Epidemiology of periodontal disease in poodles

The periodontal condition of 123 poodles was assessed using the parameters of depth of gum pocket, attachment level, bleeding on probing, and plaque and calculus accumulation. No dogs were free of periodontal disease. The number of deep pockets and dramatic loss of attachment ranged from 0.1 teeth in young dogs to 4.2 teeth in old animals. A sixfold increase in deep pocketing took place in dogs between the ages of six and seven, followed by a twofold increase in the number of teeth missing in dogs within the 10 to 11 year age group. First premolars, incisors and second molars were at highest risk. No correlation between dietary conditions and disease incidence could be detected. It is concluded that, by concentrating their diagnostic efforts on those age groups and types of teeth at highest risk, clinicians could improve the effectiveness of their treatment interventions.     

The effect of energy concentration and source on the use of feed protein and NPN in lambs. 3. Allantoin excretion and microbial protein synthesis

In an N balance experiment with male crossbreeding lambs at an age of 3 ... 4 months four different rations were given differing in energy concentration (high greater than 700 EFU cattle/kg DM and low less than 650 EFU cattle/kg DM) and in the energy source (sugar, starch or crude fibre) with crude protein intake being almost equal. The rations contained 2% urea. Microbial protein synthesis in the rumen was assessed according to ROTH and KIRCHGESSNER (1978) (1), RYS et al. (1975) (2) and BICKEL-BAUMANN and LANDIS (1986) (3) on the basis of allantoin excretion in urine. The highest ruminal protein synthesis quotas were 868 ... 921 mg protein N per kg LW0.75 in (2). In (3) 723 ... 766 mg protein N/kg LW0.75 were synthesized. From the 15N labelling of the supplemented urea and the excreted allantoin it could be calculated that 26 ... 40% of the microbial protein resulted from the urea-N of the ration. Despite a high crude protein content of the ration of between 16 and 17% in the DM and a relation of NPN: pure protein of 0.95 the utilization of the NPN in the ration was relatively high but slightly lower than the utilization of pure protein. The variants with higher energy concentration showed as a tendency higher allantoin excretion in spite of slightly lower dry matter intake and a slightly higher NPN utilization than the variants with lower energy concentration.     

The nutrient and energy disposition of growing lambs. 2. Results of slaughter and animal carcass analysis

A total of 90 lambs (fattening hybrids of either sex of three different genetic constructions and male merino meat sheep) were butchered at the beginning (9...16 kg live weight) or at the end (29...33 kg live weight) of a growth experiment. Total body and the meat of carcass, cutlet and loin were analysed. Significant differences between the genotypes could only proved in the crude ash content. The female animals showed a significantly higher content of fat, dry matter and energy as well as a significantly lower content of crude ash--at the end of the experiment also of protein--in the total body than the male animals. The content of nutrients and energy in the total body could be much more precisely derived regressively from the corresponding content values in the meat of the carcass than from the values of cutlet and loin.     

Bronchopulmonary Disease in the Cat: Historical, Physical, Radiographic, Clinicopathologic, and Pulmonary Functional Evaluation of 24 Affected and 15 Healthy Cats

The results of clinical and pulmonary functional evaluation of 24 cats with bronchopulmonary disease and 15 healthy cats are presented. Affected cats had historical evidence of excessive reflexes (coughing, sneezing); physical evidence of airway secretions (crackles), obstruction (wheezing), and increased tracheal sensitivity; radiographic evidence of bronchial and interstitial lung disease; and cytological evidence of airway inflammation or mucous secretions. Bacterial isolates from healthy and affected cats were predominantly Gram-negative rods, indicating that bronchi of cats are not always sterile and that normal flora should be considered in interpreting cultures from cats with suspected bronchopulmonary disease. Cats were grouped according to relative disease severity based on scored historical, physical, and radiographic abnormalities. The mean (± standard deviation) baseline lung resistance measurement in healthy cats was 28.9 cm H₂O/L/s (±6.2 cm H₂O/L/s), whereas in mildly, moderately, and severely affected cats it was 38.3 cm H₂O/L/s (±21.5 cm H₂O/L/s), 44.8 cmH₂O/L/s (±7.7 cm H₂O/L/s), and 105.2 cm H₂O/L/s (±66.9 cm H₂O/L/s), respectively. In healthy cats, dynamic lung compliance was 19.8 (±7.4), whereas in mildly, moderately, and severely affected cats it was 14.7 mL/cm H₂O (±3.8 mL/cm H₂O), 17.7 mL/cm H₂O (±6.9 mL/cm H₂O), and 13.0 mL/cm H₂O (±7.9 mL/cm H₂O), respectively. Thus, airway obstruction was present in many of the affected cats. Based on acute response to the bron-chodilator, terbutaline, airway obstruction was partially reversible in many affected cats, although the degree of reversibility varied. Furthermore, based on bronchoprovocation testing, 6 (of 7) affected cats evaluated also had increased airway responsiveness to aerosolized methacholine.     

