The Pennsylvania House of Representatives denied legislation that would send over $33 million in funding to the University of Pennsylvania’s veterinary school following the resignation of president Liz Magill, after she received criticism that the university tolerated antisemitism from the public, alumni, and donors to the school.

“We are deeply disappointed in last night’s vote in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. The School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) is the sole beneficiary of these funds, and the school has continued to fulfill its educational and service missions to the Commonwealth in good faith throughout this six-month impasse, as it has for over 139 years,” the university said in a public statement.

The bill had failed to get the necessary two-thirds majority vote of the house to proceed with every Democrat in the house supporting the bill while a majority of Republicans in the state senate voted against it. The funding had originally won the majority in 2 different votes before losing this latest vote. The support for the funding is typically fueled by the university’s role in training veterinarian professionals and fighting infectious diseases within the state’s agricultural sector. According to reporting from the Associated Press,

the funding received from the state makes up a little less than 20% of the college's budget.

“The school is a vital part of Pennsylvania’s agriculture industry: educating the next generation of Pennsylvania’s veterinarians, which is currently facing workforce shortages; providing world class clinical care to Pennsylvania’s agricultural communities, companion animals, working dogs, and wildlife; administering diagnostic testing services to maximize farm productivity and profitability, and food safety; offering surveillance programs to protect our food supply against devastating diseases such as highly pathogenic avian influenza; as well as our important role in disaster management. We hope the state House will reconsider this vote when it reconvenes in 2024,” the university statement concluded.

Although the funding was rejected, the republican members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives have begun drafting new legislation that requires any institution or high education that receives state aid in Pennsylvania must adopt a code of effects. The code of ethics must make it clear that calling for genocide is bullying or harassment.

“Until more is done at the university in terms of rooting out, calling out, and making an official stance on antisemitism being against the values of the university, I cannot in good conscience support this funding,” said Bryan Cutler, State House Republican Minority Leader.

Statement Regarding Penn Vet's FY24 State Appropriation. University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. December 14, 2023. Accessed December 20, 2023. https://www.vet.upenn.edu/about/news-room

Pennsylvania lawmakers defeat funding for Penn amid criticism over school’s stance on antisemitism. Associated Press. December 13, 2023. Accessed December 20, 2023. https://apnews.com/article/pennsylvania-antisemitism-universities-israel-gaza-6087632cd5c449a7b1498edde86f041e

Articles

Lawmakers denied over $30 million in funding to the school after the university faced criticism over stance on antisemitism

Pennsylvania lawmakers block funding for Penn Vet  

When I qualified as a veterinarian in 2001, I thought I would always work in a consulting capacity. I knew there were other ways in which we could use our veterinary degrees, but going into industry, government work, research, or lab work just did not appeal to me.

Now more than 2 decades later, I no longer practice as a veterinarian. Yet, I still use my degree every day and I still help people and animals, but in a slightly different way. I operate a couple of thriving veterinary-related online businesses.

I remember the day I made the decision to switch focus from practice to entrepreneurship. I came home late one evening to find my baby asleep—again. For 3 days straight I had not seen her awake. Something had to change. But how?

I had wanted to be a veterinarian my whole life. The thought of giving up on this dream was shattering. Being a stay-at-home mother was not an option for me. I had to find something that would generate an income—preferably the same as that of my practice.

As it turned out, the businesses I now run allow me to stay at home, and I generate more income than I ever did as a practicing veterinarian. They use the same knowledge and passion, but with a different focus.

I already had begun dabbling in some side hustles. I ran an online shop, created my own product range, and consulted for an herbal pet company. All these little extra sources of income were great and helped to sustain me during my second pregnancy. But I needed to create a more sustainable income—something with more longevity that gave me the freedom to work flexible hours from home and to travel and work at the same time. As a family, we love to travel, so this was important to me.

I started to think, “Am I longing for the impossible here?” This dream job sounded too good to exist, let alone be true for me.

The idea for one of my online businesses came while I was helping clients who lived 3 hours away with some therapeutic exercises for their dog with arthritis. I filmed the exercises and sent a video explaining what they should be doing and why.

I realized that many people needed veterinary rehabilitation help yet lived far from veterinary rehabilitation therapists. I started to reach them online. Over 10 months, I created my first online course and my 12-week strengthening program, and went on to create 2 more courses—a massage course for pet owners and a 7-minute doggy workout.

