Joe Jesse Owens III, DVM, inventor and CEO of Enjoy-A-Bowl and executive producer of But I Love My Pet, joined this week's episode of The Vet Blast Podcast presented by dvm360 with our host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA. The duo sat down to discuss the importance of clear communication, setting professional boundaries, and prioritizing self-care to help veterinary teams ensure they can balance client expectations and animal welfare to make sure pets are getting the care they need and patients gain a better understanding of the issues surrounding their pet. 

So talking about the art of negotiating for a life. You know your perspective. You have have been through so many different aspects already in your career. So what inspired you to view your role as a veterinarian through the lens of negotiation and decision making.

I mean, at the end of the day, this pet can't talk. You know, animal science degree teaches you what's normal in a pet. Veterinary medicine teaches you all the abnormals and what's wrong. And then you have to find that balance for a person who has no knowledge in what this animal is doing, and a lot of times they normalize bad things like limping. He's always limped, not normal. We normalize it. So how do we negotiate the quality of life to get you to realize that this pets in pain and uncomfortable at best, because it's not your pain, and it's hard to relate to that from the pets perspective, when I'm trying to help you, and I know you're here for vaccines, but he don't want vaccines right now. He want this knee at least addressed in some pain management on board. 

So how do I get you to relate to that in a way that makes sense to you, so that we can relate to the dog, and then we get compliance, and then you see the results, because you agreed with me, and I always say, but what if I'm right? Even if we go back and forth, what if I'm if I'm right, I could be wrong, but what if I'm right? Yes, and he can't talk, you know?

Podcasts

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, and Joe Jesse Owens III, DVM, discuss the importance of clear communication and setting boundaries to balance client needs and patient welfare. 

The art of negotiating for a life: A veterinarian's perspective

Product360 with Ryan Gallagher, CEO of Scribenote

Scribenote leverages AI to save veterinarians time on note-taking

 Hey everyone, I'm Dr Adam Christman, Chief Veterinary Officer here at dvm360. Welcome to Product360! We're going to be chatting with our friends at Scribenote. We have Ryan Gallagher, CEO of Scribenote, chatting with us about making our lives easier and helping with our SOAP notes and workflow utilization. I'm really curious to learn more about this because we hear a lot about AI technology. I want to back up a little bit—tell us how Scribenote came to fruition.

Scribenote came to fruition in the earlier days of AI. Back in 2019, I was a university student and I noticed my older sister, Dr Katie Gallagher, who is a practicing veterinarian, coming home late all the time—an hour and a half, two hours late, always missing family dinner.

I was an engineering student, so I thought maybe there was something I could do to help. I followed her into the clinic as a fly on the wall. What I saw that day was the thing keeping her late was her medical records. These were often near duplications of what she’d been talking about all day long: Why is Fluffy here? What’s wrong with Fluffy? What are we going to do about it?

That forms the basis of the medical record. I thought if we could record the appointment using software, then process it into a note for her, maybe we could get her home on time. I told her at the end of that day, December 29, 2019, "Give me a decade, and we’ll figure this out." Well, it wasn’t a decade; we figured it out in about three and a half years. Since then, we’ve helped thousands of veterinarians, completed over two million medical records, and I’d love to show you how it feels.

That’s fantastic! Congratulations on doing that.

So, we obviously have a fake dog here, and we’re going to do a simulation. What should we do first? Should we demonstrate the software or start with a physical exam?

Let’s do a physical exam. I’ve got Scribenote pulled up on the computer here and also on my phone. Scribenote is cloud-based, so whatever you do on your phone syncs automatically with your computer. For demonstration purposes, you’d walk into the exam room, ask your client for consent to record, click a button, and focus on your exam as usual.

We’re going to say this is Capone, and you’re the owner, Ryan. I understand Capone came in for shaking his ears, correct?

 Yeah, he’s been itching and shaking his ears for the past two and a half weeks. He cries a little when he does it, and I’m getting worried.

 Okay, let’s take a look. His gum color looks nice, pink, and moist. Capillary refill time is less than two seconds. There’s a bit of dental disease—grade one out of four. His eyes look good. For the purpose of this conversation, let’s jump to the ears. The right ear (AD) has mild ceruminous discharge, and the left ear (AS) looks like it has some brown ceruminous discharge as well. I’d want to get an ear cytology to check for bacteria and/or yeast. I’ll come back with the treatment plan so you can go home with medication, and I want to show you how to clean his ears.

