Top 5 veterinary blogs

Sifting through the online onslaught can be time consuming, so if you’re like many of us at Firstline and dvm360.com, you might wait to read veterinary blogs until a friend forwards you a great one. Well, consider this your official forward.

We narrowed down our favorite blogs to a select five (in no particular order) and interviewed the men and women behind the blogs. Hear what they say makes their blogs worth reading and which veterinary blogs they personally follow.

PetConnection

Marty Becker, DVM

What’s your blog about? In addition to veterinary and pet-industry news, PetConnection covers hot topics, such as the no-kill movement and breed and breeding bans.

How regularly do you blog? PetConnection has a top-notch team of veterinarians, behaviorists, trainers and experienced pet-care journalists, including Dr. Tony Johnson (emergency and critical care), Dr. Robin Downing (pain management) and lead reporters Gina Spadafori and Christie Keith. Additional veterinarians and pet-care experts are currently being added to the advisory team, including noted oncologist Dr. Greg Ogilvie. With a staff of this size, we post multiple blogs daily.

What makes your blog different from other veterinary blogs? PetConnection has long been considered, and is frequently named, one of the top veterinary blogs. The site is credited with breaking open the 2007 pet-food recall, and the blog team was featured in the L.A. Times and USA Today for its work on that story.

What veterinary blogs do you recommend following? PetConnection links to a number of veterinary blogs worth reading, including FullyVetted and DogStar Daily.

Riley and James Fan Club

Shawn Finch, DVM

What’s your blog about? The content of Riley and James is purposely a bit random. It’s a celebration of pets with medical information here and there. I do focus on preventive care as it enriches the lives of pets and people. I also blog quite a bit about being a veterinarian, my own pets, and books I’ve read.

How regularly do you blog? I blog about twice a week.

What makes your blog different from other veterinary blogs? I have a disproportionate number of super-cute rodent pictures.

What veterinary blogs do you recommend following? I follow quite a few veterinary blogs so this could be obnoxiously long. If you made me choose one, I’d choose Pawcurious. (You can find Dr. Finch’s comprehensive list on her blog.)

Vet Manager Advisor

Brenda Tassava, CVPM, CVJ

What’s your blog about? My blog covers many practice management topics but focuses on day-to-day issues typical practice managers struggle with. This includes navigating the owner-manager relationship and social media for veterinary practices. I also review books relevant to improving your leadership and management style.

What makes your blog different from other veterinary blogs? Seriously, it’s written from the heart. I blog frequently about the little things, and sometimes big things, that happen in the practice as they arise. It gives an “in-the-trenches” perspective. I hope my audience learns from my mistakes, as well as from my successes.

Why did you decide to blog? I looked around and didn’t really find anything that “spoke to” practice managers, hospital administrators, and those in a leadership role in the veterinary profession. Blogging seemed like a good way to express my thoughts and ideas, while maybe helping or connecting with others. I’ve met many fantastic veterinarians and practice managers in the past two years as a direct result of my blog. Also, social media is my passion, which is why there's a heavy slant on this topic not only on this blog, but on my dvm360.com blogs as well. (Click here to visit Tassava’s series on social media on dvm360.com)

What veterinary blogs do you recommend following? I enjoy VMDiva: Musings of a Veterinarian because it addresses practice management topics. I also enjoy Coastal Mommies: Dr. Carla Case-McCorvey of Case Veterinary Hospital’s Blog. Dr. Case-McCorvey and her practice manager, Lisa Yackel, CVPM, PHR, both blog about pet care, not only directed at “Coastal Mommies”, but in Dr. Case-McCorvey’s case, from a “Coastal Mommie” perspective. It’s also a blog that’s tied to a Mommy Blog, which is very popular in the blogging world.

PMCVT66 on dvm360.com/community

Kyle Palmer, CVT

What are your blogs about? My blogs tend to fall into three catagories: suggestions relating to veterinary medicine, my personal experiences in veterinary medicine, and my opinion on certain issues relevant to veterinary medicine. Occasionally, I try to write something a little different, such as, "The Perfect Addition?"

How regularly do you blog? I was blogging about every week, but now I do so every month.

What makes your blog different from other veterinary blogs? My views relate directly to a couple of things. First, I've been in the industry roughly 20 years and have held every position except veterinarian. This gives me a broad base of experience on which to comment. Second, our practice owner has always treated me like a partner so I have enough confidence to write without worrying if a doctor might think less of my opinion because I'm not a DVM.

What veterinary blogs do you recommend following? I usually only read dvm360.com blogs and tend to follow a few contributors. I like warollo because it's a great mix of humor and information we can relate to. I like finch93 because I identify with her writing. I like sportychick10 because we seem to share some experiences in our careers. I read Julilaris because it seems like a really raw response to whatever she may be feeling—not calculated like some others.

Why should team members read these blogs over other ones? I think all four of the blogs I mentioned have something to offer to team members. A major attraction of continuing education for team members seems to be the opportunity to exchange stories with peers. These blogs tend to provide some of those experiences, in my opinion.

Generation Vet

Phil Barnes and Hillary Israeli, VMD

What’s your blog about? Generation Vet follows the story of Amanda Brown, DVM, a fictitious veterinarian practicing in Philadelphia. As a young woman and member of the iPhone and Starbucks generation, Amanda represents the new face of veterinary medicine.

How regularly do you blog? We post on dvm360.com about once a month.

What makes your blog different from other veterinary blogs? Generation Vet is a unique blog as it’s in the form of a comic strip and uses various social media sites to carry the story. And it’s popular not only in the animal health world, but also among human health doctors and bloggers. In fact, we were recently invited to be the very first veterinary bloggers on Grand Rounds, an elite group of human health bloggers.

In addition to the Generation Vet videominisodes, Amanda regularly updates her fans about her life usingFacebook and Twitter to share photos, stories, and the highs and lowsof general veterinary practice.

What veterinary blogs do you recommend following? PetConnection, Riley and James Fan Club, Pawcurious, Patrick Mahaney, The Homeless Parrot, Dr.Philzeltzman, and more. I don’t have specific things to say about everyone, except for that they’re the best of the best in the veterinary blogging world.