Special Announcement # 317 Ok

The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior
has recently ripped Merials' (maker of Frontline
and many other pet products) use of Cesar Milan
in their TV ads and I agree with everything they
are saying.

I noticed this message below 3 days ago when Garrett
Rosso posted it to the NYC DP group that he moderates
but I have been waiting to learn a couple of things
about AVSAB before cross-posting their message.

WRZ

On Jun 16, 2009, at 2:25 PM, Bill Zardus wrote:

Ref:
http://www.avsabonline.org/avsabonline/images/stories/Current_Events/meriallette\
r6-10.pdf

Dr. Kathy Meyer & Dr. Karen Sueda:

Thank You for ripping the ridiculous marketing ploy
of using Cesar Milan as the Merial Inc. celebrity
shill, but but your message does not go nearly far
enough in my opinion.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Dogpark-National-News/
I am on the verge of forwarding your message
to the group above that I moderate and from there
it will be crossposted to an army of organized dog
groups that you probably have no knowledge of, but
first I need one piece of additional information:

Approximately how many active veterinarians does
AVSAB currently represent and how old is it ?

I suspect that the number one reason why we are
now reading so many problems about Frontline
is that it is so easy to create counterfeit
drugs in third world countries and then market
them in this country even for humans.

And since dogs can't talk and they are also held
in less regard, I suspect it is much easier to
do this for products dedicated to canines and
other pets.

The makers of Frontline would have done themselves
INFINITELY more good if they had spent this money
on their own website where they should have a
seperate webpage to list the "approved vendors" of
their products and thus put some of these online
retailers (with amazing low prices !), either out
of business or force them to buy and distribute
genuine Frontline products.

That would mean a lot more to me than the endorsement
of a pseudo-celebrity shill who would probably say
anything if you paid him a few bucks.

I once tried to contact the makers of Frontline
with this advice but their website seemed more
geared towards insulating themselves from the
public, than it was dealing with legitimate questions.

http://merial.com/
I just checked and the Merial website is still
just as useless as it was 5 five years ago.
Interesting that there is no mention of their
celebrity shill here.

It is surprising to me that veterinarian groups
have not figured this out for themselves and
insisted that Merial do this a long time ago.

My obvious suggestion would help ensure that vet
offices are competing with prices that are for
genuine products and it would also help the
public. Win-Win

Please feel free to use my suggestion and modify
it into your own words & thoughts as you see fit.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Dogpark-National-News/message/1169
This is the ONLY case I am aware of in the last
3 or 4 years where anyone has been prosecuted
for counterfeit pet products and if you read
this old news story carefully, it had NOTHING
to do with the vigilance of Merial or the EPA
doing their job, but rather an alert consumer
noticing a discrepancy in packaging.

Best regards

Bill Zardus
WRZ
Camden County, NJ

CC
2008-2010 AVSAB Executive Board
President: Dr. Kathy Meyer <>
President Elect: Dr. Karen Sueda <>
Immediate Past President: Dr. John Ciribassi <>
Treasurer: Dr. Kari Krause <>
Corresponding Secretary: Dr. Kelly Morgan <>
Recording Secretary: Dr. Valli Parthasarathy <>
Member At Large: Dr. Sophia Yin <>

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Re: Thank You for your message !!
Friday, June 19, 2009 3:02 PM
From: "Kathy Meyer"
To: "Bill Zardus" <ccdogpark@ yahoo.com>

Mr. Zardus,

We currently have 392 active members.
AVSAB was incorporated in 1976.

Kathy Meyer, VMD
President, AVSAB

---------- Start of Crossposted Message ----------


http://www.avsabonline.org/avsabonline/images/stories/Current_Events/meriallette\
r6-10.pdf

Please Crosspost

Dear Pet Enthusiast,

The executive board of the American Veterinary Society
of Animal Behavior is deeply troubled to learn that
Merial, a leader in the veterinary healthcare industry,
is using Cesar Millan in a promotional campaign for
Heartgard and Frontline.

