HEALTH - Regulation of Antimicrobial Use by Canadian Veterinarians

A recently closed public consultation held by the Government of Canada is leading the country one step closer to addressing concerns surrounding the problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) related to veterinary drugs.

Duane Landals of Veterinarians Without Borders has a lifetime of experience in the profession and is heavily involved with helping to devise a national strategy to address AMR concerns.

In addition to managing a clinical practice, Landals' background includes 15 years as registrar and CEO of the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association, as well as president of both the Alberta and Canadian Veterinary Medical Association and as vice president of the World Veterinary Association for two terms.

“I’m totally involved with the AMR picture…it’s a very visible, global issue,” he said.

“But to address AMR, we have to look at antimicrobial use.”

In dealing with the absence of regulation of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) used in manufactured drugs and the human use of antimicrobials in animals without veterinary oversight, Health Canada initiated the public consultations that would lead to proposed regulatory changes seeking to address the growing problem of AMR in human and veterinary medicine.

The proposed changes, which are welcomed by the veterinary industry as a whole, include:

• requirement that APIs imported or sold in Canada must adhere to Good Manufacturing Practices (currently they do not)
• required licensing for those who import, test, label, fabricate or package APIs
• restriction of own use importation of unauthorized veterinary drugs
• requirement that manufacturers, importers and compounders of veterinary antimicrobials provide sales volume information by species
• and introduction of an alternative, less burdensome pathway for manufacturers to legally import and sell certain low-risk veterinary drugs, known as veterinary health products (VHPs).
  
  

The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association welcomes the changes.

“We have a long history of antimicrobial use in food-producing animals,” said Landals, adding that under the new changes this would be required to be overseen by a veterinarian and would be on an as-needed basis or by prescription – a change that is also in response to public demand for food free from hormones, met with the ‘Raised with Care’ public education campaign.

Every antibiotic will become prescription-only under the new regulation, much like the Veterinary Feed Directive being implemented in the U.S. as of January 2017.

“The culture of how we use antibiotics is changing,” said Landals, making reference to the health and safety of the public. “There should be no surprise.”

Landals said one of the biggest challenges is in the development of a national policy that would lead to provincial policy changes, emphasizing “there is a disconnect” between the national and provincial levels, that working groups are trying to address.

“The biggest thing is that we need consistencies between provinces,” he said, stressing that the United Nations now refers to AMR as a “world global crisis”.

Landals said he does not believe the impact will be felt on companion animal owners.

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 - Doing More to Support Veterinarians' Mental Health

Although the underlying causes are still unknown, veterinarians experience high rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation, as well as death by suicide.

(pexels.com)

In the United States, veterinarians are the occupation third most-likely to die by suicide, after podiatrists and dentists.

In Britain, the percentage is even higher, and British veterinarians are four times as likely as the general population, and twice as likely as other health professionals, to die by suicide.

Some vet schools are taking the risk to their students’ mental health seriously.

The Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Regina, Saskatchewan, was the first vet school in Canada to have a trained social worker available for students.

The Ontario Veterinary College has launched the AWAR2E group – Advancement of Wellness and Resilience in Research and Education – to provide a multi-pronged approach to mental wellness, focusing on veterinarians, vet students, and agricultural producers.

The group will be following up their initial Ontario-based research with a Canada-wide survey next year.

Jean Wallace, PhD, at the University of Calgary undertook comprehensive research into the ups and downs of working as a veterinarian or technician in Alberta, and her report includes suggestions for how to cope with work-related stress as a vet or vet tech.

Other organizations have compiled mental and emotional health resource lists, such as this one from Veterinary News and the DVM360 magazine.

All of these resources are necessary, and will make a difference in the lives of vets and other animal-care professionals.

But what are the underlying causes of the high rates of mental and emotional distress, and of completed suicides, among veterinarians?

One suggestion that comes up again and again is the impact of euthanasia on veterinarians.

This is a complex issue. One study conducted in 2014 suggests that comfort and familiarity with euthanasia leads to a fearlessness about death, and other researchers have theorized that this fearlessness makes following through on suicidal ideation more likely among vets than among other high risk groups, such as other health care providers.

Euthanasia is also a factor for veterinarians because of the high emotional cost associated not only with ending a companion animal’s life, but with comforting the human.

