How to Recognize Animal AbuseApril 20, 2016Animal cruelty is an unfortunate, horrific reality involving innocent beings that are unable to speak up for themselves. Veterinary professionals have a moral, ethical and, in some states, legal obligation to be the voice for these victims. Animal cruelty is a catchall statement for offenses that include neglect, abuse, abandonment, animal fighting and even practicing veterinary medicine without a license. State laws vary in whether animal cruelty is deemed a misdemeanor or a felony, and they even go so far as to detail which animals are included. For example, New York laws cover “every living creature except a human being,” while in Alaska, protected animals include vertebrates but not fish. Veterinarian’s Obligation Several states have laws in place that address the issue of veterinarians reporting suspected animal cruelty and abuse. These include Arizona, which outlines a veterinarian’s duty to report suspected canine participants of dog fighting. Oregon makes it mandatory for veterinarians to report aggravated animal abuse. Additionally, Kansas requires veterinarians to report cruel or inhumane treatment, and failure to do so could result in disciplinary action. Because laws vary from state to state, it’s vital that veterinarians review local and …
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Canine Flu Was Transmitted to Four CatsApril 15, 2016The canine influenza strain that struck thousands of U.S. dogs in 2015 has infected four cats at a northwest Indiana animal shelter. Sandra Newbury, a clinical assistant professor and director of the Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, confirmed the diagnosis. “Suspicions of an outbreak in the cats initially were raised when a group of them displayed unusual signs of respiratory disease,” Dr. Newbury said. “While this first confirmed report of multiple cats testing positive for canine influenza in the U.S. shows the virus can affect cats, we hope that infections and illness in felines will continue to be quite rare.” Newbury and Kathy Toohey- Kurth, MS, Ph.D., of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, reported that dogs housed at the shelter also tested positive for the H3N2 strain. The feline link was not a total surprise. “Feline cases previously reported in South Korea suggested that the virus … was capable of making the leap from dogs to cats,” the university stated. “However, just one cat tested positive for H3N2 on a single occasion in the U.S. last year.” All the shelter animals were quarantined, and …
KSU Vet Researchers Successful in Treating FIPApril 14, 2016A new research project from the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine has been successful in treating a deadly cat disease that has previously been nearly 100 percent fatal. Yunjeong Kim, an associate professor in the college's diagnostic medicine and pathobiology department, has worked with collaborators in various fields to develop an antiviral compound for feline coronavirus associated with feline infectious peritonitis, more commonly known as FIP. Her article, "Reversal of the Progression of Fatal Coronavirus Infection in Cats by a Broad-Spectrum Coronavirus Protease Inhibitor," has just been published in the journal PLOS Pathogens. "FIP is caused by coronavirus infection," Kim said. "Coronavirus infections are very common among cats. However, in most cases, these viral infections cause mild and self-limited enteritis or no symptoms. But some cats will develop a fatal disease which is FIP." Kim said FIP is usually found in young cats that are less than 2 or 3 years old. "FIP arises from certain viral mutation that occur in the infected …
Kindred Hopeful of Potential for Equine, Feline DrugsMarch 31, 2016Kindred Biosciences Inc. is pushing to bring two new drugs to market: Zimeta (dipyrone injection), for treating fever in horses, and KIND-010, for weight management in cats. The Burlingame, Calif., company announced the filing of the effectiveness section as part of Zimeta’s New Animal Drug Application (NADA). All remaining technical sections were expected to be submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by the end of March. It’s potentially good news for equine practitioners. “Dipyrone will be very familiar to seasoned veterinarians,” said Peter Morresey, BVSc, Dipl. ACVIM, Dipl. ACT, a veterinarian with Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky. “While never approved in the United States, dipyrone enjoyed widespread usage for control of fever and pain before withdrawal from the market in 1995. “If approved, it will be available again in the United States in an FDA-approved formulation,” Dr. Morresey added. In other news, a field test using 32 cats showed the effectiveness and safety of KIND-010 for the stimulation of weight gain in cats under clinical conditions. At the second week of the field study, the mean weight of …
