New Zealand veterinary journal最新文献

This article considers how artificial intelligence (AI) could support, within a New Zealand context, the contribution of private veterinarians to protecting animal health and welfare during emergency responses. These may include veterinary involvement in natural disasters, such as fire and flood, or formal emergency animal disease responses, which are the responsibility of different government departments.An emergency response in New Zealand that impacts the health and welfare of animals, relies heavily on privately operated veterinary practices, which typically lack the coordination and support required for effective engagement. Drawing on historical events such as the response to the recent incursion of Mycoplasma bovis, this article reviews systemic limitations of the current emergency response process, such as fragmented data flows, unclear roles, and insufficient planning, and explores how AI could address these challenges.Key concepts of AI are introduced, including predictive modelling and decision support, and their relevance is considered within the veterinary context. Recent developments, such as multimodal models, generative reasoning models, and mobile-friendly architectures, offer opportunities to enhance preparedness, support faster decision-making, and improve coordination. However, technical advances alone are insufficient to resolve previous limitations. AI tools are only advantageous if embedded in day-to-day workflows, supported by well-governed data-sharing arrangements, and accompanied by clear guidance on their interpretation and limitations. Challenges relating to ethics, commercial incentives, and operational integration remain considerable.Progress in this area depends on collaboration between veterinarians, technologists, and policymakers as part of existing activities to prepare for an emergency response. By aligning commercial and public-good objectives and clarifying how everyday veterinary activity contributes to system-wide resilience, AI could become a practical tool in the profession's growing role in emergency response.This review identifies strategic opportunities for veterinarians to shape and deploy AI technologies that support animal welfare, improve coordination, and strengthen national resilience during an emergency response to an event involving animals. Realising this potential will require early cross-sector collaboration, durable ethical oversight, and a clear articulation of shared value across both routine and emergency veterinary practice.Abbreviations: AI: Artificial intelligence; ANI: Artificial narrow intelligence; DL: Deep learning; EDMC: Emergency and disaster management cycle; FMD: Foot-and-mouth disease; GPT: Generative pretrained transformers; LLM: Large language model; ML: Machine learning; RL: Reinforcement learning; RLHI: Reinforcement learning with human intervention.

Aims: To characterise practice managers' perspectives on the interplay between worker well-being and organisational health in veterinary and human healthcare contexts.

Methods: Using a convergent mixed-methods design, we analysed data from 38 Australian practice managers who completed an anonymous online survey. Participants accessed the survey via links distributed using social media and email. The survey included the General Practice-Organisational Health (GP-OH) measure, along with items on professional duties, perceptions of worker well-being, current and desired supports, and perceived interactions between the two domains of interest. Quantitative analyses were exploratory and descriptive; qualitative responses were characterised using a conventional approach to content analysis.

Results: Practice managers described responsibilities spanning five domains of managing a health clinic: resources, operations, leadership, strategy, and governance. They typically rated staff well-being as "neutral/normal" or "high/good," based on observations of workers' health and welfare, team and culture, formal feedback, and employee performance. Ratings of organisational health were similarly favourable, with mean scores above the mid-point of the GP-OH scale. Ratings of staff well-being were positively correlated with GP-OH scores (ρ = 0.59; p < 0.01). Practice managers described a mutually reinforcing relationship between worker well-being and organisational health, centred on team morale, workforce stability, clinical performance, operational efficiency, and financial outcomes. Current organisational strategies to support well-being were primarily reactive and policy-driven, but participants desired more holistic, proactive approaches. Themes were largely consistent across the two health sectors, with some small differences.

Conclusions: Findings were generally consistent with existing models of organisational health and employee well-being, while suggesting important contextual adaptations, particularly to settings outside the USA. Parallels in accounts from veterinary and human health practice managers suggest that organisational and managerial demands are often shared across these settings, with minor variations potentially arising from structural differences between the two sectors.

Clinical relevance: Practice managers are key drivers of organisational and employee welfare, and future efforts to strengthen veterinary workplaces will benefit from engaging them as partners in design and implementation. Interventions to improve professional well-being in veterinary and human healthcare may be most effective when they emphasise social connection, systemic reform, and regular staff check-ins.

Case history: An adult male wētāpunga (Deinacrida heteracantha), wild-caught under permit in May 2024 as part of a group collected for conservation breeding purposes, presented in mid-August 2024 with a month-long history of gradually worsening discolouration of the left eye and periocular region of the gena.

