Insights

DVM360 Magazine More shelters offer full veterinary services, compete with private practices. Most animal shelters and local humane societies enjoy strong working relationships with private veterinarians. Area doctors often volunteer at shelters, veterinary colleges provide externs for learning and shelter assistance, often at intake, and veterinary clinics routinely advise the community that great pets may…

DVM360 Magazine Rising population of pet owners poised to inject $5 billion yearly into veterinary market. Last week this blog examined the question of where Americans will find healthy dogs to meet our needs as the human population grows from 310 million people to 420 million people in less than 50 years. The absence of…

DVM360 Magazine Crackdowns on breeding, success with shelter neutering–while good things–could leave future veterinary clients without a source for pet dogs. It’s been six months since the U.S. Department of Agriculture implemented rules to bring Internet breeders within the scope of its animal welfare standards governing dog breeders. This is the latest initiative by federal…

DVM360 Magazine Two bills affecting veterinarians may have tanked because of their redundancy. At about the same time that the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and United Egg Producers (UEP) announced the end of their ill-fated partnership, U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah) introduced H.R. 4023 in Congress to little fanfare. This bill is…

DVM360 Magazine Veterinarians, pet owners need rigorous testing to be mandatory. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has requested public comment on a proposed regulation called the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA, for short), intended to strengthen the safety of pet food and animal feed sold in the United States. If it’s done right,…

DVM360 Magazine Most veterinary clients have no idea what labeling mean for their pets’ health. Attention, veterinarians: Do your clients read the labels on the food they feed their pets—the list of ingredients, the feeding guide or the “guaranteed analysis”? Do these labels influence how and what they feed? Do they make sense and are…

DVM360 Magazine Boots on the ground makes a big difference in Congress. More than 65 U.S. veterinary students took two days off from classes this week for a good cause. These representatives of accredited U.S. schools met in Washington, D.C., with AVMA’s leadership and its Governmental Relations Division to learn how to be effective in…

DVM360 Magazine Alabama’s at it again with bills regulating veterinary shelters and Massachusetts is looking to establish a veterinary technician board. State legislatures are political laboratories in a manner that Congress can never replicate. It’s the genius of our dual system of government, providing for legislative powers in 50 separate states along with the federal…

DVM360 Magazine Success of Veterinary Medicine Mobility Act in Senate could build momentum for more positive results. Veterinarians launched 2014 with a political win, but there’s more to do. The U.S. Senate passed S. 1171, the Veterinary Medicine Mobility Act, which allows veterinarians in mobile practices to transport and use controlled substances. This addresses a…

DVM360 Magazine FDA’s new antimicrobial guidelines don’t need legislative ‘help.’ A recent dvm360 article (“FDA’s final antimicrobial regulation proposal provides veterinarians more flexibility”) highlights a major success on the part of both the animal health industry and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), with clear benefits for American food consumers. Years of hard work,…