Top 5 Articles for October 2017

1. AVMA 2017: Anesthesia Monitoring With Capnography

Capnography is an essential tool for monitoring anesthetized and critical care veterinary patients, according to Heidi Reuss-Lamky, LVT, VTS (Anesthesia & Analgesia). Presenting at the 2017 American Veterinary Medical Association Convention, Reuss-Lamky discussed the ways in which capnography provides important feedback about the severity of a patient’s condition and how patients respond to treatment.

2. AVMA 2017: Behavioral Problems in Senior Dogs

Senior dogs represent a special class of behavioral patients for veterinarians, according to Marsha Reich, DVM, DACVB. Presenting at the American Veterinary Medical Association Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, Dr. Reich discussed the proper approach to evaluating behavioral problems in older dogs.

3. Feline Euthanasia: Part 1 - Ethics, Aesculapian Authority, and Moral Stress

The veterinary profession is characterized by honorable, caring, generous professionals with a broad sense of decency and respect for all living things. Veterinarians are strongly motivated to enhance the quality of life of their patients, to slow death, and to relieve patient suffering. One of our defining principles is “the needs of the patient come first.” It is because we accept this as our primary responsibility that we sometimes recommend euthanasia at the end of the patient’s life.

4. Dry Eye in Dogs

When Wanda Presnell, owner of a dachshund rescue in Raleigh, North Carolina, took custody of 10-year-old Precious in early January, the dog was riddled with health problems, including a urinary tract infection, back issues, heartworms, and, perhaps most troubling, severe bilateral dry eye, which was originally believed to be an infection...

5. Prevention Is the Best Medicine: Vaccines in the 21st Century

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Benjamin Franklin’s words ring as true today as they did in 1736, and although he was referring to fire prevention, prevention is a central tenet of immunization programs. The first evidence of vaccination is from the Chinese, who as early as 1000 CE were inoculating against smallpox by taking powdered smallpox scabs from people with the disease and blowing it up the nostrils of healthy people or rubbing it into superficial cuts in the skin.