ProMeris Flap Is Over 1 Case, Fort Dodge ReportsApril 17, 2009 Fort Dodge Animal Health of Overland Park, Kan., reports that, despite widespread e-mails claiming that its topical flea and tick product ProMeris caused adverse reactions in seven dogs, the report is isolated to one case. The company statement was posted at www.promeris.com. “Based on the high number of e-mail forwards and Internet postings, it may appear there are multiple adverse events being reported,” the statement reads. “However, based on our research, it appears that all of this online activity stems from a single case.” Fort Dodge was contacted April 11 by a veterinarian reporting an adverse reaction involving six Siberian huskies and one mixed-breed, all of which live in the same household. The report states that the dogs exhibited vomiting, lethargy, pruritis and behavior change several hours after administration . Fort Dodge says it is working with the veterinarian to collect all relevant information. Since the product’s introduction to the market late last year, the company says, the most common adverse event reported is lethargy, which can occur if a dog ingests the product. “We suspect that the dogs ingested the product by licking each other after application,” says Tom …
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Florida Vet Center Opens Outpatient Imaging CenterApril 17, 2009 University of Florida Veterinary Medical Center will open a new outpatient imaging center on today. GatorVetImaging will give private and specialty practice veterinarians access to the center’s magnetic resonance imaging and computer tomography without the need to refer cases through the center’s traditional clinical services. “GatorVetImaging brings the best medical technology of the VMC directly to practitioners,” said Matthew Winter, DVM, head of the center’s radiology service. “We envision this as a way to assist the veterinary community in handling their more challenging and involved cases within the context of their established client/patient relationships.” To schedule an appointment, call 352-273-8585 or email gvi@vetmed.ufl.edu. <HOME>
Wedgewood To Exchange Expired MedsApril 17, 2009 Veterinarians can return custom-compounded medications for exchange at no cost through Wedgewood Pharmacy’s new Refresh exchange program. Through the program, the company will exchange unopened, expired compounded veterinary medications that are in its regular formulary, including those prepared by other compounding pharmacies. Exceptions include controlled substances and oncology-related medications. “In July, we surveyed our veterinarian prescribers; 77 percent of them said that containing costs is a very important issue for them,” said George Malmberg, R.Ph., president and chief executive officer of Wedgewood Pharmacy, based in Swedesboro, N.J. “When we asked how we could help them with this issue, they said, ‘Do something about the short shelf-life of compounded medications.’ We listened and developed the Refresh exchange program in response.” Click here for details. <HOME>
Tampa Tops Cat-Friendly Cities ListApril 17, 2009Jane Brunt, DVM, executive director of the CATalyst Council, and council chairman Dan Kramer announce the Top 10 cat-friendly cities. Tampa, Fla., is the nation’s most cat-friendly city, the CATalyst Council reported March 27 at the American Animal Hospital Assn. conference in Phoenix. The council based its Top 10 list on criteria such as the size of a city’s cat population, the percentage of microchipped cats, the number of American Assn. of Feline Practitioners members in the city and the number of Cat Fancy magazine subscribers. Extra points were awarded for cat-friendly local ordinances and if the city’s mayor owned a cat. Top 10 Cat-Friendly Cities 1. Tampa, Fla. 2. Phoenix 3. San Francisco 4. Portland, Ore. 5. Denver 6. Boston 7. Seattle 8. San Diego 9. Atlanta 10. Minneapolis “Cats really are America’s No. 1 companion,” said Dan Kramer, senior marketing manager for Pfizer Animal Health of New York and chairman of the CATalyst Council. “Our goal is to recognize and celebrate why cats are such popular companions. We applaud the efforts of these major metropolitan areas for providing a wealth of resources for cats and their owners.” Kramer joined Jane Brunt, DVM, the …
A Non-Toxic Way To Calm The OfficeApril 17, 2009 1. Avers L, Mathur A, and Kamat D. Music therapy in pediatrics. Clinical Pediatrics. 2007;46(7):575-579. 2. Watanabe S, Uozumi M, and Tanaka N. Discrimination of consonance and dissonance in Java sparrows. Behavioural Processes. 2005;70:203-208. 3. Gess A. Birds like music, too. [Letter to the Editor]. Science. 2007;317:1864. 4. Baptista LF and Keister RA. Why birdsong is sometimes like music. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine. 2005;48(3):426-443. 5. McDermott J and Hauser MD. Nonhuman primates prefer slow tempos but dislike music overall. Cognition. 2007;104(3):654-668. 6. Barrera ME, Rykov MH, and Doyle SL. The effects of interactive music therapy on hospitalized children with -cancer: a pilot study. Psycho-Oncology. 2002;11:379-388. 7. hertzer KE and Keck JF. Music and the PACU environment. Journal of PeriAnesthesia Nursing. 2001;16(2):90-102. 8. Lee OKA, Chung YFL, Chan MF, et al. Music and its effect on the physiological responses and anxiety levels of patients receiving mechanical ventilation: a pilot study. Journal of Clinical Nursing. 2005;14: 9. Twiss E, Seaver J, and McCaffrey R. The effect of music listening on older adults undergoing cardiovascular surgery. Nursing in Critical Care. 200;11(5):224-231. 10. Chan MF. Effects of music on patients undergoing a C-clamp …
