Itchy and scratching veterinary patients, and those with frequent ear infections or poor coat quality, may be suffering from a food allergy. But definitively diagnosing a cutaneous adverse food reaction in dogs and cats remains a challenge, and the only way to an accurate diagnosis is to perform an elimination diet trial. 

Once you've decided which novel protein is appropriate for the test, you'll need to counsel the owners on what to avoid feeding, and that includes treats and protein-based supplements. 

Jennifer Schissler, DVM, MS, DACVD, who will speak on this topic at VMX this weekend, says the route to a successful elimination diet trial is owner compliance. That means explaining to the owner why the diet trial is needed and what can and can't be fed.   

There is no cure for food allergy, and a pet can develop new food allergies over time. But when a pet's skin or ear problems are due solely to a food allergy, identifying—and eliminating the culprit protein(s) or carbohydrate(s)—will improve the pet's quality of life and reduce or prevent skin and ear problems in the future.

Articles

When you suspect food allergy in a patient, performing an elimination diet trial is easier said than done. A veterinary dermatologist offers insight into improving compliance so your patients can get some relief.

Food trial nuggets at VMX 2020

Obesity is one of the most important medical disease in pets worldwide, in part because of its potentially devastating effects on mobiity. Current strategies for weight management involve dietary energy restriction with a purpose-formulated diet. But it can be difficult to get clients to comply with your recommendations, and outcomes are often disappointing. 

According to Alex German, BVSc, PhD, DECVIM-CA, SHFEA, FRCVS, professor of small animal medicine at the University of Liverpool, to help patients lose weight and enjoy a better quality of life, practitioners must tailor weight management programs for individual pets. 

This weekend at the Veterinary Meeting & Expo (VMX), Prof. German will share his insight on how to do that succesfully. He'll also share tips for educating pet owners about obesity in dogs and cats and how to improve client compliance with your recommendations. 

Obesity and decreased mobility go hand in hand. At VMX, pet obesity expert Prof. Alex German will guide lecture attendees on how to tailor an effective weight management program that works for pets and clients alike.

Exploring pet obesity and mobility at VMX 2020

In advance of its annual Veterinary Meeting & Expo (VMX) this weekend, the North American Veterinary Community (NAVC) today announced the launch of 

 an advocacy program that provides veterinary professionals and pet owners with a platform to advocate for animals everywhere. 

“embrace” members will receive emails with updates on proposed legislation, rules and regulations impacting animal health, like these:

 Introduced in the U.S. House of Representative last year, 

 designates the first Saturday in October as National Animal Rescue Day in support of the six million dogs and cats that are placed in shelters each year. Half of the animals in U.S. shelters never find a forever home and are ultimately euthanized. National Animal Rescue Day is intended to shine a light on adoption events, festivals and charitable giving.

. The Puppies Assisting Wounded Service Members (PAWS) Act (

) seeks to reduce veteran suicides and ensure the wellbeing of veterans who have already exhausted all other treatment options for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by connecting them with service dogs as a 

Strengthening Support for Veterans with Service Animals Act.

, also introduced last year, protects veterans’ access to airplanes with their service dogs.

Often these emails will include a call to action such as signing a petition, emailing policymakers, tweeting representatives and making phone calls. Members will also have exclusive access to advocacy webinars, training and in-person meetings with government officials.

“What makes ‘embrace’ ... so unique is we bring together 

 members of the pet-loving community—veterinary professionals and pet owners—to advocate on behalf of animals everywhere,” said NAVC interim CEO Eugene O’Neill in a 

 from the organization. “Through the NAVC’s global community of 500,000 veterinarians and other animal healthcare leaders, ‘embrace’ provides a powerful platform for us to work together to build a better future for animals.”

During VMX, attendees will have the opportunity to join “embrace” and support these bills by visiting its advocacy booth in the Orange County Convention Center South Conference across from Room S210. If you’re interested but won’t be at the conference, click 

The goal of the new animal community alliance is to unite veterinary professionals and pet lovers throughout the United States to support animals in a host of ways.

NAVC launches national pet advocacy program

A strong core team is critical to the succes of any veterinary hospital design project. Here are the three key players, what each must bring and some criteria for selecting them.

The lender in veterinary projects is a crucial team member for success. Many lenders, particularly local banks, aggressively pursue the veterinary expansion based on a current business banking relationship. These collateral-based lenders require appraisals with “comps” of recent similar projects to gain board approval. Unfortunately, these “comps”—recent, comparable-quality veterinary projects—are rarely available, so lower-quality general office buildings are substituted to compare. 

These lower-value buildings result in appraisal failure, requiring the veterinarian to inject additional (unavailable) cash to make up the deficit. The veterinarian must seek alternative financing, resulting at a minimum in lost months to find a replacement, and at worst added expense or abandonment of the project altogether.

What’s an alternative? Many of our clients have found success with veterinary-specific lenders, often found as exhibitors at veterinary conferences and trade shows. These lenders base their decisions on a cash flow model, evaluating your business ability and growth to pay the debt as opposed to selling your building when you fail as local lenders do. Their experience with veterinary businesses and buildings leads to successful appraisals. They also commit to financing approval much sooner in the process and can often distribute draws for land and soft costs early in the process that would be unavailable with asset-based lenders, preserving your cash assets for business needs.

Whatever architect you choose should understand the nuances of veterinary medicine. Knowledge of productivity metrics, staffing complexities and workflow protocols is just as important as veterinary design trends, materials and construction costs.

In addition to design, an architect can help select and coordinate a team of mechanical and electrical engineers to design veterinary-specific solutions critical to thermal comfort, patient and staff health, and acoustic and odor control as well as balanced lighting systems and efficient energy consumption. Any weaknesses in this team can result in poor performance in any of these areas.

