International Challenges Hit Vet Med

Plus: Nationwide's new app and red meat allergies

Hello 👋

Welcome to Weekend Rounds - the veterinary newsletter jam packed with as much fun as a Barbie-Oppenheimer double feature.

Here’s what we’re covering today:

🦅 Nationwide’s New App
💉 Brexit’s effect on Veterinary Medicines in Northern Ireland
🇦🇺 🇳🇿 Australian and New Zealand Veterinary Schools in Crisis
🍖 Tick Bites Creating Rare Red Meat Allergies
🚀 Quick Hits

🦅 Nationwide’s New App

Is Nationwide on our side?

Nationwide Insurance Chief Veterinary Officer, Dr. Jules Benson, announced Pet HealthZone, a new digital platform that uses over 40 years of pet health data to help pet parents learn more about their pet’s health risks and have better conversations with their veterinary teams.

We don’t get to do this very often, so we’re going to use this chance to channel one of our favorite Twitter accounts, Room Rater. Unfortunately we’re giving Dr. Benson a 1/10. It would have been a zero for the poor lighting, earbud headphones, and weak shelf display. But the wooden dog light is worth a point.

Pet HealthZone allows pet parents to enter their pet’s name, breed, and age to get customized information about their pet’s health risks, drawn from analysis of claims data from millions of pets. The video also shows some examples of the insights, fun facts, and expert advice that the Pet HealthZone provides for different breeds and life stages of pets. We have always known that the data pet insurance companies hold can be used for both good and evil. Now we will start to see what this data is capable of.

On the one hand, this could help clients prioritize preventative measures and make informed decisions on their pets. On the other hand, it could become the WebMD of vet med, with worried parents over analyzing their furry friends and creating more insurance claims. Or we could see client data being used to change coverage or deny claims.

What do you think?

💉 Veterinary Medicines could exit Northern Ireland

As report by the The Guardian this week, veterinarians in Northern Ireland could lose up to half of the available veterinary medicines thanks to Brexit. The issue centers on the requirement of manufacturers of medicines for farm animals and pets to get their medicines batch-tested in the EU before they can be put on sale in Northern Ireland.

The Windsor Framework, put in place in March, reduced the barriers to trade that arose from the original Brexit deal but is not a permanent solution for this complex issue. The British Veterinary Association (BVA) introduced a grace period until 2025 but said unless a permanent solution was found, sales of medicines could be discontinued.

The issue is one of several raised in a new report by the House of Lords protocol on Northern Ireland committee, which also raised issues around the movement of livestock, the technical and legal complexity of the framework, and the need for clarity and explanation for businesses. This remains a situation to monitor for Irish veterinarians and other professionals in the region who may be impacted by the fall out.

🇦🇺 🇳🇿 Crisis for Australian and New Zealand Veterinary Schools

As reported by VIN this week, a report commissioned by the Veterinary Schools of Australia and New Zealand (VSANZ) warns of the unsustainable gap between the schools’ income and costs, and the risk of closure for at least one of 8 schools. The report makes 25 recommendations, including increasing government subsidies, improving mental health and job retention, and reviewing accreditation requirements.

The first casualty is the closure of the University of Melbourne’s teaching hospital. To manage funding pressure, the university leased its hospital to Greencross, a corporate consolidator. The hospital’s caseload has improved under Greencross, and the university is now preparing for accreditation visits from various bodies.

One possible solution is a turn to a distributed model of veterinary education. The University of Melbourne is partnering with privately run hospitals to provide students with practical experience. A distributed model is not mandatory for accreditation, but does raise concern from some students and staff.

Since we’re talking about Australia and New Zealand, we’ll also use this opportunity to remind you that the FIFA Women’s World Cup is currently underway down under. As a proudly Canadian company, the team at Obi Veterinary Education is waking up bright and early to cheer on Christine Sinclair and company 🇨🇦 

📫️ Send it ‘round!

🍖 Tick Bites Leading to Alpha-Gal Syndrome

New data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows a steep increase in cases of alpha-gal syndrome - an allergic condition caused by tick bites characterized by a hypersensitivity to an oligosaccharide found in most mammalian meat and products derived from it.

The culprit, the lone star tick, has been moving further north due to favourable conditions created by climate change.  The rate of Americans developing a rare meat allergy from tick bites is rising and may have already impacted as many as 450,000 people - a worrisome trend as very little is known about how to treat the condition. Ixodes holocyclus - aka the paralysis tick - has also caused similar meat allergies in the Sydney region of Australia.

Stay vigilant against tick bites out there!

🚀 Quick Hits

Pet stocks soaring [US News]

Drug resistant hook worm spreading in dogs [VIN News]

Dairy-beef crosses play a role in modern agriculture [Ag Proud]

Project Street Vet expands to Watsonville/Santa Cruz [PR Newswire]

How did we do today?

Tell us what you thought of this edition of Weekend Rounds so we can keep improving!

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.