in Practice最新文献

Background: Liver disease in dogs is relatively common, but diagnosis can be challenging. Advances in veterinary medicine in the past 20 years have provided new and improved methods of diagnosing many different conditions that commonly affect the canine liver.

Aim of the article: This article outlines a logical approach to cases of suspected liver disease in dogs, which can often present with non-specific clinical signs and clinicopathological findings.

Background: The livestock industry should ensure positive welfare for animals within its care, over and above the five freedoms. It is important that the general public approves of conditions that livestock inhabit for them to continue to purchase these products and feel positive in doing so. As custodians of animal health and welfare, veterinary clinicians must be equipped to advocate for improvements to welfare, as well as conventional herd health and individual case approaches. The environment an animal inhabits will impact its heath and production, but improvements to living conditions will also support positive welfare. Assessment of the environment is an essential step to identify areas to improve in the system; this will allow for subsequent advances in overall living conditions.

Aim of the article: This article provides an overview of positive welfare and assessment in dairy cows and guides production animal vets on how to undertake evaluations on farm. It also informs practitioners on developments in the research of positive welfare in dairy cows and discusses how positive welfare opportunities can be provided on farms.

Veterinary practices use a number of different types of medical devices, from operating tables to electrosurgical units and infusion pumps. These devices are connected to the animal by a variety of cables, tubes or transducers. We know that electrical safety testing is a requirement under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and, for the most part, this is addressed through portable appliance testing (PAT). PAT is designed to check the safety of domestic and office equipment (eg, kettles, laptops and so on), where there is minimal connection. However, with medical equipment, we are making deliberate connections to the animal. As such, specific, more complex electrical safety testing is required. This article explores the requirements and what the additional tests are used for.

Background: Canine dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a disease of the myocardium classically characterised by progressive eccentric hypertrophy (dilation) and systolic dysfunction of typically the left ventricle; however, DCM can also manifest as electrical abnormalities resulting in arrhythmic forms of the disease. The aetiology is idiopathic and there is often a genetic basis, which explains its over-representation in certain breeds. Preclinical DCM describes the usually protracted period where an individual dog experiences structural changes over several years, or an arrhythmia (in specific breeds) that meet criteria for diagnosis without outward clinical signs of disease. Detection of this phase is crucial to facilitate early intervention with medical treatment, close monitoring and prognostication. Clinical DCM describes progression to congestive heart failure; the management of this will be discussed in the second part of this series, to be published in a subsequent issue of In Practice.

Aim of the article: This article discusses case selection for DCM screening, including the utility of cardiac biomarkers. It outlines the echocardiographic diagnostic criteria for preclinical DCM, as well as the identification of arrhythmias that may be primary in nature or associated with the presence of cardiac remodelling. The medical management of preclinical DCM and associated arrhythmias is also discussed.

Background: Tens of thousands of deer are hit by cars in the UK each year. Many die, many immediately run away despite injury, but some are incapacitated and a vet may be called to the animal by the driver, a passer-by or the police. Less often a deer is brought to a veterinary practice. Occasionally, vets may be asked to attend deer trapped in fencing or incapacitated in other ways. As more rural practices have come to serve companion animals only, and more wild deer have been moving into suburban and even urban environments, companion animal vets unfamiliar with deer have occasionally found themselves having to deal with these species.

Aim of the article: This article provides relevant information for situations where companion animal vets are tasked with dealing with injured wild deer, including legal, practical, ethical and welfare issues.

Background: Periocular and ocular neoplasia is commonly encountered in small animal practice, varying from benign tumours to locally aggressive or malignant tumours with a propensity to metastasis.

Aim of the article: This article will consider the approach to investigating these cases for accurate diagnosis and staging, as well as options for treatment and management, and the prognosis for the most common neoplastic diseases affecting the eye.