Learn how IDEXX is enhancing the lives of animals, people, and the planet.

IDEXX: Contributing to something bigger

Happy Monday everyone! Did you know that August is Itchy Pet Awareness Month? Throughout the month, be on the lookout for tips and tricks on treating those itchy pets at your practice.

If you prefer to learn in person, our upcoming Fetch dvm360 conference in Kansas City, Missouri, will offer the attendees multiple dermatology lectures. It is not too late to sign up so register 

In the meantime, here is what you will be able to find this week on dvm360.com:

During the AVMA Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, attendees were invited to volunteer with the Street Dog Coalition to provide supplies and free veterinary care to animals in need. 

On this week’s episodes of The Vet Blast Podcast, Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, is joined with Joya Griffin, DVM, to discuss her show on Disney+, 

and later in the week, Laila Proença, DVM, PhD, MV, MSc, DACZM, to discuss treating rabbits at your clinic.

The FDA has released a statement warning pet owners to not feed their pets certain lots of Darwin’s Natural Pet Products after some of the sample’s tests from these lots were positive for 

Hill’s Pet Nutrition announced it will return as a sponsor for the Clear The Shelters event for the fifth year in a row to help shelter animals find their forever homes.

Jeff Rothstein, DVM, MBA, takes a closer look at the disparities between pet insurance in Europe and the United States and talks to former leaders in the pet insurance industry to understand the overall lack of demand for pet insurance with pet owners.

Podcasts

Here is a sneak peek of this week’s headlines

This week on dvm360.com: AVMA attendees volunteered with the Street Dog Coalition, plus more veterinary news 

 interview, Quincy Hawley, DVM, co-founder of Get MotiVETed Wellbeing Solutions, shared how he will outline 5 basic principles that can help veterinary professionals grow from challenges to avoid becoming resentful in their careers and lives.  

A partial transcript of the interview is below. View the video for more of the discussion.

: [My lecture] will be very practical for [veterinary] professionals of all roles. If they come and learn these 5 [principles], they will be able to decrease a lot of those little small things that are bothering them on a day to day basis. So . . . at the end of the day, instead of walking out of the practice and being irritated, and then taking that into their families or their pets, [or] their significant others, or even just when they look in the mirror . . . they will be able to look back on everything that happened in that day, and come out better instead of bitter. 

Register for our Fetch dvm360® Conference in Kansas City conference from August 26-28 

Videos

In this dvm360® interview, Quincy Hawley, DVM, previews the talk he will deliver at the upcoming Fetch conference on creating a life and career in veterinary medicine you love 

How to continue loving veterinary medicine 

Each year, about 6.3 million companion animals enter US animal shelters.

Particularly over the last 5 months, more animals are entering shelters than leaving them.

 Therefore, this August, Hill's Pet Nutrition is increasing its year-round efforts to support shelters by serving as the national sponsor for the fifth year in a row of Clear The Shelters, NBCUniversal Local's nationwide pet adoption and donation campaign

 Hill’s is collaborating with actor Taylor Lautner (

). Lautner is a pet lover and parent to Remi, and was excited to help Hill’s with this year’s campaign to inspire potential pet owners to find their new furry friend during it.

"Adopting Remi was one of the best decisions my fiancée and I have ever made. She not only completed our family but has also fueled our passion for advocating for shelter pets who are in need of a loving home," expressed Lautner, in the release. "Hill's does a great job helping get shelter pets ready for adoption through science-led nutrition. Together we encourage anyone considering adopting a pet to open their hearts and homes to pets in need."

Through Clear The Shelters, NBC and Telemundo stations join forces with shelters and rescues in their communities, which included more than 1,300 organizations last year.

 Since it was founded in 2015, the campaign has helped more than 700,000 pets find homes.

Once again, the campaign will encourage online donations through partners Greater Good Charities, a global nonprofit, and The Animal Rescue Site, which will host the fundraising and cover all transaction costs so all donations go directly to shelters and rescues in need. Along with being a national sponsor, Hill's will offer adoption kits to new pet owners featuring starter bags of Hill's pet food, coupons, pet-parenting pointers, and other supplies, which will be available at certain shelters during the month.