We are even more disturbed to find that Merial is
cross-promoting Mr. Millan's behavior video as part
of this campaign. Merial's executives may not be aware
of the fact that the American College of Veterinary
Behaviorists (ACVB), the American Veterinary Society
of Animal Behavior (AVSAB) and the Society of Veterinary
Behavior Technicians (SVBT) have uniformly spoken out
against the punishment-based techniques employed by
Mr. Millan on his television show "The Dog Whisperer."

At best, the show is entertaining but misleading to
pet owners. At worst, Mr. Millan's techniques and
misinformation have contributed to increased aggression
and anxiety or resulted in physical injury to the pet
and/or pet owner.

As practicing veterinarians, we all unfortunately have
seen many cases of the latter. Merial claims to "enhance
the health, well-being, and performance of animals."
The use of Mr. Millan as part of an advertising campaign
speaks otherwise.

In these difficult economic times, it may be understandable
that Merial would want to use a "celebrity" to advertise
its products in a direct-to-consumer fashion. However,
had Merial taken the time to investigate, it would have
found that Mr. Millan's philosophy runs counter to the
standard-of- care promoted by veterinary behaviorists
and taught at veterinary schools.

We are deeply saddened that Merial's executives are not
more supportive of the veterinary behavior community
and its efforts to promote knowledgeable, scientifically-
based, humane training methods.

We remain concerned that your company's support of Mr.
Millan's controversial training methods through the
distribution of his video and financial support of his
show will contribute to the number of difficult dogs
and injured owners that we have to eventually console,
counsel, and reeducate. Perhaps Merial would like to
support our efforts to counteract the negative impact
of this unfortunate marketing choice that may ultimately
serve to alienate educated veterinarians, dog trainers,
and owners alike.

Sincerely,

E. Kathryn Meyer, VMD (President)
John Ciribassi, DVM, DACVB (Immediate Past President)
Karen Sueda, DVM, DACVB (President Elect)
Kari Krause, DVM
Kelly Morgan, DVM
0Valli Parthasarathy, PhD, DVM
Sophia Yin, PhD, DVM
Laurie Bergman, VMD, DACVB

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http://www.avsabonline.org/avsabonline/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id\
=135&Itemid=371

Executive Board Listing
2008-2010 AVSAB Executive Board

President: Dr. Kathy Meyer
Dr. Meyer, owner of the Veterinary Behavior Clinic
in Gaithersburg, MD, received her veterinary degree
from the University of Pennsylvania in 1986. She
has been treating dogs and cats with behavior
problems since 2000 and has served as Recording
Secretary of AVSAB for 4 years prior to becoming
president-elect in 2006.


President Elect: Dr. Karen Sueda
Dr. Sueda attended veterinary school at University
of California, Davis and went on to complete a
one-year internship at the Veterinary Medical and
Surgical Group in Ventura, CA. She returned to
UC Davis and completed a three-year residency in
Clinical Animal Behavior in 2005. Dr. Sueda taught
veterinary students and served as a UC Davis
behavior clinician for an additional year before
founding the behavior service at VCA West
Los Angeles Animal Hospital. In 2007, Dr. Sueda
became a Diplomate of the American College of
Veterinary Behaviorists. She currently sees both
in-office and housecall behavior cases throughout
southern California. Dr. Sueda’s special interests
include feline behavior, anxiety-related disorders
and the human-animal bond. She was born and raised
in Hawaii where her family continues to reside.

Immediate Past President: Dr. John Ciribassi
Dr. Ciribassi was born and grew up in Jersey City,
NJ, attended Southern Illinois University and
graduated with a BS in Biology from the University
of Illinois. He graduated from the University of
Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine in 1984.
After graduation he practiced dairy medicine in
Pennsylvania along with his wife, Elise, also a
veterinarian. In 1988 Dr. Ciribassi returned to
Illinois with Elise and he opening the Gary at
North Veterinary Center, a companion animal
practice in Carol Stream (a western suburb of
Chicago). In 1998, he began the process of board
certification with the American College of
Veterinary Behaviorists. Soon after he began the
Chicagoland Veterinary Behavior Consultants, a
animal behavior specialty practice. In 2002 Dr.
Ciribassi, along with Elise and another veterinary
classmate (Dr. Marty Johnson) purchased the Carol
Stream Animal Hospital merging with the Gary at
North Veterinary Center. In October of 2006, Dr.
Ciribassi passed his boards to become a board
certified veterinary behaviorist. He has served
as President of the Chicago Veterinary Medical
Association as well as President of the American
Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB).
He lives in Carol Stream with Elise and his
daughters Danielle and Rebekah.


