2017 Pearls of Wisdom

Return to Scratching Post
Find us on Facebook New Members Classifieds New Cat Friendly Practices
American Association of Feline Practitioners
2017 Annual Conference • October 19 – 22, 2017 • Denver, CO
Feline Infectious Diseases and Pediatrics

Pre-Conference Day
Thursday, October 19, 2017

Feline-Friendly Handling Lab, Dr. Ilona Rodan

  1. A primary goal of feline-friendly handling is to prevent the multiple potential stressors associated with the veterinary visit, thus reducing feline fear and other negative emotions, and increasing human safety. “Difficult cats” are those that display negative emotions due to genetics, a lack of socialization between 2-7 weeks of age, and/or previous negative experiences.  Cats that still experience distress despite our best efforts require anxiolytics or sedation rather than physical restraint because how we handle a patient can have long-term ramifications during future veterinary visits.
  2. Hiding is an important coping strategy in an unfamiliar environment, with studies confirming the importance of hiding options in the veterinary practice.  Allow the cat the choice to remain within the carrier, and provide other hiding alternatives – e.g., a cat bed with high sides, a box, or a towel – during appointments, hospitalization, and boarding.  The position of the handler is also important, as the cat feels more hidden when we position ourselves to their side or behind rather than in front of them, so that they don’t need to see us.

Healthy People, Healthy Practices:  Wellness & Compassion Satisfaction, Dr. Laurie Fonken

  1. Veterinary professionals who attend will emerge with the knowledge to recognize early signs of distress, identify challenges to mental and physical well-being.
  2. Through experiential activity and reflection participants will discover skills to manage and prevent distress while maintaining a connection to the meaning of their work.

Feline Fitness, Fatness, & Feeding:  Maximizing Comfort & Mobility, Dr. Robin Downing

  1. The majority of cats are overweight or obese.  The majority of older cats suffer from painful osteoarthritis, made worse by obesity.  In order to maximize feline fitness, pay attention to:
    • Product
      • Choose the best nutritional profile to do the job
    • Portions
      • Carefully calculate the total portion for the day and follow up with regular weigh-ins and portion adjustment.
    • Pain relief
      • Leverage the many tools we have available to relieve these cats of their pain, allowing them to be more active, and thereby contributing to their overall fitness.
  2. For precise portion feeding in multiple cat households, help clients understand that each cat in the household must eat behind a closed door – – no exceptions!  Alternately, they may want to invest in feeders with cat-specific radio collar openers.
  3. For increasing activity, a catnip toy attached to fishing line and a child’s casting rod allows the owner to “cast” the toy across a room or down a hallway, reeling it in slowly, providing a moving target for the cat to chase.

Pain Physiology & Feline Neuropathic Pain Conditions, Dr. Mark Epstein

  1. Pain is a multi-dimensional experience, “It is not just what you feel but how it makes you feel;” it can be protective, but under-recognized and undermanaged elicit a cascade of deleterious neurohormonal and immunosuppressing that can contribute significantly to patient morbidity and possibly even mortality.
  2. Peripheral and central sensitization are the mechanisms by which pain becomes maladaptive, which has no protective effect on body systems; the clinician should be vividly aware of the risk factors for, and develop strategies to minimize its likelihood or severity (and recognize and treat if occurs) with a multi-modal approach to traumatic (including surgical) and chronic (including OA) pain.

Update on NSAIDs & Opioids in Feline Pain Management, Dr. Mark Epstein

  1. Literature on the highest, wisest, and safest use of NSAID (and now EP4 receptor antagonists) continues to emerge and the clinician should remain aware of the most recent literature in this regard.
  2. New formulations and utilities of opioid allow the clinician a wide variety of options for acute pain in cats (trauma, surgical).

