Business Swap Creates Second Largest Animal Health Company in the World

Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) and Sanofi announced this week they have successfully completed a swap of two business units.

The transaction has been in the works for a year.

Sanofi’s animal health business (Merial) was transferred to Boehringer Ingelheim in exchange for BI’s consumer healthcare (CHC) business and a cash payment of €4.7B.

This is a significant business swap in the pharmaceutical sector and makes BI’s animal health unit the second largest animal health player in the world, and number one in pets, swine and equine.

The Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors of Boehringer Ingelheim, Hubertus von Baumbach, said: “Driven by the desire to serve the needs of our customer, and enabled by value of our innovative product portfolio, the combined strength of the two organizations will improve Boehringer Ingelheim’s competitiveness in the Animal Health business segment that is so strategically important to our company. We are delighted to welcome the employees of Merial to our team.”

Thanks to the addition of BI’s product and brand portfolio, Sanofi will enhance its position in several of its strategic categories – pain care, allergy solutions, cough & cold care, feminine care, digestive health and vitamins, minerals and supplements.

Olivier Brandicourt, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Sanofi, stated: “With this successful closing of the business swap with Boehringer Ingelheim, Sanofi is building a strong and innovative (CHC) Global Business Unit. The integration of Boehringer Ingelheim’s highly skilled CHC team and its well established products, allows Sanofi to enhance our positions in core strategic categories in a promising CHC market.”

Since the agreement was inked in June 2016, both companies have been preparing for a smooth transition.

Alan Main, Executive Vice President Consumer Healthcare and member of Sanofi’s Executive Committee, has the task of ensuring Sanofi’s CHC business, including the former Boehringer Ingelheim CHC brands, continue on its growth path.

The Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health business unit will be headed by Dr. Joachim Hasenmaier who will remain as Member of the Boehringer Ingelheim Board of Managing Directors.

RESEARCH - Does Free Range Mean Better Eggs?

(Wikipedia)

They can be twice the price and less mainstream in the marketplace but there is mounting evidence eggs laid by free-range chickens may taste better and also be better for your health.

A CBC Marketplace investigation into the industry found not only is opting for free-range, small-flock or organic eggs, more responsible in terms of animal welfare but can also impact vitamin and fat content.

"You are what you eat. and that applies to the hen as well," says Harry Pelissero, general manager of Egg Farmers of Ontario.

Canadians spend more than $2 billion on eggs a year with the bulk of eggs produced by chickens in conventional battery cage farms where six to eight hens live in each small cage.

The remaining, approximate, ten percent come from “ethical” farming operations which include free-run, free-range and even “hens on pasture.”

The latter has become an increasingly common go-to option for the grocery shopper.

Marketplace sent samples of six brands of eggs from a variety of farming methods to a certified lab for nutritional analysis.

Samples from Burnbrae and Gray Ridge, two of Canada's leading egg producers, whose hens are raised in battery cages were submitted as were ones from four cage-free brands including Organic Meadow and Small Flock's Delight, the latter of which is operated by Mennonite farmers in Ontario.

While all the samples met or surpassed nutrients listed on the carton for calories, protein, fat and iron – Vitamin A, E, D and omega-e fatty acid content varied substantially.

Organic Meadow eggs was the leader on that front boasting a higher nutritional value with its product containing more than twice the amount of vitamin D than other brands as well as the highest vitamin E levels.

Small Flock's Delight also had higher levels of vitamin A and vitamin D than the conventional brands.

Living conditions – ranging from sunshine and the inclusion of grass and insects in the hens' diet instead of the more mainstream corn-based diet - play a role in the eggs' health benefits, says Christty Brissette, a dietitian at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, who analyzed the test results for Marketplace.

"I would expect some variation based on what the hens are fed," Brissette says.

The Marketplace findings back up those made in prior studies looking at how farming methods affect nutrition, including a Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences study which demonstrates eggs from hens permitted to feed in pastures have superior nutrients including fat-soluble vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids.

Pennsylvania State University found eggs from pasture-raised hens had 2 and a half times more omega-3s and double the vitamin E than those coming from conventional operations, according to findings shared on prevention.com.

But buying into the benefits isn't cheap.

Conventional eggs can cost about $3.69 a dozen while eggs from hens raised on pasture can be more than twice that price.

