August 25 , 2006

Volume IV, No. 4

ISVMA Convention Program and Registration Online Now!

The 124th Annual ISVMA Convention will be held at the Wyndham Chicago Northwest Hotel in Itasca, IL on November 3-5, 2006. You will be amazed at the quality program that we have brought to you! The Convention Prospectus and registration forms have been mailed to every veterinarian in the state and our out-of-state members. You may either return the registration form included in the Prospectus or register online at:

http://www.isvma.org/events/convention/2006_convention_registration.html

Please register early to take advantage of reduced "early bird" pricing and to give ISVMA staff more accurate counts for food orders. Also, notice that the wet labs have limited seats available. Register as soon as possible to guarantee your seat!

ISVMA thanks its corporate sponsors for their generous support of our convention program. The dynamite speaker lineup was made possible through their generosity. Please take time to visit the exhibits at Convention - where 85 exhibits and show specials await you!

The ISVMA Convention is a great place to get 16.5 hours of continuing education - just in time for you to renew your license and comply with the state's CE requirements!

An Expanding Problem: Pets Ingesting Polyurethane Glue Is On The Rise (740% Increase in Expanding Glue Cases Since 2002)

(Urbana, IL) – Imagine this scenario: a young Boxer puppy chews open a tube of polyurethane glue, accidentally left out by his owners who were using it to do repairs on their home, and swallows some of its contents. The next morning to his owners’ surprise, the Boxer refuses his breakfast, and begins vomiting. The puppy’s abdomen appears swollen and seems tender to the touch. The bewildered owners take their pet to the local animal hospital, where they discover a large mass in the puppy’s stomach, and rush him into surgery to remove it. After the successful procedure, the shocked owners are told the mass was a softball-sized lump of expanded and solidified polyurethane glue.

Unfortunately, this scenario has played out many times all across the country. Since 2005, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center (APCC) has managed more than 135 cases involving exposures to expanding adhesives containing diphenylmethane diisocyanate. More astounding is that this number represents an increase of more than 740% in expanding glue cases since 2002.

“Any number of factors could be contributing to the increase, including the growing popularity of do-it-yourself projects or the increased use of this type of adhesive,” states Dr. Steven Hansen, Senior Vice-President and board-certified veterinary toxicologist for the ASPCA APCC. “Whatever the reason, due to the rising number of cases, the importance of alerting companion animal owners to the dangers of expanding polyurethane glue products is clear.”

As diphenylmethane diisocyanate may not always be listed on the label, pet owners should consider any expanding adhesive product a potential hazard, and should be especially careful in keeping such products out of the reach of their pets.

“A dog consuming even small amounts of adhesive containing diphenylmethane diisocyanate can experience serious problems as the product expands in the warm, moist environment of the stomach, forming a porous mass of glue,” says Dr. Hansen. “This mass can block the gastrointestinal tract and cause a life-threatening surgical emergency.”

And as with any potentially harmful substance, should an accidental exposure occur, it is important to contact a local veterinarian or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center for immediate assistance.

ISVMA/CVM Student Mentor Program

A few weeks ago you received a letter from the College of Veterinary Medicine and ISVMA inviting you to participate in an updated version of our cooperative mentor program. As of today, there are approximately 160 veterinarians that have filled out the Mentor Interest Form. These veterinarians will be assigned mentees in the near future from the first and second year classes.

In order to assign mentors for the third and fourth year classes, we need more volunteers! Every veterinarian has experiences that can guide and inform a student. Please become a mentor and indicate your interest by filling out the Mentor Interest Form on the ISVMA website.

ISVMA Regional Meeting Updates

Three of the ISVMA regions have released their programs and schedules for their fall meetings:

Southern Illinois VMA (Region 1)

DATE: September 7, 2006

LOCATION: Centralia Animal Disease Laboratory on Shattuc Road in Centralia, IL

TIME: 9:00 a.m. - 4 p.m.

SPEAKER: Dr. Donna Mensching (University of Illinois) and
Dr. Paul Hooser (Purdue University)

TOPIC: Neurotoxicants, Large and Small Animal; Household Hazards, Small Animal; Poisonous Plants, Large Animal; Prescription Drug Toxicoses, Small Animal; Venomous Animals, Large and Small Animal

SPEAKER: Dr. Michael Biehl (University of Illinois - Head of Clinical Medicine)

TOPIC: Update from the University of Illinois

The registration materials for this program have been delayed. Feel free to register prior to receiving the forms by making out a check and sending it to: Dr. Dena Heflin, SIVMA Treasurer, PO Box 214, Iuka, IL 62849.

