News

Brussels, Belgium - The European Union Commission is funding a study to determine whether animal bonemeal should be allowed back into the diet of farm animals for the first time since a 2000 ban was implemented in response to an incurable disease that attacks the brain.

Raleigh, N.C. - A 20-year, $500 million project kicks off at North Carolina State University (NC State) in November with groundbreaking for a $12 million research building and subsequent construction of a 115,000-square-foot animal hospital.

Brooklyn, N.Y. - Pet owners too busy to take their animals to a veterinary clinic may have thought they'd found the perfect solution: A "veterinarian" who made house calls, offering to pick up ailing cats and dogs and return them after treatment.

Pomona, Calif. - Philip Nelson, DVM, PhD, takes the reins of Western University of Health Sciences' (WesternU) fledgling veterinary medical college, replacing Dr. Shirley Johnston, the program's founding dean.

Indianapolis - Eli Lilly and Co. announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Ivy Animal Health Inc., an applied-research and pharmaceutical- product development company focused on the animal-health industry.

Washington - After a risk evaluation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is amending its regulations to add the Mexi can state of Nayarit to the list of regions considered to be free of classical swine fever (CSF).

Topeka, Kan. - A Kansas veterinarian was sentenced to seven years in prison last month for securities fraud after swindling $1 million from investors in his phony cattle embryo business.

Langhorne, Pa. - Velcera Inc. inked a global licensing agreement with Nov-artis Animal Health to develop, register and commercialize a canine product using Velcera's patented oral mucosal drug-delivery technology.

Excessive use of corticosteroids has been reported to induce liver disease in the horse.

Brea, Calif. - Skin allergies are the No. 1 reason dogs are taken to a veterinarian.

The delivery of veterinary care can be every bit as good as that of human medicine, says Diane Levitan, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM.

Seattle - Record-breaking attendance and creative sessions - including team-building strategies and a pet-food-recall panel - marked the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine's (ACVIM) 25th Forum.

Topeka, Kan. - Veterinarians remain vulnerable to consumer complaints and lawsuits despite legislative efforts in Kansas to exempt health-care professionals.

Topeka, Kan. - 6/29/07 - A scholarship for one year of tuition was awarded to an Oregon State University student, chosen as the winner of a Hill's Pet Nutrition-sponsored contest.

Recently, one of our technicians decided we should put filled prescriptions up front next to the receptionist rather than in the back.

Swedesboro, N.J. - A wrongful-death suit alleging Wedgewood Pharmacy - the largest veterinary compounding pharmacy in the nation - improperly compounded drugs was dismissed by a U.S. district court after testing confirmed the administered product was made correctly.

I have enjoyed reading Veterinary Medicine's interviews with veterinary leaders. When I picked up the December 2006 issue, I was especially pleased to see the interview with Dr. Robert L. Leighton.

We tend to reminisce about the good old days, but not all things were rosier back then.

Over my four decades as a veterinarian, I have been privileged to meet and retain many fine clients. You know the type – those who seem more like close friends than a source of practice revenue. I feel a loyalty to those pet owners, and have a notion that the feeling is mutual.

Lansing, Mich. - Michigan created a veterinary State Animal Response Team (SART) to act as first responders during emergencies and disasters.

AVMA's position: No assessment of animal welfare is complete unless all elements are considered.

It was a real pleasure to read Dr. Miller's column in the April issue on admitting our mistakes.

As many of you now know, Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine professor Dr. James R. Richards died on April 24, after sustaining injuries in a motorcycle accident.

Combine more than 14.6 million asthmatic people in the United States with more than 61.5 million playful pet dogs, and it's a sure bet that some curious Fidos will bite into their owners' life-saving inhalers.

In this case series, ureterolith movements in two dogs and five cats were evaluated.

For feline onychectomy, we use three levels of preemptive pain management.

In this retrospective study from a university veterinary hospital, the case records of 29 dogs and three cats were reviewed to determine the diagnostic accuracy of cytologic evaluation of splenic aspirates gathered by using ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration compared with histologic evaluation of specimens obtained by using surgical biopsy (10 animals) or ultrasound-guided biopsy (2) or at necropsy (21).

Aural hematomas need support to protect the ear and hold the tissues together to allow healing.