What’s more, Hill's is giving financial support during August to support 2 Greater Good Charities "Good Flights" pet airlifts, where at-risk animals in overpopulated shelters will be transported to new shelters to be examined and provided essential medical care before being put up for adoption. During August 26-28, 2022 Hill’s employees will volunteer as well at shelters partaking in the campaign to distribute adoption kits.

Pet statistics. American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Accessed August 8, 2022. https://www.aspca.org/helping-people-pets/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics

Data dashboards. Shelter Animals Count. Accessed August 8, 2022.https://www.shelteranimalscount.org/data-dashboards

Hill's returns as national sponsor of NBCUniversal local's Clear the Shelters for the fifth consecutive year to help shelter animals find homes through science-led nutrition this August. News release. Hill’s Pet Nutrition. August 3, 2022. Accessed August 8, 2022.

Articles

In line with its mission to help end pet homelessness, with some exciting new features of this year’s campaign

Hill's Pet Nutrition serves as national sponsor of Clear The Shelters campaign for fifth consecutive year 

Well, hello, everybody and welcome. This is going to be a fantastic conversation that we're going to have. My name is Dr. Adam Christman, Chief Veterinary Officer here at that dvm360®. And joining us today is the one and only Dr. Peter Weinstein. Thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you, Adam. Pleasure to be here with you.

We're very honored to have you. We want to give a huge thank you to our friends at Synchrony, CareCredit, and Pets Best for supporting today's session because we're gonna be talking about the pet lifetime of care. And what does that mean? So there's so many great conversations and questions that we're going to be bantering back and forth on. So if you've been living under a rock and don't know who Dr. Peter Weinstein is, just a little bit of information about our friend. Dr. Peter Weinstein attended Cornell University undergraduate and the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine to receive his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Degree. After graduation, he worked as an associate for 3 years before opening up his own practice. While he was managing and practicing full time, he attended the University of Redlands received his MBA degree. Dr. Weinstein provides small business and corporate consulting via his company PA Consulting. He was the 2018 speaker of the year for the Western Veterinary Conference Practice Management section and in 2021, for VMX. Congratulations, by the way. And he was the chair of the veterinary economic strategy committee of the AVMA. He coauthored with Michael E. Gerber, the E-Myth Veterinarian: Why Most Veterinary Practices Don't Work and What to do About it. And if you haven't read that book, you have to read it. So wonderful. So alright, we have a lot to chat about my friend. Absolutely looking forward to it. So to the viewers that may not understand or have not heard about the lifetime of care research study, talk to us a little bit about what that is and what it means.

So Synchrony commissioned a study of 1000 pet owners and 100-and-some-odd veterinarians, to look at what it costs for taking care of a pet, all encompassing: food and toys and tchotchkes and veterinary care for the lifetime of the pet. From the time it's adopted, or rescued or purchased, to the time it's put to sleep or dies naturally. And I don't think there has ever been a study that was that encompassing, to look at all of the different cost factors, put them together in one study and analyze them over the lifetime from womb to tomb.

I've never seen a study like this before, actually, it's pretty incredible and powerful. And let's talk about some, you know, high level topline findings that we've said. One thing that resonated with me that was talking to before we started filming is $250 was the bill enough to trigger anxiety about pay. So let's talk to a little bit more about what that means.

So in our cases, when we're seeing pet owners, and we're talking to them about a treatment plan, or health care plan or an estimate, and we give them that estimate, and they look at it, if 25% of the people surveyed saw a cost of $250, they would have an anxiety because it was outside of what they expected in terms of the cost of care. And even more significant number to me is 46% were triggered at $500, which means one out of every two people that you're talking to across the table over the phone will have a little bit of uncertainty about their ability to pay for their pet's care at a $500 level. And we do know that the average American only has about $400 in their savings account. So the the significance of veterinary costs in the eyes of about 50% of the consumers of veterinary services are something we need to be aware of and discuss with our clients, as well as with our staff members.

