We now have our own Holter monitors :)
If you have a patient needing Holtering urgently then just give us a shout: we have the gadgets on hand… Continue reading
Tag Archives: cats
An acute enterocolitis in cats with striking sonographic features: is this a novel disease entity?
In recent years I’ve seen a series of cats with a striking syndrome of acute, severe diarrhoea of unknown cause. The more I see of these; the more I’m suspicious it’s a disease entity which isn’t fully described in the published literature. The three recent cases described below are typical representatives of the phenomenon. All … Continue reading
More on portosystemic shunts in cats and dogs with normal post-prandial bile acids
Just a snippet of information -but something I’ve always struggled to find published confirmation of in the past: that both cats and dogs with portosystemic shunts may have normal range pre- and post-prandial bile acids. I note that in the recent JVIM paper: J Vet Intern Med. 2019 Nov 19. doi: 10.1111/jvim.15649. [Epub ahead … Continue reading
Lung ultrasound in the diagnosis of presumed pulmonary mycobacteriosis in a cat
Surprisingly, considering the wealth of information on conventional bacterial pneumonia, there is little published on the features of pulmonary TB in people. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018 Oct; 15(10): 2235. Potential Diagnostic Properties of Chest Ultrasound in Thoracic Tuberculosis—A Systematic Review Francesco Di Gennaro,1,2,† Luigi Pisani,3,4,† Nicola Veronese,5 Damiano Pizzol,6,* Valeria Lippolis,4 Annalisa … Continue reading
Gabapentin as a sedative/anxiolytic prior to ultrasonography in cats
Gabepentin is an enormously useful drug to facilitate ultrasonography in cats. I’m sure most of you are aware of this by now but it’s worth publicising a little more because, to get best effect, the use of gabapentin needs to be planned in advance of the day of scanning. J Am Vet Med Assoc. … Continue reading
Influence of prior antibiotic treatment on survival in human cancer patients undergoing immunotherapy
I wrote a blog a little while back on the potential adverse effects of antibiotics other than the obvious concern over the induction of resistance. Long term, cryptic, adverse effects of antibiotic therapy The general drift of which is that we are only just starting to get the first inkling of an idea of the profound … Continue reading
Saccharomyces boulardii for chronic enteropathy in dogs (and cats?)
Anything that can help us sort out chronic diarrhoea in dogs and cats is welcome. As far as I’m aware this is the first properly convincing evidence of efficacy for any probiotic in this scenario. Vet Rec. 2018 Mar 3;182(9):258. doi: 10.1136/vr.104241. Epub 2017 Dec 6. Effect of Saccharomyces boulardii in dog with chronic … Continue reading
Grass seed foreign bodies: sonography and ultrasound-guided retrieval
Grass seed (and other vegetation) foreign bodies are a potential nightmare. We all know this. Sadly, it seems that neither CT nor MRI are reliable modalities for locating them in our patients. Obviously there may be clues from advanced imaging findings but actual visualisation of the foreign body itself isn’t consistent. In a series of … Continue reading
Long term, cryptic, adverse effects of antibiotic therapy
I’m going to be a bit controversial here….My observation is that, despite widespread awareness of the potential undesirable consequences of antibiotic use, they are still commonly prescribed in small animal practice in the UK in circumstances where evidence-based justification is lacking. Furthermore, this practice isn’t restricted to the ‘dinosaurs’ of the profession. ‘Defensive’ use of … Continue reading
Should we routinely give gastroprotectants to dogs and cats prescribed glucocorticoids?
My observation is that, amongst UK veterinary practices and institutions, there is considerable variation in protocols on when to give prophylactic PPIs to dogs (and to a lesser extent) cats who are prescribed glucocorticoids. The mechanisms through which glucocorticoids might promote ulcer formation have been proposed to include inhibition of gastric mucus synthesis, enhancement of … Continue reading
