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Drs Adam Christman and Matthew Edson discuss what Rowan University's Shreiber School of Veterinary Medicine opening will mean for the industry 

The future of veterinary education

Veterinary medicine and substance use

As we enter finals season, caffeine may be a necessity for students but a danger to pets 

Canine munches down caffeine pills

Thrive Pet Healthcare provides parasite prevention reminders to share with clients

Debunking common myths about parasites

This new questionnaire was tested for validation of effectiveness in determining quality-of-life measures for this endocrine disease

Health-related quality of life assessment tool for cats with hyperthyroidism

The zoo is asking the public to participate in naming its latest addition 

Oakland Zoo welcomes baby male giraffe

A veterinarian offers suggestions for growing an animal clinic and
better serving the community.

The Dilemma: Practice builders

UC Davis has patent pending status for its TMJ prothesis

Temporomandibular joint prosthesis for cats and dogs

The surgery page is a comprehensive resource for Veterinary news, animal health, and pet care insights on surgery. Read more at dvm360.

Surgery | Veterinary News & Animal Health | dvm360

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Clinical

 surgery page is a comprehensive resource for clinical news and insights on the latest in veterinary surgery. This page consists of videos, interviews, articles, podcasts, and research on the advancements and developments of therapies for surgery, and more.

It is not often that a veterinary surgeon is performing spay and neuters on patients. It happens, but probably not as much as general practitioners, leaving a majority of the responsibility to them. However, when issues that could be life-threatening, such as pyometra, occur in patients, general practitioners may be looking for tips and tricks to help avoid pyometra. 

On this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast, Shadi Ireifej, DVM, DACVS, shares 5 tips that general practitioners can implement at their practice to help clinics possibly see fewer pyometra cases with our host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA. 

 One of the pearls I like to stress when I give pyometra talks is surgical exposure. It's all too often that very experienced, well-intentioned general practitioners will try to create as small an incision as possible for their spay. And it looks impressive, it's quicker surgery because less closing time, the pet owner loves the tiny incision which means [their pet] is not going to be in that much pain postoperatively, [and] less chance of complications. However, if you are trying to operate on a large breed dog or a deep-chested dog, and you're working in those caverns, you need to not be shy about making a larger incision in order to get access to the ovarian tissue and that uterus. You don't need to overdo it, you should be adequate. You can always make your incision longer if you need to start small and go longer, but that's point No. 1. 

Point No. 2 is retraction. So I'm fortunate as a boarded surgeon, that usually I have all the bells and whistles. I got all the toys, I can have 3 assistants in there if I want to right to retract stuff and hold things. That's  me. Most spays are done by general practitioners. They're not going to have the staffing for that, nor the toys. So you need to have not only a big incision, as seems realistic for that dog that size a dog but also need to retract either have somebody, or something, push those organs aside, you can actually visualize the ovaries in that gutter or self-retracting Balfour retractors. Great solution. 

Learn how to have precision without the fuss and pus from Shadi Ireifej, DVM, DACVS, on this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast 

5 hacks to the Pyometra

2. Not all spinal injuries require surgery

In second place, Ane Uriarte, DECVN, MRCVS, DVM, EBVS, RCVS, discussed how the speed of onset of symptoms can affect the urgency with which
a pet parent should seek care.

We have compiled a countdown of our top 5 podcast episodes in 2022, here is number 2

Top dvm360 podcasts of 2022: #2

5. Percutaneous laser disc ablation: a proactive approach to minimizing IVDD in dogs

Gaemia Tracy, DVM, DACVIM, (Neurology), joined The Vet Blast Podcast to
talk about intervertebral disc disease (IVDD) in canine patients. He explained percutaneous laser disc ablation and more.

We have compiled a countdown of our top 5 podcast episodes in 2022, here is number 5

Top dvm360 podcasts of 2022: #5

Will the surgery on your calendar for tomorrow keep you up all night with fear and anxiety? If so, you are not alone. On this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast, June Long, DVM, rejoins Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, to discuss how to manage surgical anxiety while improving your mental well-being. 

Below is a partial transcript. Listen to the full podcast for more.

