I’ve written (ok… ranted) about fake service and support animals for years. Beyond frustration with the self-centred and/or “look at me!” aspects, my main concern with the proliferation of fake service animals and questionable emotional support animals is the potential negative impacts on the “real” service and support animals, and the people who actually need… Continue Reading
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Updated US rabies map
Posted in Cats, Dogs, Horses, RabiesHere are updated versions of the US rabies maps from yesterday’s post, with the addition of some more data. Pennsylvania’s looking more biohazardous now but that’s because we got a lot more data for that state. If we get more data from other areas, the maps will be updated accordingly.… Continue Reading
US rabies map: 2017
Posted in Cats, Dogs, Horses, Rabies, VaccinationWe track a few different diseases, both for research and for general education, including rabies. The maps below provide an overview of rabies in dogs, cats and horses in the US in 2017. It’s not a complete representation of cases, since we don’t have access to everyone’s surveillance data. It’s compiled through monitoring various reports… Continue Reading
When bugs don’t read the books
Posted in Cats, DogsMinus 20C weather is supposed to have some benefits – at least that’s what we try to tell ourselves. (Maybe we’re just trying to justify why we haven’t migrated south.) I’ve written about leptospirosis a few times recently, given the horrible lepto season we’ve been having. This bacterial disease isn’t new, but there have been… Continue Reading
Fossil fuels and antibiotics: An analogy
Posted in Animals, Birds, Cats, Dogs, Horses, Other animals, Other diseases, Pocket petsThe post below is reproduced from CANresist.blog. It applies equally for veterinary medicine. I think most people buy into the concept of fossil fuels being finite resources. Someday, they’ll run out or logistics and cost of extraction will make them impractical. Accordingly, we’re thinking about ways to reduce and improve use (to delay the end of the… Continue Reading
Influenza from a cat (and no we’re not all going to die)
Posted in CatsA paper in December’s Emerging Infectious Diseases (Marinova-Petkova et al. 2016) follows up on last year’s outbreak of avian influenza (H7N2) in cats in a New York shelter and one associated human infection (the findings were also summarized in a post from earlier this year). This paper describes investigation of the virus from the infected… Continue Reading
CANresist
Posted in Birds, Cats, Dogs, Horses, Other animalsIntroducing CANresist, a new initiative aimed at fostering antibiotic stewardship in Canada across the human and animal health fields and beyond, in order to maintain the effectiveness of these life-saving drugs. Follow us at CANresist.com or CANresist.blog, or on Facebook. Also check out our Twitter feed @CANADAresist, including our #mylastantibiotic tag to talk about the last time… Continue Reading
Barn > Deck > Garage > Attic: Cat migration and kitten care
Posted in Cats, Deworming, Other diseases, Parasites, ToxoplasmosisI’m not sure I wrote about it at the time, but last spring we adopted Rumple (technically Rumpelstiltskin, pictured below… rough life) from the Guelph Humane Society as part of their Barn Cat Adoption program. He quickly migrated from the barn and set up shop as a garage and deck cat (which also lead to… Continue Reading
The “Antibiotic Course” has run its course
Posted in Cats, Dogs, Horses, Other animalsIt’s commonly been stated that it’s important to finish your course of antibiotics (whether “your” refers to a person or animal), as a means of reducing the risk of developing antibiotic resistance. That’s never made much sense to me, since more antibiotic exposure is more likely to lead to a risk of resistance emerging. However,… Continue Reading
H7N2 Influenza in a New York animal shelter: A recap
Posted in CatsThe 2016 outbreak of H7N2 influenza in cats in a New York shelter, with transmission to one veterinarian, got a lot of attention, including a few posts on our blog. H7N2 influenza is known to have been circulating in birds in the US since at least 1994, and two human infections had been identified (a… Continue Reading
Fatal viral infection from a cat?