In February, the Egg Farmers of Canada announced a shift from conventional egg production towards one which takes hen welfare, human health and environmental impact into consideration.

The association representing more than 1,000 egg farms claim part of the motivation behind the transition is “changing consumer preferences.”

Currently, about 90 percent of egg production is conventional housing while the remainder are free-run.

The goal is to see all production be in alternative housing by 2036 - a time-frame slammed by some animal welfare advocates as too lengthy and unacceptable given animal suffering.

While eggs from free-range farms have been increasingly popular with consumers, some don't buy they are the better egg.

Research done at the University of Bristol found although free-range farms can potentially offer birds a better quality of life than caged counterparts, many had poor living standards in the United Kingdom.

“Caged hens are more comfortable than people think and have higher welfare as standard than free-range hens,” Prof. Christine Nicol told the Daily Mail.

“It would be nice to think the current free-range system gave the birds the best welfare, but the problem is that the management of free-range systems in the UK is so variable. Although you get some brilliant farms, you get some that are really not good.”

By Nadia Moharib

Nadia Moharib is an animal lover who has adopted everything from birds to hamsters, salamanders, rabbits, fish and felines. She has written about all-things-pets for years and was a long-time editor of a pet magazine in a daily newspaper which featured a Q & A column, Ask Whit, penned by her pooch (ghost written, of course.) The serial dog owner lives in Calgary, Alberta and most days can be found at a dog park picking up after her rescue pooch, Scoots.

HEALTH - Drug Resistance a Serious Concern for Animals & Humans

Antimicrobial resistance is a significant and growing concern in healthcare for both humans and animals. New research suggests that it’s possible our pets are contributing to the rise of drug resistant microbes in humans, or vice versa.

Antimicrobial drugs include antibiotics, antifungals, antiprotozoals, and antivirals.

These drugs are critical in treating infectious diseases, and it’s difficult to even imagine the number of lives they have saved. Stopping something that seems relatively small in the age of antibiotics, such as a urinary tract infection (UTI), can be life saving.

Although the “antiobiotic era” refers to the last 70 years of widespread antimicrobial use, there is evidence that humans have benefited from antibiotics since as early as 350-550 CE. Traces of antibiotics have been found in human bones from Sudanese Nubia, and there is evidence of exposure to antibiotics in late Roman period skeletons in Egypt.

Despite these early uses of antimicrobials in traditional and ancient medicine, the mass production and distribution of penicillin in 1945 revolutionized the use of antimicrobials. Prior to the introduction of widespread antimicrobials in human healthcare, small infections could become big problems very quickly.

And it’s possible that healthcare is returning to a time of infections without reliable treatments.

A 16-year study of companion animal UTI in Portugal found that resistance to cephalosporins grew from 2 percent to 20 percent between 2004 and 2014. Although the study looked specifically at companion animals, the bacteria in question, Proteus mirabilis, is common in animals and humans and the drugs used to treat it are the same. This research suggests that dogs, in particular, may be acting as “reservoirs” for the resistant microbes, and transmitting these microbes to their humans.

Another study into the rise of antimicrobial resistant E. coli found that resistant strains of the infection spread through a household between pets and owners.

While it’s not clear whether pets are harbouring the resistant infections and transmitting them to humans, or vice versa (and it’s likely working in both directions), it is clear that this issue will just keep growing.

Although many new classes of antibiotics were found between the 1950s and 70s, no new classes have been found since. With the decline in discoveries, scientists have modified existing antibiotics, and found ways to synthesize and combine them.

The infectious agents - bacteria particularly, but also fungi, viruses, and parasites - are adapting to even these modified and synthesized antimicrobials. Mortality rates from multi-drug resistant bacterial infections are already close to 25,000 patients per year in the EU and more than 63,000 patients die from hospital-acquired bacterial infections in the US each year.

The rise of drug resistant infections is a complex issue, with antimicrobial resistance developing in pet animals, food animals, and among humans.

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has recently established a Committee on Antimicrobials which will develop and recommend an overarching strategy that will allow the veterinary profession to effectively share robust and comprehensive recommendations for policy, and its implementation with legislators, regulators, the marketplace and other stakeholders.

