Heather Duncan, DVM, DAVDC offers a preview of her session, now available On-Demand

Going back to the basics of dentistry

Heather Duncan, DVM, DAVDC, founder and CEO of Crown Veterinary Dental Specialists in Charlotte, North Carolina, talks about her lecture “Basics of Dentistry and Extractions: What You May Have Missed in Vet School,” which she presented at the Fetch dvm360 Conference in Charlotte, and is now available on Fetch On-Demand for CE credit.

I am Dr Heather Duncan, I am a board-certified veterinary dentist. I am originally from North Carolina. I went to [North Carolina State University] for undergrad and then Purdue University for vet school. I was in private practice for a couple years after vet school and then I decided that I wanted to do a dental residency. So, I did my residency at the Animal Dental Center in Baltimore, Maryland, and then I moved back to North Carolina, where I've been working with veterinary dentistry for years now, and just opened a veterinary dental specialty group called Crown Veterinary Dental Specialists in Charlotte, North Carolina. I co-own that with another boarded dentist, Dr Kristin Scott, [DVM, DAVDC].

We are really proud of our lecture “Basics of Dentistry and Extractions: What You May Have Missed in Vet School” because there is a big gap between what we learn in vet school and then what we are doing in private practice. A lot of us didn't get a lot of dentistry in vet school. I was lucky enough that we had a veterinary dentist at Purdue, and I was able to spend a few weeks in dentistry. But so many others aren't that lucky. And then when we get out into practice, dental disease is one of the main diseases we see with our patients.

So, this presentation and lecture is going to walk us through the basics, the basics of anatomy of the teeth, of how many teeth a pet should have [and] when do we decide to extract the teeth. And then how do we start planning for that extraction.

Videos

Heather Duncan, DVM, DAVDC, offers a preview of her continuing education session, now available through Fetch On-Demand

A line of supplements and probiotics for animals has been launched along with the creation of the new National Pet Wellness Day on May 8. Royal Canin announced both initiatives on May 6, 2025, bringing awareness to the importance of health care that is customized to meet each pet’s unique needs.

The new product line’s soft chew supplements target joint, digestion, and skin and coat health in puppies and dogs. Probiotic powders included in the product line were designed to strengthen canine and feline immune systems and promote their digestive health. These supplements and probiotics are formulated with ingredients that are supported by scientific studies on efficacy, according to Royal Canin.

"This innovative range of products is designed to complement our existing diets to support the health and well-being of cats and dogs," Heather Pasquale, RPh, general manager of the US Vet Business Unit for Royal Canin North America, said in a news release.

 "Our supplements are formulated with the same philosophy and scientific rigor that Royal Canin is known for, addressing specific health concerns while maintaining the nutritional balance that is crucial for optimal pet health."

Royal Canin Clinically Proven Probiotics for Digestive and Immune Health

 probiotic powders are yeast-based and contain live 

 I-1079 strain that is clinically proven to promote a strong immune system, boost beneficial bacteria in the gut, and help support digestive health and optimal stool quality in cats and dogs.

Royal Canin Puppy Digestive & Immune Health Chews

 are specially formulated using a science-driven blend of prebiotic fibers for the gut microbiome, vitamins E and C to support cellular health, and Beta-glucan postbiotics for digestive health and stool quality.

 are formulated with prebiotic fibers to feed good bacteria in the gut microbiome, Beta-glucan postbiotics for digestive health and stool quality and zeolite to help reduce stool odor.

 are formulated with New Zealand green-lipped mussel to promote joint comfort and reduce occasional joint stiffness, and EPA + DHA to help reduce inflammation from normal exercise and activity.

 are formulated with GLA, LA and Zn to help keep skin hydrated and promote good coat quality, EPA + DHA to promote healthy skin and B-vitamin blend to help maintain the skin barrier.

These new products are available through retailers that include Chewy and Amazon, and through veterinarians. The probiotic powders are available in 7-count and 30-count boxes, while the soft chews are available in 60-count packages.

Royal Canin declared May 8, 2025, as National Pet Wellness Day to celebrate the launch of the new supplements and probiotics line.

