In a recent study, an extended-release injectable moxidectin protocol (MOX) has shown promise as an alternative heartworm treatment for dogs. Investigators found MOX is equally effective to a 3-dose melarsomine protocol (AHS-3) recommended by the American Heartworm Society (AHS) for clearing heartworm infections in dogs.

The MOX protocol consists of a subcutaneous injection of moxidectin 0.5 mg/kg on days 0 and 180; doxycycline 10 mg/kg twice a day on days 0 to 30; and prednisone 0.5 mg/kg twice a day on days 0 to 7, once a day on days 8 to 14, and once every 48 hours on days 15 to 30. The AHS-3 protocol comprises melarsomine 2.5 mg on days 60, 90, and 91, plus the doxycycline and prednisone regimen with monthly heartworm prevention suggested by the AHS.

Lead investigator Ta-Li Lu, DVM, DAiCVIM (Cardiology), a practitioner and superintendent at Chuan Animal Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan, noted that although there is a “really good protocol from AHS” for treating heartworm disease, there are sometimes issues that cause the treatment to become unavailable, such as a lack of stock. “I do think we need a second option. Right now, moxidectin plus doxycycline is a promising one,” he said in a 

interview at the 2025 American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Forum in Louisville, Kentucky.

According to the FDA, heartworm infection is a serious parasitic condition that causes lung disease, heart failure, and other organ damage in canine and feline pets, as well as other animals. Spread through bites from host mosquitoes, the heartworm (

) matures, mates, and produces offspring while living inside a dog or other animal.

Heartworm disease in the US is most common along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, as far north as New Jersey, as well as the Mississippi River and its tributaries. However, all 50 states have reported heartworm infections.

The study in Taiwan enrolled 24 client-owned dogs that were positive for heartworm antigen. These canines were randomly assigned to 2 groups, each comprising 12 dogs. They received heartworm antigen/microfilaria tests, blood work, thoracic radiographs, electrocardiogram, and echocardiography on days 0 and 90 and monthly after day 90.

Treatments were considered effective when dogs tested negative for heartworm antigen. In each of the 2 study groups, 11 dogs achieved antigen negativity within 360 days of treatment.

 “The time they turn to negative is similar within 2 groups,” Lu said.

During the study, 1 dog died after receiving 3 injections, according to Lu. However, the cause of death is unknown.

The investigators would continue to recommend the AHS-3 protocol, Lu said, but the MOX protocol could be an effective alternative. Additionally, clients may find the MOX protocol beneficial in other ways.

“The benefit is [MOX] makes their life easier,” Lu said. “So for the new protocol, they only got 1 injection and 1 month of dosing cycling—that's all, basically—and then a 6-month recheck and, if it's still possible, 1 injection more. Then it's gone. So, they don't have to take a lot of medicine…I think the moxidectin [injection] is more tolerable, too. We don't see any severe [adverse] effect after the injection.”

Lu TL, Atkins C, Change CY, et al. Comparable efficacy of injectable moxidectin and melarsomine protocols for canine heartworm treatment. Presented at: American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Forum; June 19-21, 2025; Louisville, KY.

Keep the worms out of your pet’s heart! the facts about heartworm disease. FDA. December 22, 2022. Accessed August 13, 2025. 

https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/keep-worms-out-your-pets-heart-facts-about-heartworm-disease

Articles

Investigators found promise in an injectable moxidectin protocol.

Study compares heartworm disease treatments

Otto, a veterinary technology company, has released a standalone version of its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered scribe tool, Otto AI Recap. Previously available only as part of the company’s Otto Flow platform—an all-in-one communication and workflow platform—, the tool generates clinical summaries and documentation from veterinary appointments. According to Otto, the company’s products are used in more than 5000 clinics.

To access the AI tool, users must subscribe to Otto AI Recap for $49 per month, which includes access for two users. According to Otto, a 21-day free trial is available to clinics. The trial includes access to all of the tool’s features.

To obtain access for the entire clinic and have unlimited users, clinics can sign up for AI Recap Team. The price for this service is $169 per month.

“Both versions of Otto Recap use veterinary-specific language models to capture the clinical essentials while filtering out the small talk,” wrote Otto in a news release.

 “Doctors can upload their own templates or use pre-built options, and Otto formats the note into the template of the doctor's choosing. Notes are saved and accessible across the team for follow-up care, helping the whole clinic stay in sync.”

