Heartgard producer announces heartworm awareness campaignApril 16, 2018 Merial, now a part of Boehringer Ingelheim (BI), announced a multifaceted campaign to assist veterinarians and clinic teams in promoting the consistent use of heartworm preventive medications for their patients. The announcement follows a recent survey conducted by the company, which showed a decreased use of year-round heartworm preventive measures and a corresponding increase in instances of the disease. "After years of steady progress in reducing the numbers of heartworm-positive cases in pets, a concerning backward slide has occurred over the past few years," said Stephen Jones, DVM, past president of the American Heartworm Society. "It is commendable that the Heartgard Plus team has recognized the urgency of the situation and is moving quickly and aggressively to address this challenge." Through the initiative, Merial's team will engage with both veterinarians and pet owners to listen to the challenges they face in starting and keeping their patients/pets on heartworm preventive medications for year-round protection. From this data, best practices for encouraging consistent usage will be determined and shared with the animal care community. The first component of the campaign, Take the Paw Pledge, launches this month, with veterinarians across the country asking their clients to commit …
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PetSmart petition gets 52K+ signatures following another grooming deathApril 16, 2018 The death of an 8-year-old corgi at a PetSmart grooming facility has led to an online petition against the retail giant. The petition, which demands PetSmart shut down its grooming centers until an investigation has been completed and storewide changes have been implemented, has amassed more than 52,000 signatures. The dog's owner, Chuck Crawford, said he dropped his two Corgis, Abby and Harley, at a PetSmart grooming facility in Toms River, N.J., only to receive a phone call an hour later, informing him Abby had died and telling him where he could pick up her body. The corgi is the fourth dog to die at a PetSmart grooming facility in five months. Last December, Danielle DiNapoli's English bulldog, Scruffles, died at a PetSmart grooming center in Flemington, N.J. The death also ignited an online petition against the company, demanding PetSmart investigate and release a public report on the incident. The appeal received more than 92,000 signatures. "After Scruffles the bulldog died, the outrage caused PetSmart to launch a comprehensive review to change the way they do grooming," said Kelsey Bourgeois, the author of Abby's petition. "But obviously pets are still getting hurt …
AAVMC strengthens internship guidelinesApril 16, 2018 The Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) has developed a comprehensive set of guidelines designed to ensure the academic integrity of veterinary internship programs. The review follows recent criticisms, which deemed clinical placements as a means of providing hospitals with inexpensive labor, offering little educational value for students. Working off guidelines published in 2011 by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), the AAVMC also looked at preexisting guides outlined by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) when establishing the best practices for veterinary medical clinical internship programs. As such, AAVMC's Internship Guidelines include recommendations on work hours and climate consistent with health and wellness concerns referenced by the ACGME. The updated guidelines reinforce a core statement carried over from the AVMA's document, stating the primary purpose of an internship is to provide an educational program for the intern; not a service benefit to the hospital/clinic. "These guidelines will help to improve the learning experience, advance the quality of clinical internship programs, and ultimately train better veterinary practitioners," said Andrew T. Maccabe, DVM, MPH, JD, AAVMC CEO. "We are grateful to the working group members for their …
PetIQ faces unlawful merger suit filed by pet med distributorsApril 13, 2018 A lawsuit has been filed against PetIQ Inc., citing an alleged unlawful merger and other antitrust violations. The action was filed Apr. 4 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California by Washington, D.C.-based antitrust law firm MoginRubin LLP on behalf of pet medication distributors Med Vets Inc. and Bay Medical Solutions Inc. The lawsuit claims PetIQ's acquisition of veterinary clinic operator VIP Petcare Holdings Inc., which took place in January, will harm competition in the wholesale markets for prescription and restricted pet parasiticides by allowing the manufacturer to monopolize on the distribution of wellness products like Frontline Plus and HeartGard to nonveterinary retailers, such as Walmart and PetSmart. The action seeks to permanently enjoin the alleged unlawful acquisition as a violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act, which bars anticompetitive practices, seeking damages for price discrimination and attempted monopolization that is in violation of both the Clayton Act and the related Sherman Act. To view a copy of the complaint, click here.