Updates on Adjunctive-Pain Modifying Drugs in Cats, Dr. Mark Epstein

  1. Tramadol, gabapentin, amitriptyline, SNRI’s, and other medications appear to have utility in cats.  However, not all pain-modifying strategies are pharmacologic in nature, e.g. Low-stress/Fear Free handling.
  2. Novel treatment strategies are in development, including but not limited to Anti-Nerve Growth Factor monoclonal antibody for chronic OA pain.

Local Anesthesia & Loco-regional Techniques in Cats, Dr. Mark Epstein

  1. LA are anti-nociceptive, immunomodulating, anti-micobial, and have benefit not just during but also beyond the immediate post-operative period:  they are anesthetic sparing, opioid-sparing, and minimize pain (including the likelihood of maladaptive pain) beyond the period of direct drug duration.
  2. Due to their clinical benefit, ease of use, safety, and yes lack of expense, industry guidelines (AAHA/AAFP) advise that LA be utilized insofar as possible with every surgical procedure.

Friday, October 20, 2017

Risk Factors Affecting the Incidence of FIP in Dense Multi-cat Environments, Dr. Niels Pedersen

  1. Almost all pet cats originate in shelters, kitten foster/rescue facilities and pedigreed catteries. Unfortunately, these environments also favor the development of FIP.
  2. Risk factors for FIP can be attributed to host, environment and virus.
  3. Host factors – early weaning, age at time of FECV infection, genetic susceptibility, stresses occurring at time of FECV exposure (weaning, over-crowding, elective surgical procedures, vaccinations, concurrent infections), diet.
  4. Environmental factors – over-crowding, mixed ages, shared litter boxes, temperature, humidity, air exchange, litter care.
  5. Virus factors – Severity of FECV exposure, strain of FECV (virulence/mutability), macrophage tropism (serotype I, II).

Use of Novel Anti-viral Drugs to Treat Cats with Naturally Occurring FIP, Dr. Niels Pedersen

  1. FIP is caused by a coronavirus, which is made up of single stranded RNA. The coronavirus genome is large and contains many genes involved in virus replication. Some of the replication processes used by the virus usurp processes used for normal cellular processes, while others are totally virus dependent.  Therefore, two approaches can be used to inhibit coronavirus replication: 1) use drugs that inhibit the normal cellular processes used by the virus (e.g., cyclosporine), or 2) use drugs that target virus-specific replication pathways. The first approach has much more potential for side-effects as drug levels high enough to effectively inhibit virus replication are often toxic to normal cells.  The second approach is direct and highly specific, has a higher level of efficacy, and can be employed with much less toxicity.
  2. The most drug susceptible replication processes involve the conversion of RNA to DNA (reverse transcription) and the cleavage of viral polyprotein to their final products (viral proteases).  Inhibition of reverse transcription has been achieved with nucleoside reverse transcription inhibitors (NRTs) and non-NRTs. Inhibition of protein cleavage involves the use of viral protease inhibitors (PIs). Anti-viral drugs are widely employed to either treat HIV-AIDS (NRTs, NNRTs, PIs) or cure Hepatitis C (PIs).
  3. Two classes of anti-viral drugs used in humans have been successfully employed to treat both experimentally-induced and naturally occurring FIP, a PI (GC376) and NRT (EV0984).  Treatment of experimental FIP can effectively cure virtually all cats within two weeks.  However, treatment of naturally occurring disease requires treatment of 12 weeks or longer and is not always successful in bringing about a cure or entirely free of side-effects. Nonetheless, the future of anti-viral drugs for the treatment of FIP looks extremely hopeful, but these drugs will be slow to appear on the market. 

Feline Zoonosis, Dr. Michael Lappin

  1. Healthy cats that are being strategically dewormed and are provided flea and tick control are more likely to have a beneficial health effect on the owners than a healthy risk.
  2. Giardia Assemblage F and Cryptosporidium felis are the most common species infecting cats, are rare in humans, and unlikely to cause disease in humans.

