Summer in veterinary medicine isn’t a season—it’s a pressure cooker. Appointments double, emergencies happen, clients get crankier, the team’s shortstaffed, and the air conditioning is barely hanging on. People are melting. Morale is slipping. And stress isn’t creeping in—it’s kicking down the door.

So here’s the question: What if instead of letting the summer grind break your team down, you used it to build your team up?

This isn’t another Kumbaya moment. It’s a tactical move. One small, deliberate action a day—over 30 days—to reconnect, reset, and recalibrate your clinic’s culture. Not with fancy consultants or culture committees. With your actual people, in your actual hospital, during actual chaos.

Burnout thrives in isolation. And summer, with its heat and high caseloads, everyone’s in survival mode. What this challenge does is interrupt that pattern. It builds micromoments of intention, reflection, and collaboration. It pulls teams out of the grind—just long enough to remember they’re not alone in it. And while you may have your ups and downs throughout the workweek, through it all you are a team that does what’s right for your clients and their pets.

We’re not fixing culture in 30 days. We’re rewiring how we show up for each other while keeping it real.

One challenge per day. Each takes 2 to 20 minutes, tops.

Complete it as a team. Even if it’s just whoever’s on that day.

Miss a day? No guilt. Just pick up where you left off.

Post your progress (if you want). Use #Vet30Reset to let the world know your team is in it, and tag @dvm360 on Instagram or Facebook.

You can customize it, print it, even write it on a whiteboard. These are just some ideas for you to react to and see how this can be implemented into your practice. But once you commit, lean in and go for it!

The 30-day veterinary culture reset challenge

(You can mix up the order, repeat favorites, or assign a team member each day to pick.)

: Shout out someone’s invisible win from yesterday. Do it with a dance break.

: Clean 1 zone together for 10 minutes—with music blasting.

: Each person teaches a weird clinical tip/hack they swear by. No gatekeeping.

: Handwrite a thank-you card to at least 1 team member and mail it to their home.

: Share a photo of your pet and one sentence on why they keep you going.

: Watch a dvm360 webinar together online at dvm360.com/flex.

: Put a quote or words of wisdom in a team member’s locker. Do it for multiple ones.

: “Two-minute grounding.” Everyone stops and breathes/meditates together.

: Try a different phrase for a difficult client conversation. Rework your reframing.

: Write down 1 thing you want to get better at. Post it up.

: Bring a favorite snack. Everyone creates a snack attack bag.

: Choose 1 technology tool or software feature no one’s using—and test it.

: Hydration station. Encourage each team member to finish their water intake.

: What’s 1 way someone helped you this week? Tell them.

: Team stretch break. Two minutes. Make it count.

: Post-it gratitude wall. Fill it. Show your attitude of gratitude.

: What’s 1 step in your day that feels pointless? Talk about it. How can it improve?

: Choose a code word to use when you need a reset or backup or a bad day from home.

: Take a team selfie. Caption it honestly and post it.

: Pick 1 patient who made your day this week. Share the story and why.

: “Before I go home today, I will…”—each person sets a microgoal.

: What’s the weirdest thing you’ve seen in veterinary medicine? Laugh it out.

: Choose 1 way to surprise a client with kindness today.

: Ten-minute lunch table topic: What would make this job 10% easier?

: Ask each team member to write down everyone’s birthday. The one who knows the most wins a gift card.

: Water balloon toss/run for your life in the backyard. You’re welcome.

: What’s 1 boundary you’re working on setting? Support each other.

: Handwrite thank-you notes to your top 2 or 3 clients and mail them out.

: Bring in a joke or meme and post it at the front desk.

: Celebrate! Ice cream social! Goat yoga! All of it. You made it!

Articles

One intentional action a day to keep your team sane and cool this summer

The 30-day summer veterinary culture reset

The World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) has released the Principles of Wellness toolkit—a comprehensive resource that veterinary professionals can share with clients to help them best care for and meet the needs of their pet. The 20-page guide outlines key practices across 6 areas of pet care, detailing best practices caregivers should adopt at home and what should be addressed during veterinary visits to help pet caregivers practice preventive care throughout each stage of a pet’s life.

“The truth is, pets may not show signs of illness until it’s too late,” Jim Berry, president of WSAVA, said in a news release . 

