Kathryn E. Reif, PhD, MSPH, an associate professor in the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Pathobiology, presented her session, “Tick Tidbits: Novel insights & protection updates on these tiny troublemakers,” at the Fetch dvm360 Conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey, from October 14-16, 2024. In her session, Reif shared a comprehensive background of ticks and the threats they pose, before presenting a study comparing speed to kill the lone star tick (

) between 3 common monthly-use isoxazoline-containing parasiticide acaricides/treatment products.

“[The lone star tick] is an extremely aggressive tick species that will happily bite anything with a pulse at any life stage,” Reif said in her presentation.

 “You may be a mouse, a deer, a dog, a person, even a lizard. If you are alive and have blood, consider yourself fair game for this tick species… this tick is also notable because it is one of the most challenging species for tick-control products to work against, or to kill. So, if you can kill a lone star tick rapidly, you should feel really, really good about that tick-control product.”

Similar to other ticks, lone star ticks are arachnids with 8 legs, no heads or eyes, and a Haller’s organ, which they use in place of antennae to observe their surroundings and detect physical and chemical cues of potential hosts. There are 3 life stages for ticks, progressing from larvae, to nymph, to adults. Ticks usually feed 3 times in their lives, 1 time per life stage, and they live 2 to 3 years. They typically live in open spaces of forest, brush, or grassland habitats, and although they prefer warmer, humid weather, lone star ticks can be found questing for hosts even on sub-40°F days.

“So, our question was, ‘how quickly is the lone star tick killed on dogs treated with either [lotilaner], [sarolaner], or [afloxolaner]? And we rationalized the need for this study because the faster we kill these ticks, the less likely they are going to be to transmit any pathogens that they’re potentially carrying,” Reif said, introducing her study.

 “We specifically chose the lone star tick because it’s one of the most challenging tick species to kill… we also wanted to see, not only is this [treatment] working fast on dosing, but is it working fast at the end of the month, right before it gets re-dosed.”

The study examined the speed of kill provided by 3 monthly-use isoxazoline-containing products, the generics of which are lotilaner, sarolaner, and afoxolaner.

 The team of researchers, led by Reif, looked at 4 groups of 8 healthy and randomized beagles (32 total; 16 males, 16 females) that were treated with either lotilaner, sarolaner, afoxolaner, or part of a control group left untreated. Controlled infestations of 50 pathogen-free, adult, lone star ticks were initially conducted 7 days prior to the dogs’ treatment in order to determine each dog’s susceptibility to tick attachment. Infestations were conducted again 2 days before their treatment, in addition to 21- and 28-days post-treatment.

The intention of the recurring controlled infestations was to measure the efficacy of the treatments against both existing and new infestations. Ticks were counted and removed 5 days before treatment, 72 hours post-treatment, and 72 hours following each subsequent infestation. In situ ticks from the infestation 2 days before treatment were counted, without removal, 4-, 8-, 12-, 24-, and 48-hours post-treatments. The same timepoints for tick counting were used following the infestations on days 21 and 48.

On the day of treatment, lotilaner was the only acaricide to significantly reduce the count of lone star ticks by the 12-hour checkpoint. According to the study, the efficacy of lotilaner and afoxolaner at 24 hours post-treatment were 95.3% and 97.6%, respectively, both significantly higher than sarolaner, which was 74%. On day 21, at the 12-hour post infestation checkpoint, lotilaner efficacy was 59.6%, which was significantly higher than sarolaner, at 0.0%, and afoxolaner, at 6.3%. Later in that same day, at the 24-hour post infestation checkpoint on day 21, lotilaner’s efficacy was 97.4%, compared to 13.6% for sarolaner, and 14.9% for afoxolaner.

The results of the study demonstrated that the speed to kill for lotilaner did not decline over the course of the study period, whereas sarolaner and afoxolaner both declined significantly. “Time to ≥ 90% efficacy following new infestations consistently occurred 24-48 hours earlier for lotilaner compared with sarolaner or afoxolaner,” the authors of the study wrote.

“So, from this study, we can conclude that [lotilaner] has a rapid, and I would argue as importantly, a sustained, rapid speed of tick kill throughout the product’s full treatment period,” Reif concluded.

 “Why do we care about tick speed of kill, and why do we want it to happen throughout the product’s dosing lifespan? It’s all about reducing the risk of pathogen transmission.”

