Embrace Launches Pet Poison Resource CenterMarch 20, 2012 Marking National Poison Prevention Week (March 18-24, 2012), Embrace Pet Insurance of Beachwood, Ohio, today launched a pet poison resource center on its website. The resource is intended to reduce the number of pets accidentally poisoned and the veterinary costs associated with pet poisonings. “It’s not unusual to hear pet owners joke about their pets eating everything in sight, but pet poisoning is a serious problem,” said Laura Bennett, CEO and co-founder of Embrace. “Embrace receives many claims every year relating to poisoning. By educating pet parents about preventative steps in the home and in their lives, I really believe we can make serious progress in reducing the emotional trauma and expense associated with pet poisonings.” The resource center breaks down poisonous substances into nine categories: human food, household chemicals, human medication, pet medication, animal toxins common poisonous plants, outdoors, malicious poisoning and other. It also offers suggestions on ways pet owners can prevent poisonings and identify symptoms, as well as what they should do if they suspect their pet has been poisoned. “Any pet parent who …
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Alternative Boarding Site Raises $1 Million To Fund ExpansionMarch 19, 2012Los Angeles-based Dog Vacay, an online site that allows pet owners to find home-based boarders and other dog service providers, raised $1 million in seed funding to help it expand nationally in a financing round led by Santa Monica, Calif.-based First Round Capital, the company reported today. The site allows professional and casual pet care providers in Los Angeles and San Francisco markets to sign up for free and market their services to dog owners, with a major draw of providing boarded dogs with a home, “cage-free” environment at much less expense than a commercial boarding facility. The company says its home-based boarding services average half the price of kennel boarding. Dog hosts set their own prices. “First Round Capital looks for innovative ways the web can disrupt large and inefficient markets, especially those with high rates of dissatisfaction, like dog boarding,” said Howard Morgan, managing partner at First Round. “With Dog Vacay, we see a very unique way to leverage a passionate community of dog lovers into a collaborative network that gives dog owners a better solution to the $10 billion pet services market.” Dog Vacay also provides medical insurance to boarded dogs, screens dog hosts, and provides emergency …
Colorado Clinic Takes AAHA Practice Of The Year HonorsMarch 16, 2012 The American Animal Hospital Association named Wellington Veterinary Clinic of Wellington, Colo., as the Accredited Practice of the Year during the opening ceremony of AAHA’s annual conference in Denver, and data presented at the ceremony showed that pet owner visits increased in 2011 compared to 2010. Swedesboro Animal Hospital/Tri-State Animal Emergency Center of Woolrich Township, N.J., was the runner up for the honor, and Cat’s Corner Veterinary Hospital of Southbury, Conn., was third. Other finalists included Animal Hospital of Nashua, N.H., and Austinburg Veterinary Clinic of Austinburg, Ohio. The Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Center of Richmond, Va., was named the AAHA Accredited Referral Practice of the year, beating out the only other finalist, Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital of Wheat Ridge, Colo. Colorado State University student Jennifer Lynn Pultz, MBA, won the AAHA Anna E. Worth Student Leadership Award. After the presentation ceremony, AAHA executive director and CEO Michael Cavanaugh presented market research data that showed patient visits increased 1.5 percent in 2011 compared to 2010, compared with a decrease of 0.8 percent from 2009 to 2010. Visits by dog owners increased 1.8 percent from 2010 to 2011, compared …
Women Veterinarians Group Seeks Nominees For AwardsMarch 15, 2012 The Association for Women Veterinarians Foundation has opened nominations for its Outstanding Women Veterinarian of the Year and Distinguish Service Awards. Nominations for Outstanding Women Veterinarian of the Year are open to any woman graduate of an accredited veterinary school. The award is designed to recognize achievement and effort by a woman veterinarian in any field of veterinary medicine, including general private practice, research and public health. Nominations should emphasize the nominee’s professional accomplishments, according to the group. Nominations for the Distinguished Service Award are open to any individual, regardless of professional status or gender. The award is designed to recognize efforts and contributions by the nominee to improve the status of women in veterinary medicine. As such, nominations should emphasize contributions to professional groups, veterinary associations, state boards, publications, etc., according to the group. All nominations should include name, address, email address and phone number of the nominee, the nominee’s professional activity; and the nominee’s school and year of graduation. Possible supporting materials include, but are not limited to, lists of organizations to which the nominee belongs; list of honors, awards, publications and other activities; and a biographical sketch including educational background, according to the …
Royal Canin Recalls Dry Dog, Cat FoodMarch 13, 2012 Late yesterday afternoon, Royal Canin USA of St. Charles, Mo., recalled some of its dry dog and cat foods after finding melamine in its rice protein concentrate. Although Royal said it had not heard of any pets becoming sick from its products, it was recalling the following products as a precaution after finding melamine, the toxic ingredient suspecting in the killing of potentially hundreds of pets across the United States, in its food. Recalled Items Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Canine Early Cardiac EC 22™ (dog) Canine Skin Support SS21™ (dog) Feline Hypoallergenic HP23™ (cat) Royal Canin Sensible Choice (all dog food items) Chicken Meal & Rice Formula Senior Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Puppy Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Adult Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Senior Rice & Catfish Meal Formula Adult The Royal Canin Veterinary Diet is available only in veterinary clinics, but the Sensible Choice diet is sold in pet stores nationwide. No other Royal diets are affected by this recall, and all products with an expiration date of April 19, 2008, were not made with the tainted rice protein concentrate, it said. …
