The North American Veterinary Community (NAVC) recently announced registration for a 

first global animal health conference of its kind

 is now open. The NAVC and the Michelson Found Animals Foundation (MFA) are collaborating to bring this event to the Washington, DC, area in 2025. The conference is meant to provide an opportunity for people of many backgrounds to help define the future of animal health and pet care throughout the next decade and beyond, according to the NAVC.

This conference will also focus on how the animal health sector is supported and funded.

The conference is expected to help industry leaders, innovators, investors, and those involved in or curious about the global animal health and pet care landscape convene to synthesize new ideas and plan a healthy future for animals and their connection with humans, according to a news release.

“The $300 billion global animal health and pet care industry is brimming with opportunity for pets to become an even greater part of people’s lives, for investors to fund new innovations that enhance animal wellbeing, the evolution of animal-centric cities, homes and environments, and so much more,” Gene O’Neill, NAVC CEO, said in a news release.

 “The next decade and beyond are full of promise and Compass brings together innovators and leaders from every aspect of the global animal health and pet care ecosphere to pave the way for an exciting future and seek solutions to potential speed bumps before they get in the way.”

At the event, attendees will be able to attend sessions on

The state of the global industry, focusing on today's economic realities, key indicators, investment strategies, and collaborative approaches to explore the potential in animal health and pet care sector

How pets are reshaping the concept of family as these animal companions become full-fledged family members and more people choose to postpone or forgo having children

New technology that will revolutionize how humans interact with pets

Opportunities for investors in the pet industry

Financial solutions like pet insurance and payment plans that ensure pets receive necessary care, affordably, amid staffing shortages in the veterinary profession

The evolution of animal-centric cities, homes and environments

The evolving role of veterinarians amid an evolving world of animal health

The pet retail and manufacturing industry

What prominent scientists are working on; these professionals will discuss the moonshot scientific endeavors they are aiming for in the future

Additionally, Compass will explore the similarities and differences between pet health systems and human health systems, including medical, dental, and vision care; at-home diagnostic tools; advancements in pharmaceuticals; nonsurgical treatments for pet health; and the impact of nutrition, breed science, and exercise on pet health outcomes.

“As we look toward the future, it’s crucial that we continue to explore and invest in innovative solutions that enhance the lives of animals and their human companions,” Brett Yates, CEO of Michelson Found Animals Foundation, said in the release.

 “Compass is a vital platform for driving these conversations, bringing together experts from diverse fields to shape a world where animal welfare is integrated into every aspect of our lives. We are excited to collaborate with leaders who share our vision of a future where pets are not just a part of our families but are supported by cutting-edge advancements in health, care, and technology.”

The event will take place at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, from April 10 to April 11, 2025.

Bautista-Alejandre A. First global animal health conference of its kind coming in 2025. 

. June 13, 2024. Accessed September 18, 2024. 

https://www.dvm360.com/view/first-global-animal-health-conference-of-its-kind-coming-in-2025

Registration opens Sept. 4 for inaugural global Compass conferencefirst-of-its-kind event focuses on the future of animal health and pet care in 2035 and beyond. News release.

North American Veterinary Community. September 4, 2024. Accessed September 18, 2024. [email]

The North American Veterinary Community (NAVC) and Michelson Found Animals Foundation (MFA) chart new course to define future of animal health and pet care in 2035 and beyond. News release. North American Veterinary Community. Accessed September 18, 2024. 

https://www.michelsonphilanthropies.org/news/navc-and-mfa-announce-compass-partnership/

Articles

The North American Veterinary Community revealed some of the session topics for its Compass event

Global animal health conference opens registration

Nestlé Purina PetCare has announced a 5-year collaboration with the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), to advance scientific understanding of urinary conditions in dogs and cats. At the same time, the partners will provide care for patients afflicted with urinary diseases. A Purina grant of nearly $1 million over the 5-year span will allow companion animal veterinarians to provide free urinary stone analysis results to patients at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine’s GV Ling Urinary Stone Analysis Laboratory (USAL), in Davis, California.

“Urinary diseases are common and often recurrent problems in companion animals. The shared goal of the USAL and Purina’s global research teams is to advance the science of urinary tract health in companion animals by investigating the relationship between diet, environmental and patient factors, and urinary tract conditions, including urolithiasis.” Sheri Smithey, PhD, senior vice president, Global PetCare R&D at Purina, said in a news release.

 “Data obtained through the USAL submission process will be essential to helping us better understand these relationships and expand clinical and research endeavors to improve urinary health in dogs and cats.”

