The medical practice of declawing has received much political debate over the past few years. Yet, empirical and theoretical research on how this practice is maintained and the ethical positions of those who actually participate in this work is lacking. Drawing from 9 months of ethnographic fieldwork in a feline-specific veterinary hospital and open-ended interviews with veterinarians and staff...

OBJECTIVE To measure rabies preexposure vaccination rate and identify factors potentially associated with lack of vaccination among veterinarians and at-risk staff. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. STUDY POPULATION At-risk veterinary medical association (VMA) members, their staff members, and animal shelter and wildlife rehabilitation center personnel located in a California county. PROCEDU...

Acupuncture is becoming an increasingly popular treatment in veterinary medicine. Scientific validation of the effects and benefits of acupuncture is essential for acceptance by colleagues and clients and integration of acupuncture into conventional veterinary medicine. An ever-expanding body of evidence-based research supports acupuncture as a clinically useful modality and over 10,000 referen...

Human brucellosis in South Africa (SA) is under-diagnosed and under-reported. This is because many clinicians have little or no experience in managing affected patients, and in part because of the nonspecific and insidious nature of the disease. A case of human brucellosis caused by Brucella melitensis in a patient from the Western Cape Province of SA is described, and the resulting exposure of...

For many years, Staphylococcus aureus MRSA was thought to happen only in humans. It has now become an increasingly urgent problem in veterinary medicine, with MRSA infections reported in pets as well as farm animals. The animals may be contaminated, colonized or infected with MSSA as well as MRSA strains. Pets are a potential reservoir for human infection. Transmission of such pathogen occurs b...

It has been shown that people and pets can harbour identical strains of meticillin-resistant (MR) staphylococci when they share an environment. Veterinary dermatology practitioners are a professional group with a high incidence of exposure to animals infected by Staphylococcus spp. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of carriage of MR Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), MR S. pse...

BACKGROUND Burnout and compassion fatigue are frequently mentioned in relation to veterinary work. Veterinary nursing is a caring profession and those who seek a career within this field do so because of a natural empathetic desire to care for animals. However it is the individuals who are the most caring and empathetic towards others that will be most at risk of experiencing occupational stres...

A recent Hendra virus outbreak at a veterinary clinic in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, involved 5 equine and 2 human infections. In contrast to previous outbreaks, infected horses had predominantly encephalitic, rather than respiratory, signs. After an incubation period of 9-16 days, influenza-like illnesses developed in the 2 persons before progressing to encephalitis; 1 died. Both patients...