Weekly Veterinary Industry Review #3
It’s Friday, August 14th, 2020. Welcome to round three of the Weekly Veterinary Industry Review, brought to you by GeniusVets. While other industries have floundered during this pandemic, veterinarians continue to charge ahead. This week, we hear about the new AVMA President's goal to diversify the veterinary field, uncover a product for dogs that will blow your mind in its simplicity, touch on the state-to-state variations on telemedicine, and more. So let’s take a look at our week in review.
Veterinary Business News
Keeping you at the forefront of veterinary news regarding products, personnel, and conferences...
Dr. Douglass Kratt of Wisconsin Begins Term as AVMA President
- Dr. Kratt’s goals align with a big push in the veterinary field to increase diversity—specifically, his goals are diversion, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
- The three strategies, which align with the VMI (Veterinary Medicine Interconnected) and the AVMA, are as follows:
- Strategies to increase the number of diverse applicants to colleges of veterinary medicine
- Strategies to build DEI capabilities/capacities within the AVMA itself (staff and volunteers)
- Strategies to build DEI capabilities/capacities of veterinarians and their teams so they can support healthy practices and best serve their clients and communities.
- As Dr. Kratt notes, “Valuing diversity and condemning racism is part of a healthy, thriving veterinary profession.”
Telemedicine Regulations Vary From State to State
- As the article notes: “The CDC recommends that veterinarians minimize contact with pet owners through the use of telemedicine for consults and for helping triage patients. However, states vary on their requirements for the ability to use telemedicine and establish a veterinary-client-patient relationship (VCPR).”
- Because some states allow for the telephone, computer, or other electronic communications to establish the VCPR but others do not, pet owners and veterinarians will need to adhere to the laws in their respective states.
- Senior Veterinary Officer of AAHA Heather Loenser will also be touching on this subject when she joins us for this upcoming Webinar Wednesday, so make sure you check that out here.
Veterinary Practice News Announces Sister Site, VetMed, to Help Launch Careers
- Careers.VetMedTeam.com allows job-seekers to review available postings, upload resumes, set up alerts for newly posted positions, apply for opportunities online, and get career counseling and assistance with resume writing and reference checking.
- Conversely, employers can upload job postings, manage applications, search resumes from active employment seekers, and set up email application alerts.
Article posted by Veterinary Practice News
Fetch dvm360 Announces Major CE Conference For August
- As you might have learned during another recent episode of Webinary Wednesdays with fetch and dvm360 Chief Veterinary Officer Adam Christman, dvm360 is holding the Fetch dvm360® Conference from August 26-31 with a plethora of information on how to keep yourself and your patients healthy.
- As their website notes of the event, “With nearly 250 RACE-approved CE credits available, you’ll receive the ultimate clinical, management, technician and wellness CE. You’ll return to practice refreshed and ready to solve your most pressing problems…”
- Registration includes access to HospitalDesign360™, the industry’s most comprehensive resource for building or remodeling a veterinary clinic.
Pet Business News
Topical pet stories your clients will want to hear...
Dog Trainer Shane Gentry Says The Pandemic is Creating a “Pet-Demic”
- Vets and their clients have likely read articles about the ensuing separation anxiety as a side effect from COVID-19 after owners return to work, but Gentry points out that harmful behavior can come from this, such as pets ingesting and chewing things that can cause severe damage to them and to your home.
- Gentry suggests allowing pets to have alone time even when you are home in preparation for what’s to come.
- As Gentry is quoted: “It’s purposeful randomness. Put them in the crate, out of the crate, six or eight times a day. And, it doesn’t have to be a crate, it can be a gated-off laundry room, just separate from it.”
- If you don’t have a lot of space, put them in a crate with a light sheet over it.
Article posted by telanganatoday.com
The Dog Blanket You Never Knew You Needed
- After searching Amazon and any other pet website you’ve ever known for years to find a blanket for your dog-on-the-go that withstands smells, chaos, and most importantly, dog nails, all you needed was one of those heavy duty $10 blankets your movers use when you’re, well, moving out!
- From the article: “A dog blanket must serve as a barrier between a dog and whatever that dog may want to sit, lay, or jump upon. A dog’s nails can be sharp, and expensive things like car upholstery and couches often need a little extra protection if they’re to see regular use by dogs. That’s exactly what moving blankets are designed to do.”
Article posted by outsideonline.com
Why The Animal Welfare Act is Woefully Insufficient in Regards to Puppy Mills
- Educating clients on the dangers of horrors of puppy mills is part of the job of veterinarians.
- As this article notes: “An estimated 2 million puppies are ‘produced’ annually in puppy mills in the U.S. Since the number of dogs who are euthanized by shelters in this country every year is estimated to be 1.2 million, you can see why simply shutting down puppy mills is such an alluring idea to those of us who have worked in shelters.”
- While the Animal Welfare Act is supposed to be used to shut these down, the following are just some of the loopholes that allow them to still exist:
- There is no limit to the number of dogs on the premises.
- A puppy mill could have hundreds or even thousands of dogs.
- There is no minimum requirement for the number of staff that must be available to care for the dogs.
- Dogs may be kept in stacked cages.
- Mesh or wire flooring is allowed.
- Dogs may be forced to relieve themselves in their cages.
- Dogs may be confined in spaces only six inches longer than their bodies, not including the tail.
- A dog may be caged 24 hours a day for his or her entire life, only removed from the cage to be bred.
Article posted by Whole Dog Journal
Not-So-Human Interest
Some lighter animal news to spread some cheer in these uncertain times...
Mara the Elephant Finally Finds a Life of Peace
- Grab the tissues for this week’s feel-good story!
- The New York Times did an extensive piece on Mara, tracing her history back to when she was a baby. As the article notes, “For years, Mara traveled with the family from town to town in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, performing for crowds. Old photos show her as a baby, with two men leaning on her back; grown up and doing tricks on a little stool while wearing a headdress; balancing on her front feet and her trunk inside an empty circus tent.
- Mara somehow made her way to an even more degrading existence, living the last two and a half decades of her life in a dusty zoo enclosure in the Palermo neighborhood of central Buenos Aires. She was in a tiny enclosure with two other elephants she didn’t get along with, as Mara is an Asian elephant and these were African elephants.
- After some long overdue protests, a faithful and underslept crew managed to get Mara all the way to her new home, a sanctuary in Brazil, despite the fact that Argentina had imposed one of the strictest border lockdowns in Latin America.
- Mara can now be seen hanging with her Asian elephant friend, Rana, and leisurely scratching her back on the sanctuary trees.