Avian care and husbandry.

Birds are becoming more popular as pets, and the need for veterinary professionals to learn more about these pets is crucial. This article introduces the veterinary staff to basic information required to provide high-quality care to avian patients. High-quality nutrition for a variety of species and ages is included in this article. The importance of proper husbandry and intellectual stimulation with toys is also discussed. Special emphasis is placed on instructions for clients when making appointments, as well as recognizing signs of illness for both clients and veterinary staff. Capture, restraint, and sample collection are an important part of this article, as well as medication administration, anesthesia, supportive care, preventive care and grooming. A variety of aspects concerning the care of the avian patient are covered for the benefit of the client and veterinary technician.     

Randomly primed,strand-switching,MinION-based sequencing for the detection and characterization of cultured RNA viruses

RNA viruses rapidly mutate, which can result in increased virulence, increased escape from vaccine protection, and false-negative detection results. Targeted detection methods have a limited ability to detect unknown viruses and often provide insufficient data to detect coinfections or identify antigenic variants. Random, deep sequencing is a method that can more fully detect and characterize RNA viruses and is often coupled with molecular techniques or culture methods for viral enrichment. We tested viral culture coupled with third-generation sequencing for the ability to detect and characterize RNA viruses. Cultures of bovine viral diarrhea virus, canine distemper virus (CDV), epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus, infectious bronchitis virus, 2 influenza A viruses, and porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome virus were sequenced on the MinION platform using a random, reverse primer in a strand-switching reaction, coupled with PCR-based barcoding. Reads were taxonomically classified and used for reference-based sequence building using a stock personal computer. This method accurately detected and identified complete coding sequence genomes with a minimum of 20× coverage depth for all 7 viruses, including a sample containing 2 viruses. Each lineage-typing region had at least 26× coverage depth for all viruses. Furthermore, analyzing the CDV sample through a pipeline devoid of CDV reference sequences modeled the ability of this protocol to detect unknown viruses. Our results show the ability of this technique to detect and characterize dsRNA, negative- and positive-sense ssRNA, and nonsegmented and segmented RNA viruses.     

Comparison of sympatric freshwater turtle populations from an urbanized Sydney catchment

• 1. Australian freshwater turtles are widely distributed throughout the continent, and in each river catchment there are at least two taxa. In south‐eastern Australia Chelodina longicollis and forms of Emydura macquarii co‐habit within a waterway, although they have been shown to partition habitat within the water column in non‐urban bodies of water. Limited comparative data are available for the urban populations.
• 2. Within urban Sydney C. longicollis (eastern long‐necked turtle) and Emydura macquarii dharuk (Sydney short‐necked turtle) share habitat. However, in contrast with non‐urban studies of C. longicollis and other sympatric E. macquarii taxa, it was observed that the population profile of the two species was similar at all sites, and that C. longicollis were present in greater numbers than E. m. dharuk.
• 3. The continued degradation of preferred habitat, low recruitment, and potential competition from introduced turtles place both species in a precarious position.
• 4. The shallow, impounded waterways of the regulated urban bodies of water align more closely with the preferred habitat of C. longicollis than with that of forms of E. macquarii, which prefer deeper flowing waters or large wetlands adjacent to rivers. Emydura m. dharuk may be at greatest risk of extinction in urban areas.
• 5. Across urban Sydney, the low numbers of E. m. dharuk compared with C. longicollis may be due to the lack of mobility of E. m. dharuk such that individuals tend to be stranded in sub‐optimal habitat. In contrast, C. longicollis has a greater propensity for overland movement, and a preference for the ‘new habitat’ resulting from urban impacts on the associated waterways, and thus appears to be able to utilize these modified urban waters more successfully.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Suspect osteogenesis imperfecta in a male kitten

A 4.5-month-old, male domestic shorthair was presented with bilateral femoral fractures after falling from a low height. Radiographs revealed reduced radio-opacity and thin cortices of all long bones. A presumptive diagnosis of osteodystrophy, secondary to osteogenesis imperfecta, was made on postmortem examination.     

Alterations in thyroid hormone concentrations in healthy sled dogs before and after athletic conditioning

OBJECTIVE: To determine effects of athletic conditioning on thyroid hormone concentrations in a population of healthy sled dogs. ANIMALS: 19 healthy adult sled dogs. PROCEDURE: Serum concentrations of thyroxine (T4), triiodothyronine (T3), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free T4 (fT4), free T3 (fT3), and autoantibodies directed against T3, T4, and thyroglobulin were measured in sled dogs that were not in training (ie, nonracing season) and again after dogs had been training at maximum athletic potential for 4 months. RESULTS: Analysis revealed significant decreases in T4 and fT4 concentrations and a significant increase in TSH concentration for dogs in the peak training state, compared with concentrations for dogs in the untrained state. Serum concentrations of T4 and fT4 were less than established reference ranges during the peak training state for 11 of 19 and 8 of 19 dogs, respectively; fT4 concentration was greater than the established reference range in 9 of 19 dogs in the untrained state. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Decreased total T4 and fT4 concentrations and increased serum concentrations of TSH were consistently measured during the peak training state in healthy sled dogs, compared with concentrations determined during the untrained state. Although thyroid hormone concentrations remained within the established reference ranges in many of the dogs, values that were outside the reference range in some dogs could potentially lead to an incorrect assessment of thyroid status. Endurance training has a profound impact on the thyroid hormone concentrations of competitive sled dogs.