Rehab Becoming More MainstreamAugust 6, 2009 Physical therapy has been intertwined with human medicine for most of a century. In fact, early practitioners were called “reconstruction aides.” But the application of physical therapy modalities to veterinary practice is comparatively recent. Photo by Dara Lyon Warner. An exercise stair, one of several types of equipment used with patients at Animal Rehabilitation and Wellness Hospital in Raleigh, N.C. Animal Rehabilitation and Wellness Hospital—ARWI.com —in Raleigh, N.C., is one of a relative handful of facilities dedicated exclusively to veterinary rehabilitation. The University of Tennessee, which offers a certificate program in canine rehabilitation, lists 275 certified practitioners in the U.S. and only 27 in the rest of the world. Animal Rehabilitation and Wellness Hospital was born of founder and CEO Annie Janis’ grief over losing her beloved dog, Tanana, to degenerative disc disease. Treatment options were minimal and rehabilitation was nonexistent. “Surgery was offered, but I was told she would probably never walk again,” Janis says. “If (rehabilitative therapy) had been available, I feel she would have stayed healthier, stronger and it would have increased her life span.” Sometime later, when Janis was seeking a veterinary …
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Echocardiography Can Retool A PracticeJune 10, 2009 The down economy has led many veterinarians to place continuing education and equipment purchases on hold, but business experts say companies should use the time to their advantage and retool. Adding a modality such as echocardiography is one way to attract “A” clients and make use of any extra time you or your technicians may have. Echocardiography debuted in the veterinary industry by means of specialty practice, but now general practitioners are increasingly getting involved and even investing in training technicians to perform echocardiography. From 65 to 70 percent of U.S. veterinary practices have some form of ultrasound equipment and find that clients are willing to spring for the exam fees. “Providing echocardiography exams as an inhouse offering shows that you want to continue to improve the standard of care you give to patients,” says Clint Roth, DVM, regional sales director of Sound Technologies Inc. of Carlsbad, Calif. “Echocardiography is one of the few technologies that gives you dynamic information about the strength and level of function of the heart. It is integral in the diagnosis of canine and feline heart conditions, and at least 70 percent of clients will OK this type of procedure.” …
Raw Diets Linked To SalmonellaJune 9, 2009 Veterinarians have a responsibility to provide pet owners with information about zoonotic disease that gives a realistic appraisal of any risks pets could present to the household’s human inhabitants and how to minimize this risk. This is especially true if the household contains small children or immuno-compromised individuals. While there are myriad potential patho-gens, this article will focus on one major concern: Salmonellosis. Why It’s Important Salmonellosis was in the headlines continuously last summer (2008) during a large outbreak associated with contaminated food. In this outbreak, at least 1,438 people were proved to be infected and 282 were hospitalized.1 Food-associated outbreaks are not unusual because contaminated food is the primary way that humans become infected with Salmonella. The infection can be acquired from meats and eggs, but many outbreaks have been linked to other sources such as sprouts, peanut butter, tomatoes or, recently, chili peppers. The majority of humans who become ill are young. The rate of diagnosed illness in children under 5 years old is five times higher than any other age group. This probably relates to the disease’s affecting children more severely than otherwise healthy adults. It is estimated that Salmonellosis causes 1.4 …
Musculoskeletal MiraclesMay 6, 2009 A year and a half ago, Mel and Helen King noticed their very fast poodle Josephine slowing as she ran the agility courses on which she had become a champion. A few weeks later, she became lame. The Kings, of Silver Creek, Wash., took her to an orthopedic surgeon who diagnosed a partial tear in her cruciate ligament and recommended surgery. “That would have ended her career and I didn’t want to do it,” Helen King says. “She lives for agility.” After researching options, the Kings opted for stem cell therapy, part of the rapidly emerging field of regenerative veterinary medicine. A photomicrograph of a cluster of equine adipose-derived regenerative cells. The techniques are being used in horses and dogs to treat tendon and ligament injuries, osteoarthritis and, to a limited degree, fractures. Stem cells are being used in other countries to treat humans with musculoskeletal problems, but the procedure is still in clinical trials in the U.S. Vet-Stem Inc., a Poway, Calif., company founded in 2002, has used its patented process to treat more than 3,200 horses and 1,500 dogs. Some 1,179 veterinarians have completed the firm’s free online training. …
Palliative Options In Cancer CareMay 6, 2009 While we have increasingly advanced therapies for treating canine and feline cancer, sometimes the most appropriate treatment is palliation. Palliative therapy is defined as reducing or removing the symptoms of a disease or a disorder, not curing it. By this definition, the majority of veterinary cancer care falls under the umbrella of palliation. While achieving a cure in most of our patients would be desirable, doing so at the expense of an animal’s quality of life contradicts the most basic principle of veterinary oncology. The most common comment I hear during oncology consultations is that clients do not want to extend an animal’s life at the expense of their quality of life. I always tell my clients that while I don’t believe animals understand the concept of time, I think they understand quality of life and how they feel as they live in the present. Though palliative treatment is often focused on relieving the pain of a tumor or cancer, or relieving the suffering caused by a tumor, pain isn’t necessarily the only reason for providing palliative care. Owners may not recognize that besides pain, there may be many other components to an animal’s suffering, …
