Before you change the diet…February 7, 2019Naughty Girl is a healthy six-month old terrier puppy who is being fed a complete and balanced commercial growth food. She lives with Bad Boy, a four-year old beagle-spaniel cross who is fed an adult maintenance dog food. Bad Boy is brought to your clinic for a two-day history of vomiting and acting sluggish (or punky). Your physical exam reveals some pain on abdominal palpation and a lab test for canine pancreas-specific lipase is "abnormal," suggesting an elevated lipase level. Your suspicion of pancreatitis is high and, after rehydrating the dog with fluids, you send him home on a fat-restricted therapeutic diet. Is a diet change warranted in this situation? Nutrition textbooks and veterinary nutritionists refer to dietary fat as a "nutrient of concern" or "key nutritional factor" when talking about nutritional management for patients with pancreatitis. However, before automatically switching a patient's diet, conduct a thorough nutritional assessment to get the whole picture of what's happening in the home environment. Performing a nutritional assessment involves collecting information about the patient, the diet, and feeding management (Baldwin, et. al. 2010). This is not a process that involves extra time or work—a nutritional assessment begins with routine information collected about …
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GI issues tricky to diagnose, treatFebruary 6, 2019From intestinal parasites to irritable bowel disease (IBD), dietary indiscretion to food allergies, gastrointestinal issues are among the most common problems veterinarians see. While they might seem straightforward, they can be difficult to diagnose and treat for a number of reasons. Chronic diarrhea and vomiting may not be brought to your attention until it has been going on for a while without improving or begins to worsen in severity. And, of course, diarrhea and vomiting can be seen with diseases unrelated to the GI tract. Once the GI tract is pinpointed as the source of the problem, the signs can still have many potential causes. Radiographs show only faint shadows of the intestines, making interpretation difficult. Gastrointestinal problems can resolve on their own in three to five days, but when they don't, additional diagnostics, therapeutic trials, and medication can be the next step. Fortunately for pets, owners, and veterinarians, more companies are beginning to develop drugs and run clinical trials specifically for cats and dogs with GI disease, says M. Katherine Tolbert, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, clinical associate professor of medicine at Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. "There are a lot of new drugs that …
Data reveals highest cost drivers for cats and dogsJanuary 22, 2019Vomiting and/or diarrhea and the ingestion of foreign objects are among the top cost drivers of veterinary care for dogs and cats.
Bayer, ParaTheraTech partner to improve treatment of early-life diarrhea in calvesDecember 18, 2018A new licensing agreement will help farmers and veterinarians fight early-life diarrhea in dairy and beef cattle. Bayer Animal Health and ParaTheraTech (PTT) have signed a global agreement to advance new Cryptosporidiosis treatment options for these farm animals.
Probiotics may help dogs with AHDS, according to studyDecember 13, 2018Dogs administered with a high-potency, eight-strain probiotic may recover faster from acute hemorrhagic diarrhea syndrome (AHDS), according to a study.
KSU veterinary researchers, Anivive license FIP antiviral drugSeptember 20, 2018A collaboration at Kansas State University and Anivive Lifesciences is promoting the commercial development of GC376, an antiviral compound for feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), which previously has had no effective treatment or cure. Yunjeong Kim, DVM, PhD, ACVM, and Kyeong-Ok "KC" Chang, DVM, MS, PhD, virologists at KSU's College of Veterinary Medicine, and William Groutas, a medicinal chemist at Wichita State University, have been collaborating since 2006 to develop antiviral drugs for human and animal viruses. The licensing agreement was coordinated by the KSU Institute for Commercialization with Anivive Lifesciences, a California company whose proprietary software accelerates the discovery and development process of new pet medicines. "We have been working on antiviral drugs that inhibit a specific virus protease of some important human and animal viruses, and we were able to make very potent inhibitors of FIP," Dr. Kim said. "Through collaborative work with Niels Pedersen at the University of California, Davis—including a field trial on feline patients—we became increasingly hopeful that antiviral treatment may one day substantially benefit cats with FIP. Licensing our compound to Anivive Lifesciences is a huge step forward in transitioning our research to commercialization to make this treatment available to the …
A deeper look into endoscopyJune 4, 2018One of the first things veterinarians learn in school about endoscopes is how gastrointestinal endoscopy (GI) can be used to aid in the diagnostic evaluation of clinical signs referable to the esophagus, stomach, as well as proximal small intestine.
Zomedica announces therapeutic development milestonesDecember 13, 2017Zomedica Pharmaceuticals Corp. veterinary pharmaceutical and diagnostic company announced a development update on the company's four therapeutic candidates for use in companion animals, namely dogs and cats. ZM-012 and ZM-007: Metronidazole for acute diarrhea in dogs Development milestones for ZM-012 and ZM-007, complementary oral formulations of metronidazole targeting the treatment of acute diarrhea in dogs include: Finalized novel tablet formulation for ZM-012 to replace the large, bitter tasting human-approved generic tablet commonly prescribed by veterinarians for their canine patients. The beef-flavored oral tablets are intended for dogs greater than 9 pounds or 4 kilograms. Finalized the oral suspension formulation for ZM-007, which is intended for small breeds and puppies under 9 pounds or 4 kilograms. Completed pilot testing for both formulations at Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine to measure metronidazole's effectiveness to treat acute diarrhea in dogs. Scheduled December 2017 pre-submission meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Veterinary Medicine (FDA-CVM) to present the regulatory strategy and development plan for ZM-012. A safety study will commence for ZM-012 in the first half of 2018 for completion in the second half of 2018. The company also expects to hold a pre-submission …
Zomedica banks on canine diarrhea drugsDecember 19, 2016Zomedica Pharmaceuticals Corp. has started talks with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on the company’s third proposed veterinary product: an oral suspension formulated for the treatment of canine diarrhea.
