Tieraerztliche Praxis Ausgabe Kleintiere Heimtiere最新文献

A 12-year-old male neutered European Shorthair cat was presented for pruritus in the right ear region, bleeding from ear canal and a suspected polyp-like mass in its lumen.After the diagnostic imaging a biopsy of the mass was taken and submitted for histopathological evaluation. Histopathologic examination led to the diagnosis of low grade mast cell tumor. The subsequent staging examinations included ultrasonography of the liver and spleen as well as a complete blood count. Total ear canal ablation was performed on the same day, and the removed ear canal was again submitted for histopathologic evaluation of the surgical margins. The excision incision margins were free from infiltrating tumor cells. The cat was euthanised 14 months after the surgery. It is unknown whether the reasons for this were associated to metastatic spread of the initial mast cell tumor.A mast cell tumor in the ear canal is an unusual and rare finding, however it should be included in the list of differential diagnoses for ear canal tumors.

Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate reproducibility and practicality of the German version of the Glasgow composite measured pain scale - feline, during its implementation into a German veterinary hospital.

Material and methods: The study comprised of 2 parts. Participation of veterinary professionals was voluntary. During part 1, 15 staff members (all rater=AR) with variable clinical experience (nurses, interns, junior clinician, senior clinicians), from 4 disciplines (anesthesia, internal medicine, surgery, neurology), and one main investigator (AC), pain scored 45 diseased cats and 10 healthy cats. Part 2 was an online survey, evaluating the practical experience of participants during part 1 and asking for suggestions to improve the scale and process of pain assessment. For part 1 normal distribution of data was tested by Shapiro-Wilk-Test and histograms. Intrarater and interrater reliability were evaluated by calculating the intraclass-correlation. Statistical analysis of part 2 used descriptive methods.

Results: The interrater reliability was moderate (ICC _AR : 0.59) and the intrarater reliability was good (ICC _AC : 0.88). The pain scores of cats with medical (AR: 3.06±2.33, AC 3.52±2.34) and surgical disease (AR: 3.78±2.38, AC: 4.02±2.72) showed no significant difference. All healthy cats were classified as "not painful" (AR: 0.77±0.67, AC: 1.09±0.83). Clinical experience of the rater did not significantly influence pain scores. The GCMPS-F was judged as easy to use and as helpful tool for cats with unclear pain conditions.

Conclusion: The GCMPS-F had a good acceptance and moderate interrater reliability.

Clinical relevance: Using the German version of the GCMPS-F, veterinary professionals from different disciplines and with different grades of specialisation can reliably assess pain levels in cats without prior extensive training.

Anaplasmosis is a vector-borne disease caused by Anaplasma (A.) spp. which currently is still rarely diagnosed in cats. This article describes 3 independent cases of anaplasmosis in cats from different regions of Germany presented to veterinarians in 2021. All cats showed unspecific clinical signs, such as fever, reduced general condition, and decreased appetite. One cat additionally had generalized limb pain, another showed reluctance to move as well as vomiting. On complete blood cell count, only 1 of 3 cats showed mild thrombocytopenia. A. phagocytophilum was detected in blood samples of all 3 cats by polymerase chain reaction. Additionally, in 2 cats (in which blood smears were evaluated) morulae could be detected within neutrophilic granulocytes. Initially, all 3 cats had highly elevated serum amyloid A (SAA) concentrations. Treatment with doxycycline caused a rapid improvement of clinical signs, followed by a decrease of SAA concentrations to normal levels as well as negative PCR results after a treatment duration of at least 28 days. In cats with fever, otherwise unspecific clinical signs with only mild or no hematological changes, elevated SAA concentrations, and previous exposure to ticks, attending veterinarians should consider anaplasmosis as differential diagnosis.

In dogs with chronic cough eosinophilic lung disease (ELD) may be present, especially in young dogs. A breed predisposition has been described in Alaskan Malamutes and Siberian Huskies. Chronic cough is the most common clinical sign. Other symptoms include nasal discharge, sneezing, poly- or dyspnea and exercise intolerance. The exact pathogenesis is unknown. Type 1 hypersensitivity reaction is suspected. Eosinophilic lung diseases may be classified into different groups (eosinophilic bronchitis, eosinophilic bronchopneumopathy and eosinophilic granuloma). Diagnostic work-up includes hematology, imaging, bronchoscopy and cytologic examination of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. A wide spectrum is present in terms of the expression and severity of the changes. The current reported treatment is systemic or inhaled glucocorticoids, or a combination of both.Most patients respond well to therapy. Relapses after treatment discontinuation are common.

Objective: Until now, sources used by final-year veterinary students to develop clinical questions have not yet been investigated. Thus, the aim of this study was to record the use of sources by final-year veterinary students. This data should assist with the improvement of future veterinary teaching and enable it to meet the needs of students and veterinarians.