The committee will also serve as the lead AVMA entity in the association’s collaboration with similarly focused stakeholders - including the human medical community - in a One Health approach to the issue of antimicrobial resistance.

One way to reduce the risk between companion animals and humans is to be cautious and intentional in handling food and waste. Washing hands thoroughly after cleaning the litter box or picking up any feces, cleaning food bowls regularly, and disinfecting household surfaces can all help prevent the spread of antimicrobial resistant infections.

CDC

By Tiffany Sostar

Tiffany is a writer, editor, academic, and animal lover who came late to her appreciation of pets. At 18, a rescue pup named Tasha saved her from a depression and she hasn't looked back. She has worked as the canine behaviour program coordinator for the Calgary Humane Society, and was a dog trainer specializing in working with fearful and reactive dogs for many years. She doesn't have any pets right now, but makes up for it by giving her petsitting clients (and any dogs she comes across on her frequent coffee shop adventures) extra snuggles.

HEALTH - Vaccine Debate Part One: The History

(Variolation - pbs.org NOVA)

Vaccine history is unexpectedly fascinating and complex.

It is older than Louis Pasteur finding a vaccine (and cure) for rabies in 1885, older even than Edward Jenner’s 1798 use of cowpox to confer smallpox immunity.

Humans have been using infected material to inoculate domesticated animal populations, and themselves, for much longer than the practice has been documented.

The history of vaccination, and of the symbiotic interplay between human and veterinary medicine, offers insight into yet another way that our relationship with domestic animals enhances our lives.

Veterinary vaccines protect human health by limiting the spread of zoonotic diseases – those diseases, such as rabies, that can be transmitted from animals to humans – and there is a long history of the two fields of medicine learning from one another.

Farmers and nomadic herders, like the Tulani in Africa, have inoculated herd animals against diseases such as sheep pox for centuries. Animal inoculation was mentioned in the notes of European explorers and colonizers in Africa as early as the 16th Century.

There is evidence of human variolation, which is a similar type of inoculation via infectious material, in China at 1000 CE, and in 1706 a British minister learned of variolation against smallpox in Turkey.

Although the origins of the practice are not known, it is likely that human variolation was a result of applying successful veterinary techniques to human health care.

Variolation was effective but unpredictable. Smallpox variolation involved introducing infected human material taken from smallpox scabs or the fluid in pustules into healthy humans, often via an open vein. Although it offered solid immunity, there was a significant risk of post-inoculation mortality.

Smallpox vaccination, in contrast, used cowpox to inoculate humans, and this procedure, which was pioneered by Edward Jenner (1749-1823), was much safer. It was also less effective over time, and though the post-inoculation mortality rate was lower, revaccination was often necessary.

The history of smallpox vaccination perfectly demonstrates how human and animal vaccination have overlapped and intertwined.

Variolation likely started among animals, and was transferred to humans, and the development of vaccination as a safer alternative to variolation happened simultaneously among human and veterinary physicians.

The practice of vaccination itself went through multiple iterations including using humans as vaccine reservoirs, then back to using cows as the vaccine source, and many attempts to transport the vaccine outside of a living body.

This complicated interplay between human and animal medicine continues throughout vaccine history, and extends even into our current context.

Louis Pasteur expanded the understanding of viruses and vaccines, and worked with veterinarians and livestock farmers to develop his first two virus vaccines - against fowl cholera and anthrax. He eventually turned his attention to rabies, and this work would not have been possible without his collaboration with veterinarians.

These collaborations continue today.

When a disease affects both human and animal populations, sometimes the human vaccine comes first and sometimes the animal vaccine does, but there is always collaboration happening between the two fields of medicine.

The history of inoculation among both animals and humans extends further back than most people realize, and so do the controversies surrounding vaccine use.

Part two in this series will look at vaccine controversies, from anti-vaccination arguments in the 1880’s to today.

By Tiffany Sostar

Tiffany is a writer, editor, academic, and animal lover who came late to her appreciation of pets. At 18, a rescue pup named Tasha saved her from a depression and she hasn't looked back. She has worked as the canine behaviour program coordinator for the Calgary Humane Society, and was a dog trainer specializing in working with fearful and reactive dogs for many years. She doesn't have any pets right now, but makes up for it by giving her petsitting clients (and any dogs she comes across on her frequent coffee shop adventures) extra snuggles.

