The business-minded veterinarian

Veterinarians are needed not only to treat our pets and livestock, but in a broader context, to help with zoonotic disease maintenance. Credit: Image courtesy of Kansas State University Research and Extension

Animals can teach us more about the human body than we might realize. Crack open New York Times bestseller "Zoobiquity," and you'll learn about a human cardiologist's experiences at the Los Angeles Zoo that allowed her to more closely connect human and animal medicine. Even in the first chapter -- Dr. House, Meet Doctor Dolittle -- author Barbara Natterson-Horowitz reveals how doctors and veterinarians could learn from each other to effectively diagnose and treat all species.

Indeed, veterinarians are needed not only to treat our pets and livestock, but in a broader context, to help with zoonotic disease maintenance. The interaction between animals and humans secures the continuous demand for the profession, and the fewer veterinarians we have, the larger potential for catastrophic disease, according to Michael Dicks, director of the economics division for the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA).

Although the profession is needed, Dicks said financial struggles do exist, especially for those beginning to practice. Many veterinarians who are just starting out find that they need to make enough money to pay off their high educational debt while trying to make a living, which can pose a major challenge.

According to Kansas State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, the average debt reported by its 2014 graduates was $170,380, and graduates in 2013 had similar debt at $170,919.

The average practice salary reported by 2014 K-State graduates was $64,678 and for 2013 graduates, $63,294. For those practicing outside of Kansas, the average starting salaries were a bit higher at $66,057 for 2014 graduates and $66,939 for those who graduated in 2013.

"The downturn of the economy impacted veterinary medicine and what graduates could earn in their first year," said Roger Fingland, executive associate dean for K-State's College of Veterinary Medicine and director of the Veterinary Health Center. "It is important to educate people who want to be veterinarians about the financial realities. But, I think the value of being a veterinarian has to always be in the discussion."

Seeking opportunities

Dicks, a veteran agricultural economist, said the objective of the AVMA's economics division is to find ways to enhance the lifelong value of a veterinary degree. Understanding the market for veterinary services and how individual veterinary practices make money are important components that add value.

The biggest area of demand in veterinary medicine is working with companion animals, or pets, which accounts for about six out of 10 practicing veterinarians, he said. Food animal veterinarians, those who work with cattle, sheep and pigs as examples, account for one out of 10. Other veterinarians might choose mixed animal practice or work in zoos, animal hospitals, the education field or other industries.

Scholarship opportunities are available for students in many interest areas, particularly for those who want to work in rural areas and seek mixed animal practice or large animal practice, including food animals and other livestock. Fingland said at K-State, rural scholarship recipients receive $25,000 a year if they intend to practice in a Kansas county that is declared rural. Most counties in Kansas have a rural designation.

If the students take the scholarship and don't practice in a rural area, however, they have to pay that money back, he said. To his knowledge, no students have had to pay the money back, but some graduates will find that some rural areas don't have enough animals to support a full-time veterinarian. Or, perhaps the environment will not allow the veterinarian to charge the going rate for various services.

"I believe there is a need for large animal and mixed animal practitioners in some rural areas," Fingland said. "Need means there are consumers in that area who perceive that they need veterinary services. Needing veterinary services and having an environment that financially supports veterinary services are two different things. Some communities can't financially support the service."

Certain aspects of veterinary medicine are different than others, and veterinarians can choose certain avenues of practice to potentially increase their salaries. Industry veterinarians typically have higher earning potential than mixed animal practitioners, Fingland said.

Like human doctors, veterinarians can specialize as cardiologists, surgeons, internists and radiologists, as examples. Veterinarian specialists tend to make higher salaries, Fingland said, but they also have to go through much more training than general practitioners. Practice ownership also lends itself to higher pay.

Combining business with a calling

Most people go into business, because that's what they want to do. Veterinarians, no matter what area of practice they prefer, are no different, Dicks said. He encourages veterinarians, like any other business-minded professionals, to plan ahead to maximize their opportunities.

"We know just like farmers and ranchers, we all weigh life in some ways with the amount of money we're making," Dicks said. "People must give up a little return to have the style of life they want. For veterinarians, that huge (college) debt can be a restraint. If I have debt when I get out of school, that means I may be driving a 10-year-old car, living with my roommate for another five years, and not going out or buying anything. I may be paying my debt and trying to make a life."

Fingland, who teaches veterinary business courses, said on the first day of orientation at K-State, he presents new students and their parents with numbers showing what the education will cost for the next four years of veterinary school to make them aware.

