Zoetis is expanding the availability of its advanced, point-of-care veterinary hematology analyzer into Europe. The Vetscan OptiCell is the first cartridge-based diagnostic tool powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and is already available in the US, the United Kingdom, and Australia, according to the animal health company.

“With Vetscan OptiCell—and the innovation behind it—we are supporting veterinary teams to elevate patient care, enhance clinical decision-making, and drive value in practice,” Abhay Nayak, president of global diagnostics at Zoetis, said in a news release. “Animal health and the well-being of veterinary professionals are central to our focus on building a truly comprehensive and connected diagnostics platform…. I’m really excited that veterinary teams and their patients across Europe will be able to benefit from the tool’s advanced capabilities.”

Demand for veterinary care has increased rapidly in recent years, according to Richard E. Goldstein, DVM, DACVIM, DECVIM-CA, senior vice president and chief medical officer of global diagnostics at Zoetis and a former professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. In a 

, he cited a combination of pet population growth and a global shortage of veterinarians as reasons for this growth.

 In 2022, workplace burnout cost the industry an estimated $2 billion, with veterinarians reporting a "lack of resources and support" (73%) and "not enough time and energy" (72%).

Vetscan OptiCell provides fast and accurate insights through complete blood count (CBC) analysis.

 According to Zoetis, this diagnostic tool features TEF, the company’s proprietary microfluidic technology. TEF aligns cells in a single layer, enabling sharp focus imaging, minimizing errors, and allowing veterinarians to identify platelet recognition within a clump.

Vetscan OptiCell’s single-use cartridge system contains the blood sample, reagents, and waste. According to Zoetis, this system is unique in that it offers ease of use, minimal maintenance, no calibration requirement, and no cross-contamination with samples.

According to Dr Michelle Larsen, head of medical platforms, clinical studies, and medical education for Zoetis, this diagnostic tool offers precise, high-quality results and enhances clinical efficiency with its compact, user-friendly design. “By leveraging advanced AI image recognition, it enables an expert-level accuracy in blood cell characterization, moving beyond traditional size-based analysis…. This advancement marks a significant milestone in our hematology journey and reflects Zoetis’ continued commitment to supporting animal health and the professionals who care for them,” Larsen said in the release.

Zoetis announced the late 2024 launch of Vetscan OptiCell in the US, UK, and Australia during the early fall of that year.

 In Europe, the tool will initially launch in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and Spain. Later in 2025 and in 2026, Zoetis plans to expand availability into the remaining countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

For a complete hematology picture, CBC results from Vetscan OptiCell can be paired with Zoetis' Vetscan Imagyst AI blood smear, according to the release. These tools are supported by experts through the ZoetisDx portal and within the Zoetis Virtual Laboratory. The company also continues to offer Vetscan HM5, Zoetis’ first hematology analyzer.

Zoetis launches AI-powered hematology analyzer Vetscan OptiCell across Europe. News release. Zoetis. September 25, 2025.

Data on file, Study No. DHXMZ-US-24-235, Zoetis Inc.

Goldstein RE. Beyond the microscope: what’s behind veterinary technology. 

. January 3, 2025. Accessed September 25, 2025. 

https://www.dvm360.com/view/beyond-the-microscope-what-s-behind-veterinary-technology-

Nolen RS. Artificial intelligence poised to transform veterinary care. American Veterinary Medical Association. May 29, 2024. Accessed October 15, 2024. 

https://www.avma.org/news/artificialintelligence-poised-transform-veterinary-care

McCafferty C. Zoetis to unveil new diagnostic too. 

. September 17, 2024. Accessed September 25, 2025. 

https://www.dvm360.com/view/zoetis-to-unveil-new-diagnostic-tool

Articles

Zoetis' new technology is powered by artificial intelligence to provide fast and accurate complete blood count analysis.

Advanced diagnostic tool is launched in Europe

The University of California, Davis (UC Davis) School of Veterinary Medicine announced plans last week for a major expansion of its veterinary medical complex, backed by $110.5 million in philanthropic support. The expansion, to be completed within the next decade, will include a new veterinary education pavilion, a primary care hospital, an equine hospital, a veterinary cancer center, a spay-neuter clinic, and a raptor center.