 The day also coincides with National Pet Week, which was created in 1981 by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). This year’s National Pet Week runs May 4-10, 2025, with each day focused on a different topic. The AVMA’s daily themes for the week are as follows

Sunday: Choosing wellness with a lifelong commitment

Monday: Behavioral health and creating habits for healthy pets

Wednesday: Love your pet and see a veterinarian

Saturday: Planning for the proper care of pets

Royal Canin declares May 8 National Pet Wellness Day with launch of new supplements and probiotics line. News release. May 6, 2025. Accessed May 6, 2025. 

https://prnmedia.prnewswire.com/news-releases/royal-canin-declares-may-8-national-pet-wellness-day-with-launch-of-new-supplements-and-probiotics-line-302445138.html

National Pet Week. American Veterinary Medical Association. Accessed May 6, 2025. 

https://www.avma.org/events/national-pet-week

Articles

Royal Canin is highlighting the importance of a personalized health plan based on each pets' unique needs with these products and designated day for awareness

National Pet Wellness Day is launched with new line of supplements and probiotics

The American College of Veterinary Surgeons (ACVS) is now accepting applications for the 2025 ACVS Resident Education Travel Grants. The 5 grant recipients selected for the award will attend this year’s ACVS Surgery Summit to be held October 23-25, 2025, in Seattle, Washington.

The program is funded by the ACVS Foundation and offered in partnership with the Diversify Veterinary Medicine Coalition (DVMC). The program’s goals are to improve access to continuing education opportunities for residents and increase representation of historically underrepresented communities in the veterinary profession, while also improving access to quality care and service.

The ACVS Surgery Summit is the organization’s largest gathering of its membership, and provides resident attendees with opportunities to learn and network. Applications to the grant program are due June 1, and winners will be notified on June 19, according to the ACVS.

The 5 grants to be awarded will provide winners with complimentary registration for the summit, domestic air transportation with an economy coach ticket, and hotel accommodations. Winners may also be reimbursed for rideshare and meal expenses with the submission of receipts and within a budget and criteria set by the ACVS.

The inaugural ACVS Resident Education Travel Grant was offered in 2024 as a pilot program in partnership with the DVMC. Recipients of the 2024 grants attended last year’s ACVS Surgery Summit in Phoenix, Arizona. These 3 winners were small animal surgery residents Anya M. Morrissey, BVetMed, MRCVS, and Pedro J. Olivencia-Morell, DVM; and large animal surgery resident Brittany A. Veerasammy, BVM&S, MS, MRCVS.

Five Resident Education Travel Grants available—applicationsdue June 1. News release. May 2, 2025. Accessed May 6, 2025. 

https://www.acvs.org/news/five-resident-education-travel-grants-available-applications-due-june-1/

ACVS Resident Travel Education Grant. Diversify Veterinary Medicine Coalition. Accessed May 6, 2025. 

https://diversifyvetmed.org/acvs-surgery-summit/

ACVS announces ACVS Resident Education Travel Grant recipients. News release. July 17, 2024. Accessed May 6, 2025. 

https://www.acvs.org/news/acvs-announces-the-acvs-resident-education-travel-grant-recipients/

Winners will attend the 2025 ACVS Surgery Summit this fall in Seattle

Travel grant program provides opportunity for 5 residents

Jb Minter, DVM, MS, DACZM, discusses the unique physical characteristics of amphibians that impact their response to anesthesia and analgesia 

Why amphibians respond differently to anesthesia and analgesia

Jb Minter, DVM, MS, DACZM, director of animal health and chief veterinarian at the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro, North Carolina, discusses the unique physiological characteristics of amphibians that affect their response to anesthesia and analgesia. The discussion is part of an interview tied to his lecture, “Navigating Amphibian Anesthesia and Analgesia,” originally presented at the Fetch dvm360 Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, and now available on Fetch On-Demand for CE credit.

Below is the video transcript, lightly edited for clarity:

Amphibians have several unique physical characteristics, or physiological characteristics, that impact how they're going to respond to anesthesia and analgesia. One of those key characteristics is that amphibians are ectothermic, or cold blooded, which means that their body temperatures are very dependent on the external environment around them. This can result in lower metabolic rates compared to your endotherms, or warm-blooded animals, which can influence the dosing and duration of a lot of the anesthetic drugs that you may want to use for your patients.

