September 30 , 2011

Volume IX, No. 7

Update from Merial on Immiticide Shortage

Merial has shared information with ISVMA on new developments on the Immiticide shortage issue. Merial has been working both to correct the manufacturing issue AND to find an alternative source for Immiticide to provide the only known treatment for heartworm infected dogs. The FDA has agreed to let Merial import Immiticide from their European manufacturer which they will then be allowed to distribute to clinics with current patients that need treatment; they will still not be allowing clinics to order Immiticide to stock their shelves. Since the US is a very larger portion of the world’s Immiticide use, Merial's European supplier does not have the capacity to supply all of their needs in one shipment. They are expecting their first shipment in October with small shipments arriving periodically thereafter.

Therefore:

• All clinics that have informed Merial of heartworm cases will be contacted to complete shipping the needed Immiticide.

• All clinics with new heartworm cases should contact Merial’s Customer Care at 1-888-MERIAL-1 (1-888-637-4251) to report the case and request Immiticide.

• New cases will be added to a list and Immiticide will be shipped, first come-first served, as product becomes available from Europe.

Read the letter from Merial...

Printing Error in the Printed ISVMA Convention Registration Brochure

There is a printing error in the printed ISVMA Convention Registration Brochure. The Recent Graduate Registration Prices are for 2009, 2010 and 2011 veterinary school graduates. The online registration form and downloadable registration form have this information correct. However, the printed brochure mistakenly used last year's header and listed the recent graduate dates as 2008, 2009 and 2010.

2008 veterinary school graduates (and before) will be charged the full registration price.

We regret the error and any confusion it may cause.

Don't Be Late! Sign Up Now for Limited Enrollment Programs at the 129th ISVMA Annual Convention

Please plan to join us for an outstanding convention on November 11-13, 2011 at the Peoria Civic Center in Peoria, IL. Once again, the ISVMA Education Planning Committee has done an outstanding job of bringing in well-known national speakers for you to meet in a more intimate setting than the super-sized national and regional meetings.

The registration/program brochures have been mailed, but online registrants are already filling up the popular wet labs, USDA Accreditation Modules and other space-limited programs. Early registration is highly recommended if you want to be assured of a space in these limited enrollment education programs.

Among the limited enrollment programs are the popular ISVMA wet lab series. This year eight wet labs will be offered over the three-day weekend.

ALL WET LABS ARE OPEN TO DVM AND CVT ENROLLMENT

Friday
Wet Lab 1 - Class IV Laser Therapy
Wet Lab 2 - Surgery Made Simple: Practical Soft Tissue Technique

Saturday
Wet Lab 3 - Extracapsular Stabilization of the Stifle & Medial Patella Luxation Correction
Web Lab 4 - Ophthalmology Surgery
Wet Lab 5 - External Fixation of Simple Fractures

Sunday
Wet Lab 6 - Ophthalmology Surgery (REPEAT OF SATURDAY)
Wet Lab 7 - Techniques for Your Practice
Wet Lab 8 - Small Ruminant: Artificial Insemination & Embryo Transfer Demo

To download the program/registration brochure, get additional information on speakers and course content, review the list of exhibitors and to register online please visit http://www.isvma.org/events/convention/2011_convention/attendees_page.html.

ISVMA 2011 Fall Equine Meeting

This equine CE program will be held at Merritt & Associates Equine Hospital, Wauconda IL on Sunday, October 9, 2011.

This full day of continuing education is offered to DVMs, CVTs, practic personnel and students with the session topics focused strictly on the horse.

The day begins at 8:00am with registration and continental breakfast. The first educational session begins at 8:30am. The meeting is scheduled to end by 5:00pm. Attendees will earn 7 hours of CE.

Session will include:

• Marian Little, DVM - PPID/Equine Cushing’s Disease 2011: From Hirsutism to Optimism
• Stuart Shoemaker, DVM, Dipl ACVS - High Field MRI Technology in Equine Science
• T.K. Pope, BS, MS - Advanced Regenerative Therapies Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Therapies
• Laurie R. Goodrich, DVM, MS, PhD, Dipl ACVS - Regenerative Medicine & the Use of Bone Marrow Derived Mesenchymal Stem

Registration is available online. For full meeting details, speaker bios and a faxable registration form you can download the meeting brochure. Pre-registration closes on October 3, and seating is limited to first 50 registrants.

The meeting is generously sponsored by Milburn Equine and Luitpold Pharmaceuticals Makers of Adequan. Speaker Sponsors include Advanced Regenerative Therapies, Boehringer Ingelheim, MREquine with support from Merritt & Associates Equine Hospital, (Waudonda IL). There will be a vendors’ area to give attendees an opportunity to thank these folks for their generous support of this fine meeting.

ISVMA Monthly Legislative Report

In an effort to keep ISVMA members more aware of Illinois politics and legislative and regulatory actions that impact their practices, ISVMA publishes a monthly legislative report. Please read the September Legislative Report.

MU Study Links Cat Cancer to Human Cancer Treatments

Researchers at the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine recently conducted a large-scale study into feline intestinal cancer patterns, the results of which, they say, could have implications for human cancer. Since pets share environments with humans, lead researcher Dr. Kim Selting, says that veterinarians could identify environmental factors promoting tumor growth across species. Read complete story...

About the Photo

The Smith's Longspur (Calcarius pictus) is a small ground-feeding bird from the family Emberizidae, which also contains the American sparrows.

These birds have short cone-shaped bills, streaked backs, and dark tails with white outer retrices. In breeding state plumage (mostly formed by worn basic plumage), the male has pumpkin orange throat, nape, and underparts contrasting with an intricate black-and-white face pattern. The white lesser coverts are quite pronounced on a male in spring and early summer. Females and immatures have lightly streaked buffy underparts, dark crowns, brown wings with less obvious white lesser coverts, and a light-colored face. The tail is identical at all ages. Female and winter male with dull, buffy belly and small white eye ring.

This bird breeds in open grassy areas near the tree line in northern Canada and Alaska. The female lays 3 to 5 eggs in a grass cup nest on the ground. These birds nest in small colonies; males do not defend territory. Both males and females may have more than one mate. Over a period of one week in June, a female will copulate over 350 times on average; this is one of the highest copulation rates of any bird. The parents, one female and possibly more than one male, feed the young birds.

In winter, they congregate in open fields, including airports, in the south-central United States.

Their migration is elliptical, with northbound birds staging in Illinois in the spring and southbound birds flying over the Great Plains in the fall.

These birds forage on the ground, gathering in flocks outside of the nesting season. They mainly eat seeds, also eating insects in summer. Young birds are mainly fed insects.

The song is a sweet warble that's inflected at the end, somewhat reminiscent of Chestnut-sided Warbler. The call is a dry rattle, like a shortened version of the call of a female Brown-headed Cowbird. It is noticeabaly drier than that of Lapland Longspur.

Audubon named this bird after his friend Gideon B. Smith.

I photographed this basic-plumaged Smith's Longspur on November 16, 2003 in Rochester, IL. The species is easy to find in Illinois during the spring; in the proper habitat. Therefore, is often photographed in alternate plumage. However, this is a rare photograph of the bird in basic plumage from Illinois because the species migrates south through the Great Plains.

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