The Cone of Shame Veterinary Podcast

Recent Episodes

1. 418 - Falling Trust in Research & the Data We Really Need

   Sep 17, 2026

   Dr. Jules Benson discusses the declining quality and trustworthiness of research in veterinary medicine, examining how biased, cherry-picked, and commercially-motivated studies flood the profession while veterinarians increasingly tune out the noise. He and host Dr. Andy Rourke explore how veterinarians evaluate research, the lack of clinical outcome data in vet medicine, and Benson's innovative approach at Clarity Veterinary Surgical Center, where he and his co-founder developed client-reported outcome measure software to systematically track post-procedure recovery and generate meaningful data to improve care decisions.

2. 417 - Making Veterinary Medicine Work for the People Who Do It

   Sep 10, 2026

   Dr. Isaac Bott, a Utah-based practice owner and theriogenologist, discusses his campaign for AVMA president (election July 2027) and the profession's sustainability challenges. The conversation explores how rising veterinary care costs intersect with the need to pay living wages and retain veterinarians, technicians, and support staff, arguing that veterinary medicine is fairly priced but often unattainable for some clients. Bott emphasizes retention through sustainable workplaces, burnout reduction, clear development pathways, and technician specialization as critical to the profession's future.

3. 416 - Is It Bad Medicine or Just a Bad Outcome?

   Sep 3, 2026

   Dr. Chad Brown, executive director of the Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center at Iowa State University, discusses how good clinical decisions do not always produce good outcomes, and how outcome-based judgment creates harmful bias in veterinary practice. Brown argues that hindsight bias and outcome bias lead clinicians to judge their past decisions with information they didn't have at the time, and that emphasizing process over outcomes—including communication, diagnostics, anesthesia monitoring, and checklists—is essential for training and reducing clinician burnout. The conversation explores how outcome fixation breaks good clinicians through either overcorrection or apathy, and why focusing on controllable processes supports both individual wellbeing and spectrum-of-care thinking.

4. 415 - Vet Medicine as Dark Comedy

   Aug 27, 2026

   Dr. Steve Deels, an emergency veterinarian from New Zealand and career coach, joins Dr. Andy Roark to discuss dark humor as a coping mechanism in veterinary medicine. They explore the unrealistic expectations placed on veterinarians as jack-of-all-trades clinicians, Steve's burnout journey in corporate practice, and practical resilience tools like daily journaling. Steve shares insights from his forthcoming book 'Bite Marks and Burnout,' which uses dark comedy to honestly portray veterinary challenges while maintaining perspective on career rewards.

5. 414 - What if the whole vet team got production pay?

   Aug 20, 2026

   Dr. Ivan Zak, DVM and serial veterinary entrepreneur, joins Dr. Andy Roark to discuss production-based compensation models in veterinary medicine. Zak shares his evolution from implementing salary-only pay at Galaxy Vets (believing it would reduce burnout) to discovering significant operational and financial problems, leading him to develop Galaxy Vets' innovative shared production model where all staff earn 25% of total organizational revenue divided by shifts worked, combined with employee ownership and core values-based culture.

6. 413 - Post-Op Pain and Enrichment: Are We Sedating Instead of Treating?

   Aug 13, 2026

   Tabitha Kucera, a Veterinary Technician Specialist in behavior and founder of Chirrups and Chatter, discusses post-surgical enrichment with Dr. Andy Roark, reframing the common instruction to "keep them quiet" after surgery. Using case studies of a one-year-old beagle post-foreign body surgery, an eight-year-old Labrador post-TPLO, and a five-year-old cat post-perineal urethrostomy, Tabitha demonstrates practical, low-mobility enrichment strategies including scent work, puzzle toys, frozen Kongs, and cognitive games. She emphasizes meeting individual animal needs through clear communication with caregivers, proper pain assessment, and creative alternatives to heavy sedation, ultimately improving recovery outcomes and strengthening client relationships.

7. 412 - High Quality, High Volume Surgery & the Future of Shelter Medicine

   Aug 10, 2026

   Dr. Roberta Westbrook, lead veterinarian at Pet Set in Houston, discusses the evolution and future of shelter medicine, challenging misconceptions about the field. She explains the high-volume, high-quality surgical model—where efficiency and skill enable shelters to provide affordable spay/neuter services while maintaining surgical excellence. The conversation covers shelter medicine's role in keeping pets in homes, community responsibility in addressing pet homelessness, and how modern shelters have transformed from basic adoption facilities into well-resourced medical centers.

8. 411 - New Guidelines on Canine Cognitive Dysfunction

   Aug 6, 2026

   Dr. Lisa Radosta, a board-certified veterinary behaviorist, discusses canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CDS) and how to distinguish normal aging from treatable cognitive decline. She outlines a screening protocol for dogs starting at age seven, emphasizing the importance of tracking behavior and mentation against individual baselines to identify changes in disorientation, sleep-wake cycles, house-training lapses, and learning/memory loss. Radosta recommends concurrent medical workup and symptom-focused treatment, including three research-backed supplements (Senolytics, SAM-e, and Center Life) and cognitive enrichment activities to support brain health in senior dogs.

9. 410 - How to Build Confident, Competent Early Career Vets

   Jul 30, 2026

   Dr. Andy Rourke interviews Dr. Jason Sumski, a 3-year post-graduate veterinarian who is medical director at Bartlett Animal Hospital and co-founder of VetSoap, a digital scribe technology company. They discuss strategies for building confidence and competence in early-career veterinarians, including the critical role of mentorship, psychological safety, structured onboarding, and progressive autonomy. The conversation addresses how hospitals can invest in new graduates while preparing them for independent practice and advanced clinical work.

10. 409 - A Cry For Help From the Pathology Department

    Jul 23, 2026

    Dr. Eric Fish, a veterinary clinical pathologist and laboratory director at a large private referral center, discusses the current state and future of veterinary pathology. He explores the economic pressures, consolidation in the lab industry, burnout among pathologists, and the impact of digitization and AI on the profession. The conversation examines why clinical pathology is perceived differently than radiology despite similar digitization challenges, and potential paths forward through augmentative AI rather than replacement.