Secret Shopper Report About Vets

Hello Summarians!

Why can’t I get in to see my physician? Why can’t I see my vet? These are common themes that run through our lives. How can we find out the answer to some of these questions? Generally, answers can be found by either conducting surveys of people’s experiences or compiling “secret shopper” reports.

Secret shoppers are rarely done in vet medicine, so when one comes out, it can be informative. Today we have one to examine …

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Swimming Therapy For Dogs

This study investigated the impact of postoperative swimming therapy on hind limb functional recovery in dogs that underwent femoral head and neck excision (FHNE). Twenty-seven dogs were randomized into swimming and nonswimming rehabilitation groups, with recovery tracked over 12 months using force plate gait analysis to measure ground reaction forces and symmetry index (SI) of peak vertical force (PVF), along with orthopedic assessment scores. Functional recovery was defined by achieving an SI of 15% or less. 

The results showed that dogs in the swimming group achieved functional recovery much faster than those in the nonswimming group. Median recovery time based on PVF SI was 3 months for the swimming group compared to 6 months for the nonswimming group. Orthopedic lameness scoring revealed that operated limbs reached equivalence with nonoperated limbs by 3 months in the swimming group and 5 months in the nonswimming group. Despite the swimming group being older, recovery was still accelerated. 

Hydrotherapy’s benefits stem from buoyancy, hydrostatic pressure, and resistance, which support the body while facilitating motion, reducing pain, and improving range of motion, flexibility, and muscle strength. Swimming was performed weekly from 2 weeks postoperatively to 6 months. The study highlights that hydrotherapy can provide objective improvements in limb function measured by GRFs, offering a reliable complement to subjective lameness scoring. While limitations included the exclusion of small dogs and reliance on force plate analysis without validated metrology instruments, findings support swimming therapy as a beneficial adjunct to home-based rehabilitation after FHNE. 

In conclusion, swimming significantly shortened recovery time and improved hind limb function compared to nonswimming rehabilitation, suggesting it should be considered an effective postoperative therapy in dogs undergoing FHNE, particularly as part of a multimodal approach. 

Tuchpramuk, P., Hoisang, S., Kaenkangploo, D., Srithunyarat, T., Seesupa, S., & Kampa, N. (2025). Swimming therapy accelerates limb function in dogs after femoral head and neck excision: evidence from ground reaction force measurement. American Journal of Veterinary Research https://doi.org/10.2460/ajvr.25.04.0139 

Bottom line — Shortened recovery time and improved function.

Mystery Shopper For Vet Care

This study investigated barriers to veterinary care in the United States using a large-scale secret shopper survey across six states—California, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington. Pet ownership is widespread, but access to veterinary care can be limited by cost, geography, appointment availability, and social factors such as income and education. Barriers to care not only compromise animal welfare but also negatively affect owners, veterinarians, and public health. For example, animals may suffer preventable illness, owners may experience psychological distress or lose access to housing, veterinarians may face excessive demand and burnout, and communities may face risks from lower vaccination rates. 

The survey involved 5,053 simulated calls to veterinary clinics for preventive care appointments. Overall, callers were successful in obtaining appointments 67% of the time, though success varied by state and rurality. Rural callers were less likely to secure appointments and faced longer wait and travel times. Failures most often stemmed from inability to reach staff (15.1%), excessive hold times (8.2%), or staff refusal to share information (1.9%). Some clinics also required deposits or medical records before even confirming appointment availability. Appointment capacity issues accounted for 3.9% of failures. Inaccuracies in contact information were rare, which distinguished veterinary access from common problems seen in human healthcare systems. 

Successful appointments involved an average wait time of 6.36 days, with shorter waits in Texas (2.66 days) and longer waits in Pennsylvania (8.53 days). Rural owners waited on average 8.6 days compared to 5.8 days for nonrural owners. Travel distances and times were also longer for rural owners (17.5 minutes, 13.0 miles) compared to nonrural owners (9.6 minutes, 4.9 miles). State differences were also pronounced, with Ohio generally offering shorter travel times and distances, while Minnesota and Pennsylvania required longer travel. 

Aggarwal, A., Ramirez-Guillen, Y., & Haeder, S. F. (2025). Secret shopper survey reveals generally reasonable access to preventive veterinary appointments for dogs, with notable gaps in rural areas and for other outliers. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.25.05.0311 

Bottom line — Most pets were seen within 1 week, though gaps occur.

Sensors To Detect Fatal Musculoskeletal Injuries

Fatal musculoskeletal injuries (FMIs) remain a major concern in Thoroughbred racing despite a steady decline in race-day fatalities in the U.S. from 2 per 1,000 starts in 2009 to 1.32 in 2023. Most fatalities are linked to preexisting bone pathology, meaning they develop from chronic processes rather than sudden accidents, but these issues are rarely clinically visible. Because horses at full gallop make postural adjustments in milliseconds, trainers and veterinarians often cannot detect subtle underlying problems, which allows some horses to continue racing until they suffer catastrophic injuries. This has driven interest in using wearable technologies, specifically inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors, as a way to identify at-risk horses. 

Studies at Saratoga and other tracks demonstrated the feasibility of IMUs and machine learning algorithms to assign risk scores, with higher scores strongly correlated to the likelihood of FMI. Horses with the highest risk scores, especially a score of 6 within the preceding 120 days, had exponentially greater odds of suffering a fatal injury, with about 1 in 25 such horses sustaining fatal fetlock fractures. Longitudinal data improved predictive accuracy, and averages from multiple starts appeared to be more reliable indicators of risk than a single high score. Importantly, while only a small proportion of horses ever reached the highest risk category, they accounted for a disproportionate share of FMIs. Targeted diagnostic evaluation of this small high-risk group could potentially reduce the fatality rate by nearly 20%, a substantial gain without unmanageable increases in veterinary workload. 

 The study also explored risk factors. Age was not universally predictive, though horses over six years showed the highest injury rates, while none of the six-year-olds wearing sensors were fatally injured. Female horses tended to receive lower risk scores and had a lower probability of FMI compared to intact males, aligning with previous reports, though the reasons may be multifactorial. Track surface analysis showed the known trend of higher FMI rates on dirt compared to turf and synthetic, though in this dataset, differences between dirt and turf did not reach significance, likely due to sample size. As more IMU data accumulate, surface-specific algorithms may become feasible. 

The IMUs’ ability to capture high-frequency movements in multiple planes allowed detection of subtle biomechanical deviations, functioning less as diagnostic tools and more as “check engine lights” that flag horses for closer clinical scrutiny. Integrating IMU risk scoring with targeted advanced imaging, particularly for the fetlock, offers a scalable multimodal screening process that could meaningfully reduce FMI incidence. These findings suggest that concentrating resources on the small subset of horses with the highest risk scores represents the most efficient and impactful strategy to improve safety, welfare, and public trust in the racing industry. 

Mc Sweeney, D., Wang, Y., Palmer, S. E., Holmströem, M., Donohue, K. D., Farnsworth, K. D., Sanz, M. G., Lambert, D. H., & Bayly, W. M. (2025). Thoroughbreds deemed to be most at risk by inertial measurement unit sensors suffered a fatal musculoskeletal injury at a higher rate than other racehorses. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.25.04.0268

Bottom line — Has the potential for great impact.

Just putting things in perspective …