Despite these findings, Reif reiterated that the best, most effective tick product is one that a client will use properly, and that starts with their veterinarian’s encouragement. She also advises that no tick product is 100% effective and offers a reminder that the label should be considered before any recommendations are made. She recommends regular tick checks, both on pets and humans. Upon the discovery of a tick, they should be promptly removed. It’s best to grab them close to the skin with tweezers, pulling back with steady, even pressure. The bite site should then be sanitized.

Reif K. Tick Tidbits: Novel insights & protection updates on these tiny troublemakers. Presented at: Fetch dvm360 Conference; October 14-16, 2024; Atlantic City, NJ.

Reif KE, Kollasch TM, Neilson JC, et al. Comparative speed of kill provided by lotilaner (Credelio), sarolaner (Simparica Trio), and afoxolaner (NexGuard) to control 

https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-024-06363-w

Articles

Lone star ticks, and the most effective preventatives, were covered during a session at the Fetch dvm360 Conference in Atlantic City.

Comparing common tick treatments vs lone star ticks

E’lisia Davis working with shelter dog, Maggie at the Montgomery County Animal Care and Adoption Center (Image courtesy of Margie Christianson for Virginia Tech) 

E’lisia Davis, a veterinary student at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, has developed nutrition guidelines for pets in 3 shelters local to the college, Pulaski County Animal Shelter, Montgomery County Animal Care and Adoption Center, and the Humane Society of Montgomery County. Over 6 weeks, Davis helped the individual shelter animals become healthier as well as provided resources to employees that they can use in the future.

"It's a great opportunity for students, and it's a great opportunity for us to help fulfill our mission of education in the community, and it helps the animals — it's a win-win-win,” expressed Eileen Mahan, director of animal care and adoption at the Montgomery County Animal Care and Adoption Center, in an organizational release.

“Our goal is always to adopt out the healthiest animals. We understand that nutrition — and decisions that previous owners have made — can put pets in danger, health wise, and so we will do everything we can while they're here to get them in a better situation.

When it comes to pets being adopted, their weight is a major factor to their health but can also hinder adoptions. People going into shelters to adopt a pet are looking at their appearance when considering them for adoption, and if they are at an ideal weight, someone is more likely to ask to meet the pet. This can be detrimental for those that are overweight, which can lead to health conditions in the future such as joint problems, or being underweight, which can promote health problems or a more expensive pet food bill. 

Davis was inspired to create these guidelines during her shelter medicine clerkship she completed during her second and third years as a veterinary student.

 She then spoke with another shelter clerkship about her idea to conduct a study on animals’ weights and how it affects their ability to be adopted. However, she ran into a happy problem, cats and dogs were being adopted before she could properly track their weight.

Because of this, she changed her course of action to developing guidelines for the shelters so that cats and dogs can get the right amount of food to either achieve or maintain their healthy weight for each individual animal.

"One thing I discovered working with individual animals is that there is so much more to take into consideration, considering breed, age, and other diseases," said Davis.

 "For example, hounds in a stressful environment tend to lose more weight."

Davis was then able to follow up with some of the animals that were adopted to keep tabs on the plans she designed for them with their owners. Once she graduates veterinary school, she will head back to her home state of New Jersey to practice, but plans to volunteer at shelters in her area. By doing so, she hopes to encourage other veterinary students to do the same.

"This was a chance for me to help animals while also helping the community — and I got to cuddle with dogs every day!" Davis concluded.

Boudrea S. Veterinary student develops nutrition guidelines for local animal shelters. Virginia Tech. Published October 14, 2024. Accessed October 22, 2024. 

https://news.vt.edu/articles/2024/10/vetmed-nutrition-guidelines-shelters.html

E’lisia Davis developed these guidelines for shelters in her area to help them reach and maintain a healthy weight. 

Veterinary student creates nutrition guidelines for animal shelters 

Researchers from Newcastle University in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, have discovered that bumblebees’ responses to adverse events resemble human emotions. Findings of the study show that bees lower their expectations of rewards when they become agitated or stressed, which scientists say could impact their approach to pollination. The study offers significant evidence for judgement biases in bees.

“Our study shows that bees are more pessimistic after stress as their behavior suggests that they do not expect to get rewards,” Vivek Nityananda, PhD, a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) David Phillips research fellow who worked on the study, said in a university release.

 “Emotions are complex states and, in humans, involve a subjective understanding of what you are feeling. We might never know if bees feel something similar, however, what this research can say is that bees have similar responses when they are stressed and make pessimistic choices. The best explanation for their behavior is that they expect high rewards to be less likely and exhibit traits of pessimistic people.”

