USDA Wants $14M From Congress For Livestock Tracing ProgramAugust 9, 2011 The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today issued a proposed rule to establish general regulations for improving the traceability of U.S. livestock moving interstate that entails asking Congress for a $14 million annual stipend to fund the new program. Tom Vilsack, agriculture secretary, and John Clifford, DVM, chief veterinary officer for the United States, says using a flexible method of traceability that is low cost and is federally implemented will decrease time and finances needed by reducing the number of animals involved in investigations when animal disease events or intentional food-animal tampering occurs. “I have listened carefully to stakeholders throughout the country about how to reach effective animal disease traceability in a transparent manner without additional burden,” Vilsack said. “We are proposing a flexible approach in which states and tribes can develop systems for tracing animals that work best for them and for producers in their jurisdiction. This approach offers great flexibility at the state and local level and addresses gaps in our disease response efforts.” Vilsack said past “one size fits all” approaches to tracing agriculture animals resulted in only 30 percent producer compliance. Under the proposed rule, …
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Gookin Wins Excellence In Feline Research AwardAugust 9, 2011 Jody L. Gookin, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, is the winner of the 2011 Excellence in Feline Research Award from the Winn Feline Foundation and the American Veterinary Medical Foundation. Dr. Gookin is credited with the identification of Tritrichomonas foetus as a cause of diarrhea in domestic cats. Along with colleagues, she worked for more than 12 years to establish its pathogenesis, develop diagnostic tools and find an effective treatment for the infection, according to a statement from the foundation. The award consists of $2,500 and a crystal cat, the Winnie. Vicki Thayer, DVM, Dipl. ABVP, Winn Feline Foundation president, made the announcement and presented the award at the American Veterinary Medical Association conference. Gookin received her DVM degree from the University of California at Davis, and her PhD in gastrointestinal physiology at North Carolina State University (NCSU). She is an associate professor in the department of clinical sciences at NCSU. She received a Winn Feline Foundation research grant in 2007 to study the prevalence and risk factors for venereal Tritrichomonas foetus infection and another in 2009 to study the prevalence, identity and antimicrobial susceptibility of Enterococcus spp. infection in kittens. In 2011 Gookin was awarded …
Fighting The Battle Of The BulgeAugust 8, 2011 Around 2004, every time Ernie Ward, DVM, found himself among a group of fellow lecturers at a veterinary conference, he’d bring up the same topic: Had anybody noticed how many overweight animals they were seeing in their practices? The question always drew a few jokes. “Oh, look, the skinny vegetarian wants to talk about fat cats,” Dr. Ward recalls—but nobody ever seemed to take the question seriously, despite Ward’s persistence. It might have gone nowhere, except that one day a friend issued a challenge: Quit talking about obese pets and do something about it. So he did. In 2005, Ward, now 44, founded the nonprofit Association for Pet Obesity Prevention. Among other things, the organization helped launch an annual pet-obesity awareness day, and an annual survey that this year suggested that more than half of American dogs and cats were overweight or obese. This data has helped focus national attention on the problem, including high-profile coverage in such media outlets as The Wall Street Journal. “There are just a handful of people who have no additional training beyond veterinary school, who don’t pursue specialized clinical research, who still become hugely impactful in veterinary medicine,” says Steve …
10 More Tips For Dealing With LumpsAugust 8, 2011We continue our discussion about cancer surgery with Stephen Withrow, a surgical oncologist at the Colorado State University Animal Cancer Center in Fort Collins. Dr. Withrow is double boarded in surgery and internal medicine (oncology). In the July installment, Dr. Withrow emphasized the importance of preoperative diagnostics (FNA, biopsy, imaging, etc.), establishing a relationship with a good pathologist and creating a solid team of like-minded people when dealing with cancer surgery. The godfather of cancer surgery kindly shared 10 more pearls to improve the care of your cancer patients. Last month we discussed 10 ways to deal with lumps and bumps. This month, we continue that discussion and discuss 10 more tips for dealing with lumps and dumps. 11 Blood Products Massive resections such as canine thyroidectomy or liver lobectomy may lead to severe hemorrhage. Such surgeries may not be as successful without blood products. Whole blood, packed red blood cells, platelet-rich plasma and fresh-frozen plasma have enabled us to provide far superior care. We can either treat a patient pre-emptively if we know there is a preoperative deficiency, or intra- or postoperatively if unexpected bleeding occurs during surgery. 12 Become Aware Both the veterinary community and pet owners …
Vet Says Owner’s Affection Aided In Dog’s RecoveryAugust 4, 2011 Marcella Harb-Hauser, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, at the Pet Emergency and Specialty Center of Marin in San Rafael, Calif. treated Ann Krcik’s 5-year-old Airedale terrier Shayla after a leptospirosis diagnosis. When the dog was admitted for treatment, Krcik asked Dr. Harb-Hauser if spending time with her pet might help her recovery. “I’m a firm believer that pet parents play an integral role in helping their pets heal,” Dr. Harb-Hauser said. “Just like humans, if pets are less stressed, they heal faster.” Krcik visited several times a day. “They let me sit on the floor with this 65-pound-dog on my lap, and just worked around me,” Krcik said. When the dog seemed to be improving, additional tests showed the leptospirosis was now affecting the dog’s lungs and the disease suddenly became life threatening. Harb-Hauser told Krcik that they had done all they could medically. Afterwards, as Krcik was holding Shayla on the floor of the hospital, the dog struggled to breathe. “It was bleak,” Krcik said. “At one point, I couldn’t feel her breathing at all. I thought this is it; at least I’ll be holding her as she passes on. I …
