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Tag: feline

  • Who’s afraid of the big bad dog?

    Who’s afraid of the big bad dog?

    Status dog, or just misunderstood?
    Status dog, or just misunderstood?

    If recent genetic studies are to be believed, domestic dogs evolved from wolves around 11,000 years ago when our ancestors stole wolf cubs, domesticated them and trained them to help hunt for food.

    However, other than their shared genealogy, both animals are very different nowadays – particularly when it comes to temperament. The wolf is in every sense a “wild” animal, while the dog is obviously far more suited for the domesticated life of chasing sticks and tummy rubs.

    Despite this, media reports of dog attacks, combined with the trend among certain elements of society to own vicious “status dogs”, have led to a situation where many Brits are afraid of strange dogs and people are becoming increasingly wary of our canine companions in general.

    A poll of more than 1,000 adults (commissioned by behaviour product supplier The Company of Animals) found that 71% of people are nervous around dogs they don’t know, while more than half (54%) are worried by particular breeds.

    Around 20% also admitted to having become more afraid of dogs over the past decade.

    This news comes as a shock, and it would be a huge shame if man’s best friend was to slowly find himself usurped by the cat, spelling an end to walkies as we know it and guaranteeing you’ll only ever get your stick back if you retrieve it yourself.

    Mind you, we can but wonder what a “status llama” might look like.

  • Alanine transferase

    Alanine transferase (ALT) is a specific indicator of hepatocellular injury in dogs and cats. Increases occur due to cell damage and induction.

    ALT is virtually liver specific in dogs and cats. Causes include:

    • Artefact – haemolysis
    • Drugs – anticonvulsants, steroids, any drugs causing hepatotoxicity
    • Disease – liver: both primary and secondary hepatic disease can increase ALT if altered cell membrane permeability or necrosis occur. Bile duct obstruction will increase ALT.
    • Trauma
    • Severe muscle injury

  • Glipizide therapy in diabetic cats

    Glipizide is an oral blood glucose lowering drug in the sulphonylurea class. It acts by causing the beta cells in the pancreas to release insulin, and may also increase sensitivity to insulin.

    A structural diagram of glipizide.
    A structural diagram of glipizide.

    Glipizide is used to treat type II diabetes in cats along with diet, exercise and insulin therapy if necessary. It is highly effective when combined with a low carbohydrate diet.

    The most common side effects reported are vomiting, diarrhoea and hypoglycaemia.

    Glipizide is safe and well-tolerated by most cats, and can avoid the use of insulin altogether. However, it should not be used in cats with liver or kidney disease, as this can result in pronounced hypoglycaemia.

  • How to perform an effective barium swallow

    How to perform an effective barium swallow

    The animal should be prepared for the study by being starved for a minimum of 24 hours. Drinking during this period is allowed.

    barium
    Any excuse for a poor pun…

    If the study is to include the large intestine, it is important the large bowel has been evacuated prior to the study.

    A barium concentration of 80-100% W/W is used. The volume to be administered should be 6ml/kg-12ml/kg BW. The high dose/kg is recommended for cats and small dogs, while the low dose/kg is recommended for large dogs.

    Administration

    You can administer the solution into the cheek pouch of the patient using a 50ml syringe with a catheter tip, and allow the patient to swallow it in its own time. It is important to not extend the animal’s neck, or to administer the liquid at a rate that is too great for it to be able to drink comfortably.

    Make sure you give the patient an opportunity to stop drinking and take a breath. If the oesophagus is not to be included in the study, or if you are administering the contrast material to a cat that is fractious, then an oesophageal tube may be used to administer the barium.

    If sedation is required, acetylpromazine is a useful sedative, as it doesn’t significantly alter gastrointestinal function. The use of atropine, ketamine, and barbiturates will depress gastrointestinal motility, and are not recommended in dogs. Ketamine/diazepam is useful for feline sedation.

  • Renal proteinuria

    Renal proteinuria is an important complication of chronic renal disease.

    The presence of proteinuria is not only a marker of renal injury but also an important independent mediator of progressive renal injury.

    Dipsticks are insensitive in documenting proteinuria. The urine protein creatinine ratio offers the best means of assessing the severity of proteinuria and correlates well with 24 hour protein loss.

    Healthy cats should have a UPC ratio of <0.2.

  • Feline asthma

    Vet examines cat
    Image © iStockphoto.com/deepblue4you

    A young cat in good condition with a history of coughing and mixed dyspnoea with increased abdominal effort on expiration is most likely to have feline asthma.

