PEDIGREE Foundation (the Foundation) announced that it has brought its annual grant total past $1 million in 2023. The grant money went to shelters and rescues across the United States and Canada for the second year in a row to help the dogs in need that are living in these shelters.

 the grants went out to help over 75,000 dogs in the United States and Canada by providing grant funds to 76 different shelters and rescue programs. The grants are working to help these pets find their forever homes.

"In celebration of Giving Tuesday, we want to continue giving back to organizations supporting dogs in need and raise awareness for dog adoption," said Kimberly Wise, President of the Board of Directors for PEDIGREE Foundation, in the release.

 "Now more than ever, shelters and rescues need our support and we're proud to once again reach $1 million in funds awarded to help end pet homelessness."

Here are some of the most recent shelters and rescues that helped bring the Foundation to its $1 million milestone:

Austin Pets Alive! received $50,000 to support increased capacity for transporting animals in Texas’s many at-risk shelter animals. Its transportation program has been steadily developing in the last 2 years and is projected to move almost 4,000 pets from shelters in Texas to parts of the country with a high demand for adoptable shelter pets.

Greater Good Charities received $30,000 to support the Greater Good Charities Good Flights Maui Disaster Relief, which provided additional transportation fights with supplies and transport of animals in shelters on the island. The transported animals went to shelters across the Pacific Northwest to make room in the Maui shelters for injured and displaced pets during the wildfires.

Paws Philadelphia received $50,000 in support of its “Meeting the Moment: Reimagining Dog Fostering, from Marketing to Integrated Training & Behavioral Support” foster system. PAWS is also working to develop a multi-pronged approach to fostering within the community.

Mars Pet Adoption Weekend received $49,000 in celebration of its 15th Mars Pet Adoption Weekend to cover adoption fees for dogs in 15 cities in the United States.

Humane Society of Tulsa received $25,000 to the “hub” pet transport program which serves as a bridge for at-risk dogs from criminal seizures, natural disasters, overcrowded municipal shelters, and other crisis situations within Oklahoma.

To see the full list of 2023 grant recipients and how they are using the grants to further their missions of helping pets in need, visit the PEDIGREE Foundaton website.

PEDIGREE Foundation Reaches $1 Million Milestone In Grant Funding to Animal Shelters and Rescue Organizations For 2023. News release. PEDIGREE Foundation. November 28, 2023. Accessed December 1, 2023. https://prnmedia.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pedigree-foundation-reaches-1-million-milestone-in-grant-funding-to-animal-shelters-and-rescue-organizations-for-2023-301998801.html

Articles

PEDIGREE Foundation has award $1 million in grant funding to animal rescues in shelters 

Veterinary nonprofit reaches milestone in grant funding 

Sponsored by Ceva. This podcast is RACE-approved for CE credit. Head to

and login or create a free CE account and claim your credit after listening to this episode.

This podcast will discuss the benefits and advantages of topical therapy when treating animals with allergies. The discussion will include important ingredients, different forms of topicals, and how to use for best results.


Understand the different forms of topical therapy to use in patients

Know which diseases to use topical therapy for patients

Learn about using topical therapy as maintenance and prevention long-term

Topical therapy, what is it? How do we use it?

Options of different forms of topicals (shampoo vs mousse vs spray vs wipes, etc.)

Different types of diseases to use topicals for

Using topicals to treat, but also as maintenance to prevent

Podcasts

Learn and earn 0.25 credits online with dvm360 Flex

Podcast CE: Topical therapy for dermatologic cases

Extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ECSWT) has been around for
a while, but it wasn’t until the past few decades that the medical world—specifically the veterinary industry—began realizing its full potential for treating soft-tissue injuries. To delve deeper into this topic, Leilani Alvarez, DVM, DACVSMR, CVA, CCRT, joined Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, on a recent episode of dvm360 Vet Perspectives to give an overview of ECSWT by introducing PulseVet® Shock Wave technology.

Leilani Alvarez, DVM, DACVSMR, CVA, CCRT, (left) and Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, (right) with PulseVet® Shock Wave technology.