Lunch & Learn #1– Feline Emergency Room Procedures You Must Know, Dr. Justine Lee

  1. Decontamination of the poisoned feline patient should include the use of appropriate emetic agents and administration of activated charcoal. When it comes to using emetic agents in cats, dexmedetomidine and xylazine hydrochloride, alpha adrenergic agonists, are centrally-acting emetic agents that can be safely and reliably used. Apomorphine and hydrogen peroxide should not be used in cats. Charcoal can be safely given via orogastric administration.
  2. In the feline urethral obstruction patient, the use of appropriate analgesics (e.g., coccygeal block, buprenorphine) should be considered, along with aggressive fluid therapy.

Lunch & Learn #2– Managing Appetite in Feline CKD, Dr. Jessica Quimby

  1. Clinical signs of nausea, vomiting and dysrexia are common in feline patients with chronic kidney disease and poor body condition in CKD cats is associated with a poorer prognosis. Poor appetite is perceived by owners as a significant quality of life concern and can cause significant emotional distress to owners. Therefore the management of appetite is a key therapeutic goal in feline CKD.
  2. Understanding the pathophysiology of poor appetite in feline CKD will improve our ability to treat it. It has been demonstrated that cats with CKD do not have “uremic gastritis” and are not hyperacidic, and clinical signs may be due to central effects on the chemoreceptor trigger zone and appetite dysregulation. Medical management with drugs such as maropitant and mirtazapine (oral or transdermal) have been shown to be beneficial in feline CKD patients.

Feline Flea & Tick Associated Illnesses:  Part 1 & 2, Dr. Michael Lappin

  1. Ctenocephalides felis from cats can harbor human pathogens like Bartonella spp. and Rickettsia felis about 60% of the time and so should all be killed.   Fever and lethargy are the most common findings of vector borne disease agents in cats.
  2. Flea and tick control products, if used as designed, can lessen the transfer of zoonotic infectious agents amongst cats and so theoretically will lessen transmission of the agents from cats to people.

Otitis Media:  It’s Not All Polyps, Dr. Karen Moriello

  1. Advanced imaging studies have shown otitis media in cats is more common that once thought.  Cats get primary otitis media from ascending infections via the Eustachian tube or secondary infections as a result of polyps or otitis externa.  Infectious agents commonly associated with the oral mucosa may be important pathogens when isolated from the middle ear on culture.

Bacterial & Yeast Overgrowth: An Under-recognized Cause of the ‘Unkempt Look,’ Dr. Karen Moriello

  1. Microbial overgrowth is a common complication and perpetuating cause of the unkempt coat and a common cause of itchy cats that seem to ‘fail’ flea control.  Direct clients to improve physical grooming of cats, continue the flea preventative, and use topical therapy to treat the microbial overgrowth.  Spray 2% chlorhexidine spray on the hair coat and comb through the coat.  In some cats systemic antifungals (itraconazole) and/or oral antibiotics may be needed, if topical therapy fails.

Dermatophytosis: Evidence-Based Medicine for Treatment & Debunking Ringworm Folklore, Dr. Karen Moriello

  1. There is not gold standard for diagnosis! The biggest debunked dogma is that Wood’s lamp examinations really are good tools and that 91-100% of untreated cats with M. canis infections will glow! Use the CCATS plan (confine-within reason, clean like company is coming but skip the bleach, start assessing when there no lesions and no glowing shafts, use topical therapy 2-3 times a week and consider focal miconazole cream for lesions in sensitive places, use oral itraconazole 5 mg/kg week on week off until cure).

