Penn Vet Working Dog Center Celebrates Graduate ‘Firsts’November 13, 2014Penn Vet Working Dog Center recently celebrated the graduation of its first diabetes alert dog, narcotics detection dog and urban search and rescue dog. The center, part of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, opened on Sept. 11, 2012 as a research and educational facility dedicated to help train scent-detection dogs for public safety and health. Dogs in the program are named in honor of individuals who lost their lives on 9/11 and canine heroes who served following the attacks. The graduates—Bretagne, a two-year-old Golden Retriever; Morgan, a two-year-old yellow Labrador Retriever, and Thunder, a two-year-old chocolate Labrador Retriever—were all members of the center’s inaugural class of puppies in September 2012. “Throughout their training, Bretagne, Morgan and Thunder consistently surpassed our highest expectations,” said Cindy Otto, DVM, Ph.D., Dipl. ACVECC, Dipl. ACVSMR, executive director of the Penn Vet Working Dog Center. “We are incredibly proud of these dogs and wish them well in their new partnerships. It will be extremely rewarding to see them thrive in their careers as they put their scent-detection skills to work in order to save lives.” As a diabetes alert dog, Bretagne will alert her owner, Wayne Mowry of Bloomingdale, N.J., when …
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WVC Launches Speaker Training ProgramNovember 13, 2014Western Veterinary Conference, taking a page from the communications training organization Toastmasters International, will offer a public speaking course in February. The three-day class will take place at the Oquendo Center in Las Vegas, just a few miles from the WVC convention at Mandalay Bay. The course will run Feb. 14 to 16 and will allow conference speakers and others—up to 30 people—to hone their skills. The annual veterinary conference is set for Feb. 15 to 19. “The Speaker Enhancement Series is beneficial to present and potential speakers in the veterinary industry because it focuses on training professionals to become better, more effective communicators,” said David Little, CEO of Western Veterinary Conference. “We want … speakers new to the circuit to learn and grow.” The course, titled “How to Engage an Audience, Rather Than Give a Talk,” will focus on effective communication techniques and end with critiqued individual presentations. Among the instructors are Steve Fox, DVM, MS, MBA, Ph.D.; Michael Kowaleski, DVM, Dipl. ACVS; and Paul Mitchell, DVM, Dipl. AVDC. The course also will be offered at other times throughout 2015. Registration is available at wvc.org/special-programs.
AVMA Releases Animal Ebola AdviceNovember 13, 2014The odds of a dog or cat contracting or spreading Ebola virus are slim to none, but the American Veterinary Medical Association is taking no chances. The organization this week released guidelines advising how veterinarians and public health officials should assess and possibly quarantine an animal that had contact with someone who is or may be infected with Ebola. The documents outline everything from finding a caretaker for a person’s pet to step-by-step instructions for keeping an animal in lockdown for 21 days or more. If a pet somehow becomes infected with Ebola virus, the guidelines recommend euthanizing and incinerating the animal. The guidelines were prepared by the AVMA Ebola Companion Animal Response Plan Working Group and are available on the members-only page at AVMA.org. The panel, made up of public health agencies and other experts, was chaired by Casey Barton Behravesh, MS, DVM, DrPH, Dipl. ACVPM, of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Work on the guidelines began in October, when human Ebola cases emerged in Spain and the United States. A Spanish patient’s dog was quickly euthanized—unnecessarily, critics said—while a Texas dog was quarantined for 21 days and released after showing no …
U.K. Vet Industry Sees Historic ChangesNovember 12, 2014Originally published in the November 2014 issue of Veterinary Practice News The 44-year-old veterinarian examining a canine patient inside a small animal practice puts in 44 hours a week, consults a smartphone or tablet computer while on the job, and receives at least four weeks of paid time off a year. That practitioner is the typical veterinarian employed in the United Kingdom and is most likely a woman, according to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. The organization’s 2014 Survey of the Veterinary Profession documented a number of trends bubbling up in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Among them: Women are becoming the face of the profession, and practitioners as a group spend 77 percent of their time focused on small animals, mainly cats and dogs, up from 72 percent in 2010. “It is no surprise to see an increasingly female profession, given the student gender ratios and the higher numbers of older male vets, meaning a greater proportion of retiring vets are male,” said Robin Hargreaves, BVSc, MRCVS, senior vice president and past president of the British Veterinary Association. As more U.K. veterinarians devote themselves to small animal medicine, less time is …
Florida Vets, Dentist Fix Cat’s Palate InjuryNovember 12, 2014A cat is eating normally again after University of Florida doctors installed a metal prosthesis to close a hole in his palate. The procedure is commonly performed in people to correct cleft palates or repair cancer damage, but it was the first time for the University of Florida Small Animal Hospital. “Usually, medical procedures are first tried in animals, and then, when successful, used in human patients,” said Fong Wong, an associate professor in the College of Dentistry, who conducted the surgery. “In this case, it was the animal that benefited from a procedure that is routine in humans but has not been part of routine veterinary medicine.” The Siamese-mix cat, Darryl, already had a large hole between his oral and nasal cavities when he arrived at an Alachua County animal shelter. The condition make him unfit for adoption, so he went home with Julie Levy, DVM, Ph.D., a professor of shelter medicine at the University of Florida. “Every bite of food he took was painful, and he had constant nasal infections,” Dr. Levy said. “Despite struggling to eat and being extremely messy with his food, he was always affectionate.” Transferred to the Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program, Darryl …
