DrAndyRoark.com

Articles, Videos, & Training on Pets & Veterinary Medicine

Andy Roark DVM MS

Surprise Summer Toxins You’re Not Ready For

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Compost heaps?! Mushrooms?! New info on grape toxicity?? That’s what we are getting into with Dr. Tina Wismer, the Senior Director of the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, on today’s episode.

Charming the Angry Client Online Course for Teams: www.drandyroark.com

Secret Sauce to Optimizing workflow: unchartedvet.com/upcoming-events/

Dr. Andy Roark Swag: drandyroark.com/shop

All Links: linktr.ee/drandyroark

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Tina Wismer, DVM, MS, DABVT, DABT, is the Senior Director of the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center. She earned her undergraduate degree from Ohio’s University of Findlay and received her DVM from Purdue University. Dr. Wismer worked in both small animal and emergency practice before joining the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center in 1998. Dr. Wismer is a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology and the American Board of Veterinary Toxicology. She is an adjunct instructor at the University of Illinois, a visiting professor at St. Matthews University (Grand Cayman), a consultant for VIN (Veterinary Information Network) and a Master Gardener.

Editor: Dustin Bays
www.baysbrass.com
@Bays4Bays Twitter/Instagram

A Better Way to Get Eye Meds Into Cats

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We have a 9 mo kitten with chronic eye problems who is starting to resist getting eye meds. HOW DO YOU TREAT THAT?

In this episode, Dr. Andy Roark and certified feline behavior consultant Ingrid Johnson talk about the value of a “Medication Station” for cats and how this tool can be used to make all medication recommendations easier for cat owners to follow. We get into positive training techniques that work, and the single biggest mistake that cat owners make when it comes to positively medicating their feline friends. Finally, Ingrid and Andy discuss easy tips for veterinary professionals to support cat owners who are struggling with meds.

Skills in 90 – Level Up Your Practice Photos: unchartedvet.com/upcoming-events/

Secret Sauce to Optimizing workflow: unchartedvet.com/upcoming-events/

Dr. Andy Roark Swag: drandyroark.com/swag

All Links: linktr.ee/UnchartedVet

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Ingrid Johnson is a Certified Cat Behavior Consultant (CCBC) through The International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC).

Ingrid owns and operates Fundamentally Feline, providing in home consults for locals and virtual consultations worldwide for clients experiencing behavior challenges with their cat(s). In addition to behavior consults, Ingrid also offers medicating consultations to help clients overcome, or get ahead of, medicating challenges. Prevention and training, the best medicine! She makes her own line of feline foraging toys, scratching posts, vertical space, and litter boxes. She lectures nationwide on cat behavior at veterinary conferences such as AAFP, VMX, ACVC and the like. She is employed at Paws Whiskers and Claws, a feline only veterinary hospital, as a tech, groomer, and office manager and has been working exclusively with cats since 1999. In the Fall of 2016 a paper she co-authored, Food puzzles for cats: Feeding for physical and emotional well-being, was published in the JFMS (Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery) and to compliment it she co-developed FoodPuzzlesforCats.com. To date it is the most popular and widely downloaded paper in the history of the journal! Ingrid’s home, cats, and environmental enrichment expertise has been featured on Animal Planet’s Cats101 show and featured in numerous publications including the website WebMD. She has created a series of educational How-To videos of her own, viewable on Fundamentally Feline’s website and YouTube channel. Ingrid regularly interviews and offers her expertise for various media outlets. She is Co-Director of Paw Project-Georgia, working towards ending the cruel practice of de-clawing cats.

Cat Fancy magazine’s 2008 “Home Issue” showcased her feline friendly accommodations and the aesthetically pleasing ways you can provide for your cats innate basic needs while still having a home the humans can enjoy. Ingrid is a huge advocate for enrichment and is determined to thwart the belief that one’s home will look unsightly in efforts to provide it. Ingrid shares her home with husband Jake, five rescue cats, and Sebastian, a rescued Great
Pyrenees Dog. Follow Fundamentally Feline on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube!

Editor: Dustin Bays
www.baysbrass.com
@Bays4Bays Twitter/Instagram

Top 5 Things I Want Veterinary Medicine to Keep

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As we tentatively re-open our doors to clients, sweep the dust from our exam tables, and consider showing close friends our unmasked faces again, normalcy seems to be creeping back into our lives. Time only flows one direction, however, and we will never go back to working exactly as we did before the pandemic. I think that’s a good thing.

