Weekly Veterinary Industry Review #4

It’s Friday, August 21st, 2020. Welcome to round four of the Weekly Veterinary Industry Review, brought to you by GeniusVets. This week we discuss the many ways the pandemic has impacted the veterinary industry, and you might be surprised to hear about how many positive effects are emerging from this tragic situation. We also discuss the importance of making pet owners aware of dubious breeders, the need for accessibility in the veterinary industry, and we even "meet" a psychic pet medium! So let's get to it...

 

 

 

Veterinary Business News

 

 

Keeping you at the forefront of veterinary news regarding products, personnel, and conferences...

 

COVID-19 may have a surprisingly beneficial impact on the veterinary industry

  • The Pet Gazette article by MRCVS director and veterinarian Robert Dawson says that the pandemic has forced vets to embrace technology that they were formerly resistant to.
  • As Dawson notes in the article, “Bringing veterinary care into a digital world means being able to share and analyze data easier and faster. Artificial Intelligence will further support diagnosis, through video and images, helping not hindering the ambitions of veterinary professionals, who all chose their career because they wanted to improve animal welfare. Embracing technology developments and welcoming change is hard, but entirely necessary for the future of our industry.”
  • Article posted by The Pet Gazette

 

 

Vet-in-Training discusses the need for the veterinary field to provide more accessibility to veterinarians and patients

  • The vets behind the MyVetCandy blog interviewed second-year vet student Jessica Hirsch about the need to make the veterinary field more accessible to people such as her with disabilities.
  • As Hirsch notes: “I hope to make practices more accessible not only for veterinarians with disabilities but for clients with disabilities as well. For many people with assistance animals, we as veterinarians are the sole protector of the independence they achieve as a working pair. With the rising utilization of service animals, now more than ever it is important for the veterinary industry as a whole to be educated on inclusive language and accessibility for both staff and clients.
  • Article posted by My Vet Candy blog

 

 

Another View on the Veterinarian Shortage

  • While we’ve known that pet owners were able to pay more attention to their pets’ ailments during the lockdown which has caused more veterinary visits, the less discussed factor that this article discusses is that treatment for various pet illnesses are becoming more affordable.
  • “Treatment options for things like heart disease and kidney disease, and even cancer, are really increasing,” said Dana Varble, the chief veterinary officer for the North American Veterinary Community. “They’re not all cost-prohibitive anymore. We’re seeing people really be able to afford these things as medical advancement changes.”
  • Article posted by The Times News

     

 

Heavier mixed-breed dogs are at greater risk of health complications if neutered or spayed early

  • AAHA Veterinary Advisor Heather Loenser discussed how much this topic is at the forefront of the current veterinary scene during her episode of Webinar Wednesdays with GeniusVets.
  • This week’s Veterinary Practice News article on this topic notes that researchers at UC Davis analyzed 15 years of data from thousands of dogs at the university’s Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital.
  • They discovered that the risk of these disorders in altered large mixed-breed dogs to be a few times higher compared to dogs that had been left intact.
  • For example, in the case of female dogs weighing more than 43 lbs., the risk jumped from four percent for intact dogs to 10 to 12 percent if spayed before the dog is one year old.
  • Article posted by Veterinary Practice News

 

 

PPP loans are getting the veterinary industry through this pandemic

  • As the dvm360 article points out, states that have borrowed the most have generally had higher rates of COVID-19 cases.
  • Another statistic that has emerged is that states that got hit later with their COVID cases took out fewer PPP loans, which means that these states could need more financial support in the future.
  • From the article: “The AVMA will continue to advocate for funding as circumstances require, so that veterinary practices will have access to these critical funds. We also are advocating for favorable tax treatment of PPP loan proceeds, and for a streamlined forgiveness process for loans below $150,000, which would include the vast majority of veterinary PPP loans.”
  • Article posted by dvm360

     

 

As CBD for pets takes off, vets still urge caution

  • With news about anxiety over fireworks seemingly omnipresent this summer, so were the articles on how many people are using CBD oil for pets to ease fears such as this.
  • AVMA’s chief veterinary officer for scientific affairs and public policy Gail Golab still urges caution.
  • “It’s not that we don’t see potential in these products, because we do,” “Golab says to The Washington Post. “It’s that we want their potential to be demonstrated through FDA approval and we want to make sure that owners can be confident that what they’re giving their animal is something that’s actually going to help them.”
  • Article posted by The Washington Post

     

 

Pet Business News

Topical stories your clients will want to hear...

 

Dodgy Breeders and the Functional Collaborative

  • With the onset of COVID-19, we all read the wonderful news of shelters being cleared due to people being home more.
  • Unfortunately, another less positive side effect has been more awareness about sketchy breeders, and three of our articles in pet business news this week address this, including the first piece out of the UK.
  • A vet from Brighton named Marc Abraham recently went on Good Morning Britain to point out that 1 in 4 dogs purchased during the lockdown was probably from puppy farms or, as well call them in the US, puppy mills.
  • He recommends Googling their phone number online as well as asking for evidence of vaccinations and health tests. If you’re still wary, walk away.
  • The second article recommends asking 10 specific questions to determine breeder quality, and one of the examples they give is to ask how old the mother is (the article stipulates that the answer should be at least one year old but at most eight years old).
  • The third article is about a group called the Functional Dog Collaborative whose goal is to promote the breeding of dogs who are functional in terms of behavioral and physical health, going against those who think purity is of the utmost importance.
  • Article posted by The Daily Mail, Article posted by Edinburgh News, Article posted by The Whole Dog Journal

 

Not-So-Human-Interest

Some lighter animal news to spread good cheer in these uncertain times...

This week’s feel-good piece involves a psychic pet medium!

  • Anyone who has ever lost a pet knows that the guilt and panic you feel is overwhelming.
  • In March, animal intuitive and psychic medium clairvoyant Nancy Mello received a note about a family that was missing their diabetic dog, a black Maltese Yorkie mix named Oliver.
  • "I could see him under something with his leg stuck so he couldn't get out,” Mello noted.
  • Mello circled the location on Google map for the family and, sure enough, as the article notes, "When they arrived, there was Oliver, sitting next to a shed with his leg laying in an odd position, dazed.”
  • The vet set Oliver only had a couple more hours before he would have fallen victim to his injuries, but he’s fully recovered now.
  • Since 2019, Mello has helped hundreds of human and animal clients with psychic readings and has found her calling in helping find lost pets reunite with their distraught owners.
  • Article posted by PRNewsWire.com

     

 

 

Have something newsworthy in the veterinary field? Reach out to us at [email protected]. Enjoy our weekly veterinary industry review, coming to you each Friday afternoon.