Drug free ways to manage pain and separation anxiety in pets

Sponsored by Zomedica

Adam Christman: Hey everyone, Adam Christman, Chief Veterinary Officer here at DVM360. Welcome to Product360. We want to thank our friends from Zomedica for supporting this great conversation as we chat with Nicole Westfall, senior vice president of marketing at Zomedica. Thanks for being here!

Nicole Westfall: Thanks for having me, Adam!

Christman: So, pain and inflammation in our pets—we know about osteoarthritis (OA), wound management, post-op care—the list goes on. Non pharmacologic or drug free ways of managing these issues is something we’re going to chat about today.

Westfall: Absolutely.

Christman: And, in addition, to understanding pain modalities, we’re also going to chat about behavior and separation anxiety because that can be a challenge too. So, we have a couple of products about that as well.

First off, we have the Assisi Loop. This is tPEMF technology. So, what is this for?

Westfall: This is a great device to reduce pain and inflammation in pets as well as wound care and post-operative care.

Christman: How many sessions is it used for?

Westfall: There is 150 in each one of these and they’re 15-minute treatments. All you have to do is press the button and see the lights like a cute little flashing disco ball. It will turn itself off when it’s done.

Christman: Let’s chat how it works. So for the Assisi line of products, they work by exciting calcium and calmodulin and then trigger the nitric oxide cascade. When you think about it, we have the endothelial nitric oxide that stimulates a cyclic inosine monophosphate synthesis, activating the downstream targets that increase endothelial cell proliferation, migration, survival, and permeability. It enhances angiogenesis and tissue repair. So that’s pretty fascinating. There are multiple studies in both the human and animal space that support the efficacy.

Okay, and we have two different forms of pain. We have the acute and chronic pain. Does it vary depending on what kind of pain I’m dealing with?

Westfall: It does. Of course, as a veterinarian, you know best how to treat for each condition, but it can be used up to four times a day for acute post-operative or for ongoing OA. You can also use it once a day or once every couple of days depending on what you see fit.

Christman: There’s a misconception that you actually have to put the dog’s leg through it. What does it look like?

Westfall: Absolutely. That is not the case. With this big one here, you get 10 inches on either side as the treatment field. If you were to treat this dog’s back, you would be getting 10 inches this way and 10 inches this way, so you would be treating this whole stuffed animal. He’d get all the treatment at once.

Christman: Wow. And this is non-prescription?

Westfall: Correct, non-prescription, but great for veterinarians to stock in their office so they can send them home with their clients. It gives pet owners a way to be involved in the treatment, ongoing, and is very easy to manage by just pressing a button.

Christman: Yeah, she hit the nail on the head, too, that pet parents really want to be involved in pain management for their animals. This is a great proactive way of doing it. We also have the DentaLOOP from Assisi as well, right?

Westfall: Absolutely. What this is great for using is in clinic. The dentist will send this home ahead of time to reduce pain and inflammation in the teeth, so the surgery is easier for them to do, whether it’s a cleaning or extraction. Afterwards, they use it for about a week and they need less meds with it.

Christman: I know dentists were saying, which I think of those cat patients where you have to do full mouth extractions on, and they’ll recommend doing this before the procedure. So that’s fantastic. Are there any contraindications we should be made aware of?

Westfall: There’s only three that you should worry about. The first is pacemakers. You never want it near a pet parent with a pacemaker or a pet with a pacemaker. The second one is certain types of cancers.

Christman: Yeah, I think of hemangiosarcoma would probably be the one.

Westfall: Right. And the other one is if you’re using it in clinic, all stainless-steel cages. It bounces the signal differently, so it makes it not as effective. It will still work, just not as effectively.

Christman: Excellent, good to know. We also have the Assisi Loop Lounge. This is really neat, right?

Westfall: This is really neat, Adam. So, we just talked about the Loop technology and how it works. This lounge is like a bed for your pet with that technology built in. To think of it in an easy way, imagine the Loops laying inside of it and connected together. The whole bed is one giant Loop for your pet to lay on. The best part about this is with this little box here, you get 6000 treatments before you need to get a new box. Remember, you only get 150 with the loop, but with this you get 6000. If you have an ongoing condition like OA or you’re using it for multiple pets every day, this is going to save you money in the long run.

Christman: Yes, I love that. And there’s three different sizes.

Westfall: There are. Small, medium, and large, just like you would expect. Large is for giant breed pets. They’re all plushes so they’re all very thick and comfortable. Ready to make your pet a happy home.

Christman: I think about when we’re trying to minimize fear and anxiety and stress, I can imagine having this for the pet owners at home. Give them treats, near the fireplace or what not. They already want to sleep on something comfortable so might as well make it something that can be helpful for pain.

Westfall: Absolutely. One of the best things about this is the treatment field. It’s 12 inches high off of it. What a lot of pet parents are doing is great for holiday road trips. They’re putting it this way in their car and the pet just lays like normal against the backseat while receiving treatment. People do it on their couches at home as well.

Christman: I like that.

Westfall: Or they slide it under the dog bed because you get 12 inches high of treatment and the pets never know it’s there.

Christman: That’s really cool. I didn’t know that. We’ve been talking about pain, but also now behavior with tPEMF technology. What is this cutie here doing?

Westfall: Our demo dog Paco is showing us the Calmer Canine product line. This is tPEMF therapy, similar to the loop, but a different signal. It is a much faster signal aimed at the amygdala of the brain to deal with separation anxiety. Did you know that we did a study with NC State and out of the dogs in the study, 65% of them after the course of treatment, were completely resolved of the separation anxiety. The remaining 35% were able to lower their meds. You know behavior is so subjective and nothing works for everyone, but it had a positive effect on everyone. Either less medicine or totally solved.

Christman: That’s great too, especially non pharmacologic. There is a video you have to see on dvm360.com where my Capone was wearing this to demonstrate and he enjoyed it, too. It is very lightweight.

Westfall: Yes, very lightweight and all you have to do is press the button. A 15-minute treatment twice a day, eight hours apart, for four to six weeks. The best part is it has a therapeutic effect so within the first five minutes, the pets just instantly calm and lay down.

Christman: With the Calmer Canine, it can help reduce barking, howling, panting, pacing, and even reduce destruction and house soiling. It will also increase resting for when these guys are home alone and create long-lasting results. It also reduces other anxieties like noise sensitivity, travel, and general anxiety. I know as a veterinarian, we love embracing new things like and innovation. This makes such an impact because a lot of our clients are asking for non-pharmacologic options out there. And these are great options. And multi-modal options for behavior and pain so you have to check this out.

Nicole, thank you so much for being here.

Westfall: Thank you for having me, Adam. It was so fun.

Christman: Where can we learn more about all of this?

Westfall: You can go to Assisianimalhealth.com or zomedica.com.

Christman: Excellent. Thank you for tuning in on Product360. We’ll see you next time. Take care, everybody.