Saturday, October 21, 2017

Starting on the Right Paw:  Preventive Healthcare for Kittens, Dr. Susan Little

  1. The need for frequent visits during the first months of life is an opportunity to lay the foundation for a long and healthy relationship with the pet owner. The entire healthcare team must focus on preventive health care to provide optimal medical care and foster client bonding. Important factors in successful client bonding are providing a feline-friendly hospital environment and competent skills in the handling of cats.
  2. A kitten preventive healthcare program can range from 2 to 5 visits, depending on the age of the kitten and the design of your program. In covering all the important issues, there is too much information for a pet owner to digest in one visit, especially for new cat owners. It is helpful to break up the information into modules, covering the information in one module at each visit. Start with the most pressing issues at the first visit, and prioritize the rest according to that kitten’s individual schedule of visits.
  3. Veterinary nurses/technicians are invaluable for introducing kitten preventive healthcare concepts and information to pet owners. Each kitten visit should be 30 minutes in length (especially the first visit), and the time can be divided between nurse/technician and veterinarian.

Anesthesia & Analgesia for Elective Surgical Procedures in Kittens and Anesthesia & Analgesia for Urgent/Emergency Elective Surgical Procedures in Kittens, Dr. Tammy Grubb

  1. Monitoring, support and use of appropriate drug dosages are more critical than drug selection for successful anesthesia in both healthy and unhealthy kittens.
  2. There is a misconception that younger patients do not feel pain when in fact they do feel pain, although pain in the first few days of life maybe diminished when compared to older patients. However, failure to utilize analgesia in younger patients may cause an upregulation of the pain pathway and propensity for an increased pain response to subsequent pain stimuli.
  3. Opioids and local anesthetics should be used to provide analgesia in kittens but the drugs may need to be diluted for accurate dosing.
  4. Hypothermia causes a myriad of adverse effects and should be prevented. Body temperature starts dropping right at induction, so that is when warming should start!

Kitten Kindly Classes, Dr. Kersti Seksel

  1. Kitten Kindy classes designed to educate kitten owners about normal feline behaviour as well as how to look after the kitten’s physical and mental health. Kittens aged less than 14 weeks of age are taught behaviours such as sit, come, give me five and interact in a safe non- threatening environment.
  2. If owners have realistic expectations of their new kitten and understand feline behaviour then it should help decrease the chances of future relinquishment and help build the veterinary practice.

Important Stages in Feline Development: Why They Matter, Dr. Kersti Seksel

  1. Behaviour is determined by a complex interplay of 3 factors; genetic predisposition, learning from previous experiences as well as the current environment. The prenatal, neonatal, transitional, socialisation, juvenile, adult and senior periods have all been recognized in cats. Each period has an influence on the behaviour of the cat and understanding what happens in each period affects how the cat learns and develops.

Taming the Cantankerous Cat, Ms. Ellen Carozza

  1. Work with your patient, not against it.
  2. Less stress is best! Minimize it. Your patient comes first, not you.
  3. Understand your patient’s face and body language! They will tell you within the first few minutes upon meeting them on how you will be able to work with them.
  4. Learn Feline Friendly Methods of restraint! The ‘purrito’ is one of the skills every feline technician should master. Utilizing the cat carrier to your advantage can prevent many injuries to both patient and practitioner.
  5. Admit when it’s time to sedate the patient chemically. Gabapentin and “Kitty Magic” are excellent choices depending on the stress level of the patient. There is no shame with chemical restraint.

What’s New with Old Viruses? Feline Retrovirus Update, Dr. Susan Little

  1. AAFP recommends screening all cats for FeLV and FIV infection at the time they are first acquired, prior to initial vaccination against FeLV (or FIV in countries where a vaccine is available), following potential exposure to infected cats, or in cats with clinical signs.
  2. It may not be possible to determine FeLV or FIV infection status based on the results of a single test performed at a single time point.
  3. Increasingly, validated PCR tests are being recommended where available over IFA and WB for follow up or second tier testing for FeLV and FIV.

Problem Intervention: When & Why During Kitten Development, Dr. Kersti Seksel

  1. Owners need to understand their cat’s behavioural development and feline communication to appreciate why a behaviour problem may occur.
  2. The most common issues that owners report having with their cats are elimination issues, scratching in unacceptable locations or on undesirable objects (from the owner’s perspective) and aggressive behaviours directed to owners or other cats in the household. Some of these behaviours may be preventable or manageable with foresight and recognition of normal feline behavioural needs.
  3. Punishment is never acceptable to manage any behaviour issues.