Fast-forward 9 years and I now have multiple successful online businesses, all generating a semipassive income. I work about 20 hours a week from home, and only in ways that suit my family.

Let us talk about this term passive income before I explain the steps I took and the steps you could take if you are wanting to start an online business. There are few truly passive income sources. Passive means not doing anything. This is not the case when you own an online business.

Yes, you do a lot of the work up front, and if you set up your business correctly, it can run on autopilot with a small amount of marketing. But you still need to market the business, maintain online connections, and update your product offering from time to time. So forget about sitting back drinking piña coladas on the beach all day as the money rolls in. There is work—but not too much of it.

Honestly, the best way to start anything new is to learn from those who have done something similar. Why make your own mistakes? This article will help you learn from mine.

There is a right way and a wrong way to do anything. The right way to set up an online business is to create automatic systems that utilize technology, so that emails get sent without your involvement, clients can easily access your digital products, and payments happen automatically.

If you are serious about starting an online business, start by considering what you are good at. We all have something we are especially good at—something colleagues frequently ask us to help with. There are problems out there that you have the skills to solve.

Often, we are not aware that we have these skills. It is only when we sit down and think about it, or ask friends and family, that we realize the thing that comes so easily to us is not so easy for everyone. Notice that it is not only about what you love—it is what you are good at. We often hear the words, “Follow your passion.” I think there is a sweet spot between what we are passionate about and what we are most qualified to help people with.

Once you have an idea of your particular knowledge or skill, consider the problems people have. Like all businesses, a successful online business solves people’s problems. If you can solve someone’s problem, they will pay you for it. The amount they are prepared to pay is directly proportional to the amount they need it, or the extent of the problem.

Ideally, find that convergence of your knowledge/skill and people’s problems. Then find a way to package your unique skill as a solution to their problem. Right there you have a foundation for your business.

It took me a couple of years to streamline my businesses, learning the hard way what worked and did not work. I learned, for instance, that you cannot launch a product if you do not have a following. Building the relationships comes first; selling the product comes later. It is far easier to sell something to people who have come to know and trust you over time than to launch a product cold.

The following are my lessons learned the hard way, condensed into 10 points as follows:

1. Choose a profitable, successful niche.

3. Create a road map for solving their problem—a plan that takes them from A (where they are now) to B (their transformation, with their problem solved).

4. Share free content, help people, be genuinely interested in them. Sign them up to your email list. Chat to them on social media.

5. Create your first paid digital product such as a course, an e-book, or a video. This should be a low-ticket offer, solving one problem.

6. Create your second paid product, a higher-ticket offer, solving the next problem.

7. Market and sell your products, growing your audience and nurturing them with weekly emails and social media posts.

8. Collaborate with other professionals via joint ventures and a referral program.

9. Create more products and keep solving problems. 

10. Impact people and animals (depending on your niche) all over the world.

My mistake was creating my product first. I advise choosing your niche first, then building a relationship with people online, then creating your product. This way, you know the people for whom you are creating your product, and can refine it based on their real needs. This is far better than making assumptions about their problems and creating a product you think will help them.

Even better, ask your audience to validate your product idea. Present the kernel of your idea in an appealing way and get feedback. That way, you already have people interested who will probably give a return on your investment when you launch.

I even have people paying me for courses before I have created them. If enough people pay for a course, my idea is validated and I have a basis on which to develop the course. I send them weekly surveys asking what their struggles are and use their answers to create the course content.

Another mistake I made was not automating. In the early days, I had 3 courses and 3 different e-books, and I was exhausted trying to market them all. In the week I marketed one, I would get some sales, but other product sales would drop.

Now, using my road map, I create the right products in the right order and can automate the sales and marketing. All I need to do is market 1 thing: the free content. It is much easier to give something away than to sell something. Once clients have signed up for the free content, the automations kick in—emails that do the selling for me. Paid orders follow the free content without my having to do a thing. This part really is passive.

Your road map is your plan for success. It shows the most logical order of steps to help someone get from A to B. It also helps you decide what content to create and in what order, and what constitutes free, low-ticket, and high-ticket offerings. You need a combination of all 3 for a well-functioning online business. 

