Saturday, August 29, 2009

A New Witch Hunt In Massachusetts???

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This disturbing story appeared in the newsletter of Best Friends.org
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"A New Witch Hunt in Massachusetts:
"The City of Mashpee will hear an alarming breed discriminatory bylaw at its Annual Town Meeting on October 19, 2009. This disturbing bylaw includes claims that certain breeds have “a strong instinct for dominance” and a prey drive that results in “aggressive pursuit of . . . human children”. These statements made in Section 1 of the proposed bylaw are reckless and entirely unfounded. Even more appalling is subparagraph (i) under Section 4 of the proposed bylaw. It reads: 'In the event [a pit bull type dog has] a litter, the owner or keeper (i) must deliver the puppies to the Town Kennel for destruction. . . . Any pit bull puppies kept contrary to the provisions of this subsection are subject to immediate impoundment and disposal. . . .'."

For the complete article, go to the following web address:

http://network.bestfriends.org/News.aspx?pID=12799
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Monday, August 24, 2009

Recall of 2 lot #'s of 85 lb plus size of Iverhart Plus Chewables



The following is an excerpt from an article that was posted in The VIN News Service:

Virbac recalls Iverhart Plus

August 20, 2009
By: Jennifer Fiala
For The VIN News Service

Virbac Animal Health has recalled Iverhart Plus flavored chewable tablets for dogs after routine stability tests showed that samples from two lots did not contain sufficient amounts of ivermectin to give dogs weighing 85 pounds or more six months of parasite protection.

The company, which sent out a letter to distributors last Friday, reports that lots 090093 and 090095 of the heartworm preventative, sold between March 20 and April 5, are affected.

A third lot, 090073, initially was named in the recall, but subsequent tests revealed the related product was not subpotent....

The rest of the article can be found at the following link: http://news.vin.com/VINNews.aspx?articleId=13680

Monday, August 3, 2009

An Open Letter to Veterinarians, By a Veterinarian


"The Growing Problem of Clients Who Cannot Afford Emergency Care"


After about 10 years working in emergency hospitals, it became painfully clear that, the more advanced our ability to provide adequate care became, the less the average person was able to afford it. In our recent economic downturn, it has become a real crisis. With the widespread use of specialized emergency and critical care hospitals for overnight, weekend, and holiday coverage for general practitioners, clients and their sick and injured pets are frequently caught in a desperate situation. They find themselves in the midst of a medical emergency, in a hospital where there is no ongoing relationship with the doctor providing the care, and faced with charges that are likely to be much higher than they are accustomed to, not to mention the requirement of immediate paymentFew would disagree that state-of-the art veterinary care should be available and easily accessible. It also goes without saying that facilities that provide this level of care must charge more for their services than practices with lower overhead. However, often we are dealing with owners who have chosen a particular emergency facility simply because their own vet is using it to cover emergency calls. Suddenly, they are faced with charges that could easily be three or four times when their normal vet would charge. There are some ethical questions, here. Should an emergency hospital that offers round-the-clock care, sophisticated critical care monitoring, and advanced surgical and medical treatment, be willing to offer care that is less than state-of-the-art, simply because an owner cannot afford it? Is it right to turn someone away and risk the animal's death, because they do not have enough to pay for treatment? As veterinarians, where do our allegiances lie?--to the owner and their emotional and financial needs; or to the animal and its comfort and general welfare? What about our own financial needs? It helps no one if veterinarians give so much of their services away that they go out of business. Nor does it help if we give away so much of our time and energy that we burn ourselves out and either lose our compassion or leave the profession.I would really like to get a dialog started about this important issue. My husband and I are trying to build up an organization that will help find funding for people who cannot afford emergency care. It is called The Veterinary Emergency Funding Mission. Other similar organizations have fallen short because they have depended only on the generosity of individuals. I think that this issue is far too important not to get the backing of veterinarians and local communities around the country. Perhaps an internet dialog will get the word out and start people thinking about how to make change happen.


Lucy L. (Pinkston) Schroth DVM - President & Co-Founder of The Veterinary Emergency Funding Missionhttp://www.vefm.org/ (blog - http://vefm.blogspot.com/ )(vefmmail@gmail.com)

"Help me to help financially strapped owners pay for emergency vet care."

"Together, the veterinary community can make a BIG difference."

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JustAnswer.com

I try not to discriminate against a species that is "less fortunate" than mine.