Clinical

Small mammal herbivores part 3: taking a dietary history and providing nutritional support

Taking a thorough history is a cornerstone of exotic animal medicine: estimates of the prevalence of husbandry-related diseases vary depending on the study, but it is generally agreed that inadequate...

Working towards a greener future in veterinary anaesthesia

The climate crisis is the largest and most prolonged threat to global health ever described (Costello et al, 2009). The rising temperatures documented over recent centuries are attributed largely to...

Castrating dogs: why, when, how?

A minimally invasive ‘field surgical’ technique for castration has been proposed. Pin hole castration involves utilising a very small incision to ligate and cut the ductus deferens and testicular...

Pruritus in dogs and cats part 1: what is pruritus and how do we approach the pruritic patient?

It is worth emphasising that pruritus in a patient can be the result of several co-existing pruritogenic processes combining together to push the individual over what is known as the pruritic...

Awareness and management of canine cognitive dysfunction

Owners may note a decrease in responses to well established cues (Landsberg and Araujo, 2005). This may result from dwindling eyesight and hearing (Landsberg and Ruehl, 1997; Szabó et al, 2018)....

Small mammal herbivores, part 2: nutrition for wellness

A brief discussion of nutrients and their role in the herbivore diet will provide the basis for understanding nutritional assessment..

Computed tomography acquisition for veterinary diagnostic imaging

CT images are captured by a series of detectors that move in tandem with a generator in a circle around the patient. The patient lies on the table or couch as it moves through the gantry (Garnett,...

Soil contamination with Toxocara spp. eggs in public parks in the Midlands

The present study found evidence of soil contamination with Toxocara spp. eggs in the East Midlands region. Results indicated that 74% of the parks were contaminated, with soil prevalence levels of...

Cry wolf: a major misunderstanding about dog behaviour

‘Dominance’ or ‘pack theory’ describes an ever-popular misbelief that, just as their wolf ancestors lived in hierarchical groups headed by an ‘alpha pair’ enjoying first rights to all valued...

Diet in canine dermatology part 2: management of cutaneous adverse food reactions

An adverse food reaction (AFR) describes an abnormal response as a result of ingestion of a food or food additive, with cutaneous adverse food reactions (CAFRs) — the main focus of this article —...