This podcast episode is sponsored by Antech Diagnostics

On this special episode of the Vet Blast Podcast presented by dvm360, Michelle Evason, BSc, DVM, DACVIM (SAIM), MRCVS, joins our host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, to preview Antech’s research highlights at the 2025 ACVIM Forum, including all 11 submitted abstracts being accepted. She discusses new PCR panels for vector-borne diseases, head-to-head diagnostic comparisons, practical tools for general practice, and more.

Below is a partial transcript, edited lightly for clarity 

So many different conversations to have on what we choose and the why behind the recommendation, and is there one specific piece of research you're most interested in from ACVIM?

Michelle Evason, BSc, DVM, DACVIM (SAIM), MRCVS: 

You know, it's really hard to choose. I think for me, one of the things that I'm really excited about is a presentation that was submitted from the team,

[Christian M. Leutenegger, DrMedVet, BSc, PhD, FVH] will be presenting on the topic of PCR testing for some of these infectious diseases, vector-borne specifically. We are launching, and we actually, we have launched at this time, an updated and expanded PCR panel that's specifically available to look at genetic material from 21 vector-borne disease pathogens, and also includes a marker for atovaquone resistance, which we know is a concern now in cats, for the treatment of for treatment planning, for cytauxzoon felis, and for dogs, for babesia gibsoni and so Christian, Dr Lutnegger, will be presenting his work on that topic, since this test was designed and executed by his team, and we're proud to launch it. 

Speaking to the practicality by comparing the panel to the one that most of us specialists regard as, I hate to use the term gold standard, but the panel to use when you're looking for evidence of genetic material on these vector-borne diseases, which is NC State's. And so he'll be presenting a head-to-head comparison at the Forum this year, and I'm really excited to see that one, because, again, I think that's a truly innovative test. 

 It really is. You know, when you're talking, I was like, if you look at 5 years ago, when I was doing PCR testing in practice, we didn't have hardly any of that at all. And look how far we've come. That's really exciting, right there

Podcasts

Michelle Evason, BSc, DVM, DACVIM (SAIM), MRCVS, previews Antech’s research at the 2025 ACVIM Forum, highlighting new diagnostic tools and more

ACVIM and hot research: Vector-borne disease and more 

Ingredients are diverse in home-prepared food for dogs, according to the results of a recent study. Furthermore, only 5% of the 1765 cases studied potentially met maintenance diet standards set by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO).

These and other insights were presented by the study’s lead author, Janice O’Brien, DVM, a PhD student in dog nutrition epidemiology at Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine in Blacksburg, Virginia, at the 2025 American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) Forum in Louisville, Kentucky. She shared that about 25% of diets for pets enrolled in the study were partially balanced (1 to 10 nutrient imbalances), and 52% were unbalanced (10 or more nutrient imbalances), while approximately 17% could not be categorized.

O’Brien, who previously served in the US Army Veterinary Corps and has practiced veterinary medicine in a small animal clinic, said that adding vitamins and minerals to home-prepared foods is necessary in the majority of cases. “There's probably some sort of supplement that is going to have to be added, and it needs to be added all the time,” O’Brien said in a 

Overall, the study sought to discover whether a complete diet can be achieved with home-prepared meals, based on ingredients listed by pet owners. The results showed the most common animal sources reported by pet owners were chicken, beef and turkey. The most common ingredients with percentage of diets they were contained in as follows

In another recent study—published in ACVIM’s 

Medicine—for which O’Brien was also an author, investigators found an association between home-cooked diets and higher odds of gastrointestinal, renal, and hepatic diseases when compared to an extruded diet.

 However, there is a lack of previous research about how pet owners are feeding their dogs at home.

According to data from the Dog Aging Project, which has supported both studies, about 6% of the 40,307 dogs in a subset sample had home-prepared foods, either cooked or raw, as their primary diet with another 25% of dogs in the analysis having home-prepared foods as a secondary diet component.

 O’Brien noted that many pet owners might be feeding a commercial kibble diet, but then adding a home-cooked food on top and mixing it in.

O’Brien emphasized that pet owners should be closely following the recipes they use for their animals’ meals. “If you have a recipe that's formulated, make sure that you continue doing that exact recipe all the time, because otherwise, if you drift away from what it initially was, that's going to result in changes to the balance of the diet,” she said.