, bumblebees were required to make an active choice as part of a novel judgement bias test.

 The bees were trained to associate high-tier and low-tier rewards, in 2 separate reward chambers, with distinct colors. One of the colors was associated with a sweet reward location, and the other with a much lower-tier reward. Bees learned the difference and visited the favorable location when shown both colors.

After learning these associations, 2 groups of bees were subjected to a simulated predatory attack—they were shaken and trapped by a robotic arm wielding a sponge—while a third group was left alone, not experiencing any added stress.

 When presented ambiguous colors that fell somewhere between the 2 familiar colors, bees in the 2 groups that had experienced the attacks, and were under more stress, were less likely to interpret the ambiguous colors as indicators of high-tier rewards. Therefore, they visited low-tier reward locations more frequently than bees in the control group.

“Our research suggests that, like other animals, including humans, bees may experience emotion-like states when stressed, as demonstrated by a clear shift towards pessimism,” Olga Procenko, PhD, a researcher at the University of Birmingham who led the study, said in a university release.

 “When faced with ambiguity, stressed bees, much like someone seeing the glass as ‘half empty,’ are more likely to expect negative outcomes. Besides suggesting that states akin to emotion may be evolutionarily conserved, our study opens up new possibilities for understanding how stress affects insect cognition and behavior, which could provide insights into their responses to environmental challenges and inform conservation efforts.”

The study emphasized the need for further research to fully understand the implications for the pollination of flowers and plants. It’s critical to understand if the pessimistic judgements made by the bees could be adaptive, potentially to avoid dangerous or unpredictable environments.

 Further research should prioritize an understanding of how emotion-like states in bees are generated and sustained. With a deeper understanding of these mechanisms and their origin, researchers will be able to determine whether there is a common ancestry and similar states in other vertebrates, or whether they are distinct and the result of convergent evolution.

“We need to figure out how bees evaluate rewards when stressed and whether these states in bees show other properties we see in emotions,” Nityananda said.

 “We also need to investigate the neural mechanisms involved and see if bees in the wild show similar responses.”

Stressed bees lack a buzz in life. News release. Newcastle University. October 9, 2024. Accessed October 22, 2024. 

https://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articles/latest/2024/10/pessimisticbees/?_gl=1*vhk8ku*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTAzMjE2NjEyNS4xNzI5NjA4OTQ5*_ga_VH2F6S16XP*MTcyOTYwODk0OC4xLjEuMTcyOTYwOTA1NC4wLjAuMTU0ODc0ODU0MA

Procenko O, Read JCA, Nityananda V. Physically stressed bees expect less reward in an active choice judgement bias test. 

Bumblebees, when stressed, are more likely to make pessimistic choices 

Stressed bees may experience human-like emotions

The Vets, a provider of at-home veterinary care, recently announced it will be fusing with BetterVet, a mobile veterinary service that focuses on at-home visits and telehealth. Now under The Vets brand, the merge was f made with the goal of expanding pet healthcare delivery throughout the country, according to The Vets.

“This union combines the strengths of both companies to provide pet owners with enhanced access to comprehensive, convenient, and compassionate veterinary care,” wrote the The Vets in a company release.

The fusion represents a significant milestone in the veterinary sector, combining resources, expertise, and innovation, according to The Vets.

The new partnership will bring a wider range of veterinary services to a wider geographical scope with its expansion to more than 30 major United States cities and more than 80 veterinary teams working throughout these areas.

"We are excited to join forces with BetterVet and further cement our position as market leaders," Esben Mou, CEO of The Vets, said in a company release.

 "Both of our companies share a commitment to providing accessible, top-quality care for pets in the comfort of their homes. Together, we will continue to revolutionize pet healthcare and bring our services to even more communities across the country."

Dan Adams, past CEO of VetCor—a network of veterinary practices in the US and Canada—from 2001 to 2022 and CEO of BetterVet in 2024, will remain on the company's Board as chairman.

"This merger aligns perfectly with our vision of extending access to patient care," said Adams in the release.

 "With our combined strengths, we're not only delivering exceptional care but also pushing the boundaries of what's possible in veterinary medicine in terms of convenience and quality."

The combined organization intends to create a new benchmark for mobile and at-home veterinary care, according to The Vets. Additionally, founders and current investors have contributed extra resources to boost the newly formed company’s growth and reach.

Currently, the mobile veterinary care market is valued at approximately $790 million.

 By 2029, the market is projected to grow at an annual compound growth rate of 7.78%, reaching $1.15 billion.

