Dogs attending primary-care practice in England with clinical signs suggestive of Chiari-like malformation/syringomyelia

Chiari-like malformation/syringomyelia (CM/SM) in dogs describes a developmental disorder that can cause pain and reduced quality of life. This retrospective study aimed to report the period prevalence, clinical signs and risk factors for diagnosis of symptomatic CM/SM in the veterinary primary-care setting using a cross-sectional design. The study population included all dogs within the VetCompass Programme (September 1, 2009–June 13, 2014). Overall, the period prevalence of symptomatic CM/SM was 0.05 per cent (95 per cent CI 0.04 per cent to 0.06 per cent) for all breeds. The period prevalence in the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (CKCS) was 1.6 per cent (95 per cent CI 1.2 to 2.06). Other breeds at increased odds included the King Charles Spaniel (KCS), Affenpinscher, Chihuahua and Pomeranian. Insured dogs had 4.6 times the odds (95 per cent CI 2.95 to 7.17) of having a diagnosis of CM/SM compared with uninsured dogs. Pain was the most commonly associated clinical sign (67 dogs, 72 per cent). Analgesics were prescribed to 72 (77.4 per cent) of the symptomatic dogs. Despite its low overall period prevalence, the high proportion of affected dogs identified with chronic pain suggests a significant welfare issue. Financial implications could impede the diagnostic process and lead to underestimation of the true prevalence. This study may help to inform clinicians about the clinical relevance and the need for improved awareness of clinical signs, particularly in high-risk breeds, to optimise the management of CM/SM in primary-care practice

Capturing the complexity of first opinion small animal consultations using direct observation

Various different methods are currently being used to capture data from small animal consultations. The aim of this study was to develop a tool to record detailed data from consultations by direct observation. A second aim was to investigate the complexity of the consultation by examining the number of problems discussed per patient. A data collection tool was developed and used during direct observation of small animal consultations in eight practices. Data were recorded on consultation type, patient signalment and number of problems discussed. During 16?weeks of data collection, 1901 patients were presented. Up to eight problems were discussed for some patients; more problems were discussed during preventive medicine consultations than during first consultations (

Moving from information and collaboration to action: report from the 3rd International Dog Health Workshop, Paris in April 2017

Abstract Background Breed-related health problems in dogs have received increased focus over the last decade. Responsibility for causing and/or solving these problems has been variously directed towards dog breeders and kennel clubs, the veterinary profession, welfare scientists, owners, regulators, insurance companies and the media. In reality, all these stakeholders are likely to share some responsibility and optimal progress on resolving these challenges requires all key stakeholders to work together. The International Partnership for Dogs (IPFD), together with an alternating host organization, holds biennial meetings called the International Dog Health Workshops (IDHW). The Société Centrale Canine (French Kennel Club) hosted the 3rd IDHW, in Paris, in April, 2017. These meetings bring together a wide range of stakeholders in dog health, science and welfare to improve international sharing of information and resources, to provide a forum for ongoing collaboration, and to identify specific needs and actions to improve health, well-being and welfare in dogs. Results The workshop included 140 participants from 23 countries and was structured around six important issues facing those who work to improve dog health. These included individualized breed-specific strategies for health and breeding, extreme conformations, education and communication in relation to antimicrobial resistance, behavior and welfare, genetic testing and population-based evidence. A number of exciting actions were agreed during the meeting. These included setting up working groups to create tools to help breed clubs accelerate the implementation of breed-health strategies, review aspects of extreme conformation and share useful information on behavior. The meeting also heralded the development of an online resource of relevant information describing quality measures for DNA testing. A demand for more and better data and evidence was a recurring message stressed across all themes. Conclusions The meeting confirmed the benefits from inclusion of a diverse range of stakeholders who all play relevant and collaborative parts to improve future canine health. Firm actions were set for progress towards improving breed-related welfare. The next international workshop will be in the UK in 2019 and will be organized by the UK Kennel Club

Incidence trend and risk factors for campylobacter infections in humans in Norway