Veterinary professionals should keep in mind that pet owners really care about their dogs, O’Brien said. “They're really intending to do the best thing for them. I don't think they're intending to do something that's bad, and I think it's just a way that we as a profession can maybe communicate that better,” she concluded.

O’Brien J, Ruple A, Tolbert K. Abstract NM04: Home-prepared diets for companion dogs are made from diverse ingredients and few are balanced. Presented at: American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) Forum; June 18-21, 2025: Louisville, KY.

Ortiz AV, Luo I, O’Brien J, et al. Association between diet type and owner-reported health conditions in dogs in the Dog Aging Project. 

About the diet survey. Dog Aging Project. 2024. Accessed June 19, 2025. 

https://data.dogagingproject.org/HlesDiet?year=2024#primary-diet

Articles

Results of a recent research found a wide variety of ingredients are being used to feed pets.

Study: Few home-prepared diets are balanced

Researchers and veterinarians have been seeing an emerging detection and range expansion of E

around the globe. The rise in detection of this parasitic tapeworm not only poses a concern for individual patients, but it also carries One Health implications, presenting an environmental and public health risk. At the 2025 American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Forum in Louisville, Kentucky, a group of specialists (Michelle Evason, DVM, BSc, DACVIM, MRCVS, global director of veterinary clinical education at Antech Diagnostics/Mars Petcare Science and Diagnostics in Prince Edward Island, Canada; Christian M. Leutenegger, DrMedVet, BSc, PhD, FVH, vice president of research and development at Antech Diagnostics/Mars Petcare Science and Diagnostics in Fountain Valley, California; Roger Ramirez-Barrios, DVM, MSc, PhD, DACVM (Parasitology), clinical professor at Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine in Blacksburg, Virginia; Michael R. Lappin, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (SAIM), professor at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado) led a lecture on “

and Other Emerging One Health Concerns in Dogs,” which covered the geographical expansion of the parasite in the US and Canada and recent detections in these regions.

Domestic dogs and wild canids such as coyotes, foxes, and wolves serve as definitive hosts of 

 Meanwhile, rodents act as the typical intermediate hosts of the parasite—during which it will be in its larval (or metacestode) stage—whereas humans and dogs can serve as “dead-end” hosts following accidental ingestion of 

According to the presenters, dogs can also autoinfect, most commonly through grooming.

If a dog or wild canid consumes a rodent with 

, the adult form of the parasite will develop in its small intestine. The animal will then shed the parasite eggs in their feces.

“A friend of mine and I usually refer to these eggs as little time bombs, right? Ticking time bombs, in part, because not only are they immediately infective, but they are environmentally resistant,” Evason said during the presentation, explaining that eggs can survive harsh weather conditions, such as Alaskan or Canadian winters.

ACVIM and hot research: Vector-borne disease and more

can cause alveolar echinococcosis (AE), one of the most lethal helminthic infections in humans, dogs, and rodents if left untreated.

According to Ramirez-Barrios, it is not exactly known how long the incubation period of AE is, but it is believed to be as long as 20 or 25 years.

 He noted that survival is poor without treatment, as by the time many cases are detected, it is too late for effective intervention.

In the US, Northern Virginia has reported 3 positive cases of 

 Pennsylvania, meanwhile, has seen 13 positive cases in coyotes, with detections in coyotes in Georgia as well.

 In Canada, the parasite has also been detected in British Columbia and Alberta.

“We don't know why, but we have only found foxes [positive for 

] in Virginia and only [positive] coyotes in Pennsylvania. But we already know that [

]—just to give a brief background—has several haplotypes. Historically, in the [US], the haplotypes found [have been] the North American haplotype, and they have been present only in the central states in the United States,” Ramirez-Barrios said.

“However, when [a] former parasitologist...found [a] dog with [AE], it was a new European haplotype. And then...all the foxes and coyotes [with AE] that we have found in eastern US [have carried] the European haplotype, which is really more pathogenic...than the North American haplotype,” Ramirez-Barrios said.

According to Ramirez-Barrios, the first human case of AE in the Eastern US was reported in 2021 from Vermont, around the same time 

was detected in foxes in Northern Virginia.