 That sounds great. I’m just worried because I need to take my kid to karate and there is a lot of karate practice these days. Is this going to take a long time?

 No, it’s not going to take that long, Ryan. This will only take about five minutes or so to get those results back.

 Okay. The kids have been wild since going back to school, but I appreciate it. One of the most common questions we get is, "Your exam room conversation isn’t like the dictation we just did, right?" That was for the sake of time—exam room conversations are unstructured. They include talk about kids, vacations, and other unrelated topics. When we pull up this record, hopefully as part of a live demo, you won’t see any of that. You’ll just see the relevant information for the patient.

In fact, you can see right here on the screen that the note in our inbox has already been processed. It’s done. We have a medical record for Capone, who presented with ear itching and head shaking. Looking at the record, we can see it’s been going on for about two and a half weeks. The patient has been crying when shaking his head. No other concerns were mentioned.

I won’t go through the entire objective, but what we see here is that Scribenote has automatically extracted key clinical information and put it where it belongs in the objective. It also calls out items that weren’t mentioned. Now, some people say, “I don’t want ‘not mentioned’ showing up throughout my exams.” That’s where customizable defaults come in. For example, if you want a default body condition score to show 4 out of 9 when it isn’t discussed, we can set that up. We call this feature custom objective defaults. If you say something like, “Looks good,” or, “Sounds normal,” it will default to your predefined normal values.

 As we scroll through the rest of the exam, you’ll notice there’s no mention of karate, but we did pull out your assessment: bilateral otitis externa, mild dental disease graded 1 out of 4, and follow-up plans. This happens automatically. If you really want to test its capabilities, bring it into a 45-minute appointment where you discuss everything. You’ll still see only the relevant information surfaced at the end.

 I’m smiling because this probably just saved me at least 15 minutes on one case—writing up notes, doing the rule-outs, and putting the plan in place. Look how organized it is with bulleted points, as well. So, how do we export this? Is there a drag-and-drop feature?

 Yes, Scribenote makes it easy to export into your PIMS. While I don’t have a PIMS on this computer, the process is as simple as copy-paste. It takes about 10 seconds per record. What used to take 15 minutes now takes 1 minute to review and 10 seconds to transfer into your system.

Videos

How Scribenote uses AI note taking to save veterinarians valuable time.

Zomedica Corp. (Zomedica), a veterinary health company that offers point-of-care diagnostics and therapeutic products for companion and equine animals, shared today that it was entered into a license and supply agreement with Creslion, Inc. This entered agreement gives Zomedica the ability to market and sell Vetigel hemostatic gel producer line on an exclusive basis within the United States and non-exclusive basis outside of the US.

"This partnership with Zomedica is ideal for the future of Vetigel," said Joe Landolina, CEO of Cresilon, in the organizational release.

 "Zomedica's established reputation, robust field sales team, and commitment to veterinary excellence make them the perfect match for expanding the reach of this revolutionary product. Together, we look forward to making Vetigel an essential tool for veterinary practices worldwide."

According to the release, Vetigel, which made its debut to the market in 2021,

is a plant-based formula that is designed to stop bleeding rapidly when applied directly to the source. The product is made of 2 plant-based polysaccharides that can stop the bleeding immediately at the wound site without manual pressure, preparation, or special storage conditions.

 Vetigel also does not integrate with the robust fibrin patch, creating a mechanical barrier instantly.

The product stops the bleeding in seconds without becoming incorporated into the clot and was validated in clinical studies. The studies found Vetigel’s ability to save time during surgical procedures and significantly reduce blood loss. Some of the key applications include:

: Successfully managed bleeding in advanced and routine procedures.

: Providing efficacy in treating arterial and venous bleeds.

: Demonstrated to stop bleeding faster than competitive hemostatic agents.

: Effective in controlling bleeding throughout soft organ biopsies and excisions.

"We are excited to add Vetigel to Zomedica's portfolio of innovative veterinary products," said Kevin Klass, Senior Vice President of Sales at Zomedica. "Vetigel's ability to rapidly stop bleeding across a variety of procedures makes it an invaluable tool for veterinarians, enabling them to enhance patient outcomes while improving surgical efficiency. This partnership with Cresilon allows us to bring cutting-edge solutions to veterinary professionals in the US and beyond."

