Heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis) infection in cats is a very real clinical problem with a increasing incidence and awareness. Heartworm disease in cats was originally reported in Brazil in 1921; and has been reported worldwide. Cats with heartworm disease are consistently diagnosed in heartworm endemic areas where dogs have the disease.

The increased awareness of the disease has made ante-mortem diagnosis more common. The frequency of heartworm infection in the cat is generally accepted to correlate with the dog population of the area, but at a lower incidence. The clinical signs and diagnostic approach are different in the cat as compared to the dog; which has impaired the veterinarian's ability to detect this parasite in the cat. New techniques and methodologies have now made the cat owner and veterinarian better able to be aware of this potentially severe disease.

A dog suckles two three-week old tiger cubs in a Siberian zoo July 1. The dog, which has a puppy of its own, was found through a local newspaper after the mother of the tigers refused to feed the cubs.

Proper nutrition isn't a concern for only human health. It's important for your dog's health, too. Compared to dogs of optimal weight for their breed, overweight dogs have a higher risk of diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis.

You can help keep your dog at a health-enhancing weight by feeding him or her a well-balanced, nutritious diet that follows these four dietary guidelines:

1) Keep the Calorie Count Down
The best diet for your dog is one that is appropriately low in calories. Controlling daily caloric intake is key to managing his or her weight. Keeping extra calories out of your dog's diet can make him or her up to 1.8 years younger. We can help you determine how many calories your dog needs each day.

Keys to controlling caloric intake:

Look for a dog food that is complete, balanced, and scientifically formulated for your dog's needs.
Follow the directions on the dog food package.
Use a measuring cup or scoop to divide your dog's food into consistent and equal portions.
Establish set feeding times and stick to this schedule.

2) Choose Nutrient-Rich Dog Food
When selecting dog food, make sure the food is appropriate for your dog's age, size, and nutrition needs. In general, optimal adult dog diets should include 18% of daily calories from protein and 5% from fats, when using dry food. Senior dogs may need a little more protein than adult dogs. Puppies require more protein and a little more fat than adult dogs.

3) Put the Food Bowl Away
If given the opportunity to eat all day long, most dogs probably will. Some dogs will eat up to 25% more food than they need, which can lead to obesity and other conditions. Leaving a filled food bowl out at all times encourages overeating. Instead, serve measured food portions at set mealtimes. Mealtime frequency depends on the age, size, and activity level of your dog. Find out how often you should feed your dog.

4) Minimize Snacks
All dogs enjoy treats. Providing your dog with occasional snacks and treats is fine, as long as they do not exceed 10% of his or her total dietary intake. Also, choose only treats that are made especially for dogs, such as edible chew bones and teeth cleaning biscuits. Note: pet foods marketed as "snacks" are not required to list nutrition information on the package.

PetDIETS.com has a Food Calculator that can help you determine how much your pet should be fed daily to maintain a good weight. We also have a Pet Food Comparison Calculator that allows you to properly compare the nutritional value of any two pet foods.

GROWING UP WITH PETS is an educational program devoted to bringing parents a resource for information and advice on how to help them foster strong, healthy relationships between their children and their pets.

Raising your children with pets provides a great opportunity for learning, nurturing and building healthy relationship skills that will benefit your children for the rest of their lives.

Veterinarian researches cancer therapy options

By Linda Breazeale

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- One Mississippi State University researcher is hoping electromagnetic fields hold the key to reducing the side effects of traditional cancer treatments.

CANINE BLOOD TRANSFUSION

Eight specific antigens have been identified on the surface of the canine erythrocytes. The internationally accepted canine blood group system, the "DEA" (Dog Erythrocyte Antigen), is based on these antigens. It currently characterizes eight common blood groups, the antigens DEA 1.1, 1.2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

DEA 1.1 and 1.2 are the most significant blood factors in the dog. Both are highly antigenic but DEA 1.1 is the primary lytic factor in canine transfusion medicine. Although all of the blood group antigens are capable of stimulating formation of isoantibodies, DEA 1.1 has the greatest stimulation potential. Thus most reactions resulting from the transfusion of incompatible cells occur when DEA 1.1 positive blood is given to a DEA 1.1 negative recipient.