They also have very permeable skin, so this plays a significant role in drug absorptions and eliminations. So, as you put drugs on them, they're going to be transdermally absorbed through the skin, which can sometimes lead to very unpredictable dosing and absorption rates.

They also have a pretty low metabolic capacity for detoxifying drugs, meaning that anesthetic agents may stay in their system longer than some of our mammalian species that we deal with commonly.

Additionally, amphibians have pretty unique respiratory system. So, and in addition to their lung-based respiration that you and I would have, they also have cutaneous or skin respiration. This dual respiration means that inhaled anesthetic agents must be carefully monitored to ensure that animals are receiving adequate oxygenation without causing respiratory depression.

So, they're pretty unique but they're not as difficult as everybody makes them out to be. So that's why...this talk that I'm going to be [giving] is making sure that the people that are not really comfortable seeing them just have a general overview of what it is to anesthetize amphibians and potentially provide them some type of analgesic drugs.

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Joya Griffin, DVM, DACVD explains anal sac retention syndrome is and which dogs are most at risk

A brief overview of anal sac retention syndrome

In this video, Joya Griffin, DVM, DACVD, practicing dermatologist with the Animal Dermatology Group in Louisville, Kentucky, and star of the National Geographic Wild television series 

provides a brief overview of her session “Anal Sac Retention Syndrome: When to Treat, When to Cut,” presented at the Fetch dvm360 conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. In the video, Griffin explains what the condition is, what diagnosis and treatment entails, and which dogs are most at risk.

Anal sac retention syndrome is an interesting disease that as a dermatologist, I didn't really think I was going to have to do a lot of anal sac disease, and I do a ton. Because it's so multifactorial, it can be related to diet, the weight of the animals. Certain breeds are more likely to have anal sac issues. And then, because I treat a lot of allergies, food hypersensitivity and environmental allergies can cause issues with perianal pruritus and anal sac retention.

So it's really this whole kind of disease process, and we have to kind of figure out in that individual pet what the actual cause is. So, it can be a little challenging. I do like to do cytologies on my anal sac expressions to make sure that the patients don't have anal sac infection. And I do a lot of infusions and systemic therapy to treat those cases as well. So it's a whole, it's kind of a fun thing to do.

Retention syndrome is a little bit more common in smaller breed dogs. So I think about the little 'Fufus', anything that has to go to the groomer on a regular basis. So small, compact dogs and dogs that are overweight, which is a lot of our pet patients

Joya Griffin, DVM, DACVD, explains anal sac retention syndrome is and which dogs are most at risk

 Ticks are increasing in number and location. As ticks spread into new communities and neighborhoods, so too do their associated pathogens.

Ticks pose a risk to animal and human health, mainly through the pathogens they transmit. 

In the US, ticks transmit a notable diverse array of bacterial, protozoal, and viral pathogens.

 In the continental US and Hawaii, ticks pose a year-round risk, including during traditional winter months. In many places, especially in the northern half of the US, tick season is longer now than in decades past.

No vaccine options to protect against non–Lyme disease tick-borne pathogens. 

Although there are several commercial vaccines on the market to protect dogs from Lyme disease, there aren’t vaccines to protect dogs from other pathogens that ticks can transmit, including 

, a tick-borne pathogen that is increasingly detected in dogs.

The most comprehensive way to protect our dogs and other pets from ticks and reduce their risk of developing a tick-borne disease is by using a fast-acting tick control product.

Ticks pose an increasing health risk to people and pets, primarily as vectors of numerous bacterial, protozoal, and viral pathogens.

Importantly, many tick-borne pathogens that can infect and cause disease in dogs are zoonotic, meaning they can also infect and cause disease in humans. Because of the shared risk of encountering ticks, dogs are excellent sentinels for pet-owner tick encounter risk. Over the past several decades, the prevalence and incidence of many tick-borne diseases, including Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, and ehrlichiosis, have significantly increased. Several vaccines are marketed to protect dogs against Lyme disease; however, vaccines to protect people or pets against other tick-borne pathogens either do not exist or are not yet commercially available (several human Lyme disease vaccines are in clinical trial). In most areas of the US, ticks present a year-round threat; thus there is no true risk-free time of year as relates to ticks and tick-borne diseases. The expanding density and geographic distribution of several medically important tick species that bite pets and people further increase the risk of encountering ticks. As ticks move into new areas, the pathogens they carry also move into these new areas. Along with the intensifying and expanding range of domestic tick species, introduction and establishment of foreign tick species into the US presents an added an omnipresent threat, highlighted by the introduction of the longhorned tick, 

 In the absence of an arsenal of tick-borne pathogen vaccines, the most comprehensive strategy to protect pets against ticks and reduce their risk of developing a tick-borne disease is the year-round use of a fast-acting tick control product.

