Articles

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common endocrinopathy in cats, and its treatment relies upon the SC injection of insulin once- or twice-daily, along with dietary modification. In the majority of cats this is a life-long treatment. It is known that in people, increasing frequency of any drug has decreased adherence to treatment protocol. It is […]

Although ileus is a poorly documented condition in ruminants, most of the cases happen after surgery and there are very few studies that mention drugs that can affect intestinal motility in these species. Lidocaine is frequently used in veterinary medicine, not just as a local anaesthetic but also as an anti-arrhythmic, anti-inflammatory and prokinetic agent. […]

Veterinary professionals in mixed and small animal practice frequently assess feline behaviour to safely interact with cats and monitor their wellbeing. If the practitioner makes a mistake assessing the behaviour this can result into a stressful situation to the cat and injury to the veterinarian. Cat-attack injuries are very common and have economic impact in […]

New Veterinary Academy Series to bring the latest thinking to vets and veterinary nurses Global veterinary education specialist Improve International has partnered with the University of Cambridge Department of Veterinary Medicine to bring the latest evidence-based knowledge from the university’s specialists to veterinarians and veterinary nurses through the new Improve International Veterinary Academy Series. The […]

Nutrition is essential for patient recovery and energy supply is strongly associated with hospital discharge. For this purpose, hospitalized animals often undergo a feeding tube placement, that for the long term should be esophageal (E-tubes). In animals, it is particularly important to be less invasive and to interfere minimally with natural behavior, and common E-tubes […]

Compared to other species, horses are born with a more functional and developed brain. This is thought to be an evolutionary mechanism for prey survival in the wild. In the equine species the transition from fetal in utero unconsciousness to extrauterine consciousness upon birth is critical for the survival of the neonate. Maintenance of in […]

Cardiovascular disease is currently treated with drugs that inhibit the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS). The use of mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists has gained a significant importance in the treatment of congestive heart failure (CHF) in humans, partly due to the beneficial effects of adding spironolactone (S) to the standard therapy for CHF. The authors of this multicentric […]

It is known that nutritional supplementation improves the outcome of veterinary patients and that the preferred route is through the gastrointestinal tract (enteral nutrition). In cases of gastric or intestinal motility disorders the effective absorption and use of nutrients can be compromised. These disorders are common in ill canine pediatric patients who very easily become […]

The interest in using cannabinoids for therapeutic uses in companion animals is growing, particularly that of cannabidiol (CBD). In dogs, there is evidence that CBD reduces pain and increases mobility in osteoarthritic patients. Also, CBD has been shown to decrease seizure frequency in dogs diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy. Both canine and human studies suggest that […]

Kidney disease in dogs is frequently associated with an excess of protein in the urine. Urine protein-creatinine ratio (UPC) is often measured as an indicator of proteinuria. Values of ≥ 0.5 in dogs with no elevation in creatinine and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) warrant further investigation for other possible causes of kidney injury. Several studies […]

Serum bile acids (SBA) are frequently measured in dogs, but there is limited data on their efficacy to distinguish different causes of liver disease. This study composed of 341 dogs aimed to compare resting and postprandial SBA concentrations in several liver diseases and assess the sensitivity and specificity of these tests for each disease. All […]

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic intestinal inflammatory disease that affects several species and which etiology is unknown. It is considered the most frequent disease in ferrets. Definitive diagnosis is based on microscopic evaluation of intestinal biopsies. The need to create a universal classification scheme to evaluate the severity of IBD in ferrets is […]

Cluster seizures (CS) and status epilepticus (SE) are two of the most common neurological emergencies in dogs. Twenty to forty percent of dogs with epilepsy are not adequately controlled leading many patients to present to the emergency room with SE or CS. Although treatment of these conditions is required, optimal therapy is still unknown. There […]

Avian keratin disorder (AKD) is a disease characterized by debilitating beak overgrowth, often with crossing and marked curvature. These beak deformities make birds unable to properly feed, preen and cope with parasites, which compromises their survival. AKD has increasingly affected wild bird populations worldwide and is typically seen in adult birds. A wide variety of […]

The main goal of the article to which this summary refers was to evaluate the efficacy of medical dissolution for suspected struvite cystoliths in dogs. Struvite uroliths correspond to a big percentage of uroliths cases diagnosed in dogs. Currently, the recommended therapy is medical treatment, consisting of a combination of diet and antibiotics. Fifty dogs […]

C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute phase protein used in the diagnosis of several canine inflammatory conditions which cause its increase. Diskospondylitis is defined as an infection of the intervertebral disc and the adjacent endplates of the vertebral bodies. Most of the times, it has a bacterial etiology and can take a long time to […]