Posted in CatsOne thing that’s a given with infectious diseases is that there’s always something new to learn. Interestingly, I had a couple enquiries about an obscure virus last week, and was subsequently sent a link to a news report about the same disease: severe fever with thrombocytopenia virus. As the mouthful of a name suggests, the virus… Continue Reading
New methicillin-resistant Staph veterinary dermatology guidelines
Posted in Cats, DogsA new Clinical Consensus Guideline, coordinated through the World Association for Veterinary Dermatology, has been released: Recommendations for approaches to methicillin-resistant staphylococcal infections of small animals: diagnosis, therapeutic considerations and preventative measures. Clinical Consensus Guidelines of the World Association for Veterinary Dermatology This large and comprehensive document is open access and can also be downloaded via… Continue Reading
H3N2 Canine Flu in Florida
Posted in Cats, Dogs, VaccinationThe recent H3N2 canine flu outbreak centred around dog shows in Florida has led to the usual round of questions and concerns. How many dogs have been affected? Hard to say. Cases aren’t carefully tracked and it is reasonable to assume that the majority of dogs that developed influenza (especially mild disease) were never diagnosed.… Continue Reading
New Ontario Lyme Disease Risk Map
Posted in Cats, Dogs, HorsesTo continue the map-posting binge that I’ve been on lately, Public Health Ontario has just posted their updated Lyme Disease Risk Areas map for 2017. For comparison, you can still also access the 2016 map too, and you can see that the risk areas have indeed expanded somewhat, particularly in Eastern Ontario. The estimated risk… Continue Reading
Tick Tracker Update
Posted in Cats, Dogs, HorsesOur online Pet Tick Tracker continues to receive lots of submissions, so here are some interesting maps showing some of the preliminary information compiled so far. The maps show where the ticks are being reported, but remember that they’re not necessarily reflective of the true overall picture, since it depends on who is reporting and who isn’t reporting.… Continue Reading
Pet Tick Tracker Update
Posted in Cats, Dogs, HorsesOver the years, we’ve tried a variety of new approaches to promote awareness (among the public, veterinarians and others) and to collect relevant research information. Some (like this blog) have taken on a life of their own and exceeded our expectations. Some didn’t go very far. Our most recent initiative is the PetTickTracker, a website designed… Continue Reading
Pet Tick Tracker
Posted in Cats, Dogs, HorsesIt’s pretty clear that tick ranges are changing. In Ontario, we’ve seen movement of ticks into areas where they were never seen before, as well as potential changes in the types of ticks that are found in different areas. The potential for tickborne diseases like Lyme disease highlights the importance of understanding tick distributions. Knowing where… Continue Reading
New Guidance for Human Exposure to Rabies: Ontario
Posted in Cats, Dogs, Other animals, Rabies, VaccinationThis month, Public Health Ontario released a new Rabies Guidance Document for Healthcare Providers. It’s nothing particularly new but a good review of the recommended response to rabies exposure from various animal species, something that’s unfortunately often messed up or made more complicated than necessary. It includes some nice flowcharts, such as the one below. The full… Continue Reading
Colistin Resistance in Pets
Posted in Cats, DogsI’ve had a lot of emails over the past few months from colleagues from other countries, asking if we’re finding much mcr-1 in Canada. mcr-1 is a gene that makes bacteria resistant to colistin, a “drug of last resort” in people with some highly resistant infections. The gene has emerged in bacteria from both animals… Continue Reading
Immunocompromised People and Their Pets
Posted in Birds, Cats, Dogs, Other animals, Pocket pets, ReptilesThis month’s edition of the Internal Medicine Journal contains an article entitled High rates of potentially infectious exposures between immunocompromised patients and their companion animals: an unmet need for education (Gurry et al. 2017). The study is fairly superficial and there’s nothing particularly surprising in the paper, with results similar to what has been reported in… Continue Reading
Canine and Feline Respiratory Infection Treatment Guidelines
Posted in Cats, Dogs, Other diseasesThe latest set of clinical treatment guidelines from the International Society for Companion Animal Infectious Diseases have been published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine (Lappin et al 2017): Antimicrobial Use Guidelines for Treatment of Respiratory Tract Disease in Dogs and Cats: Antimicrobial Guidelines Working Group of the International Society for Companion Animal Infectious… Continue Reading
2016 Rabies Compendium
Posted in Cats, Dogs, Horses, Other animals, Rabies, VaccinationThe 2016 Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control has been released by the US’s National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians (NASPHV). This version has updates in a few different areas, such as some changes to recommendations for dogs, cats and ferrets that have potentially been exposed to rabies. It can be downloaded directly here or be found… Continue Reading
More avian flu in cats…H5N6 in South Korea
Posted in Birds, CatsFollowing on the heels of an H7N2 influenza outbreak in cats (and one person) in New York, H5N6 avian influenza has been found in two dead cats in Pocheon, Gyeonggi province, South Korea. This highly pathogenic avian influenza strain has been active in South Korea since November 2016, resulting in the death or euthanasia of… Continue Reading
More on H7H2 influenza in cats (and now a person)
Posted in CatsA press release by the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has provided some interesting new information about the recent H7N2 influenza outbreak in cats. This avian influenza strain is causing an ongoing outbreak in cats in shelters in New York, and human surveillance has been underway. Three-hundred fifty (350) people have been screened… Continue Reading