David Dycus helps pet parents with their pets' joint pain

3 Tips to help your pet's joints

From maintaining a lean body weight to favoring daily leash walks over high-impact play, David Dycus, DVM, MS, CCRP, DACVS-SA, emphasizes simple, practical steps pet owners can take immediately to reduce joint stress in their animals.

: Dr David Dycus here, orthopedic surgeon, and I want to give you some tips to help protect your pet’s joints.

Number 1, make sure we maintain a lean body weight. The last thing we want to do is overfeed and therefore have an overweight pet.

The second thing is we have to get some type of daily exercise. The best form of daily exercise in our pets is to take them out on a daily leash walk. We want to try to avoid high-impact activities, such as playing ball—a lot of the explosive running and stopping and twisting and turning—but we can find other activities to engage with our pets, such as swimming and hiking and sometimes even jogging.

Also, think about supplementation, in particular omega-3 fatty acids or fish oil supplements.

Also, if you have a young puppy, it’s not a bad idea to have your veterinarian evaluate them for particular developmental orthopedic diseases that could cause arthritis in the future.

And lastly, we want to take a proactive approach. If you suspect it’s a joint-related problem in your pet, don’t wait—have them evaluated by your veterinarian, because I think if we take a proactive approach and stay on top of things, we can manage joint health in our patients as best we can to keep them active, comfortable, and having the best possible quality of life ever.”

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David Dycus, DVM, MS, CCRP, DACVS-SA, outlines key tips to safeguard a pet’s joint health

Tips to help protect your pet's joints

This content was provided by IGNITE, a dvm360® Strategic Alliance Partner. Check out their website www.VRCE.vet to learn more.

Client service representatives (CSRs) matter. We are the heart of the practice, know the clients, and build bonds with them. We are the first and last face the client sees. We are the line of communication between the client and the rest of the care team. We are treat givers, shoulders to cry on, ear scratchers, belly rubbers, multi-tasking ninjas, and so much more.

Think about what we handle on a daily basis, phone calls, emails, text messages, and face-to-face communications and sometimes, we do all those things at the same time. In my opinion, that makes us superheroes. We collect records and review them to look at vaccine and medical history, and we have to know what we are looking at and what medications do what.

CSRs handle the flow of appointments and then triage them based on our knowledge. We know what needs to come in immediately or what can wait a day or 2. We know how long certain appointments will take. We know what questions to ask and explain to clients what to expect for their appointments. We go over pre-surgical and sometimes post-surgical instructions and medications.

We must know about zoonotic diseases and external and internal parasites; what I call the creepy crawly things. We explain to clients why a 4DX is recommended and why year-round prevention is pivotal. We have to be able to explain that, yes, Fluffy can get heartworm in a gated community and that, yes, some ticks are active in colder months. When that client asks how Fluffy got roundworms, we must be prepared with the correct information.

Sometimes, we are there for our clients when they really need someone to talk to or listen to them. We listen because we care. We remember that a client’s son Timmy had a big ball game last weekend, and we asked how it went. We build strong bonds with our clients and patients. We also have the potential to make end-of-life care a little easier. Some of us even sit with those clients through the end-of-life care process so they do not have to do it alone.

You are so much more than just a receptionist. You handle communication, record keeping, and parasite prevention. You advocate for your patients and clients. You explain medications. You triage phone calls. You anticipate your clients' and care team’s needs. So yes, fellow CSR, you are important, you matter, and you are part of the team. Shine on, rock stars!

Do you know a CSR who goes above and beyond for pets, clients, and the veterinary team? Nominate them for dvm360's 2025 Veterinary Heroes® Awards! These awards honor veterinary professionals, including CSRs, who makes a meaningful impact on patient outcomes through exceptional communication, compassion, and dedication. Submit your nomination

Articles

Client service representatives are essential communicators, care coordinators, and compassionate advocates at the core of every veterinary team

Why client service representatives matter

Pumpkin Pet Insurance recently introduced a new urgent pay service that provides real-time payment for situations where timely processing is important and cost of treatment is high. The new service, PumpkinNow, allows eligible clients to receive direct payment for up to 90% of veterinary expenses in 15 minutes.