BACKGROUND: The objectives of the study were to evaluate whether the increase in incidence of campylobacteriosis observed in humans in Norway from 1995 to 2001 was statistically significant and whether different biologically plausible risk factors were associated with the incidence of campylobacteriosis in the different counties in Norway. METHODS: To model the incidence of domestically acquired campylobacteriosis from 1995 to 2001, a population average random effect poisson model was applied (the trend model). To case data and assumed risk-factor/protective data such as sale of chicken, receiving treated drinking water, density of dogs and grazing animals, occupation of people in the municipalities and climatic factors from 2000 and 2001, an equivalent model accounting for geographical clustering was applied (the ecological model). RESULTS: The increase in incidence of campylobacteriosis in humans in Norway from 1995 to 2001 was statistically significant from 1998. Treated water was a protective factor against Campylobacter infections in humans with an IRR of 0.78 per percentage increase in people supplied. The two-level modelling technique showed no evidence of clustering of campylobacteriosis in any particular county. Aggregation of data on municipality level makes interpretation of the results at the individual level difficult. CONCLUSION: The increase in incidence of Campylobacter infections in humans from 1995 to 2001 was statistically significant from 1998. Treated water was a protective factor against Campylobacter infections in humans with an IRR of 0.78 per percentage increase in people supplied. Campylobacter infections did not appear to be clustered in any particular county in Norway

Genomic prediction of traits related to canine hip dysplasia

Increased concern for the welfare of pedigree dogs has led to development of selection programs against inherited diseases. An example is canine hip dysplasia (CHD), which has a moderate heritability and a high prevalence in some large-sized breeds. To date, selection using phenotypes has led to only modest improvement, and alternative strategies such as genomic selection may prove more effective. The primary aims of this study were to compare the performance of pedigree- and genomic-based breeding against CHD in the UK Labrador retriever population and to evaluate the performance of different genomic selection methods. A sample of 1179 Labrador Retrievers evaluated for CHD according to the UK scoring method (hip score, HS) was genotyped with the Illumina CanineHD BeadChip. Twelve functions of HS and its component traits were analyzed using different statistical methods (GBLUP, Bayes C and Single-Step methods), and results were compared with a pedigree-based approach (BLUP) using cross-validation. Genomic methods resulted in similar or higher accuracies than pedigree-based methods with training sets of 944 individuals for all but the untransformed HS, suggesting that genomic selection is an effective strategy. GBLUP and Bayes C gave similar prediction accuracies for HS and related traits, indicating a polygenic architecture. This conclusion was also supported by the low accuracies obtained in additional GBLUP analyses performed using only the SNPs with highest test statistics, also indicating that marker-assisted selection would not be as effective as genomic selection. A Single-Step method that combines genomic and pedigree information also showed higher accuracy than GBLUP and Bayes C for the log-transformed HS, which is currently used for pedigree based evaluations in UK. In conclusion, genomic selection is a promising alternative to pedigree-based selection against CHD, requiring more phenotypes with genomic data to improve further the accuracy of prediction

Playful activity post-learning improves training performance in Labrador Retriever dogs (Canis lupus familiaris)

Situations that are emotional and arousing have an effect on cognitive performance. It is thought that beta adrenergic activation and the release of stress hormones enhance memory consolidation and lead to an increase in memorability of emotional events. This beneficial effect has been shown in humans, non-human primates and rodents. Techniqueswhich could enhancememory for learning specific taskswould be highly valuable, especially in dogs, which are extensively trained to aid humans. A pseudo-randomized, counterbalanced, between subject study designs was utilised and 16 Labrador Retrievers ranging from 1 to 9 years of agewere trained in a 2-choice discrimination paradigm. After task acquisition, either a playful activity intervention (N= 8) or a resting period (N= 8) took place, lasting for 30 min. A range of factors including age, sex, training experience and trials to criterion on each day was subjected to a multiple factor/covariate General Linear Model analysis. The results show that playful activity post-learning improved training performance evidenced by fewer trials needed to re-learn the task 24 h after initial acquisition (playful activity group: mean number of trials 26, SD 6; resting group: mean number of trials 43, SD 19, effect size 1.2). Average heart rate, as a measure of arousal, during the interventionwas significantly higher in the playful activity group (143 beats/min, SD 16) versus the resting group (86 beats/min, SD 19, P b 0.001). Salivary cortisol did not significantly differ between groups during training, however a significant decrease (T:−4.1 P b 0.01) was seen after the playful activity. To our knowledge this is the first evidence that posttraining activity may influence training performance in dogs