Cat Gets Accidentally Shipped 260 Miles Via PostMarch 28, 2016Cats love boxes, no one will dispute that. But for Cupcake, a Siamese cat who lives in the Falmouth in Cornwall, England, that love of boxes got her accidentally shipped more than 260 miles away to the town of West Sussex. Cupcake’s owner, Julie Baggott, was sending out a package of DVDs, and didn’t realize that her cat had crawled into the box. That’s how Cupcake ended up with Ziffit Towers, the package receiver, a whole 8 days later. Towers immediately rushed Cupcake to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). The RSPCA then took Cupcake to nearest Grove Lodge Veterinary Group, who they treated her for dehydration. Cupcake responded well to treatment, despite being “quite scared, quite nervous,” as Ben Colwell of Grove Lodge Vets told the BBC, which the ABC reported. “[Cupcake] seems quite relaxed and unconcerned and is sitting in her kennel in our cat ward waiting for her family,” the Grove Lodge Veterinary Group wrote in their blog. They pointed out that Cupcake was microchipped and that was how they were able to find her owners. “On arrival, we …
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 …
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 …
Veterinarian Treats Cat Thrown From Car on HighwayMarch 16, 2016We see all kinds of things when we’re driving. Much of it we may just shake our heads at. But there are some things we see that we just can’t shake off. For one Good Samaritan the sight that couldn’t be shaken off was that of another driver tossing a cat out of the car window while driving on the freeway in Mobile, Ala. The woman stopped, got out of her car and retrieved the cat. She subsequently took the injured feline to Rehm Animal Clinic where Chris Rehm, DVM, has since been treating her. “She’s lucky she wasn’t hit by another car,” Dr. Rehm told Local 15. “The car was traveling at a high-rate of speed. [They] threw her out and she landed on her jaw and her foot. Those areas got what we call ‘de-gloved’ where the skin gets pulled away from the bone and the underlying tissues.” Rehm and his team have treated the cat for shock and physical injuries. They are still monitoring her for any changes to her appetite or sense of smell, Fox 10 TV reports. The cat, however, appears to be …
How to Talk About Pet Obesity With Your Veterinary ClientsMarch 16, 2016Obesity can lead to a range of medical conditions for pets if not addressed properly, but even with the possibility of dire consequences, many vets still struggle to effectively address obesity with clients. Pet obesity is rapidly becoming an epidemic; an estimated 54 percent of pets in the United States are obese. The result is millions of pets with diabetes, joint pain and even organ failure. In fact, according to a 2014 study from Association for Pet Obesity Prevention found that: “Out of 1,421 animals put to a veterinary assessment last fall, 57.6 percent of cats and 52.6 percent of dogs were classified as overweight or obese. Owners of the obese pets overwhelmingly considered their cat or dog to be of normal weight.” Fortunately, more effective communication with your veterinary clients can make a big difference. Avoid Using the Word “Obese” According to Wendy Myers, owner of Communications Solutions for Veterinarians many of her clients worry about having the conversation because their clients are also obese, but they’re not helping their clients or the pets that way. Instead, she suggests making it about the medical …
What to do When Gums Overgrow Their BoundariesFebruary 8, 2016A 5-year-old male Rhodesian ridgeback presented to me for evaluation of proliferative gingival enlargement over the maxillary canine teeth. Historically, the owner noted a flap of partially detached gingiva over tooth 104, which had since become completely detached, resulting in the unique combination of gingival recession over most of the lateral portion of the tooth and gingival enlargement over the mesial, distal and palatal surfaces of the tooth (Figure 1). John Lewis, VMD, FAVD, Dipl. AVDC Figure 1: The right maxillary quadrant showing generalized gingival hyperplasia and gingival recession over the labial (vestibular) surface of the right maxillary canine tooth (tooth 104). Tooth 204 had a similar appearance, though more irregular, with a large circumscribed area of enlargement toward the distal portion of the crown (Figure 2). Nearly every tooth in the mouth was affected at least mildly by gingival enlargement, though the canines and incisors were affected most severely (Figure 3). The appearance of the gingiva over teeth 104 and 204 likely was due to the following events: Gingival enlargement results in pseudopockets. Pseudopockets allow for hair, plaque and debris to be trapped …
