Menu Mediation Yields SettlementApril 17, 2009 Parties involved in settlement talks for class-action litigation stemming from last year’s melamine-spurred pet food recalls have reached a comprehensive, cross-border agreement, Menu Foods Income Fund, parent of Menu Foods, reports. The settlement is subject to various conditions, including the approval of certain other parties, the execution of a definitive settlement agreement, and U.S. and Canadian court approval. Furthermore, Menu expects the definitive terms of the settlement and a motion for preliminary approval will be filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey on May 1, with a hearing scheduled for May 14. The Canadian court is expected to consider the matter at about the same time, Menu reported. Menu and its insurer would fund the settlement, and Menu estimates its direct recall costs (which don’t include lost sales) will remain at about $55 million Canadian (about $54 million U.S. at early April exchange rates). If approved, a settlement administrator will notify pet owners on how to make claims on the settlement fund. <HOME>
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Peanut Butter Recall List Expands To Include Shaw's SupermarketsApril 17, 2009 In light of a nationwide recall issued by Peanut Corporation of America of peanut butter and peanut paste produced in its Georgia plant, Shaw’s Supermarkets became the latest company to voluntarily recall dog biscuit products. Shaw’s, a supermarket chain with locations throughout New England, said it is voluntarily recalling Happy Tails and Shoppers Valu multi-flavored dog biscuit products “because they may contain peanut butter that has the potential to be contaminated with salmonella.” The products were sold at Shaw’s stores. According to the Food and Drug Administration, pets with Salmonella Typhimurium infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Pets that don’t show any symptoms can be carriers and infect other animals or humans. If an animal consumed the recalled product and has these symptoms, pet owners are advised to contact their veterinarian. The identified items have not been directly linked to the salmonella outbreak. However, Shaw’s recalled the products as a precautionary move. This product recall includes the following: • Happy Tails Multi-Flavored Dog Biscuits, 26 oz., UPC#: 41163-42406. • Happy …
San Francisco SPCA Opens $29 Million Vet HospitalApril 17, 2009 The San Francisco SPCA will celebrate the opening of the Leanne B. Roberts Animal Care Center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Jan. 30. A public open house will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Jan. 31, complete with tours, children's activities and a cat claw-clipping clinic. Dogs and cats will be available for adoption. The $29 million, 44,000-square-foot center is the new home of The SF/SPCA’s nonprofit veterinary hospital, spay/neuter clinic and shelter medicine program. The previous 10,000-square-foot medical facility, built in 1932, became too small and inadequate for the levels of care the organization was prepared to provide. The new center has significantly more space for examination rooms, surgery suites, laboratories, quarantine and intensive care wards. It also has: A dedicated dentistry suite. A tranquility room dedicated for euthanasia. A large staff lounge. A kibble kitchen containing dry food for dogs and cats, courtesy of Purina. Separate areas for feral cats and shelter animals to create a more stress-free environment. A small pet store. In addition, the facility has upgraded much of its equipment. For example, The SF/SPCA has transitioned to digital radiography and digital record keeping, incorporated better and brighter …
Complementary Alternatives For The Critically IllApril 17, 2009 As in most other areas in veterinary medicine, complementary and alternative medicine is acquiring a greater presence in the care of the critically ill. Veterinarians in charge of these patients may field requests from clients to administer herbs, homeopathics, flower essences or glandulars to their animals during the hospital stay. Or clients may ask that a non-veterinarian CAM practitioner provide treatments on hospital premises. Determining which therapies pose risks or offer benefits is difficult without evidential support. Delegating care to non-veterinarians with questionable or unfamiliar credentials adds risk and exposure for veterinarians already managing a busy practice.1 Targeting Stressors Research indicates that human critical care patients suffer from a variety of stressors, including fear, pain, anxiety, lack of sleep, loneliness, lack of control, nightmares and, for those on prolonged mechanical ventilation, inability to speak or communicate.2 Severely ill animals attached to one or more tubes and subjected to incessant talking, lights, beeps and even music would likely find the experience similarly upsetting. According to one of the leading researchers in the ethics of human critical care, "Alleviating the stresses and symptoms of critically ill patients will enhance the quality of their …
How To Keep Your Specimen Carrier Happy And HealthyApril 17, 2009 What is required by the law and your carrier is probably far from what is being done daily in many practices. The best way to comply is to contact your diagnostic lab and check on its requirements. The following recommendations were provided by Vicky Bell at our lab, Animal Pathology Group in Dallas. The way diagnostic specimens should be packaged and transported was defined in a final rule by the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2003. Diagnostic specimens must be packaged in triple packaging comprising: • A primary receptacle: Primary receptacles must be packed in secondary packaging in such a way that, under normal conditions of transport, they cannot break, be punctured or leak their contents into the secondary packaging. • Leak-proof secondary packaging: The secondary packaging must be secured in the outer packaging with suitable cushioning material such that any leakage of the contents will not impair the protective properties of the cushioning material or the outer packaging. If several fragile primary receptacles are placed in a single secondary packaging, they must be individually wrapped or separated to prevent contact among them. • Outer packaging: The completed package must be capable of successfully passing the drop …
