Veterinary Voices

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.

Royal Veterinary College faces US accreditation challenge

England's Royal Veterinary College is warning prospective students from the United States and Canada that they could face additional hurdles if they wish to practice in their home countries because the school could lose its accreditation in North America.

This story was published on April 14, 2025.

Pet owners turn to veterinary tourism as costs rise at home

Thomas and Loralee Kitts faced an excruciating decision. Their wire-haired dachshund, Gus, needed surgery for intervertebral disk disease, a painful and crippling spinal condition. Unable to afford the $12,000 quoted by a veterinarian in Portland, Oregon, where they live, the couple considered euthanasia.

"We were at a loss," Thomas Kitts said. "My wife and I were sitting there wondering, what the hell should we do? This is our little guy."

This story was published on April 10, 2025.

Utah State veterinary school hurries to select its first class

Having just a matter of weeks to decide admissions to its new veterinary college opening Aug. 11, Utah State University began accepting applications in late March, drawing more than 100 in the first week or so, according to the dean.

The school in Logan, Utah, is running nearly one year behind the standard timeline to accept veterinary school applications because it was waiting for a "letter of reasonable assurance" indicating that it's on target for accreditation by the American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education.

This story was published on April 8, 2025.

Most of pet owner lawsuit against Idexx dismissed

A lawsuit brought by a group of pet owners in the United States against veterinary diagnostics giant Idexx Laboratories alleging that it charges unlawfully high prices has been found by a judge to have no legal standing in most of the states in which they reside.

The class action, filed in 2022, alleges that Idexx's "anticompetitive behavior" causes pet owners to pay "artificially high" prices for point-of-care testing.

This story was published on April 2, 2025.

Evette CEO aims to put impersonation incident behind her

The founder of a veterinary relief company who confessed last fall to impersonating a veterinarian so she could join a closed social media group says that the company "has done our best to address the issue, take action and move forward."

In an interview in March, Elise Burns, CEO of Evette Staffing, told the VIN News Service that she has experienced no legal consequences from the admitted deception nor was she contacted by Meta, the owner of Facebook, the platform where her company was discovered to be using a false identity to infiltrate several private groups intended for veterinarians only.

This story was published on March 31, 2025.

Recovery continues months after Hurricane Helene

Three weeks after Hurricane Helene blew through, Dr. Otto Sharp stood outside the animal hospital he owns in western North Carolina, flanked by his staff. Situated near the Swannanoa River, the clinic's fence and landscaping had been swept away and its foundation damaged. Brown water and mud had oozed under the door into the reception area.

But Sharp wasn't there to lament their lot. Instead, he read a statement he'd prepared in advance, not wanting to wing such an important moment. In it, he expressed pride in his team, who, for three weeks after the disaster, volunteered their time to provide free medical care to affected animals, even as many had, themselves, sustained flood or landslide damage to their homes.

This story was published on March 26, 2025.

Veterinarians in Spain strike over restrictions on antibiotics

Veterinarians across Spain walked off the job on March 26 to protest a new national law that limits their use of antibiotics, in a sign that global efforts to tackle antimicrobial resistance — while broadly supported by the veterinary community — can face pushback if considered overly restrictive.

The two-hour demonstration comes at an already challenging time for Spain's veterinary profession, which is grappling with a separate animal welfare law that, among other things, appears to prohibit practitioners from euthanizing animals when owners can't afford treatment.

This story was published on March 24, 2025.

Veterinary exam squeaker spotlights statistical calculation

The 79.4% national veterinary licensing exam pass rate achieved by the second-ever class of the University of Arizona College of Veterinary Medicine falls just short of the minimum 80% specified in accreditation standards for veterinary schools in the United States.

But the subpar test performance isn't the setback it might seem.

This story was published on March 17, 2025.