Words matter. Inconsistency and inaccuracy with terminology can result in misinterpretation, poor communication and creates challenges when discussing cases, interpreting research and developing guidelines.
This has been particularly evident when it comes to urinary tract disease in dogs and cats. For example, “urinary tract infection (UTI)” is a very generic term that has been commonly
As the weather (slowly and inconsistently) gets nicer here in Ontario, dogs start to go swimming more. My dog, Ozzie (pictured below), is an embarrassment to the Labrador breed as he will not swim, but he’ll happily wade through water, as long as his feet don’t leave the ground (but he still manages to get
The short answer: I don’t know, but probably not, and it could potentially do more harm than good.
I get asked a lot about splitting vaccines for pets, that is to say giving different vaccines at different visits instead of giving a bunch of vaccines all at the same time. The questions are often related
When it comes to disease surveillance and communication, we have a tendency to throw lots of stuff at the wall to see what sticks. Some things stick around (like this blog!), others things not so much… like our first attempt at WormsAndGermsMap about ten years ago. It was a good idea, but the technology
I haven’t written about raw diets lately (beyond risks from H5N1 influenza, particularly in cats), but that doesn’t mean the risks from these diets have gone away, and they are still really popular in some areas, and some messages are worth repeating.
Potential problems with raw diets for dogs and cats include infections (e.g. Salmonella
Maureen’s going to give me grief over the length of this post, but the use of antivirals in cats is important topic with a lot of issues to consider, so let’s dig into it once again.
Access to effective antivirals to treat feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), particularly GS-441524 (a relative of the anti-COVID-19 drug
Many countries have import requirements for dogs based on rabies control (among other things), primarily based on the dog’s rabies vaccination history, plus or minus rabies antibody titre (RAT) testing. A few years ago (with support from the Ontario Animal Health Network), we studied RATs in dogs imported into Ontario by rescues (Belanger
A lot of interesting case reports get published in human medical and veterinary journals, but I always take case reports with a grain of salt. It’s not that I don’t trust the validity of the report, but there are those who may over-react to a single case. A publication about a single case typically signifies
As part of our upcoming revision of the 2019 ISCAID guidelines for diagnosis and management of bacterial urinary tract infections (UTIs) in dogs and cats, we recently did a systematic review to determine if cranberry supplements reduce or help treat urinary tract infections (UTIs) in dogs and cats. Our conclusion was… we have
Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) has issued a voluntary recall of one lot (serial #18665) of its IMRAB 3 TF rabies vaccine that was distributed in the US, because some vials in the lot were found to contain sterile water instead of vaccination. That’s a big oops, but it’s also good to see that it was