After contacting the authors of the Vermont case, Ramirez-Barrios and his team began a molecular analysis of the parasite and discovered a second human case. Phylogenetic testing from his team revealed that the parasite from both human cases and the infected foxes shared the exact same European haplotype.

According to Ramirez-Barrios, one of the human patients grew up in Maryland hunting foxes, near the counties where foxes positive for 

 were found. “When we did the phylogenetic [testing] of the 3 different isolates that we found, we discovered that they were exactly the same haplotype, so they were genetically the same organism,” Ramirez-Barrios said. “That's when we published [a] report of the 2 human cases and their link with wildlife, which demonstrates that the parasite is actively transmitting in Eastern US, especially the upper haplotype, which is emerging.”

In the session, Evason emphasized the need for an interdisciplinary One Health approach for managing gastrointestinal parasites like 

. She highlighted the need for better communication with pet owners.

“The goal is to educate our clients that they need to pick up [their dog’s] feces, especially in their backyards,” Ramirez-Barrios said, noting that not picking it up poses a contamination risk to the surrounding environment.

“I am educating new generations of veterinarians to educate their clients,” he said. “Right now, [picking up dog feces] is one of the best things that we have to control parasites.”

“In [future] years, it's going to be the only thing that we will have. So, if we don't start now, it's going to [cause] a big problem in the future,” he concluded.

Evason M, Leutenegger C, Ramirez-Barrios R, Lappin M. Echinococcus multilocularis and Other Emerging One Health Concerns in Dogs and Cats. Presented at: American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Forum; Louisville, KY; June 18, 2025.

A session at the 2025 ACVIM Forum covered cases of echinococcus multilocularis and its expanding presence in North America, highlighting the One Health risks for both veterinary and human populations.

Tracking the spread of a deadly parasite in North America 

A recent study showed that felines fed medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) had improved energy status and reduced pro-inflammatory lipids. As a result, investigators found MCTs may support management of renal disease by correcting energy deficiencies and reducing inflammation.

The study was poster presented by Brielle N. Gordon, MS, associate scientist for Hill’s Pet Nutrition, at the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) Forum 2025 in Louisville, Kentucky. The research team also included Kiran S. Panickar, PhD; Regina L. Hollar, Selena K. Taverner, Dennis E. Jewell, PhD, MS; and Matthew I. Jackson, PhD, with their work sponsored by Hill’s Pet Nutrition.

Renal insufficiency is associated with energy metabolism and immune activity disruption, according to investigators. Medium chain fatty acids are an energy source that generate ketone bodies. “Ketones and lipids are important mediators of energy metabolism and immune function,” they wrote.

“Our hypothesis was the dietary medium chain fatty acids, which is just what is hydrolyzed from the MCTs when they eat it, would provide available energy and reduce the lipid immune modulators for these cats with renal disease,” Gordon said in a 

Investigators recruited cats with chronic kidney disease (CKD) for the study from those housed in the Hill’s Global Pet Nutrition Center in Topeka, Kansas. Investigators used clinical chemistry and plasma metabolomics to assess their participating cats’ renal function, β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) ketone, and lipid metabolites.

“We had 16 cats with naturally occurring renal disease. We had 2 diets. It was a crossover study, so we fed them the Hill’s [kidney disease] diet, which was just their control diet, and then the other diet, the test diet, was the [kidney disease] diet but it had 8% of the MCTs added,” Gordon said.

“The cats were evenly distributed by their age, body weight and gender, and then also their IRIS [International Renal Interest Society] staging. Most of them were IRIS stages 1 and 2. So because of that, they're in their earlier stages of renal disease,” she added.

The study results showed that cats being fed the test diet for 8 weeks demonstrated increased fasting levels of serum BHB and plasma metabolite BHB. Additionally, lipids were disproportionately decreased by a large number with the test food. “The percentage of changed metabolites in each of the lipid classes, which there was 13 classes, was 72% on average. So that's very large,” Gordon explained.

“We're showing her that we did increase available energy for them. Knowing that the kidneys take a lot of energy to filter all the things and do all of their jobs, we think that could definitely be a benefit to these paths that have renal disease,” she added.