Qualified clients with approved claims for treatments totaling $1000 or more could be paid within 15 minutes after submitting a request, provided the client’s bank accepts real-time payments, according to Pumpkin Pet.

 Some financial institutions participating in real-time payments include JPMorgan Chase Bank Ohio, Alliance Bank Texas, Bank of America North Carolina, McCoy Federal Credit Union Florida, Citadel Federal Credit Union Pennsylvania, TruBank Iowa, Horizon Bank Indiana, and many others.

 The complete list can be found on The Clearing House’s website.

According to Pumpkin Pet Insurance, the challenges many pet owners face—even those with insurance—in critical care situations, including the uncertainty of coverage and high out-of-pocket payments, prompted the insurance company to develop PumpkinNow. "When your pet is hurt or sick, you should know exactly what is covered on the spot," said Julia Sosa, CEO for Pumpkin, in a company release.

 "PumpkinNow is a novel, point-of-care experience that provides coverage clarity, expedited claims approvals, and payments for covered expenses within 15 minutes—all before a pet owner checks out and pays their vet bill. It's the type of service we'd want for our own pets."

“Customers want the clarity and confidence to make informed care decisions quickly for their beloved pets without worrying about paying thousands in upfront vet bills or waiting for reimbursement checks,” wrote the pet insurance company in a release.

According to Pumpkin Pet Insurance, clients are faced with a veterinary bill of more than $1000 every 6 seconds.

Moreover, survey data from the Pumpkin Survey of 522 General Market Consumers reveals that 61% of pet insurance clients bought the policy due to concerns with out-of-pocket costs. Additionally, survey participants cited the ability to make decisions about their pet’s healthcare without the concern of affordability as the top reason they purchased the insurance.

Pumpkin Pet Insurance reports its plans have paid more than $60 million in accident and illness claims totaling more than $1000. According to the company, these claims include medical situations that are not only high-cost and stake but are also stressful, emotionally affecting clients and veterinary teams. “Timely treatment highly impacts patient outcomes,” wrote the company.

Pumpkin Pet Insurance clients can have claims settled on the spot with PumpkinNow. Upon enrollment, customer’s pet’s medical records and bank accounts are linked to their Pumpkin profile, allowing the team of claim adjusters with PumpkinNow to adjudicate claims soon after, reducing hours, and occasionally days, from the claims process. After claims are approved, those with bank accounts enabling real-time payment can receive immediate direct deposit funds to cover their veterinary bill before leaving the clinic.

Pumpkin Pet Insurance launches PumpkinNow™ - our first-ever urgent pay service that can pay you before you pay the vet for critical, high-cost care. News release. Pumpkin. April 22, 2025. Accessed April 25, 2025. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pumpkin-pet-insurance-launches-pumpkinnow--our-first-ever-urgent-pay-service-that-can-pay-you-before-you-pay-the-vet-for-critical-high-cost-care-302433774.html?tc=eml_cleartime

RTP network participating financial institutions. The Clearing House Payments Company. Accessed April 25, 2025. 

https://www.theclearinghouse.org/payment-systems/rtp/rtp-participating-financial-institutions

The new service provides quick real-time payments during critical cases where treatment is more than $1000

Pet insurance launches urgent pay service

Happy Friday dvm360 readers! Did you know that there is one week left to nominate your veterinary hero for dvm360’s 5th annual Veterinary Heroes Awards? Each year, dvm360 invites the veterinary community to nominate the veterinary professionals that go above and beyond for patients, clients, and fellow professionals each and every day. Whether that is a client service representative or a surgeon, everyone in the clinic plays a crucial role in patient and client care, and we want to honor them! You can learn more about our Vet Heroes, check out past winners, and nominate your hero 

Once you finish nominating your hero, here is what you can find on dvm360.com from this week:

In this video with dvm360, Joya Griffin, DVM, DACVD, star of the National Geographic Wild television series 

 the importance of conducting diagnostic diet trials for feline and canine patients with nonseasonal pruritus.