The USAL will provide free analyses, interpretations, and consultations to veterinary practitioners for as many as 800 new stone submissions every year for the next 5 years.

 Researchers hope to use the influx of data to improve their understanding of urolithiasis management and abnormal tissue mineralization.

“Because the risk factors for urinary stone disease are complex and multifactorial, our goal is to better understand urolith formation while helping veterinarians work with their clients to tailor and optimize preventative management strategies.” Jodi Westropp, DVM, PhD, director at USAL, said in the release.

Urolithiasis, commonly known as urinary stones or kidney stones, are a common condition responsible for lower urinary tract disease in cats and dogs. Several factors are responsible for the formation of bladder stones (calculi), including

Retention of salts and crystals for a significant amount of time

Decrease in body’s natural inhibitors of crystal formation

Outward signs of pets afflicted with urolithiasis will vary depending on the location of the stones. The majority of urinary stones are located in the bladder or urethra. Stones lodged in kidneys or ureters are less common. Stones may damage the urinary tract lining, causing inflammation, which may predispose an animal to a bacterial urinary tract infection (UTI). There is a chance that stones block the flow of urine, which requires immediate veterinary attention.

Evaluation of blood or urine is typically recommended for diagnosis of urinary stones. Imaging tests—like X-rays and ultrasounds—are the most performed imaging techniques for urinary stones. Urinary stones are named after their mineral composition. The most common stones are struvite, calcium oxalate, urate, cystine, and silicate stones.

UC Davis Veterinary Medicine has led the way in urology research and development for years. In 2022, Larry Cowgill, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (Internal Medicine), alum and professor at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, 

led the charge for the American College of Veterinary Nephrology and Urology (ACVNU)

 to be provisionally recognized by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA).

 Years later, UC Davis' collaboration with Purina, and the information they hope to gain, encourages future innovations in veterinary urology.

“Thanks to this generous grant from Purina, we look forward to building stronger relationships with veterinary practitioners and providing them with evidence-based tools to better manage patients and meet their needs,” Westropp said in the release.

Purina and UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine Announces 5-Year Collaboration to Advance Urinary Tract Health in Pets. News release. Nestle Purina Pet care. September 17, 2024. Accessed September 17, 2024. 

https://prnmedia.prnewswire.com/news-releases/purina-and-uc-davis-school-of-veterinary-medicine-announce-5-year-collaboration-to-advance-urinary-tract-health-in-pets-302250460.html

Urinary Stones. American College of Veterinary Surgeons. Accessed September 17, 2024. 

https://www.acvs.org/small-animal/urinary-stones/

UC Davis spearheads formation of Nephrology and Urology Specialty College. 

. May 18, 2022. Accessed September 17, 2024. 

https://www.dvm360.com/view/uc-davis-spearheads-formation-of-nephrology-and-urology-specialty-college

Over the 5-year collaboration, Purina will grant GV Ling Urinary Stone Analysis Laboratory up to $200,000, annually

Purina and UC Davis partner to advance urinary tract health

The North American Veterinary Community (NAVC) shared today that it is now accepting entries for its annual VETTY Awards. Each year, NAVC selects winners within the animal health care industry’s communications and marketing mediums such as advertising, print, event, digital media, social media, websites, and more categories. The NAVC began the VETTY Awards in 2017 to reward and recognize marketing excellence within the industry and has since become an international award program with entries coming in from all over the world.

“The VETTY Awards provide us an opportunity to recognize and celebrate marketing excellence in the veterinary and animal health care industry,” said Gene O’Neill, chief executive officer of NAVC, in an organizational release.

 “We look forward to seeing who has mastered the fine art of marketing among entries this year, all of which are submitted by talented, creative professionals who are dedicated to promoting products and services that help animals everywhere live longer, better quality lives.”

According to the release, to qualify for the 2024 VETTY Awards, eligible work had to be produced between November 1, 2023, and October 31, 2024. Each winner will then be recognized during the Veterinary Meeting and Expo on January 25-29, 2025, in Orlando, Florida. Winners will be featured in the VETTY Awards booth inside the Expo Hall and receive an invitation to a reception and an awards ceremony during the conference. The 2024 winners will also then be featured on the VETTY’s website

: For the category of New Product/Program or Service Launch, "Zoetis Diagnostics Look Deeper Campaign to Launch the Virtual Laboratory" which was launched by Zoetis and FWD People

: For the category of In-Clinic Merchandise, Promotional/Advertising, "Doc's Little Free Library" by Old Ridge Veterinary Hospital.