Absolutely. You try to go over like a treatment plan or an estimate, you know, you go over a dental cleaning, for instance. And sometimes they'll just say, "Yeah, sure. Okay, that sounds good." But in the back of our mind, now that I know that this study is here, I'm thinking maybe they don't have the means to really do it. They're just yessing me because they don't want to have that conversation where they feel almost embarrassed, if you will, that they don't have the funds to do that. Right.

Yeah, I mean, we should probably be hooking up our clients to a blood pressure monitor when we go over the estimate with them, so we could actually see their anxieties from a measurable standpoint. Yes, I think we take a lot for granted because we know how significant pets are in people's lives. I think the study indicated that 90% or some number, and I'm sorry, I don't remember the number off the top of my head, indicated that pets were part of a family.

And they sleep on the bed and their significant other sleeps on the floor.

So I do think that that number is something we need to be sensitive and sensitized by.

A study of 1000 pet owners and 100 veterinarians revealed client expectations about cost of pet care

Clients experience sticker shock at these price points

Content submitted by BluePearl Specialty and Emergency Pet Hospital, a dvm360® Strategic Alliance Partner

Perhaps a silver lining of the pandemic, leaders now prioritize company communications and are strategically investing in tools that improve their readership and click rates.

Although communication is now a priority for leaders across industries, companies still face significant challenges when communicating with the non-desk worker. Not only has technology and the 24/7 news cycle brought about a widespread decrease in humans’ attention span (with some scientists now believing humans have shorter attention spans than goldfish—yikes!), but employees are burned out and disengaged.

 To reengage employees, organizations have had to take a close look at their current communications tools, as well as understand what communications tools and channels have become available, and of those what best fits the communications preferences and needs of their changing workforce.

In my experience as a marketing and communications professional for 20 years, no workforce is alike. Figuring out the blueprint for your unique workforce is critical to reaching and connecting with employees. For our Corporate Affairs team, the blueprint included listening, analyzing what was heard, and transforming through trust and authenticity.

Here are a few tips that will help you better communicate with the non-desk, veterinary professional worker.

When I joined as Director of Communications in 2020, our communications team was sending approximately 10 emails a week. Our emails were too long, not targeted, and sent too frequently. Knowing there had to be a change to how we communicated, and our Associates felt about company communications, the team developed and launched an Associate Communications Survey.

The purpose of this research was to better understand preferences for communications, including sources, style, and desired frequency, to explore usage of information sources both personally and at our organization, to assess satisfaction with current communications, and to utilize feedback to guide future enhancements to improve readership.

94% of Associates ages 18 through 24 stated they use social media as their personal information source. In ages 25 through 34, social media was also cited as a personal information source (78%), alongside websites (43%), broadcast media (43%), and email/newsletters (43%). Of those Associates ages 35 through 44, 65% stated they use social media for information; however, websites (58%) and broadcast media (52%) were also noted information sources. We began to see a shift in personal information sources in the age groups 45 through 54 and 55+, which cited using broadcast media (64%) for their source of information.

Used communication channels like social media and broadcast news change by age groups, but email is somewhat consistent across all age groups. While a large number of hospital employees still use traditional means of communication such as emails and bulletin boards for information gathering, many now expect new forms of communications with features evocative of social media platforms (Ie, commenting features, feedback channels, newsfeeds). By emphasizing the use of multimedia communications, you can improve clarity and timeliness of messages, text, video, audio clips, and still photographs.

Hospital teams rely primarily on word-of-mouth, almost equal to emails for staying informed. When asked what the most utilized source for work information was, Associates stated manager emails (87%), Associate Communications emails (79%), followed by word of mouth/ fellow Associates (64%).

People want to get information from trusted sources – a friend, colleague, or manager. If scheduling and culture allow, set up a process to regularly relay information via face-to-face interactions (morning and afternoon huddles, formal meetings, in-hospital communication champions).

While highly used, Associate Communications emails and word-of-mouth are perceived as less valuable than manager email or meetings for keeping Associates informed. While 78% percent of Associates stated manager emails were extremely/very valuable for keeping informed, 74% cited in-person meetings as extremely/very valuable.

