Top Veterinary Advances for 2007????

I just got the latest issue of Veterinary Practice News. It’s a free magazine for veterinarians, and has a wide variety of news and information, in a very easy to read format. I usually flip through it when it arrives.

In this issue, there was a short list of the top 2007 Veterinary Advances, according to ABC News. What do you think of this list?(companies in parentheses)

The Canine Melanoma Vaccine (Merial)

The Porphymonas bacterin dental vaccine (Pfizer)

The Canine Transdermal Device, for giving vaccines without injections (Merial)

Slentrol, for canine obesity (Pfizer)

Breed specific pet food (Royal Canin, Iams)

WholeMeals, a “bone” shaped meal for dogs (Mars)

Pain management techniques and guidelines (American Animal Hospital Association)

Wisdom Panel, DNA test for mixed breed heritage (Mars)

Fortiflora, a probiotic (Purina)

Hannah Pharmaceuticals Joint support products (Schuyler, LLC, Canada)

Reconcile, drug for separation anxiety, identical to Prozac (Eli Lilly)

WOW.

Three vaccine products. A drug that is already on the market in generic form, and one that is an alternative to controlling what your dog eats. Oh, and a selection of over-processed grain rich kibbles, and one made into a “bone”. And a probiotic– I do think probiotics are a good thing — whose first ingredient is animal digest.

You may wonder what animal digest is. From Wikipedia:

As defined by the AAFCO, it is produced by chemically or enzymatically treating animal tissue (such as flesh, bone, organs, etc.) from slaughterhouses and other sources, in a process akin to rendering.

Yet another expert defines this as “a cooked-down broth” which can be made from unspecified parts of unspecified animals. The animals used can be obtained from almost any source and no control is in place over quality or contamination. Any kind of animal can be included: “4-D animals” (dead, diseased, disabled, or dying prior to slaughter), goats, pigs, horses, rats, euthanized at animal shelters, restaurant and supermarket refuse and so on.”^[2]

In the “maybe” category of advances, we have the Wisdom test. Find out the breeds in your mixed breed dog’s heritage. The worst that can happen is you can’t see any of the breed characteristics in the dog you love, the best is the results make perfect sense. Doesn’t seem harmful to anyone.

You may be wondering if I agree with any of this list. I would list the pain control protocols at the top of this list. While it seems very commonsense, actually spelling out and scientifically supporting the needs and means for pain control in animals has brought many veterinarians out of the dark ages when we either chose not to control pain or didn’t acknowledge the pain animals felt.

Joint support products are also a no-brainer when it comes to things that benefit our pets. There are a number of great products out there, so I would expand this beyond the mentioned product. Interestingly enough, the mentioned product was the only one who wasn’t associated with a huge corporation. However, with just a bit of internet sleuthing, it is clear that Schulyer, LLC is affiliated with Banfield, one of the largest corporate chain veterinary hospitals in the country. Makes you wonder….

Being on this soapbox is a bit tiring, so I will step off now. Thanks for reading. Thanks more for thinking and commenting.