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A statewide college recently was recognized for its affordable, high-quality programs that support career development skills in production agriculture, agribusiness and technical trades, a high priority throughout Nebraska.

The national business magazine Forbes recently placed the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture at Curtis, one of the jewels in the University of Nebraska system, on its list of Top 30 Trade Schools in the United States.

NCTA Dean Ron Rosati said the colleges performance was based on academic quality, affordability and graduate earnings.

NCTA is gaining notice for its expanded programs in welding, irrigation technology, precision agriculture, veterinary science, animal science and experiential learning.

I have enjoyed serving on the NCTA Deans Advisory Council for 16 years, and witnessing tremendous expansion in programs and opportunities. I also have a vested interest as a tuition-providing parent of two children who attended NCTA.

Traditionally, the college provides a two-year associate degree program. More recently, it added two-semester certificates for welding and irrigation technicians.

Meanwhile, transfer options to four-year institutions have never been better, including with UNLs College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

Animal Science and Agricultural Education Division Chairman Doug Smith reports a record number (16) of NCTAs May graduates plan to complete four-year degrees, including 13 who will start fall classes at CASNR. Two are UNL-bound in veterinary medicine or technology, and there are three each in agronomy, animal science, ag business and ag education.

The two-year NCTA Agricultural Education Program helps to fill a void for FFA-agricultural education programs. Smith says three of his NCTA graduates will be teaching in Nebraska high schools this fall.

Additionally, NCTA and CASNR recently announced a bachelor of applied science program that allows NCTA graduates to take online classes through CASNR with oversight by NCTA on campus or by commuting to Curtis.

This initiative allows students to work at farms, ranches or in other agricultural careers in central or western Nebraska without setting foot in Lincoln. What an outstanding opportunity!

Certified technicians are graduating from NCTA with majors in veterinary technology, irrigation technology and welding. Nebraska has the greatest number of center pivot irrigation manufacturers and largest number of irrigated acres, so its industries have strong demand for a trained workforce in electricity, welding, and ag equipment maintenance and repairs.

NCTA launched irrigation technician training in 2013. By 2016, the college had partnered with several ag cooperatives and industries to develop an ag career track in Nebraska high schools to include classes in diversified agriculture and agricultural chemical applications.

The first two graduates of the dual-credit program at York High School this May earned NCTA certificates in agricultural chemical applications. One will enter NCTA in August with one year of college credits.

Agronomy professor Brad Ramsdale has been teaching students in agronomy and crop sciences for eight years, and established an award-winning crops judging team that repeated as national champion in 2017.

Ramsdale recently completed a two-week crops-agronomy summer program for honor students. Partnering with Educational Service Unit 11, he guided students at classes in Holdrege and a two-day camp at NCTA featuring its on-campus agronomy resources.

The day camps and dual-credit programs are among many NCTA developments in the past five years. Expanded programs include precision agriculture courses taught by Ramsdale and practical crop management courses in which students form teams to manage crops at the NCTA farm laboratory just north of the Curtis campus.

The teams decide on seeding rates, irrigation management, fertilizer applications, weed control measures, harvest management and equipment maintenance.

NCTAs ag equipment program was reinvigorated in 2013 and now includes an irrigation technology partnership with Reinke Manufacturing and a welding program that has produced its first student to be certified by the American Welding Society.

Instructor Dan Stehlik graduated from what was the University of Nebraska School of Technical Agriculture. The alum taught in Kansas ag education programs for 19 years before returning to the Curtis campus to teach ag equipment, welding and irrigation technician programs.

College alumni say they are pleased to see the welding program expand because of the high demand for welding technicians. Production enterprises also are seeking well-rounded employees with skills in crops, livestock, machinery or equipment maintenance and business.

Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District has partnered with NCTA on several annual forums, including regular tours of the Central project through the Nebraska Water Balance Alliance.

NWBA members have had opportunities to mentor and interact with NCTA students at forums that bring irrigators, farm managers, educators, vendors and the public to the campus Nebraska Agriculture Industry Education Center.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service recently conducted internal training sessions and the Unicamerals Natural Resources Committee, chaired by District 44 state Sen. Dan Hughes of Venango, will have a public hearing at NCTA in the fall.

My involvement with NCTA and its predecessor go back to when the South Platte United Chambers of Commerce advocated for keeping the school open on behalf of Nebraska agriculture. SPUCC has continually voiced strong support for the college.

NCTA has been re-accredited regionally by the Higher Learning Commission. The veterinary technology program is re-accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association.

As for affordability, fall tuition at NCTA is $127.50 per credit hour for all students, regardless of residency.

I look forward to seeing whats in store next for the hidden gem of a college in Curtis.

Tim Anderson is a public relations adviser to Holdrege-based Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District.

Editors note: Mary Crawford, external relations coordinator for NCTA, provided some information for this column.

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NCTA is 'gem' for higher learning in state - Kearney Hub

This is by no means an easy topic to write a newspaper article about. In fact, I thought for many months about writing a column on this subject. It is receiving increasing media coverage, and with the request from fellow veterinarians in town, I think it is an appropriate time to address it.

It involves the veterinary professions increased risk for compassion fatigue, burnout and suicide.

A study of 10,000 veterinarians by the Centers for Disease Control in 2014 found one in six veterinarians have contemplated suicide.

In fact, veterinary professionals are four times more likely to commit suicide than the average citizen.

The veterinary profession also has the highest risk of suicide out of all of the medical professions.

This statistic is not reserved solely for general practitioners.

In the last few years the profession has lost notable behaviorists, surgeons, specialists, technicians and general practitioners to this mental illness.

What makes veterinary professionals more likely to experience compassion fatigue and then commit suicide?

The answer is complex and specific to each individual person (as is all mental illness), yet I believe there are certain key elements across the profession that make us more at risk than the general population.

The veterinary profession attracts professionals who are ambitious, driven, intelligent, compassionate, empathetic and hardworking, with an unwavering commitment to veterinary medicine.

These traits that help us become great doctors and practitioners can also be to our detriment.

It is all too common for veterinarians to take it personally if a case cannot be easily solved, a surgery does not go as planned or a patient cannot be saved.

After all, we are not used to getting Bs in school, let alone thinking we are failing a life!

It is very common to take work home, to dwell on it and retreat from loved ones who seem to not be able to relate. A vicious cycle can start when doubt, depression and isolation set in.

As well, the veterinary profession experiences more incidents of trauma than the general population, but also when compared to the other medical professions.

Our goal as a profession is to be a voice for the voiceless. However, that does not mean everything can be saved and for many of us, that is a very difficult pill to swallow.

While I personally believe euthanasia is one of the most humane acts we can perform as veterinarians, it does not mean we do not feel every time we push the syringe. It often means the exact opposite: We often feel, and perhaps too deeply.

Another form of trauma experienced by veterinary professionals that is unique to the profession is that decisions affecting diagnosis, treatment and quality of life of a patient are dependent upon an owners financial capabilities. Often compounding this trauma is an owner upset that we cannot perform services at no cost.

Using this against us is a form of emotional bullying.

If we could save everything for free we would; but if we took financial responsibility for every pet that needed it, we would burn out even faster.

We have to balance patient care for ALL patients, care for ourselves, care for our staff and care for the clinic as a business.

Our commitment to the profession also means younger professionals are incurring more debt than previous generations.

Our average starting salary is $65,000, whereas in 2016, more than 20 percent of veterinary graduates finished school with more than $200,000 in debt.

Financial advisers recommend a debt-to-income ratio of 1.5-2 to 1. Our ratio is often two to four times higher!

Imagine the deep love we must feel for our profession when we knowingly choose to devote our lives to the voiceless, despite the financial burden it puts on us.

It is then understandable the rebuff we feel when clients state we are in this for the money, or that we dont love their pet enough.

It is often this statement that furthers many veterinary professionals isolation and depression.

So how can we help this crisis? First, I strongly believe in self-care emotionally, physically and spiritually.

There should never be shame associated with seeking assistance from a professional.

Second, I think the veterinary profession and owners need to re-establish a mutual compassion for each other.

Communication from all parties should be done with grace and kindness.

It is imperative we understand we are all humans seeking to create a healthy, long-lasting relationship with our pets and the world around us.

Danielle Carey, DVM, is an associate veterinarian who practices mixed-animal veterinary medicine at the Animal Clinic of Walla Walla. Contact her at 509-525-6111.

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Veterinarians also susceptible to workplace, financial stressors - Walla Walla Union-Bulletin

By Charlie Powell, WSU College of Veterinary Medicine

PULLMAN, Wash. Temperatures nearing or surpassing the century mark in the Inland Northwest this week prompts the Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine to issue a hot pavement advisory for pets.

Rarely do dog owners in the Inland Northwest need to be concerned about walking their pets on hot asphalt, explains Dr. Raelynn Farnsworth, head of the WSU veterinary teaching hospitals Community Practice Service. But even in relatively mild temperatures, burns to a pets pads can result if forced to walk on the hot surface.

86 degrees becomes 135 on asphalt

In the absence of any wind and in direct sunlight, asphalt surfaces can reach 125 degrees, when the air temperature is only 77 degrees, according to Dr. James Berens work on thermal contact burns published in 1970 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. At 86 degrees, the asphalt temperature jumps to 135 degrees and at 87 degrees, only one degree more, the asphalt temperature rises to 143 degrees.

