Tips for sourcing full-text online articlesSeptember 15, 2023Practicing evidence-based veterinary medicine (EBVM) requires finding published evidence. Fortunately, there are some solid techniques that can help you find many full-text articles online even when you are not affiliated with an institution.
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How effective is telemedicine, really?August 7, 2023What is it about telemedicine that makes it so controversial? Take a base of spicy legislative battles over the last few years, stir in the contentious issue of changing the rules to allow electronic veterinarian-client-patient relationships (eVCPRs), and sprinkle in some changing demographics and a dash venture capitalism, and you have now got a steamy bowl of “Hot and Spicy Veterinary Telemedicine Controversy Soup.”
Is owning a pet really good for our health?July 24, 2023AVMA and the Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) describe the human-animal bond (HAB) as a “mutually beneficial and dynamic relationship between people and animals that is influenced by behaviors essential to the health and well-being of both.”
A One Health approach to heartwormMay 30, 2023Have you ever asked a client presenting with a pet with vomiting or diarrhea if the animal is on heartworm prevention? Is it relevant? It should be.
Developing new grading schemes critical in bettering cancer diagnosticsMay 23, 2023Human cancer diagnostics are replete in tumor grading schemes, many of which are directly tied to patient outcome and/or response to therapy. However, veterinary medicine remains woefully behind in developing, validating, and applying grading schemes to cancer in our animal patients.
Do routine, elective gonadectomies really increase dogs' lifespan?April 11, 2023Many studies have reported a consistent association between canines being gonadectomized and longer average lifespan—several months to two years longer in females, and none to over a year longer in males. However, the methodology of these studies should be carefully assessed before accepting that the association between being gonadectomized and lifespan reflects a causal relationship.
Working with kennel vaccine policiesMarch 10, 2023Small animal practitioners will recognize this scenario: a client hands you a list of vaccines like they are turning in a menu at a sushi restaurant.
Are modified rabies recommendations backed by the latest scientific findings?January 31, 2023Rabies pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) recommendations were recently amended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); they replace the previous three-dose PrEP schedule with a two-dose one.
The Wood's lamp versus M. CanisJanuary 18, 2023There were only a few percentages we were told to "memorize for boards" in veterinary school, a dozen years ago now. These included odds of malignancy in dog/cat mammary masses (50 percent/90 percent); canine splenic mass diagnoses (33 percent hematoma/hemangioma/ hemangiosarcoma); failure rates of TPLO versus TPP versus. lateral band in canine cruciate disease (now debunked); and, in dermatology, the sensitivity of the Wood's lamp in diagnosing dermatophytosis: less than 50 percent. Where did "50 percent" come from, and why has it been lodged so firmly in our heads? So firmly that I recently ran across this same number in the crisp 2022 edition of a small animal textbook. That number is wrong, and my veterinary friends, colleagues, students still quote it. It is also possible the first percentages quoted here need updating—they probably do (See: "When in doubt cut it out! But by how much?" by Brennen McKenzie, MA, MSc, VMD, cVMA on VPN Plus+). A closer look at M. canis Dermatophytosis in small animals is generally caused by one of three fungal organisms: Microsporum canis, M. gypseum, and Trichophyton mentagrophytes. M. canis is the only one of these that produces pteridine …
The pros and cons of colloidal silverDecember 9, 2022Like so many supplements, the widely available product, “colloidal silver,” has amassed an ardent following, despite insufficient evidence of safety and effectiveness. Who can blame people for becoming excited when they read an inexpensive bottle of colloidal silver “is an extremely safe and natural antibiotic to treat all sizes and ages of felines, including very young kittens,” and it “can be used internally and externally, to attach the germ from the inside out and the outside in”?
