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
Raw Pet Food & Pathogens: UK Surveillance
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
(Inadequate) Rabies Titres in Imported Dogs
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
Human Intestinal Infection With Canine Hookworm
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
IMRAB 3 TF Canine/Feline/Ferret Rabies Vaccine Recall
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
Infection Control for Alveolar Echinococcosis in Dogs
I periodically get calls from concerned veterinarians (none recently from Ontario, thankfully) along the lines of “We did surgery on a dog with a liver mass that was diagnosed as Echinococcus multilocularis (EM). What is the risk to the staff and what do we do to decontaminate the clinic?”
Depending on how well
Rabies Treatment: Demise of the Milwaukee Protocol
We call rabies “almost invariably fatal” in people. Rabies kills an estimated 50,000 people a year globally, mostly in Africa and Asia. Even with very intensive care, the prognosis is grave. Only a very small number of people have survived rabies: there are approximately 34 documented cases of survival, but an even smaller number
Rabies Vaccines in Dogs and Cats: At What Age Should We Start?
When I was in general practice, we gave puppies and kittens their first rabies vaccine at 16 weeks of age. I didn’t ask why, it’s just what the clinic did, so as a new grad, that’s what I did. This practice is (unfortunately) still common in a lot of clinics; however, all rabies vaccines approved
H5N1 Influenza at an Animal Sanctuary, British Columbia
Hot on the heels of the H5N1 influenza in ostriches debacle in BC comes a reported outbreak of H5N1 influenza at an animal sanctuary in the same province. The sanctuary (Critteraid Animal Sanctuary) is not one I’ve ever heard of before, but based on their website, it looks like a good operation
H5N1 Influenza and Ostriches: Final Thoughts
As the H5N1 influenza debacle at the Universal Ostrich Farm in British Columbia finally comes to a close, part of me wants to ignore all the crap that’s coming in, but there’s value in recapping this incident in an effort to help move us forward.
Recap: A large flock of captive ostriches was found