The Veterinary Nurse – now part of the UK-VET group of titles – is the leading international peer-reviewed journal for veterinary nurses. It publishes evidence-based clinical, educational and practical articles, in addition to the latest nurse-led veterinary research. It promotes gold standard care by supporting readers’ continuing professional development and by sharing best practice worldwide.
The unique dietary needs of exotic companion mammal herbivores has been thoroughly explored in this series of articles. The veterinary nurse can be well-equipped and is in an excellent position to take a detailed husbandry and nutritional history,...
This document was commissioned to provide UK veterinary surgeons with up-to-date information on Streptococcus equi infection and to provide practical...
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Leishmania are vector-borne protozoan parasites that cause a wide range of clinical disease (leishmaniosis). Leishmania infantum is the species mainly causing leishmaniosis in European cats and dogs, and has zoonotic potential. Sandflies are the principal vector of transmission, but non-vectorial routes such as venereal, transplacental and blood transfusion have been described. There is no gold-standard diagnostic test, so leishmaniosis is diagnosed using a combination of methods alongside relevant clinical signs. Early diagnosis is essential for assessing prognosis, successfully managing the disease and minimising transmission. This article discusses the epidemiology, diagnosis and management of leishmaniosis in dogs and cats, and the risk of it becoming established in the UK.
The unique dietary needs of exotic companion mammal herbivores has been thoroughly explored in this series of articles. The veterinary nurse can be well-equipped and is in an excellent position to take a detailed husbandry and nutritional history, which can help to identify nutritional disease and problems with dietary management that may contribute to future pathogenesis. Providing nutritional support in the hindgut fermenter inpatient or outpatient is centred around both restoring the negative energy balance (as the target species will rapidly enter a catabolic state) and providing enough fibre to stimulate gastrointestinal motility.
Exotic companion mammal herbivores have specific nutritional needs as they are adapted to optimise nutrition from a high-fibre, low calorie-density diet. Unlike other traditional companion animal species such as cats and dogs, there are no nutritionally complete commercial diets available for these exotic species. Feeding plans need to take into consideration the species, age and reproductive status of the patient, and a nutritional assessment includes body condition scoring as well as muscle condition scoring. Patient activity level, body condition score, muscle condition score and the presence of ongoing illnesses are also important considerations. To make a nutritional assessment and plan for a patient, a modified Nutritional Assessment Checklist is effective, as recommended in the toolkit of the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) Nutritional Assessment Guidelines Task Force (2011). Patient behaviour and the presence of healthy integument and diet-related illnesses can help determine the suitability of the patient's current diet. Although herbivores share a basic dietary plan, it is important to know the unique needs of individual species. This is the subject of part 2 of this series.
The second in this two part series on nutritional management of dermatological conditions in dogs focuses on the role of diet in cutaneous adverse food reactions (both food allergies and intolerances). It reviews the most common causes of food allergies, how to diagnose them via an elimination diet trial and potentially appropriate diets for the trial. It also explores the most common reasons for failure of a diet trial, the role of the veterinary nurse in providing support and education for caregivers, and a number of ‘top tips’ to increase the likelihood of success of the trial. Finally, longer-term management of patients diagnosed with an adverse food reaction is discussed.
The clinical learning environment is a complex sociocultural landscape that can be challenging to...
The patient presented to a veterinary hospital with a month-long history of ‘scooting’ and a...