Hot enough to fry an egg? Weve all heard the old adage but what temperature does it take to actually fry an egg in say 5 minutes? The answer is, an egg will fry on a 131 degree surface in only five minutes. And human skin destruction can occur in only 60 seconds on black pavement at a mere 125 degrees.

One thing pet owners can do is to press the back of their hand against pavement, explained Farnsworth. If you cant hold it there for a full seven seconds its too hot for a pets paws.

Burns in 35 seconds

First responders in human medicine can see thermal burns resulting from contact with hot pavement and they are trained to protect patients from the hazard. Work published in 1995 by physicians and first responders in Maricopa County, Ariz., noted that pavement there in the summer months typically was hot enough 9 a.m.-7 p.m. to burn flesh. The study also noted that second-degree burns could result on most days, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., within 35 seconds of pavement contact.

The good news is, unless incapacitated or restrained in some way so they cannot escape high surface temperatures, most pets pain response will not let them stay on a hot surface, said Farnsworth. So the key to not getting a pets paws burned is application of good common sense and situational awareness.

Avoid tethering and truck beds

In addition, pets should never be tethered on hot pavement or in the back of a pickup truck where the metal surface can burn. Let the pet find shade and walk on grassy surfaces; follow their lead.

If its not convenient to walk a pet on grass or soil, consider changing the walking time to early morning or late in the evening. And never walk a pet on any surface where hot tar may cling to their paws.

Pets with pad burns will typically limp or flat out refuse to walk and it takes time after the burn for the lesions to develop, said Farnsworth. The top layer of the skin will look like it is blistering and wanting to peel off, or it might already be absent entirely. And pets with burned pads will often lick their paws incessantly which can make the problem worse.

Farnsworth suggests that pets with suspected burns should always be seen by your family veterinarian as soon as possible. Care will usually involve supportive care including pain medication and cleaning and dressing wounds, plus an Elizabethan collar to suppress any licking.

Media Contact:

Charlie Powell, WSU College of Veterinary Medicine, public information officer, call or text 509-595-2017, or cpowell@vetmed.wsu.edu

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Protect your pet's feet from heat, burns - WSU News

PHOENIX, July 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --Nextmune group ("Nextmune"), headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of the assets of Spectrum group ("Spectrum") and formed Spectrum Veterinary, LLC. Founded by Mervyn Levin in 1989, Spectrum, headquartered in Phoenix (Arizona), USA, is dedicated to helping veterinarians and pet parents provide a better quality of life for pets with allergies. By combining differentiated testing, treatment, technical support and customer service, Spectrum has become one of the leaders in the U.S. allergy market. Spectrum enjoys a proprietary portfolio of tests and treatments offering both subcutaneous and sublingual personalized medicine from its USDA-certified laboratory. In addition to its successful North American business reaching every state in the USA and province in Canada, Spectrum has a strong export business reaching 5 continents across the globe. The business employs 34 staff. Following closing, Mervyn Levin will gradually transition out of the business over the next 12 months and be succeeded by Jonathan Levin (currently serving as Executive Vice President) supported by the management team of Spectrum and the global resources in Nextmune.

"The acquisition of Spectrum represents another key building block on our journey to create a champion in specialty companion animal health company," says Magnus Kjellberg, CEO of Nextmune group. "The transaction is a perfect match. Nextmune goes from a European #1 to a global leader in allergy with sales in almost 80 countries worldwide. Spectrum represents a compelling platform for entry into the US market and we are committed to taking the business to the next level for the benefit of our patients, pet parents, partners and employees."

"I am very impressed by what Nextmune has built and its vision in specialty veterinary medicine. Through the resources and capabilities across the Nextmune group, there is significant potential to take the business I founded 28 years ago into the future. I am delighted to find a new home in Nextmune," says Mervyn Levin.

The transactions are not subject to any further approvals or clearances.

Nextmune is dedicated to improving quality of life for companion animals. The company's ambition is to be the partner of choice for pet owners and veterinarians in specialized indications. With innovation being at the core of Nextmune, the company will invest in product improvement, supply and sales & marketing initiatives to offer premier treatment for the pet's condition. The company is committed to an entrepreneurial management approach to ensure veterinarians and pet owners are catered to in the best possible way. Key shareholders of Nextmune are Fidelio Capital (www.fideliocapital.se) and Premune (www.premune.com).

If you are a veterinarian and want to know more about how we can help you treat your allergic patients through allergy diagnostics and treatment, please contact us on info@vetallergy.com or tel: (800) 553-1391, info@artuvet.com or tel: +31 320-783100 and info@alergovet.com or tel: +34 914-134472.

For further inquiries, please contact:

Jon Levin Executive Vice President, Spectrum Veterinary LLC 480.464.8971

Magnus Kjellberg CEO of Nextmune +46 768 837 884, magnus.kjellberg@nextmune.com

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Nextmune Creates Spectrum Veterinary LLC, a Leading Global Player in Allergy for Companion Animals - PR Newswire (press release)

Politics The school's state funding was slated to be cut under the state budget released in February this year By Haley Suh 18 hours ago Photo: Yolanda Chen / The Daily Pennsylvanian

The School of Veterinary Medicine, which for months appeared to be on the verge of losing millions in state funding, will almost certainly have its funding from Harrisburg remain in place, according to the latest updates from the state budget negotiations.

In the Pennsylvania state budget for the upcoming fiscal year, funding for Penn close to 90 percent of which goes to the Vet School was slated to be cut. The Vet School stood to lose almost $30 million, which constitutes 20 percent of their total budget.

This funding now looks like it might be restored by a bill that allocates $30.1 million from the state budget to the Vet School and over $281 thousand to the Division of Infectious Diseases at Penn Medicine.

The state Senate has already voted unanimously for the bill to pass and the House of Representatives will vote on the bill later this week, University spokesperson Stephen MacCarthy said in a statement.

We are grateful to the Senate for unanimously voting to restore funding for the School of Veterinary Medicine and look forward to continuing to advocate for the House of Representatives to support restoration, MacCarthy said.

The bill comes after advocates urged the government to reconsider the restoration of funding that Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf proposed eliminating in his budget address in February. Wolfs cut came as a surprise to the Vet School, which has received funding from the state for the past 133 years.

Vet School Dean Joan Hendricks wrote a letter earlier this month to the editor of The Pike County Courier, a newspaper in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, urging people to recognize the vital role that veterinarians play in not just providing care for companion animals, but also in protecting the food supply and public health.

Hendricks cited the Vet Schools ability to fight re-emerging threats such as rabies, [help] farmers and truckers see where [swine virus] is present to prevent its spread, and ensure that 99.99 percent of Pennsylvania eggs [make] it to market without salmonella.

She also noted that Penn Vet was the only school of veterinary medicine in Pennsylvania.

Richard Ebert, president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, which provides legislative support and services to farmers in the state, also spoke out against the cut in funding. Ebert wrote to the Centre Daily Times, a periodical based out of State College, Pa., urging state lawmakers to support the restoration of state funding to Penn Vet. He cited the organizations role in studying diseases that could influence human health.

As a dairy farmer, I couldnt imagine losing access to Penn Vets world-class research, food protection programs, and veterinarian care, Ebert wrote. Thats why were calling on the state general assembly to fund this critical support system of agriculture.

Mark ONeill, director of communications at the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, said in an email that the organization was concerned that a loss of funding would diminish the Vet Schools strong focus on Pennsylvania agriculture, as well as its partnership with the State Department of Agriculture and Penn State University to monitor animal diseases.

ONeill also wrote that farmers were concerned the loss would hurt Penns ability to attract, train, and produce large animal veterinarians, who are decreasing in numbers in Pennsylvania and across the U.S.

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Penn Vet may keep its $30 million in state funding after all - The Daily Pennsylvanian

TheHorse.com

Building Your Horse's Health Care Dream Team TheHorse.com Some equine veterinarians only serve the horse's medical needs, while others fill multiple roles if they've trained to also practice chiropractic, acupuncture, dentistry, physical or massage therapy, or other types of body work. And the best ...

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Building Your Horse's Health Care Dream Team - TheHorse.com

Eli Lilly and Co. plans to give Purdue University up to $52 million over five years to find better ways to inject medicines and to develop new models for clinical drug tests that can better predict the outcome of new medications in humans.

The two institutions announced the strategic research collaboration Thursday morning, calling it the largest agreement of its kind between Purdue and a single company.

The announcement comes as Purdue, based in West Lafayette, is spending $250 million over five years to bulk up its work in the life sciences sector, hiring more than 60 faculty members in life-sciences related fields and purchasing new research equipment.

Our investment on campus in the life sciences, announced in 2016, is leading to just the types of impact we had hoped to effect, Purdue President Mitch Daniels said in a written statement.

For Lilly, the agreement is the latest in a long string of collaborations with universities and research-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

The Indianapolis-based drugmaker traditionally spends about half of its research and development budget on outside partnerships, although it maintains a large in-house R&D workforce. Last year, Lilly had 9,300 employees in research and development, including several thousand in Indianapolis. Its total R&D budget last year was $5.24 billion, or about 25 percent of sales.

Lilly spokeswoman Lauren Zierke said the partnership wasn't expected to replace in-house research.

