Serotonin has been implicated in several canine diseases, including myxomatous mitral valve disease, pulmonary hypertension and dilated cardiomyopathy, but direct measurement in blood is challenging because of its short half-life in serum.
In humans, urinary 5‑HIAA is considered a more accurate marker of serum serotonin concentration.
However, whilst urine 5-HIAA has previously been measured in dogs using gas chromatography mass spectrometry and high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection, these techniques are expensive and not widely available.
For the study, which was funded by BSAVA PetSavers and published in the Journal of Small Animal Practice, researchers collected urine samples from 26 dogs undergoing routine diagnostic evaluation at a referral hospital.
Each sample was analysed using both a commercially available ELISA testing kit, BA-E-1900 from Immusmol, and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, the current gold standard method.
The ELISA was found to be reliable with acceptable precision and repeatability, particularly at low concentrations, although it had a slightly higher observed error at higher concentrations.
The researchers recommended further validation work to improve understanding of the various preanalytical factors that may influence measurement of 5-HIAA concentrations.
They also said further work should investigate whether measuring urinary 5-HIAA will be a good surrogate marker for physiologically active circulating serotonin in dogs, and whether it will be useful in studying disease pathogenesis.
Dr Penny Watson, senior author of the study, said: "I am very hopeful that, after further validation, this ELISA will prove to be a reliable, simple and cheap test for 5-HIAA in the urine, facilitating further research into the role of serotonin in the pathogenesis of canine diseases.
"We have long suspected that some individual dogs and breeds may have higher circulating serotonin than others and that this might predispose them not only to heart disease but also some common diseases such as chronic pancreatitis and kidney disease.
"They would also be more susceptible to serotinergic syndrome when medicated with drugs such as tramadol or trazadone.
"Further research in this area would thus be directly relevant to small animal practitioners."
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsap.70123
CrCLD has previously been suggested to be associated with gonad status, but there has been no clear consensus on how “early” gonadectomy should be defined in male or female dogs.
The study carried out a secondary analysis of data from more than 20,000 dogs spanning 36 years to explore the association between cumulative gonadal hormone exposure and risk of CrCLD.
Rather than categorising dogs using arbitrary age cut-offs, the researchers treated gonadal hormone exposure as a continuous variable.
In the dataset analysed, the prevalence of CrCLD was 2.49% in females and 1.89% in male dogs.
The risk of CrCLD was highest in dogs with the least gonadal hormone exposure — before 1054 days (approximately 2.9 years) in females and 805 days (approximately 2.2 years) in males.
The minimum risk was observed at around 2.9 years for females and 2.2 years for males.
The authors say that these findings suggest gonadectomy is very likely to be associated with an increased risk of CrCLD, and that previously suggested arbitrary cut-offs of two years of age may not be scientifically grounded.
Overall, the paper concluded that removal of gonadal hormones should be performed after musculoskeletal maturity, if at all.
Lead author Dr Daniel Low said there is an increasing body of evidence linking the development of CrCLD with neutering in both male and female dogs, and that the timing of neutering matters.
He added that the health benefits of neutering in reducing the risk of other diseases should not be overlooked, and that every decision to neuter should be made on a case-by-case basis by the attending veterinary surgeon in consultation with the animal owner.
Reference
The study assessed contamination across 13 small animal practices using adenosine triphosphate (ATP) testing before and after delivery of a staff training session and standardised cleaning protocols.
Eleven practices were re-tested 70 days later and five practices were re-tested an average of 128 days later.
Samples were taken from reception areas, consulting rooms, preparation and diagnostic areas, wards, theatres, kitchens, laboratories, and staff areas, using Hygiena EnSURE Touch & UltraSnap Surface ATP Swabs.
The cleaning protocol involved the removal of biofilms using a degreasing agent, followed by routine cleaning with a standard veterinary disinfectant cleaner and fogging application of a certified veterinary disinfectant.
Before the intervention, average contamination levels in practices were 14.7 times higher than recommended thresholds.
Following the 45-minute staff training session and implementation of the standardised cleaning protocol, contamination levels reduced by 61% within 70 days and by 71% within 128 days.
