News

Actress Hilary Swank To Promote Pet Adoption During Iams Home 4 The Holidays Campaign

September 2, 2009

Academy Award-winning actress Hilary Swank has been selected to serve as the 2009 ambassador for Iams Home 4 the Holidays pet adoption campaign. Home 4 the Holiday’s founding partner, the Helen Woodward Animal Center, and nearly 3,500 participating animal organizations plan to help 1.5 million pets find homes during this year’s adoption drive, which runs Oct. 1 to Jan. 4, 2010. As the 2009 ambassador, Swank will share her personal experience with adoption and rescue in an effort to help educate the public on how they can help homeless pets. According to Iams, the Million Dollar Baby star has adopted many pets throughout her life, including her two dogs Karoo and Rumi. “I’m proud to be working with Iams Home 4 the Holidays to help raise awareness about the importance of pet adoption,” Swank said in a statement. “Last year, the program’s adoption goal was to get 1 million pets adopted in just three months, but this year the goal is even bigger.” The Iams Home 4 the Holidays program started in 1999 and has since helped more than 3.2 million pets find homes. “Now more than ever orphaned animals need our help, and who better …

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AVMA Survey: Salaries Up For New Vets But Job Offers Down

September 1, 2009

Most starting salaries are up for new veterinarians, but the number of graduates who received job offers by the time they graduated has dropped, according to an American Veterinary Medical Association survey. For instance, 79.5 percent of respondents received an offer of employment or advanced education by their graduation date in 2009, down about 11.5 percent from the class of 2008. The AVMA attributes the decline to the economy. Of those who received an offer, nearly half received more than one. Eighty-four percent of those seeking employment accepted an offer. The average starting salary among all employer types combined increased 0.7 percent, from $48,328 in 2008 to $48,684 in 2009, according to the survey. Excluding those who continued their education through advanced study, the average starting salary increased 5.2 percent, from $61,633 in 2008 to $64,826 in 2009. When looking at various employer types, the average starting salary in the public-corporate sector decreased 7.3 percent in 2009 while the average starting salary in all types of private practice increased 6 percent. Average starting salaries in the private sector, excluding those for equine practices, ranged from $63,172 for food animal predominant positions to $72,318 for food …

California Spay/Neuter Bill Gets Amended

September 1, 2009

California Senate Bill 250, which would require spay or neuter surgery for most of the state’s dogs and cats was amended on the Assembly floor Aug. 31 and is now on its second reading. SB 250, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez, calls on cat owners to spay or neuter their cats at 6 months of age if the cats are allowed to roam at large. The bill also requires the sterilization of all dogs at 6 months old unless the owner gets an unaltered dog license. The bill has been amended to require anyone who sells or adopts out an intact dog, regardless of the dog’s age, to provide the licensing agency with the name and address of the new owner within 10 days. Any existing unaltered dog’s license number and microchip number for the dog must appear on the document transferring ownership of the dog to the new owner. The bill also now provides that an intact dog with a current intact license will not be required to be sterilized on a first offense: “In any case in which the owner or custodian of a dog with an unaltered dog license is cited …

Good Customer Service Could Win Animal Shelter/Groups Money

August 31, 2009

Maddie’s Fund will be awarding prizes totaling $50,000 to 70 Petfinder.com member shelter and rescue groups for good customer service from now through Sept. 18. The contest can be won in three ways: • E-mail. Each week, the Petfinder.com Foundation will randomly e-mail three member rescue groups with questions about an available dog or cat posted on their websites. If they get helpful information about that animal within 24 hours, the rescue group will win $500. • Phone. The same process will take place but instead of e-mailing, the foundation will randomly call three shelters. If a live person answers the phone and provides helpful information about that animal (or connects the caller to someone who does), the shelter will win $500. • In person. An “adopter” will randomly visit one selected shelter in a different state each week. If the “adopter” reports that the shelter experience was positive, pleasant and helpful, the shelter will win $2,000. The contest coincides with The Shelter Pet Project, a national three-year Ad Council campaign sponsored by Maddie’s Fund and The Humane Society of the United States in partnership with Petfinder.com. The campaign sets out to encourage people …

