After my recent post about corporate veterinary consolidation and my concerns, I got a tip about about the related problems of veterinary noncompete clauses and how they affect veterinarian’s career options. It affects you too, as a veterinary client. Let’s take a look at how and even what the Federal Trade Commission may do about it.
I feel absolutely gutted to learn that yet another veterinary hospital we’ve used for 30+ years got gobbled up in veterinary consolidation. It’s the incredible facility (with doctors and others I consider friends) where we go for emergency and specialty care. When it got bought several years ago by one of the smaller veterinary corporations, I wasn’t thrilled, but I also consoled myself with the idea that at least they chose a smaller one. I imagined them banding together to fend off the veterinary consolidation giants. In December 2022, I learned they fell to the same huge company that also owns the general veterinary practice we use. It seems I cannot escape the long arm of NVA at least until someone bigger buys them too.
Sometimes a cough is more than a simple cough. It seems easy to chalk coughing dogs up to so-called “kennel cough,” but veterinary researchers continue to find additional and more complicated ways dogs end up coughing and coughing and coughing for longer than you’d ever expect.
A recently published study reported that dogs smell stress on us. Yep, we kind of stink in different ways when stressed, and our dogs know that. Let’s go beyond the headlines and look at the canine scent work strategies researchers used to figure this out.
I’m extra interested in this new study about dogs that bite other dogs. It looked at demographic details of the dogs that bite other dogs, the nature of those bites, and the impact of those bites (such as needing veterinary care). The study did not look into motivations or triggers. As Stanley Coren wrote in his recap of the study, “In other words, attempting to answer the questions who, what, and where, but not why.”
Breaking News !! Just in time for the 2022 holiday season, when dogs often accidentally get into rich foods and trigger an acute pancreatitis attack, the FDA gave conditional approval to Panoquell-CA1 for 1 year, with the option for 4 additional annual renewals. The drug meant for injection during hospitalization for cases of pancreatitis in dogs has been approved in Japan since 2018. It’s made by Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha Ltd. Below, you’ll find some FAQs about this new medication and canine pancreatitis in general.
Another chapter in the long, painful, lonely, and frustrating story of being attacked from behind by 2 aggressive dogs without warning comes to a close with the payment of dog attack restitution received this week. The attack happened nearly 1 year ago, the day before Thanksgiving 2021. That makes Thanksgiving 2022 the anniversary. Essentially, the holiday feels ruined. And, yet, the check arrived more than 6 months after it was ordered. The restitution process is convoluted and lengthy, with it not becoming official until like late July and then having a 91 day waiting / comment period (as if the month’s prior didn’t count) and then a letter going out demanding payment. Here’s how all that feels today.
It’s bittersweet to receive Dream’s dog DNA test results after her unexpected death on Sept 27, 2022, but the results are still kind of fun. Especially, the random big dog breed in her family tree. We used Embark, just as we did for Mr. Stix’s big breed reveal. Because Dream was so lanky, we thought she might have some whippet DNA, but nope.
For those new to Champion of My Heart’s award-winning dog and veterinary content, let’s recap that we gained some notoriety when Lilly, our original canine heroine, died from an adverse vaccine reaction to a routine rabies booster shot. That whole saga in painful detail here. Following that devastating experience, I pay particular attention to what shows up in the veterinary profession world about adverse vaccine reactions in dogs and cats. I recently found an online quiz about adverse vaccine reactions for veterinarians and staffers to take. Unfortunately, you need a login to see the whole thing. It’s free to get a login. I have had one to this professional site for years, so I tried to take the quiz. I only got 2 of 9 answers right. The quiz includes some adverse vaccine reactions in dogs and cats I’d never even heard of. Sharing, as a friend says, for the good of the order. Let’s learn a little something together.
Devastated to report the unexpected / sudden death of our most recent foster puppy Dream. Feel like I jinxed things by writing about our preparations for her arrival in real time and by writing about that anesthesia-related deaths study. Her heart stopped during emergency surgery September 27. It appears that whatever caused her broken leg also caused an internal injury that went undetected until her chest and lungs began filling with fluid. She only lived with us for 19 days, but we love her like our very own. The pain of the loss is as bad (or maybe even a little worse due to the shock) as losing our Lilly in 2013. A few of my fav pix and a short tribute video at the bottom of the page.