: For the category Large Animal Digital, "Equine Lifetime of Care Lookbook" by Synchrony and Stephens & Associates.

: For the category new Product/Program or Service Launch, "Hallmarq Veterinary Imaging" by Hallmarq Veterinary Imaging and BrandTall Communications.

“We won the award [Best in Show (Nonprofit) Award] for our campaign on Docs Little Free Library, a campaign to engage the computer community and give books away to our neighbors and start a little free library and it's working. It's weird to call it a marketing campaign because I've always thought of it more as like a life's mission to give books away but it works,” said William Tancredi, DVM, exclusively to 

The VETTY’s Awards also selected multiple Judge’s Award Recipients, including 2023 OraVet Dental Health Month Dispensing Kit" by Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health USA Inc. and Shepherd Agency, Merck Animal Health BRAVECTO & SENTINEL Unlock Better Protection Integrated Campaign" by Merck Animal Health and Circa Healthcare, and The Galaxy's Best Pet Insurance" Campaign by Pumpkin & Marvel Studios Partnerships and Pumpkin, Marvel Studios Partnerships & The Hive.

The early bird deadline for this year’s VETTY Award is October 18, 2024, at 11:59 PM ET and costs $350 per entry for for-profit and $275 per entry for nonprofit organizations. The final deadline for submissions is November 6, 2024, at 11:59 PM ET, and costs $400 for for-profit and $325 for nonprofit organizations.

Who Are the Marketing Maestros in Animal Health Care?. News Release. The North American Veterinary Community. September 17, 2024. Accessed September 17, 2024.

McCafferty C. VMX honors 2023 VETTY Award recipients. DVM 360. Published January 16, 2024. Accessed September 17, 2024. https://www.dvm360.com/view/vmx-honors-2023-vetty-award-recipients

The NAVC’s 7th VETTY Awards honor marketing excellence within the animal health care industry 

VETTY Awards now accepting entries 

the 3 most exiting aspects of relief medicine

Findlaytor Fetch KC Pt 2

Relief veterinary medicine has been surging in popularity. In an interview with 

, Andrew Findlaytor, DVM, senior director of veterinary strategy and services at Roo Vets, shared 3 aspects of relief work that excites professionals the most. He also talked about the impact relief veterinarians have on those around them and explained the meaning of cultural transfusions in relief medicine.

: Relief medicine has seen such a large growth over the past decade. Part of the reason for that is the things that get people really excited about relief. I tell people 3 of the most exciting things about relief is the flexibility, the autonomy, and the professional growth. 

Diving into those a little bit, flexibility means ‘hey, I can pick where and when I want to work. If I want to work Monday through Saturday or Monday and Tuesday, that's up to me’. 

The autonomy gives you the ability to control really how much income you have coming in. You don't ever really have to worry about asking for a raise as relief veterinarian. You just say, 'hey, I want to go out and work more shifts', or 'I want to work less.' It gives you some social autonomy too to say, you know, 'this is the kind of culture I really want to spend time with', or 'these are kind of the places that really get me excited to work'. 

And lastly, professional growth. As a relief veterinarian, I've been amazed to say that I've learned something from every single hospital that I've worked at. There's always new ways to treat animals, and there's some really exciting old school ways too. There's a lot of great things to learn.

Andrew Findlaytor, DVM, reveals the 3 most exiting aspects of relief medicine

The appeal of relief medicine

Researchers from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, have begun development of an innovative method to support the diagnosis of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) in horses.

 IBD can lead to premature retirement and even euthanasia of impacted horses. The innovative method offers an accurate, cheap, and non-invasive alternative to traditional equine IBD screening, which can be expensive for owners and stressful for horses.

“Diagnosing IBD is also expensive for the owner and stressful for the horse, as it requires fasting, endoscopy, and usually transportation to a horse hospital,” Silva Uusi-Heikkliä, an academy research fellow from the University of Jyväskylä, said in the University’s 

 She also explained the challenges of endoscopy due to adult horses’ long gastrointestinal tract. At nearly 30 meters long, most of the gastrointestinal tract remains unexplored during endoscopy for practical reasons.

The new methodology, research for which was published in the journal 

 Findings supported that microbiota composition was different, and the abundances of certain bacterial groups were significantly increased or decreased, in horses with IBD compared to healthy horses. Using assessments of microbiota composition, the researchers were able to develop a machine learning model to predict IBD based on microbiota species composition in fecal samples. The model produced correct predictions with 100% accuracy in the study.

“This AI-based neural network model predicted IBD in the test samples with 100% accuracy,” Tiina Sävilammi, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher from the University of Jyväskylä said. “The next step is to further test the model and to improve its performance with more samples.”

