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At the recent 2021 Atlantic Coast Veterinary Conference (ACVC), Christopher Pachel, DVM, DACVB, CABC, shared why certain medications such as Fluoxetine are common when treating various behavioral issues, plus revealed which drugs are most commonly used at his practice and from other practitioners. 

View the video below for the entire discussion. The following is a partial transcript

Christopher Pachel, DVM, DACVB, CABC: So, common is a little bit relative when we think about our medication choices. What I mean by that is we have some medications that have a bit more research behind them, so we are able to say with a little bit more confidence that they are utilized for certain conditions. For example, Fluoxetine—or the generic of Prozac or Reconcile (depending on which species we are talking about)—does have a lot of data behind it not only for things like urine marking but also for separation anxiety in dogs as well as a variety of other conditions. So that tends to be a go-to for practitioners. 

Videos

During a recent dvm360® interview, animal behaviorist Dr Christopher Pachel highlighted a few general medications used for treating behavior in pets and explained why these drugs are so common.

Common pharmaceuticals for treating behavior

After hosting 4 wonderful, virtual conferences, it was great to see people in person rather than just a square on the computer. New friendships were made, old friends and vet school classmates were reunited, networking was happening, and education was shared on many different levels. We were so delighted to see many veterinary technician students and veterinary students taking advantage of the continuing education sessions.

I must share with you a funny situation that took place between me and my good friend Dr Ashley Bourgeois (@thedermvet). For months, we had been talking about how we were going to greet each other in person. We planned this whole dramatic entrance of running down the hallway as if we were in slow motion to greet each other in the conference setting. Cut to Fetch Kansas City. I was leaving my hotel room to prepare for my initial meeting with our glorious colleagues and faculty. I even had planned in my head how I was going to purchase some flowers and surprise Ashley. Anticipation was building and I was ready! During my descent down in the elevator, another individual had to hop in. The doors opened and boom—there was Ashley. Months of planning our incredible encounter fell by the wayside. She saw me and said, “This is our grand entrance?!” We couldn’t stop laughing, and it was the perfect icebreaker to a fantastic conference.

Chatting with the attendees, exhibitors, and faculty was truly invigorating.
It was wonderful to have meals with our colleagues versus having a virtual Zoom hangout. Hearing laughter, taking selfies, and exchanging best practices are things that cannot really be enjoyed in the virtual space. And walking through the exhibit hall made me so proud to be in a profession where innovation and technology are front and center in veterinary medicine.

Conferences are full of education and memories. As we try to navigate away from the pandemic, I am so proud of our team who safely and successfully executed our first live event. We are looking forward to our Atlantic Coast Veterinary Conference® (October) and Fetch dvm360® in San Diego (December), and I cannot wait to meet many of you in person. We also have a wide variety of complementary virtual webinars heading your way this fall and winter.

Be sure to follow us on Instagram (@dvm360mag) and LinkedIn (@fetch- dvm360). We look forward to providing you with the best continuing education possible.

Articles

There was nothing like seeing you all live at the Fetch dvm360® Conference in Kansas City. 

Reunited in person and it feels so good!

It's the last week of Black Cat Awareness Month! Though this campaign should be practiced year-round, it was spearheaded in response to the difficulties cats with black fur experience due to their association with bad luck or evil—especially during the holidays. To celebrate these majestic felines and the last full week of October, we are delivering a robust mix of engaging content and news right to your fingertips. 

Here's a quick look at this week's headlines:

Shawn P. Messonnier, DVM, explains the platinum versus basic approach when treating heart murmurs in companion animals.

The Princess Royal visits Hallmarq Veterinary Imaging to recognize the 2021 Queen’s Award for Innovation which spotlights the value of veterinary innovation to the greater community.

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, recaps the highlights of the in-person 2021 Fetch dvm360

A video interview featuring a veterinarian and animal behaviorist outlining common pharmaceuticals used in behavior cases.

WSVMA holds its virtual Pacific Northwest Veterinary Conference and honors veterinary professionals at its awards ceremony.

Tune back in here throughout the week for more coverage of the veterinary industry.

