Is Early Neutering Hurting Pets?January 16, 2012Early neutering has become the norm in the U.S. Some states are asking voters to pass initiatives requiring citizens to sterilize their pets no later than puberty. Overpopulation is the driver. But what if large-scale studies found that early neutering jeopardizes the health of our pets? What if we found enough epidemiological evidence that early neutering of pet dogs may open them to orthopedic, behavioral, immunologic and oncologic issues? A veterinarian who treats canine athletes has raised questions about early neutering. In an opinion article, Christine Zink, DVM, Ph.D., Dipl. ACVP, weighs the advantages and disadvantages of early versus late neutering when considering the performance and health of canine athletes. The article, “Early Spay-Neuter Considerations for the Canine Athlete: One Veterinarian’s Opinion,” appears on Dr. Zink’s website. Click here to review the thought-provoking article and to look at the references. Zink assembled 18 references to support her article. Some show that dogs spayed or neutered early are taller than dogs spayed at an older age. Zink notes that sex hormones have a role in bone density. She concludes that the structural and physiological differences in dogs neutered early may be the reason veterinarians are seeing a …
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Gentle Man, Strong LeaderJanuary 6, 2012 For Roy Smith, DVM, it was always about the cats. Ever since he was a 14-year-old aspiring veterinarian, Dr. Smith knew he wanted to open a feline-only practice that allowed him to treat his preferred species. Fifty years later, his dream has been fulfilled—and then some. Smith owns and operates Central Texas Cat Hospital in Round Rock, Texas, and is the president-elect of the American Association of Feline Practitioners. “I love our profession and think it’s the greatest one in the world,” he says, emphasizing his dedication to both his clients and the veterinary community. “We have a lot of challenges coming our way right now to keep it that way, and it’s what keeps me going. There are a lot of good people helping out, and I want to do the same for the veterinarians coming along. Pass it on. It’s what keeps me going.” Roy Smith, DVM, with Howie, the stray cat who was discovered near a trash bin with a mangled eye and in a coma. Smith nursed him back to health. The formerly feral cat now calls Central Texas Cat Hospital home. His efforts caught the attention of the …
Supplement Can Bolster Pets’ Anxiety TreatmentJanuary 5, 2012When it comes to pets, fears, anxieties and phobias are more common than most people realize. In people—at least some of them—logic and reasoning can be used to help that person understand that an object, noise or event is not as scary as it may seem. But for pets, their perception is their reality. No amount of discussion or psychotherapy can change their minds about a situation that seems threatening or dangerous to them. In a national online survey about anxiety in pets, nearly 40 percent of pet owners who responded say they have at least one pet that experiences anxiety.1 Possible contributing factors to anxious behavior may be a lack of proper socialization, some traumatic event, genetic predisposition, and even cognitive decline. As an animal ages, hearing and sight may be compromised, and with confusion or even discomfort from arthritis, that can result in a more stressed or anxious pet. Nearly a third of the owners who responded to the online survey say their pets’ fears and anxieties are “extremely or very” problematic, while 44 percent say it is “somewhat” problematic. And 70 percent say the anxiety their pet experiences occurs “fairly often” or “frequently.” It …
Let’s Regard End Of Life As A Distinct StageJanuary 4, 2012 While I discussed end of life (EoL) care with Dr. Don DeForge on Connecticut radio, an exciting idea flashed through my mind. We were finishing a 45-minute discussion when I said, “It is time for us to declare, once and for all, that end of life is a distinctly new stage of life. Veterinarians were taught to support four main stages of life. We were not educated to focus our professional attention and develop the skills and expertise for the very important and inevitable ‘End of Life Stage.’ “We need to provide more EoL services because society’s human-animal bond demands more care in this area despite the recession and fewer office visits.” The main life stages we are educated to support are: • Puppy and kitten stage • Adult stage • Senior stage • Geriatric stage I propose a fifth life stage, the End of Life Stage. It is the only life stage that can occur during the other stages. With luck, EoL may not impose itself on the kitten and puppy stage, but sometimes it does. Let’s start thinking about EoL as an inevitable life stage that deserves more focus and expertise in management. …
Nutrition And Advanced Diagnostics Can Combat Parasite Plagues, Other GI ConditionsNovember 9, 2011 Primary care veterinarians and internal medicine specialists alike say gastrointestinal (GI) disease comprises up to 25 percent of their caseloads. Diagnosing and treating the array of chronic cases can be complex. With new pet foods created to prevent or maintain certain GI conditions, new in-house testing and diagnostic tools, more patients and clients can eliminate acute disease or minimize symptom flare ups in maintaining chronic cases. “Parasites, digestive disturbances and food allergies are the most commonly seen GI issues,” says Cade Wilson, DVM, of Carter County Animal Hospital P.C. Ardmore, Okla. “But giardia, GI cancer, GDV are other conditions that require more work to treat. Giardia could be difficult to identify before the new SNAP giardia test was developed and chronic conditions require diagnostic tools or surgery to identify.” Richard E. Goldstein, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, Dipl. ECVIM, associate professor of small animal medicine at Cornell University, says SNAP tests such as the giardia and pancreatitis tests have brought testing in-house, minimizing missed disorders/diagnosis and expediting treatment. “It takes less than 10 minutes to get a result from SNAP tests,” Dr. Goldstein says. “The shelf life is good and they’re economical. They’ve improved patient care for …
