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Canada May Face Veterinary Drug Shortage In 2022

News — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 13:27:22 +0000

The Canadian Animal Health Institute recently issued a warning of impending difficulty in obtaining many veterinary medications.

A 2017 change in veterinary drug regulation limited what drugs could be accessed in Canada and veterinarians are preparing to feel the fallout. Rising shipping costs and pandemic-related shortages are also not helping matters of accessibility, nor is the uptick of penicillin use in human medicine.

Canada imports nearly 95 percent of the vaccines used in veterinary medicine. Accessibility of drugs is a major concern for Canadian vets that is expected to become more problematic. One proposed solution involves allowing for the purchase of pharmaceuticals that are approved in other jurisdictions, like the United States and European Union.

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

News — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 12:57:12 +0000

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.

Proposed Bill Would Reduce Rural Vet Shortage By Alleviating Student Debt

News — Sun, 04 Jul 2021 13:58:13 +0000

A bill in the U.S. Senate would eliminate taxes on federal programs and alleviate some student debt, encouraging more vets to practice in rural areas, sponsors say. Rural areas are notoriously underserved by veterinarians. The USDA reports that 48 states are experiencing veterinary shortages in 221 areas.

Proposed by Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), the bill expands the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP), which repays up to $25,000 a year in student loans in exchange for at least three years of work in an area experiencing a veterinary shortage.

Vet school typically costs between $200,000 and $275,000; the 2.6 percent increase in student debt in 2020 meant a vet school graduate carried an average of $188,000 in student loans. While the VMLRP offers veterinarians debt relief assistance, current funding is taxed by the federal government at 37 percent.

This rate limits the program benefits, the sponsors say. The proposed bill would end federal tax withholding, providing more financial assistance to new veterinarians and encouraging their involvement in communities that need their service.

Common Euthanasia Drug In Short Supply

News — Sun, 30 May 2021 13:09:18 +0000

Veterinarians will need to begin making alternative humane euthanasia plans for animals in their care as a nationwide shortage of pentobarbital deepens, reports the Chronicle of the Horse.

The low inventory wasn't reported immediately; veterinarians began to have trouble obtaining pentobarbital when their orders were backordered or unavailable because of supply chain issues. It was added to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's list of animal drug shortages in May.

To combat the dwindling supply, the American Veterinary Medical Association, American Association of Equine Practitioners, the Companion Animal Euthanasia Training Academy and other animal care organizations are urging vets to adhere strictly to dosing guidelines and to consider alternative euthanasia methods.

In anticipation of a potential continued shortage, the AAEP has published guidelines for preferred humane euthanasia methods, including gunshot, captive bolt or combinations of other drugs. The organization notes that right now they have not received calls from members about the issue and that the alternative methods are humane when done by a trained veterinarian.

It is unclear when the pentobarbital shortage will be resolved.

Study: Does Hierarchy Affect Foraging Behavior?

News — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 17:42:54 +0000

Horses that live outside in a herd rapidly establish a hierarchy that affects everything they do, including eat; dominant horses tend to shoo others away from the tastiest grass or hay. A team of researchers wanted to investigate if this meant that horses lower in the pecking order eat less or if they have to spend more time grazing to make up for mealtime shortages.

Drs. Sarah Giles, Pat Harris, Sean Rands and Christine Nicol created a study to investigate the association between social dominance, interruptions to foraging behavior and body condition. The research team used 116 horses from 20 herds, and completed the study during the winter, when pasture was limited and there was competition for food.

The team began by giving each horse a body condition score between 4 and 8.5. They also measured social dominance and observed foraging behavior, tracking the duration and frequency of grazing, as well as the number of interruptions.

The study team found that foraging success of individuals may be partly influenced by their social status, but the relationship between her behavior, dominance and body condition wasn't fully established from the study. They concluded that for horses, the benefits of group living outweigh the costs; individual horses learn to follow behavioral rules that allow them to function as a social unit.

These scientists reviewed over 120 hours of herd monitoring and found that the total time spent foraging wasn't influenced by body condition or social dominance. Horses that had higher social standing also had higher body condition scores, but the main factor behind this was foraging efficiency. The horses that raised their heads more and were hyper-aware of their surroundings, had lower body condition scores. This vigilance was not associated with social status and seems to be an inherited trait.

The study also found that subordinate horses or those with lower body condition scores did not forage more. This suggests that the difference in body condition can be seen when subordinate horses are in the presence of dominant horses and reduce forage intake, they report.

Lower-ranking horse were unlikely to continue to forage when their companions were not, which supports the idea that social factors may result in body-condition score difference in horses living in a herd.

Read the study here.