In 2023, Vetigel was used to help save the life of Benji, a Malteese Yorkie, who was brought into the Veterinary Emergency & Referral Group in Brooklyn, New York with a stab wound.

 Matthew Morgan, DVM, DACVS-SA, chief of surgery at VERG, accredited Benji surviving the ordeal to Vetigel.

“Benji came to us in rough shape with a large stab wound,” said Morgan.

 “Fortunately, we were able to use Vetigel to stop the traumatic bleeding and ultimately save Benji’s life.”

To learn more information about the Vetigel hemostatic gel, visit the Zomedica website.

Zomedica Announces License & Supply Agreement with Cresilon Inc. to Market and Sell Vetigel(R) Hemostatic Gel in the Animal Health Market. News release. Zomedica Corp. January 7, 2025. Accessed January 8, 2025.

Yankowicz S. VETIGEL comes to the veterinary market. dvm360. August 28, 2023. Accessed January 8, 2025. https://www.dvm360.com/view/vetigel-comes-to-the-veterinary-market

Cresilon announces distribution agreement for VETIGEL with Penn Veterinary Supply. News release. Cresilon, Inc. August 22, 2023. Accessed August 28, 2023. 

https://vetigel.com/blogs/news/cresilon-announces-distribution-agreement-for-vetigel-with-penn-veterinary-supply

Dvm360 staff. VERG veterinarians save stabbed Morkie. dvm360. March 1, 2023. Accessed January 8, 2025. https://www.dvm360.com/view/verg-veterinarians-save-stabbed-morkie

Emergency veterinarian hospital saves escaped Morkie stabbed in streets of New York. News release. The Veterinary Emergency & Referral Group. March 1, 2023. Accessed January 8, 2025.

Articles

The agreement allows Zomedica to market and sell Vetigel(R) Hemostatic Gel


Zomedica enters license and supply agreement with Cresilon Inc.

Karen Kline, DVM, MS, DACVIM (Neurology), shares common anticonvulsants for patients with seizures, and offers advice for veterinarians conducting a neurologic examination

Anticonvulsants for cats and dogs

In this pre-Fetch dvm360 conference interview, Karen Kline, DVM, MS, DACVIM (Neurology) shares what she believes are some of the most important things to keep in mind when it comes to the neurologic examination of patients with seizures. In the interview, she also talks about what some common anticonvulsants for cats and dogs are.

Below is the interview transcript. It has been lightly edited for clarity.

Karen Kline, DVM, MS, DACVIM (Neurology): 

The most important thing is thinking about the age and the signalment of the patient, but also what their neurologic exam and physical exams are like, because that can help you to determine what the next steps are going to be, diagnostically and treatment wise. But also talking to owners about realistic expectations when they're managing their seizure patients. So I think those are some of the most important topics.

The most common anticonvulsants are phenobarbital and potassium bromide. Those are dog anticonvulsants. In the cat, many times we'll use phenobarbital as well. We've heard of other drugs like Keppra and zonisamide and topiramate and pregabalin. We also have heard about the use of dietary changes and so forth. But the most commonly used drug [is] going to be phenobarbital, and it's still a tried-and-true drug that that is very useful in our patients species-wide.

Christopher Shapley, DVM, CVA, CVCH, CVFT, talks about his multimodal approach for dogs with certain neurological diseases, and why it works

Treating neurologic diseases with herbal formulations and acupuncture

on a lecture presented at the Fetch dvm360 conference in Long Beach, California earlier this winter, Christopher Shapley, DVM, CVA, CVCH, CVFT, talked about his multi modal approach for treating neurological diseases in dogs. He explained the benefits of using herbal formulations in these patients, emphasizing that in patients who cannot walk, combining it with electroacupuncture therapy is what yields success.

Christopher Shapley, DVM, CVA, CVCH, CVFT: 

I think my specialty within my specialty are neurologic dogs, so dogs that have had disc protrusion, disc herniation, a flare up of intervertebral disc disease. And what I'll do is…if they're unable to walk, we use a form of electroacupuncture, again, to help kind of jump start the nerves.