Starting an online business does not need to be a full-time job straightaway. You can quite easily start as a side hustle and build from there. Why not give it a go? The financial investment is minimal. All you need are workable ideas, a little tech know-how (most of which you can learn while doing), and a good internet connection.

If you are interested in participating in our online community, join the Veterinary Professionals Making Money Online Facebook group.

 has been a veterinarian for 19 years. After completing a postgraduate certificate in veterinary rehabilitation at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, she opened her own practice, Holisticvet, in Diep River, Cape Town, South Africa. In 2014, just before the birth of her second child, she decided to take a sabbatical from practicing veterinary medicine and has since been swept up into the online world of veterinary education.

She owns and runs Onlinepethealth, an international continuing education site for veterinary rehabilitation therapists. Every day she pushes the boundaries on what is considered the norm for professional education, creating, innovating, and providing solutions and outstanding customer experiences through webinars and online conferences for veterinarians and veterinary rehabilitation therapists.

Animal health professionals can put their skills to work and earn income with an online business

Veterinary experience help to forge a new career path

Zahara the African elephant and soon-to-be mother. (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Zoo)

12. A first-of-its-kind zoo elephant birth to make history

The Indianapolis Zoo announced that African elephant Zahara, aged 16 years, is pregnant. Her calf will be the first elephant in the world (African or Asian) to be born through artificial insemination to a mother also born through the same procedure.

We have compiled a countdown of our top 15 content in 2023, here is number 12

Tips for handling a feline orthopedic examination

While at the Fetch conference in Long Beach, California, Michael Jaffe, DVM, MS, CCRP, DACVS, sat down with 

 for an interview to share his best practices for feline orthopedic exams and how they can differ from canine patients.

The following is a partial transcript of the video.

So for feline orthopedic exams—I always say that when we're doing an orthopedic exam on dogs, we pretty much are in control of when the exam is over. But when we're doing our orthopedic exam on cats, it's really the cat who is in charge of this situation, and they determine when the exam is over. So when we're doing our orthopedic exam on cats, we really need to be very efficient with what we're doing, but also not do anything to scare or hurt the kitty. Because once they've decided that your time is up, doing your exam, your time is up.

Videos

Michael Jaffe, DVM, MS, CCRP, DACVS, shares his tips for approaching orthopedic examinations, specifically for feline patients

discussed some older seizure medications and other management therapies

An overview of seizure management therapy and medications

While at the Fetch conference in Long Beach, California, Fred Wininger, VMD, MS, DACVIM (Neurology), sat down with 

 in an interview and explained some older anti-seizure medications and how they can still be used alongside newer treatment options. He also discussed how to find the best management therapy for your patients.

Fred Wininger, VMD, MS, DACVIM (Neurology):

 When it comes to anti-seizure medications 15 years ago, I would lecture about it. And nobody knew what [levetiracetam] (Keppra) was. And now Keppra is the initial monotherapy that a lot of my colleagues use. But I think we've forgotten that there's so much value in our tried and true anticonvulsants, specifically phenobarbital and potassium bromide. And so we're going to focus on the utility of those drugs, the synergy they have with some of our modern anticonvulsants and when they're best employed. 

Fred Wininger, VMD, MS, DACVIM (Neurology), discussed some older seizure medications and other management therapies

Hill’s Pet Nutrition announced a new collaboration with Vernard L. Hodges, DVM, and Terrence Ferguson, DVM, television stars of Nat Geo Wild's 

 to help educate pet owners about the important role nutrition plays in pet health and to underscore how important it is for a pet owner to build a strong relationship with their veterinarian to help ensure their pet's lifelong health. Additionally, the group's efforts will support outreach to aspiring veterinarians as they work together to help diversify the veterinary profession.

“We began our relationship with Hill’s when we were vet students at Tuskegee and have continued to feed and recommend Hill’s throughout our careers and in our clinics,” said Hodges, in an organizational release.

 “We are excited to form an official collaboration, combining efforts around our joint missions to help pets, and diversify the face of veterinary medicine, to ensure a healthier and happier future for pets.”

The multi-faceted collaboration between the doctors and Hill’s will include custom programming at veterinary colleges across the country, support of the Critter Fixer’s ‘Vet for a Day’ program, and providing ongoing pet health and nutrition education to both pet owners and veterinarians. 

