Diets, drugs, devices and other delights: Clinical products at VMX 2018

The VMX exhibit hall is a dazzling place. Amid all that buzz and energy, a few launches stood out to us at dvm360. Here are the details.

Talk about a novel diet …

To keep up with the ever-shifting needs of allergic pets, Blue Buffalo has launched Blue Natural Veterinary Diet NP Novel Protein Alligator for Dogs and Cats. Alligator is a novel protein not typically associated with adverse food reactions, according to the company's nutrition experts. And did you know it's farmed for food production? As fun as it is to think about the Blue Buffalo team heading out in the gator boat Swamp People-style, the reality is not quite so colorful-though it is important for pet health. “It's very important for us to control exactly what the alligators are being fed to eliminate allergens in the end product,” says Bretaigne Jones, DVM, MS, of Blue Buffalo.

Read more here.

Power to the protein

Speaking of diets, nutritionists at Purina think it's high time for veterinary medicine to heed the research pointing to phosphorus as the main culprit in chronic kidney disease-not protein. In fact, limiting protein in a cat with early-stage kidney disease leads to loss of lean body mass, which only compromises that pet's health further, they say. Their answer? Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets NF Kidney Function diets, which are available in Early Care and Advanced Care formulations. Early Care contains restricted phosphorus, to help prevent secondary hyperparathyroidism, and moderate protein, which may help maintain lean body mass. Advanced Care is formulated with reduced protein to minimize the production of filtered nitrogenous waste products, which contribute to azotemia.

Read more here.

Your very own online store

VitusVet founder Mark Olcott, DVM, MBA, saw a gap in the vet tech world-there was no digital tool allowing veterinarians to easily sell their own inventory rather than an online pharmacy's. So he built that feature into VitusVet, an app that initially set out to manage the transfer of electronic health records and now does a whole lot more. In its latest feature, the app digitizes the pharmacy transaction between client and practice, and veterinarians can then make the product available for clients to pick up or ship it out for home delivery. VitusVet takes 99 cents of each transaction that comes through the app.

Read more here.

Fast-acting critter control

Elanco Animal Health is the latest veterinary company to launch an isoxazoline product for dogs-and this one's super-speedy, reports indicate. Credelio (lotilaner) is a monthly oral parasiticide that targets the nervous system receptors of ticks and fleas-not dogs. In studies, the company reports, Credelio killed 100 percent of fleas within 12 hours for the entire month, and the product started to kill ticks and fleas in just four hours. Credelio works fast because it's absorbed rapidly and achieves peak plasma levels quickly. In fact, when given with food, Credelio reaches peak blood levels within two hours of dosing, product representatives say.

Read more here.

Anesthesia for all

Banfield has made a comprehensive anesthesia toolkit-centering around Anesthesia and Analgesia for the Veterinary Practitioner: Canine and Feline, a set of updated guidelines and protocols-available to the entire veterinary profession. The project is the result of years of collaboration among Banfield veterinarians, anesthesiologists, research analysts and industry experts alike, representatives say, and it's intended to help every member of the veterinary team (whether they work for Banfield or not) deliver safe and effective anesthesia. Resources include a medical quality standards program, job aids for each phase of anesthesia, an individualized anesthesia dosage calculator and a monitoring form to capture patient-specific needs.

Read more here. 

An enlightened pee picture

IDEXX Laboratories has updated the software for its SediVue Dx Urine Sediment Analyzer, calling this phase Neural Network 3.0. (What's next-will the machine start talking?) This update to the analyzer's algorithmic software is powered by a database of 70 million veterinary patient-generated images from more than a million tests run on the analyzer, company reps say, enabling the system to better identify abnormalities with every patient result generated. Big data plus machine learning equals a better picture of the whole pee situation-and overall patient health-IDEXX tells us. OK, not in so many words. But you get the idea.

Read more here.

Peering into diagnostic parameters

Axis-Q Lens is designed to provide a picture of diagnostic trends over the course of a veterinary patient's entire life. First, let's review: Axis-Q, for those unfamiliar, is a piece of software that connects a Henry Schein practice management system (AVImark or ImproMed) to in-house lab equipment (from any major manufacturer) so that test results are automatically input into the patient record and charged for on the client invoice. The Axis-Q Lens, a component of the product suite, displays diagnostic results over time-those from in-house equipment as well as reference labs-in a graphical format. It also overlays different parameters on the same display so practitioners can see how diagnostic trends relate to one another. If you switch reference labs or change up a point-of-care analyzer, results transfer easily, Henry Schein reps say-meaning that lifetime health picture stays intact.

Read more here and here.