With the scribe, veterinary teams can record appointments, generate Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan (SOAP)-formatted summaries, and access the visit’s transcription. Users can choose the format of the notes, which includes as SOAP notes, an appointment summary, or a custom template. With the custom template, teams can create or copy/paste their own template into the system and can edit or delete it at a later time.

Otto AI Recap can be used independently or integrated into Otto Flow. Otto Flow includes features such as online booking, digital forms, messaging, reminders, payments, and internal collaboration tools. When integrated, the scribe tool’s notes connect directly with Otto Flow. According to Otto, Otto AI Recap is included with an Otto Flow subscription.

According to the company website, the tool can automatically save or upload the notes it generates directly into the following practice information management systems (PIMS)

Otto launches AI Recap, the first scribe tool that is built for the whole picture of veterinary care. News release. Otto. August 13, 2025.

AI Recap. Otto. Accessed August 13, 2025. https://help.otto.vet/hc/en-us/articles/34091590815757-AI-Recap

Otto AI Recap, available to veterinary clinics by subscription, allows users to choose the format of generated appointment notes.

New standalone AI scribe tool launched

An advocate of shelter medicine, Julie K. Levy, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DABVP, is the Fran Marino Endowed Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education and director of the shelter medicine program at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine in Gainesville. However, her work, accomplishments, and impact on students, animals, and her community go well beyond the classroom.

interview, Levy said she started her career in academia caring for “complicated feline referral cases” and transitioned to working with cats that have little known medical histories and without access to advanced diagnostic and therapeutic tools. “It’s definitely rewarding to use my experience and instincts to sort out health problems and design practical treatment plans,” she said.

Levy founded Operation Catnip of Gainesville in 1998, and the organization has since sterilized more than 85,000 felines in Florida, according to its website, in an effort to manage the local stray population. The group community hosts clinics that offer sterilization and vaccination for cats, surgery and clinical opportunities for veterinary students interested in shelter medicine, trap rental services for public participation with spay-neuter services, and education about compassionate feline care.

Levy also cofounded the Shelter Medicine Program in 2008 at the University of Florida. Her work in building the program’s curriculum included academic instruction, clinical clerkships, in-shelter externships, and development of an online graduate course. According to the university, “Hundreds of veterinary students have earned the Professional Certificate in Shelter Medicine under her direction, and working professionals across the globe have benefited from the Distance Education Program.”

“Shelter medicine is incredibly rewarding. Most of the challenges we face are solvable and quick wins are plentiful. For example, the summer kitten season frequently overwhelms shelters, which become overcrowded with vulnerable underaged kittens, leading to orphaned and fading kittens, outbreaks of panleukopenia virus, and frustrated staff and volunteers. We can turn that around by implementing shelter-specific vaccination protocols, novel treatments, and medially supported foster and diversion programs,” Levy explained. “Even though I don’t always have the same level of resources and access to specialized care, I feel like I have more autonomy and the ability to save cats at scale.”

Her work has extended to research, which includes a lifetime study of shelter cats with feline leukemia, looking for indicators of predictable outcomes. “I’m also working on a spectrum of care approach to FIP [feline infectious peritonitis] diagnosis and treatment to make it more accessible to all cat caregivers,” she said.

In nominating Levy for the Veterinary Heroes recognition, the nominator wrote that “countless veterinarians over the years” have been inspired by her work. “Her contribution to feline health, both for pets and for strays/shelter animals, is, in my opinion, unmatched, and she should be celebrated for all she has done for this important segment of the veterinary profession. Her efforts for these cats are endless,” they wrote.

Levy said the recognition from her peers is humbling. “I’m supported by a large team of staff and volunteers who are also drawn to improving the well-being of cats. None of our big wins for cats could have been achieved without all of them,” she said. “This feels like a win for all of us and for cats, not just me.”

The 2025 class of dvm360 Veterinary Heroes will be honored at a celebratory luncheon at the Fetch dvm360 Conference in Kansas City, Missouri. 

Click here to learn more or register for the event.

The history of Operation Catnip. Operation Catnip. 2020. Accessed July 15, 2025. https://ocgainesville.org/history

Dr. Julie Levy honored with national teaching award in veterinary medicine. University of Florida Health. April 28, 2025. Accessed July 15, 2025. https://sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/2025/04/28/levy-award/

The award winner for feline medicine is director of the shelter medicine program at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine in Gainesville

2025 Veterinary Heroes: Julie K. Levy, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DABVP (Feline Medicine)

The University of California-Davis (UC Davis) School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM) welcomed 57 new house officers into its advanced training programs this year. These individuals included 41 residents, 8 fellows and 8 interns.