“Hill’s was founded by a veterinarian and today, hundreds of veterinarians, veterinary technicians, PhD nutritionists, food scientists and animal care technicians work to design our products. Like those working in veterinary clinics across the US, veterinary teams at Hill’s are fueled by their passion to improve quality of life and give pet parents more years with their pets. We are grateful to be a part of this wonderful profession and for the opportunity to partner with the Critter Fixers to celebrate the work of veterinary professionals and to help address some of the biggest opportunities in our industry,” said Karen Shenoy, DVM, US chief veterinary officer at Hill’s Pet Nutrition, in an organizational release.

Hill’s previous collaboration with the Critter Fixers includes its 2023 campaign to end pet obesity. During the campaign, Hodges and Ferguson advised pet owners to seek veterinarian guidance about their pet’s weight and work with veterinary professionals to support a weight loss journey for the animals.

On New Year’s Day, the Critter Fixers will join Hill’s and Pasadena Humane on its entry in the 2024 Rose Parade in Pasadena, California. The 55-ft “Feed The Love” float will celebrate the relationship between pets and the people who care for them, while also encouraging people to consider pet ownership and adopting from a shelter. Ferguson and Hodges will be joined on the float by students from Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine in Alabama and Hill’s student representatives, along with representatives from Pasadena Humane and the Hill’s Food, Shelter & Love program.

Veterinarians and animal care professionals play a vital role in supporting the relationships between people and their pets, so the Critter Fixers participation helps underscore the importance of the unsung heroes helping keep pets healthy and happy throughout their lifetime - from shelter healthcare teams to veterinary professionals.

Terrence Ferguson, DVM (Left) and Vernard L. Hodges, DVM (Right), television stars of Nat Geo Wild's Critter Fixers: Country Vets. (Image courtesy of Hill's Pet Nutrition) 

Hodges said he and Ferguson are honored to be a part of the “Feed The Love” float. “As veterinarians, we get to see and celebrate the special bond people have with their pets, and we are proud to work with Hill’s to help reinforce how important animal health care teams are to overall health. We are working together to help ensure we are inviting aspiring students into the animal health profession to ensure pets have access to care for decades to come,” Hodges said, in the release.

Hill’s will also continue to support the Critter Fixers ‘Vet for a Day’ program, which the doctors created to give future veterinarians an immersive look into the world of veterinary medicine. Aiming to inspire and mentor the next generation of veterinarians, the program plans to build upon the successful events it held in 2023 including hosting students at the 

American Veterinary Medical Association Convention

“As Black men working in a field in which roughly 90% of US veterinarians identify as white—and just 2% as Black—the importance of representation and mentorship has been an incredibly important part of our careers and how we want to give back to the future generations to ensure a more diverse and sustainable future for our profession and the pets we care for,” Ferguson said.

The program brings experts from across the pet industry to offer unique access to aspiring veterinarians. To support the hands-on training portion, Hill’s will provide a nutrition station to introduce students to the important role nutrition plays in a pet’s overall health and wellbeing and introduce career paths including veterinary nutrition.

Hill’s Pet Nutrition and Critter Fixers’ Drs. Hodges and Ferguson partner to help diversify veterinary medicine and celebrate the important work of veterinary and shelter teams. News release. Hill’s Pet Nutrition. December 19, 2023. Accessed December 19, 2023. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hills-pet-nutrition-and-critter-fixers-drs-hodges-and-ferguson-partner-to-help-diversify-veterinary-medicine-and-celebrate-the-important-work-of-veterinary-and-shelter-teams-302019086.html

Hill’s Pet Nutrition teams up with Critter Fixers to support fight against pet obesity. 

January 19, 2023. Accessed December 19, 2023. https://www.dvm360.com/view/hill-s-pet-nutrition-teams-up-with-critter-fixers-to-support-fight-against-pet-obesity

Coppock K. Critter Fixers bring Vet for a Day to Fetch Kansas City. 

. https://www.dvm360.com/view/critter-fixers-bring-vet-for-a-day-to-fetch-kansas-city

Yankowicz S. A day in the life of a veterinarian showcased at the AVMA convention. July 17, 2023. Accessed December 19, 2023. https://www.dvm360.com/view/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-veterinarian-showcased-at-the-avma-convention

Collaboration between Hill’s Pet Nutrition and the Critter Fixers kicks-off with a Rose Parade float highlighting the special relationship with pets and the individuals who care for them 