HEALTH - New Model for Predicting Spread of Zoonotic Diseases

Zoonotic diseases are those that spread from animals to humans, and they are a big problem for global health.

The Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases estimates that “at least 60 percent of all human pathogens are zoonotics… and 75 percent of recently emerging infectious diseases that affect humans are of animal origin.”

(Aedes aegypti - by Muhammed Mahdi Karim)

Zoonotic diseases can originate in pet animals (think of the many diseases that can be passed from pets to people), farm animals (for example, foot-and-mouth disease), or wildlife (Zika, malaria, and many others).

One of the global outbreaks being addressed right now is Zika virus which is spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. This mosquito also spreads yellow and dengue fevers.

 

Given how many diseases originate with animals, understanding how diseases spread within animal populations offers the ability to respond quickly and effectively to existing and emerging outbreaks.

New research published in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution by scientists at University College London has offered a model for predicting zoonotic disease spread.

This is the first model that accounts for global changes due to agriculture, global climate change, and human population growth.

It moves beyond current prediction methods to offer an “environmental-mechanistic framework” that allows for modeling the impact of global change on spillover from the host species to humans.

The researchers used Lassa fever virus as a case study, but they stress that applying the model to multiple diseases is critical in coming up with a cohesive understanding of how global changes impact disease spread.

Since changes may increase the incidence of spillover for one disease but decrease incidence for another disease, looking at the issue from multiple angles and accounting for multiple diseases is necessary.

Researchers hope to extend their environmental-mechanistic model to include factors such as human travel, human-to-human contact rates after initial spillover, and the impact of socioeconomic factors such as poverty.

By extending the model, they will be better able to predict the potential number of infections, as well as predicted rates of fatality and costs to affected communities.

This new information will allow governments and health agencies to plan for, and respond to, zoonotic diseases as they spread.

Understanding how host animals are impacted by global change will allow organizations to respond more effectively to zoonotic diseases as they spill over to the human population.

It may be possible to affect change in ways that minimize disease spread, and to put preventative measures in place in areas where global change is resulting in increased risk and spillover.

By Tiffany Sostar

Tiffany is a writer, editor, academic, and animal lover who came late to her appreciation of pets. At 18, a rescue pup named Tasha saved her from a depression and she hasn't looked back. She has worked as the canine behaviour program coordinator for the Calgary Humane Society, and was a dog trainer specializing in working with fearful and reactive dogs for many years. She doesn't have any pets right now, but makes up for it by giving her petsitting clients (and any dogs she comes across on her frequent coffee shop adventures) extra snuggles.

INTERVIEW - Deb Davis, Paws With a Cause - A Leader in the Assistance Dog Industry

(LinkedIn)

Service dogs have historically been a great asset to persons living with vision impairment. In more recent years, the roles of service dogs have expanded to include assisting persons living with a range of disabilities or conditions, such as autism, asthma, seizures, brain injuries, PTSD and Lupus.

InfoStream caught up with Deb Davis, Community Outreach Manager with Paws With A Cause – a service dog training centre based out of Wayland, MI. The centre does custom training of service dogs, hearing dogs, service dogs for children with autism and seizure response dogs.

Davis shares some insights about the benefits of the relationship between service dogs and their humans, as well as some perspective on the growth of their segment of service dogs for children with autism.

InfoStream (IS): What makes working with service dogs special or unique for you?

Deb Davis (DD): What makes this work unique and special for me is our clients – people with disabilities who are able to change their life because of their assistance dog. They are some of the most amazing people I will ever know in my life, and my life has changed because of them.

IS: Your organization trains dogs to assist people in a variety of capacities, including seizure response, vision and hearing impairment and autism - could you please share with us how some of these newer areas have grown in popularity over the last few years?

DD: Training service dogs for children with autism has really caught on in the past five years. Our organization did a two-year study with an organization in Canada, prior to launching our own three-year pilot program for this discipline. At PAWS, we don't just train a dog and then hand over the leash and say 'have a nice life'. We work with the clients for 4 - 6 months, after their dog has already been trained specially for them for 4-6 months. That's a lot of time and a huge commitment on the client's part. So, when families who are living with autism reach out to apply for a dog, we feel honored to be able to provide them with another 'tool' in their autism toolbox.