"This is not an outsourcing agreement, but rather a strategic collaboration for Lilly and Purdue to conduct additional research together using the expertise from both institutions," she said in an email to IBJ. "We anticipate no reduction to our headcount in Research and Development as we create this framework for a lasting collaboration. Instead, we view this agreement as an opportunity to reinforce a positive ecosystem for scientists in Indiana and further the work that has been done to create a life science hub in our state."

Lilly CEO David Ricks said the partnerships with Purdue and others were vital in helping to discover and develop the latest technology.

The biomedical revolution is upon us, but harnessing its full potential will require strong collaboration between academic research centers and industry partners, he said in a written statement.

The initial research between Purdue and Lilly will focus on two areas. The first will be to develop improved ways to inject medicines, with the goal of reducing pain, decreasing the number of injections and thus getting patients to comply with medical orders and improve their health.

The second area is to develop new models for clinical tests that will better predict how humans will respond to new medicines. The overall success rate for new drugs is just 9.6 percent, from early clinical testing to government approval, according to BIO, a huge biotech trade association, based on data from 2006 to 2015. That means nine out of every 10 drugs that go into clinical testing are scrapped along the way.

Purdue researchers from the natural and physical sciences, engineering and veterinary medicine will work on the projects with Lilly researchers. The collaboration could be expanded to other areas, the two institutions said.

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Lilly, Purdue seek medical advancements in new $52M collaboration - Indianapolis Business Journal

CROWN POINT Lake County police officers have opened their homes to puppies the department seized last month from a Center Township man awaiting trial on criminal charges.

Dan Murchek, assistant county police chief and department spokesman, said recently the sheriff is allowing officers to take home French bulldog puppies among other dogs to relieve overcrowding in the Lake County Sheriff's Animal Adoption & Control Center.

"Officers are helping taking them home, playing with them, socializing them. They are not getting paid for this," he said.

County police said they discovered 68 maltreated dogs last monthin a poorly ventilated garage in the 5900 block of West 125th Avenue.

The prosecutor's office has charged Steve Rajcinoski, 26, of Crown Point, with 11 felony counts of animal mutilation and more than 80 misdemeanor allegations of cruelty to an animal, practicing veterinary medicine without a license and failure to register as a commercial breeder in connection with the raid.

Rajcinoski is free on bond, and his lawyers have requested the court return the seized animals.

Police are keeping custody of the dogs until the Lake Superior Court issues a ruling.

The case has been on hold since Judge Julie Cantrell recused herself from it in the wake of public anger over the case. The judge said people tried to pressure her through telephone calls and social media to punish the defendant.

Before leaving the case, the judge slapped a gag order on all parties in the case at the request of Rajcinoski's attorney.

Murchek said the animal shelter's resources have been stretched in the meantime.

"When I last checked, there were 92 dogs. And that doesn't include all the cats. That is just overwhelming for us," Murchek said.

"It is expensive when you get this many dogs especially those with health care needs. These particular dogs had some medical issues, so our officers are helping, taking them to the veterinarian."

Murchek said the department is keeping the foster care arrangement within the department, and it is not offered to the general public.

"Our people are vetted. We know who they are. We have had officers in the past who have helped out when we have been overcrowded to take dogs home temporarily," he said.

Murchek insisted this foster home arrangement also is only temporary. "This guy could get all the dogs back," he said.

If the court forfeits dogs to the county, they would go up for normal adoption to the public. "Nobody has dibs on the dogs," he said.

He said the public may still make donations to the shelter to assist during this period.

"If they want to bring in items other than cash, they can call the animal shelter to find out what they are short of. We are a no-kill center. We have had dogs that have been in the shelter for months, who people don't adopt," he said.

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Lake cops cuddle seized puppies - nwitimes.com

The state Department of Fish & Wildlife continues to investigate the cause and spread of a hoof disease affecting elk in the state, including in Skagit County.

The disease is caused by a bacteria that can cause hoof deformities. The bacteria is known to also cause lameness in affected livestock.

Its spread into northwest Washington remains a mystery, as the disease was first found in southwest parts of the state years earlier.

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In late 2015, an elk with the disease was found on Highway 20 in Skagit County. In 2016, two elk north of the Whatcom-Skagit county line were also found to have the disease.

A new state law directs Fish & Wildlife and Washington State University to continue researching how the disease spreads between animals and from one location to another.

The law was sponsored by Sen. Kirk Pearson, R-Monroe, who chairs the Senate Natural Resources and Parks Committee.

The law takes effect July 21. The recently passed state budget includes about $1.5 million toward the laws goals.

The law directs the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine to monitor elk herds, identify causes for the spread of the disease and come up with solutions to prevent it.

Pearson said in a news release that action is needed because livestock farmers have expressed fear of the disease affecting their herds.

WSUs College of Veterinary Medicine has long been a partner in the states work on the issue, including having six representatives on Fish & Wildlifes Technical Advisory Group for the elk hoof disease, said Fish & Wildlife statewide elk specialist Brock Hoenes.

WSU College of Veterinary Medicine spokesman Charlie Powell said the universitys Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory received several elk hooves from Fish & Wildlife leading up to the diagnosis of the hoof disease.

We dont need to see any more hooves ... We have moved into the next step of needing to do comprehensive research, he said.

With the law set to take effect and funding secured, the university will likely designate a faculty member to oversee elk hoof disease research and to dedicate some staff to handle experiments, Powell said.

Fish & Wildlife veterinarian Kristin Mansfield said beyond knowing that the disease is at least in part caused by an infectious bacteria, many questions remain.

Questions that need answers include whether the bacteria can persist in the environment, how the disease is passed from one elk to another, how the disease affects elk survival and population sizes, where in the state the disease is being seen and whether some elk have a genetic resistance to it.

WSU is one of several universities and government labs Fish & Wildlife has collaborated with on research about the disease.

Mansfield said WSUs work helped diagnose the disease.

They had a key role in the early years starting in about 2009, when the disease first emerged in the landscape in elk in southwest Washington, she said. We collected several samples from elk in those early years and the majority of those samples went to WSU, so they played a key role in helping us diagnose what the disease was.

Masnsfield said along with work at U.S. Department of Agriculture labs, the University of Liverpool and other locations, WSU can continue helping to reveal more information about the hoof disease.

Meanwhile, Fish & Wildlife continues to seek public reports of hoof deformities in elk killed in collisions, killed by hunters or observed limping.

Hoenes said reports have helped Fish & Wildlife confirm the disease in Skagit, Whatcom, Thurston and Mason counties in recent years.

Skagit County residents have reported seeing one or more limping elk in September and December 2015, March and August 2016, and March 2017.

Those are a handful of the 1,100 reports Fish & Wildlife has received statewide since it started taking online reports in 2012.

I really feel for people who are seeing this out there in the wild, said Powell, who has also received calls from distressed members of the public who have seen elk with deformed hooves.

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State looks to WSU for elk hoof disease research - goskagit.com

Fresh from a teaching stint at Cornell Universitys veterinary school, moving to Southern Pines in 1971 made Fred McCashin feel a bit like a pioneer on the frontier of equine medicine.

Considering the manicured pastures of todays Southern Pines horse country and the miles of weathered post-and-rail fence lines in Moore Countys equestrian enclaves, that feeling is difficult to imagine.

But back then, much of the equestrian community here was seasonal fox hunters and harness racers and N.C. States College of Veterinary Medicine wouldnt be up and running for more than a decade.

McCashin, 76, recently attended the 50th reunion of his vet school class at the University of Pennsylvania. His Youngs Road practice, Carolina Equine Clinic, is celebrating its 40th year in business this month.

He came to North Carolina not to be a solo practitioner, but to direct the N.C. Veterinary Research Foundation. Established as a nonprofit by a group of veterinarians hoping to lay the foundation for a veterinary school, the facility is now the N.C. State Equine Research center on U.S. 1 north of Southern Pines.

Dr. Fred B. McCashin, shown here with Attaboy Roy, establshed the Carolina Equine Clinic in 1977. (Photo by Ted Fitzgerald/The Pilot)

Other opportunities were available: continuing to teach at Michigan State, or working as the staff veterinarian for the racing stable of a prominent French art dealer. At that point, though, hed had enough of difficult characters and the politics embroiled in academia. And the chance to fill a void for the states thriving horse business by performing surgery on a referral basis held its own fascination.

That was really sorely needed because there were very few veterinarians that would even attempt to do surgery in the state of North Carolina, said McCashin, who recalled his six years at the research foundation as nonstop work.

I could stay up all night operating on a case and you didnt have any time off the next day. It was like working on the prairies. It was a nice building and all, we had the facilities, but I was trying to get veterinarians in the field to come in with their cases and give me a hand, because sometimes you just cant do it all by yourself.

He opened Carolina Equine Clinic in 1977, working out of the barn on the property, then adding a clinic and lab building.

This is just a little modest thing, and I never made it any bigger, he said. I thought about having branches in Wilmington and other places where no one was doing surgeries, but I was busy enough here that I couldnt get away.

The clinic is strewn with relics from McCashins career in the form of calcified masses extracted from patients. One, the size of two fists, he found in 1982 while performing emergency colic surgery on a Morgan horse from a Raleigh farm before N.C. State started surgery.

In that particular case, McCashin rushed to the clinic on Halloween his children missed trick-or-treating that year not a moment too soon as he opened the patients abdomen to find it full of manure. Though that could have been a death sentence, the horse made a full recovery.