An experienced architect can also balance design selections with budget concerns. Every project, regardless of size, has a tolerable budget limit, and it’s relatively easy to design an over-budget project. Only the best teams are able to maintain that performance/budget balance.

Many projects use competitive bidding when selecting contractors. Our preference—at least on renovations—has been to negotiate with a single contractor as early in the process as possible. Following an interview/vetting process, we work with the practice owner to identify the most comfortable and competent fit. We then bring in that contractor to weigh in on design issues and their effect on budget, schedule and performance. Our main concern is not on how much we can be “under budget,” but an assurance that our project will be “in budget.” A contractor should be fully vested in our success in schedule, quality and budget.

At each stage of the design process, from initial floor plans to complex permit drawings and engineering system designs, we want the contractor’s buy-in. Why? After the project is done, the contractor will be largely responsible for any adjustments that will inevitably be required for final satisfaction. All too often, as a project moves along, the architect and practice owner can develop an adversarial relationship with the contractor. If we can eliminate this, we have a much higher probability for success.

Get three design team members right, and you’ll have the best chance to wind up with a design project that meets the functional and economic goals of the practice, the established budget constraints and financing considerations.

Wayne Usiak, AIA, is a senior partner of animal facility design firm BDA Architecture based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

These three people will make or break a project to renovate, remodel or build a new veterinary hospital. Increase your chances for success by getting the right folks to work right together.

3 must-haves in veterinary design 

Treatment breakthroughs, artificial intelligence, new pharmaceutical options, and how to improve your wellbeing are all on the agenda for the world’s largest gathering of veterinary professionals—the Veterinary Meeting & Expo (VMX)—being held January 18 through 22 at the Orange County Convention Center.

About 17,000 veterinarians, technicians, support staff and global leaders in animal healthcare from around the world will attend the 36th annual conference, hosted by the North American Veterinary Community.

“With advances in animal medicine paralleling those of human medicine, animals are living longer and experiencing a much better quality of life,” said NAVC interim CEO Eugene O’Neill on the 

. “Veterinary professionals from all over will have the opportunity to learn life-saving and lifechanging techniques from the most renowned leaders in animal medicine who will be teaching and presenting at VMX. They will also experience and see the latest in pharmaceuticals, surgical and medical equipment and nutrition from the more than 700 exhibiting companies.”

 will be on site all weekend to provide coverage. Here are just some of the sessions to watch for at the conference:

Jennifer Schissler, DVM, MS, DACVD, will share her knowledge and experience about dermatology issues in pets, including a session on elimination diet trials. She’ll provide pointers on improving compliance with diet trial recommendations, how to choose a novel-protein diet and, of course, client communication tips to increase the odds of successfully completing a diet trial.

Obesity and mobility: What’s the latest?

Obesity in pets is a global concern with an increasing prevalence. Alex German, BVSc, PhD, DECVIM-CA, SHFEA, FRCVS, professor of small animal medicine at the University of Liverpool, will offer practical tips and expert insight into how practices can get patients to lose weight and improve mobility.

Obesity in 2020: Challenges and solutions

 Prof. German will continue his discussion of obesity and mobility with an in-depth discussion of Banfield Pet Hospital’s 2020 Veterinary Emerging Topics (VET) Report. This year’s report again focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of osteoarthritis in dogs and cats, with particular emphasis on its relationship to excess weight. He’ll provide actionable steps veterinary teams can take to educate and engage clients throughout the weight loss process.

 Because of its wide reach, VMX is chosen by many companies in the veterinary industry for product launches, and this year is no exception. Last year, we covered 

 from several key players in the industry, and this year promises even more that will help veterinary practices maintain the health of their patients and their business.

The annual Veterinary Meeting and Expo (VMX), which takes place this weekend in Orlando, Florida, promises plenty of opportunities for veterinary professionals to learn the latest on just about every topic under the sun.

Don’t miss these VMX sessions this weekend

You finally mail off the last payment for that massive veterinary school loan. (I daydream about the day!) Suddenly, a weight is lifted off your shoulders and a significant amount of income freed up.

You think about how you can finally buy that new car you’ve been dreaming of … but in the back of your mind, you worry about what your clients will think when they see you roll up into the hospital parking lot.

Maybe you made double payments on your house so you could build up enough equity to invest in a nicer home in the country because you wanted your children to grow up around cows and horses like you did. But you wonder what will your clients say. You ask yourself: Will they judge me?

Now that you have more in your paycheck, will your team members be jealous of the perks you have as an associate veterinarian or practice owner?

Maybe you bought some new equipment for the business or made some improvements around the clinic. I don’t know about you, but I spend more of my waking hours at work than I do at home, so I want the hospital to look nice, feel comfortable and have the tools I need to practice good quality medicine. But if the hospital’s nice, will clients think you charge too much?

Somehow, some way, we veterinarians always end up being our own worst enemy. We beat ourselves up about every decision we make. We question not only our failures but also our successes. We try to please everybody—our family, our clients, our staff and colleagues. We’ve all heard that veterinarians are only in this profession for money, so how can we allow ourselves to have nice things? That will only validate their accusations.

I don’t have a solution to change your thinking, but I just want you to stop for a moment and listen to what I believe. It’s OK to be successful in your career. You work hard and handle a mountain of emotional stress on the job. Veterinarians have the right to be successful like any other professional. Stop letting your self-doubt, public perception and insecurities wear you down. When you’re financially ready to buy that new car, don’t be afraid to do it. When you pay off that student loan debt, celebrate!

You deserve all the success in the world. Work hard and play harder. Life is too short to not enjoy each and every moment.

Shana Bohac, DVM, owns Navarro Small Animal Clinic in Victoria, Texas.

You work hard in veterinary practice. You earn your income. Don’t be afraid to enjoy it.