Day: July 9, 2008

Kansas State University’s Beef Cattle Institute hosts international symposium Cattle roaming the range are the iconic image of the American West, but a recent video of abusive animal handling at a California slaughterhouse has increased public scrutiny of the lives and deaths of beef and dairy cattle. The Beef Cattle Institute, which Kansas State University founded in August 2007, had planned the International Symposium on Beef Cattle Welfare as its kickoff event long before the headlines. The AVMA became a meeting sponsor because its Animal Welfare Committee recognized a paucity of forums for rational discussion of beef

Veterinarians who use high, extralabel doses of ivermectin to treat dogs with nonresponsive demodectic mange and other conditions should be aware that the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine has received reports of some dogs developing signs of ivermectin toxicosis when ivermectin is used concurrently with Comfortis (spinosad). The clinical signs of these adverse reactions are consistent with ivermectin toxicosis. Elanco Animal Health, a division of Eli Lilly and Company, manufactures Comfortis. The drug is a monthly oral, chewable tablet for the prevention and treatment of flea infestations on dogs. The FDA and Elanco Animal