Fomite surfaces — including door handles, kettles, and keyboards — showed the greatest improvement, with contamination levels reduced by 80%. General surfaces recorded a 56% reduction.
These findings indicate that a combination of staff training, refined cleaning protocols, and scheduled hygiene testing can significantly reduce contamination levels in practices and improve practice-level infection control.
Dr Neil Forbes, author of the study, said: “Once identified, most hygiene issues are readily addressed.
"Reservoirs of contamination, or indications of poor working practices, once detected, can be resolved.
"Longitudinal studies in human hospitals demonstrate that ATP reduction correlates with decreased nosocomial infection rates, ranging from 45–75% over 18 months to 5 years.”
The study recommends that practices appoint an Infection Control Champion, implement routine - ideally monthly - ATP testing, raise awareness with the whole team about infection sources, transmission routes, and risk management, and use two-step sanitation comprising cleaning followed by disinfection.
The study was the first to use prospectively collected data to estimate the prevalence of and risk factors for gingivitis in a cohort of domestic cats, using data from 860 cats aged up to six years enrolled in the Bristol Cats Study. Gingivitis was found to be a common condition in cats aged up to six years, with prevalence increasing with age, from 24.5% in cats less than 12 months old, up to 56.3% in cats between five and six years old. Odds of gingivitis in cats aged three to four years were higher in cats fed a wet only or mixed wet/dry diet compared to those on a dry only diet; cats not reported to hunt prey compared to reported hunters; cats reported to dribble whilst being stroked at age six months compared to reported non-dribblers; and cats with orange variants in their coat colour compared to non-orange cats. Sex was not found to be a risk factor for gingivitis (Ed's note: what a relief). Jess Williams, lead author of the study, said: “Periodontal disease is one of the most common conditions in cats, potentially causing issues with eating and behaviours like grooming.
"Our study showed that even young cats may have signs of gingivitis, so it is important to discuss and monitor dental health regularly and early on in a cat’s life, especially for those cats who may be more at risk.”
The study was funded by BSAVA PetSavers.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jsap.13737
The study “Evaluation of quick sequential organ failure scores in dogs with severe sepsis and septic shock1” reviewed electronic records from dogs that presented through the veterinary medical teaching hospital emergency service between January 2010 and December 2019 using the search terms “sepsis” or “septic”.
The quick sequential organ failure score was calculated by evaluating respiratory rate (>22 breaths per minute), arterial systolic blood pressure (≤100mmHg) and altered mentation.
Forty-five dogs with severe sepsis and septic shock and 45 dogs with non-infectious systemic inflammatory response syndrome were included in the final analysis.
It was found that the quick sequential organ failure assessment score provided poor discrimination between survivors and non-survivors for dogs with severe sepsis and septic shock.
In addition, the quick sequential organ failure score demonstrated a poor sensitivity and fair specificity to detect this population of canine patients.
The authors say that previous studies on quick sequential organ failure score have provided conflicting results, but that this may just be due to the inherent heterogeneity of the population.
Considering the results of this study, it may not be possible to identify a single scoring system that serves the purpose that quick sequential organ failure assessment is intended for.
Nicola Di Girolamo, Editor of the JSAP said: “The results of this study have strong clinical implications.
"The JSAP values studies with negative findings such as this one, as much as studies with positive findings.
"The fact that a diagnostic tool or a treatment does not reach the desired objective, should not hinder publication of methodologically sound research”
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jsap.13522
The authors say that the prognosis for dogs with stage II Kiupel high-grade cutaneous mast cell tumours has historically been considered poor.
However, the removal of metastatic regional lymph nodes in more recent research has been associated with a better outcome in canine cutaneous mast cell tumours.
For this study1, dogs with a histological diagnosis of overt lymph node metastasis that underwent lymphadenectomy (n = 31) were compared with those with a cytological diagnosis of regional lymph node metastasis, that did not undergo excision (n 18).
The study was a multi-institutional retrospective cohort study, using electronic medical records from four European institutions to identify dogs for inclusion.
The study found that dogs with Kiupel high-grade cutaneous mast cell tumours undergoing lymphadenectomy of HN3 lymph nodes as part of their primary surgery in addition to adjuvant medical treatment had a significant improvement in time to progression and survival time compared with those dogs not undergoing the procedure.