New house officers at the University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine

The UC Davis SVM House Officer Program is the largest of its kind in the United States with 144 total house officers including 124 residents, 10 fellows, 10 interns. The program advances individuals’ skills in approximately 40 training programs. These programs range in length from 1 to 4 years, during which veterinarians focus on a specific aspect of specialty medicine such as oncology, equine surgery, internal medicine or anesthesiology.

“I’m excited to be back at UC Davis for my residency,” Bryce Westbrook, DVM, a member of the UC Davis SVM class of 2024, said. Westbrook is beginning a 3-year residency in medical oncology.

Surgeons save mare after trailer accident

“The breadth of cases at UC Davis was one of the driving factors in my decision to return. Not only am I excited about learning more about treating cancer, but I’m excited to work with the students, which I enjoyed last year during my internship,” Westbrook said in a news release.

Most residency training programs fulfill specialty colleges’ requirements to sit for board certification examinations. Once their clinical training is completed, board examinations are passed, and all credentialing requirements are met, these highly trained veterinarians become board certified specialists in their discipline of veterinary medicine.

House Officer Affairs is led by faculty members Jamie Burkitt, DVM, DACVECC, and Amandine Lejeune, DVM, DACVIM (Oncology), both associate professors of surgical and radiological sciences. Burkitt and Lejeune lead in partnership with several chief house officers, who represent all UC Davis SVM house officers.

The new house officers were tasked with completing a 3-day orientation to become acquainted with the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital (VMTH) and other areas of campus. The orientation allows these veterinarians the opportunity to meet hospital leadership, faculty mentors, and resident mates, as well as to meet Dean Mark Stetter. They also planned to attend a welcome mixer organized with the support of Hill’s Pet Nutrition.

Following their orientation, the clinicians were scheduled to begin their duties at the VMTH and other training facilities in California. Sites include Sacramento Zoo, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Safari Park, California Animal Health & Food Safety Laboratory, Wildlife Health Center, California National Primate Research Center, Veterinary Medicine Teaching and Research Center, and Marine Mammal Center.

Resident Research Abstract Award winners are celebrated at the 2025 ACVIM Forum

Warren R. UC Davis welcomes 57 new house officers. News release. University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. July 31, 2025. Accessed August 12, 2025. 

https://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/news/uc-davis-welcomes-57-new-house-officers

The group includes 41 residents, 8 fellows and 8 interns are part of a program that offers skill-building in approximately 40 areas of veterinary practice. 

Fifty-seven house officers begin advanced training programs at UC Davis

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, recently discovered that mesenchymal stromal cells therapy (MSC), combined with antiviral drugs, help feline patients' with feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) immune systems recover and reduce systematic inflammation. FIP is caused by a coronavirus and in many ways, behaves like severe coronavirus infections in human by causing widespread inflammation, chronic immune dysfunction, and T-cell exhaustion.

Jully Pires, clinical trials coordinator at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, caring for Leo, a 10-month-old tabby cat, after he received care as part of the clinical trial. (Image courtesy of UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine) 

“Our findings support the idea that FIP in cats is a useful model for studying long-term immune problems after a viral infection — something that also happens in some people after illnesses like COVID-19,” said corresponding author Amir Kol, associate professor in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, in an organizational release.

 “It shows that MSC therapy might not only reduce short-term inflammation but help bring the immune system back into lasting balance.”

FIP is estimated to affect 2% of cats, with the most common group being young cats living in shelters or catteries.

 Feline patients with FIP are usually infected in the cells lining the patient’s intestines, causing mild stomach issues. In some cats, genetic and environmental factors could potentially alter the virus’ behavior, which can allow it to then infect immune cells and spread through the cat’s entire body. The virus also develops into either wet FIP, which is when fluid builds up in the chest or stomach, or dry FIP, where there is no fluid buildup, but inflammation still affects the patient’s organs. In both cases, patients will present with fever, widespread inflammation, issues in multiple organ, and a drop in important immune cells.

In 2024, Stokes Pharmacy and Bova group joined forces to offer an oral treatment for FIP, the first of its kind.

 The treatment works through a compounded preparation from GS-441524, supported by the drug formula from Bova that was used in clinical research across the globe. For this product, the FDA announced in May 2024 that it was not enforcing new animal drug approval requirements for products compounded from GS-44124 when prescribed to a patient as an FIP treatment.

 Up until this, there was no treatment available and most FIP cases were fatal.

In 2018, researchers at UC Davis actually reported that GS-44124 successfully cured feline patients with FIP, but at the time the patient holder did not apply for approval to sell it.

