Tag Archives: dogs

Vet News – Small Animal News

Posted on by
Reply

Vet NewsOur Small Animal News editor, Harriet tackles the fascinating and important topic of rabies and the Pet Travel Scheme in this month’s installment of Vet News.

 

 

 

SMALL ANIMALS:

Rabies & The Pet Travel Scheme

Harriet Woodhall (Vet News Small Animal News Editor)

Rabies has been frequently in the news over the past couple of months due to increasing concerns that it could enter the UK and due to the presence of World Rabies Day on 28th September.  There have been several cases of rabies in the Netherlands and other EU countries recently that have led to increased Government pressure to review UK quarantine laws that were previously relaxed to save pet owners money.

Dog being vaccinated against rabiesRabies is a fatal disease that can potentially affect all mammals, even humans. Due to the variable incubation period and ranging characteristics, it is often difficult to diagnose and predict the spread of the disease. Rabies has a wide range of clinical signs; meaning it has to be confirmed in a laboratory; however typical signs include sudden behavioural changes and progressive paralysis leading to death, if without treatment. The disease is mainly transmitted via saliva from a bite of an infected animal; dogs being the source of 99% of human rabies deaths.

Under the Pet Travel Scheme (PETS) dogs, cats and ferrets are allowed to enter the UK without being put in quarantine, provided they have a microchip, rabies vaccination 21 days before travelling and a pet passport; dogs also need tapeworm treatment. If the requirements are not met, the animal is then put into quarantine on arrival into the UK. Only once the requirements of the PETS scheme are met can the animal be released.

A blood test and a wait of 6 months following vaccination was previously needed to enter the UK from the EU or approved countries; this was relaxed in January 2012: blood tests are no longer needed and the wait before entering is now only 21 days. The relaxed wait could be seen as a risk, seeing as the rabies incubation period is so variable and can often be longer than 21 days.

rabies, dangers, posterOne of the biggest concerns is the increasing numbers of smuggled dogs and puppies entering the UK with forged passports, often without vaccination or vaccination at a too young age. It is thought that since regulation changes, people are less concerned about being caught due to the shorter quarantine time. This is a particularly big problem when the dog’s origin is unknown, as rabies is still endemic in parts of the world. Many vets are now suggesting that quarantine regulations are not strict enough, and are warning of the increased risk of rabies entering the UK. BVA President, Robin Hargreaves also stated that this increase and the case in the Netherlands should “be a serious wake-up call to potential pet owners who must always ask about the animal’s background and ask to see it with its mother”.

Government officials state that the risk of rabies entering the UK is still very low, but several animal welfare charities are still concerned that they are putting their staff at risk, now suggesting that staff themselves are vaccinated against the disease.

 

References:

http://www.mrcvs.co.uk/en/news-story.php?id=10839

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24569593

https://www.gov.uk/take-pet-abroad/overview

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animal-diseases/a-z/rabies/

 

Picture Credits:

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2011/jul/18/eliminate-rabies-philippines

http://blog.wellcomelibrary.org/2012/08/item-of-the-month-august-2012-british-rabies-posters-from-the-1970s/

Vet News – Small Animal News

Posted on by
Reply

Vet NewsOur Small Animal News editor, Harriet delves into the intriguing topic of canine intelligence in this month’s dose of Vet News.

 

 

 

SMALL ANIMALS:

Canine Intelligence

Harriet Woodhall (Vet News Small Animal News Editor)

The intelligence of domestic dogs has been a topic much in the news recently after the discovery of perhaps the “world’s cleverest dog”, Chaser the Border Collie.

 One of the reasons this topic is a controversial one could be because of the limited means of testing a dog’s intelligence apart from the amount of words they are able to retain and respond to. One way scientists are trying to evaluate how intelligent the species is to look at its evolution.

Puppy trainingIt is well known that domestic dogs evolved from wolves, but how this transition came about is thought to be through humans. After a group of wolves took advantage of humans, they actually gained from the interaction and domesticated themselves naturally. It is now thought the increase in intelligence is down to their involvement with us.

Dogs have gained a social intelligence different from their wolf ancestors in which they are able to learn words in a similar way to a small child. One study has shown that dogs work things out with an inferential strategy based on the principle of exclusion: they have words that are attached to items, so when given a new word they know this belongs to a different, new item. Another quite shocking discovery was in several border collies who when shown a 2D picture were able to go and fetch the object in the picture – using something called the principle of iconicity. This was previously thought of as something that only children were able to do.