Lack of lymphadenectomy was the only variable significantly associated with a higher risk of nodal progression.
Dogs underwent lymphadenectomy of one peripheral lymph node in most cases.
The authors says that a higher number of lymph nodes or the removal of intracavitary lymph nodes might be associated with an increased incidence of postoperative morbidity.
They add that the findings warrant further exploration of the effect of surgical extirpation of metastatic sentinel lymph nodes and the number of lymph nodes removed on outcome in dogs with Kiupel high-grade cutaneous mast cell tumours.
Nicola Di Girolamo, Editor of JSAP said: “It is really encouraging to see collaborations from multiple institutions like the study presented here.
"Including multiple institutions in a retrospective cohort study, does not only ensure a higher sample size, but also ensure a higher generalisability of the results.
"Meaning that it is more likely that the differences observed in this study are also going to be observed at different practices and with different clinicians.”
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jsap.13525
In what researchers say was the largest study of its type to date, dogs with Cushing’s syndrome were identified from the electronic patient records of practices participating in the UK VetCompass programme during 2016.
Both pre-existing and incident cases of Cushing’s syndrome during 2016 were included to estimate the one-year period prevalence.
Available demographic data for study dogs included date of birth, sex, neuter status, breed and mean lifetime bodyweight above 18 months.
Multivariable binary logistic regression modelling was used to assess the associations between risk factors and Cushing’s syndrome.
Dr Imogen Schofield, corresponding author for the paper, said: “A total of 1527 Cushing’s syndrome cases were identified in this study, from a population of 905,544 dogs in 2016.
"The estimated one-year period prevalence for Cushing’s syndrome in dogs was 0.17% (95% confidence interval 0.05 to 0.07).
“The findings of this study provide evidence from primary-care clinical records on the epidemiology of Cushing’s syndrome which can help primary-care veterinarians during diagnosis.
"Seven breeds were associated with increased odds of Cushing’s syndrome; the Bichon frise (OR=6.17, 95% CI 4.22 to 9.00), Border terrier (5.40, 95% CI 3.66 to 7.97), miniature schnauzer (3.05, 95% CI 1.67 to 5.57), Lhasa apso (2.52, 95% CI 1.49 to 4.28), Yorkshire terrier (1.82, 95% CI 1.23 to 2.70), Staffordshire bull terrier (1.52, 95% CI 1.08 to 2.13) and Jack Russell terrier (1.50, 95% CI 1.07 to 2.08).
"Four breeds were at decreased odds of Cushing’s syndrome: the Golden retriever (0.24, 95% CI 0.06 to 0.98), Labrador retriever (0.3, 95% CI 0.17 to 0.54), Border collie (0.32, 95% CI 0.13 to 0.78) and cocker spaniel (0.44, 95% CI 0.21 to 0.90), which could help vets in practice lower their index of suspicion for Cushing’s syndrome for these breeds.
"Dogs with a bodyweight higher than their breed-sex mean had 1.44 times the odds of Cushing’s syndrome than those within their breed mean (95% CI 1.17 to 1.78), suggesting either overweight dogs or larger examples of the breed are at increased risk of this condition, or that dogs with Cushing’s syndrome gain weight.”
Nicola Di Girolamo, Editor of JSAP, said: “When we look at risk factor analysis in previous studies, the generalisability of their findings to the general population of dogs in the UK have typically been limited due to studying dogs from referral populations or due to a lack of multivariable analysis.
"The findings of this study help to address that knowledge gap, supporting some of the risk factors previously reported, and by identifying novel associations, such as that in the Border terrier.
"Awareness of breeds with high or low risk could help to enhance the index of suspicion for veterinary surgeons working in primary-care practice where Cushing’s syndrome is predominantly diagnosed and managed.”
Photo: BSAVA
In the study titled “Safety of early postoperative hydrotherapy in dogs undergoing thoracolumbar hemilaminectomy”, the medical records of a single referral hospital in Sweden were retrospectively reviewed to identify dogs that had been treated with hemilaminectomy for acute or chronic thoracolumbar IVDE and had commenced hydrotherapy within five days after surgery.