Clinically significant reactions to DEA 1.2 may occur but are less severe than reactions to DEA 1.1. DEA 7 may be a factor in transfusion reactions, but since it is a cold agglutin and a naturally occurring isoantibody, it is considered to have very low clinical significance. The remaining antigens are considered to cause clinically insignificant transfusion problems.

Ideally, all transfused blood would be DEA 1.1 and DEA 1.2 negative. Certain breeds such as the Greyhounds are particularly suitable as blood donors because of a low frequency of DEA 1.1, DEA 1.2 and DEA 7 antigens. However, until the concept of the canine blood bank is widely accepted with blood readily available from commercial sources, transfusion from dogs that are present in the area at the time of need will remain the norm.

It is estimated that 40% of all dogs are DEA 1.1 positive. Thus by identifying a particular dog as DEA 1.1 positive or negative at birth greatly simplifies future transfusions and/or breeding decisions. A DEA 1.1 positive dog can receive both DEA 1.1 positive and negative blood. A dog that is DEA 1.1 negative should not receive DEA 1.1 positive blood.

FELINE BLOOD TRANSFUSION

The AB blood group system - the only one recognized in cats - consists of 3 blood types: type A, type B, and type AB. Although type A is the most common blood type, the frequency of type A and B in domestic shorthair cats varies worldwide and markedly among breeds. Type AB, the third feline blood type, occurs extremely rarely in domestic shorthair and purebred cats.

In contrast to dogs, cats possess naturally-occurring alloantibodies against the blood type antigen they lack. In particular, all type B cats have very strong anti-A antibodies which are responsible for the life-threatening incompatibility reactions such as neonatal isoerythrolysis and transfusion reactions.

Transfused type A blood given to a type B cat will survive only minutes to hours and only 1 ml may result in a fatal reaction. The generally weak anti-B antibodies of type A cats shorten the survival of transfused type B red blood cells when given to a type A cat, but do not appear to cause any neonatal isoerythrolysis. Since cats do not need to be sensitized by a prior blood transfusion or pregnancy to develop alloantibodies, incompatibility reactions can occur with the first blood transfusion and in kittens from a primiparous queen.

Because of the presence of naturally-occurring alloantibodies, no universal feline blood donors exist and only typed, matched blood can be used for effective and safe transfusion.

Feline blood donors
Most clinics have identified a couple of typed cats for their needs. Type A is the most common blood type and, thus, the common donors should have type A blood. Type B donors may be located by typing purebred cats from their clientele. The ideal feline blood donor is a shorthaired, large but lean, young cat who is healthy and is kept strictly indoors. Our in-house cats are examined regularly and screened twice yearly for viral infections such as FeLV, FIV and FIP, and for hemobartonellosis. Donors should be regularly vaccinated and should not receive any medications. Splenectomy is not recommended. Cats may donate up to 10-12 ml of whole blood per kilogram of body weight, corresponding to a feline unit of 50-75 ml from a 5-6 kg cat.

By RICK CALLAHAN, Associated Press

Connie Grimstad doesn't need to call her doctor's office when she has a question about the slew of medications she takes daily — the 57-year-old homemaker simply delves into her medical records from her home computer. As the medical industry moves slowly to replace its paper files with electronic versions, people like Grimstad are light years ahead of most doctors.

She's among about 10,000 Americans who've made the leap with a free online service that permits anyone to create their own electronic personal health record — and access it anywhere via the Internet. With a few keystrokes, everything's there: the details of her prescriptions, health insurance records, diagnoses and surgeries.

Granted, it's far easier for consumers to go digital than it is for physicians, given the technology overhauls often involved. It took Grimstad an hour to type her medical history into her iHealthRecord account with San Francisco-based Medem Inc.
Details of her fibromyalgia, which causes chronic pain and fatigue, and Behcet's syndrome, an immune system disorder that causes ulcers and skins lesions, are password-protected and easily updated.

Before Grimstad left her Kent, Wash., home for a recent trip to California to help plan her daughter's wedding, she knew that if she had a health crisis her account could quickly bring a new doctor up to speed on her ailments. A wallet-sized emergency card has directions on accessing her iHealthRecord account.

"When you go to a new doctor, they always ask, `When did you have this and that and the other thing.' All of that's right there at their fingertips — the dates, any medications you have, everything they need," she said.

