Veterinary Vertex

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A calf can look “fine” and still be losing ground in the lungs and that’s exactly why BRSV keeps costing farms money. We sit down with Dr. John Ellis to unpack a rare head-to-head comparison of two widely used intranasal bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) vaccines in colostrum fed calves, then zoom out to what the data means for day-to-day vaccine decisions in the field.

We start with the basics of BRSV epidemiology and why maternal antibodies from colostrum don’t eliminate the problem, they simply delay it until that predictable window of susceptibility opens. From there, we dig into study design choices that matter to practicing veterinarians, including why seropositive calves can be a more “real world” model than the seronegative animals often used for licensing studies.

Then we get practical. We talk lung lesion scores, what “modest” differences might mean when calves face production stress and co-infections, and why objective physiology like arterial PaO2 can reveal effects that mild clinical signs don’t show. On the immunology side, we explore mucosal IgA, systemic IgG, and why a fast anamnestic response can be the difference between a calf that shrugs off infection and one that slides into trouble. We also challenge the overreliance on p-values and make the case for looking hard at scatter plots and variability before you trust a single headline number.

We close with a bigger industry takeaway: two vaccines can share similar listed components yet behave differently due to formulation, attenuation, or dose details that aren’t always transparent in veterinary medicine. If you care about evidence-based bovine respiratory disease control, subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a rating and review so more practitioners can find the show.
JAVMA article: https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.26.04.0247
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Dogs with chronic enteropathy can make even seasoned clinicians feel stuck: antibiotics help, symptoms fade, then everything flares the moment treatment stops. We sit down with Drs. Moshen Hanifeh and Jan Suchodolski to unpack their placebo controlled, double blind trial on oral fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in dogs with tylosin responsive enteropathy, a subgroup where relapse after tylosin is a familiar and frustrating pattern. If you’ve been wondering whether “poop capsules” are ready for prime time in veterinary gastroenterology, this conversation gives you the clearest real world framework we’ve heard.

We get specific about what oral FMT actually is, how lyophilized donor feces can be packaged into capsules, and why oral dosing limits may matter in chronic GI disease. Then we dig into the data story clinicians wrestle with every day: measurable microbiome changes, subtle movement in biomarkers, and still no clear, meaningful clinical signal compared with placebo. Along the way, we explore why chronic enteropathy is heterogeneous, how the dysbiosis index functions as a severity marker, and why inflammation markers and dysbiosis do not always track together.

We also translate the findings into practical next steps for treating dogs with TRE right now: stick with therapies that work, prioritize diet management and a thoughtful diagnostic workup, and view oral FMT as promising but not yet a routine standalone option. To close, we map the research roadmap: larger trials, longer follow up, patient stratification by baseline dysbiosis, and comparisons of oral versus enema delivery or combined protocols.

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JAVMA article: https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.26.03.0178
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Septic arthritis in a neonatal foal is one of those diagnoses that can change everything fast: the foal’s comfort today, survival to discharge, and even long-term athletic soundness once cartilage gets damaged early. We sit down with Dr. David Wallace to unpack why these cases are so high-stakes, how septic joints in neonates often tie back to systemic infection, and why “treat the joint” is never the whole story when you’re managing sepsis, failure of passive transfer, and fragile physiology all at once.

From there we get practical about amikacin dosing and IV regional limb perfusion (IVRLP). We dig into where therapeutic targets come from in the first place, including MIC guidance and how that translates into real plasma concentrations and synovial fluid concentrations for susceptible versus resistant pathogens. We also talk through why foals are not small horses, how disease can change aminoglycoside behavior, and what that means for peak goals, trough expectations, and redosing intervals that may drift beyond a neat every-24-hours schedule.

We also break down what the research shows when you compare cephalic versus saphenous injection sites and why some joints may hit targets while others lag behind. Technique details matter here: tourniquet fit, perfusate volume, limb anatomy, and simple variability between patients. The big clinical takeaway is to monitor the foal in front of you, recheck when needed, and be ready to pivot with lavage, intra-articular therapy, or a different plan if response is not trending the right way. If you find value in evidence-based equine medicine and real-world dosing decisions, subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave us a rating and review wherever you listen.
JAVMA article: https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.24.10.0678
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One strange beat on a resting horse ECG can spark a surprisingly high-stakes question: are we seeing a normal sinus arrhythmia, or an atrial premature complex that changes how we think about risk and follow-up? We sit down with Drs. Kath Mitchell and Beth Williams to make that decision point less subjective, less stressful, and more repeatable for anyone interpreting equine ECGs.

We dig into why the classic RR interval approach sometimes falls short, especially when subtle changes in AV node conduction and PR interval can blur the true prematurity of an atrial beat. Kath and Beth explain why PP intervals matter because they track atrial activity directly, and they share how focusing on timing can scale better than morphology when you move from a resting ECG to an exercise ECG. From coupling intervals to the “return cycle” and the post-ectopic pause, we unpack what to measure and what those measurements mean physiologically.

We also talk about the study results, including how return cycle length variation cleanly separated rhythms in clear examples, why that produced near-perfect ROC performance, and what needs to happen next in the gray zone cases clinicians argue about every day. Along the way, we explore an unexpected finding: ventricular premature beats may influence several beats after the pause, raising new mechanistic questions about how the sinus node responds.

If you want a practical, clinic-ready way to add confidence to your equine cardiology calls, this conversation delivers. Subscribe to Veterinary Vertex, share this with a colleague who reads horse ECGs, and leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.
JAVMA article: https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.26.04.0253
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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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