A trode is attached to a cable and can be operated via the machine’s touch screen to deliver the therapy. “Basically, a spark goes off in [the trode] and [the soft top] has a fluid medium in it. When the spark plug goes off in [the trode’s top], it sets off little bubbles that then get dispersed as sound waves that come across...into the tissue,” Alvarez said. “It’s high pressure, high velocity, but relatively low frequency.”

The subsequent decrease in pressure after the bubbles burst causes a cavitation. In muscles, this creates cellular permeability and increases blood flow, promoting anti-inflammatory healing. “You also get a pretty massive endorphin release. Those are the body’s natural painkillers,” Alvarez said.

Applications, conditions, and patient consideration

Shockwave therapy, specifically electrohydraulic shockwave therapy, is notably effective in treating chronic, repetitive conditions that do not respond to surgery, such as arthritis. Conditions like arthritis and lumbosacral disease are common in the veterinary clinic, so it’s fortunate that using ECSWT to treat a patient requires few considerations.

When this technology was first introduced, patients needed to be sedated due to the high pressure and high velocity of the shockwaves. Enter PulseVet’s newest probe: X-Trode. Although the same amount of energy is provided, X-Trode’s wider dispersion of pressure helps patients remain more comfortable during treatment and, consequently, not require sedation.

“It feels so good because [patients] get that endorphin release. I actually find that patients relax during the treatment,” Alvarez said. Although ECSWT doesn’t cause excess pain or require sedation, dogs can become anxious when entering the clinical setting or hearing the machine produce loud noise.

“Feed them treats because you don’t need to sedate them,” Alvarez said. Even the presence of the pet parent can be enough to ease the dog’s worry. It helps that ECSWT can produce positive results within just a few sessions. Most patients being treated with shockwave therapy only require 2 to 3 treatments that are 2 to 3 weeks apart before achieving results.

ECSWT is relatively safe, so there are only a few things for practitioners and pet parents to keep in mind. Because the technology employs bursting bubbles to produce the shockwaves, it is crucial that the treatment is not applied near large vessels or the lungs. “If we introduce these bubbles that then collapse in the lungs, we potentially have a pneumothorax,” Alvarez said. Additionally, because shockwave therapy brings a lot of blood flow to the area being treated, it’s good practice to avoid tumors or the uterus of pregnant patients.

Although there are a few contraindications to keep in mind regarding ECSWT, adverse effects are minimal. Petechiae and bruising can result from the therapy but usually subside within 48 hours and have no long-term effects on the patient.

“I think laser [therapy] is used for everything and, [although] I think it has some really excellent applications, it’s not the panacea,” Alvarez said. Although both shockwave and laser therapy are anti-inflammatory, increase blood flow, and are known to aid in pain relief, Alvarez said ECSWT creates “a much bigger change at a cellular level.” The 2 modalities are different in nature; shockwave employs sound waves and is an acoustic therapy, whereas laser is a photobiomodulation therapy or light therapy.

Although laser therapy is a great therapeutic resource, it is a less powerful treatment and may require more sessions. ECSWT is best used to treat chronic, persistent injuries. “It is really good when you have tissues that are not likely to heal on their own,” Alvarez said.

How shockwave therapy works, including applications, considerations, and benefits

Shocked? Extracorporeal shockwave therapy offers many benefits

Happy Friday dvm360 readers! We are absolutely ecstatic to be heading into day 1 of our final conference of the year, Fetch Long Beach. Be sure to check in throughout the weekend to see our coverage of all that is happening in Long Beach.

