Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Not the usual drill
For elite dentist, lions and tigers and bears open wide
As Dr. Jan Bellows prepped to put his hands in his patient’s mouth he looked up and saw a man holding a huge rifle at the ready, finger on the trigger. “Is that a tranquilizer gun?” Bellows asked. “No sir,” the man said. “If he wakes up I might have to kill him.”
The patient: The Lion King. The real live one at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Welcome to the world of big exotic animal dentistry and Weston’s Jan Bellows, one of a small group of pet vets across the country who work on savage beasts when they have a toothache.
If you pay a visit to his veterinary clinic in Weston, you might see a caged Bengal tiger in the waiting room or catch a glimpse of a sedated chimp being wheeled in for treatment by a crew from a local zoo. The practice treats dogs and cats, too, and offers all
the services you’d expect from a vet. But Bellows is most passionate about healthy teeth and gums for animals of all sizes.
Bellows’ last dental procedure on something big and furry took place at the Palm Beach Zoo in December. Clark, a 400-pound American Black bear, had lost 12 pounds. He had a cracked tooth and the root was exposed causing pain. Bellows and his son Dr. David Bellows performed a root canal while Clark was under anesthesia.
Dental problems, beyond stinky breath, strike household pets, too.
On Thursday at the Hometown Animal Hospital he runs in Weston, Bellows worked on the mouth of an anesthetized Yorkshire Terrier with cracked teeth and bad periodontal disease. “Look at this X-ray, see the cracks. Some others are loose. We’re taking most of them out.”
Another doctor treated a 60-pound Soft Coat Wheaten Terrier on the next table. He had an inflamed tongue and had stopped eating. He needed treatment with a laser. On a third table, a Chow mix was prepped and ready to have a tumor removed from its mouth. A veterinary anesthesiologist moved from table to table monitoring the dogs.
Bellows started on the path to vet dentistry in 1985, while running his first animal hospital in a strip mall on Taft Street in Pembroke Pines. He attended a seminar on the subject, which is not taught in veterinary school, and became fascinated. Now he’s known as one of the specialty’s elder statesmen and has written text books that have been translated into several languages.
Working on big exotic animals, answering the call from zoos, animal sanctuaries and tourist attractions like Lion Country Safari and Walt Disney World, has become what he likes to do most. He lights up as he shows off pictures of himself working on tigers, lions, bears, even a jaguar. He is still in awe of the big cats.
“These things can run 60 miles an hour,” he said of the jaguar. “They are such a slick, powerful animal. And they are in pain, but can’t reach out for help. And they are right there on your table. You help them. You take away their pain. At the end of the day, you feel really good about what you’ve done.”
Elizabeth Hammond, the senior vet at Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee, says Bellows’enthusiasm for working with the big animals makes his team wonderful to work with.
“They’re very synchronized and do a great job,” she said. “Dr. Bellows loves a challenge, and he’s very accommodating to the big animals and their special needs.”
Bellows also does work for several nonprofit zoos and sanctuaries.
Genevieve Dumonceaux, director of animal health at the Palm Beach Zoo and Conservation Society in West Palm Beach said in addition to being an expert in the specialty field of density for big exotic animals, Bellows is generous.
“He has never charged us,” she said. “He knows we are a not-for-profit and we need every dime we have. He knows these animals need this care. He does it because he loves it.”
Bellows donates his time and pays for his own travel to work with the Peter Emily International Veterinary Dental Foundation based in Colorado. He has taken several trips across the United States to sanctuaries to help rescued and retired animals. Members of his team go with him on the foundation’s “missions.”
He waves off talk about his pro bono work. To him, it’s just the right thing to do.
“The sanctuaries are just so cash-strapped. Sometimes they are feeding 200 lions every day. The animals come from circuses or private homes that didn’t realize what they were getting into when they got a big exotic animal.”
Coming by an exact number of vet dentists in the U.S. who work on big exotic animals is not easy. But experts estimate there are no more than 30 nationwide.
Bellows, who is 66 though he looks a decade younger and still runs marathons — his total so far stands at 79. His staff, including his son who works alongside him, describe him as a high achiever. Clients call him a force of nature with a personality and heart as big as the animals he loves to treat.
“He shared that drive with us and his love for animals, too,” David Bellows, 38, said.
He says he has been involved in his father’s work since age 5.
“He would call me over to the microscope to look at things he thought were cool, like cells.” By 11, David was going into the office to help out. Seeing the big animals come in for treatment became routine.
“As a kid, it became so normal that I didn’t really think it was as cool as it is.”
But now, like his dad, he is in awe of the beasts.
“We were at Animal Kingdom years ago and we were working on two silverback gorillas. These things are 7 feet tall and just massive,” he said. “It is cool to be so close to them. And to stop their suffering.”
Despite the danger of getting so close to predators and hoping the anesthesiologist gave a big enough dose to keep the animal under throughout the procedure, no one on Bellows’ team has ever been hurt during a treatment. But they respect the power of their patients should they even begin to stir.
Paul Camilo, the administrator of the practice who often accompanies Bellows on calls, says one swipe from a large predator can do extensive damage.
When he accompanied Bellows 10 years ago to treat Disney’s Lion King — whose name is Spike — the risk really hit home.
“That was the first time I’d ever seen anyone in the room with a rifle,” he said. “I asked, ‘You have [tranquilizer] darts in that thing?’ ”
The gun was loaded with 9-inch bullets. It would only be used as a last resort, if several other safety precautions failed.
Bellows has two daughters, too, and five grandchildren. And pets, of course. Two dogs at the moment.
He met his wife of 45 years when they were teenagers in North Miami Beach. She’s an animal lover, too. “Her family told her never to date anyone who didn’t own a pet,” Bellows says.
The family lost a dog, Cody, two years ago. Bellows and Allison were on vacation in Colorado when Cody suffered a spider bite. David Bellows and Camilio flew to Denver, picked up the dog and drove across country to the University of Florida, where veterinarians worked on him for three weeks. Cody died.
Cost to try to save the 4-year-old Polish Lowland Sheepdog: $35,000.
“We would have done anything to save him,” Bellows said.