Weekly companion animal news: November 1, 2021

Veterinary aggregators’ ambitious growth plans could be limited by staffing shortages: Moody’s

Veterinary aggregators are growing fast, but they’re having a hard time hiring the support staff they need, particularly veterinary technicians, to maintain smooth operations. Support staff shortages “will add additional risk to the aggregators’ credit profiles as they continue to make debt-funded acquisitions at increasingly high purchase multiples,” according to Moody’s Investors Service. Shortages will hurt aggregators’ profitability by driving up labor costs, which include increasing wages and paying one-time retention and hiring bonuses. Aggregators are better-positioned than smaller, independent operations to attract veterinarians and support staff. They’ll also be able to pass some costs on to pet owners, given favorable trends in pet ownership. “Still, the labor shortage adds additional risk to the sector, given the aggressive growth strategies employed by the vet aggregators”—such as Midwest Veterinary Partners and Pathway Vet Alliance—”as they continue to tack-on practices funded largely through incremental debt,” Moody’s says in this excerpt from Healthcare Quarterly.

Facing staff shortages and high demand for care, small veterinary practices struggle to see patients

High demand for veterinary services and challenges attracting and retaining staff are creating problems for veterinary clinics in small communities like the Wisconsin village of Kronenwetter. Dr. Chris Bleifuss, head veterinarian at Kronenwetter Veterinary Care, has had to stop taking new clients for the first time. The challenges are exacerbated as the coronavirus surges in areas with low vaccination rates. For some clinics, patient wait times have gone from days to weeks. This is part of a larger trend documented by the AVMA, which found a nearly 25% drop in productivity at veterinary practices surveyed, Fortune.com reports.

Supply chain shortages at large retailers open the door for local pet product sellers in California

While supply chain disruptions have led to shortages at big retailers, it’s opened the door for small local pet product sellers in California to gain a foothold in the market, California ABC affiliate KERO reports. Bob Vella, who manages Penny Pet Products in Bakersfield, California, said he’s seen an increase in demand for natural, locally made pet treats and food. Many local businesses use ingredients from other local producers too.

Multicultural Veterinary Medical Association will host first annual virtual conference November 13-14

The Multicultural Veterinary Medical Association is hosting its inaugural annual virtual conference November 13-14. The conference will feature more than 60 Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) presenters. “As our organization continues to grow, we feel it is our responsibility to provide BIPOC veterinary professionals with opportunities to speak and for our profession to hear from these often unheard voices,” said Dr. Marie Sato-Quicksall, president of the Multicultural Veterinary Medical Association. The conference is themed RISE—Resource, Inclusion, Support, Elevate—and it’s open to all members of the veterinary profession, both in the United States and internationally. More information and registration details are available online.

Chewy’s CEO discusses the company’s expansion and profitability challenges as it enters the pet health care sector

Chewy CEO Sumit Singh describes in Fortune how the company is slowly charting a path toward consistent profitability, aiming to maintain a customer-focused culture while expanding its reach into areas like pet health and veterinary services. Chewy’s new mission statement “is to be the most trusted, convenient destination for pet parents and partners everywhere,” Singh says. “The way health care is being thought about, traditionally, in a legacy sense in physical brick and mortar, is not the future,” he says. “So this essentially recognizes that a pet and a parent in their life cycle have greater needs than just buying food or toys or accessories. There are real health care needs, there are real services needs, and we have an obligation to connect those.”

‘Genius Litter’ alerts cat owners when their pet might be sick

A new cat litter from Alpha Paw helps cat owners know when their pet might be sick. Genius Litter changes color to alert pet owners of irregularities in the cat’s urine, such as blood, alkaline, bilirubin or abnormal pH levels. The product uses “ultra-absorbent, odor-trapping crystals” to “provide a safer, cleaner, and more cost-effective alternative to other litters on the market,” according to the announcement.

Vaccine shows success preventing Valley fever in dogs

A vaccine against Valley fever, a disease that affects dogs in the southwest United States, shows high level of protection against the fungus that causes the disease, according to a new study. “I think for veterinary use, this will be huge, and I think it is a major milestone to get a vaccine,” said Dr. John Galgiani, director of the University of Arizona Valley Fever Center for Excellence, where the study took place. Galgiani said he believes the vaccine should be available in early 2023. At this point, veterinarians have no other tool to prevent the disease. Valley fever is caused by Coccidiodes immitis, a soil-dwelling fungus found in desert climates. It can cause serious illness in dogs with weakened immune systems, including very young puppies and senior dogs, according to VCA Animal Hospitals. Symptoms range from a dry cough and fever to issues such as lameness when the disease spreads outside the lungs. The University of Arizona study found the disease was either prevented or reduced in dogs that received an initial vaccine and a booster dose about a month later. Any disease symptoms researchers observed were extremely mild, KOLD News reports.

Tens of millions of used and counterfeit nitrile gloves have been imported into the United States, CNN investigation finds

A CNN investigation has found that tens of millions of counterfeit and used nitrile gloves have been imported into the United States, in many cases seemingly undetected by authorities. “There’s an enormous amount of bad product coming in,” said Douglas Stein, an expert on personal protective equipment. He believes some of these gloves made it into U.S. health care facilities, and he thinks the fraud may amount to billions of dollars. The problem stems from high demand for gloves during the pandemic. U.S. import regulations were relaxed at the start of the pandemic and remain so today, according to CNN. Paddy the Room, a distributor based in Thailand, is one particularly concerning company. When Thai officials last December raided the company’s warehouse, they found “piles of garbage bags filled with loose gloves—of different colors, materials and quality,” CNN reports. Workers at the warehouse were stuffing the old gloves into new, counterfeit Sri Tang boxes. Sri Tang said it doesn’t do business with Paddy the Room. Officials with the U.S. FDA said the agency is criminally investigating Paddy the Room.