Treasurer: Dr. Kari Krause
Dr. Krause grew up in Plymouth, Michigan (a suburb
of Detroit). She received her DVM degree from
Michigan State University College of Veterinary
Medicine in 1992. Dr. Krause practiced in companion
animal hospitals in the metro Detroit area until
2007. At that time, she left general practice
and formed Great Lakes Veterinary Behavior
Consultants, a housecall behavior-only practice.
Recently, Dr. Krause accepted a faculty position
in the veterinary technology program at Baker
College of Jackson, Michigan (a private college).
She is continuing her veterinary behavior practice
as well as teaching.


Corresponding Secretary: Dr. Kelly Morgan
Dr. Kelly Morgan, received a BS in biology and her
veterinary degree from the University of Illinois
in Urbana Champaign. She began a non-conforming
training program in veterinary behavior with Dr.
John Ciribassi in the fall of 2008 and is seeking
board certification in veterinary behavior. She
has been practicing small animal medicine at a
private hospital in Oak Park, IL since graduation
from veterinary school in 2005. In the summer of
2009 she will be joining the faculty of the
University of Illinois as a clinical instructor
at the Chicago Center for Veterinary Medicine.
She lives in Chicago with her fiance Rob, dog
Bludger, and cat Aengus

Recording Secretary: Dr. Valli Parthasarathy
Animal behavior and training have been Valli's passion
for over 17 years. While in high school and college
at Cornell University, she got her first taste of
applied behavior working with Drs. Kathy Houpt and
Ilana Reisner on a study of cat socialization. She
then pursued a Master's degree in Animal Science at
the University of California, Davis, studying ram
reproductive behavior. After this she traveled to
the University of Georgia, where she completed her
PhD with Dr. Sharon Crowell-Davis. Her PhD
dissertation focused on attachment and separation
anxiety in dogs. While working on her PhD, Valli
also participated in cases that came through College
of Veterinary Medicine's behavior service, which
included dog and cat behavioral problems. While
working on her PhD, she was also satisfying a private
addiction to the sport of dog agility with her own
dogs Roo and Misha. After receiving her PhD, Valli
was accepted into College of Veterinary Medicine
at the University of Georgia. During vet school,
she was the SAVMA delegate, and student liason to
the AVMA Human-Animal Bond Committee. She also
helped co-found Positive Pet People dog training in
Athens, GA with Scott Raymond, CPDT. She also worked
as a behaviorist and dog trainer, helping owners and
dogs through obedience classes and private
consultations. Valli received her veterinary degree
in May of 2006 and lives in Oregon

Member At Large: Dr. Sophia Yin
Dr. Sophia Yin, a 1993 graduate of the UC Davis
School of Veterinary Medicine, is the author of
The Small Animal Veterinary Nerdbook


Member At Large: Dr. Laurie Bergman
Dr. Bergman grew up in Englewood, New Jersey,
received her BS from Barnard College and her VMD
from the University of Pennsylvania School of
Veterinary Medicine. After Veterinary school,
she entered into an internship in Wildlife Medicine
at Tufts University, and also worked in small
animal practice, as a relief veterinarian, as
a director of a wildlife Clinic in Massachusetts,
and for a Behavior-only practice in the East
Coast. Laurie completed a residency in Clinical
Animal Behavior at the University of California-Davis,
becoming one of the newest members of the American
College of Veterinary Behaviorists. She currently
is a Clinical Specialist at the University of
California Veterinary Medical Center-San Diego
Behavior Service. She is the mother to Daniel
Owen Long, born on December 29, 2003, and two
Australian Terriers, Wilbur and Fern, with whom
she competes in agility.

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