Practical Applications Of ProbioticsMay 21, 2012 Thanks to Dannon Co. and its advertising spokeswoman Jamie Lee Curtis, TV watchers are paying closer attention to probiotics for getting an irregular GI tract back to normal. The trend extends to the veterinary clinic, too. Veterinarians are fielding more client questions about probiotics and about using the beneficial organisms to improve or maintain animal health. The first thing a veterinarian may want to clarify is any confusion between the terms “prebiotic” and “probiotic.” “A prebiotic is a type of soluble dietary fiber that stimulates the growth or activity of beneficial bacteria in the intestines and may improve the host’s health,” says Amy Dicke, DVM, technical services veterinarian for P&G Pet Care. “Probiotics are live bacterial preparations containing beneficial microorganisms similar to those found naturally in people and pets and which provide health benefits,” Dr. Dicke says. “There’s been an expansion of nutrition interest between clinic walls because we’re discovering more ways to use nutrition to improve health. Right now, veterinarians likely mention nutrition when moving a pet to a therapeutic diet, but not before.” Specialists have debunked the idea that bacteria had to come from the same species getting the probiotic. “The …
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Enlist Clients In Battle Against DiabetesMay 3, 2012 With November being National Pet Diabetes Month, veterinarians have an excellent opportunity to educate their clients about this growing epidemic. Pet owners should be familiar with the signs and symptoms of the disease, have an understanding of the disease process, and know about treatment options. By keeping pet owners actively involved in the care of their pets, veterinarians gain an ally in the battle against diabetes. The classic symptoms of diabetes are increased thirst, increased appetite and increased urination. In addition to the textbook symptoms of polydipsia, polyphagia, and polyuria, pets with diabetes may become lethargic, lose weight, have a dull coat, and in dogs, develop cataracts. Pet owners should be familiar with the signs and symptoms of diabetes so they can promptly seek veterinary care if these develop. Diabetes mellitus develops when the body is unable to regulate the amount of sugar in the bloodstream. In Type 1 diabetes (insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus or IDDM), the body is unable to produce the hormone insulin. Insulin is released into the bloodstream when sugar levels are high and directs cells to remove sugar from the bloodstream and into cells to be stored or used for energy. …
Feline Diabetes: Five Principles Breed SuccessMay 3, 2012 Diabetic cats and the challenges associated with their management intrigue me, which is why I have about 75 diabetic patients in my practice at any given time. Successful management of a diabetic cat requires a multifaceted approach that begins with five principles: • Tight control is not essential and probably not even desirable. Cats tolerate hyperglycemia without significant consequences better than humans or dogs do. • Hyperglycemia is always better than hypoglycemia. The latter can be fatal. • As long as the cat is not ketoacidotic, it is not critically ill. You do not have to get the cat regulated in the first week, or even in the first month, after diagnosis. • Consistency is extremely important in maintaining regulation. The more things you can keep the same—diet, exercise, stress—the easier it is to regulate the diabetic cat. • Monitoring clinical signs is vital in achieving and maintaining regulation. With few exceptions, if the clinical signs and the blood-glucose level conflict, believe the clinical signs. What Can Be Done Based on these five principles, here are four treatment steps: • Client education. You are the coach on the sidelines. Your job is to instruct the quarterback so …
The Changing World Of Veterinary Anesthesia Guidelines And MonitoringMay 2, 2012 UPDATE: AAHA released its anesthesia guidelines in early November. The American Animal Hospital Association is poised to release the first-of-its-kind small animal anesthesia guidelines. A task force comprising six board-certified veterinary anesthesiologists and a certified technician specializing in anesthesia created the approximately 10-page document in an 11-month timeframe. The AAHA guidelines is an all-inclusive, easily digestible document created for use by the entire veterinary team. With expanding anesthesia capabilities for the profession, Jason Merrihew, associate public relations manager at AAHA, says the association recognized the need to develop guidelines for veterinary professionals. He attributes the multitude of factors to consider when sedating or anesthetizing a healthy dog or cat, as well as the pet with one or more medical conditions a leading incentive. “AAHA’s guidelines include information on pre-anesthesia bloodwork, examination, equipment, staffing recommendations, monitoring from induction through recovery, pain management, drug choices, drug combinations, what drugs to use according to patients’ age, body type and temperament,” says Richard Bednarski, DVM, Dipl. ACVA, associate professor (anesthesia) at The Ohio State University in Columbus and chair for AAHA anesthesia guidelines. “These guidelines differ from the American College of Veterinary Anesthesiologists’ (ACVA) anesthesia monitoring guidelines because their …
Keeping Hospice In Veterinary HandsMay 2, 2012 Our focus with this article is on people who compulsively collect old or sick animals and proclaim themselves operators of pet hospice homes or sanctuaries. Unfortunately, most of these self-proclaimed hospice workers use little to no veterinary medical supervision. Their collected animals suffer to death without proper pain management, comfort care or the human-animal bond. They might have started out as good Samaritans, working alone or with a group, rescuing animals and keeping a few, then a few more. Over time, they develop a strong urge to “save” more old and sick animals that were “abandoned.” That urge develops into a compulsive disorder. They collect more and more old, sick and special-needs animals. When their animals die, they exhibit tearful distress, blind denial or experience a pathological enlightenment. Their compulsiveness to collect more animals winds up harming their animals, themselves, their neighbors and their communities. A certain percentage of compulsive collectors of sick and old animals can maintain their operations for a time. But eventually many find themselves overworked, in debt, depressed and overwhelmed. The tipping point is when they acquire more animals than they can properly care for and house. Another tipping point into …
