Veterinary Voices

When Colorado veterinary regulators meet on June 11, they won't be hammering out scope-of-practice rules or supervision requirements for what will be the first midlevel position in the United States. Instead, they'll revisit their decision on who will manage credentialing and administer the licensing exam — a determination they thought was settled nearly a year ago.

This story was published on June 4, 2026.

When passed by popular vote in California in 2018, Proposition 12 was considered a landmark animal rights law.

The legislation establishes minimum space requirements for pregnant pigs and prohibits selling pork raised on farms that don't comply. This restriction effectively bans the use of gestation crates, also called gestation stalls, which are confined spaces with metal bars used to house pregnant sows. Typically around 7 feet by 2 feet, they are too small for sows to turn around in, much less walk or move freely. Now Congress is considering language in the upcoming farm bill that would gut the gestation crate law in California and a similar law in Massachusetts.

This story was published on June 2, 2026.

When a textbook co-authored by the English veterinarian Dr. Richard Wall about parasitic insects was published almost three decades ago, bloodsucking lice were classified under the taxonomic order Phthiraptera.

Pity the student still studying from Veterinary Entomology: Arthropod Ectoparasites of Veterinary Importance, the content of which has since been updated. That now-outdated edition is available for free on a website that offers pirated copies of veterinary textbooks. The risk of digesting inaccurate information is one of many perils of textbook piracy.

This story was published on May 26, 2026.

Before closing his practice this spring, Dr. Martin Moravec was the lone veterinarian in Rock County, Nebraska, an area home to 40,000 beef cattle and only 1,200 people. He tried once to hire a veterinarian to share the work, carefully wording his advertisement to highlight that the position meant lots of time in the outdoors, away from the stress of city life.

"I got zero response," he said.

Access to large animal care in rural parts of the United States has been a problem for decades, and agricultural and veterinary leaders at federal, state, university and community levels are still trying to solve it.

This story was published on May 29, 2026.

Erdman Animal Hospital was scheduled to close its doors in late May. Then along came a puppy who needed a booster shot the following month.

This story was published on May 28, 2026.

Four weeks into the test period of a nine-month study investigating the link between cats' health and phosphorus in their food, Dr. Jonathan Stockman and his team cut the trial short. Some of the 24 feline subjects had lost their appetites and were shedding weight and vomiting. The kidneys of 22 cats appeared concerningly bright on ultrasound images.

The first study to suggest a link between high levels of dietary phosphorus and kidney disease in healthy adult cats had been published more than 20 years earlier, but now Stockman was seeing the negative effects in real time.

This story was published on May 14, 2026.

Three hundred and thirty-six people commented after Dr. Lance Keil posted on social media that his veterinary clinic — the one his father started in 1957 on Erdman Avenue in Baltimore — was closing.

"I'm literally in tears," said one. "You have been a blessing to this community," wrote another. "We couldn't ask for a better doctor for our fur kids!" a third exclaimed. "Not to mention how you managed to give the best care while keeping it affordable. You will be missed!"

This story was published on May 12, 2026.

The United States Supreme Court's refusal in April to review an appellate ruling marks the end of a case that hovered over veterinary telemedicine for 13 years.

The denial of review allows a 2024 Fifth Circuit decision to stand. The court found state regulators violated the free speech rights of a Texas veterinarian when they penalized him for advising clients by email without having first conducted a hands-on patient exam.

This story was published on May 8, 2026.

When Dr. Stephen Joslyn and colleagues tested the accuracy of artificial intelligence programs that help veterinarians read radiographs, they discovered that the increasingly popular tools made mistakes. One case was particularly illustrative.

A dog had swallowed a river stone, the object lodging in its small intestine. Joslyn and his team at Murdoch University veterinary school in Australia sent two radiographs of the dog's abdomen to six different AI platforms for analysis; four were based in the United States, one in France and one in South Korea.

This story was published on May 4, 2026.

Show notes:

• External validation of commercial veterinary radiology artificial intelligence services shows deficiencies in interpretation of general practice–sourced canine abdominal radiographs
• Comparison of radiological interpretation made by veterinary radiologists and state-of-the-art commercial AI software for canine and feline radiographic studies
• Commentary: Comparison of radiological interpretation made by veterinary radiologists and state-of-the-art commercial AI software for canine and feline radiographic studies
• Performance of an artificial intelligence convolution neural network software for the detection of confirmed heart failure in dogs and cats

For the past decade, veterinarians who are mothers have had a particular space online where they could talk about cases, ask for and give parenting advice, seek solace, complain, crack wise and build enduring friendships. The group has been described as "magical" and "a lifeline."

Now, numerous former members say the group is morphing into something else — something that seems less about building community and more about profit for a few individuals.

This story was published on April 28, 2026.