Troubleshooting Fading Kitten Syndrome, Ms. Ellen Carozza

  1. There is always a reason for FKS.
  2. Be familiar with the basics of kitten care. They have different needs than the adult cat.
  3. Learn to utilize pharmaceuticals off label, but be aware of the risks involved.
  4. Blood products, especially plasma, are your friend! An easy in house plama program can make a great impact in the success of treating kittens with “FKS.”

Lunch & Learn #1– Improving the Diagnosis & Management of Kidney Disease in Hyperthyroid Cats, Dr. Jane Robertson

  1. SDMA can help identify CKD in hyperthyroid cats.   Hyperthyroidism can mask chronic kidney disease (CKD) in cats. SDMA is a new renal biomarker that is more sensitive than creatinine and is not impacted by lean muscle mass unlike creatinine. For these reasons, SDMA has been found to be able to detect kidney disease in six times more hyperthyroid cats than creatinine. These findings support that SDMA should be included in the diagnostic assessment in senior cats especially prior to treatment for hyperthyroidism.
  2. Don’t keep the cat hyperthyroid to help kidney function.The goal of treating hyperthyroidism is to restore the cat to the euthyroid state even when there is pre-existing renal disease. The key is to avoid iatrogenic hypothyroidism and keep the cat in the “healthy” euthyroid range. In cats with evidence of pre-existing kidney disease, consider treating conservatively initially and increasing dose over time. Radioactive iodine therapy is not contraindicated but low-dose radioiodine should be administered versus standard dose.

Lunch & Learn #2– Fifty Years of Advances in Feline Medicine, Dr. Margie Scherk

  1. Scientific advances in feline medicine have been driven by support from two sources. The Winn Feline Foundation has consistently provided funding for clinically relevant research over the past 50 years. Since 1998, the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery has provided a recognized and acclaimed platform for feline-specific research, thereby encouraging study of this fascinating species. There have been many innovations in nutrition, easier delivery of medications, sensiochemical therapy, vaccination, analgesic protocols and ecto-endoparasite control.
  2. Feline welfare has gained greater interest through The Indoor Cat Initiative, Healthy Cats for Life, the AAFP Cat Friendly Program, Catalyst Council, Have We Seen Your Cat Lately, Cat Mastery, and Cat Healthy initiatives. Focusing on who and what a cat is and what cats need to be well has become especially relevant as the connection between stress and illness is recognized.

How to Treat the Smell & The Sick:  Part 1 & 2, Dr. Susan Little

  1. The most common general causes of illness and failure to thrive in kittens involve maternal, gestational, environmental, genetic, and infectious factors.
  2. Information about the kitten’s littermates and the queen can be very helpful, if available.
  3. Blood chemistry and hematology normal values differ from adult cats; age-appropriate ranges should be used.
  4. Intraosseous access is a useful alternative to intravenous access for fluid therapy and blood transfusions in young kittens.
  5. Urine specific gravity is less than 1.020 in the first few weeks of life; adult concentration is reached by about 8 weeks of age.
  6. Interpretation of skeletal radiographs presents difficulties due to decreased mineralization, open physes, and secondary centers of ossification.  When radiographing a limb, include the corresponding unaffected limb in the image for comparison to aid in interpretation.

Feline Socialization, Dr. Kersti Seksel

  1. Socialisation is an important process whereby the kitten learns to accept the close proximity of members of its own species and well as other species but it not about interacting or even liking every individual it meets.
  2. The socialisation period of cats is thought to occur between 3 and 7 weeks of age and during this time kittens are generally weaned, often go to their new owners. They may also be neutered during the end of this period so there are many stresses on the kitten at this time that need to be recognized and addressed.

