Prostate cancer in dogs: comparative and clinical aspects

The canine prostate gland shares many morphological and functional similarities with the human prostate and dogs are the only other large mammals that commonly develop spontaneous prostate cancer. However, the incidence of prostate cancer is much lower in dogs and the precise cell of origin is not known. Dogs with prostate cancer usually present with advanced disease that does not respond to androgen deprivation therapy. Similar to humans, affected dogs often develop osteoblastic bone metastases in the pelvis and/or lumbar spine with associated pain and neurological deficits. Other clinical signs include weight loss, lethargy, and abnormal urination and/or defecation. Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation have been used to treat dogs with prostate cancer, but success has been limited by the location and aggressive nature of the disease. It is evident that better methods of early detection and more effective therapies are needed for prostate cancer in dogs and advanced prostate carcinoma in men. Dogs with naturally-occurring prostate cancer are relevant models for the disease in humans and pre-clinical studies of new diagnostics and therapies in dogs may benefit both humans and dogs with prostate cancer.     

Clinical aspects of dermatophytosis in dogs

Dermatophytosis in dogs is variable and can clinically mimics other skin diseases. Diagnosis based on clinical presentation may be misleading and additional laboratory tests are needed for a final diagnosis. A systematic diagnostic procedure can prevent a wrong diagnosis and allow for the right treatment.     

Diagnostic aspects of Borrelia-infections in dogs

This paper discusses the problem of diagnosing borreliosis (Lyme disease) in dogs. A prospective cohort study in the Kempen district, a known Borrelia focus in The Netherlands, showed that dogs with the presumptive symptoms of borreliosis, episodic malaise and lameness, had significantly higher and longer lasting anti-Borrelia IgG titers than asymptomatic dogs. A small part of these dogs also had antibodies directed against the IR6 (C6) antigen which indicates persistent active Borrelia infection. A few typical case histories are presented. Dogs with episodic malaise and lameness with persistent high IgG titers are suspect of suffering from borreliosis. IR6 antibodies make this diagnosis likely. Initially, such patients should be treated with doxycyclin (10 mg/kg 1dd) for 10 days. If the symptoms recurr within a few months, a longer treatment (eg 6 weeks) should be considered. Bernese mountain dogs were strongly over-represented among the borreliosis patients in the cohort study and most high titered samples among those submitted for--diagnostic--serology appear to come from this breed, which suggests that these dogs have difficulties with clearing this tick-borne infection.     

Integrating practical, regulatory and ethical strategies for enhancing farm animal welfare

OBJECTIVE: To provide an integrated view of relationships between assessment of animal welfare. societal expectations regarding animal welfare standards, the need for regulation, and two ethical strategies for promoting animal welfare, emphasising farm animals. APPROACH: Ideas in relevant papers and key insights were outlined and illustrated, where appropriate, by New Zealand experience with different facets of the welfare management of farm animals. CONCLUSIONS: An animal's welfare is good when its nutritional, environmental, health, behavioural and mental needs are met. Compromise may occur in one or more of these areas and is assessed by scientifically-informed best judgement using parameters validated by directed research and objective analysis in clinical and practical settings. There is a wide range of perceptions of what constitutes good and bad welfare in society, so that animal welfare standards cannot be left to individual preferences to determine. Rather, the promotion of animal welfare is seen as requiring central regulation, but managed in a way that allows for adjustments based on new scientific knowledge of animals' needs and changing societal perceptions of what is acceptable and unacceptable treatment of animals. Concepts of 'minimal welfare', representing the threshold of cruelty, and 'acceptable welfare', representing higher, more acceptable standards than those that merely avoid cruelty, are outlined. They are relevant to economic analyses, which deal with determinants of animal welfare standards based on financial costs and the desire of the public to feel broadly comfortable about the treatment of the animals that are used to serve their needs. Ethical strategies for promoting animal welfare can be divided broadly into the 'gold standard' approach and the 'incremental improvement' approach. The first defines the ideal that is to be required in a particular situation and will accept nothing less than that ideal, whereas the second aims to improve welfare in a step-wise fashion by setting a series of achievable goals, seeing each small advance as worthwhile progress towards the same ideal. 'Incremental improvement' is preferred. This also has application in veterinary practice where the professional commitment to maintain good welfare standards may at times conflict with financial constraints experienced by clients.     