Clinical findings: The left eye was internally discoloured a blotchy yellow colour with a metallic bronze-gold sheen, while the periocular region was discoloured dark brown, radiating approximately 5 mm circumferentially from the eye. No samples from affected tissues were able to be taken ante-mortem for diagnostics. Fungal infection was suspected, and empirical treatment was started using once daily application of a topical ointment of povidone-iodine 10% w/w, equivalent to 1% w/w available iodine. Within 24 hours, discolouration of the eye, but not the periocular region, temporarily resolved during treatment and with no obvious adverse effects. The animal died 1 month after presentation, despite ongoing treatment.Gross necropsy showed focally extensive black discolouration of tissues deep to the left eye. Histopathology revealed extensive keratitis, rhabdomyositis and steatitis with multisystemic fungal infection. Fungal culture and phenotypic assessment were consistent with Metarhizium species, and genomic sequencing confirmed M. anisopliae as the causative agent. Retrospective evaluation of six previous cases of integumentary lesions in wētāpunga revealed some similarities in case presentation but key differences in the severity of infection.

Diagnosis: Multisystemic fungal infection due to Metarhizium anisopliae.

Clinical relevance: Metarhizium species are ubiquitous in the environment, and M. anisopliae is a known keratophilic pathogen of insects with application as a biologic pest control agent. While empirical topical treatment appeared to alleviate the external clinical signs of the ocular infection, the severity of infection was difficult to determine ante-mortem. Here, through retrospective analyses of this and similar cases at Auckland Zoo, we show that fungal integumentary and/or ophthalmic disease in wētāpunga may present as focal darkening of the exoskeleton and pallor of the affected eye(s). Given the limitations for ante-mortem diagnostics and treatment options in invertebrates, and the unknown capacity for these animals to perceive pain, subsequently making it more challenging to assess their welfare while diseased, euthanasia remains an important treatment option in invertebrate medicine.

Aims: To use a commercially available, deterministic, whole-farm model to assess the impact on production (milk solids (MS)/ha), greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (total and per kg MS), and gross margin per ha, from changes in the calving pattern alone or combined with changes in non-pregnancy and replacement rate, for a pasture-based dairy farming system in Waikato, New Zealand.

Methods: A baseline model of a dairy farm was developed. Reproductive data from actual Waikato dairy farms were used to assess the change and variability in GHG production (total and per kg MS), MS/ha and gross margin/ha of the baseline model farm. Two different scenarios were modelled using data reflecting a range in reproductive performance: firstly, calving pattern data from 82 farms were used to model, over the subsequent lactation, the range in outputs associated with these differences. Secondly, calving pattern and non-pregnancy rate data from 70 of these farms were used to model the range in outputs associated with differences in these combined metrics.

Results: Sequentially changing the calving pattern data to reflect the variation in the 82 farms demonstrated relatively small changes in the outputs: higher 6-week calving rates tended to produce more MS per ha and a higher gross margin per ha. These herds also had lower GHG emissions intensity but tended to produce more overall GHG. Including the variance in the calving and non-pregnancy rate also led to small changes in outputs. Herds with higher 6-week calving rates and lower non-pregnancy rates - necessitating the user to manually reduce the replacement rate - resulted in a decrease in emissions intensity and overall emissions. However, despite the large variation in both the non-pregnancy and 6-week calving rate in the actual farm data, there was much less variation in the model's predicted production/ha, gross margin/ha and environmental emissions.

Conclusions: Although these herds demonstrated variation in reproductive performance, and a resultant variance in the replacement rate, the model predicted that the financial, production and environmental outputs were only slightly better for herds with the optimum reproductive performance. In particular, even for herds with the best reproductive performance, overall GHG emissions were only slightly reduced. Thus, our modelling suggests it is the opportunity to further manipulate the farming system - stemming from improvements in the reproductive performance - that is likely to create the greatest gains in the production, financial and environmental performance for a dairy farm.

Abbreviations: CO₂e: Carbon dioxide equivalents; GHG: Greenhouse gas; MS: Milk solids.