: In school, we're taught this is how you do it, and this is what happens, and then everything's fine. But we're never, at least this is just my experience, we weren't really challenged like, well, what if this happens, what are you going to do? Or, let's go through this case and see what went wrong. I don't ever remember, like, this is how you fix a dropped pedicle, you know, that we're not really exposed to that level. And I think that kind of is a level that you need to move into after graduation, I'm not saying that [its] something that needs to be taught in vet school. But new vets these days, that's kind of the level that they're at, as far as experience. 

June Long, DVM provides expert tips on mitigating surgical anxiety 



How to cope with surgical anxiety

, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode is sponsored by Nationwide.

On this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast, Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, welcomes back June Long, DVM, to answer some common spay neuter complication questions.

: For me personally, and I am sure it differs depending on the surgeon, the most difficult [spay] would be a fatty spay no matter how big the dog is. I have had like Chihuahuas and Yorkies and they are so difficult because of their condition so everything is slippery, everything wants to rip, and I really have to take my time with those and I also watch them very closely post-op as well. As far as the type of spay I have seen that is a little more tricky when it comes to post-op complications, particularly hemoabdomen, are pregnant spays because all the vessels are bigger, you have to really tighten your ligatures, really tie to make sure you are getting that hemostasis. In post-op, the uterus is gone so everything shrinks so then your ligatures aren't always as tight as they were when you left them.

Dr. June Long answers your questions on spay/neuter complications 

Your spay/neuter complication questions answered

Gaemia Tracy, DVM, DACVIM, (Neurology), joins The Vet Blast Podcast to talk about intervertebral disc disease (IVDD) in canine patients. He explains percutaneous laser disc ablation and more. 

: Yeah, so the procedure is called percutaneous laser disc ablation (PLDA) and what it is it's a purely preventative prophylactic procedure that's minimally invasive to prevent disc herniations... This procedure is minimally invasive [and] use a spinal needles to approach each disk space in the middle of the back, where  these herniated discs tend to occur. And then, using fluoroscopy, I pass laser fibers through those spinal needles right into the middle of each disk space. And the goal is to deliver a laser impulse into each disk space that takes the degenerative disc that's now dried up and desiccated and breaks it up into much smaller pieces, takes it back towards a liquid state and decreases the pressure at each disk space.

A boarded neurologist explains the ins and outs of percutaneous laser disc ablation

Percutaneous laser disc ablation: a proactive approach to minimizing IVDD in dogs

Can telemedicine and virtual care play a role in alleviating the veterinary staff shortage and improve access to care? Shadi J. Ireifej, DVM, DACVS joins this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast to talk about his work at VetTriage doing teletriage. 

: If you can figure out what your lane is and...disperse the cases that are sort of outside of your realm right away, you're going to decrease the burden on your staff. But those cases that you're now turning away have to go somewhere, right? So if you're a [general practitioner] and you have critical cases, you want to send [them] to the emergency room. If they have fairly straightforward cases, they want to send them to the general practitioner. That's where we begin virtual care. What that'll allow for is playing traffic controller. They can actually figure out where who goes where and when.

As telemedicine and virtual care become a bigger part of veterinary medicine, teletriage can play a role in alleviating staff shortages and streamlining efficiency

How teletriage can improve efficiency and access to care

June Long, DVM has been a high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter (HQHVSN) surgeon for more than 6 years. She joins The Vet Blast Podcast to share her experience with helping clinicians become more confident with spay and neuter procedures. 

: I wanted to share this knowledge with anyone who is interested, since it's not routinely taught in veterinary curriculum. And I saw a lot of colleagues that have anxiety when it comes to spays or overweight spays or in-heat spays. [They] were having anxiety like the night before and couldn't sleep and were nervous the rest of the day after the procedure, and I just kept thinking to myself, "Well, I can help them with that. I can show them that it's doesn't have to be scary." And so I just had the idea of creating [The Six Minute Spay] course than anyone could access it and get some CE credit, too, and hopefully help not only just gaining their confidence in their surgery procedures, but also help with their efficiency as well.

A high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter surgeon shares her tips for a quick, efficient surgery under a variety of conditions

The 6-minute spay with June Long

Integrative medicine is rapidly gaining mainstream popularity in veterinary medicine. On this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast, Emily Abraham, DVM, CVA,  explains how integrative medicine influenced the design of her Good Vets hospitals.

