereas a lot of my peers were into business and finance, I always stuck with vet medicine.”

Noel’s company is called Parallax Veterinary Partners and he just hired his first employee to perform ultrasounds at a clinic in Nashville that he said allows his expertise to be more far-reaching.

So, if you’ve overheard a phone conversation at zWORKS about dog or cat intestines, it’s probably Noel saving pets one day at a time.

Getting to know Peter…

Factoids:

• In high school, Peter was on a State-championship hockey team at Park Tudor.
• In his spare time, Peter will often delve into the world of origami.