The owner was here and I said this is bad but I just took it and heaved it over the side and everything else looked reasonably clean, he recalled. The stone was there and it had ruptured his small colon. So we cleaned it up, took out the busted section and stuck it back together again and I said well just see how its going to go.

I dont ask the kids if they remember that, he said ruefully.

Its that kind of episode that remains so vivid to the longtime veterinarian that it might as well have happened yesterday. So too with the tough cases, solved through months of rehabilitation and sheer force of will like Jet Murmur, a Thoroughbred colt who broke his leg at around six months of age.

(Photo by Ted Fitzgerald/The Pilot)

In six months I think I had him on the table maybe seven times because the plates kept getting a little bit loose and Id go back in and tighten up the screws and put new screws in and kept altering the thing, McCashin said.

I remember taking him on a longe THIS IS CQ line up there on the hill and taking him through the woods and trotting him over logs and stuff. He was a long yearling by the time I sent him home and he ended up being a productive stallion.

McCashin developed a specific interest in orthopedic surgery as a student protg of Jacques Jenny, who invented the technique of bone plating inspired by Swiss compression equipment used to treat skiing-related fractures in humans. He remembers plating the first broken leg at Ohio State University while studying as a postdoctoral student there.

It was a fancy Quarter Horse filly by a stallion called Gunsmoke, he recalled. Its always fun if you happen to save the life of a horse thats in a line of really well-bred animals.

Appreciation of a good horse was in McCashins blood long before he became a veterinarian. His father, Arthur, was captain of the U.S. national show jumping team that won bronze at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

Growing up on a derelict polo field in New Jersey, McCashin and his older brother jockeyed their fathers steeplechase horses and jumpers. But it was on his fathers advice that he decided to forego a chance to ride in the Olympics himself.

Dad told me, If you had a horse and went to the Tokyo games in 64 and you win a gold medal, you put the gold medal and a dime on the counter and youll get a cup of coffee, McCashin said.

I did ride with the team for quite a while, just never competed, but I exercised some fancy, fancy jumpers. I was lucky to be on Ksar dEsprit and Fire One and San Lucas and horses that are in the history books.

Though he never got to ride in the Olympics, McCashin had a backstage pass to the 1976 games in Montreal as the official vet for the United States Equestrian Team and to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics as an officiating vet for the international governing body for equestrian sports known as the FEI matching the competition horses to their international passports and drug testing a random sample.

While he stepped back from work as a competition vet last year, retiring completely isnt in McCashins plans. Not that he hasnt considered it. But after 50 years, he isnt sure he knows how not to be a horse doctor.

For the last few years, the clinic has hired younger veterinarians to do the bulk of the everyday work driving around Moore and nearby counties vaccinating horses, performing dental work, and other preventive maintenance. McCashins current associate, Beth Susen, has a knack for tricky reproductive cases.

Several of the areas equine veterinarians initially built their reputations in Southern Pines while working as McCashins associate vets. Perhaps as notably, Dean Richardson at UPenns New Bolton Center, who rose to stardom in the horse world when he operated on 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro after he broke several bones in his right hind leg at the start of the Preakness Stakes, worked at Carolina Equine Clinic before he was even admitted to vet school.

I saw him when I went up for the 50th reunion and reminded him he used to plant trees for us down here, McCashin joked.

McCashin still performs some surgeries in the clinics padded operating room, but like most vets refers severe colic cases and broken limbs to N.C. State. In 40 years of veterinary practice, there has been plenty of development to keep abreast of things that dont involve picking up a scalpel.

IRAP, stem cell therapy and other regenerative therapies have replaced counter-irritating methods in treating common tendon and soft tissue injuries in horses. The telltale scars of pinfiring applying extreme heat or cold to a horses leg were once frequent markings in horses retiring from the racetrack but are now out of vogue among most trainers.

(Photo by Ted Fitzgerald/The Pilot)

You would do counterirritation just to give the horse time off, McCashin recalled.

The advent of digital imaging has made diagnosing lameness easier than ever but McCashin failed to join N.C. States faculty in their enthusiasm when the school first acquired an equine MRI system.

Its a great research tool and you can definitely learn a whole lot more by getting that kind of detail, but they get really reliant on some of that technology when they get out of school, so theyre stuck, he said. I always tell them you can use your ears and your eyes and your fingers, if you learn to use them, to discover a lot on a horse.

McCashins patients range from carbon copies of the horses he rode in his showjumping heyday to horses of a different color entirely: Standardbreds training in Pinehurst, barrel racing Quarter Horses in Carthage, and mammoth jack donkeys in Wagram.

Riding a Paso Fino in the Andes on a recent vacation to Peru, it was all he could do not to conduct an impromptu study of the hardy horses respiration rates at varying elevation levels.

When you really love doing the kind of work you do, its hard to retire, he said. Its hard to give that up. You like to be selective in what you do and what you dont do. Ive had surgeries to repair this and repair that, my back, and then I had my heart ablated for a-fib, so I just try not to get sedentary.

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After 50 Years, Equine Vet Not Ready for the Pasture - Southern Pines Pilot

Dr. Susan Benson, a veterinarian at Bridgerland Animal Hospital in Logan, says she loves her job in part because theres always room for professional development.

Its something that I dont feel like Im finished doing, she said. Theres always more to learn, always more to do.

Whether its bringing a baby animal into the world or operating on a large, injured animal, being a veterinarian is never without its challenges and often means dealing with the unexpected, Benson said.

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It was for those efforts that Benson was recently named the 2017 Veterinarian of the Year by the Utah Veterinary Medical Association.

Benson got her start as a professional veterinarian at a clinic in Preston working on large and small animals. In 2005, she moved with her family back to Logan, where she works now at Bridgerland Animal Hospital, primarily on small animals.

Benson sat down with The Herald Journal to tell us three things she wants people to know about being a veterinarian.

No. 1: Its not all puppies and kittens.

Susan Benson: We see every species not just dogs and cats.

I dont (see these animals) personally, but large animals. Half of our staff does cows, sheep, goats, llamas. Im mostly small animals.

We see animals from birth to death and everything in between. We have blood, guts and diarrhea and thats all intermixed with cute puppies and kittens and animals that love us and animals that dont.

Our patients cant talk for themselves so we do quite a lot of interpretation on what we see and how theyre acting in order to find out whats going on with them.

When I worked up in Preston, I got to see a deer fawn that had been injured. I think it had been hit by a car. I worked on that deer fawn a couple times. It was quit interesting theyre different than your standard domestic animal.

No. 2: We love people just as much as we love animals.

SB: Its a common misconception. Were not in veterinary medicine because we dont like people. Were here because we like people, and we want that human-animal bond.

Ill go around to middle schools and high schools for career fairs; Ill have students come up to me and say, Well, I dont really like people, so I dont want to be a doctor. Im going into veterinary medicine. But you have to love both; you have to love people and animals.

More than that, theres a three-way bond. The animal has its needs, the owner has his or her needs, and as a veterinarian, our job is to help the owner help the animal meet those needs.

The owner is ultimately responsible for the care, and then that pet has a responsibility back to give the love. And then, as the veterinarian, we educate the owners to help them make good decisions for their pets so they have a long, healthy, happy relationship.

SB: We understand. When there are hard decisions that have to be made, when the animals are really sick, we feel for you. We share that worry, that sadness.

Every animal that comes in, we add to our little family. When things go great, were there to celebrate. When things dont go well, were sad too.

Ive got a few patients, where Ive been here for 12 years, that Ive seen literally from birth to death. Ive helped with their C-section, so theyre a part of my life even though I dont own the animal. If I help save their life at any point, I feel like Ive given part of myself, and theyve given me part of themselves.

As they get through their life, I see their ups and downs, and we get to have a relationship both with the animal and the person.

When they pass away, its a grieving process for us too.

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A Thing or 3: Logan's Susan Benson talks about being a veterinarian - The Herald Journal

I think a lot of people realize veterinary medicine can present challenges different from those in human medicine. Certainly, our companions have some similar physiology and structures to our own, however the main challenge is that veterinary medicine patients are not as communicative as humans are with their physicians. I have seldom had a patient tell me where it hurts.

This challenge is one of the reasons and there are many why veterinary medicine is so fascinating. It also is the main reason diagnostics can be so important. This is especially important with some of the less mainstream species some people choose as companions. Lou is one of those species, a bearded dragon lizard.

Lou lives in a large cage and is well taken care of by Brandon. Lou is 5 years old and has been with Brandon for most of his life with no health issues. That no longer appears to be the case. Lou has decided he does not want to eat. For Lou, this is highly unusual as, according to Brandon, he usually eats every chance he gets. For the last 10 days or so, he has not touched anything Brandon has offered.

That is all the information I have to go on so it appears I am going to have to use one of my more primitive diagnostic tools, my crystal ball. To be fair to Brandon, this is the single most common presentation for a reptile patient. When they are having health issues, they generally do not eat. This could be the result of a simple problem such as a sore mouth or as complicated and severe as terminal cancer. Therefore, in Lous case and frankly in many cases of reptile illness, we start with the symptom of anorexia and look to a virtually unlimited list of disease possibilities.

Brandon obviously will need to take Lou to his veterinarian for evaluation. I will share what I generally do when presented with an anorexic reptile patient, using Lou as an example. But every case has subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle differences so the thoughts I share may not translate to other lizard cases with the same symptom of anorexia. (The disclaimer!)

