Public Hearing Set For Connecticut Proposal On Rabies RegulationApril 17, 2009 Connecticut’s Department of Agriculture will hold a public hearing on Aug. 22 on a proposed set of regulations that would require pet stores, animal shelters, petting zoos, riding stables and other entities to keep a log of the names and contact information of anyone who visits their location and handles an animal not yet vaccinated for rabies, including kittens and puppies too young for the shot. Under the proposal, all animals held in a public setting “for which there is a licensed rabies vaccine” would be required to receive the vaccine unless they are under the minimum age (3 months old for dogs and cats in Conn.) or held in a city pound. A public setting is defined as “any event, facility or premise at which the public is invited or allowed to have direct physical contact with animals.” The regulation is nothing new, says Dr. Bruce Sherman, a former veterinarian and the Dept. of Agriculture’s director for the Bureau of Regulation and Inspection. It’s been on the books for a while, as recently as three years ago, as part of the state’s Emergency Order Concerning the Vaccination or Alternative Confinement of Certain Animals to prevent …
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Pet Dental Health Campaign Promotes Regular Preventive CareApril 17, 2009 Hill’s Pet Nutrition Inc. of Topeka, Kan., as co-sponsor of the 15th annual Pets Need Dental Care, Too campaign, is urging pet owners not to brush off dental home care. The campaign provides veterinary health teams with materials to discuss with pet owners the importance of scheduling regular, professional oral health exams and establishing an at-home dental care routine to maintain their pet’s good oral health. Only 2 percent of dog owners follow through with daily tooth brushing, the company reports. In addition, 66 percent of dogs with Stage 1 periodontal disease often go untreated because veterinary health care teams do not recommend early treatment options such as professional cleaning and X-rays. “It’s a great idea for pet owners to plan an annual visit to their veterinarian to detect any potential health problems,” said Kara Burns, LVT, a veterinary technician specialist at Hill’s. “Preventing and treating periodontal disease through routine veterinary visits and home care protocols are essential aids to ensuring a pet’s high quality of life.” In addition to Hill’s, the campaign is a partnership between the American Veterinary Medical Assn., the American Veterinary Dental Society, the Academy of Veterinary …
Artist Models New 'Adopt' Poster After Obama 'Hope' ImageApril 17, 2009 Artist Shepard Fairey, widely known for creating the Barack Obama "Hope" image, designed a poster for a new Adopt-a-Pet.com campaign that seeks to shed light on the animals up for adoption at shelters across the country. The nationwide effort features a poster created by Fairey -- the man TIME magazine named "Icon Maker" of the year -- that's modeled on his Obama "Hope" poster. "The image I created for this print reminds me of a dog I had as a kid, a mutt named Honey," Fairey said. The poster, which features a dog and the word "Adopt," was unveiled Jan. 8 at the Sunset Gallery in Los Angeles, Calif. Fairey made a brief appearance at the media event and told reporters that he's glad to be able to help in any way for shelter pets to find homes. He added that the new campaign presents "a great chance for shelter animals." By teaming with Fairey, Adopt-a-Pet.com hopes to encourage people to go out to a local shelter and adopt a pet. Dr. Pia Salk, Adopt-a-Pet.com spokesperson, said that adopting a pet means saving a life, and with more family pets being displaced …
Using The Power Of The Press To Grow Your PracticeApril 17, 2009 Whether your practice is well established or you are planning a grand opening, you will want publicity to be a part of your marketing strategy. Practices that achieve the kind of publicity that media exposure offers grow faster and stay in business longer than those that do not. Media exposure is valuable publicity and can be even more powerful than paid advertising. Advertising is increasingly expensive for any business, new or established. Publicity is free and can even be more powerful than paid advertising. America’s largest corporations know this and use it to their advantage—and you should, too. Develop a Media Kit No matter how large or small your practice is, you need to have a media kit. It is your story in a folder. If you carefully develop it and keep it up to date, you will be surprised at how often you use it and how helpful it is. Inside the folder, keep the following: • A news release about you and your practice (most important) • A photo of you and your hospital • Your bio in a short, one-page presentation • A brief summary of testimonials, praise and recommendations. • A brief …
Pfizer Agrees To $68 Billion Takeover Of WyethApril 17, 2009 Pfizer announced Jan. 26 that it has agreed to pay $68 billion in cash and stock for rival drug maker Wyeth. The companies say the merger will create "the world’s premier biopharmaceutical company" and establish it as a leader in animal health. New York-based Pfizer is the parent company of Pfizer Animal Health and Wyeth of Madison, N.J., is the parent company of Fort Dodge Animal Health. “The combination of Pfizer and Wyeth provides a powerful opportunity to transform our industry,” Jeffrey Kindler, chairman and chief executive officer of Pfizer, said in a statement. “It will produce the world’s premier biopharmaceutical company whose distinct blend of diversification, flexibility and scale positions it for success in a dynamic global health care environment. “The new company will be an industry leader in human, animal and consumer health. With our combined biopharmaceuticals business, it will lead in primary and specialty care as well as in small and large molecules. Its geographic presence in most of the world’s developed and developing countries will be unrivaled.” Pfizer expects to save about $4 billion annually through the merger. The savings will be phased …
