A recent commentary in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics by Moore et al. entitled “A doggy tale: Risk of zoonotic infection with Bordetella bronchiseptica for cystic fibrosis (CF) patients from live licenced bacterial veterinary vaccines for cats and dogs” discusses concerns about using the most common “kennel cough” vaccines in animals
COVID-19 Control Measures in Animal Shelters
As the world tries to (prematurely) transition back to some semblance of normalcy (or at least what used to be “normal”), it’s a challenge to figure out what changes to make, and when. There will never be agreement between everybody. Some want full reversion to “normal” now, some want third-wave-level restrictions until further notice… like
Should We Vaccinate Animals Against SARS-CoV-2?
Concerns about the animal aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to come in waves. Most of the time they are ignored or dismissed, but there are also periodic flurries of attention and (often over-) reaction. Lately, questions about vaccination of animals against SARS-CoV-2 follow have been on the rise.
Should domestic and wild animals be
Antibiotic Prescribing Guidance for Small Animal Veterinarians
We soft launched this a few weeks ago and I haven’t gotten around to publicizing it too broadly yet, so here goes…
We’ve launched app-based antibiotic prescribing support for small animal veterinarians, which uses the Firstline platform (an app originally designed to help provide similar guidance for human healthcare providers). Our content provides clinical guidance
Isolation of SARS-CoV-2-Exposed Animals in Animal Shelters
Throughout the pandemic, countless decisions have had to be made, often with limited data. As more information becomes available, guidance and recommendation are updated. That sometimes upsets people, but it’s a good thing because it means we know more. If no recommendations had changed since early 2020, it would mean that we were really intuitive
Update: COVID-19 in Animals Review Part 1: Cats
Back in October/November 2020, I wrote a series of posts about what we know about SARS-CoV-2 and different animal species. It’s a dynamic field, so it’s about time I got around to updating them. We’ll start back at the beginning with one of the most susceptible domestic species: cats. A lot of research about
Pets and Evacuation Planning
I remember being in a meeting years ago and hearing an estimate of the number of deaths of people from Hurricane Katrina that were linked to them staying behind because they could not evacuate their pets. People chose to ride out a devastating hurricane rather than abandon their animals – animals that weren’t part of
Cat Scratch Disease in a Child
A brief report in the latest edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal describes a child with lymphadenopathy (swollen lymph nodes) due to cat scratch disease.
I was a bit surprised to see a straightforward case like this published in such a journal, but it’s a good reminder of a few issues.
Cat scratch
Taking Care of a COVID-19 Patient’s Pet
I get asked about this topic a lot. Early in the pandemic, I wrote a post about options for caring for pets of people with COVID-19. Some things have changed a bit now that we know more know about SARS-CoV-2 in animals and the associated zoonotic risks, and we have a vaccine for people.
SARS-CoV-2 Infection of Dogs and Cats on Mink Farms
We have a lot of different concerns about SARS-CoV-2 on mink farms. Mink are really susceptible to this virus, and human-to-mink transmission isn’t uncommon, so if we continue to farm mink, we will continue to expose mink to SARS-CoV-2 as long as the virus is still circulating in people.
Two of the biggest concerns relate