This week on dvm360: Common pharmaceuticals used in behavior cases, plus more veterinary news

Home-based, health-focused, genetic testing is important now more than ever. DNA information opens up a new world of knowledge, health, and personality, as well as additional bonding for you and your patients. Testing is simply a must for any veterinary professional who wishes to receive actionable insights about genetic disease markers and support the health of cats everywhere through genetic research. (Figure 1)

Figure 1. The Basepaws Dental CatKit includes a single, sterile cheek swab with stabilizing liquid as well as instructions on sample collection. A detailed report of your patient’s oral biome analysis will be available in just 4 to 6 weeks, outlining the risk for developing major dental conditions, together with a detailed interpretation guide outlining next steps using the Oral Prevention, Assessment, and Treatment algorithm

Basepaws’ mission is to improve the health and well-being of every pet. In 2018, the company launched the world’s first at-home consumer DNA test for cats, focused on delivering health and breed-related actionable insights. Alongside genetic testing for breed and heritable diseases, Basepaws has continued to innovate the genomics space by studying the oral microbiome.

In 2021, collaborating with Jan Bellows, DVM, DAVDC (canine and feline specialty), DABVP, Basepaws launched a painless, oral swab-based dental health test for cats. The test can be administered by the pet parent at home or at the veterinary clinic, and assesses a cat’s risk for periodontal disease, tooth resorption, and halitosis, based on the state of the mouth’s microbial composition. (Figure 2)

Figure 2. Basepaws’ mission is to improve the health and well-being of every pet. Veterinarians can now use the Dental CatKit to identify risk for developing periodontal disease, tooth resorption, and halitosis, and make follow-up recommendations for feline patients.

Dental disease affects 50% to 90% of cats over the age of 4 years and 50% of cats suffer from tooth resorption. The Basepaws feline dental health test relies on the comparison of the compositional abundance of a core set of dental disease-related microbes in a cat’s mouth against the compositional abundance of these same microbes in cats known to suffer from periodontal disease, tooth resorption, and/or halitosis. Along with periodontal disease, results from the Basepaws dental health test also can provide an early indication of the cat’s risk for developing systemic illness such as autoimmune disorders, chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular problems, and diabetes mellitus.

“The cat’s mouth is the gateway into the body. The veterinarian plays a key role in keeping the cat’s teeth and gums healthy. [The Basepaws dental health test] goes far toward a long and comfortable life. Embracing the information gained from knowing the oral biome greatly aids in tailoring specific care for each cat,” said Bellows, in a prepared statement.

Early detection is a major advantage to improving outcomes for feline patients. A visual assessment of the mouth during a routine physical exam can miss 60% of stage 1 to 3 dental disease in cats and dogs.

Basepaws is revolutionizing patient health with early detection. The Basepaws Dental CatKit includes a single, sterile cheek swab with stabilizing liquid as well as instructions on sample collection. A detailed report of the patient’s oral biome analysis will be available in 4 to 6 weeks outlining the patient’s risk for developing major dental conditions. The report comes with a detailed interpretation guide outlining next steps using the Oral Prevention, Assessment, and Treatment algorithm. Repeat testing is recommended in 3 to 6 months depending on disease severity and changes to diet, lifestyle, and medication.

Basepaws partners with veterinary professionals by bringing together the best in technology, preventive testing, and veterinary care to improve cats’ health for the early recognition, intervention, and treatment of diseases and for personalized pet care.

Kao D, Yand J, Nisperos S, et al. Development of an oral swab based microbiome test for the detection of feline dental disease. bioRxiv. Preprint posted online April 26, 2021.doi:10.1101/2021.04.23.441192 

Bauer AE, Stella J, Lemmons M, Croney CC. Evaluating the validity and reliability of a visual dental scale for detection of periodontal disease (PD) in non-anesthetized dogs (Canis familiaris). PLoS One. 2018;13(9):e0203930. doi:10.1371/journal. pone.0203930

The Basepaws Dental CatKit includes testing supplies and a detailed report of
the pet’s oral biome analysis.

Dental health test kit aids in preventing common disease in cats

Catherine Coloccia, the 2021 Practice Manager of the Year award winner. 