Ticks are arachnids and belong to the same taxonomic class as spiders and scorpions. Morphologically, they have a fused head and body and possess 8 legs as nymphs and adults. Simple characteristics of the scutum (back plate) and mouthpart can be used to differentiate the tick species that commonly bite pets and people. Ticks are long-lived (2 to 3 years) and typically only feed 3 times in their life, once per life stage (larvae, nymph, and adult). The tick species that commonly bite pets and people typically rely on a variety of wildlife species (eg, rodents, birds, deer) to maintain local populations. Although ticks spend up to 2 weeks on a host when they are feeding, most of their life is spent off-host in the environment.

To survive, ticks require hosts and environments with suitable temperatures and humidity. Ticks can be found in areas with tall grass, tree canopy, or other vegetative ground cover. These types of environments help buffer temperature extremes, improve humidity, and provide habitat for the wildlife species that ticks most commonly use as hosts. Places where wildlife species are active are places where ticks are more likely to be found. A notable exception is the brown dog tick, 

, which preferentially utilizes dogs as hosts for all life stages and prefers to live in sheltered environments (eg, homes, kennels). A list of ticks that commonly bite pets and people, as well as their general US geographic distributions, is provided (

When are pets (and people) at risk for ticks?

Different tick species and different life stages of a given tick species can be active at different times of the year. However, for most of the US, tick season is now all year; this is because there is typically at least 1 tick species active at any given time of the year. Knowing what tick species are common to a given region and when they are active will inform when pets (and people) are at greatest risk of encountering a host-seeking tick and being infected with a tick-borne pathogen. Tick activity will vary by region, based on the tick species common to that area, the time of year, the likelihood of host activity, and local environmental factors such as temperature and humidity. In general, the risk of coming across a host-seeking tick is very low when the temperature is below 35 °F.

 During hotter periods, tick activity is likely to be greatest in shaded areas or during cooler times of the day. Ticks also prefer more humid areas, which they find by living in areas with vegetation or other protected habitats. Habitats and areas where wildlife species are active are often areas where ticks are more likely to be present.

The tick species that most commonly bite pets and people (

) typically utilize a diverse array of wildlife species as “normal” hosts. For the most part, pets and people are not important in the maintenance of local tick populations. The ticks in 

 are 3-host ticks, meaning they feed on a different individual host at each life stage. Frequently, as the tick progresses through its life stages, it feeds on progressively larger hosts. For example, larval ticks commonly feed on rodents and ground-feeding birds. Nymphs may parasitize a wide range of hosts of different sizes, anything from rodents to deer. Adults typically feed on larger mammals like deer and dogs. One notable exception is the brown dog tick, which prefers to feed on dogs at each life stage. However, brown dog ticks will still bite people and cats if given the opportunity.

Once a host is located, the tick will crawl to a favorable site on the host and attach using a combination of barbed mouthparts driven into the host’s skin and reinforced with glue-like salivary proteins. The attachment process can take up to 24 hours for an adult tick. The tick salivates a complex mixture of proteins to prepare the feeding site and hide from the host’s immune system, during which they may transmit pathogens. As most tick-borne pathogens are dispensed into the host via tick saliva, the longer the tick is attached and salivating into the host’s skin, the greater the risk for pathogen transmission. After the tick finishes feeding, it will detach from the host and fall back into the environment. The attachment and feeding process takes about 3 to 15 days, depending on the tick species and life stage. Once the tick detaches, it will either molt to the next life stage within a few weeks or, if it’s an adult female, she will find a protected place to lay her eggs (2000 to 4000 eggs).

