Pet Diabetes Month is observed in November and is a fitting opportunity to work with pet owners to achieve and manage a healthy weight for their pets. The AVMA offers good resources to guide those discussions. Direct clients to view information on Your Pet’s Healthy Weight page Keep healthy weight brochures on-hand in your clinic for easy distribution Discuss … [Read more...]
OUCH! Removing porcupine quills correctly.
The lumbering porcupine can easily disrupt the comfort of livestock or pets with a swat of his tail. This author discusses porcupine habits and myths and challenges of quill removal. Source: Countryside Daily, October 14, 2017. The best way to remove quills is to immobilize the animal (put a cow in a chute, have someone hold the unfortunate horse or dog and distract it) … [Read more...]
Marketing is about your customers’ values, not yours
Marketing is about how customer values translate into aspirations, insecurities, fears and motivations. They only want to know what a company stands for as it relates to them. Sound familiar? Kris Gage sounds a bit cynical in her article that will likely hit home with marketers as they make decisions for 2018. Source: The Startup, November 11, 2017. Marketing is about … [Read more...]
The reality of owning horses
Alyssa Knee offers a horse owner’s perspective of the ups, downs and real work of horse ownership. Her article provides good perspective for animal health pros who have never owned or worked with horses. Source: Horse Network, November 16, 2017. It’s a roller coaster of emotions, explains Knee. The kind that you get on willingly, but then realize you can never get off. It’s … [Read more...]
Get a dog. Live longer.
Dog owners live longer than those who don’t own dogs, according to a new study of more than 3.4 million people. Researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden reviewed national registry records of men and women, ages 40 to 80. They then followed their health records for 12 years. The found dog owners had a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease than non-dog owners, as … [Read more...]
Behind the scenes of socializing neglected, abused dogs
Severely neglected or mistreated dogs may have suffered any number of abuses: constant physical restraint or confinement, lack of appropriate nourishment, endless environmental stressors, even outright physical punishment. Marybeth Bittel shares some of the challenges of preparing these animals for their new lives. Source: Dogster, November 9, 2017. Potential adopters may … [Read more...]
Dogs can smell human fear and mirror our moods
A new study, "Interspecies transmission of emotional information via chemosignals: from humans to dogs (Canis lupus familiaris)," in the journal Animal Cognition, confirms what many have known. Dogs do smell human fear using chemosignals and they, too get scared. A dog's nose is an organ that's evolved to be an incredibly sensitive to odors. Source: The Bark, November 15, … [Read more...]
Embed customer-centricity into your DNA
Customer-centered focus becomes part of the DNA of a business or practice when its customers are at the center of every decision. This article is the 11th in a series of 12 on this subject. Animal health pros closest to customers’ needs often find themselves in conflict with leadership. But focused, customer-centric behavior is a primary context to the most successful … [Read more...]
Content marketing set to change
Just as content marketing seems to come of age, John Ellett challenges marketers to quit developing content marketing strategies and start developing plans that address how content supports marketing strategies. Studies indicate two of marketers’ biggest challenges in addressing changing buyer behaviors are: lack of buyer insights developing content that satisfies … [Read more...]
Understanding the decision makers
Pat Malone writes about the decision makers in this thoughtful article. It is a must-read for animal health pros. He writes: When your customer goes into decision-making mode, he/she is being influenced by two considerations: What do I know? This is the logical side of our brain calling up all the data and facts that we have that pertain to the decision at hand. How … [Read more...]
Beef Quality Assurance launches new transportation program
“The BQA Transportation (BQAT) training and certification program has been a long time coming,” said Chase DeCoite, director of BQA for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. “By educating cattle haulers and producers on the best practices in cattle transportation, BQA is helping make improvements in cattle care and beef quality.” Source: Beef, November 16, 2017. Online … [Read more...]
Cuddling Fido in bed can cause problems
The discussion of sleeping with pets continues. An estimated 79 percent of pet owners share their beds with their pets. As reported by WebMD, a survey from the American Pet Products Association determined that 62 percent of small dogs, 41 percent of medium-sized dogs, and 32 percent of large dogs sleep in their human’s beds. Source: Cesar’s Way, November 15, 2017. In … [Read more...]
