Clinical

A surgical approach to the rabbit patient: part 1

When considering rabbit skin tumours, basal cell tumours (trichoblastomas) were the most frequently diagnosed at 20%, with spindle cell sarcomas at 9.5%, collagen nevi/hamartomas at 8.4%, squamous...

A guide to biofilm in veterinary wounds

Biofilms occur when a group of microorganisms (typically bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses) attach themselves to a surface to create a colony. This colony form themselves into a type of ‘shield’...

Canine separation-related problems: Part 4: first steps in resolving owner absent problems

Studies have found that 22–55% of the domestic dog population display behaviours that are problematic for their owners during owner absence (Bradshaw et al, 2002; Mills and Mills, 2003; Marques Soares...

Hyperammonaemia in cats

Clinical signs of hyperammonaemia in the cat are primarily related to neurotoxicity. Cats can present with lethargy, ataxia, altered levels of consciousness, seizures, cortical visual loss, failure to...

Current insights into feline osteoarthritis

While there is no doubt that osteoarthritis is a very common problem in older cats, it is difficult to put an accurate figure on its prevalence. This difficulty arises in part because of the lack of...

Canine phaeochromocytoma: a guide to diagnosis and treatment

Clinical signs are primarily associated with excessive catecholamine secretion and, to a lesser extent, with the space-occupying or invasive nature of the tumour (Table 1). Clinical signs may be...

Why, when and how to successfully extract a deciduous tooth

In normal circumstances, deciduous teeth are only present in a puppy's mouth for a few months. These teeth are fully developed at birth and begin to erupt at around 4 weeks of age, starting with the...

Managing the inappetent hospitalised cat: International Society of Feline Medicine guidelines

Cats have some unique nutritional requirements that differ from dogs, and these peculiarities relate to their origins as hunters, but also render them vulnerable to the negative effects of...

Understanding feline gastrointestinal eosinophilic sclerosing fibroplasia

Surgical removal of the mass has been performed in most cases with feline gastrointestinal eosinophilic sclerosing fibroplasia. However, several studies have also reported medical management with...

Canine cataracts

The lens is responsible for fine-tuning focused vision, converging incoming parallel rays of light onto the retina. The focusing strength of a lens is measured in dioptres, and this varies between...

Chocolate toxicosis in pets

Chocolate is made from the fermented, dried then roasted beans of Theobroma cacao (Figure 1). After roasting, the shell is removed, and the remaining nibs are ground to cocoa mass which is liquefied...

Canine separation-related problems: part 3: identifying the emotional component

Hyper-attachment is no longer described in literature about human separation; instead, such literature focuses on different forms of attachment (Ainsworth, 1979), focusing less on specific ‘disorders’...