Veterinarian is Out to Change How We Feed CatsMarch 28, 2016Cats instinctively want to hunt for their food, but satisfying that need hasn’t always been easy or convenient for pet owners. That’s a problem that Elizabeth “Liz” Bales, VMD,, set out to solve, and it led her to create the No Bowl Feeding System for cats. nobowlcat.com Dr. Elizabeth "Liz" Bales “I was so discouraged after years and years of my own profession knowing what cats needed but not having a way to help my patients,” Bales writes on the No Bowl Cat website. “I invented the solution myself. My invention, The NoBowl Feeding System, is the safe, clean, easy way to bring back the hunt with the dry food that you are already feeding. I consulted with the world’s leading feline veterinarians, veterinary nutritionists and veterinary behaviorists and then worked with an accomplished team of inventors and designers to create The NoBowl Feeding System — an indoor hunting system that will help keep your cat happy and healthy.” Using the No Bowl system helps satisfy a cat's natural instinct to hunt and, according to Bale, and solves a number of behavioral problems, including: Not sleeping through the night Gobbling up …
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Indiana Veterinarian Running for CongressMarch 28, 2016With an 11 percent approval rating, according to Gallup, many believe Congress is in definite need of an overhaul. That was what motivated Indianapolis-based veteran and veterinarian Dr. Angela Demaree to file her candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Indiana’s 5th Congressional District, back in January. “Like many Americans, I’m really tired of the increasing partisan divide and the do-nothing Congress,” Demaree told the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). “Hoosiers want to end the partisan gridlock just as much as I do, and in these uncertain times, we need common-sense solutions, and we need our elected officials working together to solve problems.” Facebook Dr. Angela Demaree Demaree is earned her DVM degree from Purdue University in 2002, and is a major in the Army Reserves. She serves on the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine's Alumni Board and American Veterinary Medical Association's (AVMA) State Advocacy Committee. “In 2009, she was commissioned as an officer in the Army Reserve Veterinary Corps and in 2012 was deployed to Kuwait in support of Operation Enduring Freedom,” writes the AVMA. A sixth generation Hoosier, Demaree entered the race wanting to …
Veterinarian Designs App to Help Dog Owners Determine Their Mutt's BreedsMarch 25, 2016Want to know what makes up your mutt? There’s an app for that. Best part? That app was designed by a veterinarian. Specifically, Lauren Schluterman, DVM, of the Bowman Road Animal Clinic in Little Rock, Ark., designed the “What’s My Mutt?” app. The creation came about because so many clients wanted to know the breeds made up their dogs. She had also adopted her own dog, Indy, and was working to determine what her dog's origins were. With DNA testing too expensive for many of her clients, Schluterman decided to start work on a more inexpensive approach. What's My Mutt? Lauren Schluterman, DVM, with Indy. The app took around 3 years to make. Schluterman created an algorithm that takes “dominant features of 65 different dog breeds that create mutts,” reports THV11.com. “We tested the algorithm on about 1,000 dogs before the official launch. The goal of the app is for it to become a tool for animal rescue and shelter groups or people looking to adopt a dog with a certain size or personality. The more people that use it, the more data is collected,” …
Q&A With Ron Dehaven, AVMA’s Departing CEOMarch 25, 2016Two days before the start of the 2016 NAVC conference—the nation’s biggest veterinary gathering—American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), the U.S. profession’s largest membership group, delivered a surprise. The news: Ron DeHaven, DVM, MBA, is retiring as CEO and executive vice president of the Schaumburg, Ill.-based American Veterinary Medical Association. Dr. DeHaven, 64, sat down in Orlando, Fla., with Veterinary Practice News to talk about his decision, AVMA and his career, which included jobs with the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. A successor is expected to be named around the time of AVMA’s annual convention, which is set for early August in San Antonio. Veterinary Practice News: Was your decision to step down a sudden one or have you been planning this for a while? DeHaven: We’ve been planning this for a long time. Because of my previous career with USDA, I left a daughter in California. She now has two sons. We moved from there to Maryland, so I left a son in the D.C. area. He has two daughters. For five years the plan has been [to buy] a small house in California …
Zoetis Awards Scholarships to More Than 350 Students at SAVMA ConferenceMarch 24, 2016Zoetis and the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) announced this year’s winners of the Zoetis Veterinary Student Scholarship Program. The program recognized 353 second-and third-year veterinary students at the 2016 Student American Veterinary Medical Association (SAVMA) Conference, awarding more than $700,000 in scholarships. Now in its sixth year, the Zoetis Veterinary Student Scholarship Program operates as part of Zoetis Commitment to Veterinarians, a platform created by Zoetis to support leadership and diversity among future veterinarians, while also helping to offset the significant costs associated with a veterinary education. “At Zoetis, we are committed to the veterinary community and the animals in their care,” said Christine Jenkins, DVM, DACVIM, chief veterinary medical officer, U.S. Operations at Zoetis. “We are proud to reward and recognize these veterinary students who are already demonstrating academic excellence, a strong commitment to veterinary medicine, and leadership. By awarding these scholarships, we hope to not only lessen the financial burden felt by many of these students, but encourage every recipient to focus on their future and become leaders in the field.” Nearly 1,500 applicants from universities throughout the United States and the Caribbean were evaluated based on several criteria, including academic excellence, financial need, …
