Veterinary Voices

Limited licenses offer path to foreign-trained veterinarians

Recruiting veterinarians to New Hampshire is tough. It's why state lawmakers last year created a conditional license for foreign-trained veterinarians.

The Granite State is not alone. Creating provisional licenses for foreign-trained veterinarians to address perceived workforce shortages has become something of a trend in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, with eight jurisdictions across the United States and Canada adopting them since 2021.

This story was published on July 9, 2025.

Cat poisoning in UK highlights danger of fake flea controls

Authorities in the United Kingdom are alerting pet owners about counterfeit topical flea and tick treatments that have poisoned at least one cat.

A bogus treatment given to that animal, bought online through the popular e-commerce site eBay and bearing the Frontline brand, was found to contain pirimiphos-methyl, a powerful insecticide that is toxic to cats.

This story was published on July 1, 2025.

How states regard gabapentin in veterinary use

At the Humane Society of Utah, as at many shelters and veterinary clinics, gabapentin is frequently given as an anti-anxiety medication.

As Alexis Pagoulatos, executive director of the nonprofit organization, explained, "Many animals arrive at shelters injured, fearful or emotionally shut down from trauma, and gabapentin plays a key role in keeping them calm and relieving pain."

This story was published on June 26, 2025.

Chewing the fat on dog chews

As the science of pet food gets more sophisticated, owners nowadays can cater to a seemingly endless assortment of their canine companions' nutritional needs — and wants. You can buy dog food tailored to specific breeds or to those with certain health conditions, such as skin problems. Dogs can even enjoy a "Mediterranean chicken and rice entrée" concocted by a Spanish Michelin-starred chef, José Andrés, among other luxury offerings.

One crucial ingredient, however, appears to have gotten lost along the way: an element of challenge for the dog. That's prompting some veterinarians to ruminate on the importance of chewing — and, by extension, chews — to dog health and well-being.

This story was published on June 24, 2025.

Burdened by financial losses, BSAVA Congress is no more

The British Small Animal Veterinary Association annual conference, known as BSAVA Congress, has ended for good, hurt by rising competition from other events and changes in the way practitioners access continuing education.

This story was published on June 17, 2025.

Nevada announces plans for its first veterinary school

States want their own veterinary schools, judging by recent efforts to start new programs in the United States. The latest aspirant is Nevada, where Roseman University of Health Sciences announced this week that it has notified the country's accreditor of veterinary education that it intends to initiate planning for a program.

This story was published on June 19, 2025.

Lincoln Memorial sues AVMA over accreditation

Lincoln Memorial University, which has a veterinary school that was recently put on accreditation probation, is suing the American Veterinary Medical Association, charging that it's engaging in "anticompetitive accreditation practices."

This story was published on June 18, 2025.

Uneasy pet owners in remote corner of US get good news

Overnight on the first Friday, Saturday and Sunday in June, Dr. Amanda Mason saw 17 patients at a veterinary hospital in Sequim, a small city on the remote Olympic Peninsula of Washington state.

That may not seem like a big deal, but the mere fact that the veterinary clinic was accepting patients long after most residents were tucked in bed was groundbreaking.

This story was published on June 11, 2025.

Inside cutbacks at FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine

Like many departments in the Food and Drug Administration, the Center for Veterinary Medicine has faced layoffs, hiring freezes and funding cutbacks under the new administration.

The CVM’s mandate is to protect human and animal health, which includes ensuring that animal drugs are safe and effective and monitoring the safety of animal food.

To understand the scale of the changes and their potential impact on veterinary medicine, the VIN News Service talked to a past CVM director and the recently departed chief of staff, as well as four current or former employees.

This story was published on June 5, 2025.

Amid economic turbulence, veterinarians brace for downturn

Visits to veterinarians began moderating around three years ago as a pandemic pet boom faded and runaway inflation weighed on household income. Now, even as inflation appears to have come off the boil, the outlook is getting gloomier.

This story was published on June 3, 2025.