Crime Scene Vet Probes Cruelty CasesApril 17, 2009 Her work is shocking, emotionally taxing and difficult to comprehend. She sees painful images of cruelty and malice. She examines remains, photographs brutality and documents abuse. When the investigations are over, her findings help put criminals in prison. Melinda Merck, DVM, of Atlanta is a forensic veterinarian dedicating her career to educating people about animal welfare, enforcing anti-cruelty legislation and working to convict animal abusers. Her latest book, “Veterinary Forensics: Animal Cruelty Investigations” (Blackwell Publishing, 2007) is scheduled for release in July. She says its role is to fill the gap in education for veterinarians and pathologists in recognizing and reporting animal abuse, and the specific skills veterinarians need to understand animal-cruelty investigations and performing forensic examinations on animals. “Veterinarians have an obligation to step out of their own small world and make an impact,” Dr. Merck says. Merck believes so strongly in the veterinarian’s role in recognizing and reporting animal abuse that in November, after six years of private practice, she sold her feline-only clinic in Roswell, Ga., to work full time for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals as its veterinary forensics consultant. “I always had a …
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Recognizing The Signs Of AbuseApril 17, 2009 When a 14-pound Jack Russell terrier mix presented with multiple broken bones to Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital in Manhattan, N.Y., without a logical explanation from its owner as to how the injuries occurred, Robert Reisman, DVM, medical coordinator of animal cruelty cases, became suspicious. The terrier’s owner said the fractures resulted from another dog jumping on him, but there was only a five-pound difference between the two dogs. “You have to do some questioning to understand what they’re saying and determine if the account of the incident fits with the injury,” Dr. Reisman says. After taking radiographs, Reisman determined that the dog had suffered two fractures of the right hind femur, one below the hip joint and one above the knee joint. In addition, one of its right ribs was fractured, along with its left hind femur, which had broken into multiple pieces. Reisman has been a veterinarian at Bergh – the hospital featured on Animal Planet’s “Animal Cops” TV show – for 20 years. He has learned to recognize the signs of animal abuse, not only based on the animal’s condition, but also on the owner’s demeanor. “There’s a series of things vets …
Medicine In The Digital AgeApril 17, 2009 Accurately and efficiently diagnosing equine patients is critical to their well being. Efficiency is also crucial to a veterinarian’s bottom line. Digital radiography has changed the way both small and large veterinary practices are diagnosing and treating their patients, and this is especially true in the case of equine practitioners. “On the equine side, digital has had a really big impact,” says William Hornof, DVM, Dipl. ACVR. Dr. Hornof is the past president of the American College of Veterinary Radiologists and is the chief medical officer for Eklin Medical Systems in Santa Clara, Calif. He explains that because so many equine veterinarians are mobile, DR has allowed them to be far more efficient. Instant Gratification “In the old days, you had to leave a farm to process and read film,” Hornof says. If you didn’t get the right view, you had to go back and do it again. In some cases, the hassle could lead to accepting less than ideal images. But with DR, equine veterinarians get the images they need stallside. “When you leave the farm, you know you have what you want,” Hornof says. “From a quality and completeness standpoint, digital has …
How To Read And Interpret Pet Food LabelsApril 17, 2009 Most pet owners have come to realize that there is a science to reading the labels of the food they buy for their pets. Although some loose rules are set out by regulators mandating the information that must be included on a label, these rules don’t really result in consumer-friendly information for the pet-food purchaser. Furthermore, most pet owners do not know these rules, and manufacturers can manipulate them to present their products in the best light. It is possible, however, to learn a few of the most common tricks about labeling, to allow the best choice of foods. Veterinarians can serve as an excellent source for this information if they understand the basic principles themselves. Dry Matter Basis: It is important to understand the concept of “dry matter basis” (DMB) to make any sense of pet-food labels. DMB means the amount of a particular ingredient expressed as a percent of the total solids in the can or bag, if the food’s moisture is removed. Understanding DMB allows comparison of dry and canned foods, with their very different moisture content, in a fair way. It allows the pet-food shopper to compare apples to apples, so to …
Feline Diabetes: New Ways Of Looking At An Old EnemyApril 17, 2009Veterinarians today see many diabetic cats. In fact, evidence exists that the number of diabetic cats is growing; at least, more of them are presented to practitioners for treatment than ever before. Feline diabetes has been a very discouraging disease to manage. Patients are often brittle and unpredictable in their response to insulin and other measures to control hyperglycemia. For most of us, these cats have been unsatisfying to treat, with decline and death all but a certainty. Human adult onset (Type 2) diabetes is also on the rise, according to most sources of human health statistics. Physicians attribute this to poor-quality, high-carbohydrate diets, inadequate exercise and other lifestyle factors that conspire to develop this life-threatening condition. The only good news in this epidemic of human diabetes is the strides being made in helping diabetics to better manage and live with the disease. These include: • Human-specific insulin, made possible by recombinant protein technology. • The medical profession's insistence that patients home-test their blood glucose several times daily before injecting any insulin. • Better dietary recommendations. These three measures, implemented faithfully by the diabetic human, give the patient longevity and quality of life. Even Type 1, or juvenile, diabetes is amenable …