Catherine Coloccia, practice manager at Bridgewater Veterinary Hospital in New Jersey, says she first fell in love with the veterinary industry after working as an overnight receptionist at a 24-hour emergency animal clinic over 10 years ago.

“The industry itself was so fitting to who I was as a person that I knew this is where I wanted to be permanently,” Coloccia said. “We work in this industry because we all love animals and animal health, but there is a huge component of human emotion and communication that I’ve always had a passion for...so I knew this was what I wanted to do, excel in and advance in even more as I spent time in the field.”

Coloccia, her fiancée, stepson, and sister are all avid kayakers who enjoy the outdoors. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, she considered herself a big traveler.

She is also quite the history buff. “I’m actually a huge history fan or even self-taught history nerd...I’m a pretty big fan of medieval history, the Tudor era, and the American Revolution.”

Over the course of her 4 years as a practice manager at the Bridgewater Veterinary Hospital, Coloccia has achieved numerous noteworthy goals, such as enhancing client communication, advancing hospital services, acknowledging employees’ progress, and helping them reach new heights. One of her most impressive accomplishments is transitioning from outsourced to in-house dental services.

“We were using a certified dental technician to perform all our dentals for many years. They were very good, however, it had several negative impacts on the practice: We were very limited on the dentals that we could perform, and it was definitely a financial burden to hospital profits,” Coloccia said. “Then on the employee side, it was very limiting because I had senior employees who had never performed a dental, which is a huge component to their career. I felt their education and skill development was lacking.”

The conversion to in-house dental services was no easy feat. Coloccia’s team initially expressed a concerning lack of confidence in this project, education and training had to be implemented and the hospital had to invest in new dental equipment. Despite these hindrances, the outcome was well worth it, she notes.

“In September of 2019, we finally completed our goal and started doing in-house [dentals], and we saw the value almost immediately. It was a [huge] hurdle to climb and [we faced] a lot of challenges...but now we have significantly increased the volume of dentals we can do per week. We’ve seen tremendous growth in profit,” Coloccia said, adding that the dental services are now used as a training and career growth platform for technicians.

Coloccia has an affinity for wearing heels to the clinic—displaying her professionalism and authority. 

Coloccia is known for wearing heels to work daily. This trend started years ago when she was a young tour guide in Washington, DC. She recalls wearing heels while walking up and down the monument stairs when giving tours to school children. “I had calves like rocks,” she said with a chuckle.

Along with feeling comfortable in heels—and enjoying shopping for them—Coloccia says wearing them contributes to her professional presentation and displays her authority.

“Walking into work with heels [on] sort of commands an aura of leadership without speaking, so if I have to address a client or a team member...there’s already a noncommunicated aura of leadership.”

Coloccia is known for sporting her signature pair of red heels. However, it’s not the bold color that captures her team’s attention, it’s the clicking that allows them to locate her throughout the hospital.

Coloccia has a white-haired, sapphire blue-eyed cat named Mooney that was born in Cairo, Egypt. When Coloccia worked at another animal hospital, her client who ran a rescue organization flew
in a large number of animals from Egypt. The clinic closed that morning to focus strictly on performing exams on these pets.

“I didn’t have any pets at that particular time, so I [said], ‘You know what? I’ll take 1 animal, and that’s it... but let me know if she has a potential adopter.’ Then 3 [to 4] weeks went by [and] they had a potential adopter, but by that time—of course, like anybody else—I’d fallen absolutely in love with her,” she said. “They called me and I [said], ‘No, I’m her adopter.’”

“I absolutely love pets, but I love the people equally, if not more. I love the communication, the client and staff education, and cheering on the staff's accomplishments. I love being able to make decisions based on EQ [emotional quotient] and really connecting with my staff and clients,” she said. 

“My other favorite part about this job is bringing pets back up to owners after they've been with us for a period of time. They’re always so happy and I love to see the joy on the owner's face as well. It’s one of the rawest expressions of joy, and it always makes me smile."

In the short to medium term, Coloccia says she will prioritize promoting well-being and happiness among staff during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re focusing on first and foremost the mental well-being, the work-life balance of my employees—that is 100% first. Then trying to continue to provide the best medicine and client experience possible with the way things are right now,” she said.