In some cases, the emotional toll comes from seeing companion animals who were abused, mistreated, or abandoned, and receiving requests for convenience euthanasia or for other reasons that are not medically necessary.

The introduction of BSL in Montreal, and the potential spike in euthanasia of pitbulls, poses a risk to the mental health of shelter workers and veterinarians in that city.

The Montreal SPCA has already launched a lawsuit challenging the new law and been granted a two day stay, and Montreal vets, veterinary technicians, and shelter workers will all require extra mental health support during this process.

Although the rates of suicide and serious mental health concerns such as depression and anxiety are high in veterinarians in many countries, this is not universally the case.

Danish veterinarians do not experience the same increased risk that veterinarians in other areas do.

Learning more about how Denmark veterinarians build and maintain their mental health may offer insights and ideas to incorporate into North American programs.

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.

DIGITAL - Internet of Things for Pet Professionals

The Internet of Things, with its ability to bring remote monitoring and highly sophisticated sensor technology to industries that have previously relied heavily on in-person observation and data collection, is significantly changing things for pet professionals.

Silent Herdsman collars

This is most obvious in farming, where new technologies like Silent Herdsman provides collar-based monitoring to detect estrus and other health issues in dairy cows. Silent Herdsman was developed in Scotland and is already being used globally.

The Moo Monitor, developed in Ireland, is another successful wearable device for cow health monitoring, and has been welcomed by farmers who are increasingly reliant on technology to increase profitability and animal health.

According to a 2015 Cambridge University case study, the IoT has the potential to help farmers by “capturing and recording multiple attributes for each animal, for example, age, pedigree, growth rates, health, feed conversion rates, meat quality and killing out percentage.”

As demand increases at a rate that current farming practices cannot sustain, finding ways to support farmers and farm productivity will become more critical.

Farmers are not the only pet professionals whose industry is changing to include more IoT devices.

Vets will be able to access information from consumer products like the FitBark and Anicall collar in order to gain a more comprehensive view of an animal’s daily eating and activity habits.

There is also Vetrax, a health monitoring system that allows vets to track the success of medical care programs for issues such as chronic illness, obesity, surgical recovery, and geriatric care.

Although it is directed at consumers, the implications for veterinary practice are significant. Even technology like Bistro, which has the potential to help keep cats healthy by monitoring weight and hydration, as well as by using facial recognition to ensure that even in multi-cat households, cats only have access to the right kibble, could show up in your vet’s list of recommended treatments for health-impacting obesity.

Another industry that is being impacted by the IoT is dog walking, with the introduction of the GoFetch dog-walking app in Canada.

Pet owners are matched with dog walkers and then tracks the walk through GPS so that owners can see how long the dog walked for, when they played with other dogs, and other information. It’s being referred to as Uber for dogs.

As consumers look for more and more on-demand service, the IoT will make it possible for other animal professionals to do their jobs more effectively and with more mobility.

Pet grooming, petsitting, vet care, dog training – as the IoT grows, so will the number of industry professionals who rely on it.

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.

Improved Value for Clients Through the Petlynx HomeSafe™ program

 Petlynx is pleased to announce an opportunity to provide further value to your clients and partners.

As of May 10, 2016 the cost for a lifetime subscription for the HomeSafe™  registration will be $39.00 (including all taxes). Petlynx has not adjusted their online pricing since the initial launch of the HomeSafe™ program, well over 6 years. All pricing for affiliates and partners will remain the same, though it is being reviewed.  

“We continue to provide the lowest cost, automated registry service, and the only service that houses all animal records with the information owned and maintained by the owner.” Larry Evans, Managing Director, Petlynx. 

HomeSafe™ provides the only online automated recovery system that allows all members of the community to post their own lost and found reports. It facilitates instant sharing of pet information among the general public and organizations in the community and across North America when a pet goes missing.

The value provided by the HomeSafe™ service is even greater when you look at the costs over the lifetime of a pet - it is less than pennies a day, well worth the investment to ensure protection for a pet and peace of mind for your client.  

By offering the lifetime registration you are significantly improving the value for your clients, this in turn improves client retention and elevates the value of your brand in the marketplace; things that every service provider needs to be cognizant of in this day and age.  

Add value to your client service offering, take advantage of current HomeSafe™ industry pricing and provide over $30.00 in savings on to your clients.

