David Ballard says a workforce that can adapt to changing environments and acquire the skills necessary to be successful in the future is a shortfall in today’s companies, big or small. In the surveys of the U.S. workforce conducted at the American Psychological Association, training and development consistently emerges as one of the areas with which employees are least … [Read more...]
The need to please could be dishonest
Do you prefer to avoid confrontation? When someone asks you what you think, do you tell them what you think they want to hear or what you truly believe? Have you, or are you putting off having a difficult conversation with a staff member? Avoiding an honest conversation has a variety of personal and organizational downsides. Source: LinkedIn Pulse, October 30, 2017. The … [Read more...]
Lab animal DVMs share tips about caring for pocket-sized pets
The small mammal market is rapidly growing and new items are available frequently. Veterinarians seeing these pets must be up-to-date about what is available, what is suitable for the pet and the owners’ lifestyle and how to evaluate the items that accompany these pets on trips to your office. Source: Veterinary Medicine, November 7, 2017. Because small mammals spend most … [Read more...]
Cooling out horses helps after exercise
Most horse owners are comfortable with the basics of cooling off their horses. But, what does it mean, physiologically speaking, to say that your horse is “cooled out?” Joan Hiltz, VMD, shares her experiences. This information is useful for websites, social media posts and horse owner consultations. Source: Horse Network, November 6, 2017. Physiologically speaking, the … [Read more...]
7 things to know about Giardia in dogs
“Giardia is found in a lot of different locations,” says Tracey Jensen, DVM, Dipl. ABVP, founding partner of Wellington Veterinary Hospital in Wellington, Colorado. “Certainly, places where there is wildlife, particularly water fowl, or other dogs, so dog parks and places where there is standing water, can be areas where you can find quite a bit of giardia.” Giardia is not … [Read more...]
Don’t abandon postmortem exams
Postmortem remains the diagnostic gold standard. A recent retrospective study compared clinical antemortem and pathologic postmortem diagnoses in 1,000 cats and 1,000 dogs. The authors suggest that postmortem evaluation provides valuable information in nearly 50 percent of cases. Source: Clinician’s Brief, October 2017. In this study, total agreement between antemortem and … [Read more...]
Reminder: AAHA canine vaccine guidelines update
We learned of the latest updates to the AAHA Canine Vaccination Guidelines last September. One of the significant updates was to make the guidelines available online for the veterinary profession. With almost twice the content of the previous version, AAHA’s revised and updated Canine Vaccination Guidelines include important changes and new recommendations that are important … [Read more...]
Fear Free Happy Homes newsletter now available
The Fear Free Pets movement is well underway. A newsletter is one of the tools available for pet owners. With the growing adoption of fear-free practices, we wanted to help expose animal health pros to some of the tools being used by Fear Free practices. Source: Fear Free Happy Homes, November 14, 2017. Become a Fear Free Happy Homes member today, and experience all that … [Read more...]
Keep pets safe during cold weather (includes printable handout)
Just like people, pets’ cold tolerance can vary based on their coat, body fat stores, activity level and health. Be aware this and adjust accordingly. The AVMA website content and the PDF handout make the cold weather tips easy to distribute to pet owners. Tips include the easy to forget antifreeze clean-up warning and other excellent reminders. Source: AVMA, November … [Read more...]
10 things to double-check on facilities before working cattle
Every large animal veterinarian has at least one story about arriving at a client’s location to work cattle only to find out the client had not prepared. So, here’s a great list for DVMs to send to clients before making those time- consuming farm calls. Make sure your alleyway is the proper width so that cattle can’t turn around. Have your working facilities set up in a … [Read more...]
Prevent holiday hazards from harming family pets (photo essay)
As Halloween night turned to dawn, Christmas appeared in stores the world over. It is a reminder to prepare for our homes for guests and prepare to keep our pets safe. The AVMA offered the following tips to keep pets safe in 2013. They still resonate today. Source: DVM 360, December 18, 2013. For some pets, house guests can be scary. Pets shy or excitable around new people … [Read more...]
AAHA accredits 17 new practices in September-October
Congratulations to the newly AAHA-accredited practices. These practices worked hard to meet the highest standards in veterinary medicine. Check this list for colleagues or customers: The Cat Hospital of Media, Media, PA Pikes Peak Veterinary Clinic, Colorado Springs, CO Aina Haina Pet Hospital, Honolulu, HI Germantown–Farmington Animal Hospital, Germantown, TN … [Read more...]
Carbon paw-print from feeding meat to pets
We’ve studied the environmental impact of cow flatulence, water source contaminations from livestock and myriad other environmental effects of animal production. Now a 2014 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has surfaced to expose the carbon paw-print from feeding meat to pets. Source: Los Angeles Times, August 4, 2017. In short, Gregory Okin … [Read more...]
Neglect allegations force dog blood bank closing
The Pet Blood Bank, a Cherokee, Texas, supplier of canine blood for veterinary transfusions has closed following allegations by an animal rights group that the company neglected about 150 greyhounds for which it was caring. The San Saba County Sheriff’s Office, along with the Texas Greyhound Association found no evidence of abuse or neglect. Source: Washington Post, October … [Read more...]
Composting pets now a reality
All dogs go to heaven when they die, of course, but they leave behind bodies. Rooted Pet, a startup in Seattle, Washington, intends to help with that. Composting carcasses is not unusual. Farms often use it to get rid of dead livestock and some states use it to manage roadkill. So, Paul Tschetter, a Seattle entrepreneur, helped create a process that he says is, “adding … [Read more...]
