Veterinary chiropractic: A friend or foe to your patients?November 18, 2020By Brennen McKenzie, MA, MSc, VMD, cVMAChiropractic is primarily the manipulation of bones in the spine in an effort to treat or prevent disease or to reduce discomfort. Though therapeutic manipulation of bones in the spine has a long history, chiropractic—as it is understood today—was invented in the late 19th century by Daniel David Palmer. He conceived the notion that all disease results from vertebrae in the spine being out of place (so-called “subluxations”), and that their forceful manipulation (an “adjustment”) …
Playing monopoly with real money: How veterinarians are losing the price warOctober 30, 2020By Patty Khuly, VMD, MBACompetition is alive and well in veterinary medicine. But as our industry confronts increased corporatization and consolidation, the word has acquired a new resonance for many of us.
When bad reviews happen to good veterinariansOctober 14, 2020By Patty Khuly, VMD, MBAEveryone reacts differently, but there’s no getting away from the fact negative reviews hurt, which is exactly what the reviewer is trying to achieve.
Food is love—So why is nutrition a problem area for veterinarians?September 29, 2020By Brennen McKenzie, MA, MSc, VMD, cVMAAs a child, I was a big fan of the Peanuts cartoons. One of my favorite characters was Snoopy, a suave, bipedal beagle who wrote novels and engaged in breathtaking aerial combat with his nemesis, the Red Baron. Though Snoopy was unlike most other beagles I have known, he had one characteristic in common to others of his breed, and indeed most dogs. When suppertime arrived, all other activities were forgotten, and he often launched …
The muzzling of science and the veterinarian’s roleSeptember 16, 2020By Patty Khuly, VMD, MBAAn acceptance of “un-science” is happening despite the fact most of us carry the bulk of this planet’s available information on our person at all times. The facts are literally at our fingertips.
A gentle rant on medical infantilization and the “pet parent” trapAugust 6, 2020By Patty Khuly, VMD, MBASmack in the thick of Miami’s COVID spike, I had to have minor surgery to correct a bony defect caused by Rottweiler skull-induced trauma to my nose. The timing was technically elective. It needed to be done eventually, but the sooner the better, cosmetically speaking. I chose vanity over safety weeks in advance, not knowing my zip code would zoom to the top of COVID’s bell curve of casualties on that exact day. At least …
Antimicrobial stewardship: What it is and why it mattersAugust 4, 2020By Brennen McKenzie, MA, MSc, VMD, cVMAAntimicrobials have tremendous therapeutic benefits in human and veterinary patients. After vaccination, antibiotics are probably the most important medical intervention of the 20th century in terms of reducing suffering and death. Of course, antimicrobials can also have significant adverse effects. And any use of antimicrobials, including appropriate therapeutic use, creates a selection pressure that can result in emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) or an increase in the abundance of resistant bacteria. Adverse effects and the …
Surviving a pandemic as a veterinary professionalJune 24, 2020By Patty Khuly, VMD, MBAIf you’re a veterinary professional and you feel like you’re being squeezed from every direction, welcome to my pandemic-warped world. It’s gotten so bad that sometimes I feel like a Cuban sandwich, all thin slices of ham, cheese, baby pork, and pickles smushed between two halves of buttered baguette, which is then compressed by an industrial press so powerful the edges of the bread burn and the cheese sizzles while the bread soaks up the …