Learn more about HomeSafe™

Read more on why HomeSafe™ has become the solution for identification and why microchips have failed.

Shelter Medicine in Canada: Next Steps

Founded in 2001 in the United States, the Association of Shelter Veterinarians’ mission is to advance and support the practice of shelter medicine in order to improve community animal health and well-being.

With the Quebec Association for Shelter Veterinarians active in that province and Ontario vets in the process of setting up the Ontario Shelter Medicine Association, there is a movement to create a Canadian organization that will work together to promote progressive, humane sheltering.

The Canadian group won’t duplicate the work of the American Association, but apply it to Canada’s own unique circumstances.

The Canadian Federation of Humane Societies has offered meeting space at its 2016 National Animal Welfare Conference for interested individuals to get together and discuss the idea and future direction. 

The discussion is open to veterinarians and technicians who work in animal shelters or have a special interest in sheltering and you do not need to be registered for the conference to attend. Students are welcome as observers. 

The meeting will be on Monday, April 18th, 5:15-6:45pm in Mountbatten A at the Chelsea Hotel, 33 Gerard Street West, Toronto.

Anyone interested in attending is asked to RSVP to the founding committee of the Ontario Shelter Medicine Association at info@ontariosheltermedicine.org on or before April 8th.

Quebec Bans Tail Docking and Ear Cropping

Quebec's Order of Veterinarians has moved to prohibit certain cosmetic surgeries as of January 2017.

Veterinarians will no longer be able to dock or cut the tails of dogs, cattle or horses for cosmetic reasons. The order also bans ear cropping for cats and dogs because it goes against the principles of ensuring an animal's well-being.

Originally most tail docking and ear cropping was done for practical purposes - often to protect a working animal from injury. Today, most dogs are pets and don't have the same threat of injury and the procedure is often done to meet breed standards, so the surgery is considered cosmetic.

Ear cropping involves cutting off up to two-thirds of the ear flap when the dog is 4-6 months old. It has been banned in many European countries, Australia, New Zealand and Scandinavia.

Tail docking is performed when the puppy is only a few days old. In the process, muscles, tendons, nerves, bone, and cartilage is severed. It has been banned in many countries in Europe as well as Australia. Members of Parliament in the United Kingdom voted to ban tail docking in March 2006, except for working dogs or for medical reasons.

With this move by Quebec to ban cosmetic ear cropping and tail docking, Alberta and Ontario are the only provinces in Canada without legislation outlawing these surgeries.

Should Veterinarians Rethink the Pet Owner Service Model?

DVM360.com, an Ezine for veterinarians, published an interesting article earlier this year. Dr. Brian Toivola, a retired veterinarian, asks important questions about the veterinary service model and provides some of his own ideas about why pet owner visits may be falling.

Veterinary services are an important element of the pet owner experience. This conversation was of particular interest at Summit 2013. In the near future, InfoStream will use the YourSAY(tm) system to poll both pet owners and veterinarians about this topic. Perhaps defining and understanding the gaps between what vets currently provide and what their clients desire will be better defined from this activity.

In the meantime, the DVM360, article provides another lens from which to gain perspective.

VIEW THE ARTICLE

Idexx Sees Organic Growth in First Quarter

Second Quarter to Begin Launching New Products 

Although the economic climate remains challenging for businesses, Idexx Laboratories continues to bring innovative products and services to their customers. This has resulted in a 10 per cent increase in revenues during the first quarter of 2012. 

To continue their success, Idexx has proposed to launch new products to expand the diagnostic capability of veterinarians.

To read the official Press Release, click here.

Vets, Social Media, Communications and Advertising

The veterinary profession is struggling to understand how guidelines for advertising are aligned with modern social media and communication strategies.  The College of Veterinarians of Ontario (CVO) posted an advisory statement in late 2011.  Other jurisdictions watch this conversation for the conclusion.  

Read the CVO Advisory

Does the CVO advisory really work to protect the interests of a public that consumes the services and products supplied by this profession?  Evidence suggests proactive consumers seek a palate of services and products that will allow them to select the care profile of the animals under their care.  These consumers may even wish to select and prepay the annual care programs they wish to use.  The industry is watching this development with great interest.  Please feel free to provide your comments.