Meet the veterinarian who’s spent 40-plus years going above and beyond for pets

Although many of his colleagues have retired, veterinarian Harvey Bendix is still going strong at 74.

A native Pittsburgher, Bendix has lived and worked in Westmoreland County since founding Norwin Veterinary Hospital with his wife Diane 47 years ago.

In that time, he has treated thousands of dogs and cats, mentored graduate vets, taught pet emergency care to first responders and served as a resource in cases of animal abuse.

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He sees patients five days a week, reserves one day a week for surgeries and has no desire to step away from his life’s calling.

“I love what I’m doing,” Bendix said. “It’s a love and a passion. As long as my health holds out, I’ll be in practice.”

Bendix recently was feted by the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association with a lifetime achievement award for his dedication to the health and welfare of animals, and for leadership in his profession.

The award represents the culmination of a dream he has held since childhood, having grown up in a big house in Friendship filled with all kinds of pets, and with parents who nurtured his affinity for anything finned, feathered or furred.

“We had our own zoo,” he recalled. “We had dogs, cats and rabbits in the house, and ducks in the backyard. We had parakeets and an aquarium. My dad raised alligators and before they got too big donated them to the Highland Park Zoo.”

Bendix spent three summers as a teen working as a caretaker in the Children’s Zoo, where he was exposed to more exotic species. “I was around lions, bears, sea lions — everything,” Bendix said. “I cleaned enclosures and handled feedings. I never had any fear.”

He also conducted educational shows for kids in the zoo’s amphitheater, and regularly appeared as “Mr. Harvey” with chimpanzees and other critters on “Romper Room,” a popular program on WTAE-TV.

After graduating from Penn State University, where he majored in animal sciences, Bendix went on to the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.

“I worked my way through Penn by living at an animal hospital,” he said. “I’d do caretaking evenings and weekends in exchange for free room and board.”

Soon after earning his VMD, Bendix was introduced by a colleague to Diane Kronzek, a teacher whose father owned a kosher meat market in Highland Park. They married at Congregation B’nai Israel in Highland Park and together started Norwin Veterinary.

Although Bendix has a particular interest in complex internal medicine cases, he handles everything from trauma to preventive care to infectious diseases, having begun his career before veterinarians began specializing and today’s medical technologies became available.

“In the old days we’d have to diagnose through hands-on experience or exploratory surgery, and now ultrasound, CT, MRI and other protocols can enhance our ability to find illness in greater detail,” Bendix said. “But with 50 years of knowledge and practice, you pretty much have a handle on what’s happening with a patient.”

Sandra Rodkey, DVM, called Bendix “the best diagnostician I have ever met.”

“He’s like Sherlock Holmes in how he can piece things together to diagnose a case,” said Rodkey, who first worked for Bendix as a vet tech, and then returned years later as a veterinarian. She is now a partner in a practice in Kittanning.

Bendix was a role model and mentor, Rodkey said, who “taught me how to research a case and work to get the answer…that it doesn’t matter if you don’t get home until late; you do what you have to do for your patient.”

Longtime Bendix client Diane Beeler of North Huntingdon recalled seeing the lights on at Norwin Veterinary at 11:30 one night when she was on her way to an emergency clinic with one of her cats, Felicia.

“Dr. Bendix’s vehicle was in the lot, so I figured he was there,” she said. “I stopped and knocked on the door and he let us in.”

“He’s just the best, and he’s kind,” she added. “He puts forth every ounce of himself, and whatever is wrong he will figure it out.”

Although Bendix has seen just about everything, some cases are more memorable, he said.

He followed two local cats that underwent kidney transplants at his alma mater, Penn, and puzzled out the cause of a dermatologic condition in a retired racing greyhound as Sweet’s Syndrome, an exceedingly rare autoimmune disease.

He saved a dog that was hit by a freight train with six hours of reconstructive surgery that including removing an eye.

In a case years ago, he spent two hours surgically extracting an arrow that had been shot into a cat.

“It went from the chest to the abdomen, and had miraculously missed every single vital organ,” Bendix said. “I still have the X-ray on file.”

In 2008, he volunteered at Tiger Ranch Cat Sanctuary in Frazer Township, where hundreds of felines were found to be ill and living in horrific conditions during a raid by the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

“When we heard about it, Diane and I packed up the car with supplies and drove there,” recalled Bendix, whose photo in a Hazmat suit made national news.

Recently, he treated a dog brought to him by a rescue with sarcoptic mange — a severe skin infection — low thyroid and other issues.

“I prescribed treatments and nursed him back to health. He’s now back at the rescue and doing well,” Bendix said.

Veterinary care can be as risky as it is gratifying, he said, as in the case of a client who was bitten by a cat in an unprovoked attack.

“The cat had some lameness, too,” Bendix said. “She brought it in to see what was wrong, and I put two and two together and diagnosed rabies. Everyone who’d been exposed, including her family and my staff, had to get shots. I probably saved several lives.”

A key part of veterinary care involves helping owners through a process that is highly emotional, especially when euthanasia is being considered.

“I worry about the client as much as the patient,” Bendix said. “Before I recommend putting an animal down I ask myself if there is anything more I can possibly do and then present all of the treatment options so they can make a comfortable decision. When clients ask my honest opinion about how to proceed, I will give it to them. Often the kindest thing you can do when an animal is terminally ill and suffering is to end its life with humaneness and dignity.”

Beeler said Bendix has made the experience bearable when she has had to say goodbye to various pets over the years, including Rico Suave, a Yorkie-Pomeranian she had rescued from a puppy mill.

“Dr. Bendix cried a little with me,” she said. “He’s an angel.” PJC

Deborah Weisberg is a freelance journalist living in Pittsburgh.