Physical examination always is an important diagnostic step, and Lou is no exception. Through this process, we sometimes can fine tune our approach to the necessary diagnostic steps toward uncovering Lous problem. Again with no clues in this particular case, I will be a bit more generalized.

I recommend Lou have some radiographs taken to look inside his little body and a blood panel drawn to check organ system functions. A fecal examination for parasites also is warranted.

These steps will provide a good overview of what might be going on with Lou and hopefully direct us to the next step be it further diagnostics or treatment based on an illness discovered from the tests.

As stated, the best advice is to take Lou to his veterinarian.

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Pet Vet: His bearded dragon lizard no longer wants to eat - Quad-Cities Online

We have a neighborhood cat, a big, gray tomcat very friendly who hangs out on our porch with us. He likes to rub his jowls on us, furniture, everything, like most cats do, butwell, he drools. Like, his fur actually becomes wet with it at the corners of his mouth. He sometimes drips saliva onto the porch, which is not something I have ever seen a cat do. Any ideas what might cause that?

Good question! Excessive drooling is called ptyalism. It is a medical condition characterized by the excessive flow of saliva, also referred to as hyper salivation. It can be normal in certain situations like when my children smell breakfast foods cooking on the weekends or when the dogs are eyeballing a cat eating cat food that should rightfully be going to the dog. But in lots of other situations it is a sign of an abnormality, especially in the cat. Remember the phrase, cats rule and dogs drool?

If a cat is drooling, and it is associated with a pleasurable experience like being petted or sitting on their owners lap, then it can be a normal behavioral response to a happy experience and I hope that Tom cat is just happy to be near you. If I was presented with a cat that was drooling I would start with the oral cavity and look for issues there.

Drooling and dental disease go hand in mouth. Inflammation of the gums, stomatitis and gingivitis certainly do cause drooling and pain. Teeth with neck lesions and fractures are also a source of pain and stress internally and would ultimately produce salivation.

In cats we see oral tumors on the jaws and all over the tongue. These act as a foreign body in the mouth and the automatic response to anything that is not supposed to be in the mouth is to produce drool to either swallow it or flush it away. On occasion we will see real foreign bodies, like sticks or even bones from recent hunting adventures, lodged in the mouth that will cause this behavior.

Going lower down the GI tract, gastrointestinal issues can cause a cat to drool. This is especially true if they have nausea due to inflammatory bowel disease or even esophageal reflux and the result is pain in their lower esophagus.

These cats do well with Pepcid and feeding at night more than feeding in the morning. I know this is not an option in Toms case since he is a roaming neighborhood cat, but if someone kind decides to take him in and love him forever, it could helphint, hint.

Then there is a whole group of weird issues which could make cats drool. In veterinary medicine we call theses Zebras. It comes from the lesson they taught us in veterinary school, When you hear hooves galloping, look for the horse, not the zebras.

Zebras in this case must include of course, rabies. We still have rabies in West Virginia and Tom may not have been vaccinated. Rabies is a fatal disease so that is probably not the case, but it is a rule out.

Toxin exposure could cause oral ulceration and could be a cause. I read a story about a cat sleeping on insulation and the fiberglass he inhaled caused ulceration and oral trauma resulting in drooling. Most chemicals can have the same effect on the cat.

There is a condition called a portosystemic shunt that we see in veterinary medicine in both dogs and cats that can result in drooling abnormally. This is a congenital condition where the major blood vessels running through the liver flow abnormally. Shunts are only diagnosed definitively with dye studies and advanced imaging. Shunt animals can drool and have seizures, too.

Simple blood tests will give you a clue that this is the case and a referral to a veterinary school will diagnose the issue, which is 100% curable with surgery.

Lastly, in a situation such as Tom is in, stress also can be a trigger. I see this in my patients at times on exam. They are fine at home but as soon as they come into an exam room and see me, it starts.

I like to tell the owner that I feel their mixed breed cat probably has St. Bernard in it. Sometimes they laugh and sometimes you can hear the crickets chirping. My technician always laughs, though, to save the day.

Stress can be and is real for cats. Tom is out there in the neighborhood and is untrusting at times of people so that may be affecting his behavior, too.

As you can see, drooling can be a happy response, which I hope is the case for Tom or it can be a clinical sign of an internal issue.

My best advice is, as always, come to the hospital and lets try to figure it out. As veterinarian we think drool is cool and lets find out why and see if we can fix it. Owners obviously dont get that excited but your concern is a step in the right direction.

Good luck to you all and see if you, or another kind neighbor, can take that boy in for a checkup.

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Ask the Vet: Why does our neighborhood tomcat drool so much? - Charleston Gazette-Mail (subscription)

Celebrations that include loud fireworks often terrify dogs. Though there's not yet much science to confirm it, some veterinarians and pet owners say CBD, an extract of hemp or marijuana, can ease a pet's fear. Francisco Goncalves/Getty hide caption

Celebrations that include loud fireworks often terrify dogs. Though there's not yet much science to confirm it, some veterinarians and pet owners say CBD, an extract of hemp or marijuana, can ease a pet's fear.

Along with picnics and barbecues, the Fourth of July brings a less pleasant yearly ritual for many dog lovers: worrying about a family pooch who panics at the sound of firecrackers.

Betsy and Andy Firebaugh of Santa Cruz, Calif., have reason for concern. They live on a mountain ridge overlooking the Pacific Ocean a usually peaceful scene, except at this time of year, when people illegally set off firecrackers at local beaches. The explosive booms send their otherwise happy Australian shepherd Seamus into a frenzy.

"If he's outside, he can freak out and run away," Andy says. Or the dog will hunker in a corner inside the house, reduced to a quivering lump of cinnamon-brown fur. One year on the morning after Independence Day, the couple looked everywhere for Seamus.

"We finally found him underneath the bed, cowering," Betsy recalls. "He wouldn't come out."

But to quell the dog's nerves this year, they say, they may try something new: giving him a squirt of an extract of marijuana that's mostly cannabidiol (CBD), a component of the cannabis plant that, unlike a better-known component, THC, doesn't induce a high.

CBD has drawn a lot of attention in recent years from neurologists and other researchers intrigued by hints that the chemical might prove helpful to people; there's been preliminary study of possible benefits in reducing chronic pain, anxiety and seizures in humans, for example.

So it's probably no surprise that some folks are interested in CBD's therapeutic potential for Fido or Fluffy, too.

Betsy initially got a prescription for medical marijuana to help with her own joint pain. While at the medical marijuana dispensary, she also picked up a vial of CBD oil designed for pets, on the advice of the manager.

The supplement has already yielded good results in their other dog, Angus a sweet blue merle Aussie who was abused as a puppy by previous owners, and still sometimes "becomes Frankendog" around canine strangers, Betsy says. Occasional doses of the cannabis extract in high-stress situations, she says, help to mellow him out.

The Firebaughs aren't the only ones exploring marijuana-based therapies for man's best friend. A growing number of firms are marketing CBD for noise anxiety and other ailments in companion animals. Denver-based Therabis specifically advertises one of its hemp-derived CBD supplements as an aid to help dogs get through the Fourth of July.

And the Los Angeles-based makers of VetCBD oil say that early July, along with New Year's Eve, is one of their busiest sales periods. Animal shelters tend to see an increased influx of runaway pets around the two holidays because of fireworks, notes VetCBD's founder Tim Shu, who is also a veterinarian.

Still, cannabis therapies for pets fall into a legal gray zone. While numerous states, including California, have legalized medical marijuana and/or recreational pot for people, cannabis remains federally illegal, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration recently clarified that it considers CBD extracts unlawful too. None of the cannabis-derived products for pets are approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and state licensing agencies, such as the California Veterinary Medical Board, don't allow veterinarians to prescribe them.

Shu says marijuana has long had a bad reputation in the veterinary community, which has seen many ER cases of dogs suffering toxic effects from gobbling down their owners' marijuana stash or edibles. Large doses of THC, the chemical that produces pot's intoxicating effects, can cause wobbliness, disorientation, vomiting and loss of bladder control in canines.

But the premise of companies selling cannabis-derived products for pets is that non-psychoactive CBD, in combination with a small amount of THC, can be beneficial. For instance, Shu's VetCBD oil contains a 20:1 ratio of CBD to THC, a formulation he says he developed in a quest to aid his own elderly dog, Tye, a mixed pit bull breed. Tye has arthritic pain and fireworks anxiety, the veterinarian says, but can't handle the side effects of standard veterinary medications.

By experimenting with Tye and other patients in his practice, Shu came up with his cannabidiol concoction which is extracted from organic cannabis flowers and a variety of specific dosages for pets of different sizes.

Tye's mobility has since improved, Shu says, and "I can actually walk her outside during Fourth of July fireworks. For a lot of owners, it's a night-and-day difference."

Such anecdotes may sound compelling, but some other vets say they'd like to see scientific evidence. Brennen McKenzie, a veterinarian in Los Altos, Calif., writes the SkeptVet blog and is on the board of the Evidence-Based Veterinary Medicine Association. In regards to CBD, McKenzie says, "we have virtually no research in pets, so we are guessing and extrapolating."

It's human nature, he says, for us all to "see what we want and expect to see, rather than what is really there, much of the time." He recalls, for example, a clinical trial in which some arthritic dogs got a pain reliever and others a placebo. More than half the owners of the dogs who got the placebo reported dramatic improvement in their pets' symptoms.