"There is no question that there is a financial problem at work, and I worry about it like other people in my position worry about it," Fingland said. "But, there is value in doing what is your calling. I understand as a veterinarian that I'm not going to make as much money as someone in another profession. I don't want to be in that other profession, so what difference does it make if that person makes more money than I do?"

"We can't tell young people who aspire to be veterinarians, 'You shouldn't do this, because you won't make as much money as you could doing something else,'" he continued. "Is that what we're going to tell people who want to teach? Imagine if somebody would have turned away the wonderful teachers that we had in grade school, high school and college. That would have been very unfortunate."

Fingland said preparing students to be business-minded veterinarians involves work in and out of the classroom. In addition to one required business and finance course, veterinary students at K-State are allowed to take elective business courses and join organizations such as the Veterinary Business Management Association. They also learn about planning and budgeting through K-State's Powercat Financial Counseling, available as a free resource for all students.

Involving the veterinarian

As a livestock producer, Dicks said he believes it is essential to have a veterinarian as part of your health team if you own animals. Sometimes the veterinarian might be considered a provider of last resort or someone whose job can be handled by salesmen or technicians for artificial insemination, embryo transfer, ultrasounding for carcass characteristics or pregnancy, hoof trimming and nutritional planning, as examples.

But, he said in the last 10 years the cattle industry has experienced diseases such as trichomoniasis and curly calf syndrome, among others, that may have surprised some producers. Having a close relationship with a veterinarian could help protect animals from diseases and producers from major financial losses.

"Maybe because a veterinarian wasn't part of our herd health program, we only found out about these diseases once they happened to us," Dicks said. "Some of those things cause 20 to 30 percent losses."

"What we focus on is teaching veterinary students to thrive in a competitive environment, not in an unrealistic environment where there's no competition," Fingland said. "There are many things veterinarians can do that others can't do who don't have the level of training. No one will ever replace the veterinarians' intellect, when they go to a farm to analyze the nutrition that the rancher or farmer is providing, and the environment and how that environment might lead to disease."

Source: Kansas State University Research and Extension

The bloody truth: How blood donations can save animals' lives

Donated blood can be quickly regenerated by the animal’s organism. Credit: Felizitas Steindl / Vetmeduni Vienna

Blood transfusions are of importance not only in human medicine. Also animals do need blood donations. The University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna operates a blood bank for dogs for more than a decade. But also cats can donate blood for acute emergencies. Horses need blood donations especially during operations that involve high blood loss. Sheep, goats and other ruminants require transfusions when plagued by serious infestations of parasites. Three vets from different areas of expertise explain how blood transfusions work with different animal species and how they can save lives.

Blood can hardly be created through artificial means, but it can be transferred within a species. Reasons for a blood transfusion among dogs and cats are usually serious accidents, large operations, certain types of cancer, cases of intoxication with rat poison, serious infectious diseases such as the tick-borne babesiosis, and blood illnesses including haemolytic or inherited bleeding disorders such as haemophilia.

At the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna dog owners can bring their animals to donate blood regularly or as needed. Blood donations two to four times a year per dog is the maximum. About 15 minutes are required for a donation. Dogs must have a minimum weight of 25 kilograms and usually donate about 450 millilitres of blood. For cats, depending on their size, the amount taken is about 50 millilitres. Cats are typically sedated for the procedure. For most dogs, on the other hand, donating blood does not involve any serious stress. Should a donation cause too much anxiety or stress, the animal will be excluded as a donor.

Not all blood is alike

As with people, animals also have different blood types. Animal blood, as well as human blood, is divided into various groups based on different surface proteins found on the red blood cells. More than twelve different blood type systems have been described for dogs, although in practice dogs are only tested for DEA 1.1 positive or DEA 1.1 negative. Cats exhibit three different types of blood, horses eight and bovines eleven. The transfusion of an unsuitable blood type can have fatal consequences for animals, especially when a cat with blood type B receives type A blood. For horses and ruminants, the first time transfusion of 'wrong' donor blood is generally safe. With each additional transfusion, however, blood types become crucial, as the animals have produced antibodies against the foreign blood that can cause serious immune reactions.

Blood donations come with a health check

Dogs and cats can be registered as blood donors at the Clinical Unit of Internal Medicine Small Animals of the Vetmeduni Vienna. The animals receive a donor card and undergo a thorough examination before each donation. This mandatory health check includes a complete blood count, a test for blood parasites, and a check-up for viral infections.

