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Tag: Advocate

  • Angiostrongylus vasorum as a cause of strokes

    Angiostrongylus vasorum as a cause of strokes

    A. vasorum
    A vasorum – Credit: Bayer Animal Health

    Angiostrongylus vasorum is the most common cause of haemorrhagic cerebrovascular accidents in dogs.

    Bleeding in the brain or spinal cord can cause neurological symptoms. Craniotentorial bleeding can cause epileptic seizures, paresis and abnormal postural reactions.

    In cases of cerebellar bleeding, hypermetria, vestibular symptoms and opisthotonus are observed, and if the brainstem is affected, abnormalities of the cranial nerves can be seen.

    Inflammation, hypoxia and parasitic emboli may cause neurological signs too.

    It is worth treating any dog with a suspected stroke for A vasorum with Advocate (moxidectin and imidacloprid).

  • Immunotherapy in atopic dogs is a valuable tool

    Canine atopy
    “Canine Atopy” with dermatitis around the eye, caused by rubbing. Via Wikipedia Commons.

    My colleagues and I use immunotherapy on a fair number of dogs to treat atopic dermatitis. Research tells us it can be a valuable tool in some dogs, but at the same time up to a third of dogs respond poorly.

    We are lucky in our practice as anecdotally we find the majority of dogs do well, and we only get 10% to 15% that do not respond. This may be because:

    • We are really hot on parasite control in our practice – we have a large urban fox population and see cases of angiostrongylosis – so we advise Advocate on a regular, monthly basis. So it is unusual for us to see atopic dogs that flare due to concurrent parasite infestation.
    • We strongly advise owners to do and/or preserve with food trials – and some, okay, just one or two, do respond and relapse on challenge.
    • We also try to make sure we keep the perpetuating factors, for example, pyoderma and Malassezia dermatitis, to a minimum with medicated wipes and shampoos.
    • The older the dog when it starts immunotherapy the less likely it is to respond and we advise our owners accordingly.

    Good luck with those frustrating allergy cases – hopefully there are some tips here to help. And cats also do well on immunotherapy.