Startup Aims To Broaden Oncology MarketApril 17, 2009smlanimal Oncura Partners, a startup that expects to enable general practices establish oncology practices, may be up and running when it formally introduces itself at the North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando in January 2002. Among services offered: chemotherapy agents packed in patient-specific, single-dose syringes; online case protocol development, including radiation therapy planning, with board-certified oncologists (including Drs. Neil Mauldin and Phil Bergman); logistical support in developing radiation facilities; nutritional counseling; and related training services. The company exhibited at the Veterinary Cancer Society meeting in October, where president and chief executive officer Brian Huber, DVM, Dipl. ACVP, described the company's visions to veterinary oncologists and listened to their concerns. Below is the complete interview. (Excerpts and photos appear in the December 2001 issue of Veterinary Practice News. VPN: Tell us what you're doing? Huber: Oncura Partners is a company that's dedicated to veterinary cancer care. We approach it from all angles. From the specialty consult to the veterinarians, the distribution, we set the protocols and distribute the drugs from our partner pharmacy. What is interesting about it is that we're going to be able sell the exact dose that's needed for that patient for …
Avid Is Granted Injunction But Chip War RagesApril 17, 2009 Although members of the veterinary and animal welfare communities have been calling on pet microchip manufacturers and distributors to find a way to cooperate, the industry continues to be enmeshed in an increasing number of legal battles. Avid Identification Systems, the plaintiff in several of these cases, reports that at least one of its lawsuits has been resolved and that it has been granted a preliminary injunction against the defendant in another. The company cites both these developments as validations of Avid’s technological and intellectual property investments. “Avid believes that the U.S. pet microchipping and recovery systems were jeopardized recently by several reckless attempts to introduce an incompatible 134.2 kHz-based microchip technology,” said Avid founder Hannis Stoddard III, DVM. “We anticipate this ruling [in regard to the settled case] will help validate the 125 kHz-based microchip technology.” Regardless of the lawsuits, members of the Coalition for Reuniting Pets and Families, supported by the American Animal Hospital Association, the American Veterinary Medical Association and various animal welfare organizations, are still asking microchipping companies to permit the use of a “global” scanner that can read all chips on the U.S. market. Avid officials …
Diagnosis For Chesapeake Bay RetrieverApril 17, 2009 Signalment: Tango is a 7-year-old male castrated Chesapeake Bay retriever. History: Tango recently has become lethargic and has been coughing. This became noticeable in the last three days. The owner has also noticed some weight loss. Physical Examination: T: 98.9 P: 240 R: 48 Tango has lost some muscle mass giving him a body condition score of four out of nine. A gallop rhythm is heard as well as a 2/6 systolic murmur with point of maximal intensity over the mitral valve. The rhythm sounds very irregular. Some fluid is appreciated in the abdomen. Pulses are rapid and irregular. An ECG is obtained. 1. What is the rate and rhythm on this ECG tracing? 2. What are some proposed causes of this ECG change and what effects does it have on the patient’s cardiovascular status? 3. What treatment is recommended for this rhythm? 4. What other diagnostics are appropriate for Tango? 5. What is the prognostic significance of this rhythm? Answers: 1. The rate on this tracing is around 260 BPM, given the marked variation in the R-to-R interval it would be important to determine the heart rate …
Some Herbs Beat Conventional Med For GI ProblemsApril 17, 2009A common misconception about herbs is that they offer minimal efficacy if they are effective at all, nothing like conventional medications. It may be surprising, then, that research shows that some herbs may be comparable, even superior, to conventional medications in their benefit-to-risk ratio in side-by-side comparisons. Herbs are popular remedies for digestive disorders. A 1999 study reported in the Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology revealed that 46 percent of human patients with inflammatory bowel disease had used complementary therapies within the previous two years; 34 percent of them were using it at the time of the survey. Their most commonly cited reasons for using complementary therapies were the side effects and lack of effectiveness they found with standard therapies. A 2004 study in the American Journal of Gastroenterology found that 60 percent of patients with inflammatory bowel disease used alternative and complementary therapies, mainly for pain or diarrhea. The two most common approaches were diet (45 percent) and herbs (17 percent). The comparative frequency of complementary and alternative medicine usage in various populations of veterinary patients is currently unknown but warrants investigation. It is important to know when veterinary clients are giving herbs to their animals because they may augment …
Technology Transfer Boosts OncologyApril 17, 2009The trickle-down theory has become a mainstay in veterinary medicine. Techniques, instruments and equipment from human medicine are regularly adopted for use with animals, improving outcomes for thousands of patients. But now some new oncological methodologies in the veterinary world promise to return the favor. At the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine, a team of 19 veterinary oncologists and other scientists have formed a partnership with researchers from more than a dozen scientific disciplines to investigate new cancer therapies for both animals and humans. In an article published in the 2004 Spring/Summer issue of Synthesis, a publication of the UC Davis Cancer Center, Cheryl London, DVM, Ph.D., Dipl. ACVIM, assistant professor of surgical and radiological sciences, said that the benefits of the center's research can flow both ways, aiding humans and animals alike. One clinical study used the multi-targeted kinase inhibitor SU11654 to slow the growth of, or even cure, certain types of tumors. Fifty-seven dogs were studied in the trial, each with advanced end-stage cancers. Of those, the disease was completely halted in 16 cases and 11 experienced shrinkage of the tumor. In six cases, complete remission was achieved. In the article, Dr. London said that …