For the long term, Coloccia will strive to continue to enhance staff education and development by offering her team new career advancement opportunities and will remain dedicated to amplifying the overall client experience.

Meet Catherine Coloccia, the 2021 Practice Manager of the Year and profound leader with a passion for providing the best medicine and top-of-the-line customer service.

On the heels of success

As we approach the holiday season, it always gives me great pause to be thankful for so many things. This year has been another challenging one, but I am happy to be in a profession that understands the meaning of gratitude, appreciation, and giving back.

Giving back to the profession is one huge way of giving thanks to a profession that is hungry for talented future veterinary professionals. This is something that I am personally passionate about and hope you will find inspiration in this story to do the same.

Over the summer, my very good friend and colleague, Dr Robert Mankowski from Mount Laurel Animal Hospital in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, and I participated in VetSummer (

). This fantastic program is a weeklong, high-level, immersive experience for students ages 12 to 17 years who are interested in entering the veterinary medicine field. We all know the importance of creating a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable profession for vet med, and when I was approached about helping the director out with the program, I instantly jumped on the opportunity.

The VetSummer camp is housed at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in Riverdale, New York. Students experience interactive, hands-on classes to better understand the variety of fields and careers within veterinary medicine. These are students from all walks of life with the same common denominator—the love of the human-animal bond and the goal of entering our wonderful profession.

On the last day of camp, the 80 students had the privilege to take a bus south to Mount Laurel Animal Hospital, where they had the ability to hang out with Dr Mankowski and me. The happiness, the intrigue, and the passion we saw on these kids’ faces were far too similar to the look he and I had as children, when we had that glorious opportunity to shadow a veterinarian. The students were hungry to learn and eager to tour the veterinary hospital.

Dr Mankowski and I provided an interactive session sharing the life of a veterinary professional and how meaningful our profession is. Afterward, students had a pizza party with us where they asked us fantastic questions about the field and what subjects they should continue to focus their attention on as they enter high school. They were diligently writing notes (yes, that’s how passionate they were about this field!), laughing, engaging, and enjoying our company as well as each other.

After showing them an extensive tour of the veterinary hospital, we also showed the students the onsite farm! The veterinary hospital sits on a large farm full of beautiful animals that include goats, chickens, pigs, emus, sheep, cows, alpacas, and zebus. Not only that, but we also showed the students how to pet, feed, and care for these farm animals.

It was one thing for them to observe us, but it was another when they 

 something impactful for the animal. To watch these children have these incredible lightbulb moments truly put a tear in my eye.

Some of them said they never had the opportunity to pet animals like they did that day. To summarize what a group of students said when they got on the bus to say goodbye to us, “this was the 

! We can’t wait to become veterinarians!”

Dr Mankowski and I looked at each other, high-fived, thanked the hospital team for being so welcoming to these students, and drove home knowing we affected, inspired, and motivated 80 students to consider entering our glorious field of veterinary medicine.

So, you see, giving thanks is giving back. Give back to a profession that so desperately needs to inspire future veterinary professionals. Whether it be career day in an elementary school, Zoom visits in classrooms, or just an hour of job shadowing, you will truly affect the lives of children. Have a phone call with them. Talk to them. Make them feel welcome to the supper table of veterinary medicine.

Our profession is unique because it is truly a calling from within. Most of us knew we wanted to become a veterinarian when we were young. I was 6 years old when I knew I wanted to become a veterinarian and never veered off that challenging path.

I invite you to keep your doors, your hearts, and your minds open to students of any age that inquire about the field of veterinary medicine. Every profession has its flaws and ours is no different. However, it is not our duty to discourage, demotivate, or deny anyone from their calling. It is our mission to encourage, motivate, and allow them to feel inspired by us. Remember, we are superheroes to them. Can you imagine a superhero not signing an autograph to a child that looks up to them?

During this time of thanksgiving, please give thanks to a profession that has welcomed you into it when you were young.

Let our lives be full of both thanks and giving.

Giving back to the veterinary profession instills a sense of gratitude that was expressed by aspiring veterinary students at VetSummer 2021.