Raptor Center aerial drawing and description. (Courtesy of UC Davis)

According to the school, the project aims to address the national shortage of veterinarians while also expanding patient care and advancing research in cancer, translational medicine, and other areas of biomedical science.

“This next phase builds upon a successful series of facility projects since 2016 that have continued to modernize and expand the capabilities of veterinary medicine,” UC Davis wrote in a news report.

The veterinary education pavilion will allow UC Davis to raise enrollment in its Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program from 600 to 800 students. In its announcement, the school said the upcoming pavilion will still meet accreditation standards.

UC Davis Veterinary Education Pavilion video

Veterinary Education Pavilion

Veterinary Education Pavilion video rendering. (Courtesy of UC Davis)

Fifty-seven house officers begin advanced training programs at UC Davis

Meanwhile, the complex’s new clinical and hospital facilities will increase the yearly patient capacity by 20,000, raising patient volume from 50,000 to 70,000. The expansion will also have new spaces for working on veterinary health research and treatments.

“UC Davis researchers are at the forefront of groundbreaking discoveries improving care for animals and humans,” UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May, PhD, MS, said in the report.

 “As a global leader in veterinary treatment and research, it’s our responsibility to ensure that care and compassion extend as far as possible.”

The announcement came as the school celebrated the 

opening of a new All Species Imaging Center

, created to serve as a central hub for advanced diagnostic imaging of small and large animals.

 The imaging center, along with the Meadowview Foundation 

 and an Advanced Veterinary Surgery Center, which opened in 2025 and 2024, respectively, are all part of the expansion project.

Included in the All Species Imaging Center are 4 diagnostic imaging suites, 2 control rooms, a patient waiting room, a room used by radiologists for image interpretation, and staff office spaces.

 Additionally, the imaging suites contain CT for small and/or large animals, high field MRI for small and large animals, PET for small and large animals, and a large bore equine CT.

Meanwhile, the layout of the Meadowview Foundation Dentistry and Oral Surgery Center was inspired by human dentistry suites. In the center, there are 3 stand-alone dental care/oral surgery operatory spaces, a sterilization center, a space for staff breaks, and more.

According to the university, all parts of the new facilities were fully or largely funded through philanthropy, including a $50 million challenge grant from the Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation.

$110.5M in gifts fuel UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine expansion. University of California, Davis. September 18, 2025. Accessed September 25, 2025. https://www.ucdavis.edu/health/news/1105m-gifts-fuel-uc-davis-school-veterinary-medicine-expansion

Coppock Crossley K. UC Davis unveils a new diagnostic imaging center. 

. September 20, 2025. Accessed September 25, 2025. https://www.dvm360.com/view/uc-davis-unveils-a-new-diagnostic-imaging-center

Bautista-Alejandre A. New UC Davis Dentistry and Oral Surgery Center layout inspired by human dentistry suites. 

. January 30, 2025. Accessed September 25, 2025. https://www.dvm360.com/view/new-dentistry-and-oral-surgery-center-at-uc-davis-layout-inspired-by-human-dentistry-suites

Among other things, the project is intended to address the national shortage of veterinarians.

UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine announces $110 million expansion

The Resilient Vet: Mind and Body Strategies for Success, a new dvm360 video podcast, aims to help veterinary professionals build the physical and emotional resilience needed to thrive in the profession. 

The Resilient Vet: A new podcast for a better life in vet med

Burnout, exhaustion, and difficult cases often define life in veterinary medicine. 

The Resilient Vet: Mind and Body Strategies for Success

video podcast, aims to help veterinary professionals build the physical and emotional resilience needed to thrive in the profession.

Through the show, hosts Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS, and Jennifer Edwards, DVM, ACC, CPC, ELI-MP, set out to change and improve veterinary medicine for professionals through transparency and curiosity, offering practical tips on everything from stress management and mindset shifts to nutrition, movement, boundary setting, and more.

In this debut episode, Shaw and Edwards share their personal journeys, explore what resilience means, and discuss some of their own viewpoints about veterinary medicine that may “go against the grain.”

 How is life in veterinary medicine? As we all know, it can be very challenging. Do you find it stressful? Do you sometimes experience burnout? Get overwhelmed with all the cases and the clients who, well, we know sometimes can be a challenge? How is it 

Life in veterinary medicine actually can be really great. Do you want to be able to create the physical and emotional resilience that's needed for long-term sustainability? It's available. It's not always easy, but it is available. And if that's what you want, you have come to the right place. Welcome to 

. We're your hosts. I'm Dr Jennifer Edwards.

