Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Biomarkers Of Inflammation, Metabolism, And Oxidative Stress In Blood, Liver, And Milk Reveal A Better Immunometabolic Status In Peripartal Cows Supplemented With Smartamine M Or Metasmart, J. S. Osorio, E. Trevisi, P. Ji, J. K. Drackley, D. Luchini, G. Bertoni, J. J. Loor

Physiology Collection

The peripartal dairy cow experiences a state of reduced liver function coupled with increased inflammation and oxidative stress. This study evaluated the effect of supplementing basal diets with rumen-protected Met in the form of MetaSmart (MS) or Smartamine M (SM) (both from Adisseo Inc., Antony, France) during the peripartal period on blood and hepatic biomarkers of liver function, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Thirty-seven multiparous Holstein cows were fed the same basal diet from −50 to −21 d relative to expected calving [1.24 Mcal/kg of dry matter (DM); no Met supplementation]. From −21 d to calving, the cows received diets …

Prevalence Of Upper Respiratory Pathogens In Four Management Models For Unowned Cats In The Southeast United States, Matt Parker, Julie Levy, Sylvia Tucker, C Mcmanus, L Andersen, S Mcgorray, C M. Leutenegger, L Gray, J Hilligas

Diseases and Health

Upper respiratory infection (URI) is a pervasive problem in cats and impacts the capacity and cost of sheltering programs. This study determined the pattern of respiratory pathogens in cats with and without clinical signs of URI in four different models for managing unowned cats, namely, (1) short-term animal shelters (STS), (2) long-term sanctuaries (LTS), (3) home-based foster care programs (FCP), and (4) trap-neuter-return programs for community cats (TNR). Conjunctival and oropharyngeal swabs from 543 cats, approximately half of which showed clinical signs of URI, were tested for feline herpes virus-1 (FHV), feline calicivirus (FCV), Chlamydia felis, Bordetella bronchiseptica, Mycoplasma felis, …

Infectious Diseases In Large-Scale Cat Hoarding Investigations, Matt Parker, Julie Levy, Katherine Polak, Cynda Crawford, C M. Leutenegger, K A. Moriello

Diseases and Health

Animal hoarders accumulate animals in over-crowded conditions without adequate nutrition, sanitation, and veterinary care. As a result, animals rescued from hoarding frequently have a variety of medical conditions including respiratory infections, gastrointestinal disease, parasitism, malnutrition, and other evidence of neglect. The purpose of this study was to characterize the infectious diseases carried by clinically affected cats and to determine the prevalence of retroviral infections among cats in large-scale cat hoarding investigations. Records were reviewed retrospectively from four large-scale seizures of cats from failed sanctuaries from November 2009 through March 2012. The number of cats seized in each case ranged from …

Long-Term Health Effects Of Neutering Dogs: Comparison Of Labrador Retrievers With Golden Retrievers, Benjamin L. Hart, Lynette A. Hart, Abigail P. Thigpen, Neil H. Willits

Endocrinology Collection

Our recent study on the effects of neutering (including spaying) in Golden Retrievers in markedly increasing the incidence of two joint disorders and three cancers prompted this study and a comparison of Golden and Labrador Retrievers. Veterinary hospital records were examined over a 13-year period for the effects of neutering during specified age ranges: before 6 mo., and during 6–11 mo., year 1 or years 2 through 8. The joint disorders examined were hip dysplasia, cranial cruciate ligament tear and elbow dysplasia. The cancers examined were lymphosarcoma, hemangiosarcoma, mast cell tumor, and mammary cancer. The results for the Golden Retriever …

Physiological And Behavioural Responses To Noxious Stimuli In The Atlantic Cod (Gadus Morhua), Jared R. Eckroth, Øyvind Aas-Hansen, Lynne U. Sneddon, Helena Bichão, Kjell B. Døving

Aquaculture Collection

In the present study, our aim was to compare physiological and behavioural responses to different noxious stimuli to those of a standardized innocuous stimulus, to possibly identify aversive responses indicative of injury detection in a commercially important marine teleost fish, the Atlantic cod. Individual fish were administered with a noxious stimulus to the lip under short-term general anaesthesia (MS-222). The noxious treatments included injection of 0.1% or 2% acetic acid, 0.005% or 0.1% capsaicin, or piercing the lip with a commercial fishing hook. Counts of opercular beat rate (OBR) at 10, 30, 60, 90 and 120 min and observations of …