Alongside internal digital platforms, manager-driven communications have been a vital tool for relaying employee information. Utilize the ability to send emails from managers to optimize message distribution, improve information retention, and if there is a call to action, bring about better outcomes (Ie, enrollment in benefits).

We found that four in 10 medical Associates have limited time to check emails. Twenty-three percent of veterinary technicians or assistants cited stated they checked emails at the beginning or the end of the day, with 11% and 10% checking emails during lunch or work breaks, and at home or after work hours, respectively. For veterinarians, 22% cited checking their emails at the beginning or end of the day, with 8% checking emails on a lunch/work break, and 10% checking at home or after work.

Less is more for employees who have limited time to check emails. In fact, of three versions of the same message offered to Associates, 85% preferred concise (bullets) and to-the-point (shorter) emails regardless of position/role. Reducing the length and frequency of emails will generate greater interest and improve overall readership.

As evidenced in our Associate Survey findings, employees wanted change. So, we gave them just that.

With survey results in mind, our team took action. Here’s what we did to transform our communications, and the culture of communications at our company.

Developed a Weekly Digest, summarizing the week's most important communications items in short form.

Opened a Teams channel and Associate-facing social media channels to cross-promote intranet news items, as well as allow for employee commenting.

Created Communications Toolkits for our Regional Vice Presidents, understanding the critical role managers play in the transference of information, and the importance of intertwining digital and face-to-face tactics. These toolkits contain email templates, talking points, one-page briefs, and FAQs to help them share news with Associates.

Revamped our communications strategy. Nearly 47% of Associates indicated that company emails were not applicable to them personally, so today, we take a more personalized approach, sending tailored information to specific departments or groups of employees.

From an analytics perspective, these new communications tools and features have greatly improved our ability to connect with our employees. Since rolling out these new tactics, we have seen incredible enhancements in our employee engagement.

Additionally, topics once discussed via email are now being discussed within more collaborative settings and channels of communication. In May, we held a company Townhall, which featured members of our Senior Leadership Team (SLT), who presented on the future of work at our organization. At the end, we opened the floor—in-person and virtually—for audience questions and feedback. In May, we also launched the MyThoughts email and intranet page which offers employees the opportunity to engage directly with members of leadership.

Listening allowed us to transform how we communicate with our professionals. We broadened our channels, opened the floor for two-way dialog and feedback, and most importantly, began fostering a culture that encourages openness, accountability, and authenticity.

Companies worldwide are beginning to recognize this themselves: to engage employees, culture must be a top priority. By definition, culture is the collection of shared characteristics of a group of people, comprised of habits, beliefs, and behavioral norms. While we each come to work with unique cultural backgrounds, a shared work culture (founded in the company’s mission and beliefs) allows us to identify with one another despite our differences.

Communicating with employees under an umbrella of shared beliefs cultivates a culture of trust, unity, and collaboration. For instance, let us take cultures of equal and inequal power—with some companies holding less power at the top, and others holding more. If the culture at a company is authoritarian in power, communications will be top-down in style (leadership to the employer, with no channels for feedback). In contrast, a bottom-up style of communications reflects a more democratic company culture, one that emphasizes two-way dialog and works toward a consensus. Suppose there is a mismatch between employee values and needs and company values and needs. In that case, there will likely be a mismatch in communication preferences – leading to failed communications and a disengaged workforce.

Company communications and culture play a huge role in the employee experience, as well as in business. Uncovered by “The Heard and the Heard-Nots,” a global study of over 4,000 employees, conducted by The Workforce Institute at UKG and Workplace Intelligence

74% of employees report they are more effective at their job when they feel heard.

88% of employees whose companies financially outperform others in their industry feel heard compared to 62% of employees at financially underperforming companies.

As communicators, we must nurture cultures that reflect the values of our workforce and can do this by listening, extending channels to include those that encourage participation, and showing up (seriously, show-up—virtually and in-person).

Indeed, the future is digital, largely driven by automation and artificial intelligence. However, for us communicators, it also remains human. Take for instance referral marketing, one of the most powerful word of mouth marketing tools today with 92% of consumers trusting word-of-mouth over any other form of advertising.