"Donating blood does not harm the animals. The donated amount can be quickly regenerated by the animal's organism," says specialist for small animal internal medicine and blood bank coordinator Nicole Luckschander-Zeller. "We pay special attention to making sure that donor animals feel good during donation. That's why, after every donation, we give the animals a little snack."

Dog and cat blood is not only used as a whole. Individual blood components, such as plasma or erythrocyte concentrates, are stored and used when needed.

Horses as blood donors and recipients

There are various reasons for blood donations in equine medicine. These include clotting disorders of the blood, anaemia, poisonings or serious infectious diseases as well as perioperative blood loss. For the latter, blood is stored and kept ready for use during surgery in areas with strong blood supply, such as the nose and jaw. A blood transfusion helps to sustain adequate circulation of the animal during the operation and speeds recovery.

"The owners of diseased horses occasionally bring the suitable donor animal with them," says René van den Hoven, director of the Clinical Unit for Equine Internal Medicine at the Vetmeduni Vienna. The hospital also maintains a number of its own donor horses. The number of donations and the volume of the blood collected are registered in the horse's file, making it possible to plan future dates for donations without compromising the animal's health.

A maximum of five to seven litres of blood can be collected from a horse per donation. The blood must then be transfused into a patient within just a few hours. Storing whole equine blood is not a suitable option. As only plasma is desired for some treatments, the plasma is separated from the whole blood. Plasma is used for specific applications, for example to improve the healing of complicated wounds or during eye operations. Patients with massive protein loss can also be successfully treated with plasma. Protein loss may occur as a consequence of serious burn trauma, severe diarrhoea, tumours or chronic inflammatory intestinal disease, pleurisy or peritonitis.

Ruminants with anaemia need donated blood

Sheep, goats, lamas and alpacas are especially at risk of being infested by blood-sucking parasites out on the pasture. Ingested through the mouth, the worms come to inhabit the intestinal tract. A high level of parasitic infestation leads to serious cases of anaemia that may be fatal for the animals. "These acute patients require a rapid blood transfusion. Ruminants also receive blood for wounds with heavy blood loss, though this luckily is not often the case," explains the specialist for ruminant medicine, Lorenz Khol

Source:University of Veterinary Medicine -- Vienna

Attitudes about knowledge, power drive Michigan's wolf debate

MSU research has identified the themes shaping Michigan's wolf debate and offers some potential solutions as the debate moves forward. Credit: Courtesy of Michigan DNR

With both wolf proposals shot down by Michigan voters on election day, the debate over managing and hunting wolves is far from over.

A Michigan State University study, appearing in a recent issue of the Journal of Wildlife Management, identifies the themes shaping the issue and offers some potential solutions as the debate moves forward.

The research explored how different sides of the debate view power imbalances among different groups and the role that scientific knowledge plays in making decisions about hunting wolves. These two dimensions of wildlife management can result in conflict and stagnate wildlife management.

The results indicate that tension between public attitudes about local knowledge, and politics and science can drive conflict among Michiganders' stance regarding wolf hunting, said Meredith Gore, associate professor of fisheries and wildlife and co-lead author of the study.

"Given the trend in wildlife management toward increased stakeholder input, finding solutions that approach science and politics as complementary, rather than competing, approaches may aid the public participation processes," she said.

This study represents a first attempt at defining and describing the association between knowledge and power in contentious management of a species recently delisted from endangered status. This study focused on wolves, but it has applications for other endangered or invasive species, added Gore, an MSU AgBioResearch scientist.

These findings shed light on why the voting and support for the issue appears to be muddled, at least in terms of traditional quantifiers. Knowing these splits explain, in part, why the issue won't likely be resolved by swaying the pro- or anti-hunting vote.

Gore and Michelle Lute, former MSU fisheries and wildlife graduate student and co-lead author who's now at Indiana University, unearthed these disparities by conducting in-depth interviews with many stakeholders close to the wolf debate. Rather than trying to prove a specific theory, the researchers allowed the interviews to reveal the main criteria driving the issue.

The researchers unearthed four themes and offered potential solutions to each.

