Veterinary Vertex

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A “normal temperature” can be the most dangerous kind of comforting. We sit down with Drs. Kimberly Woodruff and Sahar Rostami to unpack what happens when ocular thermometry and rectal thermometry show similar diagnostic performance for detecting abnormal body temperature in dogs, and why that still doesn’t mean you should relax after a normal reading.

We translate sensitivity and specificity into day-to-day clinical decisions. High specificity means these methods are fairly good at confirming normal temperature when a dog truly is normal, but low to moderate sensitivity means they can miss dogs with abnormal core temperature. That’s where the nuance lives: an abnormal result is often meaningful and deserves follow-up, while a normal result shouldn’t outweigh your clinical intuition when the patient looks unwell. We also discuss why the shelter population matters for interpretation, including how rare abnormal temperatures can widen uncertainty around sensitivity estimates.

Then we get practical. We walk through combining ocular and rectal measurements using parallel testing (any positive) versus serial testing (both positive), and how your choice depends on whether you’re trying not to miss cases or trying to be confident before labeling a dog abnormal. We also explore why ocular screening may be a better fit in shelters and some clinics: less handling stress, faster workflows, and potentially lower risk of disease spread than moving a thermometer between animals. Along the way, we touch on measurement technique, eye-region considerations, and why rectal temperature isn’t a perfect gold standard, including how Bayesian latent class analysis can better reflect reality.

If you care about smarter canine triage, better shelter medicine protocols, and making test results match what you see in front of you, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a rating and review wherever you listen.
AJVR article: https://doi.org/10.2460/ajvr.26.04.0185
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You can do everything right clinically and still lose a client in one conversation. We sit down with Dr. Erik Hofmeister to unpack what pet owners actually expect when a veterinary medical error happens, and the answers are more demanding than most of us assume. Many respondents say they want to be told about every error, even minor mistakes that never reach the patient, and they want that disclosure immediately. That level of transparency sounds simple until you picture a real clinic day, real caseload pressure, and real human emotion.

We also dig into why expectations vary. Education level and personality traits shape how owners think about whether errors are inevitable, what an “acceptable” error rate looks like, and how much grace they extend to complex medical systems. That leads to a key veterinary practice management takeaway: understanding complexity does not automatically lower standards. Clients can believe errors happen while still expecting strong safeguards and clear accountability.

Then we get practical about client communication, because the trust numbers are hard to ignore: poor communication about an error drives trust down fast, while great communication has a limited but meaningful ability to rebuild it. We talk through a concrete disclosure tool we can teach and practice in any hospital, the TEAM approach: be truthful, express empathy, apologize, and make a plan. If you care about transparency, risk management, informed consent, and long-term client relationships, this conversation gives you language you can use the next time things go wrong.

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JAVMA article: https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.25.12.0872
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A gel injection that looks “inert” on paper may be doing something surprisingly active inside an arthritic horse joint. We sit down with repeat guest Dr. Lynn Pezzanite to unpack new evidence on how intraarticular 2.5% polyacrylamide hydrogel (2.5% iPAAG) alters synovial immune pathways in equine osteoarthritis, and why that matters for the cases you see in the field. If you have been hearing about longer-lasting clinical effects with polyacrylamide hydrogel, this conversation helps connect the dots between what we observe and what the joint may be signaling at the molecular level. 

We dig into why the team chose gene expression and pathway analysis instead of leaning only on clinical outcomes, and how sampling both synovial fluid cells over time and synovial tissue at key time points changes the story you can tell. You will hear how TNF-alpha pathway activity can be mitigated in synovial fluid while immune activation signals show up in synovium, and why that pattern is not necessarily contradictory when you consider timing, compartment biology, and synovial integration of the hydrogel. 

We also talk translation: what an early post-traumatic cartilage injury model can and cannot tell us about naturally occurring chronic degenerative osteoarthritis, what “earlier treatment” might mean for limiting joint capsule stiffness and supporting capsule elasticity, and why variability across horses points toward real responder vs non-responder biology. If you treat sport horses or racehorses with joint disease and want clearer mechanism-based context for your intraarticular therapy choices, this one is for you. Subscribe, share with an equine vet colleague, and leave a rating and review with your biggest question about 2.5% iPAAG and equine OA.
AJVR article: https://doi.org/10.2460/ajvr.26.04.0181
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A dog that suddenly cannot walk puts everyone in crisis mode, and thoracolumbar IVDD is one of those diagnoses that can turn a normal day into a life-or-death decision. We sit down with manuscript authors Drs. William Tammaro, Nick Jeffery, and Paul Freeman to unpack a less invasive option that could change those conversations: chondroitinase ABC intradiscal injections, often described as a form of chemical fenestration designed to reduce future disc extrusion. 

We get clear on what chondroitinase ABC actually does inside the nucleus pulposus, why its substrate-limited action matters for safety, and how the team designed their comparison against routine surgical management. Then we dig into the result that jumps off the page: recurrence of clinical signs is dramatically lower in the chondroitinase-treated group, roughly a 70% reduction depending on how you analyze it. We also explore the real-world nuances behind that comparison, including how many discs get treated in each approach and why this work is best read as evidence of prophylactic potential rather than a perfect one-to-one trial. 

The most human part of the conversation is about owners. We talk candidly about cost, access to MRI and surgery, and what it means when clients have to choose based on finances. The takeaway we keep coming back to is simple and urgent: many dogs recover without surgical decompression, and when surgery is not an option, we should not give up. If you care about practical IVDD treatment options, recurrence prevention, and better spectrum-of-care medicine, hit play, subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a rating and review wherever you listen.
JAVMA article: https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.26.01.0005
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A single bite or wildlife exposure can turn “vaccinated” into a complicated question fast, especially when the animal is a zoological species, a wildlife rehabilitation patient, or any non-traditional mammal that does not have a licensed rabies vaccine label. We sit down with Dr. Ryan Wallace, who leads the rabies program at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to unpack what clinicians and public health teams can lean on when the rules feel vague and the consequences are real.

We walk through what the research shows about serologic response after extra-label rabies vaccination across many mammalian species, including how often animals reach protective antibody titers after a primary dose and where responses can be lower in very large species or very small species. Ryan also explains why antibody titers naturally decline over time, what “boostability” means in practical terms, and why a strong anamnestic response after a booster can be the signal decision-makers need when assessing risk after exposure.

We also tackle the questions you hear in the exam room: “Why not just titer-check every animal?” and “Does my indoor cat really need rabies vaccination?” The answer involves cost, exposure recognition, and one word that changes everything for indoor pets: bats. If you work in zoo veterinary medicine, wildlife rehabilitation, shelter medicine, or small animal practice, this is a grounded look at evidence that may help prevent unnecessary euthanasia while protecting people and animals. Subscribe, share this with a colleague who fields rabies calls, and leave a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.
JAVMA article: https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.26.04.0246
INTERESTED IN SUBMITTING YOUR MANUSCRIPT TO JAVMA ®  OR AJVR ® ?
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