McKenzie acknowledges that the limited laboratory research that's been done in dogs so far hasn't turned up any severe side effects from the short-term use of CBD. However, he points out, each animal species is different; cats, for example, are extremely sensitive to any chemicals.

Carefully designed clinical trials still need to be done, McKenzie says, to fully assess CBD's benefits and risks in treating specific health conditions in pets.

Yet, the legal morass surrounding marijuana makes it difficult to conduct any scientific studies of cannabis-based treatments in the U.S. in people or any other animals.

So, McKenzie concedes it may sometimes be appropriate for people to try cannabis-derived products in their pets in certain situations, such as when they've exhausted other treatment options that are supported by better scientific evidence.

"You just have to be aware of the risk that you're taking," he says, "and the uncertainty involved."

Noise anxiety may be one of those situations, McKenzie says, noting that veterinary medicine doesn't have a great solution that's widely and reliably effective in allaying noise phobia.

Standard treatments, such as sedatives and antidepressants, can come with their own side effects. Other options include behavioral therapies playing white noise or music, for instance, or teaching owners to be low-key and calm in response to a panicky pet. But that may not work for pets with severe anxiety.

Even if CBD is effective for noise anxiety, McKenzie says, he has one more caveat: The marketplace of cannabis-based veterinary products is unregulated, with no oversight of quality control. "You may not be getting what you think you're getting," he says.

So where does all of this leave Betsy and Andy Firebaugh? They're reluctant to put Seamus on a prescription sedative or antidepressant, and they've tried other tactics, including positive-reinforcement behavioral training and a swaddling jacket.

Bob Pallares, who runs the nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary in Santa Cruz where the Firebaughs bought their VetCBD supplement, says he carries this particular product because it's organic and of high quality, as tested by a third-party lab.

Persuaded that VetCBD oil has helped Angus with no ill effect, the Firebaughs hope the supplement might do the trick for Seamus tonight, too. When the firecracker fracas starts this evening, they'll shut the windows, turn up the radio set to classical music and cross their fingers. And if that's not enough to soothe Seamus, they'll mix a little CBD oil into his food.

"We'll just see how he does," Betsy says.

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An impact with a stone during a hunting trip: this is the reason why Tom had to be operated on the deep wound generated. The 4-year-old Italian Pointer, due to the wound position and poor post-surgery care of the owners, had to also deal with its subsequent reopening from the painful, non-secondary repercussions. Stumbling, instead, on a hooked piece of iron in the ground as he walked with his owners, Niki, a 9-year-old German shepherd, got a contused and lacerated wound that, though promptly sutured, created problems afterwards that eventually led to a surgical curettage and the removal of an already necrotic skin flap.

How to help the closure of the two wounds in a short time, without pain and contraindications? Laser therapy applied in the veterinary field turns out to be providential. Thanks to its anti-inflammatory, antiedemigenous, analgesic, and biostimulating effects, it results in a rapid healing and oedema resolution, an immediate improvement in local blood circulation, a fast recovery of the structural integrity of damaged tissues, and a significant reduction of pain in the short term. The speed of application of the treatment also has positive effects on its tolerability even for the more restless or sensitive animals.

The confirmation of the value of this therapeutic solution comes from the experience of some veterinary medicine specialists who have chosen it to treat frequent pathologies in everyday outpatient practice.

"Practicing physiotherapy in the veterinary field," explains Dr. Jane McNae of the Hong Kong Vet Clinic 'Paws in Motion.' "after careful research I chose MLS Laser Therapy by ASAlaser, because the benefits of this therapeutic laser are essential for the pain and inflammation management, and to improve the natural healing of the body in many post-operative cases in the orthopaedic and neurological fields, and in common disorders of old pets. I also practice acupuncture or acu-laser treatment using both the traditional points indicated by Chinese veterinary medicine as described in the TCVM texts, and the trigger points in the myofascial tissues of the individual animals. Even in this context, MLS is valid, allowing you to act quickly on the defined points."

The fields of use of laser therapy are many, and, besides injuries and wounds, it also speaks the language of potentially disabling pathologies.

On the subject, the words of Dr. Martha Matallana, a veterinary physician specialized in physical therapy and rehabilitation of small animals, chiropractic and ozone therapy, DMV at the Salle University of Bogot: 'The effective use of MLS Laser Therapy is extensive, and covers, for example, both patients who, after an orthopaedic operation, must be able to return to their activity in the shortest amount of time possible, and also animals that are unsuitable for surgery that have to live with acute pain coming from problems such as the infirmity of the intervertebral disc. In both cases, the time factor is crucial: MLS not only has short application times, but also offers fast recovery results ."

A non-secondary advantage that benefits pets like equine and exotic species. A comprehensive therapy already in its DNA.

SOURCE ASA Srl

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Laser Therapy: Amazing Results in Veterinary Medicine - PR Newswire (press release)

American Veterinary Medical Association

Zoo veterinarians, behind the scenes and in the field American Veterinary Medical Association For zoo veterinarians, their day-to-day work can encompass thousands of individual animals and a multitude of species. and more »

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Zoo veterinarians, behind the scenes and in the field - American Veterinary Medical Association

At Jacobs Island Dog Park on Wednesday afternoon, Laura Tonnessen threw a stick into the river for her dog Thor. He barked enthusiastically, retrieving and dropping the stick at her feet. But in a few days, on the Fourth of July, Tonnessen knows Thors demeanor will change. The loud fireworks frighten him.

Hell hide behind furniture and act weird and whine, Tonnessen said.

Last year, Tonnessens friends pitbull, Cracker, ran away and was lost for three days because he was spooked by loud fireworks. It was traumatic to lose him for so long, Tonnessen said, and she makes sure to keep Thor inside on the holiday to prevent him from running away, too.

Michael Edwards, a student at the University of Montana, said his 130-pound great Pyrenees, Snowy, climbs into the bathtub, pulls the shower curtain closed with her mouth, and howls until the thunder storm or fireworks end.

If shes outside, she runs. They once found her about seven miles from their house, trying to escape the source of the noise. Animal shelters report that July 4-5 are their busiest days of the year.

When dogs bark, flee or cower on the Fourth of July, they are exhibiting symptoms of a panic disorder called noise phobia.

Fireworks and other loud noises terrify a fraction of all dogs, and their reactions sometimes endanger their health. Dogs may jump through windows, climb fences or run away for days to try to escape the sounds of patriotic celebration.

This phobia, which is a symptom of underlying anxiety issues, has recently been linked to a certain gene in dogs, says Dr. Leticia Fanucchi, a veterinary behaviorist at Washington State University's College of Veterinary Medicine.

Some dogs are more genetically predisposed to anxiety disorders, Fanucchi said, just like humans.

The area that is activated in our brain for fear is the amygdala, and the amygdala can be triggered long before the prefrontal cortex can process information, Fanucchi said.

Its like people who suffer from arachnophobia even if you explain that the spider won't hurt them, it activates the amygdala and makes them panic.

The amygdala is where irrational fears trigger a fight, flight or freeze response, while the prefrontal cortex controls reason and rational decision-making. Dogs panic at the sound of fireworks because they think their lives are at risk, even if they are safe at home.

Fanucchi said not all breeds of dogs carry this anxiety gene, and some are more prone to it than others. Within one breed, a dog could have the anxiety gene while another might not. This explains why some dogs dont react at all to loud noises. Those that do are typically anxious about other things, as well.

What we do know is that a good chunk of the dogs that have noise phobia do have generalized anxiety as an underlying disease, Fanucchi said. About 40 percent of the dogs that have generalized anxiety have noise phobia. So noise phobia is a big red flag that something else is going on with that dog, and it needs to be diagnosed and treated appropriately.

For this Fourth of July, its too late to start a long-term medication regimen to treat anxiety because medications typically take a few weeks to become effective, Fanucchi said. But there are other, short-term practices that can minimize dogs anxiety and keep them safe.

Creating a quiet and distracting setting for dogs can help them stay calm, said Emily Adamson, director of Organizational Advancement at the Humane Society of Western Montana. Scent therapy, like lavender spray, is popular for calming dogs, Adamson said.

Food toys and soft music (they play classical at the shelter) help distract the dogs from the source of their fear. For people who do take their dogs outside, Adamson recommends double-checking their ID tags to make sure the information is current, in case the dogs run away.

And then, theres the Thundershirt.

Dr. Lindsey Rewinkel at Pruyn Veterinary Hospital in Missoula said Thundershirts are available at pet stores and some veterinary hospitals, and serve as a dog anxiety vest.

Its a heavy fabric fashioned into a shirt that you wrap them in, Rewinkel said. Its not quite as severe as a swaddle, but the goal is to make them feel comforted. That has helped an incredible amount of dogs cope with noise phobias if they're not as severe.

Finally, there are medications vets can prescribe that sedate dogs and minimize their anxiety symptoms on the Fourth of July if none of these other practices work. Rewinkel said she always urges people to also treat the underlying anxiety issue with long-term behavioral therapy, and not just resort to medication, which can serve as a Band-Aid solution to a larger problem.

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Why does your dog hate Fourth of July fireworks? It's genetic - The Missoulian

American Veterinary Medical Association

New Texas veterinary school plan still alive American Veterinary Medical Association Plans for a proposed Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine in Amarillo got a boost this spring.

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New Texas veterinary school plan still alive - American Veterinary Medical Association

"Animal hospital" redirects here. For the BBC television show, see Animal Hospital.

Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, disorder and injury in non-human animals. The scope of veterinary medicine is wide, covering all animal species, both domesticated and wild, with a wide range of conditions which can affect different species.

Veterinary medicine is widely practiced, both with and without professional supervision. Professional care is most often led by a veterinary physician (also known as a vet, veterinary surgeon or veterinarian), but also by paraveterinary workers such as veterinary nurses or technicians. This can be augmented by other paraprofessionals with specific specialisms such as animal physiotherapy or dentistry, and species relevant roles such as farriers.

Veterinary science helps human health through the monitoring and control of zoonotic disease (infectious disease transmitted from non-human animals to humans), food safety, and indirectly through human applications from basic medical research. They also help to maintain food supply through livestock health monitoring and treatment, and mental health by keeping pets healthy and long living. Veterinary scientists often collaborate with epidemiologists, and other health or natural scientists depending on type of work. Ethically, veterinarians are usually obliged to look after animal welfare.

The Egyptian Papyrus of Kahun (1900 BCE) and Vedic literature in ancient India offer one of the first written records of veterinary medicine. (See also Shalihotra) ( Buddhism) First Buddhist Emperor of India edicts of Asoka reads: "Everywhere King Piyadasi (Asoka) made two kinds of medicine () available, medicine for people and medicine for animals. Where there were no healing herbs for people and animals, he ordered that they be bought and planted."

The first attempts to organize and regulate the practice of treating animals tended to focus on horses because of their economic significance. In the Middle Ages from around 475 CE, farriers combined their work in horseshoeing with the more general task of "horse doctoring". In 1356, the Lord Mayor of London, concerned at the poor standard of care given to horses in the city, requested that all farriers operating within a seven-mile radius of the City of London form a "fellowship" to regulate and improve their practices. This ultimately led to the establishment of the Worshipful Company of Farriers in 1674.[3]

Meanwhile, Carlo Ruini's book Anatomia del Cavallo, (Anatomy of the Horse) was published in 1598. It was the first comprehensive treatise on the anatomy of a non-human species.[4]

The first veterinary college was founded in Lyon, France in 1762 by Claude Bourgelat.[5] According to Lupton, after observing the devastation being caused by cattle plague to the French herds, Bourgelat devoted his time to seeking out a remedy. This resulted in his founding a veterinary college in Lyon in 1761, from which establishment he dispatched students to combat the disease; in a short time, the plague was stayed and the health of stock restored, through the assistance rendered to agriculture by veterinary science and art."[6]

The Odiham Agricultural Society was founded in 1783 in England to promote agriculture and industry,[7] and played an important role in the foundation of the veterinary profession in Britain. A founding member, Thomas Burgess, began to take up the cause of animal welfare and campaign for the more humane treatment of sick animals.[8] A 1785 Society meeting resolved to "promote the study of Farriery upon rational scientific principles.

The physician James Clark wrote a treatise entitled Prevention of Disease in which he argued for the professionalization of the veterinary trade, and the establishment of veterinary colleges. This was finally achieved in 1790, through the campaigning of Granville Penn, who persuaded the Frenchman, Benoit Vial de St. Bel to accept the professorship of the newly established Veterinary College in London.[7] The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons was established by royal charter in 1844. Veterinary science came of age in the late 19th century, with notable contributions from Sir John McFadyean, credited by many as having been the founder of modern Veterinary research.[9]

In the United States, the first schools were established in the early 19th century in Boston, New York and Philadelphia. In 1879, Iowa Agricultural College became the first land grant college to establish a school of veterinary medicine.[10]

Veterinary care and management is usually led by a veterinary physician (usually called a vet, veterinary surgeon or veterinarian). This role is the equivalent of a doctor in human medicine, and usually involves post-graduate study and qualification.

In many countries, the local nomenclature for a vet is a protected term, meaning that people without the prerequisite qualifications and/or registration are not able to use the title, and in many cases, the activities that may be undertaken by a vet (such as animal treatment or surgery) are restricted only to those people who are registered as vet. For instance, in the United Kingdom, as in other jurisdictions, animal treatment may only be performed by registered vets (with a few designated exceptions, such as paraveterinary workers), and it is illegal for any person who is not registered to call themselves a vet or perform any treatment.

Most vets work in clinical settings, treating animals directly. These vets may be involved in a general practice, treating animals of all types; may be specialized in a specific group of animals such as companion animals, livestock, laboratory animals, zoo animals or horses; or may specialize in a narrow medical discipline such as surgery, dermatology, laboratory animal medicine, or internal medicine.

As with healthcare professionals, vets face ethical decisions about the care of their patients. Current debates within the profession include the ethics of purely cosmetic procedures on animals, such as declawing of cats, docking of tails, cropping of ears and debarking on dogs.

Paraveterinary workers, including veterinary nurses, technicians and assistants, either assist vets in their work, or may work within their own scope of practice, depending on skills and qualifications, including in some cases, performing minor surgery.

The role of paraveterinary workers is less homogeneous globally than that of a vet, and qualification levels, and the associated skill mix, vary widely.

A number of professions exist within the scope of veterinary medicine, but which may not necessarily be performed by vets or veterinary nurses. This includes those performing roles which are also found in human medicine, such as practitioners dealing with musculoskeletal disorders, including osteopaths, chiropractors and physiotherapists.

There are also roles which are specific to animals, but which have parallels in human society, such as animal grooming and animal massage.

Some roles are specific to a species or group of animals, such as farriers, who are involved in the shoeing of horses, and in many cases have a major role to play in ensuring the medical fitness of the horse.

Exotic veterinary care is the scope of treatment, diagnosis and care for animals persisting of the nontraditional domesticated animals. An exotic animal can be briefly described as one that isn't normally domesticated or owned, there-go, exotic. The research and study of veterinary medicine pertains to this form of treatment and care only on a smaller scale due to demand and resources available for this field of work.

Veterinary research includes research on prevention, control, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases of animals and on the basic biology, welfare, and care of animals. Veterinary research transcends species boundaries and includes the study of spontaneously occurring and experimentally induced models of both human and animal disease and research at human-animal interfaces, such as food safety, wildlife and ecosystem health, zoonotic diseases, and public policy.[11]

As in medicine, randomized controlled trials are fundamental also in veterinary medicine to establish the effectiveness of a treatment.[12] However, clinical veterinary research is far behind human medical research, with fewer randomized controlled trials, that have a lower quality and that are mostly focused on research animals.[13] Possible improvement consists in creation of network for inclusion of private veterinary practices in randomized controlled trials.

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Veterinary medicine - Wikipedia

Summary

Veterinarians check for symptoms of illnesses in pets.

Veterinarians care for the health of animals and work to improve public health. They diagnose, treat, and research medical conditions and diseases of pets, livestock, and other animals.

Most veterinarians work in private clinics and hospitals. Others travel to farms, work in laboratories or classrooms, or work for the government.

Veterinarians must have a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from an accredited veterinary college and a state license.

The median annual wage for veterinarians was $88,490 in May 2015.

Employment of veterinarians is projected to grow 9 percent from 2014 to 2024, faster than the average for all occupations. Candidates should expect very strong competition for available veterinarian positions, especially in companion animal care. Those with specializations and prior work experience should have the best job opportunities.

Explore resources for employment and wages by state and area for veterinarians.

Compare the job duties, education, job growth, and pay of veterinarians with similar occupations.

Learn more about veterinarians by visiting additional resources, including O*NET, a source on key characteristics of workers and occupations.

Veterinarians use x rays to diagnose animals.

Veterinarians care for the health of animals and work to improve public health. They diagnose, treat, and research medical conditions and diseases of pets, livestock, and other animals.

Veterinarians typically do the following:

Veterinarians treat the injuries and illnesses of pets and other animals with a variety of medical equipment, including surgical tools and x-ray and ultrasound machines. They provide treatment for animals that is similar to the services a physician provides to treat humans.

The following are examples of types of veterinarians:

Companion animal veterinarians treat pets and generally work in private clinics and hospitals. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, more than 75 percent of veterinarians who work in private clinical practice treat pets. They most often care for cats and dogs, but also treat other pets, such as birds, ferrets, and rabbits. These veterinarians diagnose and provide treatment for animal health problems, consult with owners of animals about preventive healthcare, and carry out medical and surgical procedures, such as vaccinations, dental work, and setting fractures.

Equine veterinarians work with horses. In 2014, about 6 percent of private practice veterinarians diagnosed and treated horses.

Food animal veterinarians work with farm animals such as pigs, cattle, and sheep, which are raised to be food sources. In 2014, about 7 percent of private practice veterinarians treated food animals. They spend much of their time at farms and ranches treating illnesses and injuries and testing for and vaccinating against disease. They may advise owners or managers about feeding, housing, and general health practices.

Food safety and inspection veterinarians inspect and test livestock and animal products for major animal diseases, provide vaccines to treat animals, enhance animal welfare, conduct research to improve animal health, and enforce government food safety regulations. They design and administer animal and public health programs for the prevention and control of diseases transmissible among animals and between animals and people.

Research veterinarians work in laboratories, conducting clinical research on human and animal health problems. These veterinarians may perform tests on animals to identify the effects of drug therapies, or they may test new surgical techniques. They may also research how to prevent, control, and eliminate food- and animal-borne illnesses and diseases.

