What to know about communicating to clients about parasite control compliance

Client education and compliance

Endectocide products merge flea, tick, heartworm, and roundworm control into a single medication, simplifying parasite management for veterinary teams and clients. As parasites remain a constant threat throughout a dog’s life, and can even affect human family members, choosing broad-spectrum endectocides is one way to ensure effective, all-inclusive protection.

: So previously, in order to control our ectoparasites and a variety of our different endoparasites that affect our dogs, we may have had to reach for multiple products to provide really comprehensive, broad parasite control. But over the last decade or so, we’re now starting to see different companies bring together ectoparasite-control drugs as well as endoparasite-control drugs to create what they call an endectocide product—one that offers protection against both ectoparasites, like fleas and ticks, and a variety of endoparasites, like hookworms, heartworms, roundworms, etc.

Maybe your priority parasite where you’re living is ticks, for example, and you might not think about some of the other potential parasites that pose a risk. Choosing an endectocide-based product offers a pet comprehensive protection so they’re not just protected against that one “priority” parasite, but also against other parasites we don’t always consider—parasites that, for the vast majority of places in the U.S., still pose a persistent or constant risk. Parasites are omnipresent threats: pets are at risk from the moment they’re brand-new puppies, throughout their lifetime, and even into their senior years. We constantly have to think about protecting our pets and ensuring they have the most healthful life possible.

By doing that, we’re often also protecting our human family members, because many of the same parasites that affect our dogs can pose risks to human health as well. So by practicing good parasite control, we’re really helping to ensure the health of our pets and the health of the broader family.

Videos

Kathryn E. Reif, MSPH, PhD, explains the adoption of endectocide-based protocols for true “one-and-done” protection

Why endectocides matter

On this week's episode of The Vet Blast Podcast presented by dvm360, our host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, welcomes Christian Capobianco, DVM, CertAqV, CVA, to discuss what his journey was like pursuing a career in zoo medicine. Throughout the episode, the 2 doctors review the process for certification, unique and interesting cases Capobianco has worked on, and even myth busting some common misconceptions surrounding zoo medicine. 

Below is a partial transcript, edited lightly for clarity

You know how there's such technology has really rapidly evolved in companion animal medicine in general, with dogs and cats, it's been incredible, and especially with [artificial intelligence], is that, is it growing in the terms of the zoo med sector? Do you think there's a lot of great technology that's out there?...

 ...The rapid evolution of technology is going to always...be super helpful for veterinary medicine. It's just a little bit challenging, because I feel like zoo medicine tends to lag a little bit behind some of the other specialties, just because we're dealing with so many species and trying to figure out what's going to work in each species. But absolutely...Nowadays we're utilizing implantable loop recorders, if you've ever heard of them for humans, to do continuous ECG tracings. We utilize them in our Grade 8 patients a ton nowadays. There are a number of publications out there for that. Since it's really hard for us to get voluntary awake ECGs on these animals, and they have a very high incidence of heart disease, we have been utilizing that technology extensively. 

We can also get awake EKGs on them by using the little cardio mobile thing, where you put...your 2 fingers on...so some of those animals are trained to...place their fingers on little portable ECG and get some tracings as well. They're trained for voluntary blood pressures. So when I think of technology helping zoo med, that's one of the first things that comes to mind. 

Podcasts

Are zoo veterinarians the ultimate generalists?

Navigating zoological veterinary medicine

The 2025 Fetch dvm360 conference series is heading back to Kansas City, Missouri, August 22 to 24, 2025. The agenda includes up to 160 hours of continuing education (CE) and allows each attendee to earn up to 17 total credits.

This Fetch Kansas City conference will start the first 2 days with inspiring keynote talks. Speakers leading these presentations will be Ken Yagi, MS, RVT, VTS (ECC) (SAIM), the chief veterinary nursing officer for Veterinary Emergency Group and program director for the RECOVER Initiative; and Michael W. Dryden, DVM, PhD, MS, DACVM, a university distinguished professor (emeritus) at Kansas State University.

The first keynote will be presented by Yagi on Friday, August 22, at 9 AM. His keynote lecture, “From Passion to Purpose: Discovering What Truly Drives Me,” will focus on finding what makes you happy and turning it into a meaningful career or other purpose. Yagi plans to share his own career story, which includes defining moments and crossroads.

Yagi will also present several CE sessions in the afternoon and evening following his keynote address. These sessions will address nutritional intervention for managing canine parvovirus, emergency blood transfusions from dogs to cats, and common questions in veterinary resuscitation.

The conference’s second keynote will be presented by Dryden on Saturday, August 23, at 9 AM. His keynote session is “Heartworm Preventive Resistance: Where Do We Go From Here?” It will provide insights about the understanding of heartworm preventive resistance as well as new programs aimed at limiting the severity and spread of resistance.