Digital Revolution Goes ExoticApril 17, 2009The baby turtle with pneumonia was so small that its entire body fit onto a single dental X-ray plate. "We treated the animal for several weeks, and were able to follow the changes in the patient's lungs every few days," says Douglas R. Mader, DVM, fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, of Marathon Veterinary Hospital in Marathon, Fla. Mader's creative use of his digital dental radiography machine made monitoring the baby turtle's lungs easier. "Since it is a dental unit, we can use it on very small animals (mice, small birds) or small parts of larger animals (feet, heads, etc.)," he says. The digital revolution of radiographic technology has infiltrated all sectors of veterinary practice and is gradually moving into exotics and zoo animal medicine, too. Gregory J. Fleming, DVM, Dip. ACZM, of Disney's Animal Kingdom in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., sees patients ranging from elephants to dolphins. His practice's new computed radiography machine has also been helpful for smaller exotic patients. "We use this system on everything from frogs to elephants," Dr. Fleming says. "In the case of small animals like frogs, we use the CR cassettes in our mammography unit. This took some practice but we have …
Food Drive Program Gives Homeless Pets A Paw-UpApril 17, 2009Walking along the busy city streets of Carson City, Nev., during wintertime, it's hard for Genevieve Frederick not to notice the many homeless people along the sidewalks, clinging tightly to their tattered jackets and worn-down blankets for warmth. It's even more difficult for Frederick, an animal enthusiast, to ignore the homeless pets that lie loyally by their owners' sides, as hungry for affection as they are for food. Between 5 percent and 10 percent of homeless people living outdoors have dogs and/or cats, according to research conducted by the National Coalition for the Homeless in 2004. "The tragic part is, the pets of the homeless do not choose their owners," Frederick says. Since Frederick couldn't rescue every homeless pet from the streets—without turning her home into a zoo—she decided to give them something they needed just as much as a roof over their heads: food. Through her public relations work for Sierra Veterinary Hospital in Carson City, Frederick discovered the need for a plan that would not only help pet owners facing financial difficulties, but also help veterinarians publicize their practices. "Working with [veterinarians] and their staff, I soon realized that vets are not trained to promote and market their …
Vets Reflect On Disaster To Prepare For Next TimeApril 17, 2009 “I’m so sorry, but all of the 27 animals you have entrusted in my care have died,” read the note posted outside of a small-animal hospital in Waveland, Miss. It was a note that Trey Wofford, DVM, owner of Palmetto Vet Calls mobile clinic, found after Hurricane Katrina stormed through their small town in 2005, and one he prayed he would never have to write. “I put myself in the place of those veterinarians, and if the animals had been in my care, I would have felt horrible,” he says. While the storm left behind a trail of ripped roof shingles and shattered windows, many veterinarians were left with similar feelings of chaos and brokenness. As June marks the beginning of another hurricane season and the Humane Society of the United States’ national animal preparedness month, others are still plagued by the question of what they could have done differently to better prepare. That was certainly the question Gregory Rich, DVM, asked himself after he found his exotics practice, the West Esplanade Veterinary Clinic in Metairie, La., in shambles. “Without a roof, it looked like a mixer [had come through] the inside of the …
Immunotherapy Moves Beyond The BasicsApril 17, 2009 With about 150 diplomates of veterinary dermatology, and fewer than 20 of them researching allergen immunotherapy treatments, the profession has relied on the same basic testing and treatment methods for decades until recently, specialists say. Treatment administration methods are of high interest to veterinary allergen immunotherapists. Sublingual Immunotherapy Sublingual immunotherapy, or SLIT, is an alternative to allergy shots. With SLIT, a compound is placed under the animal’s tongue as opposed to being injected, which is seen as a good alternative for pet owners leery of administering routine shots. “We want to find molecules that increase immunity to the allergens without having to inject the allergen,” says Thierry Olivry, DrVet, Ph.D., Dipl. ECVD and ACVD, a professor at North Carolina State University. “With SLIT, animals and owners could be less anxious about treatment.” Research on SLIT is being conducted for human use and is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. But veterinary immunologists predict the treatment will soon be useful in canine cases. “Testing in dogs for sublingual immunotherapy treatment will begin at NCSU in conjunction with the Japanese RIKEN Center for Allergy and Immunology, a center researching immunotherapy alternatives. Testing is expected …
Giving Clinic Fixtures A Face-liftApril 17, 2009Years ago, it wasn't unusual to walk into a veterinary office to discover a dim, fluorescent-lighted waiting room, checkered tile halls that could have only been designed in the 80s and chain-link kennel runs that made its inhabitants look more like captive prisoners than beloved family pets. But, throughout the years, as new equipment and fixtures are introduced to the market, clients' image of the "standard" veterinary practice has changed. With clients' expectations growing, veterinary practices must decide between stepping up to the plate or getting left in the competition's dust. And one of the best ways to set a clinic apart from the rest is by keeping up-to-date on the products and fixtures used in the practice, says John Eppes, national sales manager of LGL Animal Care Products Inc. in Bryan, Texas. "When a practice is first starting out, they don't have a lot of money to spend on equipment so they buy what they can [afford]," he says. But the products within their price range may not always be of the best quality. "You get what you pay for," Eppes says. "A chain-link [kennel] run is still going to hold a dog, but could wear over time. …
