"Current" Issues in Veterinary Medicine

[Sophie10]

Since we're getting sort of close to interview time, I started trying to make a list of current issues in veterinary medicine. Here's what I have so far:

Effect of the economy
H1N1
Horse slaughter
Unwanted or abandoned horse problem
EEE outbreak in Maine
Housing of food animals (proposition 2 in California)
Food animal welfare board (Issue 2 in Ohio, also Michigan)
Canine influenza
Avian influenza
Chick maceration
Ear cropping/tail docking
Declawing
Animal rights vs Animal welfare
MRSA infection/transmission
Preventative use of antibiotics in food animals
Michael Vick

What am I missing?

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[eventualeventer]

Some random thoughts that might or might not be relevant for interviews (I'm guessing this list could go on forever):
- "convenience" euthanasias
- mandatory spay/neuter laws
- how to balance trying to increase vet standard of living (income/debt ratio) and perception of value in profession (by increasing fees) with the needs of poorer owners and their animals (this was debated here a while ago)
- food safety and importing pet food? (melamine poisonings from the other year)
- horse racing issues - ethics of things like anabolic steroid use, repeated joint injections in excess of standard practices, etc., used to keep racehorses going
- ownership of exotic animals as pets

 

[bunnity]

overpopulation
income to tuition ratio for vets
increasing knowledge to cram into four years
the rise of online pet pharmacies
regulation of compounding (like with the polo pony deaths)
conservation / wildlife issues apply to vet med (habitat destruction / fragmentation), climate change ... )

 

[zpsid91]

How about the declaw ban in San Francisco

 

[HopefulAg]

Wasn't there a new mandatory spay/neuter law in...some state? I think Kentucky maybe?

I think the current shortage of veterinarians and current low output of veterinarians (2,000 sounds like a lot but...) per year as well.

 

[aspiringDVM]

Wasn't there a new mandatory spay/neuter law in...some state? I think Kentucky maybe?

I live and work in Kentucky and haven't heard anything about this. According to a quick Googling, it looks like Louisville (our largest city) may be mandating spays and neuters, but not the whole state. There were also alot of links for California spay/neuter issue sites -- maybe they're doing something statewide?

This is kind of abstract, but I'm also concerned about the influence that entities such as animal rights groups, pharmaceutical companies, breeders, trainers, etc. have on legislation and practice of veterinary medicine, as well as the fact that these groups, not veterinarians, are increasingly held up as the authorities on animal health and wellbeing. Just look at the video of that ghastly woman who eviscerated the entire profession for doing dreadful things like vaccinating animals and closing their clinics at night (I think the thread was called "bad vets... terrible vets..." or some such).

 

[HopefulAg]

Also the knee jerk reaction from the public to slaughtering horses. "Noo, the horseys are too cute!" Great, but now people can't afford to feed them and can't get rid of them, sooo.....

 

[Truby]

Don't forget spongiform encephalopathy, especially in europe.

 

[Sophie10]

Puppy mills.

You guys have been super helpful. I truly messed up the current events question at Ohio last year.

 

[bruinvetman]

what websites do you guys use to keep up with these current event issues? So far I've just been using JAVMA news but the good stuff can be hard to sort out.

 

[Sophie10]

I read the AVMA RSS feeds.

Also: http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dvm/Veterinary+news/Article/list/204

I just thought of a big one! Pet health insurance!

 

[HopefulAg]

How about the movement to have horses reclassified as pets instead of livestock? That'd affect research grants and what not.

Also mandatory microchipping for livestock. Would allow for medical records to be stored electronically.

 

[rileyroo]

regarding the mandatory spay/neuter laws, i have found several sites that mention passing these laws, last year or the year before but don't actually see anything where these laws were actually put into place and followed. found discussions for a statewide enforcement in california in 2007, an actual vote that passed an ordinance in dallas, and nothing for the state of kentucky.

as for pet insurance, i'm also wondering where that will go as i have already seen a lot more talk about pet insurance just in the last year. one of the pharmaceutical reps who i have seen at three different clinics over the past two years has switched from that industry to selling pet insurance. i'm wondering how this will change the field/how prevalent it will be when we are veterinarians.

 

[nyanko]

Effects of increasing specialization and compartmentalization in veterinary medicine might be a good one (building on bunnity's suggestion about 'more knowledge to cram into 4 years').

 

[DVMDream]

How about breed selective legislation and trying to ban specific breeds in certain cities. May not seem like an issue in vet med, but when we give out rabies certificates the breed we state on the certificate is what breed that dog is considered. (We had a client insist that her dog was a wolf and she wanted us to put that on the rabies certificate. The vet simply told her that it is against the law to keep a wolf and that by law she is not allowed to knowingly vaccinate a wolf or let the owner keep a wolf. The dog was an Alaskan malamute.) Many people will be asking vets to lie about the their dog's breed so they can keep their pets. So this could very well become an issue if breed selective legislation grows.

 

[Sophie10]

The Supreme Court heard an animal related case today about the legality of dogfighting videos. I'm not sure how that would really relate to veterinary medicine.. but knowing about it can't hurt!

Also, I found this page to be really helpful:
http://www.avma.org/advocacy/federal/legislative/agenda.asp

I think being able to talk intelligently about attempted changes regarding some of this issues might be a nice way to talk about them.

 

[aspiringDVM]

Re: Kentucky: I knew there was a reason I liked you, Riley .

 

[rileyroo]

Re: Kentucky: I knew there was a reason I liked you, Riley .

lol thanks

 

[Perfbird]

I know that in California, any dog or cat that is adopted out of a shelter/rescue must be spayed/neutered before it leaves. Which is very interesting sometimes as we get animals that have an owner but were turned into us as a lost dog, and legally we have to neuter them, and oftentimes the owners are pissed when they come to get their dog only to find they've been fixed. At least they don't have to pay?

 

[cowgirla]

I would only feel comfortable talking about half those topics...
Yikes!

 

[cwazy cat lady]

I know that in California, any dog or cat that is adopted out of a shelter/rescue must be spayed/neutered before it leaves. Which is very interesting sometimes as we get animals that have an owner but were turned into us as a lost dog, and legally we have to neuter them, and oftentimes the owners are pissed when they come to get their dog only to find they've been fixed. At least they don't have to pay?

Yeah, we get that sometimes, too. We automatically alter them if they are stray after the mandatory stray hold expires. No way are we going to give the dog back unaltered! (Cats it is pretty much never an issue).

 

[VeganSoprano]

NYC has pretty much the same law. I think it is the best sort of mandatory spay/neuter - focused on public and population health while not interfering with the privilege of a responsible owner and their vet to make individual decisions that may be in the best interests of individual animals.

 

[ColoGirl]

I get ProMed Mail sent to my email (sometimes many times a day) but it will keep you up to date on any sort of infectious disease outbreak including the EEE outbreak in the NE this year. In our graduate program we get asked about all this stuff during our oral exams, so I am forced to stay on top of it.

 

[cowgirla]

Are there any other subscriptions that are good to keep an eye on? I check out IVIS every couple days, but that's really about it.

 

[causticus]

ScienceDaily is a good one...more general science stuff, but they throw in some vet-related stories from time to time.

Also, how about the recent attacks on researchers by animal rights activists? Like the UCLA prof that had his car blown up right in front of his house.

Bastards.

 

[chris03333]

Cost of going to vet school is a huge issue. Especially when you need to take loans, and then factor in average starting vet salaries....then if you are like me a persue internship/residency that loan to income ratio is much higher.