Material and methods: For this purpose, the use of sources by 172 students in the compulsory development of a clinical question was evaluated.

Results: The most frequently cited sources were textbooks (37.7%), lecture notes (27.0%), websites (15.4%), professional articles (11.8%), scientific papers (7.8%), and, least frequently, the category of legal texts (0.3%).

Conclusion: This study demonstrates that students primarily use sources with which they are familiar from their studies. Educators should be aware of this and design their lecture materials accordingly.

Clinical relevance: Teaching students competence in the use of scientific literature is a task for teachers in the future.

Objective: Canine splenic hemangiosarcomas (HSA) are malignant mesenchymal tumors with a high tendency for metastasis. Median survival times after splenectomy followed by adjuvant chemotherapy usually range between 5 and 8 months. The aim of this prospective randomized double-blinded study was to examine the efficacy of a commercially available dendritic cell therapy (PetBioCell) following splenectomy. In addition, possible side effects of this therapy were evaluated.

Material and methods: Twenty-one dogs with histologically confirmed splenic HSA without metastasis (stages I or II) were included in the study. Ten dogs received the dendritic cell therapy, and 11 dogs received a placebo. Injections were administered according to the manufacturer's instructions monthly for the first 3 months and then every 3 months until death. Survival times and toxicoses of both groups were compared.

Results: Follow-up data were available for all 21 patients; the observation period ranging until euthanasia or metastasis-related death. One patient that had received the dendritic cell therapy was euthanized due to prostatitis and experienced the longest survival time (668 days). One dog in the placebo-group lived for 448 days after splenectomy. The median survival times in the dendritic cell therapy and the placebo group amounted to 74 and 126 days, respectively. There was no significant difference in tumor-free interval (t(18) = 1.4, p = 0.911) and survival times (t(19) = -0.094, p = 0.463) between the 2 groups. Toxicoses reported in both groups were mild and self-limiting.

Conclusion: Immunotherapy using autologous, immature and unprimed dendritic cells according to the PetBioCell method failed to show efficacy on tumor-free interval and survival time in the presented dog population with splenic hemangiosarcoma.

This case report describes the rare phenomenon of emperipolesis-like invasion of lymphatic blasts into the hepatocytes of a 15-year-old European Shorthair cat. The cat presented with nonspecific clinical signs (inappetence and weight loss). Cytologic examination of an ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspirate of the liver showed a subset of hepatocytes with emperipolesis-like invasion by lymphatic blasts. Few extracellularly located lymphatic blasts exhibited erythrophagia. Following the cytological diagnosis of large cell lymphoma and 2 weeks of monotherapy with prednisolone, the patient was euthanized due to his poor general condition. A post-mortem sample was obtained from the liver to confirm the suspected cytological diagnosis of hepatocytotropic lymphoma. Histopathology subsequently confirmed the cytologic findings. Immunohistochemically, the lymphatic blasts were positive for CD3 leading to a diagnosis of hepatocytotropic T-cell-lymphoma, which has rarely been described so far.

Giardia duodenalis is a facultative pathogenic intestinal parasite. Giardiosis in dogs and cats may appear with or without clinical signs. Typical signs include diarrhea with or without vomiting. The prevalence in young animals is high and may amount to up to 50%. There are 8 different genotypes (A - H), which are called assemblages. Assemblages C and D are most common in dogs and assemblage F most frequent in cats. However, animals may also be infected with the zoonotically effective assemblages A and B or exhibit mixed infections. The immunofluorescence test (IFA), the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and fecal centrifugation using zinc sulphate solution are currently recommended as diagnostic methods. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) may be used to determine the corresponding assemblage. Approved treatments for giardiosis include fenbendazole and metronidazole. In addition, undertaking specific hygiene measures is warranted. Only animals showing clinical signs or those living in the same household with high-risk patients (e. g. immunosuppressed humans) are recommended to receive medication. The aim of treatment is clinical improvement of the diseased dogs and cats. Frequently, complete elimination of Giardia is not attained.

Surgical correction is the typical treatment for an entropion. However, considerable anesthetic risk exists for a subset of patients, particularly rabbits and guinea pigs. In a high number of these cases, this represents the main reason for reluctance to treat an entropion. The following report describes the case of a 9-year-old rabbit with a superficial cornea defect and a mild entropion of the upper eyelid. Eversion of the eyelid from a mild entropion to a normal position was attained by the subdermal injection of a hyaluronic acid filler (Alayna SG 24 Distinct^®, BSC Medical Devices GmbH, Munich, Germany) without necessitating general anesthesia or sedation. Following a period of 273 days, a relapse occurred which was subsequently successfully treated with a repeat injection. An entropion of the contralateral eye became evident during the follow-up period and was also effectively managed by a single subdermal filler injection. In the reported case, treatment with subdermal hyaluronic acid injection proved to be well tolerated and efficacious.