At the April Uncharted Conference we had some wonderful discussions about what we are planning to “hold on to” as the pandemic winds down. I’ve been thinking about that conversation, and today I wanted to share the Top 5 Things I want Veterinary Medicine to keep. Here goes:

  1. Better Delegation – Many of us have struggled our entire lives to let other people “take work off of our plates.” The pandemic pushed us until we had no other choice. Let’s keep this skill and grow it! Delegation is key to happier, healthier doctors, leaders, managers and practices.
  2. Knowledge that we can’t see all the pets – The flood of pandemic puppies and kittens may have finally hammered home the truth that people can only work beyond their capacity for so many days before the wheels fall off. Many of us were finally forced to set actual personal boundaries for ourselves and our staff. We took lunch breaks, insisted on going home, and protected our family time. This is a good thing for everyone (including the patients and clients).
  3. Remote Work – I know it wasn’t a majority of clinics, but many took the leap and figured out how to work with employees outside the building. Whether this was a “home day” for practice owners or managers, or a virtual CSR who helped handle the phones from 100 miles away, our profession moved into a new era of getting things done.
  4. Exams Beyond the Exam Room – Veterinary clinics that have long been held back by building size and a lack of examination rooms saw there may be solutions that don’t require a construction crew. It’s hard to explain how big this discovery is, and how shackled some practices have been by the belief that an empty exam room was required to serve clients.
  5. Curbside has upsides – Some clients really like being curbside, and some practices really like doing it. Now is the time to survey clients to determine how to make this service part of our long term strategy. Just think of how curbside can increase our practice flexibility and efficiency when we refine it to become part of our normal workflow! Everything is more attractive when it’s not required.

What do you think? Are there things you will be keeping after the pandemic has faded into memory?

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the DrAndyRoark.com editorial team.

What’s in the Bag? Helping Clients Understand What They Are Feeding

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How do you talk to pet owners about what they are feeding their pets when they are buying brands you’ve never heard of?? The pet food market has exploded and dedicated pet owners are buying diets off the internet with no real idea of what they are getting. How do we, as veterinary professionals, make sense of it all? What do we say? How do we support our patients and validate their owners? Dr. Andy Roark sits down with veterinary nutritionist and generally amazing person Dr. Jackie Parr to find out. Let’s get into this episode!

Skills in 90 – Level Up Your Practice Photos: unchartedvet.com/upcoming-events/

Secret Sauce to Optimizing workflow: unchartedvet.com/upcoming-events/

Dr. Andy Roark Swag: drandyroark.com/swag

All Links: linktr.ee/UnchartedVet

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Dr. Jackie Parr BScH, DVM, MSc, Dip ACVN – When Bruno the chocolate lab was found after 27 days in the bottom of an abandoned well, Dr. Jackie Parr was one of the people he desperately needed. Refeeding syndrome, muscle loss, dangerously fluctuating electrolyte levels and more were all part of a language Dr. Parr intimately understood. After 14 years of specialized veterinary nutritional study, Bruno was exactly the kind of patient she had been preparing for.

And that’s how it’s always been for Dr. Jackie Parr: complete immersion in the science of veterinary nutrition as a means to an important end – for all the Bruno’s of the world.

A Board Certified Veterinary Nutritionist TM, and festooned with veterinary and academic designations that speak to a passion for science and animal care that borders on obsession, Dr. Parr is among the elite where animal nutrition is concerned. A natural educator, Dr. Parr is widely sought after in professional veterinarian circles as both a public speaker, and as a specialist for consults on the most unique and emergent nutritional cases. She is a passionate nutrition advocate and an accessible expert with feet planted firmly in both the academic and practical worlds of specialized nutritional medicine.

For more information: www.kibblequeen.com

Editor: Dustin Bays
www.baysbrass.com
@Bays4Bays Twitter/Instagram

How Pay for Veterinarians is Changing

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Dr. Andy Roark and multi-practice owner, veterinarian and attorney Dr. Lance Roasa discuss how compensation for veterinarians is rapidly changing and why the change is happening. Topics include the evolution of compensation for product sales, the rise of pure-production compensation, and the dirty (and increasingly common) secret of negative accrual and how it’s being hidden in contracts.