HSVMA Offers Equitarian Workshop AwardsAugust 4, 2011 The Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association is accepting entries for its Equitarian workshop trip awards. Practicing veterinarians attending the Equitarian Workshop in Vera Cruz, Mexico Oct. 10-14 are encouraged to apply. The workshop is an opportunity for veterinarians from the U.S. and Mexico to meet and learn about the best ways to provide care for working horses, mules and donkeys. The workshop includes lectures by veterinary professionals with experience in delivering care in rural areas and field experience in farming communities. "During the Equitarian workshop I couldn't help but be grateful for the opportunities we have in the states,” said Dr. Kristen Talbott, a participant in last year’s workshop. “I was amazed by how much the Mexican horsemen did with such limited supplies. They were gracious and eager to help their animals.” Those interested should register for the workshop, complete an online application and submit a 500-1,000 word essay on ‘Why do you feel it is important for the veterinary profession to donate time and resources to help equines in need around the world, and what are your motivations to participate?’ A panel of judges will select the top 10 award winners based on the …
FDA Salmonella Study Funding OpportunityAugust 4, 2011 The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) announced a funding opportunity for cooperative agreements up to $60,000 in costs for one year to improve the center’s ability to evaluate risks of Salmonella-contaminated feeds by testing diagnostic samples from pets. CVM is seeking applications that will provide information on the prevalence of Salmonella in fecal samples from both symptomatic and asymptomatic dogs and cats brought to veterinary clinics to gain insight into the frequency of Salmonella-infected companion animals. Bacteria will be isolated, identified and serotyped by the participating laboratories and the isolates will be submitted to FDA. DNA analysis will help CVM determine if the Salmonella strains isolated from pets are genetically similar to strains previously isolated from humans or animal feeds. The data from this study will help CVM prioritize investigations of foodborne diseases which adversely affect animal and human health. The data will also help the FDA rank future surveillance efforts. The awarded cooperative agreements will be with the Veterinary Laboratory Response Network (Vet-LRN). Vet-LRN is a CVM program that coordinates facilitates expertise of government and veterinary diagnostic laboratories in the U.S. and Canada in response to investigations of animal food …
American Heartworm Society Adds New Sponsor, Board MemberAugust 3, 2011The American Heartworm Society (AHS) has named Banfield Pet Hospital as a new industry partner and Martha Smith-Blackmore, DVM, as a new executive board member. Wallace Graham, DVM, president of AHS, said Dr. Smith-Blackmore brings a new understanding of the challenges of shelter pets to the organization. She is the current president of the Association of Shelter Veterinarians, and a faculty member at the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. “As veterinarians, we know that tough economic times can mean fewer veterinary visits and skipped preventive medications,” Dr. Graham said. “It’s a crucial time to keep our focus on heartworm and provide up-to-date information on this disease to both veterinarians and pet owners.” The mission of AHS is to bring awareness and prevalence of heartworm disease to veterinarians and the public. The society offers guidelines on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention in companion animals. AHS sponsors continuing education sessions for veterinarians, pet owner outreach, a triennial heartworm incidence survey and heartworm research. “We strongly support the mission of AHS and actively promote annual testing and year-round heartworm protection,” said Jeffrey Klausner, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVIM, senior vice president and chief medical officer of Banfield Pet Hospital. “In our own analysis …
Michelson Prize And Grants Program Aimed At Creating Non-Surgical SterilantAugust 3, 2011 More than a dozen institutions are currently researching the development of a non-surgical sterilant for companion animals in effort to curb pet overpopulation. Found Animals Foundation, a privately funded Los Angeles-based non-profit group, in 2008 launched the Michelson Prize and Grants. A $25 million incentive will be awarded to the first person to successfully develop a non-surgical method for sterilizing cats and dogs. The Michelson Grants in Reproductive Biology offers up to a total of $50 million in funding for research offering non-surgical sterilization technology. Since the announcement, Found Animals has received more than 150 letters of intent for the Michelson Grants, and has invited more than 50 investigators to submit full grant proposals. To date, 15 of those grants have been approved totaling more than $6 million in research funding. “We are thrilled with the high level of interest we’ve seen from qualified applicants to date and we are confident that we’ll see many more proposals of equal excellence in the future,” said Aimee Gilbreath, executive director of Found Animals. “What’s even more exciting is that we’re seeing proposals based on new technologies such as nanocontainers and gene silencing, meaning that researchers are …
BVA Promotes Canine Safety In Hot WeatherAugust 3, 2011 The British Veterinary Association (BVA) is encouraging its members in practice to display the group's "Don’t Cook Your Dog" campaign poster to remind owners that dogs should not be left in cars in during summer months. The campaign was initiated in response to an incident involving the deaths of two police dogs earlier this year. “It’s a simple but tragic fact that dogs die in hot cars and we need to get this message out to every single dog owner,” said Dr. Harvey Locke, president of the BVA. “Even when the day is just warm, not hot, it can quickly become very hot inside a vehicle.” Animal welfare organizations and individuals have signed up to support the campaign, which includes the distribution of posters and stickers in conjunction with a media and social media campaign to raise awareness. “Dogs perspire primarily through their tongues and paw pads so they can’t cool down quickly enough to cope with the rising heat in a car,” Dr. Locke said. Copies of the poster will be sent to BVA members via the BVA journal Veterinary Record on Aug. 13. “We’re asking …