Families who live with children with autism already have a lot of things to handle in their lives: the child, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, play dates, school, etc. For them to accept a service dog into their lives is a great indication of their commitment to making their child's world one step easier.

Our Seizure Response Dog Program's popularity is another testament to our clients - people who want to live independently, yet live in constant fear that a seizure could severely hurt them or worse, kill them. We have clients who have a seizure response dog because they want to live alone, yet are fearful of suffocating in their pillow if they have a seizure during the night. That's pretty intense. Yet, they feel completely relieved of that fear by living with their seizure response dog. We have one client whose parents would not let him go off to college and live in the dorms until he could prove to them that he would work with his seizure response dog. I'm happy to say, they graduated.

IS: What does PAWS want people to know about what it is that makes an assistance dog more effective compared to human assistance options in some regards?

DD: The dog/human bond is an incredible thing to witness...for the human to be able to put their 100% trust in their dog is really a miracle before our eyes. The dog is a constant in their lives, 24 hours per day, day and night. Dogs don't have bad days, like aides do; dogs don't need batteries, like technology and machines do; medications reach a plateau of effectiveness and can change a person's behavior and reaction to stimuli; dogs don't. People who are hearing impaired/deaf who have a cochlear implant are still hearing impaired/deaf when they take off that cochlear implant; that's when they are most vulnerable. The dog is there as a constant reminder that they have someone to trust, and someone or something that is reliable and will take care of them.

(Paws With a Cause)

IS: What would you say to a parent with a child on the autism spectrum who is contemplating a service dog?

DD: After placing more than two dozen service dogs with children with autism, we've asked those parents what would they tell someone in this situation. Their overwhelming response has been "Do it!" Their fears were about having enough time to dedicate to the dog and when they realize that the dog folds into their already-established lifestyles, that fear is gone!

By Lindsay Seewalt
Lindsay is an experienced journalist and mother of three whose heart and home is always open to a four­-legged friend. With her Corgi, Angie, as household editor-­in-chief, Lindsay gives back to the animal planet through the written word on anything and all ado about pets. She is passionate about topics regarding animal welfare and responsible pet ownership, which she aims to instill in both her readers and children to be compassionate animal lovers who are conscious and considerate that furry friends around the globe deserve a voice.

HEALTH - More Treatment Options Can Mean More Stress for Pet Owners

There is no question that through advances in technology there are more veterinary options available to pet owners, including medication, surgeries and mobility assistance devices, but according to Dr. Danny Joffe of Associate Vet Clinics in Calgary, the primary veterinary focus must remain on ensuring the pet’s health and safety come first.

“Because of advances in veterinary medicine, we are allowed to offer a lot more options for care…but our duty is to the pet and not to the owner, and if gets to the point where the quality of life for the animal is compromised, our responsibility is to ensure that pet does not suffer,” he explained.

Expenditures on vet medicine have nearly doubled in just over a decade, according to marketresearch.com – from $8.5B in 2005 to $15B in 2015.

Much of this may be attributed to advances in veterinary medicine, as well as pets being held in an increasingly familial regard; as less people in North America have children, the desire to nurture is frequently extended to the love for a pet.

“There are even hospices for pets, to help deal with pain management and end of life care,” said Joffe. A simple online keyword search for animal hospices returns pages of information, services and centres.

For many, however, the care for an animal – particularly an aging pet – must be balanced with cost.

With the plethora of medications, procedures and prosthetics available for the maimed or failing pet, the ticket price associated with these advancements can place considerable financial strain on the average pet owner.

Add to this the emotional strain of wanting to do absolutely everything possible for their pet and the burden of treatment decisions can be huge.

Joffe said he believes pet insurance to be one of the best investments a pet owner can make today.

While it is unlikely a veterinary clinic would place any pressure on an owner to pursue options beyond what is affordable, for some pet parents there are feelings of guilt that may be associated with knowing that there is a veterinary solution that could save their pet’s life versus accepting that this option may be out of their financial reach.

Joffe said where he sees the most pressure is when family members disagree on course of action for their pet’s care.

“I always tell people I have the easy job – they have the hard job because they have to make the decision that is right for their family.”