PetPace program aims to gather canine epilepsy dataApril 13, 2018PetPace, maker of wearable technology for pets, announced a new "objective, innovative, and automated" program, PetPace Bio-Response for Epilepsy, that will allow pet owners to examine how pet biometric data changes in relation to seizure events. Epilepsy is a common condition affecting millions of dogs. As dogs spend many hours unobserved, it is difficult for pet owners to know the frequency of seizures a dog suffers. As a result, veterinarians are challenged to formulate treatment plans for epileptic patients without knowing the actual scope or frequency of seizures. As part of the PetPace Bio-Response for Epilepsy program development, PetPace is working with a large group of epileptic dogs and their owners to collect hundreds of seizure events and their correlated PetPace Smart Collar data. PetPace Bio-Response for Epilepsy collects and analyzes a range of physiological and behavioral data from owner-reported seizure events, including changes in pulse, respiration, temperature, activity, positions, HRV, and more. The PetPace analytic engine analyzes the relevant biometrics using advanced mathematical models and machine learning techniques, and provides key statistical indicators, measures, and graphical patterns that can then be used to detect future seizures, according to the company. "This technology has the potential to change the way caregivers relate …
UGA hackathon leads to pet, livestock care, welfare solutionsApril 13, 2018At the first-ever Georgia Animal Health Hackathon on the University of Georgia campus in Athens (UGA) this past weekend, nearly 100 students worked to develop potential solutions for the care and welfare of pets and livestock. The animal health-focused hackathon featured such ideas as a fitness tracker for owners and their pets and a thermo-detection drone for early identification of sick livestock.. Nearly 20 m必利勁 entors from industry, academia, and clinical practice provided feedback and guidance to the teams, culminating in a project showcase and final pitches lasting 4 minutes to an audience of peers, industry representatives, and participants. The grand prize-winning team, PetSense, developed an Alexa-compatible intelligent feeding and weight monitoring system for cats and dogs. Other teams were recognized for their projects in three categories. The AutoMat team was recognized in the Animal Human Bond category for its nonslip, self-disinfecting, reusable mat that provides a more comfortable examining table surface for pets. The Third Arm team was recognized in the Disease Diagnostics, Preventive Measures and Tracking category for its innovation of a surgical tool to enable precise placement of screws during surgery. The Chirp Alert team was recognized in …
AVMA VetVance video series teaches financial savvy to recent gradsApril 13, 2018 The American Veterinary Medical Association has developed a series of financial education videos to help new and recent veterinary grads gain a deeper understanding of finance management and advance financial literacy and overall well-being within the veterinary community. "Managing Your Finances" videos are available at VetVance.com. The VetVance video series is comprised of five learning modules: Debt-to-Income Ratio – Debt-to-income ratio calculator Managing My Debt – Debt management and budget optimization Investment Value of My DVM Degree – Veterinary degree return on investment calculator Planning for My Starting Salary – Answers to common salary and expectation questions Improving My Starting Salary – Tactics to help ensure salary growth The video series features Bridgette Bain, Ph.D., AVMA associate director of analytics and Charlotte Hansen, AVMA statistical analyst. VetVance, a project of Zoetis, is a free, web-based learning resource for the entire veterinary community. The VetVance modules are among many financial resources already developed by the AVMA. Other resources include: Personal Financial Planning Tool Salary Calculator Student Financial Resources Individualized Insurance Plans
The Idea vet student competition yields up-and-coming product conceptsApril 13, 2018The student chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association (SAVMA) annual symposium, held in March, featured lectures, clinical skills competitions, events … and the second annual live finale of The Idea, an innovation competition exclusively for veterinary students hosted by VetPrep and ViralVet. More than 27 student teams from across North America entered the competition. Semi-finalists worked closely with Aaron Massecar, MA, Ph.D., from the Texas A&M Veterinary Innovation Lab, as well as many other guest mentors to take an entrepreneurial and innovative journey that resulted in the selection of three teams to compete in the finals. Participants pitched their innovative Ideas live to the panel of judges and answered a series of questions before learning the results in front of a live audience. The $10,000 grand prize of the competition was presented to Michael Conguista from the University of Minnesota for his Dental Vet typodont concept. William Aqeel and Emmanouil Emmanouilidis were awarded the $5,000-second place prize for their U-Syringe concept, and Cory Erb and Devyn Bartell from Washington State University were awarded the $2,500 third place prize for their PetStat app. The cash prizes were awarded to assist …
Mars Petcare acquires OptiGenApril 12, 2018 Mars Petcare acquired OptiGen LLC, a DNA diagnostics company specializing in canine inherited eye disorders. Included in the acquisition are exclusive licenses to a portfolio of genetic disease tests patented in the U.S., Australia, and many countries in Europe, and an extensive biobank of more than 150,000 samples collected over 20 years representing various canine eye diseases. Moving forward these samples will be used to discover new genetic health markers for dogs. With this acquisition, Wisdom Panel genetic test kits will now be able to detect more than 185 genetic disease mutations that will help breeders select the best breeding matches for genetically healthy offspring. "Through our Wisdom Health business, Mars Petcare is leading the discovery of new genetic markers for pet health," said Leonid Sudakov, president of Connected Solutions, the global ventures, consumer technology, and genetics division of Mars Petcare. "As our scientists seek to improve the understanding of the genetic basis of pet health and disease, this acquisition will contribute to the development of personalized veterinary care. We see our continued efforts to contribute to the ground-breaking companion animal genetics science as a great way to deliver on our purpose: …
Cornell vets perform tricky cardiac procedure on shepherd puppyApril 11, 2018Cornell University Hospital for Animals (CUHA) and veterinarians from three countries joined forces to save a young German shepherd's life. At 6 months old, Rex was by far the calmest dog the Silverman family of New York had ever owned. Their other German shepherds all bounced off the walls at that age, so at first they attributed Rex's docile behavior to temperament. Nothing in his regular checkups indicated a problem, but when Rex became violently ill, the Silvermans noticed the dog's heart was racing and knew it was something far more serious. Gretchen Singletary, DVM, DACVIM, a veterinary cardiologist in New York, stabilized him and performed a series of tests, including an electrocardiogram that confirmed the presence of an arrhythmia. The culprit turned out to be a small bundle of muscle running inside the wall of his heart, a defect he was born with and likely caused his low energy. Dr. Singletary told Silverman that Rex was a candidate for radiofrequency catheter ablation, where small areas of the heart muscle are heated through the tip of a catheter to destroy abnormal tissue. It's a complicated, precise procedure, and only two places in the U.S. offer it routinely—a …
