 is counting down our Top 5 videos of 2024. The ranking is based on measurable interest and engagement from our digital viewers. These 5 videos feature thought leaders from throughout the veterinary care industry, who discuss a variety of topics.

 features Julia Miller, DVM, DACVD, an assistant clinical professor at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in Ithaca, New York. In this VetXchange® program sponsored by Blue Buffalo, Miller talks with Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, chief veterinary officer of dvm360, about diet trials in dogs and how they can be used to determine an allergen and for developing a diet plan. The video also offers the option to earn 0.5 continuing education credit.

“The diet trial [is currently] the only way to fully diagnose a dog as a food-allergic dog,” said Julia E. Miller, DVM, DACVD. On a recent episode of VetXChange, Miller joined Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, to discuss diet trials as a treatment plan for canines experiencing allergic reactions.

When a patient comes into the clinic because it is experiencing itchiness, clinicians usually consider 3 types of allergies: flea, food, and environment. Once ectoparasites are ruled out as the cause, the clinician should ask the client follow-up questions to determine whether the allergen is environmental or related to food.

Allergies caused by environment typically affect dogs aged 1 to 4 years, though certain breeds, like French bulldog, American bully, and doodle, can experience effects at just 6 months of age.

“If I’m getting a dog that’s itchy before 6 months of age, [I’m implementing a] diet trial,” said Miller. “That’s the first thing on my list every single time.” Similarly, if a dog has never had allergic reactions but becomes itchy at an older age, environmental allergens are an unlikely cause.

Videos

The Top 5 countdown for 2024 dvm360 videos highlights the most viewed interviews of the past year

Articles

Check out the latest news in the veterinary industry with these 5 recent position promotions

Paws and profits: Recent veterinary appointments

hosted by Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, chief veterinary officer of dvm360, and edited by 

’sCaitlin McCafferty, featured a wide variety of veterinary topics and guests throughout the past year. As 2024 comes to a close, 

 is looking back and celebrating the Top 5 podcasts, as measured by audience interest and engagement. Through, New Year’s Eve, 

is counting down the Top 5 podcasts by sharing 1 of these episodes per day.

The following podcast is #3 on the list and features guest Alex Sigmund, dVM, DACVO, founder of Insight Veterinary Eye Care in Atlanta, Georgia. They discuss all things glaucoma such as tips and tricks on diagnosing the diseases, effective management, and which breeds of dogs have a predisposition to glaucoma.

What are some of the recommendations that we're doing when we're trying to rule out glaucoma? So, I know you mentioned the pen. Do you have a recommendation of even like tetracaine? Is there a particular numbing solution you like? Walk us through some of the diagnostics that we should do.

Any red eye, in my opinion, should not only have a tonometry check, but also should have a stain, like a fluorescein stain, looking for ulcers as well as a Schirmer tear test because there are so many cases that get referred to me that could have been caught months earlier if one of those had been done, it just hadn't been done. 

The biggest pushback I get from that type of stuff is, you know, owners don't want to pay for all of that, and so my biggest advice for veterinarians is just to make an ophthalmology fee, like an ophthalmology exam fee, that encompasses all those diagnostics [so] that you can just go ahead and do them. 

Podcasts

A Top 5 episode of dvm360's The Vet Blast Podcast is revealed in our 2024 countdown. 

Top 2024 dvm360 podcasts: #3

 editorial team is counting down our Top 20 news stories and articles of the year, from January 1, 2024, to November 15, 2024. Rank was determined by measurable audience interest and engagement.

A spotlight is shining on 1 article each day through New Year’s Eve, when the No. 1 

 story of the year will be shared. The following article is No. 3 on this list:

A clinical trial is launched for a novel drug that could extend healthy lifespan in senior dogs

The first patient—an 11-year-old Whippet named Boo—has been dosed in a clinical trial for a developmental drug that aims to extend the healthy lifespan of senior dogs of most sizes. The LOY-002 product is being studied for use with the exception of the smallest senior canines by the startup biotech company Loyal.

Boo, the first patient in the STAY clinical trial to receive a dose of LOY-002. 

“We are working to develop multiple dog longevity products,” said Celine Halioua, founder and CEO of Loyal, in an interview with 

 Notably, the company is also working to bring to market LOY-001, a longevity drug for large and giant breed dogs. LOY-001 

received support from the FDA in November 2023

, when the agency approved the Reasonable Expectation of Effectiveness section in Loyal’s application for conditional drug approval, following a review of clinical data, study results and scientific argument provided by the company.

Loyal developed LOY-001 by first looking at the underlying mechanisms of aging. The drug works by reducing insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), a key biomarker hormone that drives cell growth and is believed to reduce the lifespan of large dogs.

 LOY-002 is being developed to extend healthy lifespan by improving dogs’ metabolic health to delay the onset and reduce the impact of age-associated diseases.

The new STAY study for LOY-002 is expected to last 4 years and include 1000 enrolled dogs, working in partnership with more than 50 independent veterinary clinics from across the country.

 “It will be one of the largest veterinary clinical studies that, as far as we know, has ever been run,” said Halioua.

For more on the LOY-002 clinical trial, view the full article here:  

https://www.dvm360.com/view/a-clinical-trial-is-launched-for-a-novel-drug-that-could-extend-healthy-lifespan-in-senior-dogs

dvm360 is counting down the Top 20 news stories and articles from 2024 with this series of spotlights

2024 veterinary news in review: #3

 features Alex Sigmund, DVM, DACVO, founder of Insight Veterinary Care in Atlanta, Georgia. In an interview with 

, Sigmund discusses how topical steroids and dorzolamide can lead to certain health issues, including altered metabolism in the cornea, kidney problems, and dysregulation in patients with diabetes.

So topical steroids, when we're using them really, really frequently, can predispose [a patient] to infected ulcers. They can cause altered metabolism in the cornea that can result in fat deposits and even calcium deposits in the cornea that can lead to other issues. In [patients with diabetes], topical steroids have been shown to sometimes contribute to dysregulation. So, especially those that are getting cataract surgery, it's something that we think about when they're going to be potentially on topical steroids after surgery. And there's some research about steroids causing nasolacrimal punctal stenosis, where it narrows if you're using it all the time. So there's a few things that tropical steroids can cause, which is why I try to get patients off of tropical steroids, kind of as quickly as we can, as safely as we can, if there's an alternative.

The second one is dorzolamide, which is an antiglaucoma medication. And dorzolamide, more recently, has been shown to have some effects on the kidney, especially in cats, where it will start to actually decrease their potassium levels in their blood, which can cause some clinical signs. We've also seen that dorzolamide can cause an inflammatory response in some dogs, in their corneas and in their conjunctiva that doesn't respond to anything else except stopping the medication, and that can be a challenge for our glaucoma patients when we really only have a few medications that are even options.