Factors To ExtinctionDecember 30, 2009 If seeing the great animals of Africa is on your wish list, go as soon as you can! I recently led a Seminars in the Sun group to South Africa with wildlife expert Dr. Peter Brothers. His guidance and lectures gave us insight into the complexity and multilevel challenges that Africa faces to preserve its amazing biodiversity and heritage as the birthplace of man. Malayan sun bears may become extinct sooner than expected, two ecologists say. The most disturbing concept for me to absorb is the heartless process of extinction. It happened to the dinosaurs after a huge meteor hit the planet. It happens as life proceeds. It is happening now despite desperate conservation measures. Many factors come into play, such as weather, habitat loss, environmental toxins, disease, shrinking population dynamics. These factors can be analyzed to predict extinction risks and rates for endangered species. But some species may become extinct much faster than predicted because scientists have not updated the standard extinction prediction model. Alan Hastings at the University of California, Davis, and Brett Melbourne at the University of Colorado in Boulder are ecologists who believe that conservation organizations are using …
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Tui Na: Chinese Massage Or Something More?December 30, 2009 Veterinary Tui Na, or Chinese bodywork, has recently joined the Traditional Chinese Medical repertoire along with TCM-style acupuncture and food therapy. Proponents point to the antiquity of Tui Na, citing its origin as circa 1700 BCE.1 Why some practices survived so long, however, is that the closed society of China kept its medicine primitive and folkloric until the Communist Revolution. Today, TCM risks extinction in China because of decreasing enrollment and interest by medical students.2 Calls for the “abolition of traditional Chinese medicine” have erupted in scholarly circles due its lack of scientific basis and outdated precepts.3 Even TCM hospitals are adopting more Western medical style diagnostics and relying less on techniques such as tongue and pulse diagnosis.4 China is now banking on the West’s appetite for all things Asian to keep TCM alive as well.5 Indeed, Americans have transformed both TCM and its veterinary counterpart, TCVM, into big business. It is curious to note that as China works to upgrade its veterinary medical educational standards to meet those outside of China,6 some U.S. holistic groups point to TCVM as a gold standard.7,8 However, the wholesale importation …
Step-by-Step Surgery For Anal Sac CancerDecember 30, 2009 Anal sac cancer causes local problems, mainly because of pain and straining to defecate. Anal sac apocrine gland adenocarcinoma also leads to systemic issues, including hypercalcemia and metastasis. Affected patients are older female dogs in 90 percent of the cases. A few cases have been described in cats. It is important to keep an open mind. Differential diagnosis for perianal disease includes anal sac impaction, abscess (which may rupture), sacculitis, perianal adenomas, perineal hernias, perineal fistulas and other malignancies, such as perianal malignant melanoma. Any of these conditions affect the quality of life of the patient. Photo courtesy of Dr. Phil Zeltzman. A preoperative view of a left anal sac adenocarcinoma in a 9-year-old male Akita mix. An anal sac tumor is suspected on rectal exam. If it is large enough, subcutaneous swelling may be visible. Occasionally, the tumor is bilateral. A diagnosis can sometimes be reached with cytology if enough cells exfoliate. Histopathology gives a definitive diagnosis. Incisional biopsies are rarely used, whereas excisional biopsy is typically the preferred course of action. Standard preoperative workup includes a CBC and blood chemistry, including a calcium level. Approximately …
Balancing Motherhood And Veterinary PracticeDecember 30, 2009 When building Coast Pet Clinic/Animal Cancer Center (Coast) in 1977 I was only 29 years old. We designed the upstairs with a big conference room and a full kitchen and bathroom that opened to a spacious room that could serve as a day care facility for babies and small children. But the children did not come to our practice, not until this century. A Chance to Help African Orphans As I write this, I’m getting ready to lead a group to South Africa to see Dr. Peter Brothers, a wildlife veterinarian who leads Brothers Safari. So I am making a special plea to readers to help feed orphaned African children who have lost parents to the AIDS epidemic. These children have nothing. In Malawi alone, 2 million of its 12 million people are orphans. Please join me in sending donations to Nourish the Children at NourishTheChildren.com. Nourish the Children had nutritionists from my alma mater, the University of California, Davis, create a special fortified food called Vita Meal to nourish starving children. In addition, …
Know When To Leave It To The SpecialistDecember 30, 2009 I’ve got this acquaintance. She’s an educated professional and a commonsensical kind of person. Unfortunately, none of this kept her from suffering a failed root canal at the hands of a general practitioner dentist. She trusted him and he failed. Not only did he legitimately fail to provide a reasonable root canal, leading directly to an abscessed tooth that he never re-radiographed postprocedure. Where he most failed was in his duty to offer the services of an endodontist before performing the work. That got me to thinking about all the cases I see as a “second opinion” and all the disaster cases my significant other, a vet surgeon, treats on the back end of poor general practitioner judgment calls. Most of mine are cases that need not stop at another GP before heading directly to a specialist. That they land in my lap in the absence of a referring vet’s communication is testament that this “second opinion” was not recommended by their initial veterinarian. Rather, it’s an outright defection that represents a dereliction of trust in their regular vet—all of which might have been prevented given a simple referral to the appropriate source: a specialist. …