• Mistrust among decision-makers -- Some interviewees view wildlife management agencies as political agencies rather than supporting what's best for wildlife. Increasing transparency and gathering more stakeholder input could increase trust.
• Special interest groups leaving many voters disenfranchised -- Strong lobbying groups leave some individuals feeling powerless and their votes meaningless. Striving for equitable distribution of risks and benefits among all stakeholders could address these feelings.
• Political influencers overriding science -- Some believe that scientific studies are downplayed by political officials. Equitable sharing of responsibility, risks and benefits may ease perceptions of tension between politicians and scientists.
• Decision-makers ignoring local sources of information -- Some interviewees felt cast aside, and their knowledge was labeled as mythology or folklore. Processes that seek shared-learning outcomes may balance local and scientific knowledge.

"Our research shows that as any management process moves forward," Gore said, "all sides should address the issue from the perspective of these four criteria. Regardless of how people voted, these aspects may represent common ground for all sides."

Source: Michigan State University

Odor that smells like blood: Single component powerful trigger for large carnivores

African wild dogs compete for a log impregnated with blood or a single component. Both were equally attractive. Credit: Linköping University

People find the smell of blood unpleasant, but for predatory animals it means food. When behavioural researchers at Linköping University in Sweden wanted to find out which substances of blood trigger behavioural reactions, they got some unexpected results.

Matthias Laska is professor of zoology, specialising in the sense of smell. For some time his focus has been on scents that directly affect the behaviour of animals.

"For predators, food scents are particularly attractive, and much of this has to do with blood. We wanted to find out which chemical components create the scent of blood," he says.

The study, conducted at Kolmården Wildlife Park, found that for the animals, one particular component of blood odour was just as engaging as the blood odour itself.

"It's a completely new discovery that raises interesting questions on evolution," says Prof Laska.

The study has been published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.

When Prof Laska did a search for the contents of volatile substances in mammalian blood, he found nothing. Human blood has been analysed for disease markers, but we have very little information on the substances that give blood its characteristic scent.

A master's student was sent to Friedrich-Alexander-Universität in Erlangen Germany, to analyse mammalian blood with the help of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, methods used for separating and identifying chemical compounds in a sample. The machine detected some 30 substances, of which some are decomposition products from fats. But the machine lost the job to the human scent experts who had also been engaged. They identified scents that the gas chromatograph missed completely.

One substance stood out: an aldehyde called trans-4,5-epoxy-(E)-2-decenal, which emits the typical metallic scent that humans associate with blood.

Once the researchers had identified a scent candidate that the predators should be attracted to, they wanted to test whether the predators were actually attracted to it in reality. So they designed a study to be conducted at Kolmården Wildlife Park, involving four predator species. How would the four predators -- Asian wild dogs, African wild dogs, South American bush dogs and Siberian tigers -- react when they caught a whiff of the scent?

Half-metre long wooden logs were impregnated with four different liquids: lab-produced aldehyde, horse blood, fruit essence, and a near-odourless solvent. The animals were exposed to one scent per day in their regular enclosure, while a group of students carefully observed their behaviour.

The results were unequivocal. The logs containing aldehyde were just as attractive stimuli as those containing blood, while the two other logs aroused little interest. The commonest behaviours were sniffing, licking, biting, pawing and toying. The tiger was the most persistent, while the South American bush dogs lost interest more quickly than the other species.

The study is the first to show that a single component can be just as attractive as the complex odour.

"How this has developed through evolution is an interesting question. Perhaps there is a common denominator for all mammalian blood," says Prof Laska.

He has plans for several follow-ups of the study, including how prey animals such as mice react to blood odour.

For the wildlife park, the study provided results that can be used in its daily operations. Animals in captivity require stimulation, so as not to deteriorate or become fat. The odourised logs can be a popular addition to the animal's environment.

Source: Linköping University

New natural supplement relieves canine arthritis

Portrait old dog

Arthritis pain in dogs can be relieved, with no side effects, by a new product based on medicinal plants and dietary supplements that was developed at the University of Montreal's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. "While acupuncture and electrical stimulation are two approaches that have been shown to have positive effects on dogs, until now a few studies have investigated a plant-based approach to therapy," explained Professor Éric Troncy, senior author of the study. His findings were published in Research in Veterinary Science.

Troncy and his team worked with 32 dogs (and their owners!) who had been diagnosed with arthritis by X-ray and orthopaedic exam, and who all weighed more than 20 kilograms. By drawing on existing rodent studies and working with Pierre Haddad of the university's Department of Pharmacology, Troncy developed two formulas for his trial. These formulas are not currently commercially available.