Information collected from the medical records included signalment, presenting clinical signs, severity of neurological signs, initiation and duration of hydrotherapy, postoperative complications and follow-up.
Postoperative complications were considered major if there was a need for hospitalisation, surgery or if the dog died or was euthanised as a direct consequence of the complication.
A complication was deemed minor if outpatient medical treatment was sufficient to rectify it.
A total of 83 dogs were included in the study.
Hydrotherapy was started within a mean of 2.7 (one to five) days after surgery and consisted of swimming without underwater treadmill (UWTM) in dogs with severe paraparesis or paraplegia.
With neurological improvement, and when supported ambulation was possible, UWTM was initiated.
Ninety-six percent of the dogs used swimming as postoperative hydrotherapy, starting with a mean of 2.7 days after surgery, fifty-seven percent of the dogs used UWTM as the postoperative hydrotherapy, starting with a mean of 13 days after surgery.
Forty-five percent of dogs used both hydrotherapeutic modalities.
Dr Abtin Morjarradi, corresponding author for the paper, said: “A total of 10 minor complications were recorded during the study period, including surgical site infection (SSI) (n=5), diarrhoea (n=4) and urinary tract infection (n=1).
Major complications were recorded in 26 dogs during the study period and included euthanasia (n=13), acute dermatitis (n=1), spinal abscess (n=1) and disc extrusion (n=1).
Reasons for euthanasia were urinary incontinence (n=5), lack of neurological improvement (n=2), clinical suspicion of progressive myelomalacia (PMM) (n=2), persistent pain (n=1), aggression (n=1) and widespread cellulitis with an abscess caudal to the right stifle without known cause (n=1).”
Abtin added: “Follow-up visits for 71 dogs were performed at a mean of 15.3 (9 to 30) days, and 68 dogs at a mean of 45.9 (30 to 111) days, after surgery.
"At the first follow-up visit 68% of the dogs were ambulatory with Modified Frankel Score (MFS) 4 or higher.
"At the last follow-up visit 97% of the dogs were ambulatory with MFS 4 or higher, with 34% demonstrating normal neurological function. None of these dogs deteriorated after the initiation time of hydrotherapy.”
Nicola Di Girolamo, Editor of JSAP, said: “Whilst previous studies indicate that early rehabilitation may be beneficial after acute spinal cord injury, the optimal timing to start hydrotherapy is unclear.
“Despite a high number of complications being recorded in the present study, it is not clear how many of these complications were directly related to the initiation time of hydrotherapy and therefore further research is required.”
The full article can be found in the December issue of the Journal of Small Animal Practice: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jsap.13412.
The study, titled “Development and progression of proteinuria in dogs treated with masitinib for neoplasia: 28 cases (2010 – 2019)”, also suggests that a urine protein: creatinine greater than 0.5 should prompt reassessment within one week.
For the study, the clinical records of 38 dogs referred to a single university teaching hospital between 2010 and 2019 for treatment of neoplasia with masitinib were retrospectively evaluated.
Data was collected at masitinib initiation and at various timepoints following the start of treatment.
Data gathered included the masitinib dose given and any changes to medication administration or dosing since the previous visit, presence of gross disease and the results of haematology and biochemistry profiles, urinalysis and urine cultures.
Urinalysis results were only included if they were performed at a reference laboratory.
At each timepoint, the urine was classified as non-proteinuric (UP:C ≤0.5) or proteinurinc (UP:C >0.5). Proteinuria was then categorised as likely pre-renal, post-renal, physiological renal or pathological renal.
Dogs were grouped based on the presence or absence of proteinuria at baseline. Non-proteinuric dogs were further divided, based on whether proteinuria developed following treatment during the study.
Of the 28 dogs in the study, five were being treated for epitheliotropic lymphoma, one for vulval lymphoma, one for malignant melanoma and 21 for mast cell tumours.
Twenty-two (79%) dogs were non-proteinuric and six were proteinuric at baseline.
Of the dogs that were non-proteinuric at baseline, four (18.2%) developed proteinuria within one month of treatment initiation. Median time to first detection of proteinuria was 14.5 days (range: 13 to 31).