Banfield Names Dr. Jeffrey Klausner As Chief Medical Officer

August 28, 2009

Banfield, The Pet Hospital of Portland, Ore., has named Jeffrey Klausner, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, as senior vice president and chief medical officer. As such, Dr. Klausner will be responsible for driving the medical direction of the practice and helping Banfield veterinarians “deliver the highest quality of veterinary medicine.” He is also working to inspire other veterinarians to join Banfield. Klausner joined the practice in March as vice president of professional relations and government affairs, where he remains responsible for building and strengthening relationships with universities and national veterinary organizations. Prior to Banfield, Klausner was the president and chief executive officer for The Animal Medical Center in New York City. “As a medical and academic leader in the veterinary profession, Dr. Klausner’s years of experience will be instrumental in furthering our mission of providing high quality of veterinary medicine through patient outcomes,” said John Payne, president and chief executive officer of Banfield. “As our practice continues to grow and evolve, it is even more important that we continue to deliver on our promise—Dr. Klausner has the knowledge, experience and passion to guide the direction of medicine within our practice.”

FDA Further Defines Minor Use In MUMS Act

August 28, 2009

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has defined “small number of animals” for minor use designation under the Minor Use and Minor Species Animal Health Act of 2004. Previously, the definition of “minor use” relied on the phrase “small number of animals” to characterize such use: “ 'Minor use drugs’ are for intended uses in major species (horses, dogs, cats, cattle, pigs, turkeys and chickens) for diseases that occur infrequently or in limited geographic areas and in only a small number of animals annually.” The FDA’s amendment, effective Nov. 9, establishes a specific “small number of animals” for each of the seven major animal species to be used in determining whether any particular intended use in a major species is a minor use. “Small number of animals” means equal to or less than 50,000 horses, 70,000 dogs, 120,000 cats, 310,000 cattle, 1.45 million pigs, 14 million turkeys and 72 million chickens. “This definition establishes the number of animals eligible to be treated annually based on the number of animals that represents a drug market value that (relative to drug development costs) would not be likely to be pursued in the absence of the …

California Intact Animal Cap Bill Gets Second Reading With Amendments

August 25, 2009

California Assembly Bill 241, which would limit the number of intact dogs and cats any person could own for breeding and selling as pets, was amended on the Senate floor Aug. 24 and is now on its second reading. The bill, which previously indicated that it would be a misdemeanor for any person to have more than a combined total of 50 adult (four months or older) unsterilized dogs and cats for breeding or raising them for sale as pets, has been amended to also include business entities. The amended bill reads, “No person or business entity, as defined, shall own, possess, control or otherwise have charge or custody of more than a combined total of 50 adult unsterilized dogs and cats, in the state, at any time used for the purpose of breeding or raising dogs or cats for sale as pets.” “Business entity” is defined as any company, firm, association, partnership, business trust, corporation, limited liability company or other legal entity. This does not apply to public animal control agencies, shelters, rescue groups, veterinary facilities and research facilities. In addition, the amended bill would make it a misdemeanor to act in concert …

Where Banfield Stands On Other Procedures

August 24, 2009

Banfield, The Pet Hospital’s ban on cosmetic tail docking and ear cropping may leave pet owners wondering about other controversial procedures, such as debarking, dewclaw removal and feline declawing. Karen Faunt, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, vice president of medical quality advancement, said Banfield has an official policy against debarking procedures, though she pointed out that the company really didn’t perform such procedures previously. Dewclaw removal is left to a veterinarian’s discretion, Dr. Faunt said. Dewclaws that are not attached can get easily ripped, and the surgery to fix it, which can be complicated, is no fun for the adult pet, she added. Banfield will continue to declaw cats, though it strongly recommends alternatives. “We prefer our clients work with behavioral training and figure out ways to work with their cats,” Faunt said. In reality, she said, a cat tearing up furniture or scratching people is not going to bond with the family and consequently will end up at an animal shelter, where it isn’t likely to find a new home. “So we will continue to declaw to keep cats in homes and prevent them from going to the shelter,” Faunt …

BluePearl Veterinary Partners Joins Bequest Program