Neuromuscular disease in dogs: some aspects of its investigation and diagnosis

The techniques used in clinical investigation of muscle disease are discussed with particular reference to the use of EMG and muscle biopsy. Cryostat sections of muscle are used for rapid diagnosis but their main function is for the performance of investigative enzyme histochemistry. A brief review of the commoner diseases of muscle is presented, the material being obtained principally from the Veterinary Surgery Department at Glasgow. These diseases include neurogenic disorders, muscular dystrophy and various inflammatory diseases. It is suggested that a large number of myopathies occur in dogs which will be revealed by further studies. Examples of these are myopathies in association with malignancies. It is emphasized that for an accurate and complete investigation clinical, biochemical, electrical and pathological studies must be performed on the cases presented. Résumé. Les techniques employées dans l'investigation clinique des maladies musculaires sont traitées particulièrement en référence avec L'utilisation de l'électromyogramme et de la biopsie musculaire. Les coupes microscopiques cryostatiques du muscle permettent d'établir un rapide diagnostique, mais leur fonction principale réside dans la recherche histochimique sur les enzymes. Les maladies musculaires les plus communes sont rapidement passées en revue, les matériaux provenant en majeure partie du Département de Chirurgie Vétérinaire de Glasgow. Ces maladies comprennent les troubles neurogènes, l'atrophie musculaire et diverses troubles inflammatoires. Il est suggéré que, chez les chiens, se trouve un grand nombre de myopathies qui pourront ětre révélées par des études plus approfondies. Pour que l'investigation soit exacte et complète, il est absolument indispensable de procéder à la fois aux études biologique clinique, électrique et pathologique dans chacun des cas présentés. Zusammenfassung. Die Techniken, die man in klinischer Erforschung von Muskelerkrankung anwendet, sind diskustert mit besonderem Hinweis auf den Gebrauch von EMG und Muskelbiop-sie. Kryostat Sektionen von Muskeln werden fur schnelle Diagnosen gebraucht, aber ihre Haupt-funktion ist fur die Ausfuhrung von erforschender Enzym-Histochemie. Ein kurzer Uberlick von allgemeinen Muskelkrankheiten wird dargelegt, das Material erhielt man hauptsǎchlich von der Veterinaren Chirurgie Abteilung in Glasgow. Dièse Krankheiten schliessen nervursprùngliche Stǒrungen, Muskelschwund und verschiedene Entziindungskrankheiten ein. Es wird angedeutet, dass eine gross Anzahl von Muskelleiden in Hunden vorkommt, welche sich durch weitere Studien zeigen werden. Beispiele von diesen sind Muskelleiden in Verbindung mit Malignitàten. Man mǒchte besonders betonen, dass fiir eine genaue und komplette Erforschung klinisch biochemische, elektrische und pathologische Studien von Fall zu Fall ausgefiihrt werden mǔssen.     

Pharmacological aspects of bunamidine dosing of dogs

Extract

No doubt you would all be delighted to note when Mr MacIntyre opened this conference that our Minister of Lands is well aware of the economic loss resulting from disease in animals. He estimated the national loss for 1969 to be between $110 and $130 million. Now, about 5% of this loss can be attributed to hydatid disease. We should be thankful that man is a less attractive secondary host for Echinococcus granulosus than is the sheep, because hydatids is a horrible disease which can still be fatal. It affects some lives as well as many purses. Moreover, hydatid disease is very much our problem in that most of the countries that have better facilities for re-search in this field have little incentive for entering it.