Nutrition and health of dogs and cats: evolution of petfood

Maintaining the health of dogs and cats by feeding wholesome nutritional diets is becoming an important component of responsible pet ownership. Pet owners now seek a long and healthy life for their pet and look to nutrition, as well as to veterinary medicine, to provide such support. Quality of life, measured in terms of reduced incidence of diseases and the ability to maintain an active life, would appear to be able to be enhanced by appropriate nutrition and nutraceutical supplementation. As a consequence numerous improvements in companion animal nutrition have resulted in development of a wide array of foods that provide complete and balanced nutrition. As a result emphasis also has to be placed on product safety and quality parameters, in connection with traceability. The origin of products, including product characteristics and properties, processing conditions and further handling throughout the period chain, is becoming ever increasingly an issue for collective chain management.     

Unconventional diets for dogs and cats.

Food plays a far more complex role in daily life than simply serving as sustenance. Social and cultural factors along with individual beliefs govern people's eating behaviors, and it is likely that these same factors influence their choice of diet and feeding practices for their pets. Some people seek alternatives to conventional commercial pet foods, including commercially available "natural" diets, raw food diets, and vegetarian diets, in addition to a variety of home-prepared diets. Exploring a person's knowledge and beliefs about feeding pets can aid in understanding her or his motives for seeking alternative and may help in changing those practices when it is in the best interest of the pet to do so.     

Insulin therapy for dogs and cats.

Management of diabetic dogs and cats requires a tremendous cooperative effort between the practitioner and the client. Consistency in the handling, availability, and formulations of the different insulins will improve client compliance. In addition to insulin therapy, successful management of the diabetic animal includes the client's perceptions of the animal's health, maintenance of the animal's body weight, consistency in water consumption, and monitoring serial blood glucose concentrations. Serial blood glucose determinations improve the practitioner's ability to identify and address problems associated with insulin therapy, and thereby delay or minimize the complications of long-term diabetes.     

Traumatic body wall herniation in 36 dogs and cats

Traumatic body wall hernias (TBWH) are serious sequelae to traumatic injury in dogs and cats. During the study period, 26 dogs and 10 cats with surgically managed TBWH were identified. Five cases (four dogs, one cat) did not have their hernias identified during the first 24 hours of hospitalization. Bite wounds were the most common cause of TBWH, accounting for 54% of canine and 40% of feline hernias. Twelve cases (nine dogs, three cats) had serious intra-abdominal injuries diagnosed in addition to their TBWH. Seventy-three percent of dogs and 80% of cats survived to hospital discharge. In addition, the authors report the occurrence of a unique cause of herniation, termed an autopenetrating hernia.     

Cachexia and sarcopenia: emerging syndromes of importance in dogs and cats

Cachexia is the loss of lean body mass (LBM) that affects a large proportion of dogs and cats with congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic kidney disease (CKD), cancer, and a variety of other chronic diseases. Sarcopenia, the loss of LBM that occurs with aging, is a related syndrome, although sarcopenia occurs in the absence of disease. As many of the diseases associated with muscle loss are more common in aging, cachexia and sarcopenia often are concurrent problems. Both cachexia and sarcopenia have important clinical implications because they are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The pathophysiology of these 2 syndromes is complex and multifactorial, but recent studies have provided new information that has helped to clarify mechanisms and identify potential new targets for treatment. Newly identified mechanisms and pathways that mediate cachexia appear to act by increasing energy requirements, decreasing energy intake, impairing nutrient absorption, and causing metabolic alterations. Whereas cachexia and sarcopenia are important areas of research for drug development in people, they are only beginning to be recognized in veterinary medicine. Greater awareness and earlier diagnosis will help provide practical approaches to managing body weight and lean tissue in dogs and cats, as well as more directed targets for treatment.     

Hydrolyzed protein diets for dogs and cats.

The primary aim of a hydrolyzed protein diet is to disrupt the proteins within the diet sufficiently to remove existing allergens. Published assessment of hydrolyzed protein diets includes physiochemical and immunologic assays as well as nutritional and clinical feeding trials. Potential problems include poor palatability, hypoosmotic diarrhea, and a reduced nutritional value, although persistent allergenicity is the most significant. The primary indications for a hydrolyzed protein diet are use in elimination trials for the diagnosis of adverse food reactions, and the initial management of inflammatory bowel disease. Initial studies of hydrolyzed diet efficacy are encouraging. Consideration of the source ingredients should be given when using hydrolyzed protein diets in elimination feeding trials because antigenic sites may not be fully destroyed.     

Laparoscopy in dogs and cats.

Laparoscopic techniques have been developed in veterinary medicine for noninvasive evaluation of several organs, including liver, extrahepatic biliary system, pancreas, kidneys, spleen, bowel, and genitourinary tract. Biopsy procedures of these organs with minimal risk can be performed in most patients. This article reviews the equipment and technique necessary to perform laparoscopy in dogs and cats.     

Hemangiosarcoma in dogs and cats.

Hemangiosarcoma (HSA, including angiosarcoma and malignant hemangioendothelioma) is a highly malignant tumor derived from the endothelial cell line and is characterized by early and aggressive metastasis. HAS is a common tumor type in dogs, but is rare in other species. Treatment options include surgery, chemotherapy, and possibly radiation, but survival times are invariably short (usually < 1 year), except for patients with superficial dermal HSAs. Further options to treat this tumor type are currently being investigated.     

Diagnostic value of exfoliative cytology of body fluids in dogs and cats

A method for collecting body fluids for cytological examination and their subsequent preparation and staining is described. The results of the cytological examination of 80 dogs and 26 cats over a period of three years are reported, indicating the number and types of condition which can be diagnosed, together with the clinicopathological correlations.     

Association of body weight and body condition with survival in dogs with heart failure

BACKGROUND: Obesity is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease in people, but overweight and obese human heart failure patients have improved survival compared with normal--or underweight controls--the obesity paradox. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is an association of body weight and body condition with survival in dogs with heart failure. HYPOTHESIS: That body condition and changes in body weight are predictors of survival in dogs with heart failure. ANIMALS: One hundred and eight dogs with heart failure (International Small Animal Cardiac Health Council stages 2, 3a, or 3b) secondary to dilated cardiomyopathy or chronic valvular disease. METHODS: Medical records were reviewed, and data regarding initial body weight and body condition score (BCS), subsequent changes in body weight, and treatment were collected. Survival times were determined for dogs that were discharged from the hospital and lived >24 hours. RESULTS: Survival was significantly different between dogs that gained, lost, or maintained body weight over the course of their disease (P= .04), with dogs that gained weight surviving the longest. BCS and medications were not significantly associated with survival time; however, n-3 fatty acid intake was associated with longer survival time (P= .009). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: These results suggest that changes in body weight might be an important consideration in the survival of dogs with heart failure.