Senior-friendly pet care enhances human-animal bondJanuary 4, 2023Ensuring senior dogs and cats are happy, healthy, and sufficiently supported throughout their golden years requires an individualized, multifaceted approach.
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New tricks for an old dog's vet ownerAugust 4, 2022When you’re a sensitive veterinarian who is especially enamored over her extremely geriatric pet, you risk seeing every patient through the private lens of your impending loss. Older patients appear more endearing, end-of-life conversations become more emotionally relevant, and the stakes at work seem higher overall.
VPN Plus+ ExclusiveRehabilitative care for senior petsJune 24, 2022Both a pet’s family and healthcare providers would welcome other solutions to naturally extend a pet’s life, health, and happiness. In recent years, many providers have seen rehabilitative therapies as a possible answer. Similar to its place in human medicine, rehab is being used by skilled, experienced professionals to work either along with, or instead of, surgery or medication. The practice rebuilds patient strength that has been lost through age, injury, overuse, or illness.
Regular wellness checks vital for senior catsJune 30, 2021The American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) has released the updated 2021 AAFP Feline Senior Care Guidelines.
Communication, compassion vital to end-of-life servicesJune 7, 2021AAFP has released a digital End of Life Educational Toolkit for veterinarians to help facilitate a peaceful and painless transition for a cat at the end of its life.
How to incorporate therapeutic bodywork into your veterinary practiceJune 1, 2021More pet owners are opting to incorporate holistic modalities into their pets’ treatment plans, including therapeutic bodywork, such as massage therapy, laser therapy, and acupuncture.
"Golden oldies" could unlock secrets of canine cancerJuly 20, 2020Pinpointing why some dogs get cancer and others do not is the focus of Morris Animal Foundation’s Golden Retriever Lifetime Study.
Helping a dog age gracefully starts in youthJune 3, 2020We all want to help our patients enter the third act of life gracefully, but what exactly does that mean and how can it be achieved?
Omega-3 supplements and hypothyroidism linked to decline of T-zone lymphomaApril 4, 2019A study at Colorado State University (CSU) has found dogs who receive omega-3 fatty acid supplements or have hypothyroidism may be less likely to develop T-zone lymphoma (TZL). The findings come from Morris Animal Foundation-funded researchers who looked at associations of the environment and health history of TZL among golden retrievers. T-zone lymphoma is a type of cancer, which progresses slowly and is usually found in older dogs. It is predominantly found in golden retrievers; however, Anne Avery, DVM, PhD, associate professor in the department of microbiology, immunology, and pathology at CSU, believes the underlying causes of the tumor are shared across breeds. "Although controlled prospective studies would be necessary to firmly establish protection by omega-3 fatty acids, our observations raise the possibility of a simple intervention, which may help reduce the frequency of this disease," Dr. Avery says. "We were also a little surprised to discover defective genes leading to another, seemingly unrelated disorder— hypothyroidism—are more common in dogs who do not develop T-zone lymphoma." More than 350 golden retrievers were used in the study, which looked at health history questionnaires and blood or biological samples. The dogs were divided into two groups. One of the groups …
FDA approves treatment for urinary incontinence in dogsApril 2, 2019PROIN ER, a tablet for the control of urinary incontinence in dogs, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The drug treats urethral sphincter hypotonus, which occurs due to a dog's age and weakening muscles in the urethra. PROIN Chewable Tablets have already been approved by the FDA; however, they are to be administered twice a day, whereas PROIN ER is a once-a-day extended-release formulation. The effectiveness of PROIN ER was observed in a clinical study comprising 119 dogs that had been previously diagnosed with urethral sphincter hypotonus and had been taking PROIN Chewable Tablets. The timeline of the clinical study went as follows: • For the first week, the owners documented whether the dog received the PROIN Chewable Tablet doses and noted the number of urinary accidents the dog had; • Dogs were then given PROIN ER for the first 28 days and the owners proceeded to take note of how many accidents occurred in a day; • In the fourth week, the number of urinary accidents was compared to the first week. It was found 75 of the 104 dogs who completed the study had no accidents on either tablet;