Don’t flush that fish
Pet fish aficionados in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex have a new hero in Eli Prachar. She and a partner have teamed up to create DFW Fish Rescue to take in unwanted water pets. In its first week, the pair has taken in nearly 200 fish and they’re working on a deal with a local animal shelter to expand capacity. Source: nbcdfw.com, October 19, 2017 and Dallas Morning News, … [Read more...]
Opinion – Vaccine refusals rising in many parts of the country
PLEASE, ignore the political bent. Please! Consider how human behaviors and standards are consistently presented to us as influencing pet care decisions. Then mull over the information on the vaccine refuser and vaccine hesitant groups of persons. Source: Vox, October 3, 2017. Most research shows that parents who reject some or all vaccines are more likely to be white, … [Read more...]
November 2017 JAVMA
The recent hurricanes and related flooding displaced many pets. Multiple canine parvovirus outbreaks have been reported. We note the paper linked below in this issue of JAVMA. It is a timely retrospective case series and case-control study. Evaluation of mortality rate and predictors of outcome in dogs receiving outpatient treatment for parvoviral enteritis. Source: … [Read more...]
Tell your company story better (includes videos)
With one click of the “About Us” link, anyone, anywhere can hear your company story. Countless organizations settle for a poorly written, poorly designed, dry-as-dust blurb. Boring! Bringing a company story to life and giving it impact and reach is one of the best ways to engage customers, the public and prospective employees. Source: Grossman Group, October 16, … [Read more...]
Vet Tech Week ends; the work continues (includes podcast)
The media coverage for National Vet Tech week was ramped up this year. Animal health pros across America celebrated the various contributions of this community of professionals. The lobby for changing their designation to veterinary nurse is well underway. We selected a group of articles on the subject of veterinary technicians or veterinary nurses. These include: The … [Read more...]
Learning from dentists
Dental and chiropractic medical practices are frequently referenced as similar to veterinary practices. Bob Lester shares ways the dental industry adapted to become a prevention business. In his analysis, team-based health care delivery is a win-win. We help more pets, our teams are empowered and we reap the financial rewards. Source: Today’s Veterinary Business, September … [Read more...]
Thanks for the feedback
Thank you so much for the feedback and messages last week when we celebrated our two-year milestone and 2000 posts. It is truly a pleasure to curate from 200-plus media sources to bring animal health professionals content that is relevant and actionable. Please share AHD freely with colleagues! Receiving the kudos and positive reinforcement makes our work even more … [Read more...]
WSAVA unveils first global veterinary dentistry guidelines, rejects anesthesia-free
We’ve known for decades that dentistry is important in small animal medicine. Recently, the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) launched global veterinary dentistry guidelines. A key theme is WSAVA’s rejection of anesthesia-free dentistry, which it describes as ineffective and a cause of unnecessary stress and suffering to patients. The guidelines seek to support … [Read more...]
Be part of the AHD team
A special thank you goes out to our contributors listed on the AHD site. Their ongoing work help keeps you informed and our offerings fresh. You can contribute to our weekly email once or on an ongoing basis. If you want us to look for specific topics, please email us from the “contact us” section of the site. Better yet, write up a short summary of an article or other media … [Read more...]
AHD subscriptions arrive at no cost to you
Our industry provides millions of dollars in advertising and content development in the media from which we curate. Your feedback tells us that providing this service to animal health pros at no charge helps you do your jobs better. Sponsors receive consideration for their brands and activities when published content relates to their portfolios. Source: Animal Health Digest, … [Read more...]
AHD website tools make content easy to use
For animal health pros who need to find a post for any reason, the AHD website has several tools to help find it: BULLETIN Archive, keeps the last 20 BULLETINs easy to find and reference “Search the site” on the upper right, uses familiar key word search methods to find a topic Sponsor and Founder’s Circle logos all link to the respective company’s … [Read more...]
Sponsored Content – Protect horses from the five core diseases
Dr. Kevin Hankins, DVM of Zoetis technical services group, asserts the threats from deadly equine diseases like West Nile and rabies is closer than we think. Don’t leave horses exposed. Help protect them with annual vaccinations against the five core equine diseases: Eastern and Western Equine Encephalomyelitis Rabies Tetanus West Nile Source: AQHA, October 5, … [Read more...]
Fear Free resources for the home (videos included)
The Fear Free movement continues to gain momentum. We stumbled on to Fear Free Happy Homes on Twitter. Housed on this website are videos and information to help pet owners create their own fear free environment. Consider registering and using the videos in social media, on websites and as part of school educational programs. Source: Fear Free Happy Homes, October 7, … [Read more...]
Value-added calves are the result of good pre-conditioning
According to survey numbers, the value of pre-conditioning or back-grounding calves post-weaning is growing rapidly. Since its inception, the Beef Quality Assurance program has given beef producers a template on how to do things right. More than one-third of producers are BQA certified according to the survey results. Source: Beef, October 2017, page 22. Dan Thompson, DVM, … [Read more...]
Vasopressin and oxytocin affect canine aggression
Many hormones influence canine aggression, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Arizona titled, “Endogenous Oxytocin, Vasopressin, and Aggression in Domestic Dogs”. Karen London, PhD, discusses study findings and future treatment potential. Source: The Bark, September 30, 2017. The study findings are no surprise given that the hormones testosterone … [Read more...]