Veterinary Vertex
Veterinary Vertex is an SSP EPIC Award–winning weekly podcast that takes you behind the scenes of the latest clinical and research discoveries published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA) and the American Journal of Veterinary Research (AJVR). Each episode explores cutting-edge advancements in veterinary medicine, offering expert insight you won’t find anywhere else. Tune in to gain practical knowledge you can apply in your own practice—along with fresh inspiration to reconnect with what you love about veterinary medicine.
Episodes
A splenic mass shows up on ultrasound and the question hits like a brick: benign or malignant? We go straight at the uncomfortable truth behind canine splenic cytology. Even when splenic FNA feels like the “do something now” step, the match between cytology and histopathology is only moderate, and that has consequences for how we advise families, schedule rechecks, and decide when splenectomy is the safe...
Routine stifle exploration during canine cranial cruciate ligament surgery sounds like common sense, until you ask the uncomfortable question: what if “doing more” doesn’t reliably improve long-term function for most dogs? We sit down with Dr. Dan Low to unpack long-term outcomes after high tibial osteotomy procedures (TPLO and CCWO) performed without routine arthroscopy or arthrotomy and without p...
Rehabilitation isn’t a luxury line item at the end of a case anymore. It’s becoming the difference between “we fixed the lesion” and “this patient truly returns to function.” We’re joined by Drs. Heidi Reesink, Denise Marcellin-Little, and David Levine to unpack a first-of-its-kind JAVMA rehabilitation Technical Tutorial Video supplemental issue and what it signals about whe...
We sit down with Dr. Lynn Pezzanite to explore a promising angle on aging-related equine osteoarthritis (OA): cellular senescence, the pro-inflammatory state where cells release a senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) that can amplify damage inside tissues over time.
We walk through why horses are such a valuable One Health model for osteoarthritis research and why this team compared synovial fluid...
Botox for the equine hoof sounds like a punchline until you learn the science behind it. We sit down with Dr. Kali Slavik and repeat guest Dr. Andrew van Eps to explore a simple but high-stakes question in equine biomechanics: what happens when you inject botulinum toxin into the deep digital flexor (DDF) muscle, the muscle-tendon unit that helps control the rotational forces acting on the horse’s foot and dis...
Zero re-obstructions sounds almost too good to be true, so we wanted to understand exactly how the data got there and what it means for everyday feline practice. We are joined by study author Dr. Kelly Tart to talk about a prospective, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial evaluating lorazepam for recurrence prevention after feline urethral obstruction in male cats, one of the most common and life-threatening uri...
What if the IV catheter your hospitalized dog already has could spare them multiple needle sticks a day without sacrificing lab accuracy? We sit down with Dr. Bryan Welch to challenge a common assumption in small animal emergency and ICU care: that venipuncture is the only reliable way to get serial bloodwork. We talk through a validated push-pull blood sampling technique that uses a peripheral IV catheter to collec...
A dog with chronic diarrhea or vomiting might also be telling you something else. That’s the core thread we pull on as we explore the gut-brain axis in dogs and why chronic enteropathy (CE) can’t be fully understood through GI signs alone.
We’re joined by Drs. Ulrika Ludvigsson and Sarah Heath to unpack how chronic enteropathy is defined (GI signs lasting more than three weeks) and why emoti...
Metronidazole has been the reflex prescription for canine acute diarrhea for years and that habit is hard to break. We sit down with Dr. Erin Frey to unpack what the data actually says about outcomes in mild to moderate acute diarrhea, including cases with bloody stool, and why supportive care often matches antibiotics for speed of recovery. Along the way, we get honest about the real reasons “we know better&r...
Guinea pigs don’t read the dog-and-cat neurology textbook and that’s exactly where clinicians get into trouble. We sit down with Dr. Vishal Murthy to unpack what a truly species-specific neurologic examination looks like for guinea pigs, why so many “standard” tests can be misleading, and how prey-species stress can flatten reflexes and hide both normal function and real disease. If you&rsquo...
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) can feel like an abstract, far-away crisis until you realize how easily it travels through connected systems and how quietly it can persist when we only watch the “end product.” We talk with Dr. Pankaj Gaonkar about antimicrobial resistance in the U.S. poultry industry, starting with a clear definition of AMR and why it is a pressing global health and economic threat. From ...
A citation can be polished, specific, and completely fake and that’s the scary part. We sit down with Morna Conway, PhD, Scholarly Journal Consultant and JAVMA and AJVR Copy Editor Vic Schultz to unpack how generative AI tools like ChatGPT can hallucinate references, remixing real author names, familiar journal titles, and plausible article wording into sources that simply do not exist. If you write, review, e...
A splenic mass is one of those findings that can flip a normal day into a crisis. You may have an older Labrador or Golden Retriever, an ultrasound that shows a splenic tumor, and an owner asking the question you cannot fully answer yet: “Is it cancer?” We sit down with Dr. Janet Grimes to unpack why that gap between suspicion and certainty is so hard in canine medicine and why better preoperative diagno...
Cloudy eyes in a kitten can be a warning sign for feline infectious peritonitis (FIP). What happens when the eyes look like FIP and then… the kitten gets better? That clinical tension sits at the heart of our conversation with Hikaru Shiraishi and Drs. Karen Vernau and David Maggs. Their JAVMA article describes “undifferentiated resolving uveitis” in young cats, a syndrome that can mimic FIP ...
Worried pet parent meets phone tree is a stress spiral no one needs—so we put it to the test. We sat down with health services researcher Dr. Simon Haeder to unpack a large secret shopper study that mimicked real owners calling nearby clinics to book first-visit puppy care. Across six diverse states, the results upend common assumptions: two-thirds of callers landed an appointment, average waits hovered around...
What if the case notes from your clinic could forecast tomorrow’s outbreak? We sit down with epidemiologist Dr. Lauren Grant to unpack a One Health vision that connects veterinary, human, and environmental data so we can spot risks sooner, act faster, and guide smarter decisions in practice.
We start by clarifying what “integrated companion animal health surveillance” really means and why Ca...
A hoof can look fine while its tissue quietly runs out of blood. We sat down with Drs. Georgia Skelton and Andrew van Eps to unpack new 18F-FDG PET research showing how static weight bearing creates sharp, regional perfusion deficits in the equine foot—the very conditions that can spark support limb laminitis in otherwise healthy horses. The findings challenge old assumptions and make a powerful case for movem...
Half of the dogs in a massive nationwide study are getting supplements—yet few products face drug-level scrutiny before they hit pet store shelves. We sit down with researchers Drs. Janice O'Brien and Audrey Ruple from the Dog Aging Project to unpack what owners actually give, why they reach for these products, and how the evidence stacks up against bold marketing claims.
We dig into the big three&mdash...
A shaggy coat and a creaky stride don’t have to signal the end of the road. We unpack new primary-care evidence on pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) showing that diagnosed horses can live as long as matched controls, even as they experience more medical events along the way. That insight changes how we talk with owners: from doom to diligence, and from a single prescription to a complete, daily mana...
What happens when the people closest to the patient lead the science that shapes their care? We sit down with guest editors Erik Fausak and Dr. Adesola Odunayo to unpack the first-ever JAVMA supplemental issue authored by credentialed veterinary technicians—and why it matters for outcomes, team culture, and the future of evidence-based practice.
Across anesthesia, radiology, ECC, and surgery, credential...
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