ImproMed Schedules Website Open House On Earth DayApril 17, 2009ImproMed Inc. of Oshkosh, Wis., will host a website open house featuring paperless webinar presentations and a presentation on building a greener hospital. The free event will take place from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. CST April 22 in celebration of Earth Day. Click here to join. "In June 2008, ImproMed suffered a flood that required us to completely renovate our building," said Ron Detjen, president of ImproMed. "In doing so, we took great measures with the design of the building to be more efficient and environmentally friendly, including updating all light fixtures and HVAC units, decreasing the number of windows and exterior openings, and adding an externally fixed insulation system. "Utilizing Earth Day for a website open house was the logical way to show off the updates with pictures and articles, but also to show hospitals how using Infinity in their practice by going paperless and/or making use of our vendor partnerships including CR/DR can make their hospitals greener." The company is marking its 30th anniversary this year. <HOME>
Cat Summit Aims To Boost Health AwarenessApril 17, 2009 In an effort to champion the health and well-being of cats, the American Assn. of Feline Practitioners and New York-based Pfizer Animal Health are launching The CATalyst Summit. It will be held Feb. 5-6, coinciding with the AAFP Winter meeting in Palm Springs, Calif. The percentage of cat-owning households that received no veterinary care in 2006 was 36.3 percent, compared to 17.3 percent of dog-owning households, according to the American Veterinary Medical Assn.’s recent U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Sourcebook. “These alarming statistics are a call to action,” said Valerie Creighton, DVM, president of the AAFP. “I think, as a profession, we have to make sure that cats’ medical needs are adequately addressed.” Topics to be discussed include why cats' needs are going unmet, how existing stereotypes regarding cats in today’s media can be rectified and how veterinarians and allied organizations can raise the bar for cat owners to improve feline care. Steve Dale, a nationally syndicated pet columnist and radio program host, and Karyn Gavzer, a speaker specializing in veterinary practice management, will moderate the event. Germinder & Associates Inc. is the managing agency for the initiative. For details, …
House Hearing On FDA Overhaul PostponedApril 17, 2009 A bill that would mandate fines on pet food companies that fail to report recalls quickly is under consideration by a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee. A House subcommittee postponed yesterday’s hearing on the FDA Revitalization Act until next Tuesday, June 19. In its current form, the bill, passed by the Senate this May, would establish an early-warning system for pet food recalls and animal illnesses, mandate fines for companies that fail to quickly report contaminated products, and, with the collaboration of pet industry players, write new federal standards for pet food ingredients, processing and labeling. It would also legalize the sale of turtles under 4 inches, which was banned in 1975 over concerns of salmonella poisoning in children who might put the small animals in their mouths. The Health Subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce also canceled the mark-up sessions scheduled for today and tomorrow. Members needed more time to review the legislation and to decide on any additional amendments, a committee aid said. The subcommittee will review the bill at 10:00 a.m. in room 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The full committee is scheduled to discuss …
More Pet Deaths Linked To Menu RecallApril 17, 2009 Fourteen animal deaths – one dog and 13 cats – are being attributed to the Menu Foods Inc. recall issued March 16, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Nine of those deaths were cats that fell ill during a routine, quarterly taste test Menu Foods conducted with 25 cats and 15 dogs to test the products’ palatability, the FDA said yesterday. The taste tests, which began Feb. 27, were unrelated to consumer complaints the company received a week earlier, beginning Feb. 20, of pets becoming sick after eating the products, according to Stephen Sundlof, DVM, director of the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine. A contaminated shipment of wheat gluten used to thicken the gravy in 95 wet-style foods made by the private-label Streetsville, Ontario, pet food manufacturer, is the suspected source of illness, the FDA said. The investigation, however, is ongoing, the FDA said, and other sources are not being ruled out. Because wheat gluten is not usually a problematic source, the FDA is looking at the possibility that a mold or chemical toxin contaminated the wheat gluten, which was used by both a Kansas and New Jersey plant of Menu. So far, the effected foods, produced …
Vaccination And Parvovirus Testing In KittensApril 17, 2009 This column is based on abstracts presented at the 24th annual ACVIM Forum in Louisville (2006). It is a common practice to vaccinate a cat immediately upon its arrival to a shelter. This protocol is based on a resurgence of feline panleukopenia (FPV) cases. The vaccine is highly efficacious, with antibody titers appearing within a week. There is concern that the vaccine may cloud the diagnosis of panleukopenia. Practictioners rely on test kits to diagnose panleukopenia in cats with clinical signs. The vaccine is a modified-live virus and could result in the fecal shedding of virus, which would cross-react with the commonly used canine parvovirus test kits. In dogs it was shown that using an MLV vaccine resulted in positive fecal parvovirus testing for four to five days after vaccination.1 Researchers from the University of Florida looked at the effects of MLV vaccine on parvovirus shedding in kittens.2 A total of 64 SPF kittens (8 to 10 weeks old) were included in the study. The kittens were divided into groups and eight different vaccines were given. These vaccines included six MLV and two inactivated vaccines. Seven vaccines were given subcutaneously, one intranasally. Antibody titers …
