Ok, I had to Google that one…”Moggy” not being a typical Canadian term. Apparently, it’s British slang for "cat." Anyway, the "Death by moggy” article in the UK paper The Sun is pretty basic, mentioning the death of a 59-year-old woman who would probably be considered a classic cat hoarder. She was single and slept
June 2013
Bartonella from needlesticks
Something I often discuss when doing infection control talks is needlestick injuries. The contrast between the approach to needlestick injuries (and blood exposure in general) in veterinary and human medicine is pretty astounding. In humans, there are strong educational campaigns, careful reporting, testing and treatment protocols, and increasing use of "safety engineered sharps devices" like…
Schmallenberg virus and dogs
A few weeks ago, I did a talk about Schmallenberg virus for a government group. It was an unusual talk for me since it was about a disease that I’ve never seen, and a virus that as far as we know is not even present in North America. While I’ve been monitoring the issues with…
Hospital animal visitation in the news
The New York Times has a nice article on hospitals that allow patient’s pets to visit. This is a controversial area, with policies (when they are actually present) that range from wide-open access to complete prohibition. Like most things in life, there’s a middle ground that’s the most reasonable.
The positive aspects of people…
Another dog-eats-toe story
It’s maybe a sad statement that reading about someone whose diseased toes were gnawed off by their dog doesn’t shock me anymore. It’s not an everyday event but it’s far from rare. An Indiana man learned about this the hard way when he woke up thinking his dog was licking his toes, when in fact…
More Ontario equine herpesvirus
An outbreak of equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) has resulted in implementation of a quarantine at Woodbine, a major Thoroughbred track in Toronto. This outbreak is unrelated to the recent outbreak at an Ontario Standardbred training facility.
The Ontario Racing Commission has issued the following release:
The Ontario Racing Commission (ORC) announced that there have…
Shelter dog MRSA panic
Several dogs at a Miami humane society were quarantined last week because of concerns (or possibly panic/over-reaction) about methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). MRSA in dogs is a concern because it’s an important cause of infection in both people and animals. However, it’s an opportunist, meaning it typically doesn’t cause disease when it encounters a normal…
Bloodstream infections in horses from contaminated fluids
The latest edition of the University of Guelph Animal Health Laboratory’s newsletter contains an interesting report about 4 horses that died over the past few years from what was suspected to be contaminated intravenous fluid solutions. These cases were dead horses that were submitted for post-mortem examination from three different farms, so if anything, this…