    Although chest radiographs are necessary to confirm, harsh lung sounds in all fields and the absence of a heart murmur or gallop rhythm makes the diagnosis of asthma very likely.

  • Do something amazing – give (your pet’s) blood

    I had heard of the Pet Blood Bank before, but only when it was mentioned in one of our blood lectures did I start wondering. I don’t know how often veterinary professionals make use of the service in general practice, but I do think it’s fantastic that a resource like this is available to help save the lives of sick dogs.

    Blood Transfusion
    A Parson Jack Russell terrier receiving a blood transfusion for treatment of severe anaemia as a consequence of rat bait toxicity. Credit: Pet Blood Bank UK.

    Set up in 2007 after a change in legislation allowing collection, processing and storage of pet blood, it is a fairly new charity.

    This is a classic example of just how recent and non-routine a procedure is in veterinary compared to how commonplace it is in human medicine. It is understandable why blood transfusions are less often thought of in the veterinary world. While animal blood-typing is less well understood and more complicated than human blood-typing, we also have to take ethical decisions, considering the healthy donor dog cannot choose whether to surrender some of his/her blood.

    However, I think that the benefits of having a pet blood bank outweighs the ethical conundrum, as long as the donor is healthy and any risks are minimised. Blood transfusions can be life-saving, and we should embrace the opportunity to provide dogs with the same medical advancements as are available in human medicine.

    We should not only support the work of the Pet Blood Bank, but also promote it and try to increase awareness throughout not only the veterinary world but in the general public as well. By raising the profile of the charity, more donors will come forward and more funding can become available to extend the service in order to provide other pets, such as cats and horses, with an equally life-saving resource.

  • Microhepatica on radiographs

    Because the liver may be contained entirely within the rib cage in normal cats and dogs, microhepatica is more difficult to recognise than hepatomegaly.

    Changes in the angle of the gastric fundus in the right lateral projection could indicate a small hepatic shadow if the angle is more upright or perpendicular to the spine – especially if the stomach seems close to the diaphragm.

    The liver may also seem small in animals with traumatic diaphragmatic hernia and herniation of liver lobes into the thorax or in those with congenital peritoneopericardial hernia.

  • ‘Real’ doctors

    Doctor in white
    Image ©iStockphoto.com/Alfsky

    Everyone knows that there’s an ancient feud between vet and medical students. Glasgow is no exception – only the other day, I had a heated debate on the topic with another student (who, annoyingly,  wasn’t even a medic).

    While, for the most part, it’s just friendly banter, there is some truth in both arguments.

    A doctor will usually have one area of focus and will spend his whole career becoming more and more specialised in that particular field, whereas a vet will be the GP, surgeon, physio, neurologist and much more for several different species, not just one. As a first year student, it’s sometimes a little scary and overwhelming to think about the broad spectrum of knowledge we need to gain in just five years.

    When the medics graduate, they’ll become junior doctors and from then on will begin narrowing down their fields of interest until eventually finding themselves as “left toe specialists”, or something. In 4.5 years, we’ll be let loose into the world of veterinary and, at the end of day one, will have probably already spayed a cat, pregnancy tested a few cows and euthanised a dog, with a rabbit or bird thrown in somewhere too.

    Not only are the medics likely to be more specialised than us, they also “go further” than we do in terms of treatment. In my interview for Glasgow vet school two years ago, after expressing an interest in orthopaedics, I was asked the ethical question: “How far is too far?”

    The Bionic Vet
    The Bionic Vet

    I didn’t really have an answer but tried to reason my way through it, discussing things like kidney transplants in cats in America and The Bionic Vet, and came to the conclusion that every case must be treated individually, having weighed up the pros and cons of “heroic treatments” in each situation.

    Now I realise that these heroic treatments are fairly uncommon in the veterinary world. Kidney transplants, for example, which are routine in medicine, are non-existent in veterinary in the UK. Is this a consequence of lack of funding and resources or lack of experience and knowledge in the field? Probably a little of both.

    The GP vet will play the role of all these specialised fields to some extent (some being more qualified to do so than others). While we can specialise and work in referral practices, the average mixed or small animal vet will find themselves becoming a “Jack of all trades and master of none”.

    Does that make us more intelligent than the medics, or just more well-rounded? Is it better to have a broad spectrum of knowledge and practical skills or to be very skilled at a few specific procedures?

  • Alopecia in cats

    Endocrine alopecia in cats is extremely rare. (more…)