: It's a treat to be able to jump into an acupuncture room and just like kind of take a deep breath and just unwind with these animals and connect with them. And there's other indications for acupuncture, as you know. [It] can be used for emergency breathing, respiratory distress, anxiety, when patients are having seizures, vomiting, [and] nausea. And so I like educating my clients about acupressure, which they can perform at home or on their way to the veterinarian, as well as teaching them about dry needle, electro-acupuncture, [and] Aqua-acupuncture...It's an absolute honor to be able to treat these guys.

Emily Abraham, DVM, CVA, shares how integrative medicine has shaped her practice

How 1 veterinarian built her practice around integrative medicine

In this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast, Jenifer Chatfield, DVM, DACZM, DACVPM discusses her experience with elephants, chimpanzees, and more. She tells Adam Christman, DVM, MBA about her life as a zoo veterinarian and how she got into zoological medicine in the first place. 

chimpanzee is the only species that ever almost darted me back...I shot it. It was beautiful. It was a perfect hit right in the biceps. Amazing. And as I'm congratulating myself, fully injected, in it that half of a second, the chimp ripped it out, picked it up, cocked his arm back, and threw it back at me. I felt it go by my face. 

Jenifer Chatfield joins The Vet Blast Podcast with Adam Christman to share amazing stories from her experience in zoological medicine and beyond. 

Adventures in zoological medicine with Jenifer Chatfield

An overview of French bulldogs and questions that should be considered for treating these patients

Addressing brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS) in general practice

UC Davis reports a full recovery from its recent patient, Atlas, after a displaced fracture

Successful total hip replacement surgery on 2-year-old cat

Nicholas Jeffery, BVSc, PhD, MSc, is an internationally recognized veterinary neurologist, surgeon and scientist, and a professor at Texas A&M University School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences 

British association names 2024 Bourgelat Award honoree

Biotechnology company Cresilon Inc has launched VETIGEL Gives to help animals in critical need and their owners

New philanthropy program will sponsor life-saving veterinary surgeries

 explains how an oncological surgery case may be different with post-operative recovery compared to other surgical cases

Differences oncological surgery cases may pose for recovery

While at the Fetch conference in Long Beach, California, Michael Jaffe, DVM, MS, CCRP, DACVS, sat down with 

 for an interview and explained what makes oncological surgery cases unique and how post-op could be different for these patients. He also shared what he likes about veterinary conferences like Fetch and what he takes away from these learning experiences.

The following is a partial transcript of the video.

Post-op surgical oncology cases can sometimes be challenging because, more often than not, we feel comfortable that we've completely removed whatever tumor we're trying to remove (if it's, say, a skin tumor). But oftentimes, we don't know that completely until we get our histopathology back. So when we're dealing with these post-op cases, we're always assuming that we've gotten clean margins, and we're moving from there. But sometimes we still don't know. 

And then the other part of that is, we don't know in all cases, how malignant or whether it is a malignancy that we're dealing with. And many of those cases—they may turn out to be more aggressive than we originally thought they were. So we kind of have to plan for those things in advance.

Videos

Michael Jaffe, DVM, MS, CCRP, DACVS, explains how an oncological surgery case may be different with post-operative recovery compared to other surgical cases

Conference

Bake pet cookies for the holidays

'Tis the season to be jolly, and dvm360 Live!™ takes the festive spirit to a whole new level in this holiday special episode. Courtney Campbell, DVM, DACVS-SA and Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, a dive headfirst into the holiday fun, bringing pet-friendly joy, tasty treats, and a dash of crafting creativity to this segment.

Campbell, walks through a simple pet cookie recipe featuring flour, peanut butter, banana, and a hint of honey. The result is paw-sitively delightful treats that everyone’s fur babies are sure to love. Campbell notes that while these cookies might not be gourmet for humans, they're entirely safe and even edible for adventurous pet owners!

Campbell and Christman also take on some holiday decorating, and have a (friendly) race to be the first to finish their reindeer decorations and sugar cookie cottages. Check out the video above for more holiday cheer in the season finale of dvm360 Live!™.

1/2 cup peanut butter (make sure it contains no xylitol, which is toxic to dogs)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Stir until well combined.

Plus, reindeer crafts and sugar cookie cottages!

Surgery

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