Nonsurgical perspectives on CCL diseaseOctober 24, 2018Part one of this series discussed managing owner expectations, strategies to protect the sound cruciate, diagnosing ligament and meniscal damage, and joint irrigation/visualization. In this continuing series on nonsurgical management of the injured cruciate, I will begin by discussing joint injectates.
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Food for thought: Nutritional therapyOctober 23, 2018Nutrition for the brain is complex, yet recent research has shown that diets can impact brain function—especially in aging dogs—and also can help manage dogs with epilepsy.
Life after the FDA's powdered glove banOctober 18, 2018In January 2017, the FDA banned the use of powdered gloves. As a result, physicians, nurses, dentists, kitchen workers, and veterinary professionals cannot buy them or use them.
When salivary gland removal is necessaryOctober 18, 2018Last month, I wrote about salivary gland anatomy. This time, we will look at conditions that may require salivary gland surgery and approaches to surgery of various salivary glands.
New development in Valley fever vaccine for companion animalsOctober 15, 2018A novel Valley fever sub-unit vaccine for companion animals has been found by Mazen Animal Health to reduce the burden of coccidioides—the fungus that can cause Valley fever—in mice.
Blue Buffalo offers additional diet options for adverse food reactionsOctober 9, 2018Pet food maker Blue Buffalo Co. has launched BLUE Natural Veterinary Diet HF Hydrolyzed for Food Intolerance wet dog and cat foods, along with BLUE Natural Veterinary Diet NP Novel Protein Alligator wet dog foods, formulated for pets with adverse reactions to food. HF Hydrolyzed for Food Intolerance contains salmon hydrolysate, a novel protein with a mean molecular weight of 2,000 daltons, as the first ingredient. NP Novel Protein Alligator is formulated with alligator as the first ingredient. The new wet diets complement the existing dry formulas of BLUE NVD HF Hydrolyzed Salmon and BLUE NVD NP Novel Protein Alligator. "With the launch of BLUE NVD HF and NP wet formulas, Blue Buffalo is providing veterinarians with efficacious nutritional solutions to help manage adverse food reactions, while meeting the needs of their clients," said Victoria Carmella, DVM, director of veterinary services at Blue Buffalo. "BLUE Natural Veterinary Diet formulas provide a full range of natural recipes formulated by veterinarians and animal nutritionists to enhance the health of dogs and cats that can benefit from therapeutic nutrition."
Dog DNA company discovers why huskies have blue eyesOctober 8, 2018A duplication on canine chromosome 18 is behind Siberian huskies' blue eyes, according to a study published in PLOS Genetics by Adam Boyko, PhD, founder and CEO of Embark Veterinary, and Aaron Sams, PhD, senior scientist at Embark Veterinary Inc. and colleagues. According to the authors, this is the first consumer genomics study conducted in a nonhuman model and the largest canine genome-wide association study to date (the DNA of 6,000 dogs was tested). Embark Veterinary is a DNA research company with offices in Boston and Ithaca, N.Y., and a research partner of the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Boyko, Sams, and colleagues used a diverse panel of 6,070 genetically tested dogs from owners that contributed phenotype data via web-based surveys and photo uploads. They found that a 98.6-kilobase duplication on chromosome 18 near the ALX4 gene, which plays an important role in mammalian eye development, was strongly associated with variation in blue eye color, primarily in Siberian huskies but also in nonmerle Australian shepherds. One copy of the variant was enough to cause blue eyes, or heterochromia. However, some dogs with the variant did not have blue eyes, so other genetic or environmental factors are still involved. …
VolitionRx tests nucleosome diagnostic for veterinary space applicationsOctober 5, 2018 VolitionRx Ltd., a multinational Belgium-based life sciences company with offices in Texas, London, and Singapore, announced it is entering the veterinary market after "very encouraging" preliminary results from a study using its NuQ diagnostic blood tests for canine cancer testing. NuQ, currently used to screen for colorectal and prostate cancers, works by measuring and analyzing irregular levels of nucleosomes—a section of DNA wrapped around a core of proteins—in the blood to identify cancers. According to the company, the proof-of-concept study showed that blood nucleosomes also can be detected in dogs. With the promise of veterinary medicine applications, VolitionRx said it will now move NuQ into larger trials to answer the question of whether the method will work with animals. The company said it intends to outsource much of the veterinary clinical trial work through a partnership with Heather Wilson-Robles, DVM, DACVIM, associate professor and Fred and Vola N. Palmer chair in comparative oncology with Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences in the Small Animal Clinical Sciences department. "The Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine Oncology Department is excited for the opportunity to collaborate with Volition," said Dr. Wilson-Robles. "Its innovative work in …
Companion Animal Health targets mast cell tumors with nanomedicineOctober 4, 2018Companion Animal Health (CAH) in Newark, Del., has secured an exclusive partnership with Nanospectra Biosciences Inc., a medical device company focused on the use of nanomedicine in selective thermal ablation of solid tumors. In 2017, CAH initiated clinical trials in the treatment of canine mast cell tumors using a combined laser and nanoshell therapy procedure that has the ability to destroy solid tumors without damaging adjacent healthy tissue. "Initial results are very encouraging and we anticipate publishing trial outcomes in the near future," said Brian Pryor, PhD, CEO, LiteCure LLC. "We believe this approach will deliver superior efficacy compared to commonly used cancer treatments and will extend pets' quality of life and longevity without harmful side effects." Visit companionanimalhealth.com for more information.
UC Davis study applies human cancer differentiation analysis to dogsOctober 4, 2018The University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine (UCDSVM) is conducting a clinical trial to study the potential application for canine cancer screening using cancer differentiation analysis (CDA) liquid biopsy technology from Anpac Bio-Medical Science Co. Studying at least 186 dogs in a blinded clinical trial, Anpac Bio and UCDSVM are investigating CDA's ability to identify cancer in blood samples from dogs confirmed with sarcomas or carcinomas versus healthy control blood samples from dogs of similar age and breed. Following the initial screening, UCDVSM will then test if CDA levels also correlate to treatment response (i.e. if the dogs' cells are responding to cancer treatment such as surgery or radiation) and monitor remission/potential recurrence. "Dogs are just like people; the sooner we identify disease, the better chance we have in treating and curing it," said John Reddington, DVM, PhD, Anpac Bio's chief advisor for veterinary and comparative research. "Unfortunately, dogs can't tell us when they don't feel well, so, we often catch diseases like cancer late stage. [Anpac Bio's] cancer differentiation analysis liquid biopsy technology has proven to be very useful in detecting over 20 human cancer types with just a single …
