Webster Plans June EquiHealth LaunchJune 1, 2012 Webster Veterinary, a unit of St. Paul, Minn.-based Patterson Companies Inc., expects to fully launch its EquiHealth equine practice communications platform later this month. The platform, which can be directly integrated in the practice’s website, will be available to a limited number of veterinary practices before the full launch. The program provides veterinarians with a secure Internet portal to allow their clients access to equine medical information, resources, and 3D educational materials, Webster reported. Client services included within the platform include online medical records, integrated Coggin’s certificates and access to Webster’s VetSource home delivery program. Equine veterinarians will also be able to log onto the portal to send clients appointment and healthcare reminders and use other e-marketing tools, including online surveys, newsletters and personalized updates, Webster reported. “EquiHealth provides a powerful connection between veterinarians and horse owners that will help grow business, strengthen relationships and facilitate optimal care,” said Derrick Drinnon, Webster’s equine sales director. <HOME>http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/images/article-images/equinehealth-site-300px.jpg6/1/2012 4:05 PM
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Cerenia Vomiting Med Approved For Use In Cats, Younger DogsMay 31, 2012 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a label update for Cerenia (maropitant citrate) Injectable Solution, a veterinary antiemetic drug, to include the treatment of vomiting in cats older than 16 weeks, according to Pfizer Animal Health, the drug’s maker. In addition, the new label lowers the recommended age of use in dogs from 16 weeks to 8 weeks for the prevention and treatment of acute vomiting in dogs for both the injectable and tablet form of Cerenia, which was first approved in the United States in 2007. The injectable solution is generally uses to treat vomiting at the practice while the tablets are designed for home use. Cerenia tablets are also approved for the use of prevention of vomited due to motion sickness in dogs older than 16 weeks. “Because of the positive results of Cerenia and its importance among veterinary professionals and pet owners, Pfizer Animal Health was committed to providing the science to support this label update so that cats and younger puppies may also be effectively treated for vomiting,” said J. Michael McFarland, DVM, Dipl. ABVP, group director of veterinary operations for the companion animal division of Pfizer Animal Health. …
Report Urges Action To Nurture Public, Food And Research VetsMay 31, 2012 With more than half of veterinary students seeking training in companion animal medicine, many veterinary sectors, including academia, industry, food animal and public service, face potential shortages of qualified veterinarians that could have significant effects on public health, according to a National Research Council of the National Academies of Science report released yesterday. The report, written by the Committee to Assess the Current and Future Workforce Needs in Veterinary Medicine, warned that without immediate action, the academic veterinary community may not successfully prepare future generations of veterinarians for faculty teaching and research positions, jobs in state diagnostic laboratories and federal research and regulatory agencies, and the pharmaceutical and biologics industry. This potential shortage could be exacerbated by a strengthening economy that could create many new jobs in industry, according to committee member Fred Quimby, retired vice president and senior director of the Laboratory Animal Research Center at Rockefeller University in New York. The rising cost of veterinary education contributes to the situation, as costs could deter some veterinarians from pursuing advanced degrees and others from applying for lower paying positions, including government jobs in food safety, epidemiology and wildlife management. Moreover, the report found that a …
Veterinarian David Schwarz: Dedicated To AnimalsMay 31, 2012 The word “veterinarian” often elicits a sense of dedicated service, as in dedicated to the care of animals and to the veterinary profession itself. Many veterinarians attest that their love for animals began at a young age. They work hard to get into—and pay for—vet school and then spend a lifetime of long hours and dedicated care helping the very animals they once fell in love with. David Schwarz, DVM, is one such example. He’s been in practice for 36 years, and although Dr. Schwarz knew he wanted to be a veterinarian at 8 years old, he didn’t foresee becoming a practice owner. “Circumstances just worked out that way,” says Schwarz, who has owned and operated the Ashland Animal Hospital in Ashland, Mass., since 1977. Some of the challenges of being a veterinary practice owner are continually trying to provide the best care to patients, educating clients and maintaining a state-of-the-art animal hospital employing highly qualified staff, according to Schwarz. “It is an endless work in progress,” he says. Yet, he doesn’t stop there. Schwarz has kept busy over the years by getting involved with various industry groups and organizations. For instance, …
NC Vet To Headline Oxbow Exotic SymposiumMay 29, 2012 Dan Johnson, DVM, of Avian and Exotic Animal Care in Raleigh, N.C., will deliver the keynote address at the Oxbow Exotic Companion Mammal Symposium, to be hosted by exotic animal food and support care product supplier Oxbow Animal Health on June 24, 2012, at the Homestead Animal Hospital in Centennial, Colo. Jerry Labonde, DVM, of Homestead and Michal Kohles, DVM, M.P.A., director of veterinary services with Oxbow, will also lecture at the symposium. Scheduled lecture topics include: • Herbivore gastrointestinal function and nutrition; • Gastrointestinal stasis in small herbivores; • Rabbit calcium metabolism, bladder sludge and urolithiasis; • Ferret gastrointestinal function and nutrition; • Ferret endocrine disease; • Practical reptile medicine; • Zoonotic diseases of exotic pets; and • Endotracheal intubation and post-surgical care. The symposium, which qualifies for seven continuing education credits, will conclude with a round table discussion. Potential attendees can register at www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/vets. <HOME>