Gordon explained that increasing available energy can help the kidneys improve overall daily performance. “We also decrease levels of the liquid immune modulators. So we think that with those two things together, that feeding the medium chain triglycerides can at least slow down progression of renal disease for cats,” she said.

According to Gordon, MCTs as well as fish oil, for reducing inflammation, are already being incorporated into commercial pet diets for kidney disease and may also benefit senior diets because of increased vitality. “There was a study done prior to this in healthy fats that showed that those 2 ingredients together had synergistic effects that were beneficial. The 2 ingredients together were actually more beneficial than either ingredient on their own,” Gordon said.

Gordon BN, Panickar KS, Hollar RL, Tavener SK, Jewell DE, Jackson MI. Effects of dietary medium chain fatty acids on feline renal function. Presented at: American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) Forum; Louisville, KY. June 18-21, 2025.

Study shows benefit of feeding MCFAs to cats with renal disease

Frederick R. Appelbaum, MD, recognized for advancing marrow transplantation, talks about the impact of canine research on human and veterinary medicine 

The two-way street of canine and human medicine

To watch the first part of Appelbaum’s interview where he talks more about bone marrow transplantation, click 

Frederick R. Appelbaum, MD, executive vice president at the Fred Hutchinson (Hutch) Cancer Center in Seattle, Washington, and associate director for the Fred Hutch/University of Washington/Seattle Children's Cancer Consortium, discusses the pivotal role of canine models in advancing both human and veterinary medicine in this interview on his lecture on bone marrow transplantation at the 2025 American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) Forum in Louisville, Kentucky. In this video, Appelbaum shares how early studies in dogs led not only to the development of marrow transplantation in humans, but also to expanded research into canine genetics and disease.

One of the other things that I mentioned in my lecture is how the study of natural phenomena in animals has been so instrumental in informing our understanding of both disease processes and also therapies in humans. For example, we very early on at the Hutch, used a canine model to develop marrow transplantation. But because of that, we also became very interested in other diseases and the genetics of canines—of dogs.

One of our investigators, Elaine Ostrander, [PhD], that worked with us, was instrumental in being one of the leaders in being able to sequence the canine genome. And in sequencing the canine genome, we learned about diseases such as narcolepsy. We learned about the reasons that certain animals develop certain kinds of tumors, lymphomas, et cetera.

And so, studying [the] canine model helped us develop marrow transplantation, but it also let us become much more interested in just the biology of animals and canines, for example, which then led us to much better understanding of many human diseases and also better understanding of canine diseases as well. So again, you know, the research is, I think, as I mentioned, bidirectional. We learn from the canine model. Canine model informs humans. What we learn in humans can then be applied to canine care because, frankly, the amount of money that goes into developing therapies for humans is going to be a lot more than what goes into developing new therapies for canines, but once you show it works in humans, there's no reason it can't be pretty easily translated back to help our pets.

Videos

Frederick R. Appelbaum, MD, recognized for advancing marrow transplantation, talks about the impact of canine research on human and veterinary medicine.

Joshua Stern, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (Cardiology), explains the condition in a dvm360 interview.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in cats

Joshua Stern, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (Cardiology), associate dean for research and graduate studies at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine in Raleigh, discussed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCP) in felines and a novel therapy for managing the condition—sirolimus delayed-release tablets (Felycin-CA1; PRN Pharmacal)—during the official launch of the drug at the Hermitage Farm in Goshen, Kentucky. In a presentation at the farm, Stern provided insights about the condition and shared recent data and ongoing research efforts, including the HALT Study with more than 200 cats currently enrolled.

Novel cardiology therapy for cats is launched

interview, Stern explained the need for medication to manage the disease. Additional information about HCP is being presented during the 

2025 American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) Forum

The following is a transcript of the video:

Joshua Stern, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (Cardiology)

:Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is an incredibly common disease in cats. It afflicts about 1 in 7 cats and has some pretty incredibly bad disease outcomes, including congestive heart failure, thromboembolic disease and sudden cardiac death. So, the ability to look for a compound that might mitigate those bad disease outcomes is really important to feline medicine and veterinary medicine overall.

Joshua Stern, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (Cardiology), explains the life-threatening condition in a dvm360 interview.