A BluePearl Pet Hospital located in Tampa, Florida, 

 the 8th veterinary hospital in the United States to offer patients the transcatheter edge-to-edge repair, a minimally invasive beating-heart intervention for treating severe mitral regurgitation.

POP Biotechnologies, a biopharmaceutical company, 

 that its potential vaccine for highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza demonstrated 100% protection in a preclinical trial, and has been developed for potential use in veterinary and human medicine.

 of The Vet Blast Podcast presented by dvm360, Jill Clark, DVM, founder and chief visionary officer, IGNITE Veterinary Solutions, joins our host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA to discuss why there needs to be more evidence-based continuing education for client service representatives.

This week, dvm360 celebrated National Veterinary Receptionist Week by highlighting the hard work CSRs do daily, and how to thank them, with dvm360’s Strategic Alliance Partner IGNITE Veterinary Solutions. You can check out all of their submitted work 

The 2025 State of Online Veterinary Care Report recently 

 that 129 million Americans live in a “vet desert,” or an area with extremely limited access to veterinary care based on number of households, pets, veterinary employees, language barriers, access to a vehicle, per capita income, and poverty levels.

Wrap up: Florida veterinary hospital became 8th hospital to offer TEER procedure, and other news

Ellen Behrend, VMD, PhD, MS, DACVIM (SAIM), discusses what to monitor in cats on SGLT2 inhibitors, and how it differs from the monitoring required for cats on insulin 

A breakdown of monitoring feline patients on SGLT2 inhibitors

Monitoring feline patients with diabetes on SGLT2 inhibitors requires a different approach from monitoring those on insulin. Ellen Behrend, VMD, PhD, MS, DACVIM (SAIM), a consultant at Veterinary Information Network, outlines what to monitor in feline patients on SGLT2 inhibitors, including when each parameter should be checked.

She also discusses a distinct form of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) seen in patients on SGLT2 inhibitors: euglycemic DKA. In the video, Behrend stresses that when treating this form of DKA, veterinarians must begin with administering insulin, even when blood glucose levels are low.

Ellen Behrend, VMD, PhD, MS, DACVIM (SAIM): 

Monitoring is going to be somewhat different for SGLT2 inhibitors versus insulin. The SGLT2 inhibitors, if you compare the cost of an SGLT2 inhibitor to insulin directly, tend to be a little bit more expensive.

It does, of course, depend on the kind of insulin you're using because those costs vary hugely. Where the clients are going to save money is in the monitoring, and they're going to save a huge amount of money. If a client's never had a diabetic cat before, they might not know how good they have it with an SGLT2 inhibitor, but that's where the big difference is.

So, I recommend checking them at day...3; you're only checking for ketones. I prefer that you check beta-hydroxybutyrate in blood, but if that's not possible, you can also check urine.

The only recommended in-house meter right now for checking ketones is the precision Xtra, and that's the only one that's been validated for cats. You can pick it up on Amazon. I checked the price last week. It was $35 to $40. It's just like a handheld glucometer that we're all used to using; this just measures ketones instead. So this is not a big piece of equipment that you're investing in...

Ellen Behrend, VMD, PhD, MS, DACVIM (SAIM), discusses what to monitor in cats on SGLT2 inhibitors, and how it differs from the monitoring required for patients on insulin 

A guide to monitoring feline patients on SGLT2 inhibitors

Earlier this year, a nationwide survey of beekeepers revealed “catastrophic” losses in honeybee colonies throughout the United States.

 Newly analyzed data has recently confirmed these losses, with commercial beekeepers reportedly losing an average of 62% of their colonies, amounting to the loss of 1.6 million colonies between June 2024 and March 2025.

, a nonprofit that supports honeybee and beekeeping community research, gathered data from 842 beekeepers, representing approximately 1.956 million colonies. These survey participants account for about 72% of bees in the country.

Causes of these high losses in honeybees remain unknown, but the economic impact of the 1.6 million colonies lost is estimated to surpass $600 million in honey production, pollination income, and costs to replace colonies. “Collectively, these economic and biological hurdles will likely make it impossible for beekeepers to rebuild, pollinate, and produce a honey crop this year, which could have continued impacts on beekeeping operations and our nation’s produce supply,” wrote the Honey Bee Coalition in a news release.

