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Spay / Neuter Plate Update - May 2012
The latest numbers from the California Department of Public Health shows that a half a million pets were euthanized in California's animal shelters in 2010. Increased spay and neuter is the best proven method to reduce pet overpopulation. The California Pet Lover's license plate, designed by actor Pierce Brosnan, is our chance to provide a large, permanent revenue stream to subsidize free and low cost spay and neuter of pets, and our chance to finally reduce the pet overpopulation crisis in our state. The $50 fee for the plate will go to fund low-cost spay & neuters.
The California Spay & Neuter License Plate Fund continues to gather pre-orders to meet its goal of 7,500 per-orders prior to the extended June 2013 deadline date required for the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to start production of the plate. According to the Fund, a total of 5,200 Spay & Neuter License plates have been pre-sold, as of May 2012.
n early May, Governor Brown, joined by Pierce Brosnan, Cesar Millan, Assemblyman Jose Solorio, City of Los Angeles Councilman Tony Cárdenas, the California Veterinary Medical Board, and California Spay and Neuter License Place Fund, Inc. Board members celebrated the passage of the extenstion, AB 610, and promoted the Pet Lover's License Plate at a press conference at Petco in West Los Angeles.
"I'm here because the first dog Sutter wants everyone to buy the license plates." said Governor Brown. "It will raise money for spaying and neutering animals, so not as many get killed. It's a great idea."
The Pre-Order Process includes:
1. The CA Spay & Neuter Plate Fund will continue to advertise and promote the plate throughout California. They welcome any and all help from supporters and have brochures and banners they can send to you if you would like to help spread the word about the plate.
2. CA Spay & Neuter will continue collecting pre-orders until they reach 7,500.
This step of the process could take months, and is solely based on how quickly they receive the required number of pre-orders.
3. Once 7,500 pre-orders have been placed, the DMV will be notified and will begin the processing and production of the plates. Like step 2, this step could also take a number of months.
4. The DMV will contact you to notify that your new plates are ready for pick-up at the DMV location you selected on your pre-order. (In the unfortunate event that we do not obtain 7,500 pre-orders in the allotted time by the DMV, you will receive a full refund.)
To get more information, or to sign up for a plate, go to www.caspayplate.com.
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NAVTA Announces New Specialty Academy
The National Association of Veterinary Technicians in American (NAVTA) recently announced a new specialty academy for their members. The Academy of Veterinary Nutrition Technicians (AVNT) is the newest specialty to become approved as an official specialty by NAVTA. The AVNT joins the nine, NAVTA approved, existing specialties: dentistry, anesthesia, internal medicine, emergency and critical care, surgical, equine, zoology, behavior and clinical practice.
"The NAVTA Academies give veterinary technicians acknowledgment for achieving advanced education, training and experience in an area of specialization,” stated Amy Butzier, CVT, VTS (Equine), Chair of the NAVTA Committee on Veterinary Technician Specialties (CVTS). “We are thrilled to have an increasing number of veterinary technicians seeking this level of specialization—it truly helps the entire veterinary health care team and the services we can provide.”
The AVNT’s mission is to enhance the skills and knowledge of veterinary nutrition technicians and promote technicians as integral members of the veterinary nutrition team. "It is important to our profession to identify nutritional issues in animals and educate veterinary technicians on how to handle nutrition related issues. Nutrition is vital to the health of all of our patients,” explained Kara Burns, MS, MEd, LVT, Chair of AVNT.
For more information about AVNT, visit their web site: nutritiontechs.org.
AKC Canine Partners Program
The AKC has a program for mixed breed dogs—AKC Canine Partners. If you have a mixed-breed dog you'd like to enroll in this program—giving him the chance to compete in stand-alone obedience, rally, and agility events—go to akccaninepartners.org! In addition to event eligibility, owners enrolling in AKC Canine Partners will receive lifetime enrollment in the AKC CAR Lost and Found recovery service, a one-year subscription to AKC FAMILY DOG, an AKC Canine Partners decal and a frameable certificate of recognition.
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The American Association of State Boards (AAVSB) has recommended that California maintain its own application process rather than turning over the responsibility to the AAVSB as some other jurisdictions have done. Since California has several eligibility categories other than graduation from an AVMA approved school, it would be much less complicated to keep the application process within the state’s control.
The AAVSB has clearly stated that they accept each jurisdiction’s application criteria, so there should be no problem with Alternate Route applicants. However, since the AAVSB has also stated that they welcome the trend away from on-the-job training, the RVTC directed staff to write a letter to the AAVSB explaining that the Alternate Route includes a significant amount of classroom education and is not just on-the-job training.
In response to a question from the RVTC, the AAVSB responded that they provide statistics for each school on a yearly basis, as long as there are at least 3 candidates from the school. California requires these statistics in order to enforce its regulation that all approved schools maintain an average pass rate for first-time test takers that is no more than 10% below the overall state average in a 2 year period. The RVTC will also be asking the AAVSB to provide statistics for candidates who qualify under all of our eligibility categories, including the Alternate Route.
Since the VTNE is administered three one-month testing windows (March 1-31, July 15- August 15 & November 15 – December 15) and not continuously like the California exam is currently, the RVTC had some concerns about there being enough seats available for all candidates. The AAVSB responded that that they would be as flexible as possible and do what was necessary to provide sufficient seats for the candidates.
The California Office of Professional Exam Services (OPES) has recommended that the California supplement that will be required in addition to the VTNE, include just questions on jurisprudence and that it be a statistically valid exam given on computer. There was a great deal of discussion about whether there would be sufficient questions to create such an exam and whether a take-home exam similar to the Veterinary Law Exam would be sufficient. A take-home exam would also be helpful in keeping costs to candidates down.
Sue Geranen, the Executive Officer of the VMB, commented that the transition to the VTNE would take as long as 1 1/2 –2 years, not 6 months as previously thought. This long transition period should provide sufficient time to work out any issues that remain. She stated that in her opinion, January 1, 2013 was the soonest that the transition would be complete.
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