Some veterinarians become postsecondary teachers at colleges and universities.

Most veterinarians work in veterinary clinics.

Veterinarians held about 78,300 jobs in 2014, of which about 74 percent were in the veterinary services industry. Others held positions in federal, state, or local government; animal production, and in colleges and universities. About 1 in 6 veterinarians were self-employed in 2016.

Most veterinarians work in private clinics and hospitals. Others travel to farms, work in laboratories or classrooms, or work for the government.

Veterinarians who treat horses or food animals travel between their offices and farms and ranches. They work outdoors in all kinds of weather and may have to perform surgery, often in remote locations.

Veterinarians who work in food safety and inspection travel to farms, slaughterhouses, and food-processing plants to inspect the health of animals and ensure that safety protocols are being followed by the facility.

Veterinarians who conduct research work primarily in offices and laboratories. They spend much of their time dealing with people, rather than animals.

The work can be emotionally stressful, as veterinarians deal with sick animals and the animals anxious owners. Also, the workplace can be noisy, as animals make noise when sick or being handled. Working on farms and ranches, in slaughterhouses, or with wildlife can also be physically demanding.

When working with animals that are frightened or in pain, veterinarians risk being bitten, kicked, and scratched. In addition, veterinarians working with diseased animals risk being infected by the disease.

Veterinarians often work additional hours. Some work nights or weekends, and they may have to respond to emergencies outside of scheduled work hours.

Veterinarians can choose specialties such as companion animals or farm animals.

Veterinarians must have a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from an accredited veterinary college and a state license.

Veterinarians must complete a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M. or V.M.D.) degree at an accredited college of veterinary medicine. There are currently 30 colleges with accredited programs in the United States. A veterinary medicine program generally takes 4 years to complete and includes classroom, laboratory, and clinical components.

Although not required, most applicants to veterinary school have a bachelors degree. Veterinary medical colleges typically require applicants to have taken many science classes, including biology, chemistry, anatomy, physiology, zoology, microbiology, and animal science. Most programs also require math, humanities, and social science courses.

Admission to veterinary programs is competitive, and less than half of all applicants were accepted in 2014.

In veterinary medicine programs, students take courses on animal anatomy and physiology, as well as disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Most programs include 3 years of classroom, laboratory, and clinical work. Students typically spend the final year of the 4-year program doing clinical rotations in a veterinary medical center or hospital.

Veterinarians must be licensed in order to practice in the United States. Licensing requirements vary by state, but all states require prospective veterinarians to complete an accredited veterinary program and to pass the North American Veterinary Licensing Examination. Veterinarians working for the state or federal government may not be required to have a state license, because each agency has different requirements.

Most states not only require the national exam but also have a state exam that covers state laws and regulations. Few states accept licenses from other states, so veterinarians who want to be licensed in another state usually must take that states exam.

The American Veterinary Medical Association offers certification in 40 specialties, such as surgery, microbiology, and internal medicine. Although certification is not required for veterinarians, it can show exceptional skill and expertise in a particular field. To sit for a specialty certification exam, veterinarians must have a certain number of years of experience in the field, complete additional education, and complete a residency program, typically lasting 3 to 4 years. Requirements vary by specialty.

Some veterinary medical colleges weigh experience heavily during the admissions process. Formal experience, such as previous work with veterinarians or scientists in clinics, agribusiness, research, or some area of health science, is particularly advantageous. Less formal experience, such as working with animals on a farm, at a stable, or in an animal shelter, can also be helpful.

Although graduates of a veterinary program can begin practicing once they receive their license, some veterinarians pursue further education and training. Some new veterinary graduates enter internship or residency programs to gain specialized experience.

Compassion. Veterinarians must be compassionate when working with animals and their owners. They must treat animals with kindness and respect, and must be sensitive when dealing with the animal owners.

Communication skills. Strong communication skills are essential for veterinarians, who must be able to discuss their recommendations and explain treatment options to animal owners and give instructions to their staff.

Decisionmaking skills. Veterinarians must decide the correct method for treating the injuries and illnesses of animals. For instance, deciding to euthanize a sick animal can be difficult.

Management skills. Management skills are important for veterinarians who manage private clinics or laboratories, or direct teams of technicians or inspectors. In these settings, they are responsible for providing direction, delegating work, and overseeing daily operations.

Manual dexterity. Manual dexterity is important for veterinarians, because they must control their hand movements and be precise when treating injuries and performing surgery.

Problem-solving skills. Veterinarians need strong problem-solving skills because they must figure out what is ailing animals. Those who test animals to determine the effects of drug therapies also need excellent diagnostic skills.

Median annual wages, May 2015

The median annual wage for veterinarians was $88,490 in May 2015. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $53,210, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $158,260.

Veterinarians often work additional hours. Some work nights or weekends, and they may have to respond to emergencies outside of scheduled work hours.

Percent change in employment, projected 2014-24

Employment of veterinarians is projected to grow 9 percent from 2014 to 2024, faster than the average for all occupations. Veterinarians will continue to be needed to diagnose and treat animals.

Veterinary medicine has advanced considerably. Veterinarians are able to offer more services today that are comparable to healthcare for humans, including more complicated procedures like cancer treatments and kidney transplants.

There also will be employment growth in areas such as food and animal safety, where organizations work to prevent foodborne contaminations and diseases in animals; public health, where organizations work to protect the health of an entire population; and disease control. Veterinarians will continue to be needed to inspect the food supply and to ensure animal and human health.

Candidates can expect competition for most veterinarian positions. Job seekers with a specialization and prior work experience should have the best job opportunities.

The number of new graduates from veterinary schools has increased to roughly 3,000 per year, resulting in greater competition for jobs than in recent years. Additionally, most veterinary graduates are attracted to companion animal care, so there will be fewer job opportunities in that field.

Job opportunities in farm animal care will be better, because fewer veterinarians compete to work on large animals. Also, there will be some job opportunities available in the federal government in food safety, animal health, and public health. Job opportunities will also become available as veterinarians retire opening up positions for new veterinarians.

Veterinary schools also train veterinarians for positions in other fields, such as public health, disease control, corporate sales, and population studies. With potentially fewer opportunities in companion animal care, many graduating veterinarians will likely have better job prospects in these areas.

Veterinarians

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program produces employment and wage estimates annually for over 800 occupations. These estimates are available for the nation as a whole, for individual states, and for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. The link(s) below go to OES data maps for employment and wages by state and area.

Occupational employment projections are developed for all states by Labor Market Information (LMI) or individual state Employment Projections offices. All state projections data are available at http://www.projectionscentral.com. Information on this site allows projected employment growth for an occupation to be compared among states or to be compared within one state. In addition, states may produce projections for areas; there are links to each states websites where these data may be retrieved.

Americas Career InfoNet includes hundreds of occupational profiles with data available by state and metro area. There are links in the left-hand side menu to compare occupational employment by state and occupational wages by local area or metro area. There is also a salary info tool to search for wages by zip code.

This table shows a list of occupations with job duties that are similar to those of veterinarians.

Agricultural and food scientists research ways to improve the efficiency and safety of agricultural establishments and products.

Animal care and service workers provide care for animals. They feed, groom, bathe, and exercise pets and other nonfarm animals. Job tasks vary by position and place of work.

Medical scientists conduct research aimed at improving overall human health. They often use clinical trials and other investigative methods to reach their findings.

Physicians and surgeons diagnose and treat injuries or illnesses. Physicians examine patients; take medical histories; prescribe medications; and order, perform, and interpret diagnostic tests. They counsel patients on diet, hygiene, and preventive healthcare. Surgeons operate on patients to treat injuries, such as broken bones; diseases, such as cancerous tumors; and deformities, such as cleft palates.

Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers look after animals in laboratories, animal hospitals, and clinics. They care for the animals by performing routine tasks under the supervision of scientists, veterinarians, and veterinary technologists and technicians.

Veterinary technologists and technicians perform medical tests under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian to assist in diagnosing the injuries and illnesses of animals.

Zoologists and wildlife biologists study animals and other wildlife and how they interact with their ecosystems. They study the physical characteristics of animals, animal behaviors, and the impacts humans have on wildlife and natural habitats.

The What They Do tab describes the typical duties and responsibilities of workers in the occupation, including what tools and equipment they use and how closely they are supervised. This tab also covers different types of occupational specialties.

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The State and Area Data tab provides links to state and area occupational data from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program, state projections data from Projections Central, and occupational information from the Department of Labor's Career InfoNet.

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The More Information tab provides the Internet addresses of associations, government agencies, unions, and other organizations that can provide additional information on the occupation. This tab also includes links to relevant occupational information from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET).

The wage at which half of the workers in the occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. Median wage data are from the BLS Occupational Employment Statistics survey. In May 2015, the median annual wage for all workers was $36,200.

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The employment, or size, of this occupation in 2014, which is the base year of the 2014-24 employment projections.

The projected percent change in employment from 2014 to 2024. The average growth rate for all occupations is 7 percent.

The projected numeric change in employment from 2014 to 2024.

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The projected numeric change in employment from 2014 to 2024.

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The projected numeric change in employment from 2014 to 2024.

The projected percent change in employment from 2014 to 2024.

The wage at which half of the workers in the occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. Median wage data are from the BLS Occupational Employment Statistics survey. In May 2015, the median annual wage for all workers was $36,200.

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U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: How to Become a Veterinarian