Check out the Award Recipients Honored During the Recent Music City Veterinary Conference on the TVMA Website.

Disaster plans must include pets. As emergency crews respond to the tsunami crisis in Japan and flooding in California, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) is reminding pet owners in a Video to include pets and livestock in emergency plans. In the short video, Dr. Case details the simple plans and precautions that pet, horse and livestock owners can undertake to protect their animals if disaster occurs.  The video details how to prepare a disaster kit with information and supplies that will allow you to evacuate safely with your animals. The kit should include, among other things, special disaster identification tags, with your cell phone number, a hotel where you'll be staying and/or the number of an out-of-town relative so that you can be found even during an evacuation.

National Poison Prevention Week 2011: For 46 years, the third week in March has been designated as National Poison Prevention Week, established in 1965 to highlight the dangers of poisonings and how to prevent them. While this week has traditionally focused on the health and safety of people, it's a good reminder to keep our four-legged members of the household in mind as well.

State Veterinarian's Office News

State News
 Recently in Nashville, we have had two canines from the same family to be diagnosed with dysautonomia which is a disease of the autonomic nervous system. Clinical signs include dilated pupils not responsive to light, tearing, and elevated third eyelids. There may be vomiting, regurgitation, difficulty maintaining a coordinated stream of urine with a decrease in anal sphincter tone.  The cause is undetermined at present but is believed to be a toxin. Although rare, a few cases have been diagnosed in western Tennessee, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Wyoming. Most affected dogs have been from western Missouri and Eastern Kansas.

• July 16-19, 2011 - AVMA Convention 2011 - St. Louis, MO
• 2011 - World Veterinary Year - 250th Year Anniversary of Veterinary Medicine