Elanco To Acquire Posilac Dairy BusinessApril 17, 2009Elanco of Greenfield, Ind., a division of Eli Lilly and Co., has signed an agreement to acquire worldwide rights to the dairy cow supplement Posilac, also known as recombinant bovine sometribove (rbST), from Monsanto Co. for $300 million, plus additional contingent consideration. Under the terms of the agreement, expected to close early October, Elanco will also acquire the product's U.S. sales force, technical service team and manufacturing facility in Augusta, Ga. The acquisition is a good fit because it builds on the company's portfolio of dairy products, Jeff Simmons, president of Elanco, said in a conference call Wednesday. With the global increase in demand of dairy products, the acquisition will also allow Elanco to provide dairy farmers more options and give consumers affordable choices, Simmons added. In addition, Elanco has experience with the product because it has been marketing it outside the United States for more than 10 years. Posilac has been the center of controversy since it was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1994. The concern surrounds the potential human and animal health risks connected to the animal hormone. When asked why Elanco would acquire what is …
Menu Expands Recall To All Manufacture DatesApril 17, 2009 Menu Foods has expanded its recall of “cuts and gravy” style wet cat and dog food to include all products listed in its March 17 announcement regardless of the date they were manufactured, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced this afternoon. The action was taken upon hearing that some the tainted products remained on shelves, FDA officials said. Previously Menu had recalled those items manufactured between Dec. 3, 2006 and March 6, 2007. Earlier in the day, New York state officials and Cornell University researchers said they had found Aminopterin, a toxin used as a cancer treatment in this country and as a rodenticide in some foreign countries, in samples of the pet food Menu Foods used in its tasting tests that killed 9 cats. The samples were provided by Menu Foods after the deaths occurred, officials said. The FDA’s top veterinarian Stephen F. Sundlof, D.V.M., called the substance “very toxic,” even in small doses. At this time the FDA does not know how the toxin made its way into the pet food, although it is still examining the possibility that a shipment of wheat gluten used by the Kansas and New Jersey plants of …
Veterinary Antibiotic Use Remains SteadyApril 17, 2009 Fireflies might prove a fatal snack to exotic reptiles, according to a health alert released by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' Animal Poison Control Center (APCC). Veterinarians should alert pet owners and advise them to take steps to prevent both the intentional or accidental ingestion of these common insects, the center reported. Based on a handful of reports from reptile owners, symptoms of poisoning quickly follow a lizard's ingestion of fireflies. These symptoms include head shaking, oral gaping, unsuccessful attempts at regurgitation and a darkening in color. The symptoms usually appear within 30 minutes of ingestion, and death might follow within the hour. Death is thought to be a result of heart malfunction. "A single firefly would have a very high probability of resulting in death," says Dr. Steve Hansen, board-certified veterinary toxicologist and director of the APCC. The warning is being issued to amphibian and bird owners as well. In addition to the lizard cases, fatal poisonings in tree frogs have been documented. In another instance, a bird that ingested a firefly regurgitated it but did not die, says Hansen. The health alert …
Tackling A TabooApril 17, 2009 My mother always told me there were three subjects worth omitting from any polite conversation: politics, religion and money. My mother may be right on a great many subjects, but this is one I take exception with. On second thought, given my penchant for writing about these topics, perhaps she’s right … I’m not polite. In private veterinary circles it’s still not kosher to talk in terms of cash. But when we look at the big animal health picture, it’s up there on the big screen. In fact, as a profession, we love talking money. But we still haven’t gotten over the taboo of speaking about it in personal terms—hypocritically, I sometimes think. With the economy still in freefall and lots of jobs still on the chopping block, I thought it might be appropriate to expound on this topic, knowing that doing so in more micro terms might incite your interest, if not your wrath. Let’s be honest, humans are motivated by the love of money. Those who claim not to be are typically living comfortably, well beyond the paycheck-to-paycheck existence I’ve somehow fallen prey to, despite my stellar education (which most of you share with …
First Impressions Of Fourth-Year RotationsApril 17, 2009What's interesting about transitioning from a student to a doctor is the way in which the everyday scenery around you changes. Like how the small-animal hospital, once a familiar and comforting place where real veterinarians work at a leisurely pace, modulates into a meshwork of clinicians whose lives are filled with never-ending patient cases, emergencies, constant pages and sleep deprivation. This is not obvious during the first three years of veterinary school. Veterinarians here (aside from the dentistry folks) never really sleep, and coffee is a staple in the food pyramid. Then there are the ICU and ward nurses, whom you know only in hallway passing during previous years–they become the most familiar faces in the hospital. During fourth year, you discover that they are the souls of the hospital unit, existing on some sort of alien energy … never running out of patience for the animals they care for. Honestly – I have unending respect for my profession. Fourth-year is challenging, and an unexpected continuum of ups and downs. Sometimes you're prepared, and other times, you fail miserably. Simply stated, you take what you've studied over the past three years and apply it to real patients. As prepared as …