Registration costs are:

SIVMA Member
$75.00 prior to August 30
$95.00 onsite

SIVMA NonMember
$110 prior to August 30
$130 onsite

Retired DVM
$20 prior to August 30
$25 onsite

Spouses and Veterinary Technicians/Staff
$30 prior to August 30
$40 onsite

Sales Representative
$35 prior to August 30
$45 onsite

*SIVMA dues are $20 and due in April of each year.

Eastern Illinois VMA (Region 3)

DATE: September 7, 2006

LOCATION: Hawthorne Suites Conference Center in Champaign, IL

TIME: Social Hour from 6-7 p.m.; Dinner 7-8 p.m.

SPEAKER: Dr. Laura Petree

TOPIC: A Multimodal Approach to Osteoarthritis (Sponsored by Novartis)

Please RSVP to Dr. John Penning at (217) 586-2297 or jjpdvm@pdnt.net by Tuesday, September 5, 2006. If you plan to attend, indicate your meal choice (prime rib or chicken scallopini and either cheesecake or apple streudel for dessert) and the number in your party. This is a FREE MEETING!

Northern Illinois VMA (Region 6)

DATE: September 20, 2006

LOCATION: Tebala Shrine Center in Rockford, IL

TIME: Registration 8 a.m.; Program 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

SPEAKER: Dr. Gary P. Oswald, DVM, MS, Diplomate ACVIM

TOPIC: Managing Urinary Tract Disorders

Dr. Oswald received his undergraduate and Veterinary degrees from The Ohio State University and completed his medical residency at Colorado State University. Gary has been the owner and chief internist with the Tampa Bay Veterinary Specialists since 1993. He is a frequent lecturer including recent trips to the U.S., Australia, Europe, the Caribbean and Central America.

We have all been to meetings where you already know 45 minutes of the material in a 50 minute lecture but have to wait until the very end to get the new information! Dr. Oswald works with practicing veteirnarians daily and has compiled current questions from his general practitioner colleagues into short practical answers. In this seminar series, Dr. Oswald has identified approximately 4-6 frequently asked questions to be answered per lecture session. Those questions will then be answered succinctly in approximately 10 minutes per question to allow time for discussion amongst the group. The pace is rapid and changing so the CE is never boring.

PROGRAM AND REGISTRATION MATERIALS WILL BE MAILED SHORTLY

Please RSVP to Dr. Gene Gambrel at (217) 586-2297 if you do not receive your registration materials before September 1, 2006.

Kankakee Valley VMA (Region 5)

DATE: September 27, 2006

LOCATION: Joliet Junior College

TIME: 2:30 p.m. Registration

SPEAKER: Dr. Lindsay McKay

TOPIC: Dermatology

COST:$65 (member) $95 (nonmember) $30 (technicians/staff)

Membership Dues are $30

For additional information or to register please contact Dr. Al Whitman at heydoc@route24.net.

About the Photo in This Issue...

The Orange-crowned Warbler (Vermivora celata) is extremely nondescript. In fact, this is one of the best field marks for identifying it! Other warblers have wing bars, black streaking below, brighter underparts or distinctive face patterns. This small warbler has olive-green upperparts, a faintly streaked chest, and yellow underparts. Its head has an inconspicuous orange crown, broken eye-ring, and dark eye-line. The sexes are similar but the orange crown patch is absent or even less distinct.

The Orange-crowned Warbler is common and widespread in the West, but is much less common in most of the East. It can be one of the most numerous migrant warblers in the western and central United States, but its numbers decrease to the east. It is typically found in shrubs and low vegetation.

The boreal-nesting form of the Orange-crowned Warbler has one of the latest fall migrations of any warbler, not leaving its Canadian breeding grounds until late September or October. It is likely that most, if not all of the early fall (August and early September) reports of Orange-crowned Warblers from the eastern United States and southeastern Canada are actually dull Tennessee Warblers. The yellow undertail coverts and blurry streaks on the breast separate it from the very similar fall-plumaged Tennessee Warbler.

I photographed this Orange-crowned Warbler in Pharr, Texas in January 2005.

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