Case history: Medical records of a university-based veterinary referral hospital (Maisons-Alfort, France) were reviewed to identify dogs presenting with ureteral stones between 2010 and 2021. Fourteen dogs were included that had a median age of 8.5 (min 2, max 13) years and a median body weight of 6.4 (min 2.5, max 11) kg. Yorkshire Terrier (n = 5) and Shih Tzu (n = 4) breeds predominated.

Clinical findings: The clinical and biological findings included lethargy (n = 10), dysorexia (n = 9), vomiting (n = 8), abdominal pain (n = 6), pyrexia (n = 4), and azotaemia (n = 4). Ureteral stones were located in the right ureter (n = 4), left ureter (n = 6), and bilaterally (n = 4). Dogs had a median of 2.5 (min 1, max > 5) ureteral stones, with 10 dogs having ≥ 2 stones. Twelve dogs had pyelectasis, indicating partial to complete obstruction of urinary flow, but there was no evidence of a difference in renal pelvis dilation between dogs that did or did not have abdominal pain (p = 0.060) or azotaemia (p = 0.024). Calcium oxalate was the most common ureterolith composition, confirmed in five dogs and suspected in five dogs.

Treatment and outcome: Six dogs were managed medically, none of which developed azotaemia or worsening renal pelvic dilation; two dogs experienced spontaneous expulsion of the ureteral calculi. Eight dogs were managed surgically, including five by ureterotomy (temporary stents were placed in four dogs and successfully removed endoscopically 34-75 days after placement), one by placement of a SC ureteral bypass device, and two by nephroureterectomy. Short-term post-operative follow-up revealed that all dogs experienced rapid and complete resolution of clinical signs. Regardless of the treatment modality, the long-term outcome (median follow-up duration 353 days) appeared to be excellent.

Clinical relevance: Ureteral calculi were less commonly associated with azotaemia in dogs, but abdominal pain and pyrexia were relevant clinical findings. Ureterotomy with temporary ureteral stenting was an effective treatment option for ureteral obstruction in dogs, although spontaneous passage of the incidentally identified ureteral calculi was reported.

Case history: The medical records of a veterinary hospital in Italy were reviewed retrospectively for cases of dogs and cats diagnosed with vertebral instability (VI) and treated surgically using a bone plate, screws with bushings, and polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) that had ≥ 4 weeks' follow-up data. Dogs were a median of 16.15 (min 2.7, max 32) kg and 90 (min 38, max 142) months old, and cats were a median of 4.05 (min 2.7, max 5) kg and 33 (min 5, max 61) months old. The aetiology of VI was primarily traumatic in eight cases (road traffic accidents, n = 6; fall from height, n = 1; bite injury, n = 1) and degenerative in two cases (C1-C2 luxation, n = 1; and lumbosacral instability, n = 1).

Clinical findings: Neurological examinations were performed pre- and post-operatively using the modified Frankel scale. Neurological grades prior to surgery were grade 0 (n = 1), grade 1 (n = 2), grade 3b (n = 6), and grade 5 (n = 1). Diagnostic imaging (CT and radiography) was conducted to classify fractures/luxations, plan surgical interventions and evaluate post-operative progress. VI was localised to the lumbar (n = 2), lumbosacral (n = 1), or thoracic (n = 1) spinal segments of cats and the cervical (n = 1), thoracolumbar junction (n = 1), lumbar (n = 2), or lumbosacral (n = 2) spinal segments of dogs.

Treatment and outcome: All animals were treated surgically with a bone plate, screws with bushings and PMMA for stabilisation, as unilateral constructs (three cats, two dogs) or bilateral constructs (one cat, four dogs). A minor complication (Kirschner wire breakage) occurred in one dog, and a major complication (cement rupture) occurred in one cat; both resolved without surgical intervention and did not compromise stability or cause neurological deterioration.Post-operative neurological assessment revealed improvement in 9/10 cases, with two cases improving by one neurological grade, and seven cases improving by two grades. At the 4-week follow-up assessment, seven cases maintained their discharge status, while three improved by one additional grade at the 16-week follow-up assessment.

Conclusions and clinical relevance: This case series suggests that VI stabilisation with a bone plate, screws with bushings, and PMMA is a viable method producing satisfactory outcomes. Increased exposure surface at the screw/bushing/PMMA interface may increase the strength of the fixation.

Abbreviations: K-wire: Kirschner wire; PMMA: Polymethylmethacrylate; VI: Vertebral instability.