An Hsi Fact Sheet: Avian Influenza In India, Humane Society International

HSI FACT SHEETS

Avian influenza (AI), commonly known as bird flu, typically causes little or no harm to its wild waterfowl hosts. In 2003-2004, however, nine Asian countries reported unprecedented outbreaks of high-mortality AI in domestic poultry. This viral lineage, subtype H5N1, has spread to over 60 countries, and is considered endemic in at least four.

In India, H5N1 outbreaks were first recorded in 2006, and have continued each year since, reaching a total of 86 by 2012. Millions of India’s chickens and ducks have been culled in efforts to contain and eliminate the virus. India has declared itself free of AI a …

Approaches To Canine Health Surveillance, Dan G. O'Neill, David B. Church, Paul D. Mcgreevy, Peter C. Thomson, Dave C. Brodbelt

Epidemiology Collection

Effective canine health surveillance systems can be used to monitor disease in the general population, prioritise disorders for strategic control and focus clinical research, and to evaluate the success of these measures. The key attributes for optimal data collection systems that support canine disease surveillance are representativeness of the general population, validity of disorder data and sustainability. Limitations in these areas present as selection bias, misclassification bias and discontinuation of the system respectively. Canine health data sources are reviewed to identify their strengths and weaknesses for supporting effective canine health surveillance. Insurance data benefit from large and well-defined denominator populations …

Prevalence Of Disorders Recorded In Dogs Attending Primary-Care Veterinary Practices In England, Dan G. O'Neill, David B. Church, Paul D. Mcgreevy, Peter C. Thomson, Dave C. Brodbelt

Epidemiology Collection

Purebred dog health is thought to be compromised by an increasing occurence of inherited diseases but inadequate prevalence data on common disorders have hampered efforts to prioritise health reforms. Analysis of primary veterinary practice clinical data has been proposed for reliable estimation of disorder prevalence in dogs. Electronic patient record (EPR) data were collected on 148,741 dogs attending 93 clinics across central and south-eastern England. Analysis in detail of a random sample of EPRs relating to 3,884 dogs from 89 clinics identified the most frequently recorded disorders as otitis externa (prevalence 10.2%, 95% CI: 9.1–11.3), periodontal disease (9.3%, 95% CI: …

Effect Of Confinement On Water-Borne And Whole Body Cortisol In Wild And Captive-Eared Rainbowfish (Melanoteania Duboulayi), Amina Zuberi, Culum Brown, Sinan Ali

Physiology Collection

Whole body and water-borne cortisol levels were measured in captive reared and wild Rainbowfish (Melanoteania duboulayi Castelnau 1878) subjected to social isolation by confining them in a beaker for 30 min to induce an acute stress response. Wild fish had higher levels of cortisol before and after exposure to a mild stressor and also showed the greatest stress response. The differences in stress responses are likely the result of artificial selection in the captive environment. Importantly, there was a strong linear relationship between whole body and water-borne cortisol in wild and captive reared populations (r² =0. 95 and 0.84, …

Stress And Reproductive Hormones Reflect Inter-Specific Social And Nutritional Conditions Mediated By Resource Availability In A Bear–Salmon System, Heather M. Bryan, Chris T. Darimont, Paul C. Paquet, Katherine E. Wynne-Edwards, Judit E. G. Smits

Physiology Collection

Food availability can influence the nutritional and social dynamics within and among species. Our investigation focused on grizzly and black bears in coastal British Columbia, Canada, where recent and dramatic declines in their primary prey (salmon) raise concerns about potentially negative effects on bear physiology. We examined how salmon availability relates to stress and reproductive hormones in coastal grizzly (n = 69) and black bears (n = 68) using cortisol and testosterone. In hair samples from genotyped individuals, we quantified salmon consumption using stable isotope analysis and hormone levels by enzyme immunoassay. To estimate the salmon biomass available to each …