Cobb vet’s license suspended

A Marietta veterinarian’s license has been placed on probation for three years after repeated code violations, including keeping dead cats in a freezer alongside food, according to state officials.

The Georgia State Board of Veterinary Medicine has placed Dr. Anji Bodana’s license on probation for three years, fined him $3,000 and is requiring the Cobb County vet to undergo continuing education courses stemming from uncorrected code violations found in 2006.

Bodana runs the Cobb Pet Clinic at 1050 E. Piedmont Road in Marietta. The clinic is allowed to remain open under the guidance of an approved supervisory veterinarian.

The Marietta Daily Journal reports that Bodana denied the findings, saying “they’re not right.”

Bodana did not return phone calls placed to the clinic.

In late 2006, an investigator with the Secretary of State’s Office of Inspector General inspected the facility at the board’s request, according to state documents. At that time, Investigator Merry Cagle found dead cats in a freezer with food, pets kept in an unlit room without ventilation, no records of the animals housed in the clinic’s kennel, unlabeled medications, and areas including exam rooms that were “dirty, unkempt and had an offensive odor,” among other violations.

By May of 2007, most of the violations had been remedied, according to the report. However, in January of 2008, Cagle returned to the clinic at the board’s request and found more violations, including: surgical instruments outside of sterile packs, no sterilization machine, syringes (including an uncapped needle that appeared to have blood on it) found on various surfaces and dogs kept in kennels without identifying information and a foul odor throughout the clinic.

Bodana opened the Cobb Pet Clinic in December 2001. He is licensed in Georgia, Alabama and Florida, according to the report.

In addition to having his licensed placed on probation, the $3,000 fine and continuing education courses, Bodana must also repay the state board more than $5,000 in legal fees, according to the board’s final decision.

It is unclear whether Bodana has a supervisory veterinarian to run his practice, according to the MDJ article.