Wrap up: generic drug for feline postoperative pain receives FDA approval, and other news

Happy Saturday dvm360 readers! We hope you had an excellent week and are taking a much-deserved break before starting all over again Monday morning. With VMX next week, WVC next month, and Fetch Charlotte around the corner, conference season is off to a slow but powerful start. Can’t make it to these shows? No worries, dvm360’s editorial team will be on the ground covering lectures, interviewing speakers, and more! Check out our dedicated conference landing page to stay up to date on all these veterinary conferences in 2026.

Besides our conference coverage, here is this week’s news roundup:

• The FDA announced that it has approved the first generic robenacoxib tablets, sponsored by ZyVet Animal Health, to control postoperative pain and inflammation in cats who underwent orthopedic surgery, ovariohysterectomy, and castration in feline patients.
• A steer in Briscoe County, Texas was confirmed to have anthrax on December 31, 2025. The premises where the steer is located is quarantined and will remain quarantined until the affected carcasses are properly disposed of.
• In this Q&A styled interview with dvm360 during the 2025 Fetch Long Beach conference, Laila Proença, DVM, PhD, MV, MSc, DACZM, shared more information about 2 topics she believes clinicians find intimidating, and shares practical take ways for both.
• On this week’s episode of The Vet Blast Podcast presented by dvm360, Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, welcomed Lindsey Braun, vice president of research for the Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI), and Tiffany Tupler, DVM, CBCC-KA, to the show to discuss recent results of a survey from HABRI.
• The first installment of the veterinary scene down under for 2026 is now available! Learn more about updates into koalas that were released back into the wild following hospital treatment, and meet a veterinary who is weaving people, domestic animals, and wildlife into her novels.
• Following the first confirmed case of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Wisconsin, the National Veterinary Services Laboratories completed a whole genome sequencing which confirmed that the virus detected in the Wisconsin dairy herds H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b genotype D1.1, signifying a new spillover event from wildlife into dairy cattle separate from previous events.