LINKS

WORKSHOP: Motivating People Who Don’t Want To Be Motivated w/ Dr. Andy Roark: unchartedvet.com/product/motivating-people/

Dr. Andy Roark Swag: drandyroark.com/swag

All Links: linktr.ee/UnchartedVet

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Dr. Lance Roasa is a 2008 graduate of Texas A&M who has bought, operated and sold veterinary practices. He has completed a law degree from the University of Nebraska, is the president of the American Veterinary Medical Law Association (AVMLA), and on the board of directors of the Nebraska Veterinary Medical Association.

Dr. Roasa is a founder of Drip Learning Technologies, a veterinary continuing education provider and guest lectures in 13 veterinary colleges on the legal aspects of medical record keeping, veterinary malpractice and veterinary business as part of the curriculum. He serves as a national co-advisor to the Veterinary Business Management Association and regularly lectures to regional VBMA chapters and the national association on the topics of growth, business metrics, and technology implementation. 

Dr. Roasa is also the primary attorney for the Roasa Law Group, P.C., a law practice dedicated to serving veterinarians in practice transactions, employment contracts and as legal counsel to startup businesses.

Editor: Dustin Bays
www.baysbrass.com
@Bays4Bays Twitter/Instagram

Animal Welfare and DEI in Veterinary Medicine

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Dr. Andy Roark sits down with Dr. Tierra Price (Founder and CEO of BlackDVM Network) and James Evans (Founder and CEO of CARE) to discuss diversity, equity and inclusion in the field of animal welfare.

CARE (Companions and Animals for Reform and Equity) believes in the inherent goodness and dignity of all people. Ex-offenders, People without Homes, Seniors, Renters, Families with Small Children, and Yes, People of Color. To that end, CARE’s mission is to bring diverse voices to the Animal Welfare industry while also advocating for a more inclusive path to pet adoption. CARE is using evidence-based tools and narratives to inspire organizations to be more inclusive and less biased. All in an effort to save more companion animal lives and elevate the value of all human life.

BlackDVM Network is a community for Black veterinary professionals to grow, connect, and advance veterinary medicine. Their members embrace their culture and realize the value their uniqueness brings to our profession.

LINKS

CARE – Companions & Animals for Reform & Equity: careawo.org/

BlackDVM Network: www.blackdvmnetwork.com/

WORKSHOP: Motivating People Who Don’t Want To Be Motivated w/ Dr. Andy Roark: unchartedvet.com/product/motivating-people/

Dr. Andy Roark Swag: drandyroark.com/swag

All Links: linktr.ee/UnchartedVet

ABOUT OUR GUESTS

James Evans is a multi-awarding winning creative strategist and leader with 25+ years of experience developing relationships between organizations and their constituents. His expertise has been utilized across a diverse group of brands, both non for profit, and for profit.

James is currently the founder and CEO of CARE, Companions and Animals for Reform and Equity, a non-profit that is using unique tools to help change the animal welfare field by addressing implicit bias using research, workforce development and narratives to help change the bias behaviors that prevent the full potential of lifesaving inside the field. James also serves on the board of NACA and has recently spoken at events such as The Animal Grantmakers Conference, Best Friends National Conference and will be a plenary speaker at the upcoming National Animal Welfare Conference.

Dr. Tierra Price is a recent graduate of Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, where she served as Vice President of her class and President of the Women’s Veterinary Development Leadership Initiative. She is currently a Community Medicine veterinarian in Los Angeles, California, but has a wide variety of veterinary interests including emergency/critical care, surgery, public health and lab animal medicine. As a veterinary student, in 2018, Dr. Price founded BlackDVM Network, a community that connects Black veterinary professionals for mentorship and advancing veterinary medicine. This safe space provides educational and networking opportunities for its members as well as a sense of belonging. Dr. Price’s commitment to highlighting Black veterinary professionals is directly related to her desire for a mentor she could identify with.In her free time, she loves dancing, yoga, reading and soaking up the sun. Most importantly, Dr. Price believes we should be able to show up as our entire selves in our career. She hopes to inspire others with her drive, authenticity and confidence to boldly take on challenges in veterinary medicine.

Editor: Dustin Bays
www.baysbrass.com
@Bays4Bays Twitter/Instagram