By Lindsay Seewalt

Lindsay is an experienced journalist and mother of three whose heart and home is always open to a four-legged friend. With her Corgi, Angie, as household editor-in-chief, Lindsay gives back to the animal planet through the written word on anything and all ado about pets. She is passionate about topics regarding animal welfare and responsible pet ownership, which she aims to instill in both her readers and children to be compassionate animal lovers who are conscious and considerate that furry friends around the globe deserve a voice.

HEALTH - Hamilton Low Cost Rabies Clinic Hosted by PetValu

Dr. Jeff Rabinovich, from the Bridletown Warden Animal Hospital, and his partners have successfully completed ten low cost rabies vaccine and microchip clinics in Ontario.

But due to the high incidence of rabies in the Hamilton area, Rabinovich has added an additional clinic this Sunday.

The initial clinics, done in partnership with PJ’s Pets, Pet Culture and HomeSafeTM, resulted in 929 rabies vaccinations and 360 microchip implants. All microchip implants included a HomeSafeTM package, providing the owner with lifetime protection for their animals.

The numbers are lower than last year, primarily due to the closing of PJ’s Pet Stores - the Hamilton and Brantford stores were unavailable this year.

Undaunted, Rabinovich found another partner to serve these areas.

“The Hamilton area is a known hot-spot for rabies in Ontario, and I felt I needed to try to help with low cost protection,” said Rabinovich. “Fortunately PetValu offered to host a clinic at their 801 Mohawk Rd West store, so we will be there this Sunday 1pm to 4pm rain or shine!”

The cost is $25 per rabies vaccine, $25 per microchip/HomeSafe™ registration combo, or $50 for both including HST (cash only).

There will be 200 vaccinations available, on a first-come, first-served basis.

PetValu

801 Mohawk Rd. West

Hamilton

1 - 4pm

Sunday, June 5th

Individuals attending the clinics have expressed their gratitude for the service and concern about where future clinics may be held.

With no definitive answer regarding new locations, Rabinovich promises to work hard at maintaining this service as it is the only way some owners can afford rabies protection.

Hospitals Let Pets Visit Sick Owners

(purina.com)

Studies have shown that spending time with pets can reduce pain, anxiety, depression and fatigue in people with a wide range of health issues, and those staying in long-term care facilities.

Many hospitals have pet therapy programs, where specially trained pets come to a hospital or other health care facility and visit. But when it's the patient’s own pet visiting, it can be even more special.

With this in mind, Jill Malan, manager of Child Life Services at St. Louis Children's Hospital proposed a room at the hospital which could facilitate visits between patients and their cats and dogs.

"Our doctors see every day the importance of medicine and world class technology," said Malan. "We see every day the impact a child's emotional well-being has on their overall recovery."

Purina provided a $450,000 donation for construction and staffing of the Purina Family Pet Center which opened this month.

The Center gives patients the opportunity to see their pets without leaving the building, their doctors or the technology on which so many of them rely.

The 300-square-foot room, adjacent to the hospital's second-floor entrance, features washable surfaces and windows to provide natural light. It can accommodate a child in a wheelchair or hospital bed, and provides a comfortable, private visiting space for the child, pet and family. It will also include toys for the pets and Purina treats.

The Juravinski Hospital, a small health-care facility in Hamilton, Ontario allows a patient’s pet to visit in their hospital room. Each pet who comes to visit must be bathed first, healthy and well-tempered. The animals are also not allowed to have any contact with other patients.

That program was launched by Donna Jenkins in 2015 after her 25-year-old nephew, Zachary, begged her to let him see his dogs one last time before he died.

"Before he died, he made me promise that we would have an organization available that if any patient at Juravinski wanted to see their pet, they had that opportunity," Jenkins told CTV.

The Faithful Friends program at the University of Maryland Medical Centre, which has been running since 2008, allows both cats and dogs to visit their owners for the entire day.

The Faithful Friends program is generally used by patients who are hospitalized for longer periods, those potentially approaching end of life or patients whose pet is suffering from duress by being separated from his owner.

The Wolfston Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville Florida has a Healing Paws program that allows patient’s dogs to visit for up to an hour.

"The dogs get so excited to see their human again, and the kids really perk up when they know their pet is going to visit," Pat Kirkland, manager of Family Support Services and head of the Healing Paws program says. "If we can make their day a little bit brighter by bringing in their best friend, we consider that an accomplishment."