The federal government, insurers and consumer advocates are putting growing pressure on the nation's hospitals and doctors to embrace electronic health records and related technologies.
Making the switch will eliminate paperwork costs and reduce the estimated 50,000 to 100,000 deaths each year from medical errors, which include medication foul-ups resulting from poor physician penmanship.

But doctors have been slow to join the digital revolution. A Rand Corp. study published this year found that in 2002 between 10 percent and 16.4 percent of the nation's physicians had adopted electronic medical record technology.
What's holding things back isn't simply doctors set in their ways, said David Brailer, the federal government's health-information technology coordinator. Brailer, who is pushing the federal government's goal of making sure most Americans have computerized medical records within 10 years, says the cost of new technology and retraining staff is too formidable for many small practices.
But it's not just cost. Differences in technical standards and features among the software made by more than 100 software vendors hamper doctors' ability to exchange patient data with other physicians and hospitals.

The federal government is trying to change that by encouraging private industry to settle on software standards and features so the data can be easily exchanged. Federal agencies are also mulling possible incentives, such as grants, loans or tax credits, to encourage doctors to go electronic.
But until industry standards are set and software prices come down, most of the small-doctor's offices that handle about three-quarters of the nation's health care needs will be hesitant to sign on, Brailer said.

"If small-doctors' offices aren't online, patients are going to miss big chunks of their data and it frankly won't be that useful to doctors," Brailer said. "We want to have a world where the data follows the patient."
When that day comes, patients who want a second opinion will have a much easier time arranging one, said David C. Kibbe, director of the American Academy of Family Physicians' center for health-information technology.

Currently, getting a second opinion means collecting records from several physicians, radiology offices and labs.
Kibbe said a recent survey of the academy's 105,000 members found that more about 15 percent currently use electronic health records. Another 30 percent to 40 percent are "looking very seriously" at joining them in the next few years, he said.

WellPoint Inc., the nation's largest health benefits provider, last year enticed 25,000 of its high-volume physicians in California, Georgia, Missouri and Wisconsin with a choice of either free computers to submit claims electronically or PDAs for writing e-prescriptions that eliminate doctor's notoriously sloppy handwriting.

For a host of reasons, about a quarter of the physicians passed up the $42 million offer. Among the 19,600 who bit on it, only 2,700 chose the PDAs, Dell Axims that run on Microsoft software, said Carl Volpe, vice president of strategic initiatives for WellPoint's health solutions division.
Although the company had hoped more of the doctors would have chosen PDAs to help reduce medical errors, Volpe said WellPoint realizes that adopting new technology is a big step for any business.

"When you talk to physicians about new technology, the common discussion right now is how does the new technology fit into their existing work flow?" he said. "They want to know how their work flow will change."
Dr. Jim Morrow, one of eight doctors and eight physician assistants with a three-office family practice in suburban Atlanta, said he and his colleagues switched to electronic health records in 1998 at a cost of $150,000 for computers and software.
For the first few weeks, things were a bit chaotic, he said, because it took longer to examine each patient while the staff adjusted to typing notes and prescriptions into computers, instead of scribbling things down.

But the change more than paid for itself in the first year, Morrow said, through $225,000 in savings that came largely from eliminating the costs of transcribing notes after patients' examinations and adding them to their growing paper files.

Going digital also increased the speed and size of insurance reimbursements, he said, because insurers now receive more detailed accounts of patients' progress and they get them more quickly with electronic submissions.
Morrow said he would never go back to paper files.

Among other things, he and his colleagues can keep closer track of his patients' treatment because the practice's system has prompts when it's time for patients to get annual tests such as mammograms or prostate exams. The practice's 59,000 patient files are also linked to a database that warns when a doctor writing prescriptions is prescribing a potentially dangerous drug combination.

"I'm a much better physician because of it," Morrow said.
While he's riding the new technology wave, his old medical school classmate, Dr. Ralph Riley, is sticking with paper records for now.
Riley works nine to 10 hours a day seeing more than 100 patients at his practice in rural Saluda, S.C., with the help of a nurse practitioner and physician's assistant.

He recognizes the benefits of electronic health records, but said the cost, lack of uniformity among software and the disruption of switching from paper to electronic records would be too daunting for him right now.

"Getting to electronic medical records is like going to paradise, but you have to walk through a bed of hot coals to get there. I want to get there — I just don't want to get my feet burned on the way," he said.
Consumer advocates have their own worries.

