AAVN Newsletter June/July 2020
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From the President's Desk
Dear Colleagues,
Thank you so much to all who attended the 20th Annual Clinical Nutrition and Research Symposium last month! While we missed seeing everyone in person, we are happy to share that we had nearly 300 - a record breaking number for this event! Your patience as we worked out the kinks of two days of Zoom presentations was much appreciated.
Thanks also to our speakers and abstract presenters for your quick adaptation to our new format. I would also like to thank Angie Witzel Rollins, for her tireless work organizing the event, this year and Pat Harris and Kara Burns for helping to moderate the sessions. This was truly a team effort!
I’m thrilled to share that we have launched a new website! Please check it out at
wwww.aavnutrition.org
! In addition to a new interface, our website also allows for online membership and event management. This will streamline our systems moving forward and provide all of our activities and payments in one place! Of course, any suggestions or edits are always welcome - please send them along to
aavnexecutive@gmail.com
Happy Summer to all of you!
Martha G. Cline, DVM, DACVN
AAVN Executive Board – President (2017 – 2021)
p.s. Please share YOUR news with the membership via the e-newsletter.
We want to hear about your activities, publications and interests. Send along information to E-Newsletter Editor Dr. Sarah Abood or to
aavnexecutive@gmail.com
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Important Information About
AAVN Membership Renewal
The AAVN is now processing membership renewals online via our new website! All active members should have received an email notice on Monday, July 13th with a link to login to your profile, update your information and renew your membership. (
Please note that student members will not receive this notice and will not have profiles on the website.
)
Due to the late start to this process, memberships will not expire until September 30th, with late fee of $15 after that date.
Also, a reminder that the AAVN Executive Board has voted NOT to increase dues for the 2020-2021 membership year. The cost for an active membership will remain level at $85, retired members and 2nd year new graduates will be $42.50.
Please note that first year new graduates, life and honorary members do not pay dues.
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AAVN Member Publication
The manuscript "
Microscopic examination of dog chews:correlation of histological findings to product labeling
" was published June 12th in the Journal of Histotechnology. The lead author is Adam W. Stern, Associate Professor of Forensic Pathology, from the University of Florida and AAVN member, Dr. Laurie Martin, is second author.
The authors found that dog chews labeled as rawhide-free appeared to be rawhide based on histology. This finding impacts nutritional recommendations for those dogs for which rawhide is not appropriate.
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Congratulations
Dr. Emily T. Luisana
AAVN Waltham Award Winner!
"Evaluation of Dog Owners' Feeding Habits and Influence of Specific Hygiene Protocols."
Emily T. Luisana, DVM, ACVN Clinical Nutrition Resident
Korinn Saker, MS, DVM, PhD, DACVN; Caitlyn Getty, PhD, DVM; Lee-Ann Jaykus, MS, PhD
North Carolina State University
In-home pet food handling and food bowl hygiene practices can have adverse health impacts for both humans and pets. Safe food and bowl handling guidelines are not easily evidenced for pet owners. The study was designed to investigate dog owners’ feeding habits; and evaluate the impact of FDA hygiene protocols on dog food bowl contamination.
Procedures and surveys were approved by NCS-IACUC and -IRB. Pet feeding and food bowl hygiene data were collected from 406 dog owner surveys and 70 food bowl swabs. Total aerobic cell counts (TAC) were performed on 70 bowls and randomly assigned into Group A (FDA pet food handling guidelines), Group B (FDA human food guidelines), or Group C (no guidelines). Hygiene protocols were instituted in-home for 1 week, followed by a second TAC and follow-up survey.
Initial survey from dog owners-households indicated: 4.7% were aware of FDA guidelines; 35% have individuals <12 years old and/or immunocompromised; 44% store dog food 0-5 feet from human food; 38% wash their hands after feeding; and 32% prepare their dog food on human food preparation surfaces.
Groups A and B exhibited decreases (P=<0.001, P=0.026, respectively) in bowl cell counts following hygiene protocols, as compared to Group C (P=0.373). Hot water (>160F) washing decreased TAC (P=0.005) over cold/lukewarm water. In the follow-up survey, 8% of Group A and B respondents reported likely to adhere to protocols long-term.
This study suggests a need for pet food handling guideline education to minimize bacterial contamination of bowls, especially in high risk households.
Dr. Luisana’s prize is $1,000 and the opportunity to present at the ESCVCN.