As we are ready to tackle the first day of Fetch Long Beach, here is what was popular on dvm360.com this week:

 that LOY-001 a drug being developed by Loyal, a biotech company, has given its approval for the Reasonable Expectation of Effectiveness section in the application for condition approval that the company submitted to the FDA. Celine Halioua, CEO of Loyal, explained more in an exclusive interview with dvm360.

 conducted at the University of Georgia by The Human Animal Bond Research Institute found that older adults who live alone and fostered shelter cats showed an improvement in mental health and a decrease in loneliness.

dvm360’s Australian correspondent Phil Tucak, BSc, BVMS, 

 updates on the new pet knee surgery clinic in Perth, plus more on the field veterinary epidemiology e-learning resource that was developed by The Asia Pacific Consortium of Veterinary Epidemiology.

 of The Vet Blast Podcast, Silene St. Bernard, DVM, DACVPM, regional medical director at VCA Hospitals, joined host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, to discuss the information available on the mysterious canine respiratory disease that is impacting dogs across the United States, plus how veterinary teams can keep their own pets safe.

During an interview with dvm360, Curt Coffman, DVM, FAVD, DAVDC, 

 how veterinary professionals can approach dental extractions, plus why attendees at Fetch Long Beach should stop by his dentistry sessions.

News wrap up: Fetch Long Beach officially underway, and other veterinary news 

explains gingivostomatitis and potential clinical signs in cats

Reviewing gingivostomatitis in felines

, Curt Coffman, DVM, FAVD, DAVDC, specialty director of dentistry at Thrive Pet Healthcare, explained what gingivostomatitis is and how it presents in cats. He gave an overview of clinical signs that could present in patients, however, cats might hide signs of pain, making it harder to identify at an earlier stage of the infection.

The following is a partial transcript of the video.

Gingivostomatitis particularly in cats, a lot of times, externally, we don't see a lot of symptoms until it's really bad. And then the cats really will have symptoms that you see externally. So, they may drool more, they may paw at their face. When they do eat, it feels like they do this a lot where they're like something stuck in my mouth where there really isn't anything stuck. It's just the sores on the inside of their mouth or the ulcerations are so painful, and it's triggered by them eating and then they do have excessive salivation.

Coffman will be delivering dentistry lectures at our Fetch Long Beach conference taking place December 1-3, 2023. Check out all our 

Videos

Fetch faculty member, Curt Coffman, DVM, FAVD, DAVDC, explains this dental infection and potential clinical signs in cats

Vetsource — a pet pharmacy and technology service — shared the news that it is launching an accredited continuing education (CE) course for veterinary pharmacy. The courses will be free of charge to any pharmacist, technician, or student interested in learning more about veterinary pharmacy.

"Such courses have become increasingly scarce," said Mark Balyshev, Vetsource's pharmacist manager and pharmacist in charge, in an organizational release.

 "Historically, there have been limited resources available to pharmacists, pharmacy students, and pharmacy technicians, which led us to develop our own."

According to the release, the courses were created by the pharmacists and veterinarians on the Vetsource Clinical Committee after they noticed the lack of veterinary-specific continuing education and wanted to fill the need.

 The free courses will each be an hour each and will give attendees 1 hour of CE credit. 

Pain Management in Dogs, which will cover the 4 types of pain categories, common risk factors, signs of pain, and the available pharmaceutical options to treat the pain. 

Treatment of Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome where attendees will learn more about the basic horse physiology, different types of gastric ulcers, causes, treatments available, and dosing. At the end of the course, there will be a questionnaire to test the learner on their knowledge.

The Vetsource Clinical Committee and the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science partnered to host and accredit the hours. Within the next few years, additional courses will be created. The committee also partnered with Oregon State University to host pharmacy students within the area on their rotations and share their knowledge of veterinary pharmacy. Recently, the committee partnered with the Pacific University School of Pharmacy to provide a similar opportunity.

"We take pride in being pioneers in the industry," Balyshev shared.

 "As we continue to expand our presence in the industry, we remain dedicated to maintaining our local outreach effort, as we have from the inception of Vetsource."

Vetsource releases continuing education courses in veterinary pharmacy. News release. Vetsource. November 30, 2023. Accessed November 30, 2023. 

https://prnmedia.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vetsource-releases-continuing-education-courses-in-veterinary-pharmacy-302001138.html

The courses will be free of charge to pharmacists, technicians, and students