Emily Stewart, an analyst for the nonprofit Health Privacy Project in Washington, D.C., said security and privacy issues posed by digital medical records have not been adequately addressed.

"Consumers are the biggest stakeholders here, and the success of any national health network will ultimately depend on their trust and participation," Stewart said.
Edward Fotsch, the chief executive of Medem Inc., said his company's fledgling iHealthRecord system protects patients' date with encrypted security features modeled after those adopted by the financial-services industry.

He believes Medem, a nonprofit founded in 1999 by the American Medical Association and six other medical societies, can help win over patients who will then encourage their doctors to make the switch from paper to digital records.

About 100,000 doctors who subscribe to Medem's Web site and doctor-patient e-mail services are now linked to its iHealthRecord service, he said.
Aside from tying their records into one online package, participating patients are kept abreast of the latest medical research and are quickly notified by e-mail when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration pulls a drug they are prescribed.
"It's a personal health record but it's really interactive. It reaches out to you and tells you things you need to know," Fotsch said.

ABCNews reported a human medical study today, that magnetotherapeutic treatment has successfully treated long-term depression in people whose treatment with medicine and other methods was unsuccessfull.

This article is very interesting to me, because we are also using magnetotherapy here at Log Cabin Animal Hospital. If you look at our "Alternative Medicine - Magnetotherapy" section then you can find a long list of applications for dogs, cats and horses. One of them is treating depression in geriatric patients.

Dr. Sandor Gal

This is a very good article on human vaccinations published by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).

Reducing the Risk for Transmission of Enteric Pathogens at Petting Zoos, Open Farms, Animal Exhibits, and Other Venues Where the Public Has Contact With Farm Animals

Information should be provided. Persons providing public access to farm animals should inform visitors about the risk for transmission of enteric pathogens from farm animals to humans, and strategies for prevention of such transmission. This should include public information and training of facility staff. Visitors should be made aware that certain farm animals pose greater risk for transmitting enteric infections to humans than others. Such animals include calves and other young ruminant animals, young poultry, and ill animals. When possible, information should be provided before the visit.

Not every pet makes it back to their rightful owners. We try to scan each
stray brought to us for an implanted microchip. Recently a young adolescent
stray cat was brought to our hospital by two caring individuals. "Annie" as
she was later named by my staff had a fractured femur and a damaged eye. Her look of innocence just begged for a chance to live. She insisted on grooming
herself despite of the injuries all the while purring. Dr. Graves took her to
surgery to repair the fractured leg. When she is completely healed in about 8
weeks we will look for a new home for her. KEEP POSTED FOR ADOPTION
POSSIBILITIES.

Investigation of Rabies Infections in Organ Donor and Transplant Recipients in Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, 2004

On June 30, 2004, CDC (Center of Disease Control) confirmed diagnoses of rabies in three recipients of transplanted organs and in their common donor, who was found subsequently to have serologic evidence of rabies infection. The transplant recipients had encephalitis of unknown etiology after transplantation and subsequently died. Specimens were sent to CDC for diagnostic evaluation. This report provides a brief summary of the ongoing investigation and information on exposure risks and postexposure measures.

The goats of this breed have a host of names: Myotonic, Tennessee Fainting, Tennessee Meat, Texas Wooden Leg, Stiff, Nervous, and Scare goats. The names refer to a breed characteristic known as myotonia congenita, a condition in which the muscle cells experience prolonged contraction when the goat is startled.

The transitory stiffness associated with these contractions can cause the goat to fall down. This is not a true faint, but a muscular phenomenon unrelated to the nervous system. The degree of stiffness varies from goat to goat, with some showing a consistently stiff response and others exhibiting stiffness only rarely.

The breed's history can be traced back to the 1880s. An itinerant farm laborer named John Tinsley came to central Tennessee, reputedly from Nova Scotia. Tinsley had with him four unusual, stiff goats.

Infectious tracheobronchitis (ITB) is the medical term commonly known as "kennel cough" or "canine cough."

ITB is the most prevalent upper respiratory infection of dogs of all ages. Recognized by its persistent, hacking or honking, gagging, sometimes spasmodic cough, ITB can last for days or weeks if left untreated. The good news is that ITB is a highly preventable disease, thanks to effective vaccines.