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AAVN Announces Winners of the
2020 AAVN Blog Writing Competition!
1
st
Place –
The Rap on Recalls in Pet Food
Caitlin Holly, University of Florida
2
nd
Place – Veterinarians & the Pet Food Industry
Stepfanie George, University of Missouri
3
rd
Place –
How to give your pets TLC: Treats, Love & Care
Shannon Borynsky, Penn Foster
Look out for these blogs in future issues of the e-newsletter.
Thank you to Hill's for sponsoring this program.
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This year, thanks to sponsorship from JustFoodforDogs, the AAVN offered two raffles each day of the Symposium. Winners could select from three prizes: a CSA, wine club or beer club subscription (up to $500).
Congratulations to our winners!
Victoria L. Kerby, LVT, VTS (SAIM)
Primary Internal Medicine Veterinary Technician, BluePearl Veterinary Partners
Southfield, MI
Robin Saar, RVT, VTS (Nutrition)
Practice Manager, Ranch Docs Veterinary Services
Lethbridge County, Alberta, Canada
Travis Atkins, DVM
SquarePet Nutrition, LLC
Austin, TX
Clarissa Carver
Second year veterinary student, Colorado State University
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AAVN IS GRATEFUL TO THE SUPPORT OF OUR SPONSORS
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Scientific Program Sponsor
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AAVN Business Meeting Sponsor
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Virtual Nutrition Conferences in 2020
Starting in June 2020, the
American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) Forum
will offer recorded sessions (70+) and poster abstracts (300) ‘on demand’. Tiered pricing is available at the
ACVIM website
. 60+ hours of CE will be possible, RACE-approval pending.
The
Global Animal Nutrition Summit
will be held August 11-15, 2020 and features the theme: “
What Does the Future Hold for Feeding Animals?
” At this time we are planning on a virtual conference for all participants and all days of programming between Aug. 11 and Aug. 15, 2020. For more information
click here
Aug. 24-25, 2020 Vancouver, Canada
Sept. 25-26, 2020 Vancouver, Canada
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BSM Partners
is a firm of consultants that works in the pet food industry in various capacities. Together we have a Nutrition practice, Veterinary services practice, Research and Development practice, Engineering practice, Regulatory/Food Safety Quality Assurance practice, Supply chain practice and Business practices. Our mission is to help ensure our clients are marketing safe and nutritious products.
To streamline these efforts, we are creating a BSM Seal of acceptance that would indicate to the consumer that the manufacturer of the pet food, and the pet food itself, have followed stringent guidelines and undergone assessments to show that appropriate measures have been taken to help assure quality, efficacy and safety. Part of the BSM Partners Seal for pet food is recommending feeding trials in addition to having nutritional adequacy via calculation and laboratory analysis. Yet, standard AAFCO feeding trials leave a lot to be desired in that they don’t measure many parameters to demonstrate health when dogs eat a specific diet. In response to this, we have developed BSM Partners value added feeding trials that go above and beyond basic AAFCO feeding trials.
We would like to share our protocol with AAVN members to earn their support with this endeavor. We welcome further input from the AAVN membership regarding the BSM Partners value added feeding trial protocol. If you would like to review an example of our current feeding trial protocol please check out this link
BSM DCM Feeding Trial Protocol
(Password:
Dog AM BSM). If you would like to give feedback, suggestions or ideas please e-mail
drquest@bsmpartners.vet
. We look forward to hearing your thoughts and appreciate your support!
Paid for and created by BSM.
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Guidelines for FOR-profit Industry Content in the
AAVN E-Newsletter
- Content can be up to 150 words (approximately three paragraphs) and can include a weblink or link to PDF
- Content will be labeled clearly: PAID FOR AND CREATED BY (company name)
- Content must be approved by the AAVN Outreach Committee
- Once content is approved, the AAVN will contact you to coordinate payment.
- The cost is $300 per issue.
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Are you planning on publishing an article or making a nutrition presentation some time in 2020?
We'd love to announce it for you! Please send to the Executive Directors at
aavnexecutive@gmail.com
or the E-newsletter editor
aboodsarah@gmail.com
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Place your ad here!
The AAVN offers both display and classified advertising in the monthly e-newsletter. To learn more about space limitations and fees, please contact
aavnexecutive@gmail.com
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Have a Job to Post?
Job notices received from an AAVN member will then be posted in the following places as a service to our membership:
1) AAVN Listserv
3) The following AAVN monthly newsletter
Members are also welcome to send relevant events, surveys intended for scientific research, training programs or courses to
aavnexecutive@gmail.com
for notice through our listserv and/or newsletter.
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