Digital RadiographyDecember 30, 2009 Conventional X-ray technology has been used for decades, virtually unchallenged and unchanged. Now the rapid evolution of digital X-ray options makes veterinary consumers ask what’s the right system for me? How do I store my images? Who do I make them available to? About 25 percent of veterinarians use digital radiography equipment in their practice and 70 percent are expected to use the technology within the next five years, according to Idexx Laboratories of Westbrook, Maine. But the profession is divided when privacy enters the conversation, leaving some less eager to trust an outside company with the responsibility of storing images. Veterinarians agree that determining what to do with picture archiving and communication systems, or PACS, is a big decision. PACS are servers dedicated to the storage, retrieval, distribution and presentation of images. They can stay under the owners’ roof or be placed in the care of an outside company. While keeping images in-house solves privacy concerns, an off-site company takes responsibility for the images’ protection and can be a good way to protect records in the event of a fire or natural disaster. “There are a small percentage of clients who educate themselves to …
AAHA Names Cavanaugh New Executive DirectorDecember 29, 2009Mike Cavanaugh, DVM, Dipl. ABVP, has been named the new executive director for the American Animal Hospital Association, effective Jan. 21. Dr. Cavanaugh is replacing John Albers, DVM, after 23 years with the association. “I am very pleased with the choice of Dr. Cavanaugh as AAHA’s new executive director,” said John Tait, DVM, president of AAHA. “He has an extensive history of accomplishments in veterinary medicine and is well suited to lead AAHA and maintain the high standards the association has set. “Mike possesses the leadership, innovative qualities, ethics, communication skills and analytic abilities to implement the direction of the [AAHA Board of Directors] and make decisions in the members’ best interests. I look forward to working with Mike in his new capacity as executive director.” Cavanaugh has practiced small animal medicine at various AAHA accredited practices, including West Ridge Animal Hospital in Topeka, Kan., a hospital he founded and owned from 1988-1996. Before joining AAHA, Cavanaugh served as director of Veterinary Hospital Services at Pfizer Animal Health of New York. He has also worked for Heska Corp. of Loveland, Colo., and Hill’s Pet Nutrition of Topeka, Kan. “Ever since I first discovered AAHA in veterinary school, I have always …
Researchers Use New Method To Develop Genetically Sterile ScrewwormsDecember 29, 2009 Scientists are developing transgenic sterile, male-only screwworm flies that could eliminate the need for the expensive irradiation technique now used in screwworm control programs, according to the Agricultural Research Service, the scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Sterile insect techniques are used to control pests such as screwworms, Cochliomyia hominivorax, Mediterranean fruit flies and tsetse flies, among others. Screwworm eradication efforts in particular save U.S. livestock producers about $900 million annually in potential losses, according to the ARS. The ARS team involved with the project include entomologists Margaret Allen and Steven Skoda and geneticist Alfred Handler. Allen is at the ARS Biological Control of Pests Research Unit in Stoneville, Miss.; Skoda is a research leader with the ARS Livestock Insects Research Laboratory at Kerrville, Texas; and Handler works at the ARS Insect Behavior and Biocontrol Research Unit in Gainesville, Fla. Using a genetic element called a “piggyBac transposon” as a vector, the researchers introduced a green fluorescent protein gene (GFP) into the genomes of eight screwworm strains. When viewed under ultraviolet light, the transgenic screwworms emitted a fluorescent glow, helping confirm GFP’s activation, according to ARS. The research also revealed that transgenic …
Dr. Joel Pasco Dies At 62December 29, 2009 Joel Pasco, DVM, founder of All Creatures Care Cottage in Costa Mesa, Calif., died Oct. 24 during a fishing trip to Convict Lake in the Sierras, the Daily Pilot reported. He was 62. Dr. Pasco, also founder of the Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach, Calif., was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2006. Last year he was told that he had about 12 months to live. In a story published in July in Veterinary Practice News, Pasco said he decided to surround himself with family and friends upon hearing the news. He would continue to pursue hobbies that brought him joy, like painting, sculpting, fishing and bonsai gardening. And, as long as he could, he would continue to practice veterinary medicine, the profession he’d loved for more than 30 years. “People ask me, ‘Why are you working? You should be retired,’ ” Pasco told Veterinary Practice News. “But my answer is, ‘I love what I do. I love my animal patients and I love my human clients, and my life would be very empty if I could not continue to do this.’ ” A celebration of Pasco’s …
Shelters Getting $1 Million In Pet Supplies From HartzDecember 28, 2009 Which animal shelters could use 2,000 pet products? Hartz Mountain Corp. of Secaucus, N.J., asked that question, and the public answered. As part of its Shelter Donation Program, the pet product manufacturer plans to ship $1 million worth of pet supplies to 150 shelters across the U.S. It's on track to meet its overall goal of donating $3 million worth of products to animal shelters in need. Hartz called on the public Dec. 13 to nominate a shelter to receive 2,000 pet supplies. (Due to the way Hartz stores and ships its products, each donation had to be a minimum of 2,000 items.) Within 10 days, the company received enough nominations to meet its goal of donating $1 million worth of supplies to animal shelters. “It seems everyone is in the holiday spirit as we’ve seen a tremendous amount of goodwill from consumers nominating animal shelters from all over the country, and we’d like to thank them for responding so soon and with such enthusiasm,” said Bob Shipley, Hartz’s senior vice president of customer relations development. “Sadly, it also reminds us that our animal shelters are really suffering this year and need everyone’s help. We …