AVMA Launches Online CEApril 17, 2009 The American Veterinary Medical Assn. will launch AVMA Ed on Dec. 1 in response to an increased demand for online continuing education opportunities. The association announced the new member service in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. “Veterinary medicine is continually evolving,” AVMA Executive Vice President W. Ron DeHaven, DVM, told JAVMA. “The public is demanding more sophisticated care. Online CE is another way to provide veterinarians an opportunity to advance their education, stay abreast of new knowledge in the profession and take advantage of new technology.” Content will come from the AVMA Annual Convention, JAVMA and the association’s other publication, the American Journal of Veterinary Research. Registered participants can browse the website for free. However, a credit card payment is needed to view all the offerings and take an examination. AVMA members receive a discount and student AVMA members have free access. Also, one free course will be offered to every user through Dec. 31. The website will include convention presentations, speaker biographies and notes. Two to three articles from each issue of the JAVMA will be available, beginning with the Oct. 1 issue. Participants can …
Where Does God Fit Into The Clinic?April 17, 2009 It’s true I’ve never considered myself a deeply religious person. Yet I fancy myself unusually tolerant of others’ beliefs. A recent case of two dying cats, however, put this latter claim to the test. Here’s the story: A litter of three foundling kittens arrived at the hospital a year ago. Two robust boys and one scrawny girl rounded out the bunch. Sickly though they all were in an upper-respiratory kind of way, they recovered nicely from their rough start. They all went on to live in and around a clean two-horse stable surrounded by a family of healthy cats. The owner declined vaccines because of their rough start and frequent bouts of diarrhea (and, truth be told, because she has a penchant for non-traditional approaches anyway). This fall all three fell ill again, this time with the nastiest case of unrelenting diarrhea yet. The boys appeared to power through nicely with treatment. The girl faded and fell ill enough to hospitalize. Her lab work subsequently revealed a mighty panleukopenia. This cat’s diarrhea and panleukopenia weren’t even the worst of it. The blistering, unresponsive fever and her miserable malaise were more my concern: Even if …
Cornell Develops Vaccine For Johne’s DiseaseApril 17, 2009 Researchers at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine say they have discovered a vaccine that prevents the infection of Johne’s disease, a condition blamed for financial losses totaling $220 million to $250 million annually in the U.S. dairy community. Until now, the only way to prevent the disease was to identify and cull infected animals, then make management changes to prevent its spread. “Johne’s disease is one of the most important infectious diseases that threaten farmers,” said Yung-Fu Chang, DVM, Ph.D., professor of microbiology and the principal investigator. “Equally important, though, this organism has been suspected to be one of several possible contributing agents to Crohn’s disease that has similar pathologic lesions in people. The results of our research may offer useful information to those working with Crohn’s disease.” The research was funded by grants from the Biotechnology Research and Development Corp., which holds the product license, and by a contract through a cooperative agreement between the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The findings will be published in the January issue of Vaccine. …
Survey: Animal Charities Hopeful Of Meeting Year-End Fundraising GoalsApril 17, 2009 Many charities are bracing for a drop in year-end gifts because of the economic slump, according to a survey by Charity Navigator, which evaluates nonprofit groups. Survey respondents indicated that year-end gifts, roughly from Thanksgiving to New Year's, account for more than one-fourth of their annual take. Still, 50 percent of animal charities are somewhat confident that they will reach their year-end goal, according to the survey. Thirty-two percent reported they are not very confident and 8 percent are not confident at all. Only 3 percent feel completely confident and 7 percent feel very confident. Religion charities expressed the most complete confidence (10 percent) while international charities expressed the least (15 percent). Many charities appear to be less aggressive with their goals this year, according to Charity Navigator. The median charity anticipates a decline of 15 percent in year-end giving compared to a year ago. International charities predict the largest decline (a median of 20 percent), while animals, arts, culture, humanities and health charities forecast the smallest drop (a median of 10 percent), according to the survey. Of the charities that anticipate a drop, the median value reported is $72,000. International charities report …
Spread The Word Not The CancerApril 17, 2009 Pets don't die from cancer. They die from complications arising from the expansion and spread of the cancer. It is how cancer affects the lungs, liver, kidney, brain and gut that leads to the demise of the patient. What Is Metastasis? Metastasis occurs when the primary tumor spreads to other parts of the body. Some cancer cells break off from the tumor, travel through the bloodstream or lymphatic system to other parts of the body then multiply. And before traveling to distant sites in the body, cancer cells may also spread to the lymph nodes near the tumor. Cancer cells often end up in the liver and lungs because those are the first places that the blood passes through on its way back to the heart. If the cancer cells are not trapped by the capillaries in the liver and lungs, they will flow back to the heart and out into other organs such as bone, kidneys, brain and skin. In these organs, there is an abundant blood supply with lots of nutrients and growth factors, making it a fertile place for tumor cells to grow. So it's a seed-and-soil situation. The malignant cells can …