And my name is Aaron Shaw. And in this show, we're going to share practical tips and strategies to help boost your physical and emotional resilience. We're going to discuss everything from nutrition on the go, boundary setting, stress management, physical exercises to add physical durability to the demands of veterinary medicine, and how to create the deep mindset shifts that are needed for sustainability in this demanding profession.

Future topics that we'll cover will also be based on what your feedback is for us—what piques your interest. We will do a deep dive to make sure you have the tools needed for a fulfilling career. It's always going to be practical tips—real action steps you can start applying today, inside the clinic and outside the clinic.

, so what does resilience actually mean? Resilience is defined as “the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties.” It also means toughness. The reality is [that] veterinary medicine is tough, and it's OK to say that.

It doesn't mean it's bad. It's actually great. It's an amazing profession, and honestly, your toughness is part of the reason you were attracted to this profession in the first place.

We deal with so much. We know so much. We can do so much. [There] are few professions in this world that compare, but that doesn't mean it's not also challenging.

We are here to help you to be tougher, to be able to sustain yourself, to build a great life, [and to take] care of your patients [by] interacting with your clients and your teams in ways that light you up, make you happy, and make you want to be here. The...difference that you make is so important for the people and for everybody involved. In our show, we will always have a theme of resilience. We're here to help you learn how to do whatever it is that you need to create a long-term, amazing life in veterinary medicine.

Videos

In this debut episode of The Resilient Vet: Mind and Body Strategies for Success, Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS, and Jennifer Edwards, DVM, ACC, CPC, ELI-MP, share their personal journeys, explore what resilience means in veterinary medicine, and more.

During dvm360’s Fetch National Harbor conference, 

sat down with Kristi Fisher, CVT, VRCE, to talk more about her lecture on sympathy versus empathy, and how understanding the difference can help veterinary professionals

: Starting with your name, can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

Sure, my name is Kristi Fisher. I am a CVT. I also have my VRCE, which is the Veterinary Receptionist Certificate of Excellence, and I've been in the veterinary industry for about 20 years.

: In your own words, how would you define sympathy versus empathy?

Yeah, so empathy is going to make the connection with the client where sympathy is more just, I'm sorry. It's not very personal. It is not something that develops that deeper bond with your clients, where empathy really sits next to the person, where sympathy is a further distance of saying, Hey, I'm sorry you're going through this where empathy is that connection, it's that feeling, it's the personal relation that you can do with a client that really just dives deeper into what they're feeling and your understanding of their feelings.

: How do you think showing empathy can improve client experience, especially when a pet is in crisis?

I think showing empathy in any situation can improve client and patient relationships and also the care the patient receives. The client trusts you more and has a better understanding and can relate to you more, the more likely they are to bring their pet back in for follow ups, more likely they are to actually come back to receive the care the pet needs. And then developing that relationship with the client just makes you stand out. It's not that you're just a number. It's not that you are just trying to pass them off to get to the next client. It's that you are taking the direct time sitting down with them, showing them they are important, and making sure that they're being heard.

: What are some signs that a client might be feeling guilty, and how would you respond to them?

: Yeah, so when a client feels guilty, most of the time it comes off as anger. Anger, embarrassment, or fear and that could be led by so many things. Maybe they cannot afford treatment, maybe they are embarrassed they waited so long to have their pet seen and that is where empathy really needs to come in over sympathy. Where you can say I understand things like this are easily missed, you are not alone in these feelings, we are here to help you in this moment instead of just saying I’m sorry this is the situation. Again, it just develops that deeper relationship that really proves to the client that you care and you want to be able to help them further.

Kristi Fisher, CVT, VRCE, shares more about empathy vs sympathy in this interview with dvm360.

Fetch Faculty Q&A: Kristi Fisher, CVT, VRCE

Meghan Herron, DVM, DACVB, FFCV, discusses the most concerning infectious disease and parasites for which protective treatments are available.

Prioritizing preventive medicine

What diseases should most concern veterinary teams? Meghan Herron, DVM, DACVB, FFCV, a senior director of behavior, research, and education at Gigi’s, a shelter organization in Ohio, discusses which infectious disease poses the biggest risk to the pet population and prioritizing protective treatments against parasites, in a 

interview recorded at the Kansas City Convention Center in Missouri.

