Sending ailing dogs home with oral opioids may not be an effective way to manage their pain, experts report in a free, online continuing education program recently developed for veterinarians. In light of growing evidence that such drugs don’t work well in dogs – added to the fact that humans sometimes abuse opioids prescribed for pets – the common practice of prescribing oral opioids for dogs in pain should be reexamined, the experts say.

Antech Diagnostics, part of Mars Petcare, released a new diagnostic tool called RenalTech that was developed using artificial intelligence to analyze pet medical record data to predict whether a cat will develop chronic kidney disease (CKD) up to two years before traditional clinical diagnosis.

Leptospirosis is a bacterial infection that has become more and more prevalent in both human and veterinary medicine worldwide. Most mammals are susceptible to infection.1 As humans expand their environmental footprint, encroachment on wildlife becomes a greater issue, and people, domestic pets, and wild reservoir hosts (e.g., raccoons) cross one another’s path more and more often.

Congenital heart defects are well-recognized causes of morbidity and mortality in veterinary medicine. This article explores the rarest CHDs, which present an opportunity to better understand cardiac physiology.

Older patients may appear “healthy” for their age, but they often have multiple underlying organ dysfunctions that, when challenged by general anesthesia, can result in a cascade of detrimental events. This CE course will help you create an appropriate anesthesia plan for the geriatric patient.