Often, pet owners are unaware their pet has been infested with a tick because unfed ticks are small, and dogs don’t often give owners cues of being infested, such as itching or scratching. Because ticks are often and easily overlooked on dogs and the longer the tick is attached, the greater the risk of pathogen transmission, regular year-round use of a fast-acting tick control product is an ideal way to protect pets against ticks and reduce their risk of developing a tick-borne disease.

We care about ticks because they 1) are nuisance pests, 2) can cause direct injury (eg, anemia, paralysis), 3) can initiate allergic conditions (eg, alpha-gal syndrome), and 4) can transmit pathogens. In the US, ticks are the most common arthropod vectors of pathogens for people and pets. 

 includes a list of the most common tick-borne pathogens reported in pets and people in the US and their associated tick species. For most of the listed pathogens, the tick initially acquires the pathogen from an infected wildlife host reservoir and then maintains that pathogen through the remainder of its individual life span, capable of transmitting the pathogen when feeding on its next host. Few of the listed pathogens are passed from the female tick to her progeny; notable exceptions include many of the viral pathogens and some 

 species. An excellent resource of monitoring where pets and people are at greatest risk for 3 major tick-borne diseases—Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, and ehrlichiosis—is the Companion Animal Parasite Council.

 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also has excellent information on the clinical signs and case incidence of tick-borne diseases for people.

 Because pets and people face similar risks of encountering ticks and contracting tick-borne pathogens, a pet testing positive for a tick-borne pathogen indicates it has been in an area with infected ticks—meaning the pet owner was also likely exposed to the same environment.

 Direct transmission of tick-borne pathogens between pets and people is exceedingly rare.

Table 2. Tick-Borne Diseases Most Commonly Reported in Dogs and Cats in the US

Unless otherwise noted, tick transmission of the pathogen occurs during the tick feeding process via tick saliva.

Transmission of canine babesiosis can also occur via direct blood-to-blood transmission or dog bites between dogs. Human babesiosis in the US is caused by 

Dog must eat an infected tick to become infected.

How can we protect our pets from ticks and reduce their risk of getting a tick-borne disease?

Below are strategies for protecting pets and people from ticks and reducing their risk of developing tick-borne diseases.

 This is not always practical or feasible, especially because more ticks are now in more places.

 The CDC outlines several strategies to reduce the risk of ticks on personal property.

 These include clearing tall grass and brush, frequent mowing, keeping playground and other outdoor activity items in sunny locations and away from unmanaged or dense vegetation, using environmental acaricides (chemical control), and restricting access to wildlife that are common tick hosts (eg, deer and mice).

 If a pet or person has been in an area where ticks are known to be active, they should perform a thorough, whole-body tick check. On dogs, around the ears, eyes, under the legs, belly, under the collar, and around the tail should be checked. On people, around ears and hairline, waist, armpits, back of the knee, groin area, belly button, and back should be checked. If a tick is found, a pointy pair of tweezers can be used to remove the tick by grasping it as close to the skin as possible and pulling back with steady and even pressure. Afterward, one should wash or disinfect the bite site. The tick can also be saved for testing or evidence of a tick bite.

Additional tick control options for people:

 People should dress in light-colored, unpatterned clothing to help rapidly spot crawling ticks and should also treat clothing with acaricides (eg, permethrin sprays [CAUTION: do not use around cats]). Treat the skin with repellents (eg, DEET or picaridin).

 There are many effective and safe tick control products commercially available to protect pets from ticks and reduce their risk of developing a tick-borne disease. The 3 general categories for tick-control products are as follows:

Systemic-acting isoxazoline-containing products:

 Depending on the specific product, these products may be orally administered or topically applied. These products work systemically and provide excellent full-body coverage.

 These products (eg, permethrin or fipronil) are topically applied to the pet’s skin and are distributed over the pet’s skin through dermal translocation to provide protection.

Similar to topicals, the active ingredients in these products migrate into the pet’s skin and spread over the body to provide protection.

Note: Pet owners should consult with their veterinarian on tick control product choice. As with any drug, product labels should be thoughtfully reviewed and followed.