Because of this new treatment, there are a few studies tracking patients recovering from FIP long-term with Kol stating some of the patients have enlarged lymph nodes still, meaning a part of their immune system stays active. To researchers, this suggests that even after a patient appears to be recovered, their immune system is still working over, like humans who experience long COVID after recovering from COVID-19. The researchers stated in their study that this ongoing immune stimulate could signify a ‘long FIP’ like syndrome in these patients.

“Even if you treat the infection with antivirals, your immune system, oftentimes, still won't go back to normal or where it was before infection,” explained Kol. “This might have long-lasting effects on your health and this study shows that MSC may help.”

In the recent research conducted at UC Davis, 11 cats with naturally occurring effusive FIP were separated into 2 groups, one group was given antiviral drugs along with an infusion of MSc, and the other group received antiviral drugs and a placebo.

“As expected, all cats survived because the antiviral treatment is effective in getting rid of the virus,” said Kol. “But we definitely saw evidence of immune recovery in those cats that were treated with MSC compared to the ones that weren’t.”

At the end of the study, the team found that the cats treated had fewer overly active T and B cells and more regulatory T cells, with other tests confirming that the therapy helped exhausted immune cells recover and potentially form long-term memory that could protect the patients body in the future. The researchers also noted that they found the treatment safe with no serious side effects.

The researchers also noted that they found the treatment safe with no serious side effects. The findings from this study will help not only cats with FIP and those who care for them, but also help scientists gain a better understanding of how similar viruses, like COVID-19, impact humans.

“It’s important to understand that many pets suffer from diseases that are similar to human diseases,” Kol concluded. “Veterinary medicine is a wonderful platform to conduct translational science that helps both pets and humans.”

This research was supported by the National Institute of Health and the Center for Companion Animal Health at UC Davis.

What cats may teach us about Long COVID. News release. University of California, Davis. July 14, 2025. Accessed August 12, 2025. 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1090789

McCafferty C. Compounded oral FIP treatment is now available. June 14, 2025. Accessed Augst 12, 2025. 

https://www.dvm360.com/view/compounded-oral-fip-treatment-is-now-available

FDA announces position on use of compounded GS-441524 to treat FIP. News release. May 10, 2024. Accessed June 14, 2024. 

https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/cvm-updates/fda-announces-position-use-compounded-gs-441524-treat-fip#:~:text=The%20FDA%20is%20aware%20of,not%2C%20in%20fact%2C%20legal

Wanakumjorn P, Kimura K, Castillo D, et al. Mesenchymal stem/stromal cell therapy improves immune recovery in a feline model of severe coronavirus infection. 

. 2025;14(7). doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/stcltm/szaf025

New stem cell therapy has shown effective in boosting immune recovery for cats with feline infectious peritonitis.

FIP research offers potential insights into Long COVID

A veterinarian and One Health advocate talks about steps to take in the event of a suspected avian influenza case and highlights 3 risk factors for infection in feline patients

Cats as early indicators of H5N1 in the community and what to do for suspected cases

Cats can serve as early warning indicators of the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) in a community, explains Deborah Thomson, DVM, founder and executive director of One Health Lessons, in this video. With this in mind, Thomson goes over what veterinary professionals should do in the event of a suspected case of H5N1, including testing feline patients that present with respiratory and/or neurological symptoms, placing them in isolation wards, and contacting local public health authorities for current protocols. Because guidance can continuously change when it comes to infectious diseases, Thomson also emphasizes the importance of staying updated on evolving protocols for managing cases of H5N1.

A veterinarian’s role in bird flu client education

Below is the transcript, lightly edited for improved clarity.

Hello. I'm Dr Deborah Thompson, and I am the founder and executive director of One Health Lessons. One Health Lessons is an educational nonprofit that teaches about One Health.

Cats are a really good measure of where bird flu is in the community because they could be serving as sentinels. They could be catching this virus through hunting outside and eating an infected bird, for instance, or they could be drinking raw milk or eating raw meat. So, if there's any possible exposure to those 3 risk factors and you see respiratory signs or neurologic signs, it's a sign to start to test for H5N1.

If you suspect that a cat or another patient has H5N1, then it is best to have them in the isolation ward, contact your local public health authority, and ask them what the protocol [is] for that moment. When it comes to bird flu, or any other emerging infectious disease, rules can change quite often, so just stay up to date and contact your local public health authority.

Videos

Deborah Thomson, DVM, talks about steps to take in the event of a suspected avian influenza case and highlights 3 risk factors for infection in feline patients.