 “That’s why prevention and proactive care are important. These principles give caregivers the tools to act early and work with their veterinarian to help provide a healthy life for their pet.”

The guide contains a section on each of the following: primary care, nutrition, dermatology, parasite control, vaccination, and welfare. In each section, a definition of each term and the goal of the essential area are provided.

In the Primary Care section, the toolkit addresses examinations, risk assessments, and appropriate testing for various scenarios, including aging pets, high-risk patients, those starting new medications or showing behavioral changes, and more. For dermatology, the guide covers skin and coat health, signs to watch out for, and additional guidance tailored for animals with unique skin or coats, allergies, long hair, and those that shed.

Guidance on transitioning pets to a new food and helping them accept it are also provided, as well as the risks of nontraditional diets. Additionally, the guide covers fleas, ticks, heartworm, 

, core/noncore vaccines, adverse vaccine reactions, disease monitoring, microchips, and more.

Additional resources from the global Parasite Councils on testing for worms, internal parasites, and vector-borne diseases are also provided. Moreover, advice from the American Association of Feline Practitioners and International Cat Care of retroviral testing is included. A chart on a cat’s and dog’s stages of life, as well as information on urinalysis, can also be found in the guide.

“Caring for a pet shouldn’t be confusing or overwhelming,” Carel du Marchie Sarvaas, executive director of HealthforAnimals, said in a WSAVA release.

“We’re proud to support the Principles of Wellness as they can help pet owners work with a veterinary professional to make informed decisions.”

According to the guide, “the Principles of Wellness are most valuable when used by a caregiver and veterinary professional working as a team.”

Still, many pets continue to be at risk for preventable conditions. In the United Kingdom, vaccination rates have fallen in recent years for both cats and dogs.

 In the US, meanwhile, vaccine hesitancy poses a growing concern, mirroring negative attitudes toward human vaccination.

Furthermore, weight continues to be a concern for cats and dogs: One in 4 dogs and 2 in 5 cats show being overweight or obese, according to a recent US survey.

“The foundation of good pet health is a strong relationship between a caregiver and their veterinarian. Together, they can understand a pet’s health needs and work to prevent problems before they occur. Everyone can be on the same page to uphold pet wellness,” the Principles of Wellness document reads.

New global wellness toolkit aims to help pet owners keep their dogs and cats healthier, longer. News release. World Small Animal Veterinary Association. June 2, 2025. Accessed June 12, 2025. 

https://wsava.org/updates/principles-of-wellness/#:~:text='Principles%20of%20Wellness'%20provide%20best,charge%20of%20their%20pets'%20health

Principles of Wellness. World Small Animal Veterinary Association. Accessed June 12, 2025. 

https://wsava.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Principles-of-Wellness-FINAL.pdf

Motta M, Motta G, Stecula D. Sick as a dog? the prevalence, politicization, and health policy consequences of canine vaccine hesitancy (CVH). 

. 2023;41(41):5946-5950. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.08.059

The Principles of Wellness framework is a valuable resource veterinary professionals can share with clients.

WSAVA creates practical guide for preventive pet care

Just because Pet Mobility Awareness Month is behind us, that does not mean that joint health is something that should not be talked about year round with clients. To get the conversation going outside of May, our host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, welcomes Leilani Alvarez, DVM, DACVSMR, to The Vet Blast Podcast presented by dvm360, to talk about joint health, MOVOFLEX® Advanced Soft chews, and what veterinary professionals can do to help support joint health for their patients. 

Below is a partial transcript, edited lightly for clarity

What's one thing every veterinarian should do to support joint health proactively in all their canine patients?

Number 1 thing and I would just say this ad nauseum, [is] weight management. If your dog is overweight, the most effective strategy is going to be weight management. The number one risk factor for development [in] dogs is obesity. And even just being 10% overweight, though, these dogs will still have a waistline. Most vets actually call them ideal body weight. But if they're a body condition score 6 out of 9, that will absolutely impact their clinical symptoms of OA, so that's for me absolutely number 1 is always weight management. But beyond that it's really about education. It's really about the entire team in a clinical setting participating and owner education. You know the vet's going to be busy and appointments going in and out of appointments treating their patients. The support staff can play a really important role in educating owners about the symptoms of, okay, we know OA is a degenerative disease, which means that the initial symptoms are not evident to most owners until the dog is much older. So recognizing that when that dog tears their ACL, once they recover from their TPLO, they may not be limping.