Because isoxazoline drugs are systemically distributed, the tick must start the biting process to be exposed to the drug. Therefore, if the tick must start the biting process, a common expectation from veterinarians and pet owners is that the drug should work fast to kill ticks to prevent or reduce the chance of tick-borne pathogen transmission. Many of the isoxazoline-containing products for dogs have similar label claims regarding the time to control the most common tick species, perhaps giving the impression that the various products “work” at a similar speed to each other. An important factor to consider when choosing a tick-control product is how quickly it kills ticks, as faster elimination reduces the risk of transmitting a tick-borne pathogen. Additionally, it’s essential to assess whether the product maintains its speed of action throughout the entire dosing period—for example, does it work as effectively at the end of the month as it does at the beginning?

Recently, we completed a study comparing the speed of tick kill for dogs treated with 1 of 3 commercially available, monthly-use tick-control products containing different isoxazoline drugs: lotilaner (Credelio), sarolaner (Simparica Trio), and afoxolaner (NexGard).

 In this study, dogs were experimentally infested with 

 (Lone Star tick), a challenging tick for many tick-control products. The speed of each of these products to control 

 infestations was compared among treatment groups.

The major conclusions of this study were as follows:

For only lotilaner-treated dogs, significant 

 control began by 12 hours post treatment and post reinfestation on days 21 and 28 post treatment.

Only lotilaner-treated dogs achieved over 90% tick control by 24 hours post treatment and post reinfestation on days 21 and 28 post treatment.

At no point was the efficacy of the sarolaner combination product or afoxolaner significantly greater than lotilaner.

For new infestations during the second half of the month (day 21 and 28 post treatment) the time to over 90% tick control was achieved 24 to 48 hours earlier for the lotilaner group compared to the sarolaner combination product or afoxolaner groups.

Only lotilaner worked as fast at the end of the month as it did at the beginning of the month.

The speed of tick kill with these systemically acting drugs is imperative because the tick must start the biting process to acquire the drug and die. The longer a drug takes to kill ticks, the greater the risk of pathogen transmission. The speed of tick-borne pathogen transmission varies among pathogens. For 

, the agent of Lyme disease, based on controlled transmission timing studies in the US, transmission began after 24 hours of infestation. Between 24 to 48 hours from infestation, approximately 10% of hosts were infected. Between 48 to 72 hours, approximately 70% of hosts were infected. However, for 

, the agent of anaplasmosis, transmission may occur more quickly (between 16 and 24 hours from infestation). No studies are available on the transmission speed of US-sourced 

, but data from Europe suggests transmission may occur within 3 to 6 hours.

The bottom line is that the more quickly ticks are killed, the less likely pathogens will be transmitted.

Ticks. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed February 16, 2025. 

Companion Animal Parasite Council. Accessed February 16, 2025. 

The Asian longhorned tick: what you need to know and what you can do. USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Accessed February 16, 2025. 

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/maps/animal-health/asian-longhorned-tick

Regions where ticks live. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. December 18, 2024. Accessed February 16, 2025. 

https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/geographic_distribution.html

Clark DD. Lower temperature limits for actively of several Ixodid ticks (Acari: Ixodidae): effects of body size and rate of temperature change. 

. 1995;32(4):449-452. doi:10.1093/jmedent/32.4.449

Tickborne diseases of the United States. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Updated March 10, 2025. Accessed February 16, 2025. 

https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/tickbornediseases/index.html

Liu Y, Nordone SK, Yabsley MJ, Lund RB, McMahan CS, Gettings JR. Quantifying the relationship between human Lyme disease and Borrelia burgdorferi exposure in domestic dogs. 

. 2019;14(1):111-120. doi:10.4081/gh.2019.750

Preventing tick bites. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. August 28, 2024. Accessed February 16, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/prevention/

Reif KE, Kollasch TM, Neilson JC, et al. Comparative speed of kill provided by lotilaner (Credelio), sarolaner (Simparica Trio), and afoxolaner (NexGard) to control 

. 2024;17(1):313. doi:10.1186/s13071-024-06363-w

Fourie JJ, Stanneck D, Luus HG, Beugnet F, Wijnveld M, Jongejan F. Transmission of 

 ticks feeding on dogs and on artificial membranes. 

. 2013;197(3-4):595-603. doi:10.1016/j.vetpar.2013.07.026