Monthly Archives: December 2016

Cats

Mammary tumours in cats

A malignant tumour is a type of mass that is composed of abnormally fast and uncontrolled multiplying cells that may or may not travel from the starting site to other organs. This type of malignant cell migration is called metastizing and they usually travel by the bloodstream or lymphatic vessels.

Malignant tumours cause local destruction and invasion of tissues and metastasis cause far away destruction of other organs. If left untreated or if it can’t be treated, they are most likely fatal.

Mammary tumours in cats, unlike in dogs, are overwhelmingly malignant. For dogs, about 50% of the tumours found won’t be malignant whereas cats have only about 5% to 15% chance of mammary tumours being benign.

It is a highly metastizing type of cancer, with over 90% of cats having metastasis found in necropsy. The most common sites for metastasis are lung and the regional lymph nodes near the primary site, but any other organ can be affected by cancer proliferation.

The causes for these are largely unknown but Siamese cats have been found to have twice the risk of developing mammary tumours, which points out that at least where that breed is concerned it may be of genetic origin.

There is a predominance for middle aged cats around 10 to 12 years of age and overwhelmingly more in female cats. Male cats present with about 1% to 5% of mammary tumours so if you see an odd lump on your male cat’s abdomen or chest, don’t rule out mammary cancer.

These masses may have several different presentations, they can be soft or firm, the skin can be intact or it may have ulcers and the glands closer to the pelvic area seem to be slightly more affected.

It is important to investigate all odd masses that you may find in your cat. If you feel a mass contact your practice as soon as possible. There is a chance it might not be cancer at all! There are other problems like abscesses or overgrowth due to oestrus that create palpable masses but just in case it is cancer, the sooner it is found the better!

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Horses

Demystifying colic


Colic is one of the horse owners most prominent nightmares and with good reason. Worldwide, it causes serious medical and economic problems in the equine population being only second to old age in terms of overall fatality rate. Colic sometimes seems so very unpredictable as some horses have a bit of pain and recover with simple medical treatment while others have to undergo surgery and still don’t make it.

The first thing that’s important to know about colic is what it is. Colic is defined as a manifestation of abdominal pain so it’s not actually a specific disease but a clinical sign associated with an immense number of diseases, which accounts for its often-unpredictable progress.

Adding to this, most of the times pinpointing the underlying condition of colic might involve complex exams and as such the cause of the colic remains undiscovered. Fortunately, this is because many cases of colic will be resolved with minimal intervention and attempting to pinpoint the cause would end up too invasive or too costly.

Most of the times the colic will be a problem of the gastrointestinal tract, also called a ‘true colic’, but problems in other body systems like uterus or obstructions of the bile ducts can also cause colic.

There are many ways a horse can signal they are experiencing abdominal pain, usually the first thing an owner will notice is lack of appetite and less ingestion of food. They may also be oddly restless, lie down more often, bite or kick the abdomen and as the level of discomfort progresses they might roll around or get up and lie down repeatedly.

Of course, each horse has its own personality and the severity of these signs might not correlate with the severity of the underlying disease.

One of the most important things to know when confronted with the possibility of a horse having a colic is that it must have prompt veterinary assessment. The vet will try and determine if it’s an uncomplicated problem or if it’s an issue that’s likely to complicate and after that they’ll decide on the best course of action.

If you think your horse might be exhibiting abdominal discomfort, give your vet a call as soon as possible. The sooner a proper evaluation is done, the better chance of having a good outcome!

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Cats

Feline Infectious Peritonitis

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Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is a well-known yet relatively rare disease in cats caused by a massive immune-mediated response to an infection by the feline coronavirus.

There is a high rate of infection with coronavirus in cats, but only a small percentage of these cats will develop a serious clinical disease. This is due to the fact that there are virulent and non-virulent strains of the coronavirus. However, when this happens nearly all cats will die from this pathology.

This disease has several forms that can be broken down into effusive and non-effusive forms. The effusive form is better known among cat owners and it causes, among many other things, an increase in abdominal width due to fluid build-up while the non-effusive form will target organs like liver, central nervous system, kidney or eye and damage them severely.

With so many systems that might be affected, the clinical signs of a cat with FIP are myriad. Cats may present with diarrhoea, vomiting, weight loss, cloudy eyes or eyes that change colour, transient fever, distended abdomen, depression, among others.

It is more prevalent in young kittens, aged 3 months to 2 years of age and the incidence decreases sharply after 2 years of age. Cats on catteries or multicat places are at more risk than single cat households and FIP is a major problem in breeding catteries. It does not cause infertility or abortions but it does cause stunting in cats. Having kittens of observably different size of the same age and litter is cause for suspicion of coronavirus infections.

Important things to know is to always make sure to bring in coronavirus free cats into catteries and breeding centres, isolate infected cats from other cats and keep an eye on clinical signs in kittens.

It’s a disease that cannot be cured but always bring in your cat to the vets, there are plenty of things that can be done to give them better quality of life.

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Dogs

What is Kennel Cough?

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With holidays just around the corner, it also comes a time to leave our puppers and dogs alike in all manners of kennels or hotels while we jet off to our vacations (that is, those of us that don’t take our canine companions with us!).

Most of the time, though, these kennels will require vaccination against kennel cough, which is not part of the core vaccination protocol. So, what is exactly kennel cough?

Kennel cough, technically known as infectious canine tracheobronchitis, is a disease complex caused by several different bacterial and viral agents, chiefly among them Bordetella bronchipseptica, canine respiratory coronavirus, canine adenovirus 2 and parainfluenza virus.

It happens quite often in places that have several susceptible dogs and frequently less than ideal hygiene conditions. It is most severe in puppies from 6 weeks to around 6 months and in dogs with other subclinical respiratory illnesses like congenital anomalies or chronic disorders of the lower respiratory tract.

Most of the cases tend to present as uncomplicated and many owners have contacted with the classic dog, with the really loud cough, usually induced by touching the trachea or excitement but otherwise it’s a healthy animal. This form of the disease is, most of the time, self-limiting and will generally go away in about 2 weeks. Of course, depending on what agent is infecting your pup’s respiratory system and if there are other problems at the same time, might turn into a severe disease with fever, anorexia and difficulty breathing that requires quick action!

If your dog has coughing issues, even if otherwise healthy, take them to the vets for a check-up. While kennel cough is mostly self-limiting if uncomplicated, many other more severe diseases that also have cough are definitely not and the sooner a correct diagnosis is made, the better chances your faithful hound has of making it through unharmed.

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