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The Vet Vault: Veterinary Career, Clinical Skills & WellbeingAuthor: Dr. Hubert Hiemstra
The Vet Vault is a veterinary podcast for vets and vet students covering career growth, clinical medicine, leadership, and mental health and wellbeing across the veterinary profession. Vet life can be tough, but it's also good - so how do we make it even better? Host Dr Hubert Hiemstra brings honest, curious, occasionally irreverent conversations with the people making vet med better. Clinical CPD, careers, wellbeing, and the tech changing how we practise. Come fall back in love with veterinary science. Find show notes, clinical CE and the newsletter at thevetvault.com. Language: en Genres: Science Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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#171: Atopy Update: Making Skin Cases Less Frustrating. With Dr Dani Hoolahan
Episode 171
Thursday, 29 October, 2026
In theory, itchy skins should be simple to treat, right? There's a fairly limited list of things that can go wrong, and a fairly predictable list of levers we can pull to manage atopy. So WHY ARE SKIN CASES STILL SO FRUSTRATING?!In this episode, dermatologist Dr Dani Hoolahan helps us figure out why our atopy cases keep coming back, why clients aren't always following our carefully constructed treatment plans, and what we can do differently to get better results.Dani takes us beyond simply controlling the itch to building a proper multimodal management plan. We talk about the often-neglected skin barrier, why desensitisation still matters in the age of Apoquel and Cytopoint, and how to choose and combine treatments for those frustrating flare cases. We also get into the practical stuff: stopping those boomerang ear infections, making better use of therapeutic diets, and getting clients on board with a treatment plan that they can actually stick to.It's a practical rethink of how we approach one of the most common and frustrating problems in general practice, with plenty of tips you can put to use in your next skin consult.Topics Covered:Why dermatology is so hard, even when you know what you're doingThe commonly neglected parts of a multimodal atopy management planWhen to refer, and why desensitisation still mattersExplaining skin barrier dysfunction to clients, and practical ways to support itApoquel, Cytopoint or prednisolone? Choosing the right treatment for intermittent vs chronic casesManaging breakthrough itch, including combining antipruritics and topical therapiesWhat does successful itch control actually look like?Stopping those recurrent ear infections with a proper maintenance planThe role of therapeutic nutrition in skin barrier support, food trials and long-term managementPractical strategies for improving client compliance without turning every skin consult into an hour-long conversationThis episode is supported by Hill's Pet Nutrition, Australia's #1 trusted and recommended pet food brand among surveyed vets. Hill's Prescription Diet Derm Complete supports the skin barrier and microbiome as part of a multimodal approach to managing allergic skin disease. Visit myhillsvet.com.au for therapeutic nutrition information, educational resources and tools to support your recommendations.More from The Vet VaultWant more practical clinical conversations like this one? Head to The Vet Vault for access to our clinical podcasts, detailed show notes and resources to help you feel more confident in practice.And if you like your veterinary education with a side of adventure, check out Vets On Tour for our upcoming destination veterinary conferences.This episode is intended for veterinary professionals. The discussions, opinions and information presented on this podcast are for informational and educational purposes only. They are based on the professional experience and research of the hosts and guests. This podcast is not intended to provide veterinary medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment for individual pets. If you are a pet owner and you have any concerns regarding your pet's health, please always consult your licensed veterinarian.