Animal Advocate Bills Move To Rhode Island GovernorMay 29, 2012Companion legislation in Rhode Island that would allow representatives of the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to act in court as animal advocates in cruelty and neglect cases has passed both houses of the Rhode Island legislature and awaits action by Governor Lincoln Chafee. The Washington, D.C.-based Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council alerted the industry of the pending legislation today, noting its opposition to “the establishment of a non-governmental third party to serve as a legal advocate for ‘custodial’ rights for animals. Legal designation of an entity for assuring proper care and disposition of animals should rest with an appropriate governmental agency for which proper accountability and oversight exists.” The legislation would also allow the state’s Department of Environmental Management’s director to appoint one or more veterinarians employed by the department to serve as an animal advocate in cases in which “the custody or well-being of an animal is at issue.” The legislation also ensures that a licensed veterinarian from the Department of Environmental Management is “made available to the Rhode Island society for the prevention of cruelty to animals at the request of the state police for the purpose of examining any animal which …
HHS To Test Live Food Animals For Antimicrobial ResistanceMay 25, 2012 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services plans to conduct pilot studies on farms to determine the feasibility of collecting pre-harvest samples from food animals as part of the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System, according to the NARMS 2012-2016 Strategic Plan, released today by HHS. The NARMS program, established in 1996, monitors antimicrobial susceptibility in enteric bacteria from humans, retail meats and food-producing animals, in order to help assess the impact of veterinary antimicrobial use on human health. The strategic plan lays out four goals and 14 specific objectives for the program to accomplish over the next five years. The studies would involve collecting animal drug use and resistance data in dairy and feedlot cattle, poultry and swine. Currently, NARMS only collects samples from animal carcasses and retail meats. NARMS also plans to optimize data acquisition, analysis and reporting by launching an integrated database that will allow data sharing among NARMS partners and stakeholders. NARMS also intends to develop a web-based program that facilitates data collection from public health sites. The program will also look to strengthen collaborative research projects and collaborate with international institutions focused on mitigating the spread of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, such …
UF To Open Emergency Care Center In OcalaMay 23, 2012UF to Open Emergency Care Center in Ocalaveterinary school, veterinarians, veterinary medicine, emergency veterinary care, veterinary, Florida veterinary collegeAn emergency care center is slated to open in Ocala, Fla., in July as a result of a partnership between the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine and a group of local veterinarians, the college reported today.An emergency care center is slated to open in Ocala, Fla., in July as a result of a partnership between the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine and a group of local veterinarians.newslineUF to Open Emergency Care Center in OcalaPosted: May 23, 2012, 12:30 p.m. EDT An emergency care center is slated to open in Ocala, Fla., in July as a result of a partnership between the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine and a group of local veterinarians, the college reported today. The 5,000-square-foot center will provide emergency care between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m. during the week and around the clock on weekends and holidays. It will be staffed in rotations by small animal emergency and critical care clinicians and support personnel from the University of Florida Small Animal Hospital in Gainesville. "We were approached by a group of Marion County-area …
Mars Petcare, Nutro Break Ground On $87M Research CenterMay 22, 2012 Mars Petcare US and sister Mars Inc. division The Nutro Co. broke ground today on an $87 million, 90-acre pet food product innovation center in Thompson’s Station, Tenn. The center will be Mars' fifth regional pet food innovation center in the world as it decentralizes product development. The facility will feature four buildings and focus on developing products for the North American market. A 39,904-square-foot innovation center will house offices for research and development teams and a microbiological and analytical laboratory. The innovation center’s pet health and nutrition center will feature agility and training courses. A 56,589-square-foot product development center will produce small batches of products for testing and may also produce samples of new and existing products. A 28,461-square-foot pet health and nutrition center, largely based on Mars’ Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition in the United Kingdom, will house dogs and cats involved in feeding trials. The facility will also provide the animals with play areas, regular visits from caretakers, grooming services and veterinary care. An architectural rendering of the exterior of the Mars Nutro regionional innovation center. A 10,302-square-foot shared services building will feature a …
Rabies: Still Deadly, But Antidote More PleasantMay 21, 2012 EDITORS' NOTE: This is a supplement to Veterinary Practice News magazine's June 2012 cover story, America & Rabies. Untreated, rabies virus in humans is most certainly a death sentence. The good news is the virus spreads slowly through the body and modern treatment is very effective with few unpleasant side effects, said Kristy K. Bradley, DVM, MPH, Oklahoma's state epidemiologist. “What I see a lot of times is that people think (rabies testing) is an emergency situation, and it’s not,” she said. “It travels slowly, and gives us the luxury of time so we don’t have to make hasty medical decisions.” Since rabies is strictly neurotropic, it spreads only through the nerves—not blood or lymph, said Bradley, who is president of the American Association of State Public Health Veterinarians. “That’s why there is no test you can do on a live animal. The only reliable test, still today, is euthanasia and testing of brain tissue,” she explained. While the rabies incubation period is three to six weeks, an animal is contagious only if the virus has reached its brain and is transmitted through saliva. “If you have a …
