Veterinarian is Out to Change How We Feed CatsMarch 28, 2016Cats instinctively want to hunt for their food, but satisfying that need hasn’t always been easy or convenient for pet owners. That’s a problem that Elizabeth “Liz” Bales, VMD,, set out to solve, and it led her to create the No Bowl Feeding System for cats. nobowlcat.com Dr. Elizabeth "Liz" Bales “I was so discouraged after years and years of my own profession knowing what cats needed but not having a way to help my patients,” Bales writes on the No Bowl Cat website. “I invented the solution myself. My invention, The NoBowl Feeding System, is the safe, clean, easy way to bring back the hunt with the dry food that you are already feeding. I consulted with the world’s leading feline veterinarians, veterinary nutritionists and veterinary behaviorists and then worked with an accomplished team of inventors and designers to create The NoBowl Feeding System — an indoor hunting system that will help keep your cat happy and healthy.” Using the No Bowl system helps satisfy a cat's natural instinct to hunt and, according to Bale, and solves a number of behavioral problems, including: Not sleeping through the night Gobbling up …
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Veterinarian Designs App to Help Dog Owners Determine Their Mutt's BreedsMarch 25, 2016Want to know what makes up your mutt? There’s an app for that. Best part? That app was designed by a veterinarian. Specifically, Lauren Schluterman, DVM, of the Bowman Road Animal Clinic in Little Rock, Ark., designed the “What’s My Mutt?” app. The creation came about because so many clients wanted to know the breeds made up their dogs. She had also adopted her own dog, Indy, and was working to determine what her dog's origins were. With DNA testing too expensive for many of her clients, Schluterman decided to start work on a more inexpensive approach. What's My Mutt? Lauren Schluterman, DVM, with Indy. The app took around 3 years to make. Schluterman created an algorithm that takes “dominant features of 65 different dog breeds that create mutts,” reports THV11.com. “We tested the algorithm on about 1,000 dogs before the official launch. The goal of the app is for it to become a tool for animal rescue and shelter groups or people looking to adopt a dog with a certain size or personality. The more people that use it, the more data is collected,” …
New Company Takes Aim at the Canine Genetic Test MarketMarch 25, 2016A new canine DNA test will be available sometime this spring through Embark Veterinary Inc., a startup company that officially launched in mid March. The Austin, Texas-based company aims to shake up the dog DNA testing market by bringing cutting-edge science and insights directly to pet owners, according to co-founders Adam Boyko, Ph.D., chief science officer and assistant professor of Biomedical Sciences at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, and Ryan Boyko, chief executive officer. The brother team has spent the past decade learning about dogs, everything from the inception of the human-canine bond to the best ways in which to care for these four-legged friends. In the course of their quest to understand the domestic dog, they have discovered many of the things that make every breed and every individual dog unique. This led to breakthrough research on the origin of the domestic dog near Central Asia more than 15,000 years ago. The Embark DNA Test will track more than 200,000 genetic markers, offering ancestry analysis as well as an extensive overview of both genetic disease risk and heritable traits, allowing users to understand their dog’s health, plan …
Study: Retinal Cells Regenerate Before They DieMarch 24, 2016Until relatively recently, it was believed that neurons, including the eye’s photoreceptor cells, rods and cones, do not regenerate. This is the reason that nerve damage is thought to be so grave. More recent studies have shown that in some vertebrate species, neurons can be stimulated to divide. Yet the belief continued to hold firm with regard to retinal neurons — until findings from a study by University of Pennsylvania researchers came out in 2011. The study showed that in a form of canine blindness, retinal cells continue to differentiate for a period of time early in a dog’s life before overwhelming cell death caused the retina to degenerate. In a new study, reported on March 18, 2016, the Penn researchers have expanded this line of inquiry to consider two other forms of blindness. They found that these diseases, too, possess this unexpected feature of temporarily rejuvenating retinal cells. The findings suggest this feature may be common across many forms of inherited blindness. Further investigation into the reasons for this period of retinal neuron proliferation could lead to molecular targets for intervening in cell death and maintaining functional photoreceptor …
Celebrate National Puppy Day with Puppies in the Vet ClinicMarch 23, 2016National Puppy Day is here! Here are some puppies in veterinary clinics to celebrate. 1) We start with these boxer puppies. #thiswasmonday #veterinarypractice #ilovemyjob #babyboxers A photo posted by Hegedűs Petra (@petrahegeduus) on Feb 22, 2016 at 1:39pm PST 2) And then this Jack Russell puppy. Work selfie with a really cute puppy! #puppy #work #vets #studentveterinarynurse #cute #lovethepup #jackrussell #8weeks #toocute #veterinarypractice #job #likeforlike #followforfollow #tunic #uniform #lovemyjob A photo posted by AprilCromie (@aprilcromie26) on Feb 1, 2016 at 1:25pm PST 3) Then there are these puppies.