Feline Heartworm’s A Different AnimalApril 25, 2012 A recent study at Auburn University has shown us a new side of feline heartworms. Dillon and Blagburn, with the financial backing of Pfizer Animal Health of New York, performed an amazing study1. They infected three groups of cats with heartworm larvae. The first group was untreated to see what would happen from natural exposure. The second group was given ivermectin at the time in the life cycle that would kill the immature adults but not the adults. This group showed the pathology that occurs when the 2-inch-long immature adults die; the pathology that occurred was only due to immature adults, not to 6-inch-long adult worms. The third group was infected while receiving selamectin. This group was to demonstrate the efficacy of this drug in preventing heartworm infections; its high efficacy was clearly demonstrated. The following is a synopsis of what we now know about heartworm disease in cats. Life Cycle When a mosquito bites a cat, third-stage larvae (L3) are deposited on the cat’s skin. Within minutes they enter the subcutaneous tissue through the bite wound. The L3 molt within a couple of days to fourth-stage larvae (L4). L4 migrate …
Managing Hyperthyroidism With Food? Check ComplianceApril 3, 2012 The team at VCA West Los Angeles Animal Hospital was puzzled. Veterinarians had recently begun managing feline hyperthyroidism with nutrition, using a pet food formally launched in October 2011, Hill’s Prescription Diet y/d Feline Thyroid Health. The food limits dietary iodine intake, and the staff was finding that in the majority of cats, thyroid levels returned to normal within three weeks of transitioning to the food. But one patient’s thyroid levels had barely budged—even though the owner insisted the cat had been fed only the recommended food. So team members started probing, says David Bruyette, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, medical director at the hospital. Was the cat getting treats? Never. Did it sneak bites from other food bowls? Not that the owner knew. Finally, a new fact emerged: The owner had been out of town for 10 days. And it turned out that when the affected cat’s food bowl ran empty, the owner’s husband had simply re-filled it with the same food that the other cats in the household ate, Bruyette says. Bingo. “This food is so good at limiting iodine that if the (cat’s condition) is not improving, there’s an incredibly high chance …
Hill’s Updates Guidelines For Y/d FelineApril 3, 2012 After the launch of its Prescription Diet y/d Feline Thyroid Health pet food last year, Hill’s Pet Nutrition Inc. of Topeka, Kan., has released an updated set of guidelines and algorithms to assist veterinary care providers who are managing hyperthyroid patients with the food. Hyperthyroidism is one of the most common diseases in middle-aged and older cats. Resulting from too-high levels of thyroid hormone (T4) and increased metabolism, the illness can cause a range of clinical findings, from hypertension to ravenous appetite, weight loss and excessive urination. Some cats also have concurrent kidney disease. Traditional treatment options have included radioactive iodine, the medication methimazole to control levels of thyroid hormone, or a thyroidectomy. A decade in the making, Prescription Diet y/d Feline gives veterinarians a new management tool—and so far, says David Bruyette, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, medical director of VCA West Los Angeles Animal Hospital, it has been working. Since June, Dr. Bruyette and his veterinary health care team have been using the therapeutic cat food to manage newly diagnosed feline hyperthyroid patients and those previously diagnosed that are transitioning from anti-thyroid medication. “What we’ve seen …
FHS May Have Underlying Schizophrenic LinkApril 3, 2012 Feline hyperesthesia syndrome (FHS) is an enigmatic and controversial behavioral and medical condition that most often affects Oriental cat breeds. I saw my first case many years ago in a Siamese cat that displayed the three cardinal signs: excessive skin rippling or twitching (hence the alternative designation “rolling skin disease”), bouts of manic self-grooming, often initiated by stroking the cat along its back (”hyperesthesia”), and widely dilated pupils during bouts of the behavior. The cat had just bitten one of our students, who was trying to restrain him, sending the student to the hospital for intravenous antibiotic treatment. Mercurial aggression, while being restrained, is another feature of FHS in some cats. Other odd behaviors associated with the syndrome include periods of freezing in position while staring vacuously into space, sudden bouts of running away from what appears to be some unseen enemy and apparent hallucinations (visually following things that aren’t there). Learning More In the early days, feline hyperesthesia syndrome was described as a compulsive disorder or stereotypy, but over time I became skeptical of the label to the point where I now consider it incorrect. The first seeds of doubt regarding the compulsive disorder …
Fabulous Feline Fling!March 26, 2012 Close your eyes, and imagine this…well, you can’t read this if your eyes are closed, so have someone else read it to you with your eyes closed…but not if that person is a prankster, because something bad might happen to you while you’re closing your eyes…so use your best judgment. So where were we? Ah yes, telling you what to imagine. I would have loved to get photos for you, and I did get a digital recording, but I’m not so sure they want this running on VPN’s website! It was a few mornings ago. I walk into the kitty palace, the room in which my four cats nap and eat, and the first thing I notice when I open the door is green plant material on the floor. Now we have bunnies, too, so my first thought is hay. But no, I open the door a little more and find the large plastic sack that used to hold all of their catnip, but now most of it is spread out on the floor! I open the door a little further, and see plastic trash bags askew in the room. Hmm, now they are usually stored …
