Articles

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 […]

Necrotizing myopathy (NM) is not very often diagnosed in small animals, but it might be underestimated because muscle biopsies are not done routinely. This disease is characterized by muscle necrosis and cats that have this condition may present paresis and increased creatine kinase (CK) activity. CK is a specific enzyme marker of myofiber damage and […]

Heart rate variability (HRV) analysis was initially carried out to identify changes in vago-symphathetic balance. More recently, taking the best advantage of the latest technology, it has been used to identify cardiac arrhythmias, particularly atrial fibrillation (AF). HRV is the term used to describe oscillations in rate between consecutive cardiac cycles, monitored by ECG, heart […]

Reptiles have been generally associated with bacterial zoonotic pathogens, such as Salmonella, but reptile-borne parasitic zoonotic diseases have received little attention over the past years. As other animals, reptiles are hosts of several pathogens. The zoonotic risk is associated with human-reptile interactions such as reptile meat consumption, keeping reptiles as domestic animals or environmental contamination. […]

The aim of this study was to report the clinical experience with fluoroscopically guided tibial apophyseal percutaneous pinning (TAPP) for tibial tuberosity avulsion fractures (TTAF). This is a retrospective case series that reviewed the medical records of skeletally immature dogs (n=25). The association of pin design [smooth (SP); negatively threaded (NTP)], pin insertion angles, TTAF-type, […]

The main objective of this pilot study was to evaluate the results obtained from the assessment of the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) robenacoxib in cats with pain due to degenerative joint disease (DJD). Otherwise healthy cats (n = 109) with DJD-pain entered a parallel group, randomized, blinded clinical trial. The groups received placebo (P) and […]

The effects of pimobendan on the heart rhythm in cats are unknown. The purpose of this pilot study is to evaluate the effect of pimobendan on cardiac rhythm and selected echocardiographic parameters of the cat. To carry out this study, six clinically healthy cats received each four medication protocols for 15 days, with a washout […]

Standing out in the crowd – how my journey to Advanced Practitioner Status opened up new opportunities and instilled a passion for career development. Dr. Magdalena (Maggie) Doherty qualified from the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences in Poland in 2003. Moving to the UK (and having learned English), she worked in small animal […]