FDA Approves Aratana Osteoarthritis DrugMarch 22, 2016One day after earning its first FDA drug approval, Aratana Therapeutics Inc. announced pursuit of a second. The Leawood, Kan., company reported Monday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration signed off on Galliprant (grapiprant tablets) for the control of pain and inflammation associated with osteoarthritis in dogs. Commercial sales are expected to begin in the fall. In the meantime, Aratana moved ahead today with the filing of an administrative New Animal Drug Application (NADA) for Entyce (capromorelin oral solution) for stimulating canine appetites. If approved, the drug could be launched late this year. Aratana described Entyce as a ghrelin agonist and “a first-of-its-kind therapeutic to treat inappetence in dogs.” “The therapeutic is a flavored, oral liquid prescription that works by mimicking ghrelin, the hunger hormone, to stimulate appetite,” the company added. “Our market research indicates that millions of dogs with inappetence are treated off-label with drugs, special diets and homeopathic remedies,” said Ernst Heinen, DVM, Ph.D., Aratana’s chief development officer. “The anticipated FDA approval of Entyce would make it the only therapeutic approved for use by veterinarians to fulfill a serious unmet need for dogs that have stopped eating.” The company’s first approved drug, Galliprant, works by blocking prostaglandin …
Dog With Severely Injured Neck Recovering From Emergency SurgeryMarch 22, 2016Clover is a 6-month-old Shepherd-Pit Bull Terrier Mix. She was recently found by a property manager who saw that she had severe lacerations in her neck – to the point where she could have been decapitated. She had been tied to a banister in the home. “It was an actual plastic coated cable, wrapped around her neck, and because it was hooked to itself, it kinked, so the hook couldn't slide. I didn't even see the problems with her neck until I bent down and I had to lift her head up,” Humane Society Police Officer Ron Riggle told ABC 6. “The dog chewed itself off the cable; it might have taken a while, but when they got it out, it still had the remainder of the collar in its neck,” added Kenny Gee, the man who kept an eye on Clover while the property manager called for help. “It was bad; I couldn't see having a kid and a dog in that house.” Clover was rushed to the Delaware County SPCA where she underwent emergency surgery to clean the lacerations and remove any diseased tissue. Clover …
How to Treat Gingival HyperplasiaMarch 22, 2016My February column — What to Do When Gums Overgrow Their Boundaries — discussed possible etiologies of gingival hyperplasia. Recall a 5-year-old male Rhodesian ridgeback who was presented for evaluation of proliferative gingival enlargement and focal areas of gingival recession over most of the lateral surfaces of the maxillary canine teeth (Figure 1-A). Nearly every tooth in the mouth was affected at least mildly by gingival enlargement, though the canines and incisors were most severely affected (Figure 2-A). This month we will discuss the treatment of gingival enlargement. JOHN LEWIS, VMD, FAVD, DIPL. AVDC Figure 1-A: The right maxillary quadrant showing generalized gingival hyperplasia and gingival recession over the labial (vestibular) surface of the right maxillary canine tooth (tooth 104). Terminology Last month we discussed the terminology of gingival enlargement vs. gingival hyperplasia. Worth discussing here are terms related to the surgical treatment of gingival enlargement. The two terms often used are gingivectomy and gingivoplasty. Human textbooks refer to gingivectomy as the excision of gingiva to eliminate periodontal pockets, including reshaping, or “-plasty,” of the gingiva as part of the process. At least one veterinary text refers to excision of gingiva to remove periodontal …
How to Promote Good Canine BehaviorMarch 18, 2016Veterinarians agree that pet behavior problems are on the rise because animal owners tend to wait too long before seeking qualified professional help. What might begin as a simple training issue becomes more serious when owners inadvertently make the problem worse by trying to resolve it based on poor advice. “Understanding and working with behavior is no small task,” said Don Hanson, co-owner and director of behavior services and training at Green Acres Kennel Shop in Bangor, Maine. “It is a field that requires knowledge in a wide variety of areas including ethology, operant conditioning, classical conditioning and more. It is not something one can expect to learn in a one- or two-day seminar.” The No. 1 issue in any study that’s been done on the topic is aggression. Nicholas H. Dodman, BVMS, director of the animal behavior program at the Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, noted that different types of aggression require different treatments. The most common are conflict aggression (in the home) and fear aggression (directed outwardly at strangers). “I think that’s 70 percent of all …
Royal Veterinary College Performs Groundbreaking Open-Heart Surgery on DogMarch 18, 2016Mabel, a 3-year-old Labrador, had congenital tricuspid dysplasia, which resulted in her being increasingly fatigued after exercise. She also had trouble keeping up with the other dog in the household. Because Mabel’s tricuspid valve was completely fused in the middle and there were just two very small holes for her blood to flow through, her abdomen had fluid buildup and she developed heart failure, Royal Veterinary College (RVC) stated in a recent press release. Mabel was subsequently referred to cardiology specialists at the small animal referral hospital at RVC. Dan Brockman, BVSc, CertVR, CertSAO, DipACVS, DipECVS, performed surgery on Mabel at the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals. RVC specialists assisted the Professor of Small Animal Surgery and Head of Department of Clinical Science and Services with pre- and post-operative care. Students at RVC conducted Mabel’s initial examinations, which included a cardiac ultrasound. Annabelle Meek, Mabel’s owner, knew of the risks involved in the surgery, which, according to Dr. Brockman, were “much worse than most other operations. In our hands, for this type of disease, we have about an 80-percent chance of getting them through the procedure. The owner has to gamble what life the …