Drivers of this growth include the rise of pet adoption, livestock farming, and the prevalence of chronic diseases.

 Moreover, as chronic illnesses in companion and livestock animals rises, the demand for mobile veterinary services is expected to increase, according to the the Mobile Veterinary Care Market Report.

The Vets and BetterVet announce merger, ushering in a new era of pet healthcare. News release. The Vets Holding Inc. October 16, 2024. Accessed October 22, 2024. 

https://www.accesswire.com/932425/the-vets-and-bettervet-announce-merger-ushering-in-a-new-era-of-pet-healthcare

The Mobile Veterinary Care Market Report. Mordor Intelligence. Accessed October 22, 2024. 

https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/mobile-veterinary-care-market#:~:text=The%20Mobile%20Veterinary%20Care%20Market%20size%20is%20estimated%20at%20USD,for%20the%20flu%20in%202022

The Vets and BetterVet will join forces to bring a wider range of veterinary services to more geographical regions

Mobile and at-home veterinary care providers announce merger

Julia E Miller, DVM, DACVD discussed top food allergens in pets, as well as more uncommon allergens

Common food allergens in cats and dogs

Food allergies account for 10% to 25% of cases of allergic dermatitis in animals,

so what are the most common food allergens for cats and dogs? In an interview with 

 at the Fetch Coastal Conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Julia E. Miller, DVM, DACVD, shared that chicken is the most common food allergen in both cats and dogs. She also discussed novel proteins, and common allergens in kittens, as well as some less common allergens.

At the conference, Miller also presented a 2-part lecture on canine allergies, specifically 

 During her session, Miller lectured on diagnosing patients with allergies, 

For our dogs and cats, the most common food allergen, chicken is the number 1 food allergy that we see, but beef is slowly starting to eclipse chicken. We think about the common things, right? The common food allergens are the things that are commonly in dog food. So, beef and chicken are definitely up there.

When we talk about kitties, fish starts to kind of get in there a little bit…. Rarely [do] you see things like wheat and soy be on there, but that's much lower down on the list—like wheat, soy, pork, things like that, way lower. But far and away, sort of chicken and beef are the number 1 things.

And another thing to remember when we talk about novel proteins, because when we talk about diet trials, sometimes we switch them to a novel protein or a new protein, remember that chicken is in my hands, the same as duck, is the same as turkey. If it's feathered, it's dead to me. So that's not a novel protein. And then I think another important thing to remember is that there actually may be some cross reactivity with beef and venison, so I actually don't consider venison a novel protein anymore, either.

Littrell A. Cutaneous adverse food reactions. 

. October 14, 2024. Accessed October 21, 2024. 

https://www.dvm360.com/view/cutaneous-adverse-food-reactions

Videos

Julia E. Miller, DVM, DACVD discussed top food allergens in pets, as well as more uncommon allergens

Andrea Pace, CVT, VTS (ECC), describes clinical signs of dystocia and when to operate 

Andrea Pace on dystocia

, Andrea Pace, CVT, VTS (ECC), training mentor for the emergency department at Mount Laurel Animal Hospital in New Jersey, talked about dystocia, and when and why it can be critical to operate. She covered unexpected circumstances, like an unknown past injury that could impede the mother's labor, and why it's important to remain aware of these possibilities. 

In addition to dystocia, Pace discussed emergency surgery tips for technicians, specifically when faced with 

, in her session, "Emergency Surgeries: What a Vet Tech Needs to Know from the ER to the OR," at the recent Fetch 

 Conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

 Sometimes we'll have [a] mom just getting very sick...and not being able to really continue with the labor process naturally. So, it can be a ton of different problems. Sometimes it's something that you're not even expecting, like, maybe there's some history of trauma, and she broke her pelvis 5 years ago, and now is trying to give birth and can't get the baby past whatever injury she may have had. 

So, any time that this labor is really prolonged, the babies start to get distressed, and once the babies get distressed, it really limits their ability to survive. So getting the babies out of mom and getting mom into surgery in a timely manner is really essential. Hopefully most people have had some prenatal care for their dogs. Mostly it's dogs, sometimes it is cats, but hopefully some prenatal care will give them that education to know what to look for and when to worry.

Littrell A. Emergency surgery for gastric dilatation volvulus. dvm360. October 17, 2024. Accessed October 21, 2024. https://www.dvm360.com/view/emergency-surgery-for-gastric-dilatation-volvulus

Andrea Pace, CVT, VTS (ECC), discussed clinical signs of dystocia in the emergency room in a post-session interview with dvm360.