Europe May Get Topical Version of BravectoMarch 24, 2016Merck Animal Health is close to releasing a spot-on formulation of its Bravecto flea and tick preventive—but only in Europe. A committee of the European Medicines Agency on March 17 recommended that the European Commission approve Bravecto (fluralaner) Spot-On for use with cats and dogs. Merck, known outside the United States and Canada as MSD Animal Health, reported Tuesday that the topical formulation provides up to 12 weeks of protection, just like with Bravecto (fluralaner) Chews, which are limited to canine use. The original preventive was released in 2014 in Europe and the United States. To date, more than 13 million chewable tablets have been dispensed in 60 countries, Merck stated. U.S. veterinarians and pet owners could see the spot-on someday. “We do plan to pursue approval in the U.S. but do not have any additional information regarding the timing of that,” Merck spokeswoman Amy Firsching said. The European product would be administered using what the company called “Twist’n’Use” pipettes. The planned sizes are 112.5, 250, 500, 1,000 and 1,400 milligrams for dogs and 112.5, 250 and 500 mg for cats. The topical solution is indicated for the treatment of tick and flea infestations and flea allergy dermatitis on …
Cuattro X-Ray Unit Touted as SuperfastMarch 24, 2016Heska Corp. this month released what the Loveland, Colo., company is calling the fastest all-in-one X-ray imager in the veterinary industry. The handheld Uno 6 digital radiography unit, sold by Heska’s Cuattro brand, is designed primarily for use in the field with equine patients, but it also may be brought into a small animal exam room, a spokesman said. The 16-pound device is wireless and battery powered, and two detector panels are available: 10 by 12 inches and 14 by 17 inches. Heska is promoting the unit’s speed: the ability to power up within 20 seconds, capture high-definition images in as little as six seconds apart and display X-rays three seconds after exposure on the removable Slate 6 Micro tablet. The Slate 6 Micro is designed to store a minimum of 79,000 images, Heska stated.
Study: Retinal Cells Regenerate Before They DieMarch 24, 2016Until relatively recently, it was believed that neurons, including the eye’s photoreceptor cells, rods and cones, do not regenerate. This is the reason that nerve damage is thought to be so grave. More recent studies have shown that in some vertebrate species, neurons can be stimulated to divide. Yet the belief continued to hold firm with regard to retinal neurons — until findings from a study by University of Pennsylvania researchers came out in 2011. The study showed that in a form of canine blindness, retinal cells continue to differentiate for a period of time early in a dog’s life before overwhelming cell death caused the retina to degenerate. In a new study, reported on March 18, 2016, the Penn researchers have expanded this line of inquiry to consider two other forms of blindness. They found that these diseases, too, possess this unexpected feature of temporarily rejuvenating retinal cells. The findings suggest this feature may be common across many forms of inherited blindness. Further investigation into the reasons for this period of retinal neuron proliferation could lead to molecular targets for intervening in cell death and maintaining functional photoreceptor …
Minnesota’s Vet Lab Names New DirectorMarch 24, 2016The University of Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory has named Jerry Torrison, DVM, Ph.D., as its new director. Dr. Torrison served as an associate clinical professor and diagnostician at the laboratory from 2004 to 2011. Since 2011, he has been a swine veterinarian with the research and nutritional services team at Zinpro Corporation, a Minnesota-based manufacturer of organic trace minerals for beef and dairy cattle, swine, poultry, aquatic, equine and companion animals. Prior to 2004, he was a swine consultant with Swine Vet Center, PA, in St. Peter, Minn., for six years and health assurance manager with PIC, a swine breeding stock company, from 1994-1998. “Jerry has worked in more than 20 countries and consulted with many food animal production corporations,” said Trevor Ames, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine. “His ability to identify key opportunities locally and globally, along with his strong relationships with state and national producer organizations, industry partners, and government agencies will be a great benefit to the college.”
'Day of Giving' Campaign Raising Funds for Pets in Underserved CommunitiesMarch 23, 2016You might have heard about “food deserts,” which are, as the American Nutrition Association defines as “parts of the country vapid of fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthful whole foods, usually found in impoverished areas. This is largely due to a lack of grocery stores, farmers’ markets, and healthy food providers.” But did you know there are veterinary deserts as well? That’s something the Humane Society of the United States with its Pets for Life program. As they write, “Many pets don't have access to the care they need because they live in vet deserts — vast areas of underserved communities without access to the vets and pet care suppliers clustered far away in better-served neighborhoods. It's basically impossible for the loving pet owners in these areas to cross vet deserts when they don't own cars and can't take their pets on public transportation.” To address this problem, the Humane Society is having a ‘Day of Giving’ for Pets for Life on March 31, 2016, with donations being raise to bring pet healthcare to ‘vet desert’ communities. The funds will go toward spay/neuter services, vaccinations, emergency …