Of the dogs with pre-treatment proteinuria (n=6), masitinib treatment was discontinued due to lack of efficacy in three dogs, and three were euthanased during treatment, two for disease progression and one for an unknown reason.
Dr Margaux Kuijlaars, corresponding author for the paper, said: “Patients developing proteinuria should be investigated to exclude non-renal causes. This should allow for more informed recommendations on the monitoring and management of proteinuria and further masitinib treatment in these patients to be made. Masitinib treatment can be considered in patients with pre-treatment proteinuria and does not inevitably cause worsening of proteinuria.
“The findings of this study add to the evidence base for the use of masitinib in treating neoplasia in small animal patients. The use of masitinib in dogs in this study was off-licence as C-KIT MCT expression was not determined, and many dogs were treated for other tumours.”
Nicola Di Girolamo, Editor of JSAP, said: “Little is known about which dogs are predisposed to becoming proteinuric following treatment with masitinib for neoplasia. Due to the small number of dogs in this study that developed proteinuria, conclusions about predisposing factors cannot be definitely drawn.
"The findings of this study add to the evidence base and demonstrate the need for larger, prospective trials including a control population and longer period of follow-up.”
The full article can be found in the August issue of the Journal of Small Animal Practice and can be read online here: https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsap.13305. It is open access and can be freely accessed by anyone.
For the study, titled “RHDV2 epidemic in UK pet rabbits. Part 1: clinical features, gross post mortem and histopathological findings”1, veterinary surgeons were encouraged to submit case histories and the results of post mortem examinations of pet rabbits that died suddenly. Samples taken during the post mortem were sent for histopathological examination.
Frances Harcourt-Brown, corresponding author for the paper, said: "Case histories, macroscopic findings and histopathology results were available from 300 rabbits that died suddenly.
"Of these, 185 (62%) died from RHD and showed characteristic histopathological features of RHD including apoptosis and variable lytic and coagulative hepatocellular necrosis, with varying distribution.
"Interestingly, macroscopic evidence of disease was not present in all cases – for example, gross liver abnormalities were only reported in 30% of cases, despite all cases showing hepatocellular necrosis on microscopic examination.
"Rapid death and death of other rabbits in the household were common features of RHD.
"Histopathology was also useful in yielding valuable information about other causes of death in the rabbits that did not die from RHD.”
Nicola Di Girolamo, editor of JSAP said: “This is a terrible disease that is currently spreading in areas of the world that were free from it until recently. Having more evidence on the type of clinical presentations and lesions that should be expected with this disease in rabbit patients is going to be of tremendous value for clinicians. Given that there is not always macroscopic evidence of RHD, histopathology is key for the diagnosis of RHD in pet rabbits.”
The full article can be found in the July issue of the Journal of Small Animal Practice which is free for BSAVA members.
It can also be read online here: https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jsap.13141
The article looks at the practice, rationale and motivation for raw feeding before evaluating the existing evidence on both the benefits and risks of such diets.
The recent trend away from heat-treated, manufactured pet food for dogs and cats towards raw diets has been driven by suspicion of the former and perceived health benefits of the latter.
However, feeding raw diets, even commercially-prepared ones, does have risks: a recent paper described 13 cats in the UK that appeared to have been infected by Mycobacterium bovis2 by feeding Natural Instinct Wild Venison, a commercial raw mince for cats.
The leader of the investigation, Professor Danièlle Gunn-Moore from the University of Edinburgh said: "Feeding raw food was the only conceivable route of infection in most cases; this outbreak of tuberculosis has now affected more than 90 individuals in over 30 different locations, with more than 50 of the cats developing clinical disease."
One of the authors of the review, Dr Andrew Wales, said: "Formal evidence does exist for claims by raw‐feeding proponents of an altered intestinal microbiome and (subjectively) improved stool quality. However, there is currently neither robust evidence nor identified plausible mechanisms for many of the wide range of other claimed benefits.
"There are documented risks associated with raw feeding, principally malnutrition (inexpert formulation and testing of diets) and infection affecting pets and/or household members. Salmonella has been consistently found and there is also a risk of introducing antimicrobial-resistant bacteria."
The full review article can be found in the June issue of the Journal of Small Animal Practice which is free for BSAVA members. It can also be read online here https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsap.13000
References