What are 24 of the most amazing veterinary breakthroughs in the last 10 years?
June 07, 2011 • Health & Wellness • Most Popular •
From surgeries to the latest advancements in therapies, the below have it all.
Stem Cell Therapy
Not just a point of conversation and debate for human medicine, it is available in veterinary medicine as well. Its goal is to stimulate and activate dormant stem cells ensuring maximum uptake achieving best possible results. It is offered by many practices, including Medivet, which has loads to say about it on their site.
Cancer Vaccine
In this aspect, veterinary medicine seems leaps ahead of human. This vaccine is intended for melanoma, or a type of skin cancer. Since dogs spend most of their time exposed to the sun without any kind of sunscreen, they can be susceptible to melanoma. The blogger at What Would a Dog Do has more.
Anti Vaccine Movement
Not just for parents, pet owners have now become more wary of vaccines and the adverse reactions they can have on pets. In order to better understand vaccines, veterinarian T.J. Dunn shares his decades of experience on administering hundreds of thousands of vaccines. He also includes a few true life examples of what an adverse reaction to a vaccine can be.
Laparoscopy
If your pet had a problem the vet couldn’t readily diagnose, an invasive and dangerous exploratory surgery was often recommended. With this veterinary breakthrough, the procedure can be done laparoscopically, as often done on humans. This involves only a small cut and the insertion of a small camera.
Laser Surgery
Not just for corrective eye surgery in humans anymore. Concentrated light sources can be used in spays and neuters, declaws, ear surgery, and many more. Dr. Larry includes other benefits of laser surgery.
Companion Laser Therapy
But wait, there’s more! The Lewisburg Veterinary Hospital has implemented this kind of technology with impressive results. Their laser therapy can be used for pain relief, wound healing, ear infections, hot spots, arthritis, and other common conditions. Check out the video with more.
Breed Test
Are you in doubt of what breed your dog is? Perhaps you wonder if your pooch is a purebred or even what kind of mix they are? For only $69.99 you can have this breeding test done at Wisdom Panel on your dog to determine once and for all what their breed is.
Animal Acupuncture
Because Asian medicine isn’t just for people, there is also acupuncture for pets. The American Academy of Veterinary Acupuncture says that acupuncture can treat ailments ranging from hip dysplasia to chronic degenerative joint disease. It has become ever increasing in the vet world and many are learning how to practice it themselves.
Why They Die
As unfortunate as it is, every pet dies from something. However, with this new study conducted at the University of Georgia, it is now possible to predict the most likely cause of death for your pet and be prepared for it. They list the most common causes of death, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, by breed it is most common in as a cause of death.
MRI
In another not just for humans entry, magnetic resonance imagery has come to the veterinary medicine. Making a debut at Cornell University in 2004, the first patient was a Persian cat. The imagery technology shows more resilient, detailed images than other similar technology.
Amazing Veterinarian Medicine Breakthroughs in the Last 10 Years
With a prescription for everything in humans from high cholesterol to bad mood, veterinary medicine has kept up.
Pet Supplements
Multi-vitamins, supplements, and such are no longer just for humans. According to Nutraceutical’s World, pet supplements account for half of U.S. animal nutrition sales and grew more than seven percent to $1.4 billion in 2008, adding $98 million in new sales. Most of these sales happen in pet specialty shops, with the rest in vet’s offices, health food stores, and others.
Probiotics
We’ve all seen the yogurt ads where probiotics were shown to naturally help the digestive process. However, the average pet owner just can’t crack open a carton of yogurt and feed it to their pets. No worries, the probiotic industry has many options for pets, and you can read more here.
Palladia
Did you know that over one million dogs per year are diagnosed with cancer? For some of those, treatment can come in the new form of this drug. This drug is used to treat mass cell tumors and works by blocking the activity of key receptors important in the development of blood vessels that supply tumors, as well as receptors vital for tumor survival.
Ketoprofen
The drug ketoprofen represents a breakthrough in veterinary medicine for extra-fast treatment of pain, fever, and inflammation. It can be injected after farrowing as a prophylactic against farrowing fever and MMA complex disease. The blogger at Vetsweb has more.
Benadryl
You take it for allergies, but how safe is it to give to pets? Janet Tobiassen Crosby of About.com answers the question from a vet’s point of view on how this drug can help under the right conditions. Of course, speak to your own vet before haphazardly giving an animal a people drug.
Bayer for Pets
At some time or another, we have all taken a product from Bayer for a number of reasons. Most famous for aspirin, they also have many products available for pets. This particular new release is an antibiotic for the treatment of bacterial infection in dogs and cats.
Herbal Therapy
With humans doing everything from chugging wheat grass juice to popping Ginkgo biloba, it is only natural that pet medicine would follow. The folks at Mountain Rose Herbs share why herbal supplements can be important to animals health, as well as which herbs are best for what. Choose from glycerine liquid extracts to a detox blend.
Nutraceuticals
As any owner with older pets can tell you, arthritis is often a problem. With this veterinary breakthrough, arthritis can be a very treatable problem. A Nutraceutical represents compounds found in food and herbs that may have a profoundly beneficial impact on the health of the body and include items such as glucosamine.
Dental Vaccine
If your dog is one of the breeds that is more prone to dental disease, you may have been offered a dental vaccine for them. Although a veterinary breakthrough, this blogger hesitated before shelling out the dough for this particular vaccine and shares reasons why.
Rattlesnake Vaccine
Do you live in area populated by rattlesnakes? Then maybe this is a vaccine you should consider for your pet. Just as their bites can be deadly to humans, rattlesnakes can also be deadly to animals. A veterinarian discusses more with a local news station in Arizona.
Other Amazing Veterinarian Breakthroughs in the Last 10 Years
These veterinary breakthroughs have a category all their own.
Who’s the Baby Daddy?
Not just the stuff of daytime talk shows, paternity testing has now come to pets. The University of Partsmouth in the U.K is on the verge of launching a service that offers just that, a paternity test for dogs. Along with other DNA testing, dog owners can now test their dogs DNA to complete a paternity test as well as genetic tests that look for recessive genes that can lead to canine illnesses in certain breeds.
Prosthetics
Who says you have to shoot a horse if it loses its leg? With the concept of prosthetics, or artificial limbs, coming to veterinary medicine, it can result in a meaningful and active life for pets who lose a limb. Although walking on three legs can seem easy, it can actually be very difficult and made all the more easier with a prosthetic.
Aromatherapy
With a pet’s heightened sense of smell, aromatherapy makes more sense for them than it does for us. According to Holistic Health News, essential oils also serve many practical functions such as boosting your pet’s immune system, fighting off bacteria and viruses, preventing the growth of yeasts and molds, and repelling insects. It also doesn’t hurt against offensive odors caused the pet itself.
Fracture Detection
Catastrophic bone failure led to the death of three high profile thoroughbreds in 2006. With this technology being developed at Purdue University, these microcracks in bones could be detected earlier, leading to treatment coming sooner. The technology works by recording acoustics similar to the ones used to measure earthquakes.
Info provided with permission by Vettech.org
