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Rural Vet Crisis: Minnesota Vet Seeks To Give Away Clinic, Truck

Dr. Robert Bogan, 74, is sweetening the pot for any veterinarian who might consider working in rural Faribault County, MN, when he retires. He's giving away his practice, his clinic (equipment included) and his truck.

The 220-square mile county has 14,000 people and just one veterinarian — Bogan, who has been trying to retire for years. Bogan and a group of community leaders have been working together to try to find another veterinarian to care for the animals, which include everything from cattle and horses to dogs and cats.

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In addition to Bogan's practice, Faribault County is trying to make the job even bette. The county is enrolled in a federal program that forgives up to $150,000 in student loans for vets who work in the county for six years.

Still, not one person has come forward to take the deal. The issue facing Faribault County is not unusual, as large portions of rural United States are in a veterinary shortage. More lucrative clinics in urban and suburban areas with regular shifts and no emergency duty are a siren song to many graduating vets, many of whom don't want to launch their own small business right away.

Having no veterinarian in the county during emergencies, like a cow in distress during calving, can hurt the bottom line for farmers in the area whose livelihood depends on their animals. Currently, the county is hopeful that Leyton Becker, who has recently finished his first year of vet school at the University of Minnesota, will come home to help. Becker is currently interning with Bogan.

Becker is from the area and was raised on a hog farm, so he understands the pressures of the job and what it entails. When Becker graduates, Bogan will be 77.

Veterinarians: Dewormer Resistance Must Be Addressed To Avert Equine Welfare Disaster

Though veterinarians and equine caretakers around the world have stressed the importance of forgoing the once-standard practice of rotational deworming, a recent study shows that dewormer resistance is still looming. Currently, small redworms and large roundworms are resistant to all available dewormers; no new dewormers are currently in creation.

Members of the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) anthelmintic working group wrote to the Veterinary Record to express their concern over the findings of a small-scale study. Dr. David Rendle and his colleagues state that a “anthelmintic resistance disaster” is looming unless horse owners change horse-keeping ways.

The study found that although there has been an uptick in the number of fecal worm egg counts (FWECs) performed, there has not been a corresponding downward trend in dewormer sales. The BEVA working group gathered information on the number of fecal worm egg counts completed and the sale of dewormers in the U.K. from 2015 to 2018.

Though FWECs increased by 29 percent, the doses of dewormer sold only fell by 2.9 percent over the same period. The sale of these drugs dropped 8 percent between 2015 and 2016, and then rose every year after that.

If the deworming guidelines were being followed correctly, and dewormers would only be given when a FWEC deemed them necessary. There should be at least twice as many FWECs completed as doses of dewormer sold. However, the data shows that there was only one FWEC completed for every 11 doses of dewormer sold.

The authors also point out that moxidectin sales remained high throughout the study period though experts have noted that it should not be used as a routine dewormer in horses.

British Charity Rehomes Horses In An Innovative Way; Less Stress For Equines

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered life for many horse owners in Britain, forcing them to relinquish their animals as financial resources to care for them dwindle. Many rescues and adoption centers that assist horses in Britain are full, but they are preparing for an even more difficult winter as job losses continue and finances become tighter.

Blue Cross for Pets is a rehoming organization that helps horses, cats, dogs and other small pets in England, Wales and Scotland. The organization also has animal clinics and hospitals that assist sick and injured pets when their owners are struggling to afford the veterinary fees.

Blue Cross has created a “Home Direct” service to place horses into new homes straight from their current situation, eliminating the need for the horse to be moved more than once. This resource also takes the pressure off charities that may already be struggling and allows them to focus on welfare emergencies.

Blue Cross staff thoroughly assess each horse and then place it on the charity's website to find a new owner. Once a new potential owner is located, Blue Cross arranges and oversees the initial visit and introduction process. If the match is a good one, the horse is taken from its old home directly to its new home, reducing stress on the horse as it acclimates to one new environment instead of two. In each step of the process, the horse is treated as if it were living at a Blue Cross center.

Since its launch in 2015, Blue Cross Home Direct has helped 87 horses. Any horse can be a candidate for Home Direct if it passes a health check and is not on any long-term medications. The goal of Home Direct is to assist horses by finding them new homes while they are still healthy, instead of waiting to offer help when they are potentially in a welfare crisis.

Thus far in 2020, the United States has reported record numbers of equine adoptions, but equine rescue and adoption advocates are unsure if and when a large influx of horses needing help will come because of the pandemic.