The Secret to Increasing Pet Health Insurance in Cats, Mr. John Volk

The three most important things a veterinary practice can do to encourage more use of pet health insurance are:

  1. Recommend only one, or at most two, pet insurance companies, not several.
  2. Submit claims for the client.
  3. Provide pet health insurance as an employee benefit; it’s the most persuasive recommendation you can give.

Pet health insurance matters.  Veterinarians report that it improves compliance, and results in increased expenditures for veterinary services.  In fact, research shows that cat owners with pet health insurance spent on average 81% more for veterinary services that cat owners without insurance.  And this was among cats that routinely visited the veterinarian.

Feline Vaccinology:  Science to Inform Protocols, Dr. Annette Litster

  1. Feline diseases that are prevented by core vaccines (FCV, feline herpesvirus [FHV-1] and feline panleukopenia virus [FPV]) are endemic in US cat populations, and can be deadly. Widespread vaccination is the best strategy for mitigating disease transmission and boosting herd immunity.
  2. Adverse events are rare (51.6 adverse events/10,000 cats vaccinated; Moore et al., 2007) and the most commonly reported reactions were lethargy ± fever (in first 3 days), swelling, inflammation, and soreness at the injection site. These mostly occurred in 4-30 days after vaccination.

New AVTCP Feline Specialty:  Criteria & Qualifications of the Feline Technician, Ms. Ellen Carozza

  1. AVTCP.org for more information on qualifications.
  2. You must be in practice as an LVT, RVT or CVT for a minimum of 5 years of over 10,000 hours.
  3. 80% or more of your practice in the clinic MUST be feline only. Master the knowledge and the skills list along with submitting 50 plus case studies and sit for an exam. 

Sunday, November 6, 2016

Infectious Diarrhea in Kittens & Cats: Diagnosis, Dr. Craig Webb

  1. Diagnostic test results are only as good as you are! This is the clinical impact of prevalence on Positive Predictive Value.
  2. Using a diagnostic test to demonstrate the presence of an organism in the feces of a cat with diarrhea does not necessarily prove that the organism is the cause of the diarrhea.

Infectious Diarrhea in Kittens & Cats: Treatment, Dr. Craig Webb

  1. For kittens, diarrhea may vary from relatively simple (dietary) to reliably fatal (FIP), but in all cases supportive care is one of the most important things, and frequently the only thing that will lead to a desirable outcome.
  2. Antibiotics are not benign. Besides supportive care, nutritional intervention, and appropriate supplementation, those cases of uncomplicated diarrhea that are likely to be self-limiting should be left to themselves.

Upper Respiratory Infections: Prevention & Diagnostics, Dr. Michael Lappin

  1. PCR assay panel results for pathogens associated with feline URI do not correlate to treatment responses in individual cats.
  2. Both inactivated and modified live virus FHV-1 containing vaccines and include protection against FHV-1 as soon as 7 days after the administration of one dose.

What’s New with the Old: Panleukopenia, Heartworm and Sinonasal Aspergillosis, Dr. Annette Litster

  1. The most profound determinant of survival in cats exposed to FPV is the protective antibody titer carried by each cat at the time of exposure (Scott FW and Geissinger, 1999; Lappin et al., 2002). Treatment regimens are supportive and are only likely to be successful if serum FPV levels at least approach protective levels.
  2. Two recent studies (Little et al., 2014; Gruntmeir et al., 2016) reported increased sensitivity with antigen testing in feline serum after heat treatment for 10 minutes at 103 °C was used to break up antigen-antibody complexes that could interfere with antigen detection.

Update on Infectious Disease Diagnostic Tests, Dr. Michael Lappin

  1. Combination of serological tests with molecular tests like PCR assay often has a higher diagnostic sensitivity than either test type alone.
  2. Positive serum antigen, serum antibody, and molecular assay results do prove disease causation.   The clinician needs to combine clinical findings with assay results to make the most likely tentative diagnosis and treatment plan.