Multiple Animal Drugs on Aratana’s RadarNovember 12, 2014Aratana Therapeutics Inc. is losing millions of dollars a month, but the Kansas City, Kan., veterinary drug developer is confident that products being studied for the treatment of everything from osteoarthritis pain to B-cell lymphoma have the company headed in the right direction. Four-year-old Aratana this week reported net losses of $10.1 million in the third quarter and $28.6 million over nine months—numbers significantly higher than in the same periods of 2013. But with more than $108 million in the bank, partly due to a $44.8 million stock sale in September, CEO and President Steven St. Peter, MD, MBA, is looking forward. “We believe that Aratana is the partner of choice among the pet biotechs, and we are open for business with the right programs and partners,” St. Peter said during an investor conference call. One partnership is with Novartis Animal Health of Greensboro, N.C., which acquired the U.S. and Canadian marketing rights to AT-004, a code name for Aratana’s canine B-cell lymphoma treatment. Aratana holds a conditional license for AT-004 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and expects full licensure by year’s end. AT-004 accounted for nearly all of Aratana’s third-quarter revenue—$43,000—through license and collaboration fees. Already …
Study: Kids of Deployed Parents Cope Better with PetsNovember 11, 2014Having a strong bond with a pet may help children with a military deployed parent cope better to challenges than those who do not, according to a study led by Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. There are nearly two million children who have parents serving in the United States military. Such youth, as the study points out, face unique challenges, such as stress about family deployment and frequent moves. The purpose of the study was to assess the role of positive relationships with companion animals as a resource for resilience and thriving in military families. “We were interested in seeing if the specific stressors faced by military-connected families could be mitigated by interacting with animals,” said the paper’s author, Megan Mueller, Ph.D., a developmental psychologist and research assistant professor at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. “We found that kids with deployed parents who had developed a deep bond with a family pet reported having better coping strategies in dealing with the stress than those without such ties to a companion animal.” The study included an online survey of 300 middle and high school students from military families. All the children participated in youth programs developed by …
Pet Insurance Industry Laps Up New LawNovember 6, 2014Originally published in the November 2014 issue of Veterinary Practice News While pet health insurers may have work to do to ensure compliance with a new California law, most in the industry welcomed the changes and don’t foresee much difficulty adapting. The attitude isn’t surprising considering that the majority of the industry supported Assembly Bill 2056, which was signed into law Sept. 30 and goes into effect July 1, 2015. The California law requires pet insurers to disclose more information about their policies, standardize definitions and provide consumers with a 30-day “free look” period. Kristen Lynch, executive director of the North American Pet Health Insurance Association, predicted business as usual for most pet insurance providers. “NAPHIA has always promoted transparency,” Lynch said, “and most of our members have had policies posted on their websites for viewing for many years.” The Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council applauded Gov. Jerry Brown’s signing of the bill. “California has taken a bold, innovative approach towards increasing the transparency to safeguard consumer choice,” PIJAC President and CEO Ed Sayres said. “This new law is the first step to increase both pet and consumer protections when purchasing pet insurance.” Lynch and others insurers said they hope …
University of Illinois Receives $2.1M to Renovate Large Animal Vet ClinicNovember 6, 2014 #479371997 / gettyimages.com The University of Illinois received a capital investment of more than $2.1 million in mid October to renovate its Large Animal Veterinary Medicine Clinic. The investment is part of Governor Pat Quinn’s agenda to improve educational opportunities, create jobs and drive Illinois’ economy forward. “This facility has double benefit because it teaches veterinary medicine and offers a place for animal treatment,” Governor Quinn said. “By upgrading the clinic we can also create jobs to boost the local economy.” The project will improve many aspects of the clinic, including safety, according to Jonathan Foreman, DVM, associate dean of the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine. “This project will allow us to complete renovation of that last portion of the Large Animal Clinic,” Dr. Foreman said. “Other portions have been renovated in the last several years at the college’s expense, but now the last ward, and parts of the other wards, will have safer stalls, safer footing and a more attractive appearance for clients and for those working in the spaces. Safety for patients and students will be improved.” Construction is expected to begin later …
Study Casts Doubt on Pet Food LabelingNovember 5, 2014Originally published in the November 2014 issue of Veterinary Practice News Three in 10 pet foods tested in a Chapman University study contained a meat source not listed on the label, raising concerns for allergy-suffering cats and dogs and a call for greater oversight. The study, published in the journal Food Control, also could not detect the listed meat in seven of the 52 samples. In three cases—a wet cat food, wet dog food and dog treat—the absence and the addition of meat sources may indicate intentional or accidental substitution, said co-author Rosalee S. Hellberg, MS, Ph.D., an assistant professor in Chapman’s Food Science Program. “Mislabeling of pet foods is misleading to the consumer and may result in economic deception or food safety issues,” Hellberg said. “Our study showed that 16 out of 52 products tested contained a meat ingredient not listed on the label. This could become a safety concern if a cat or dog has a particular allergy to one of these meat species.” The foods, obtained from online and retail sources, were not identified by name. The Pet Food Institute, a Washington, D.C., organization that represents manufacturers in the estimated $22.6 billion-a-year U.S. pet food market, noted that …
