Expert Interviews

Behavior: Stress in Cats

By

When cats become stressed, they can show both behavioral and physical signs. Ellen Lindell, VMD, DACVB, owner of Veterinary Behavior Consultations in Bethel, Connecticut, explains the importance of addressing the clinical signs when cats get stressed, as well as affecting the stressors in their environment.

Everyone, not just those who work in health care, can benefit from practicing meditation and mindfulness-based stress reduction. Brian DiGangi, DVM, MS, DABVP, immediate past president of the Association of Shelter Veterinarians, talks about some of these popular techniques that people use to cope with compassion fatigue.

Lower the Dose is an initiative brought forth by IDEXX, a leader in diagnostics and IT solutions for animal health. Michael Bailey, DVM, DACVR, project manager for IDEXX, explains that this initiative is trying to emphasize the importance for those working in health care to have as low of an exposure to diagnostic radiation as possible.

Heather Wilson-Robles, DVM, DACVIM (Oncology), associate professor in the veterinary medicine and biomedical sciences department at Texas A&M University, believes the number of feline clinical trials will change in the future dependent on the interest there is in certain feline cancers.

Kristen Cooley, BA, CVT, VTS (Anes/Analgesia), instructional specialist at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, discusses what to do when a veterinary nurse wants to improve pain management in their practice but a veterinarian in the same practice is very resistant to this change.

Contrary to popular belief, the visual acuity and resolution in dogs is much higher than in cats. Ron Ofri, DVM, PhD, DECVO, professor of veterinary ophthalmology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, explains how cats have superior nighttime vision while dogs see better during the daytime.

Emily McCobb, DVM, MS, DACVAA, director of shelter medicine in the clinical sciences department at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, hopes and expects the nation will start looking like the northeast corner of the country in that all adoptable animals are getting adopted and euthanasia for healthy adoptable animals is coming to an end.

Amanda Landis-Hanna, DVM, veterinary industry liaison, speaker, and consultant, talks about how she provides veterinary relief services on a day-to-day basis to help practices when veterinarians on staff are out for long periods of time.

Susan Little, DVM, DABVP (Feline), owner of Bytown Cat Hospital in Ontario, Canada, says the key to dealing with chronic obstructed cats is to get an accurate diagnosis and to have the owner understand what that diagnosis means.

Kristen Cooley, BA, CVT, VTS (Anes/Analgesia), instructional specialist at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, says the most predictive successor of failure factors when adding a pain management program to your veterinary hospital is keeping everyone on the same page.

A New Name for FIC

By

Elizabeth Colleran, DVM, MS, DABVP (Feline), owner of the Cat Hospital of Portland and chair of the Cat Friendly Practice Program, talks about why feline interstitial cystitis is now often called Pandora syndrome.

Ellen Lindell, VMD, DACVB, owner of Veterinary Behavior Consultations in Bethel, Connecticut, says when treating behavior problems, you want to understand the target behavior.

Heather Wilson-Robles, DVM, DACVIM (Oncology), associate professor in the veterinary medicine and biomedical sciences department at Texas A&M University, explains why there are so many more canine cancer clinical trials than there are for feline.

Many people believe that veterinarians who work in animal shelters or for animal welfare have a higher risk compassion fatigue. Amanda Landis-Hanna, DVM, veterinary industry liaison, speaker, and consultant, says this is a misconception that she has found to be quite the opposite.

Emily McCobb, DVM, MS, DACVAA, and director of shelter medicine in the clinical sciences department at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, talks about why she thinks there has been an increase in awareness and interest in animal shelter medicine.

Kristen Cooley, BA, CVT, VTS (Anes/Analgesia), instructional specialist at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, discusses what you need to do when designing a pain management program in your veterinary hospital or practice.

Brian DiGangi, DVM, MS, DABVP, immediate past president of the Association of Shelter Veterinarians, discusses how the understanding of compassion fatigue in veterinary medicine has stemmed from the work that has been done in human medicine on the topic.

Ellen Lindell, VMD, DACVB, owner of Veterinary Behavior Consultations in Bethel, Connecticut, expresses the importance of getting an accurate diagnosis or reason for a specific behavior in a pet before prescribing any medication.

Amanda Landis-Hanna, DVM, veterinary industry liaison, speaker, and consultant, talks about how forward scheduling is gaining momentum in the veterinary field.