But guess what? They have OA because any time there is an injury to the joint, that's the start of a way and that's the time that you want to intervene. Start your supplementation, make sure you do activity modification to avoid that high impact activity, but make sure they stay active and still moving and walking on a daily basis.

Make sure that they're an ideal body weight. And so that educational aspect, I think is really, really important for prevention of, and nothing's going to stop the progression of, OA, but there's a lot of things that we can do to delay progression of OA. So weight management I would say number 1. And number 2 is really education. So that owners recognize that, oh I didn't know my dog had arthritis. Like it's a Rottweiler [who is] one year old. They tore their ACL. Guess what they have...?

Yes and I think the education should certainly go beyond the exam room, especially for National Mobility Month. I mean, talk about great, social media content pieces that all of you out there can do for your team. You know, look at some gait analysis that you see of dogs walking into your clinic or, you know, just sharing best practices of what works, what doesn't work. And to start that conversation ahead of time before they come in and maybe keep that top of mind when they're looking. You want to chat about mobility, for even their wellness, you know. So I think it's good.

Podcasts

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, and Leilani Alvarez, DVM, DACVSMR, talk about all things joint health in this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast presented by dvm360, and sponsored by Virbac. 

Looking back at Pet Mobility Awareness Month

In this recent installment of Pet Connections sponsored by Aurora Pharmaceuticals, Peter C. Hann, DVM,  tackles 6 myths clients may have about heartworm disease, and the reality behind it. 

Pet Connections: Six Myths about Heartworm Disease

This content is sponsored by Aurora Pharmaceutical

Heartworm disease is a serious, but preventable condition that affects both dogs and cats, and yet it can be often misunderstood by clients. To help educate clients, Peter C. Hann, DVM, technical services veterinarian at Aurora Pharmaceutical, shares the 6 common myths he hears when it comes to heartworm disease and prevention with clients, and what the truth really is in this latest installment of dvm360's Pet Connections. 

Pet owners only need to be concerned about heartworm in the summer

While peak transmission for heartworm disease from mosquitoes certainly occurs in the summer months, however areas of the country that can have microclimates or even just year-round warmer weather besides the summer months. Hann even explained that some mosquitoes prefer to live indoors which can put 'indoor only' pets at risk so it is important to keep up with protection all year round. 

For cats, despite being aberrant hosts of heartworm disease and are less likely to harbor adult heartworm when compared to dogs, they can still be infected and have a more severe and different reaction to heartworm. Hann also explains that there is no effective treatment for cats with heartworm so when it comes to prevention, it is extremely important that cats remain protected year round. 

Heartworm preventives are 'multitaskers' so they can protect patients against more than heartowrm disease. In fact, many can provide fear, tick, intestinal worms, and even mange. This is why using monthly heartworm preventives are a great way to protect patients and clients from heartworm disease.  

You'll know if your dog has heartworm disease

Damage to the blood vessels in dogs begins to occur immediately with heartworm disease, but the damage done is not always transparent.  Depending on number of heartworms and activity levels in canine patients, they may not show any signs heartworm. According to Hann, the longer the dog has heartworm, the more damage that can occur so it is crucial to have annual testing and consistent prevention. 

Generic heartworm prevention is on the. market today that are just as effective as brand named products. Hann even explains that they can cost less per month than a clients dog food. He also wants clients to know that despite the cost of prevention, it will never be more expensive then treating heartworm disease. 

If my dog gets heartworm disease, my veterinarian can easily treat it

Nothing could be further from the truth than this final myth. Treating heartworm, as mention in myth number 5, can be very expensive and dangerous, plus the damage done to the heart cannot be reversed. heartworm is a serious disease, but it is also a preventable one. 

Videos

Debunk these common heartworm disease misconceptions with Peter C. Hann, DVM

Six Myths about Heartworm Disease

Marlis Rezende, DVM, PhD, MSc, DACVAA, discusses the common conditions she sees in practice that best utilize TIVA for pain management.