The first formula, composed of curcumin, devil's claw, black current, Indian frankincense (Salai), willow bark, pineapple bromelaine and camomile, was developed to treat arthritis-induced inflammation. The second included the same ingredients, plus dietary supplements such as omega 3, chondroitin sulfate and glutamine, and was formulated in the hope that it would promote the regeneration of articulations.

Half the dogs received the first formula for four weeks and then the second formula for another four weeks. The other half, acting as the control, received a placebo. The outcomes were tested using three methods. Firstly, the dogs were filmed as they walked at a consistent speed over a special platform that captures the strength of each paw. Secondly, a special electronic collar recorded the dogs' daily activities. And finally, the owners were asked to provide their own evaluations of their dog's behaviour.

The researchers were able to identify an improvement by the fourth week of the trial. "After the eight week course, on average, the strength of the dogs receiving treatment had improved to the equivalent of a kilo of extra strength per paw, which is moreover. None of these dogs saw their health decline, unlike 35.8% of the dogs who were given the placebo," said Maxim Moreau, who was first author of the study.

The improvements were also reflected in the dogs' daily lives. The collars revealed that the dogs receiving treatment maintained their physical activity, and in fact the group average increased from six hours of daily activity to eight. Meanwhile, the dogs receiving the placebo were progressively less active. "In some cases, we recorded the dogs to ensure that the collar was recording actual physical activity rather than movements such as scratching," Troncy explained.

Nonetheless, the ratings from the owners were more mixed. "This third evaluation was more subjective and the contrast between the test group and the control group less stark," Troncy said. "We suspect that the owner may have forgotten what the animal's behaviour was like before it developed arthritis."

The findings raise the possibility of offering a new form of treatment to human beings. "The model of evaluation that we have used is the best for predicting the efficacy of anti-arthritis treatments. We can therefore consider that clinical trials on humans would have a good chance of having positive outcomes," Troncy said.

About this study: This study was funded in part by a grant from ArthroLab Inc., an ongoing New Opportunities Fund grant (#9483) and a Leader Opportunity Fund grant (#24601) from the Canada Foundation for Innovation for the pain/function equipment, a Discovery Grant (#327158-2008; #441651-2013) from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada for the bio-analyses and salaries, and by the Osteoarthritis Chair of the University of Montreal Hospital Centre, Université de Montréal. Maxim Moreau received a doctoral scholarship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (TGF-53914) -- Strategic Training Initiative in Health Research program (MENTOR) and a doctoral scholarship from the Fonds de recherche du Québec-Santé.

Source: Universite de Montreal

Parasites and the evolution of primate culture

Chimpanzees (stock image). A new study examines the ‘costs’ of innovation, and learning from others. Credit: © shiruikage / Fotolia

Learning from others and innovation have undoubtedly helped advance civilization. But these behaviours can carry costs as well as benefits. And a new study by an international team of evolutionary biologists sheds light on how one particular cost -- increased exposure to parasites -- may affect cultural evolution in non-human primates.

The results, published Dec. 3, 2014 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, suggest that species with members that learn from others suffer from a wider variety of socially transmitted parasites, while innovative, exploratory species suffer from a wider variety of parasites transmitted through the environment, such as in the soil or water.

"We tend to focus on innovation and learning from others as a good thing, but their costs have received relatively little attention," says McGill University biologist Simon Reader, co-author of the study. "Here, we uncover evidence that socially transmitted pathogen burdens rise with learning from others -- perhaps because close interaction is needed for such learning -- and environmentally transmitted pathogen burdens rise with exploratory behaviour such as innovation and extractive foraging."

Chimpanzees, for example, live in groups and have a wide range of such behaviours, such as digging for food underground or eating new kinds of insects.. Previously, studies have not been able to determine whether costly parasites force primates to engage in more exploratory behaviour -- by diversifying food sources, for example -- or whether exploratory behaviour leads to their having more parasites, Reader notes. "Our results support the idea that exploratory and social behaviours expose primates to specific kinds of parasites."

"The findings also lead to questions about how people and other primates have developed solutions to minimize these parasite costs -- such as eating medicinal plants -- and may help us better understand how the processes underlying human culture arose," Reader says.
The research team, led by Collin McCabe of Harvard University and Charles Nunn of Duke University, based their analyses on databases obtained by surveying thousands of articles on primate behaviour and parasites.

Funding for the research was provided by the National Science Foundation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research.

Source: McGill University