FidoPharm Rolls Out Generic Heartworm PreventiveMarch 9, 2012 PetArmor manufacturer FidoPharm launched a generic prescription heartworm preventive called PetTrust Plus (ivermectin/pyrantel) today as part of an event in New Orleans at which FidoPharm established a “Pet Trust” for the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. PetTrust Plus is the first generic preventive to be sold in retail pharmacies, according to FidoPharm. The medication contains the same active ingredients in the same concentrations as Merial's Heartgard Plus, but costs up to 50 percent less, the company said. “Dogs deserve access to preventive heartworm medicine and their owners deserve choices, without having to sacrifice quality and efficacy,” said FidoPharm President Alex Kaufman. “With the introduction of PetTrust Plus at retail pharmacies nationwide, FidoPharm continues to protect pets and provide pet parents with affordable and accessible pet health care options and we are proud to educate pet owners about the importance of heartworm testing and treatment.” FidoPharm committed $5,000 to establish the “Pet Trust” for the LA/SPCA to provide protection and healthcare to local, needy pets. The company will also provide the next 500 adopted eligible dogs with a six-month supply of PetTrust Plus. <HOME>
Nutrena Goat Pellets Recalled On Label OmissionMarch 9, 2012 Cargill Animal Nutrition voluntarily recalled three lots of Nutrena NatureWise Goat Pellets on Wednesday due to a labeling error. The packages failed to indicate that the feed contains decoquinate, a medicated article for the prevention of coccidiosis that is not approved for lactating goats. The goat pellets were manufactured at Cargill’s Montgomery, Ala., facility on Dec. 31, 2011, Feb. 18, 2012 and Feb. 25, 2012. The pellets were distributed in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and North Carolina. The affected products include: Lot Code Product Name Weight Date Code 1MG1365 NatureWise Goat Pellet 16 50 1MG1DEC31 3MG2049 NatureWise Goat Pellet 16 50 3MG2FEB18 1MG2056 NatureWise Goat Pellet 16 50 1MG2FEB25 Cargill urged consumers to return opened or unopened bags of the feed to their place of purchase for a full refund or replacement. <HOME>
Microchips, Pet Meds Drive Pethealth RevenuesMarch 8, 2012 Pethealth Inc.’s revenue grew by 3 percent in 2011 compared to the year-ago period despite a 5 percent decline in pet insurance revenue, the Canadian company reported yesterday. In April 2011, Pethealth completed a restructuring of its ShelterCare insurance program delivered through North American animal welfare organizations. The process reduced both the non-cash component of its pet insurance revenue and the program’s marketing expenses, while increasing net income and cash flows. Total revenue from the company’s pet insurance segment decreased from $23.4 million in 2010 to $22.3 million in 2011, but increased by 4 percent in the 4th quarter, from $5.6 million in 2010 to $5.9 million in 2011. Meanwhile, the company’s non-insurance segment, including animal welfare software, pet recovery database services, and online retail, grew by 24 percent in 2011 from $8.8 million to $10.9 million. The segment also grew by 32 percent in the 4th quarter, from $2.2 million in 2010 to $2.9 million in 2011. Sales through the company’s online store, thepetangstore.com, grew by 166 percent from 2010 to 2011. Sales of pet medications comprised about 69 percent of the store’s 2011 sales of $879,000. Fourth quarter sales through thepetangostore.com increased 158 percent …
Arizona To Get First DVM Program In 2014March 7, 2012 Midwestern University of Glendale, Ariz., is establishing a college of veterinary medicine, scheduled to open in the fall of 2014, the university reported today. Midwestern will be the first school in Arizona to offer a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree and expects 100 students to enroll in the inaugural year. The university cited a shortage of veterinarians in Arizona as the impetus for establishing the veterinary college. The state has one veterinarian for every 4,100 animals, according to Midwestern, trailing the national average of one veterinarian per 3,500 animals. Three Arizona counties, including Greenlee, La Paz and Yuma, have no veterinarians in practice, the university said. “Quality veterinary care is an absolute necessity in our [s]tate – particularly in our farming and agricultural communities where demand is the highest and shortage of care is the most critical,” said Governor Janice Brewer. “The establishment of this [c]ollege will produce good jobs and help ensure that Arizona develops home-grown veterinarians to meet our most pressing animal health care needs.” The university will focus on recruiting throughout the state and region, with particular emphasis on students from rural communities. <HOME>
Therapeutic Diets: Improving Pets’ Quality Of LifeMarch 6, 2012 Even before people labeled themselves pet owners, they provided scraps of food for dogs and cats. But it wasn’t until pet food manufacturing for U.S. dogs started in 1890 and for cats in the 1930s that the initiative for improving animal health through nutrition began. Pet food has since evolved in ways that amaze even veterinarians. Therapeutic diets today are created specifically to prevent or delay onset of many medical conditions and help control existing diseases. “Most medical conditions benefit from the right nutritional support,” says Grace Long, director of veterinary technical marketing at Nestle Purina PetCare. “Therapeutic diets complement other therapies, provide excellent nutrition and at the same time address the special nutritional needs of the pet.” Manufacturers of therapeutic lines conduct research on the efficacy of their products, and provide information for veterinary and pet owner education. “Pet food companies devote significant resources researching and developing therapeutic products,” says Kurt Gallagher, director of communications and export development at the Pet Food Institute in Washington, DC. “Given the positive impact that therapeutic products can have on pets, companies engage in significant outreach to the veterinary community so veterinarians are aware of products that …