Nutrient dependence of energy conservation requirements in rats. 4. The influence of protein levels of food on energy conservation requirements of rats during growth and after conclusion of the intensive growth phase

Albino rats bred in the institute (Wistar line) divided into 3 groups of 9 animals each received, beginning at the age of 4 weeks, feed mixtures with 10, 40 and 70% protein in the rations over a period of 24 weeks divided into 14 subperiods of study. The feed mixture changed cyclically for the groups of animals after each sub-period. Every period was divided into a growth period (8 days) with the rats kept in metabolism cages and a period of feeding on maintenance level (4 days) with the rats kept in respiration chambers. In both periods the temperature was kept constant at 30 degrees C. On 3 days of feeding on the maintenance level the metabolism parameters of energy, C and N metabolism were measured and energy maintenance requirement was ascertained. Both the energy maintenance requirement of the growing rats (up to 200 g live weight) and that of the nearly fully grown and fully grown rats resp. (greater than 200 g live weight) significantly depended on the nutrient composition of the feed mixtures supplied. It increased with the increasing protein and simultaneously decreasing carbohydrate quotas in the feed. On an average of the studies the rats had, in the sequence of 10, 40 and 70% protein content, an energy maintenance requirement of 383 +/- 31 (n = 105), 415 +/- 31 (n = 106) and 459 +/- 36 kJ metabolizable energy/kg LW0.75.d (n = 102). Energy maintenance requirement behaved relatively like 100:108:120. Based on the fact that energy maintenance requirement may be considered the requirement of ATP, relative expectancy values for energy maintenance requirement can be calculated with the energetic efficiency of the ATP synthesis (kJ metabolizable energy/Mol ATP gain) in nutrient catabolism from the relation of the experimentally ascertained nutrient metabolism at a variant supply of protein of 100:110:118. The hypothesis that the efficiency of ATP synthesis in the catabolism of the main nutrients supplying energy can be considered a relative measure of the dependence of the energy maintenance requirement on nutrient composition has been confirmed in this experiment. Different findings in earlier experiments raise the question if those findings were influenced by adaptation effects. An experimental solution of this question is considered important.     

Rumen fermentation with special reference to volatile fatty acid production during reproduction. 1. Methods and results of volatile fatty acid levels and production rates in vitro

The target of the investigations was to register part of the synthesis performance in the rumen of ewes during the complete reproduction cycle. With the help of in-vitro experiments with artificial rumen the concentration and production rates of volatile fatty acids in the rumen fluid were measured. From the experiments the measured data of fertility-accentuated crossbreeding (experiment 1) and crossbreeding (experiment 2) ewes were contrasted. The average concentrations of volatile fatty acids in ewes are 95.4 m mol/l in experiment 1 and 109.2 m mol/l in experiment 2 during the early stage gestation, 121.4 m mol/l in experiment 1 and 99.8 m mol/l in experiment 2 in the last stage stage of gestation, 129.6 m mol/l in experiment 1 and 112.8 m mol/l in experiment 2 during lactation and 106.6 m mol/l in experiment 1 and 112.9 m mol/l in experiment 2 during the dry period. The production rates of volatile fatty acids calculated form their concentration amount to 4.8 m mol/l X h in experiment 1 and 2.6 m mol/l X h in experiment 2 in the early stage of gestation, 3.5 m mol/l X h in experiment 1 and 3.1 m mol/l X h in experiment 2 in the last stage of gestation, 3.2 m mol/l X h in experiment 1 and 2.7 m mol/l X h in experiment 2 during lactation and 3.7 m mol/l X h in experiment 1 and 2.9 m mol/l X h in experiment 2 in the dry period. The correlation between the concentration and the production rate of volatile fatty acids is not significantly negative in either of the ewe experiments. The scattering of the individual values is wide so that the individual influence of the test animals as well as the influence of the in-vitro method used permit the conclusion that a significant statement on the influence of the genotype and the stage of reproduction on the production rates cannot be made.     

Effectiveness of various therapeutic regimens for bovine brucellosis

Various chemotherapeutic regimens were evaluated in 48 culture-positive dairy cows. Cessation of shedding of Brucella abortus from udder secretions and absence in selected tissues at necropsy were criteria of success. A combination of a long-acting oxytetracycline and streptomycin eliminated Brucella in 10 of 14 (71.4%) cows. Two cows that were retreated with the same regimen also became culture-negative. Other treatment regimens, including the use of liposome-encapsulated antibiotics, were less successful. Serotests were a poor criterion of effectiveness.