Herron delivered a series of continuing education (CE) sessions at the 2025 Fetch dvm360 Conference in Kansas City. Her topics included “Puppy socialization or infectious disease prevention: Can’t we have both?” This CE session addressed the consequences of failure to adequately socialize puppies at a time they are most vulnerable to infectious diseases, and how to achieve both missions of setting up young canines for behavioral success while also protecting them from viruses and parasites.

The following is a transcript of the video:

: The biggest infectious disease risk that has us all in terror is going to be canine parvovirus. So making sure that we are providing vaccination on regular schedules. Remember that our puppies are competing with maternal antibodies and vaccines will often be annihilated, essentially, by maternal antibodies, and so we need to be vaccinating them at regular intervals. If they're in a shelter, as early as 4 weeks of age, and then following that, every 2 to 4 weeks until we're at 16 to 20 weeks of age. So that is your first step.

We also can't forget about endo and ectoparasites. So making sure that we have our ectoparasite control for fleas and ticks, we have our endo parasite. [With] puppies—'worms and germs,’ as my kids like to say—we want to protect them with regular deworming as well as prevention. But it often comes with our monthly heart worm prevention, so that we are keeping them free of those worms and germs, because we take for granted that endo and ecto parasitism can actually cause quite a bit of harm to these puppies as well.

You can also learn more and register for the 2026 Fetch dvm360 Conference in Kansas City

Meghan Herron, DVM, DACVB, FFCV, discusses the most concerning infectious disease and parasites for which protective treatments are available, in a dvm360 interview.

The Florida Veterinary Medical Association (FVMA) Foundation and the nonprofit foundation Frankie’s Friends have partnered together to help save pets’ lives. The partnership’s mission is to provide grants to assist with the cost of lifesaving or life-enhancing emergency or specialty care for pets whose families are unable to afford the full cost of treatment, according to a news release.

“This partnership is really going to be vital to increase awareness of Frankie’s Friends for the families who have never heard of us before,” Danielle Martin, executive director of Frankie's Friends, said in the release. “It’s step 1 in the relationship of showing what is possible when the veterinary community and our foundation work together to really make an impact on pets all across the country.”

The partnership assists animals in need of lifesaving emergency care and will support veterinary professionals who want to deliver that care. “We as veterinarians are taught to save, and when finances come in and play a part, it makes it hard,” Beth Keser, DVM, FVMA District 5 representative, said in the release. “If [pet owners] don’t have the finances, then it’s a difficult conversation we have to have, and it breaks our heart.”

This partnership has already saved a pet’s life. Binx, a 1-year-old kitten, received lifesaving emergency surgery for a foreign body obstruction after his owner was unable to afford the feline’s care due to a car accident that left her bank account drained. The FVMA Foundation, along with Frankie's Friends, stepped in and provided the necessary funds to cover Binx’s care, saving his life.

“With every single fiber of my being, thank you,” said Binx’s owner, who asked to remain anonymous. “[The FVMA Foundation and Frankie’s Friends] made the difference between me having to give up my pet and being able to keep him, and I will be forever grateful. My life has not been easy, and this money, this break, truly saved Binx’s and my life. I will definitely be donating to this wonderful fund after Binx and I recover from this.”

Binx’s story is why the partnership exists and why the FVMA Foundation and Frankie’s Friends are fully dedicated to saving the lives of pets who can live a long, healthy, and fulfilling life if they can get the care they need, according to the foundation. The FVMA Foundation’s Crucial Care Fund and Frankie’s Friends are another vital resource veterinarians can offer clients, which will help make veterinarians’ jobs that much easier to bear, Keser added.

Frankie’s Friends was founded in 1999, helping more than 1500 animals in need of assistance each year with the goal of bridging the gap between what’s medically possible and financially feasible for pets in need. For more information regarding the FVMA Foundation and its partnership with Frankie’s Friends, including how to donate, please visit 

FVMA Foundation, Frankie’s Friends announce partnership. News release. Florida Veterinary Medical Association. September 19, 2025. https://fvma.org/fvma-foundation-frankies-friends-announce-partnership/ 

The Florida Veterinary Medical Association and the nonprofit organization Frankie's Friends are collaborating to provide grants that cover the cost of lifesaving emergency care. 