Fecal samples for the study were collected prior to grazing season to minimize the effect of rapid changes in diet on gut microbiota composition during that period. The study used fecal samples from 27 healthy horses and 49 horses with IBD.

In recent years, IBD has become more commonly diagnosed in both humans and animals, which has encouraged the development of new diagnosis methods. Equine IBD is a broad term describing diseases marked by inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract of a horse. It can occur when a horse’s immune system confuses non-antigens for something pathogenic. White blood cells then infiltrate the intestinal lining which disrupts cells that absorb nutrients, secrete hormones, and produce the mucous barrier. Horses with IBD typically have severely low protein levels in their blood as a result of both poor protein absorption and protein loss in the digestive tract.

Horses with IBD may present outward signs including diarrhea, weight loss (despite proper nutrition), low energy levels, decreased appetite, abdominal swelling, as well as a history of mild colic or concurrent episodes of colic. Symptoms should always warrant a vet visit to determine the underlying cause, though they can often be confused with symptoms of generally poor gut health.

The study is the first to demonstrate the association between gut microbiota composition and equine IBD. The results of the research are promising, suggesting that the analysis of fecal microbiota composition could become an accurate, cost-effective, non-invasive alternative to IBD diagnosis in horses.

University of Jyväskylä. Promoting horse welfare with an intestinal disease screening method. Phys.org. September 10, 2024. Accessed September 16, 2024. 

https://phys.org/news/2024-09-horse-welfare-intestinal-disease-screening.html

Sävilammi T., Alakangas R-R., Häyrynen T., Uusi-Heikkilä S. Gut Microbiota Profiling as a Promising Tool to Detect Equine Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). 

Banton S. Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Horses – Signs, Causes, Treatment & Diet. Mad Barn. May 17, 2021. Accessed September 17, 2024. 

https://madbarn.com/inflammatory-bowel-disease-in-horses/

Evaluating gut microbiota composition as a tool for the detection of inflammatory bowel disease shows promise in studies

Cost-effective, non-invasive method for screening inflammatory bowel diseases

Zoetis, announced it will introduce a new diagnostic tool Vetscan OptiCell, a hematology analyzer that is cartridge-based and artificial intelligence powered that can get a more advanced Complete Blood Count (CBC) analysis. Vetscan OptiCell is set to be introduced later this year in Australia, United Kingdom, and the United States. 

“Vetscan OptiCell delivers high-quality results, enables improved efficiency, and provides a compact footprint. For the first time, we are able to use advanced AI image recognition technology to characterize the blood cells instead of relying on their size or other physical parameters. This is an important step forward for our haematology story, demonstrating Zoetis' devotion to the well-being of animals and those that care for them," expressed Richard Goldstein, DVM, DACVIM, DECVIM-CA, global chief medical officer and head of medical affairs at Zoetis, in an organizational release.

In 2022, Zoetis announced the launch of its Vetscan ImagystAI Blood Smear to provide veterinary professionals CBC in minutes but does not sacrifice the accuracy of the results. The products AI-driven analysis clarifies abnormalities, verify white blood cell differential, provide a platelet count estimate, identify and count polychromatophils.

"This latest innovation further strengthens our hematology story, particularly when partnered with Vetscan ImagystAI Blood Smear – reinforcing the existing capabilities of Zoetis' Virtual Laboratory portfolio to provide a comprehensive and connected platform," said Abhay Nayak, President of Global Diagnostics at Zoetis.

 Vetscan OptiCell joins Vetscan HM5 as Zoetis Diagnostics second hematology analyzer to become available to customers. The products first international public viewing will be at the London Vet Show in November 2024, and preorders will be available in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States beginning late 2024. The Vetscan OptiCell will also be presented during the Veterinary Meting & Expo in Orlando, Florida, in January 2025. 

The product is supported by Virtual Laboratory’s integrated network of board certified specialists.

Zoetis to Introduce First Cartridge-Based AI-Powered Haematology Analyser. News release. Zoetis. September 17, 2024. Accessed September 17, 2024. 

https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/zoetis-to-introduce-first-cartridge-based-ai-powered-haematology-analyser-302250354.html

Zoetis adds AI blood smear testing to Vetscan Imagyst diagnostic platform. dvm360. Published April 20, 2022. Accessed September 17, 2024. https://www.dvm360.com/view/zoetis-adds-ai-blood-smear-testing-to-vetscan-imagyst-diagnostic-platform

Vetscan OptiCell will be the first cartridge-based AI-powered hematology analyzer