Penney Adams/Adler House Photography
Penney Adams/Adler House Photography
Dr. Meghan Herron is an associate professor in the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences and the current head of the Behavioral Medicine Service at The Ohio State University Veterinary Medical Center. There she provides behavioral medicine services to dogs and cats with behavior issues, including, but not limited to, human-directed aggression, inter-pet aggression, separation anxiety, inappropriate elimination, fears, phobias, compulsive behaviors, and cognitive dysfunction. When not treating patients, she has the privilege of educating future veterinarians on animal behavior, problem prevention, and treatment strategies, as well as mentoring behavioral medicine residents who will move on to become board-certified veterinary behaviorists.
Dr. Herron graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in zoology and is a graduate of The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine. She started her veterinary career as a general practitioner for both dogs and cats and eventually moved on to complete a three-year residency program in behavioral medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. She is board-certified by and an active member of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists. Dr. Herron has extensive experience working with shelter and rescue animals in both the Columbus and Philadelphia areas. She has a strong interest in behavior problem prevention and improving the quality of life and adoptability of shelter animals. She has published articles in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, Topics in Companion Animal Medicine, Compendium, Veterinary Clinics of North America Small Animal Practice, and Journal of Veterinary Behavior.
As a frequent speaker, Dr. Herron has presented lectures around the globe, providing veterinarians, animal care personnel, and pet owners with information that is entertaining, educational, and scientifically sound. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Josh; daughters Rowan and Amelia; the laziest French Bulldog who ever lived, Nero; her spunky little Chihuahua, Willett; and a most playful black cat, Junebug. Sadly, her Sphynx, Mr. Girard Bigglesworth, pictured in her photo, passed away shortly before Decoding Your Cat was completed.
Courtesy of Debra F. Horwitz
Dr. Debra Horwitz is a graduate of Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine and a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists. She has had a referral practice for behavior problems in companion animals for over thirty years and is currently located in St. Louis, Missouri. In 2012, she received the Veterinarian of the Year award from Ceva Animal Health at the 57th Annual Purina Pro Plan Show Dogs of the Year Awards, and was voted 2012 and 2014 North American Veterinary Conference Small Animal Speaker of the Year.
Dr. Horwitz is a frequent lecturer at numerous national and international veterinary meetings, including the North American Veterinary Conference, the Western Veterinary Conference, the American Animal Hospital Association annual meeting, the American Veterinary Medical Association annual convention, the Australian Veterinary Association, and the Madrid Veterinary Congress. Her articles on companion animal behavior have appeared in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Veterinary Forum, Compendium, Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association, NAVC Clinician’s Brief, and books on behavior for pet owners. She also serves on several advisory boards for corporations and publications related to animal behavior, health, and welfare. She appears locally and nationally on radio and television, as well as in local print publications and lectures.
Her most recent book for veterinarians, Blackwell’s Five-Minute Veterinary Consult Clinical Companion: Canine and Feline Behavior, 2nd edition, was published in 2018 (the first edition, coauthored with Dr. Jacqueline Neilson, was published in 2007). She is coeditor and author of the BSAVA Manual of Canine and Feline Behavioural Medicine, 1st and 2nd editions. She is the behavior section editor for Blackwell’s Five-Minute Veterinary Consult, 3rd, 4th, and 5th editions. She is coauthor of the Lifelearn Behavior Client Handouts, available on CD and online. Dr. Horwitz was the lead editor for Decoding Your Dog, a book for pet owners written by members of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2014.
Dr. Horwitz is actively involved in organized veterinary medicine, serving on numerous committees for the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists, and is a past president of the ACVB. She has also served on the Committee for the Human-Animal Bond of the American Veterinary Medical Association. She is a member of the Greater St. Louis Veterinary Medical Association, the Missouri Veterinary Medical Association, and the American Veterinary Medical Association. Locally, she has helped train behavior helpline associates at the Humane Society of Missouri and the Nestlé Purina PetCare Office of Consumer Affairs.
John Donges/PennVet
Born in Italy, Dr. Carlo Siracusa got his DVM from the University of Messina, Italy, and his PhD from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain, defending a thesis on perioperative stress in dogs and the effect of pheromone therapy. He completed his residency in animal behavior at the School of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, where he is currently an associate professor of clinical animal behavior and welfare and the director of the Animal Behavior Service.
Carlo is board-certified by the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists, of which he is president, and by the European College of Animal Welfare and Behavioural Medicine. His research interests are focused on canine stress evaluation and control; canine and feline temperament evaluation; prognostic factors and treatment outcomes of behavior problems; and behavior and cognitive changes in dogs with medical disease.
Carlo was a breeder of Persians, British Shorthairs, and Scottish Folds and now shares his life with Elsa, a dilute calico domestic shorthair.