Dryden’s day will continue with a pair of afternoon CE lectures focusing on other topics in parasitology. These sessions will address advancements in diagnostics for canine and feline intestinal parasites and how changes in tick range and density are contributing to the spread of tick-transmitted disease.

Articles

The conference’s 2 keynote sessions feature career inspiration and clinical insights to put into practice

Passion, purpose, and parasitology will kick off Fetch Kansas City

Megan Brashear, RVT, VTS (ECC), explains why having a mindset of good intent with team members can lead to increased happiness.

Assuming good intent

Megan Brashear, RVT, VTS (ECC), senior manager of veterinary nursing at the Purdue University Veterinary Hospital in West Lafayette, Indiana, presented lectures on assuming good intent and other personal growth topics at the North American Veterinary Community (NAVC) SkillShop in Orlando, Florida. In a 

 interview, Brashear explains why assuming good intent in the workplace and with team members can lead to increased happiness on the job and in life.

The following is a transcript of the video.

 Assuming good intent is one of my life mantras. I think, first of all, it's just a much happier place to be in your life if you are assuming good intent of those people around you, but I think especially in a team that you have to work with every day, if you show up to work and assume that everybody is angry or everybody is out to get you, you're going to be miserable and everything is just going to be a grind. And so thinking those happy, more positive thoughts is just going to increase your happiness and increase your work longevity.

Benjamin Bergstrom, DVM, MS, DACVO, helps general practitioners distinguish between these two commonly confused conditions 

Differentiating nuclear sclerosis from early cataracts during an ophthalmic exam

In this interview on his Fetch dvm360 Conference lectures in Nashville, Tennessee, Benjamin Bergstrom, DVM, MS, DACVO, owner of The Eye Vets in Nashville, guides viewers through how to distinguish between nuclear sclerosis and cataracts. He explains what each condition is and breaks down their key visual characteristics, describing how to use illumination techniques and the slit beam function of a direct ophthalmoscope to help general practitioners distinguish between these 2 commonly confused conditions.

Below is the transcript of the video, which has been lightly edited for clarity:

 So, the differentiation in its simplest form between nuclear sclerosis and cataracts is that nuclear sclerosis is a normal age-related hardening of the lens that causes just kind of a generalized haze to the surface of the eye or to the lens, to the inside of the eye. Cataracts form because of something has changed metabolically in the lens that has caused a true opacification. And it's always, it's always kind of an odd thing to say, ‘Well, nuclear sclerosis is a haziness to the lens, and a cataract is an opacification’. When you kind of think about it, they're one and the same.

However, in opacification, you no longer can see through that opacification. Now it's tricky because in cataracts, they can be small, so you can see around them.

The best way to differentiate between the two is when you shine a light—so you directly illuminate the light—cataracts will look bright white. Nuclear sclerosis may look hazy, but you can see straight through.

When you retro illuminate with a light source, which means you use the back of the eye, you shine a light, use the back of the eye to reflect back forward, again, nuclear sclerosis will just kind of look like a haze. Cataracts will look dark or black. And it's easier said than done, it takes practice differentiating the two with an exam.

The last thing that I would encourage general practitioners to do if they're trying to decide if this is a cataract or if it's nuclear sclerosis is using the slip beam function on their direct ophthalmoscope. They use a slip beam. There is a beam that will hit the surface of the eye, of the cornea. There's a continuation of the beam that will hit the anterior lens capsule and then there's a continuation of the beam that will hit the posterior lens capsule.

Cataracts will look like very obvious, very clear, opacifications between the second and third beams of light. Nuclear sclerosis just looks like an increased haze. I think that's probably the best way to describe the difference between the 2.

2 tips for otitis externa

Chronic, exudative otitis externa can be challenging to treat due to the presence of pus and debris that inactivate many ear medications. In this video, Julia Miller, DVM, DACVD, shares 2 key steps for managing these difficult cases: thorough ear cleaning to remove organic material and allow treatments to work effectively, and consistent inflammation control using both topical and oral therapies.

You know, there’s a lot of people, myself included, who deal with really frustrating, chronic otitis externa cases in their patients—particularly the really exudative, nasty, pus-filled ears. Those are hard. They’re the bane of a lot of people’s existence. 

So when it comes to those really exudative ears, one thing that I always say is, “The solution to pollution is dilution,” which means that you really need to clean those ears. We have to have an effective plan for how we’re going to clean those super exudative ears, because many of our ear medications are actually inactivated by that organic debris—that pus in the ear. So whatever that may be (and we’ll talk about options), you need to have a good, effective cleaning protocol in place.

And then the other big thing that I harp on time and time again is inflammation management is everything when it comes to these ears—whether that’s oral and topical, just topical. But really, in my hands, it’s both. It’s always both. Good, effective inflammation management is another key piece in actually getting these ears under control.

Julia Miller, DVM, DACVD shares 2 tips to help deal with chronic, exudative otitis externa