USDA delays organic livestock, poultry rules effective date
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service is again delaying the effective date of the Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices (OLPP) final rule published in the Federal Register on January 19, 2017. Source: USDA, November 9, 2017. In addition to a question about the scope of the statutory authority, a material error in the record was discovered. USDA is delaying the rule so … [Read more...]
Wild pigs march across the U.S.
The wild pig population explosion shows no signs of slowing. It has expanded from 19 states in 1985 to 39 states in 2016. Recent testing of using sodium nitrate in the form of a new oral toxicant is showing promise to help curb wild pig populations. Dale Nolte, national coordinator for the National Feral Swine Damage Management Program, said, “Recent research results suggest … [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...]
Don’t forget the salt
The growing trends toward the small farm or urban livestock production comes with great educational needs. Many urban or suburban schools have abandoned ag-related classes and FFA or 4-H options are limited. Parents, grandparents and family members may remember raising poultry, rabbits or small ruminants but those memories may not reflect today’s realities. Rhonda Crank … [Read more...]
Fake leadership is not leading
Leadership is about people and only people. Many people are blessed with both management and leadership skills but more are not. Steve Keating’s comments are actionable, especially if you are in the process of hiring new persons or making advancement decisions. Source: Lead Today, November 13, 2017. If you want to know if someone is a leader don’t look at the leader, look … [Read more...]
Dairymen discuss hard-to-breed cows
All six of this year’s Platinum winners of the Dairy Cattle Reproduction Council’s awards share insights on cows they they have problems breeding. Their comments on culling decisions will interest to dairymen and dairy veterinarians. Source: Hoard’s Dairyman, November 13, 2017. This article is part of a nine-part series detailing top reproduction tips from the Platinum … [Read more...]
A no-nonsense guide to blanketing horses
A recent study indicates as many as 50 percent of equestrians don’t know enough about their horses’ physiological responses to environmental temperatures. This poses a risk to the horses’ welfare. Heather Malcolm offers her no-nonsense guide to blanketing or not blanketing a horse. This is great information to share with horse owners via websites, in holiday communications or … [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...]
Headbutting shows affection
Watch most team sports and you’ll see a common cat behavior exhibited after a great play, the headbutt. Similar to our human use of this action, cats have used head butting for eons for bonding and social purposes. More appropriately, this action is called head bunting. Source: Catster, November 8, 2017. Cat behaviorist Pam Johnson-Bennett says, “For the cat to place his … [Read more...]
Whew! Dog gas; normal or a problem?
Fido can sometimes run you out of the room with his flatulence. Jackie Brown covers what’s normal and what’s not when it comes to dog gas. This article is a good resource for websites, newsletters and social media posts as holiday table scraps become available to pets. Source: Dogster, November 6, 2017. Excessive gas may be caused by a less-than-ideal diet. If 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...]
Eating “clean’ food wasteful, Iowa State says
We are constantly reminded of organic, all-natural and raised without antibiotics designations on food items. Beyond these definitions are even more food label considerations. New research from Iowa State University shows that consumers are unaware of the costs related to producing “clean” label foods. Source: Drovers, November 10, 2017. Ruth Litchfield, an expert on food … [Read more...]
You gotta see this year’s comedy wildlife photo finalists
You’ve gotta look! The 2017 finalists for The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards have been announced. And, they’re great. Take a few minutes for some fun. Source: The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards, November 2017. You can see four years’ worth of fun photos. INSIGHTS: Great blog and social media ideas here. … [Read more...]
Getting to yes or yes!
Wendy Myers offers sound advice about positioning options that require one of two yes answers by avoiding yes/no questions. It takes a little work and practice, but ultimately animal owners are looking for this guidance when they come to veterinarians. Take five minutes out of the next five team meetings and practice this approach as a group. Then put it to work. Source: … [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...]