According to the coalition, the full impact of honeybee shortages on pollinated crops, including almonds, apples, cherries, blueberries, melons, and pumpkins, and many others, is yet to be determined. The organization warns that these losses could result in lower farmer yields, create higher prices and limited availability of honey in grocery stores, and have other effects on these cropping industries worth more than $18 billion each year.

Surpassing the typical 30% to 50% average annual honeybee losses reported by beekeepers, these recent losses exceed historical trends.

 “In January 2025, beekeepers across the country began reporting unexpected large-scale honeybee losses—we now know the largest ever recorded in the US,” said Danielle Downey, executive director of Project 

“In response, USDA Bee Labs were among the first to receive reports of these severe losses. To address the crisis, a multi-organizational working group—including Project 

., the American Beekeeping Federation, and the American Honey Producers Association—swiftly mobilized to assess the scale and severity of the losses, collect critical management data, and guide research efforts to identify potential causes,” Downey continued.

Hobbyist beekeepers, accounting for 1-49 colonies, lost an average of 51% of their colonies

Sideliner operations, comprising 50-500 colonies, lost an average of 54% of their colonies.

Commercial beekeepers with more than 500 colonies lost an average of 62% of their colonies, marking a shift from typical patterns where larger operations usually experience fewer losses due to their scale, resources, and skilled management practices

Researchers with the US Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS are currently analyzing field samples from 114 colonies in California, both failing and surviving colonies, to investigate causes of the higher colony losses. The investigation includes pathogen screening, examination of stored pollen for pesticide residue and pollen diversity, and microbiome and host-pathogen interactions that may be linked to colony health.

A laboratory at Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is also conducting pesticide residue analysis on bees, wax, pollen, and honey samples from affected colonies. Other university labs throughout the US along with the USDA-ARS are also looking into potential additional factors contributing to losses, including

 resistance to amitraz, a broad-spectrum acaricide and insecticide used to manage varroa mites

Environmental factors that affect colony health, such as weather conditions that can decrease availability of nectar and pollen or limit foraging conditions

Honeybee exposure to chemicals like pesticides, which can instantly kill honeybees or lead to sublethal effects like impaired memory and learning, decreased foraging, and shorter lifespans

According to Michigan State University, although fungicides are developed for the management of fungi, many fungicides can have long-term effects on bees. Moreover, when certain combinations of pesticides are applied simultaneously, their toxicity to bees increases more than if the pesticides were applied separately. Inactive ingredients in pesticides, like adjuvants, can also be harmful to bees.

“Beekeeping businesses are facing unprecedented challenges that threaten their survival from colony losses we haven’t seen in nearly 20 years. The swift response from stakeholders and the USDA is critical in providing beekeepers with the data and information to make well-informed decisions to sustain their operations,” said Patty Sundberg, president of the American Beekeeping Federation, in a news release.

Survey reveals over 1.1 million honey bee colonies lost, raising alarm for pollination and agriculture. News release. Honey Bee Health Coalition. February 20, 2025. Accessed April 24, 2025. 

https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/survey-reveals-over-1-1-million-honey-bee-colonies-lost-raising-alarm-for-pollination-and-agriculture/

New data confirms catastrophic honey bee colony losses, underscoring urgent need for action. News release. Honey Bee Health Coalition. April 3, 2025. Accessed April 24, 2025. 

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/650342507631075013d25a2c/t/67eed76409b99b1e0706b8e8/1743705957725/04_03_2025%2BUpdated%2BColony%2BLoss%2BPR.pdf

Heck A. Reports of high honey bee colony losses and how farmers and growers can support honey bees. Michigan State University Extension. April 1, 2025. Accessed April 24, 2025. https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/reports-of-high-honey-bee-colony-losses-and-how-farmers-and-growers-can-support-honey-bees?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term=

The economic impact is estimated to surpass $600 million in honey production, pollination income, and costs to replace colonies