Veterinary Voices

Acupuncture, embryo transfer practitioners seek recognition

A group of acupuncture veterinarians is making a third bid for specialty recognition in the United States, guided by the view that acceptance of acupuncture in human and veterinary medicine has advanced enough since their last effort a decade ago to make the attempt successful.

Some veterinarians who perform embryo transfer, a reproduction technique, also are seeking specialty recognition, in their case for the first time.

This story was published on May 23, 2025.

Phages, as alternatives to antibiotics, edge into veterinary realm

Jeroen De Buck's years-long effort to find a treatment for a fatal affliction in cattle called Johne's disease recently took a twist. The veterinary microbiologist and his team spent months, partly through the harsh Canadian winter, collecting dung, soil, wastewater, milk and bedding from calf pens at a dozen dairy farms in Alberta.

The organisms he sought are bacteriophages — or phages for short —  a subset of viruses that infect and kill bacteria.

This story was published on May 15, 2025.

Veterinarian aims to bring hemophilia treatment to pet dogs

Dr. Monica Revel has neutered countless dogs, with few hitches, in her more than two decades as a small animal veterinarian. So she was flummoxed in 2023 when the incision she made in a cockapoo puppy named Roland started oozing and bleeding during recovery.

The oozing stopped before Revel discharged Roland with strict instructions for the owner to head to an emergency hospital if it resumed. Then, she anxiously awaited word on the blood sample she'd sent to a diagnostic laboratory.

This story was published on May 20, 2025.

RVC head to stay at UK school amid US accreditation woes

The principal of the Royal Veterinary College will not lead the main veterinary education association in the United States as planned amid a deepening accreditation crisis at the prestigious British school that has compelled him to stay there for an extra three years.

The RVC is on the brink of losing its accreditation in the United States and Canada because its students who elect to take a key exam required to practice in those North American countries keep falling short of a minimum pass rate.

This story was published on May 12, 2025.

State animal chiropractic bills net mixed results

Chiropractors in Tennessee may treat animal patients without having to coordinate care with a veterinarian under a law signed this month. New Hampshire is poised to take a similar approach.

Legislation seeking similar arrangements failed in Mississippi, while bills in California and Maine are on pause following vigorous campaigns against them by veterinary organizations. 

This story was published on May 7, 2025.

UK considers veterinary price controls and transparency

Authorities in the United Kingdom are considering controlling what veterinary practices charge for medications and requiring upfront disclosures of service prices as part of a raft of proposals intended to lower the cost of care.

The country's Competition and Markets Authority did not, however, press for large corporate consolidators to sell practices, only stating a reminder that it "has the ability to scrutinize future mergers."

This story was published on May 5, 2025.

Mexico veterinary school withdraws from US accreditation

The voluntary action by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, home to the only veterinary school in the country ever accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education, has sparked the ire of some students and alumni.

This story was published on April 30, 2025.

First drug OK'd for most common heart condition in cats

Shmitty the cat had been a patient of Dr. Kourtney Morrissette for three years by the time his owner saw him fall onto his side for more than a minute, breathing through his mouth — which is unusual for a cat — and paddling the air with his paws. What Morrissette detected years earlier as a faint heart murmur was the first hint that Shmitty had a condition known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

This story was published on April 24, 2025.

For dairy veterinarians, is bird flu a work hazard?

When Dr. David Hernke attended a conference for bovine practitioners in Ohio last year, he was asked to roll up his sleeve for science.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was collecting samples of blood from veterinarians who work with cattle to determine the prevalence of a highly virulent form of avian influenza that's been infecting a wide variety of animals besides birds — including dairy cows, seals, sheep and cats.

This story was published on April 22, 2025.

Colorado lawmakers fall short in effort to limit midlevel role

An effort by Colorado lawmakers to limit the scope of practice for what will be the country's first-ever midlevel veterinary practitioner has met with mixed results.

While the veterinary workforce bill cleared both chambers in the General Assembly and is on its way to the governor's desk for a promised signature, many of its most restrictive provisions were watered down or eliminated along the way.

This story was published on April 17, 2025.