Using total intravenous anesthesia in certain cases

Marlis Rezende, DVM, PhD, MSc, DACVAA, an associate professor of anesthesia and analgesia at Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biological Sciences in Fort Collins, presented and copresented more than a dozen continuing education lectures and hands-on labs during the 2025 North American Veterinary Community (NAVC) SkillShop in Orlando, Florida. In a 

 interview, Rezende discussed total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) and the common conditions she sees in practice that best utilize this method of pain management.

The following is a transcript of the video:

: In my practice, the most common cases that we would do on TIVA would be patients that have clinical signs or concerns for increased intracranial pressure. So [it would] be your patient that has a history of seizures and it's coming from an MRI or a patient with traumatic brain injury that we want to image. So those would be the most common, because it comes from the fact that TIVA tends to decrease intracranial pressure, decrease cerebral blood flow, and so by doing that, using those techniques, we have one [less] thing to worry about. Although you do have to still ventilate them because [if you choose to hyperventilate,] then some of that benefit might be lost, but that is the main case that we do. 

The other ones would be relatively short imaging, again, CTS, ultrasounds, that kind of stuff, where the dog needs to be under general anesthesia, but we expect it to be a relatively short procedure—an hour, an hour and a half—and then the recovery. They can go home, and they return to their normal behavior faster. Obviously, there'll be some influence of what you premedicate them with, right? But in general, those are the 2 types of cases that we do [with TIVA] more frequently.

Tabitha Kucera, RVT, VTS (Behavior), CCBC, KPA-CTP, FFCP, discusses identifying chronic pain in cats

Could a new or missing behavior be a sign of feline pain?

Tabitha Kucera, RVT, VTS (Behavior), CCBC, KPA-CTP, FFCP, explains in this video that identifying chronic pain in cats often comes down to recognizing the loss of normal behaviors and the development of new ones. Although feline pain can appear subtle at first, Kucera notes that once professionals and caregivers learn what to look for, the signs become unmistakable. In the video, she also underscores the value of asking clients open-ended questions to uncover these changes earlier.

Below is the interview transcript, which has been lightly edited for improved clarity:

Tabitha Kucera, RVT, VTS (Behavior), CCBC, KPA-CTP, FFCP:

 So, when it comes to subtle or less-known signs of chronic pain in cats, I kind of like to answer it more broadly because of course, there are very specific things that I tend to see a lot. For example, cats are only scratching on the lower end of the scratcher and aren’t doing those big stretches, or they don’t lay out with limbs away; they kind of sleep like this all the time.

But what I like to focus on is maintenance and loss of normal behavior, and development of new behaviors. So this may be, again of course, house soiling: the cat is missing the litter box [even though] they normally use it. Or, they don’t usually hide, and [now] they’re hiding. Or they’re self-segregating—they’re not spending as much time with you.

Or development of a new behavior could be: all of a sudden, hey, these cats never had tension that the caregiver recognized and now they’re recognizing hissing. And by the time a caregiver is recognizing tension, it’s usually at least moderate because some of those subtler signs of body language aren’t noted, usually.

Or is this cat exhibiting fear-aggressive or pain-induced aggressive behaviors? All of a sudden, they don’t like to be picked up or they don’t like to be brushed. And then you can ask the caregiver: “What does it look like when your cat is brushed?” Not “Does your cat like to be brushed?” Again, those open-ended questions get more of that information.

And then, I know I said the word “subtle” and as far as when I’m describing chronic pain body language in cats, I always like to say that although they’re prey/predator animals and we’re less likely to be able to identify pain in the exam room due to fear and stress causing that pain perception to decrease, it is really important to remember that once we identify the pain, it screams out at you.

So I don’t think it’s very subtle. I think it’s a lot of body language. But once you—I mean, I teach caregivers all the time—once I point it out, they’ll never unsee it. So I’ll be doing a virtual consult, and I watch a cat walk...I'm like, “Whoa. Five observations that that cat is uncomfortable.”

So I think that’s another big thing. It’s not really subtle once you learn it. Just like body language—whether this cat’s fearful or stressed—that can be hard to note sometimes. We notice red, but not yellow or green but once you know them, you’re like, “Oh, I totally understand why this cat escalated,” or “This cat’s yellow, let me adapt my approach or change the environment.”

Tabitha Kucera, RVT, VTS (Behavior), CCBC, KPA-CTP, FFCP, talks about identifying chronic pain in cats