And with that, I always combine herbal formulations. And a lot of these herbal formulations have been used in human medicine dating back to the 1200s. So any down dog, I will basically utilize herbs and herbal formulations that are reducing inflammation, reducing pain, and we're increasing blood flow, and not just everywhere in the body, but these herbal formulations are targeted specifically for the spine or the cervical region, depending on where the lesion is.

So I feel like, and I've always used the adage that you know, if we're not using herbs along with acupuncture, and if we're not using acupuncture along with herbs, we're not going to have any success. So again, any of my, you know, intervertebral disc disease, or disc herniation dogs—I [am] actually [treating] multiple patients right now—and usually within a few weeks, we're able to get them up and walking again. They're not exactly running around doing zoomies, but they're up, they're mobile, they're able to get up on the couch, they're able to go outside to relieve themselves. And again, I attribute it to that multimodal approach, or that combining of the acupuncture and the herbal formulations.

Alternative approaches to treating neurologic diseases in dogs

The FDA posted warning letters to firms selling unapproved drugs, claiming that the drugs control and treat seizures in dogs and cats. Each of the products named in the warning letters are not FDA-approved or conditionally approved, therefore the safety of the products have not been verified by the FDA for safety, effectiveness, or manufacturing methods.

The warning letters went to the following companies

Doc Ackerman’s– Epilepsy and Seizure Formula

: SeizureGuard Plus and Life Span Arthritis & Mobility Advanced Enzyme Therapy

: Bully Baum No Seize, Can-B-Gone - Cancer Oil Extract, and Brain & Neurological

: Dog Seizure and Epilepsy Supplement and Blood Support for Dogs

: Vet Select Nuroplex Capsules and Vet Select Nuroplex - 2oz homeopathic Spray

 each of the unapproved products were sold on the firm’s websites, Amazon shops, and social media pages without prescriptions or other veterinary oversight.

 Drugs used to treat and control seizures are not safe for use except under supervision of a licensed veterinarian due to their specialized training and experience.

Currently, the FDA has conditionally approved 2 animal drugs to treat idiopathic epilepsy in dogs under expanded conditional pathway, 

. The pathway is used for drugs that are intended to treat serious and life-threatening diseases or address an unmet health need. The FDA also stated that veterinarians have the option for treatment in the form of extralabel use, such as prescribing drugs intended for human use in animals or prescribing an animal drug for use in a different species of animal.

 Veterinary professionals or clients are encouraged by the FDA to report any animal adverse events to the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine.

All products approved by the FDA carry a statement on the label stating their approval and include the products' new animal drug application, abbreviated new animal drug application (for generic animal drugs), or Conditional Approval number.

Any veterinary clients that have been administering any of the unapproved drugs included in the warning letters should consult a licensed veterinarian to gain an accurate diagnosis and receive appropriate treatment. Clients can safely dispose of the medications if they are on the FDA flush list, and if not, follow FDA instructions to discard the medication in the trash.

The FDA asked the firms to respond to the sent warning letters within 15 days of receipt to explain how they will address the violations listed in the warning letters. If the companies fail to do so, it may result in legal action taken by the FDA, including seizing the products and/or a court order requiring the company to stop the distribution and manufacturing of the unapproved numbers.

Suspected unapproved drugs or devices can be reported to the FDA through FORM FDA 1932a “Veterinary Adverse Experience, Lack of Effectiveness or Product Defect Report" as well as to report adverse events for any approved or unapproved drug or animal device.

FDA Warns Six Sellers of Unapproved Seizure Drugs for Animals. News release. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. January 7, 2025. Accessed January 7, 2025. 

https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/cvm-updates/fda-warns-six-sellers-unapproved-seizure-drugs-animals?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

FDA. Disposal of Unused Medicines: What You Should Know. US Food and Drug Administration. Updated September 3, 2024. Accessed January 7, 2025. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/safe-disposal-medicines/disposal-unused-medicines-what-you-should-know

FDA. How to Report Animal Drug and Device Side Effects and Product Problems. US Food and Drug Administration. Updated September 3, 2024. Accessed January 7, 2025. 

https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/report-problem/how-report-animal-drug-and-device-side-effects-and-product-problems

The unapproved drugs claim to treat and control seizures in canine and feline patients 