Treatment of Infectious Upper Respiratory Tract Disease: An Evidence-Based Approach, Dr. Annette Litster

  1. Doxycycline is a good first-line empiric choice for cats with suspected acute bacterial upper respiratory tract infection, since it is likely to be effective against the most commonly identified isolates – Mycoplasma spp., Bordetella bronchiseptica and Chlamydia felis. Clinical trials of L-lysine supplementation in cats with FHV-1 have produced conflicting results, but a recent systematic review of the evidence for L-lysine supplementation concluded that clinical trials with cats had failed to show efficacy and that in vitro experiments did not demonstrate that excess L-lysine inhibited viral replication (Bol and Bunnick, 2015).
  2. Pain relief should be considered on an individual cat basis, especially if there is evidence of oral or corneal ulceration. Appropriate analgesic protocols should be initiated promptly by a veterinarian and cats should be monitored often to ensure that therapeutic efficacy is achieved. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can also be used to treat fever and oral or ocular pain(Radford et al., 2009), but caution should be exercised in cats with evidence of clinical or subclinical dehydration, renal, hepatic or gastrointestinal disease or clotting abnormalitiesGriffin et al., 2016).

Obesity Management in Cats:  Incorporating Behavior & Feeding Practices, Dr. Maryanne Murphy

  1. Every weight management plan needs to expand beyond simply feeding an overweight or obese cat a therapeutic diet designed for weight loss. The way that diet is fed within the home, including avoidance of ad libitum feeding and employing individually fed, measured, and scheduled meals should be used. Methods to increase the activity level of the cat by hunting and stalking simulations as well as considering hydrating the diet of kibble only fed cats can be used.
  2. Since pet owners play a central role in the environment, their behavior, as well as their pet’s, needs to be addressed within a weight loss plan. Applying owner specific behavior-control strategies, self-affirmation, implementation intentions, self-concordance, and the 5 A’s behavioral counseling approach may improve weight loss success. When using the 5 A’s system, a special focus on assistance and arrangement may be most useful for the owner.

Clinical Brief – Clinical Uses of Probiotics, Dr. Michael Lappin

  1. Most probiotics marketed in veterinary medicine do not meet their label claim and different probiotics have different clinical effects.
  2. Studies in cats have now shown clinical benefits of the use of some probiotics for management of acute or chronic diarrhea and as immune modulating agents.

Clinical Brief – Fecal Transplantation: What’s Coming Down the Pipeline, Dr. Craig Webb

  1. The best or even appropriate use of fecal transplantation in cats is unknown at this time.
  2. The apparent safety of fecal transplantation depends in large part on adequate screening of the donor. This includes the basic history, physical examination, and minimum database, but also includes screening for relevant bacterial, viral, and parasitic enteropathogens.

Emerging Feline Pathogens Summary: The Weird & Wonderful, Dr. Michael Lappin

  1. Gammaherpesviruses are common in cats and have been associated with a number of factors including FIV.   Studies exploring clinical correlations are ongoing.
  2. Cats have been shown to be infected by Leptospira spp. and shed the microbial DNA in urine.  Further data is needed to more thoroughly explore the role these pathogens could have in CKD of cats as well as with zoonoses.


Contaminated Wounds: Infectious Reasons Healing is Delayed, Dr. Catriona MacPhail

  1. Cats with wounds that are managed in an appropriate and thorough manner, yet fail to heal or dehisce following primary closure, should be investigated for underlying causes particularly uncommon or complicated infections.
  2. Diagnostic evaluation of feline nonhealing wounds should include general health screening, deep wound culture and tissue biopsy.  Wound cultures should be performed for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, Mycobacterium spp., and fungal organisms.
  3. Fundamental wound care principles (prevention of further contamination, wound lavage, debridement of devitalized tissue, and appropriate bandage placement and use of wound dressings) allow for successful management in most wound cases.