Diabetes UpdateOctober 31, 2011 Diabetes mellitus affects 1 in 400 cats and is on the rise, possibly because of increased obesity rates, according to Morris Animal Foundation. Intervet Schering-Plough, now owned by Merck Animal Health, makers of Vetsulin (porcine insulin zinc suspension), says about 1 in 500 dogs suffer from the signs of diabetes mellitus. A Merck market study of more than 200 veterinarians showed that 70 percent had between one and 10 diabetic canine patients, while 26 percent said they treat 11 or more diabetic canine patients. With such a significant number of feline and canine patients affected by the disease, primary care veterinarians and specialists alike have voiced concern about a significant industry issue—the availability of insulin brands they have grown to rely on. “There’s always a concern that something will go off the market,” says Richard Goldstein, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, Dipl. ECVIM, associate professor of small animal medicine at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. “The trend in human medicine decides if an insulin brand will be available for veterinary use, considering many insulin forms vets use are actually created for the human market.” Dr. Goldstein says human medical practitioners are trending toward using combinations of short- …
FCV Adapts, Evolves Into New StrainsSeptember 28, 2011 When David Bowie sang “Time may change me,” he may have been writing of feline calicivirus (FCV). This virus is not content to live the peaceful life of genetic stability adopted by its feline respiratory disease associate, feline herpesvirus-1 (FHV), but rather is constantly morphing and shifting into new strains. Why does FCV behave this way, what are the implications for cats, and what are the implications for feline vaccines? A major reason for FCV’s mutability is its simple genetic material, which comprises a single strand of RNA. When the virus infects a cat’s respiratory cell (or perhaps some other location in the body) and wants to replicate, it first has to convert this single strand of RNA back to DNA for duplication, then make multiple copies of the DNA back into RNA again, to be subsequently packaged and sent out as fresh virions looking for new cells. It is easy to see that this process can open multiple opportunities for changes or mutations to the RNA base order. Additionally, as there is no second strand of genetic material in the virus that might serve as a correction template to match the base pairs, then any change …
How To Cater To CatsSeptember 28, 2011 We are fortunate to live in a society that celebrates the poise, beauty and quirky personality of cats; with more than 93.6 million owned in the United States, cats outrank dogs as the most widely owned pet by more than 17 percent.1 The big question, then, is why, with an increasing population, do cats represent an ever-shrinking portion of most general practices’ active patients? Why does the average feline examination generate $203 in comparison to $225 for the average canine examination?2 It’s as if cats are looked upon as second-class citizens when it comes to veterinary care. The oft-cited reason is their independent and stoic nature, as well as their tendency to mask pain and illness. But this explanation fails to get to the root of the problem—the failure of our industry to educate cat owners on the importance of wellness care. The unfortunate result for a large number of practices is that vaccines, rather than wellness and preventive care, have become the initiator for a feline veterinary visit. There have been attempts to overcome this lack of knowledge and client education. For example, the American Association of Feline Practitioners has been offering …
Feline Stem Cell Therapy Shows PromiseSeptember 28, 2011 Rosemarie Williams, DVM, owner of The Sound Cat Veterinary Hospital in Wilmington, N.C., introduced stem cell therapy to her feline-only practice in April and says preliminary results look promising. Dr. Williams is studying the effects of adipose-derived stem cell therapy on chronic inflammatory bowel disease and chronic inflammatory kidney disease in cats. Before Williams’ clinical trial, stem cell therapy had been primarily used in canine and equine osteoarthritis, hip dysplasia, ligament and cartilage injuries. “About 3 to 5 percent of cats age 5 and older suffer from IBD and at least 30 percent of senior cats have some level of kidney disease,” Williams says. “I’m hopeful this therapy can minimize clinical symptoms and even eliminate disease in some cases. There’s much about the therapy’s effect on cats that is still unknown. I’ve treated six cats with IBD and symptoms have regressed. I hope to treat at least 50 within a year-long timeframe. “All the cats that underwent treatment are gaining weight, indicating that their intestinal tracts are absorbing nutrients more efficiently,” she added. Williams injects stem cells harvested from the cats’ adipose tissue intravenously. In dogs, the tissue is usually administered directly into muscles …
Nutrigenomics Takes ‘You Are What You Eat’ To New LevelFebruary 14, 2011 Veterinary nutrigenomics combines genetics and nutrition to develop optimal diets for companion animals, a field in which researchers and pet food manufacturers are investing significant amounts of time and money. At the University of Illinois, Kelly S. Swanson, Ph.D., and his team are using DNA-based sequencing techniques to characterize the canine and feline gastrointestinal tracts. They are looking at what happens in tissue when animals are fed one diet versus another. The results may lead to a better understanding of the microbial profile and metabolic pathways of animals with varying dietary regimens and at different stages of health and life. Many questions need to be answered before the ultimate goal can be achieved: creating individual diets that make optimal use of, and even manipulate, gene expression. “The dog and cat genome sequence data is being utilized in research, taking genomic biology to gain a better understanding of dog and cat physiology and how nutrition contributes to health and disease,” says Dr. Swanson, an assistant professor of animal and nutritional sciences in the , department of animal sciences. “Genomics in pets is being used to study microbial populations and gene expression changes in blood and various tissues. …