It is clear that we have much to learn about canine intelligence and are gradually uncovering new insights into their minds. One good example of a recent advance is Chaser the “world’s cleverest dog” who has been able to learn 1,200 words, more than any other non-primate and is estimated to have the intelligence of a 2 and a ½ year old child.

 Even further into the field is Brian Hare from Duke University in North Carolina who has come up with a series of scientific tests covering more than just the amount of words learnt – they can also explore empathy, communication, cunning, memory and reasoning.  The tests aim to prove that, like humans, dogs have different approaches to challenges. Researchers have created a profile that enables the owner to get a full overview of their dog’s traits and individual skills. The tests, through the website Dognition, are part of a study that aims to get a better understanding of how dogs think, not just for insight into dogs but also into our own intelligence evolution. As dogs learn words much like human babies it may help with our knowledge of our own learning.

 Maybe the next controversial question that needs answering is: “which are smarter, dogs or cats?”

 

References:

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/nstv/2013/02/canine-intelligence-tests.html

https://www.dognition.com/

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ideas-innovations/Why-Dogs-are-More-Like-Humans-Than-Wolves-192083131.html

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/nstv/2010/12/meet-the-dog-with-vocal-of-a-three-year-old.html

 

Picture Credits:

http://www.yayp.co.uk/siteimages/large_dogtraining7-453.jpg

Vet News – Small Animal News

Posted on by
Reply

Vet NewsThis month’s Small Animal Vet News article is on IMHA in dogs. Editor, Harriet Woodhall takes a look at this fascinating condition.

SMALL ANIMALS:

Immune Mediated Haemolytic Anaemia (IMHA) in Dogs

Harriet Woodhall (Vet News Small Animal Editor)

In a normal, healthy dog red blood cells (RBCs) live around 4 months and are then destroyed by the immune system to be replaced. In a dog with IMHA the immune system destroys RBCs prematurely as if they were a foreign virus or infection; this means they cannot be replaced at the same rate.

Immune Mediated Haemolytic Anaemia, blood smearThere are two forms of IMHA: primary (idiopathic) and secondary.  In primary IMHA the body produces anti-erythrocyte (RBC) antibodies which bind to surface antigens on RBCs and lead to their destruction. Although the exact cause is unknown, there are some breeds more susceptible: Cocker Spaniels, Poodles, Old English Sheepdogs and Irish Setters.  Secondary IMHA also results in antibody attachment to RBCs but occurs when the patient is exposed to a drug, toxin or has an underlying neoplastic or infectious disease.

Common symptoms include anaemia, lethargy, tachypnea (increased respiratory rate), anorexia, weakness and vomiting. Most of the symptoms arise from reduced RBCs and lack of oxygen delivery to tissues.

Diagnosis can be particularly difficult and expensive with the primary purpose to demonstrate that antibodies are attached to the surface of the RBCs. A physical exam and history need to be taken along various laboratory tests such as a Complete Blood Count and a Saline Auto-Agglutination (to evaluate the clumping of cells which arise from antibody attachment). Although the most useful starting point is Saline Auto-Agglutination it can often take a lot of laboratory tests to fully diagnose the disease.

At present there is no cure for IMHA, current treatments aim to improve RBC concentration and to stabilise the patient.

Most emergency cases need blood transfusions which try to increase haemoglobin concentrations in the blood. Transfusion products can be whole blood, red blood cells or haemoglobin concentrates with the main goal to improve oxygen delivery to the tissues. While most dogs don’t have naturally occurring alloantibodies, blood typing is still important with the universally accepted blood donor being DEA (dog erythrocyte antigen) 1.1 negative.

Another treatment method is immunosuppressive therapy using corticosteroids to slow down RBC destruction and RBC phagocytosis as well as reducing antibody production.

It is thought that T regulatory cells play a part in autoimmune diseases when there are a reduced number or they have functional defects. Therefore there is the suggestion that replacing the T-regulatory cells with those grown from stem cells would be an effective treatment for the disease. Although this seems feasible a lot more research needs to be done to ensure effective delivery of the cells and whether the treatment is practical and safe.

 

References:

http://www.avsg.net/documents/ImmuneMediatedHemolyticAnemiaHeatherMineoDVMDACVECC.pdf

http://www.pethealthnetwork.com/dog-health/immune-mediated-hemolytic-anemia-dogs-imha

http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/vetmed/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=569903&sk=&date=&pageID=2

http://www.scvim.com/memberpics/85969imha%20paper.pdf

http://www.veterinaryteambrief.com/sites/default/files/attachments/Canine%20Immune-Mediated%20Hemolytic%20Anemia_0.pdf

Picture Credits:

http://vetbook.org/wiki/cat/index.php/Immune-mediated_haemolytic_anaemia