 Referral marketing works because people have pre-established relationships and thus trust the recommendation that is being proposed. The same concept is true for leadership communications. If an employee is to believe and accept the information, they must first know the person who is communicating with them.

To achieve this, leaders must remove the “corporate veil” and build trusting relationships across all functions and roles to reach their employees. They must show up, show face, build connections, and continually seek to see the world through the employees’ lens. This is the true meaning of authenticity: proactively pursuing face-to-face opportunities that exhibit vulnerability and humanity in oneself, and the desire to truly know the human at the end of the email.

Hayes A. The Human Attention Span [INFOGRAPHIC]. Wyzowl. January 24, 2022. Accessed August 5, 2022. 

https://www.wyzowl.com/human-attention-span/

Marcroft D. A Silenced Workforce: Four in Five Employees Feel Colleagues Aren’t Heard Equally, Says Research from The Workforce Institute at UKG. UKG. June 22, 2021. Accessed August 5, 2022. 

https://www.ukg.com/about-us/newsroom/silenced-workforce-four-five-employees-feel-colleagues-arent-heard-equally-says

Whitler KA. Why Word Of Mouth Marketing Is The Most Important Social Media. Forbes. July 17, 2014. Accessed August 5, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimberlywhitler/2014/07/17/why-word-of-mouth-marketing-is-the-most-important-social-media/?sh=5722b4d954a8

Strategies for communicating with the modern veterinary professional

Here’s how to communicate with an “out of office” workforce

The beloved male African lion from North Carolina Zoo, Reilly (Photo courtesy of North Carolina Zoo). 

The North Carolina Zoo sadly announced the death of Reilly, a 23-year-old African lion who had been combating renal disease for various years. Due to his weakened state from the disease, the animal care team and veterinarians made the devastating decision to euthanize him.

"He was so tolerant of his rambunctious offspring and was fiercely devoted to his lady lion, Mekita," expressed zookeeper Beth Malott, who worked with Reilly for 8 years, in an organizational release.

 "Reilly was a one-of-a-kind soul, and his morning roars will be greatly missed."

"Renal disease is not uncommon for a cat of Reilly's advanced age, be it a domestic cat sitting on your chair at home or a lion at the Zoo," said director of animal health and chief veterinarian, Jb Minter, MS, DVM, DACZM.

"We had been extremely fortunate to be able to monitor the advancement of Reilly's renal disease over the years using operant conditioning to get blood from his tail, but unfortunately, the progression of the renal disease along with his previously diagnosed spinal disease proved to be too much."

Some fascinating facts about these courageous creatures include

They are the only big cats that are social

They live in "prides" consisting of a dominant male, several females, and their offspring

They are native to the savannahs and grasslands of Africa

They can reach speeds of up to 50 mph for very short bursts

Reilly was born at Lincoln Park Zoo on February 7, 1999 and arrived at the zoo on March 23, 2001. He was the father to 9 offspring, including 3 males and 6 females. Now that he has passed, Mekita is the only remaining lion at North Carolina Zoo. Future pride members and mates will be based on recommendations from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).

According to the release, lions live approximately 10-15 years in the wild while male lions under human care have a median life expectancy of 17 years.

 Male African lions weigh up to 570 lb and females weigh up to 277 lb. At his prime health, Reilly weighed up to 440 lb and at the time of his death, weighed 394 lb.

African lions are listed as "Vulnerable" species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), with approximately 23,000 African lions left in wild.

There populations are continually decreasing as a result of habitat loss and poaching. 

North Carolina Zoo announces death of 'fiercely devoted' elderly lion Reilly. News release. North Carolina Zoo. August 3, 2022. Accessed August 5, 2022. https://www.nczoo.org/news/north-carolina-zoo-announces-death-fiercely-devoted-elderly-lion-reilly

The magnificent lion: the symbol of Africa. World Wildlife Fund, Inc. Accessed August 5, 2022. https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/wildlife/african-lions

‘One-of-a-kind soul’ Reilly from North Carolina Zoo will be dearly missed by staff and visitors 

SAP Partners