Why protection is so important.
ITB is typically not a fatal disease. But severe ITB can lead to prolonged or chronic bronchial disease and pneumonia. Even after recovering from ITB, dogs can harbor the organism that causes ITB in their respiratory tracts for weeks or even months. Dogs with ITB may experience spasmodic coughing that deprives them and their owners of sleep, limits activity and may require treatment with antibiotics and cough-suppressant drugs.

Is your dog at risk? Yes!

ITB is easily transmitted. It can be spread by airborne droplets from a cough or sneeze, by direct dog-to-dog contact or by exposure to contaminated objects.

ITB protection is not a required federal or state vaccination, like rabies. Therefore, most dogs have not been vaccinated against the organisms that cause ITB and could be carriers of the disease.

Puppies are at greater risk of getting ITB because they have not been vaccinated or previously exposed.

Canine Lyme Disease Detected in
Indianapolis, Indiana

What: 1 confirmed case of Lyme disease When: April, 2005
Where: Indianapolis, Indiana

Report from the American Lyme Disease Foundation

WESTBROOK, Maine - The Lyme Disease Alert Network (LDAN) has been tracking the progress of canine Lyme disease as cases are confirmed across the country. Recent veterinary testing using the SNAP® 3Dx® test confirms that canine Lyme disease was recently detected in Indianapolis, Indiana.

What: 1 confirmed case of Lyme disease When: April, 2005
Where: Indianapolis, Indiana

The LDAN is providing early notice of the disease to your veterinary clinic to help you educate your clients about the prevalence of and risk factors involved with the recent onslaught of ticks and Lyme disease in your area. A recently completed 2005 U.S. survey found that despite the dangers of canine Lyme disease, only 5 percent of dog owners were concerned about their dogs contracting Lyme disease. In addition, only 35 percent of owners were aware that their dogs could be checked for Lyme disease quickly, with results available while they're at the veterinary hospital. Since your local pet population is vulnerable to Lyme disease, pet owner education can lead to early detection and timely testing to keep pets safe.

The Lyme Disease Alert Network is an industry-Ied resource supported by the American Lyme Disease Foundation (ALDF). The LDAN was created to educate veterinarians and pet owners about the hidden risks that Lyme disease poses to dogs across the country. The network also serves as a rapid-response mechanism that tracks the spread of canine Lyme disease.

American Lyme Disease Foundation
Alison Dunning
952.852.6225
alison.dunníng @exponentpr.com

One of our dear clients, Jane Gruman presented her cat named Peanut to us with acute vomiting. Peanut (see pictures below) has just vomited a very long worm at home and the cat (and the worm) were rushed to Log Cabin Animal Hospital immeditely. The long worm was identified as a tapeworm (Taenia taeniformis). Cats rarely get this long tapeworm which has an intermediate host, usually a rodent the cat consumed. Mrs. Gruman has lived and worked at the Zoo in Izrael for nine years before she moved back to the US and I am sure that she has seen many interesting cases at the Zoo. Most likely her experience at the Zoo waa the reason that she did not faint when Peanut has vomited this long worm.

Although eating healthy is the best tool in the fight against cancer, once cancer takes hold certain dietary changes may be help the patient fight against the effects of the cancer. Tumor cells rely heavily upon carbohydrates for their energy and rob the body of amino acids. On the other hand, tumor cells cannot utilize lipids (fats) for energy while the rest of the body can. As such, diets with increased fat content may slow tumor growth, allowing the patient to fight against the tumor. Protein content must be maintained a levels sufficient for tissue repair, but carbohydrates should be held to a minimum. For those who prefer to prepare their dogs food, the following diet contains the ingredients important for cancer patients. In addition, it supplies the important nutrients for cancer protection.

Responding to a dying old woman's inquiry James Herriot, the late British author/vetinarian noted:

"If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans. You've nothing to worry about there." He goes to note regarding animals joining their masters in the afterlife: "I do believe it. With all my heart I believe it."

James Herriot "Dog Stories"
chapter The Card Over the Bed

The below link has some lovely quotes and poems from famous, learned and/or articulate people about dogs in heaven.

One of my classmates from veterinary school (Budapest, Hungary) has moved to France twenty years ago and became a State Veterinarian. He was recently called to examine a giant whale drifted on the beach. It was too late, the whale did not make it. My friend just send me these pictures. I am just simply amazed about the giant size of these beautiful animals.

Dr.Sandor Gal