VETERINARY MEDICINE: Dilated Cardiomyopathy in Dogs (DCM).

VETERINARY MEDICINE: Dilated Cardiomyopathy in Dogs (DCM). Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) is one of the most common acquired heart diseases in dogs. This disease is rarely diagnosed in cats or small-breed dogs; however, it is a common cause of heart disease in large and giant breed dogs, and usually occurs more in those that are middle- to older-aged. DCM is a condition where the heart muscle (myocardium) loses its ability contract normally and as effectively . Although DCM can affect both sides of the heart simultaneously or separately, myocardial failure of the left side is most common. Since the heart muscle cannot work as efficiently to pump blood out of the heart, blood backs up within the heart chambers and the heart enlarges in size. If pressures on the left side of the heart become significantly high as a result of increased blood volume, left-sided congestive heart failure or pulmonary edema (fluid within the lungs) can result. Although less common, myocardial failure of the right side of the heart can also occur. Similar volume overload of the right heart may result in right-sided congestive heart failure, often resulting in excessive free-fluid in the abdomen (ascites) and/or chest (pleural effusion). A familial or genetic component is believed to exist in the majority of cases. This is because of the prevalence of the disease in specific breeds such as the Doberman Pinscher, Great Dane and Boxer. The signs of DCM vary depending on the breed of dog and stage of the disease. Loss of appetite, pale gums, increased heart rate, coughing, difficulty breathing, periods of weakness, and fainting are signs commonly seen. Since blood (plasma) is being backed up into the lungs, respiratory signs are usually due to pulmonary edema and/or heart enlargement. Blood returning to the right side of the heart from the body may also back up leading to fluid accumulation in the abdomen (ascites) or in the chest cavity (pleural effusion). Weakness or collapse may be caused by abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias) and poor distribution of blood (depressed cardiac output). Treatment is tailored based on clinical presentation of each individual patient.

VETERINARY MEDICINE: New method to treat life-threatening heart arrhythmias in dogs.

VETERINARY MEDICINE: New method to treat life-threatening heart arrhythmias in dogs. Morris Animal Foundation-funded researchers have developed a new treatment for dogs with a rare, but life-threatening, arrhythmia caused by atrioventricular accessory pathways (APs). The minimally invasive technique, which uses radiofrequencies, is modified from a human cardiology procedure and has a more than 95 percent success rate in treating dogs with this type of arrhythmia. Arrhythmias are abnormal heart rhythms. Some arrhythmias are normal variants (such as the respiratory sinus arrhythmia in dogs). Dangerous arrhythmias are those that result in clinical signs and/or put the animal risk of sudden cardiac death. Cardiac causes of arrhythmias include: Heart muscle disease (such as dilated cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy), congenital heart defects (especially subaortic stenosis), severe valve leakage and enlargement of the cardiac chambers (chronic degenerative mitral valve disease), myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle), trauma to the heart muscle (animal being hit by a car), age-related changes, and infiltration of the heart muscle (inflammatory cells or cancer cells) VETERINARY MEDICINE: New method to treat life-threatening heart arrhythmias in dogs. Non-cardiac causes of arrhythmias include: Gastric dilation and volvulus (stomach turns and flips on itself), inflammation of the pancreas, low blood magnesium, severe anemia; diseases of the spleen, liver or GI tract; neurologic disease (i.e. brain tumors); endocrine disease (i.e., of the thyroid gland, adrenal glands); muscular dystrophy, anesthetic agents, medications, toxins (i.e., chocolate intoxication). Symptoms of an arrhythmia include: Weakness, collapse, exercise intolerance, fainting, fluid accumulation in the abdomen, in the lungs or around the lungs (congestive heart failure), or even sudden cardiac death. However, it is not uncommon for dogs and cats to appear outwardly normal (no clinical signs) despite having a cardiac arrhythmia. The prognosis is highly variable depending on what type of arrhythmia is present and if there is a non-cardiac (treatable) cause versus underlying severe heart disease (i.e., dilated cardiomyopathy in Doberman Pinschers).

AGRIBUSINESS: Cassava high in iron and zinc could improve diets and health in west Africa.

AGRIBUSINESS: Cassava high in iron and zinc could improve diets and health in west Africa. A new study shows that field-grown cassava plants over expressing a combination of plant genes can accumulate significantly higher concentrations of iron and zinc. 

 The "hidden hunger" caused by micro nutrient deficiency is a global threat to human health, with particularly severe impacts in Africa. 

In Nigeria, 75 percent of preschool children and 67 percent of pregnant women are anemic, and 20 percent of children below five years suffer from zinc deficiency. Iron deficiency anemia affects the immune system, stunts growth and impairs cognitive development in children, while deficiency in zinc causes increased risk of death from diarrhea, stunting and reduced cognitive development. 

Developing new varieties of a staple food crop with elevated levels of these two minerals could significantly improve diets and health. The elevated mineral levels of the 'bio fortified' cassava storage roots are retained after processing into common foodstuffs and are nutritionally available at levels that could have a significant impact on the health of cassava-consuming populations in West Africa.

AGRIBUSINESS: Pesticides blamed for rise in colon cancer deaths.

AGRIBUSINESS: Pesticides blamed for rise in colon cancer deaths.The use of pesticides has been linked to a sharp rise in colon cancer deaths in a developing country for the first time. Colon cancer is the third most common type of cancer worldwide, accounting for about 10 per cent of all cases. It is more common in developed nations, but a few countries in Latin America, including Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay are now approaching the levels of incidence seen in the developed world. Now a team of researchers from Brazil, Germany, and the United Kingdom have mapped the use of pesticides across Brazil between 2000 and 2012. They then compared this to the number of deaths from colon cancer during the same period. They observed an overall increase of colon cancer, which was correlated with the amount of pesticides sold and used in the country. Analyzing data published by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, the researchers found that in 2000, just over 162 million tons of pesticides were sold in Brazil. By 2012, sales had jumped to roughly 476 million tons. Over the same period, data gathered by the Brazilian ministry of health indicates that the number of deaths caused by colon cancer had gone up from 946,686 to more than a million, despite progress in cancer detection and treatment. The researchers behind the study said that pesticides applied to Brazilian crops are contaminating food and water consumed by both people livestock.

Veterinary Medicine: How to feed a cat: Consensus statement to the veterinary community.

Veterinary Medicine: How to feed a cat: Consensus statement to the veterinary community.The American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) released the AAFP Consensus Statement, "Feline Feeding Programs: Addressing Behavioral Needs to Improve Feline Health and Wellbeing" and accompanying client brochure to the veterinary community. The Consensus Statement, published in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, explores the medical, social, and emotional problems that can result from the manner in which most cats are currently fed. This statement focuses on "how to feed" because an often-overlooked aspect of feline health is how cats are fed. This Consensus Statement identifies normal feeding behaviors in cats. It provides strategies to allow these normal feline feeding behaviors, such as hunting and foraging, and eating frequent small meals in a solitary fashion, to occur in the home environment -- even in a multi-pet home. Allowing cats to exhibit these normal feeding behaviors regularly, can help alleviate or prevent stress-related issues such as cystitis, and/or obesity-related problems such as inactivity and overeating. Reducing stress with appropriate feeding programs can also help anxious cats, who in an attempt to avoid other pets in the household, may not access the food frequently enough and lose weight. Currently, most pet cats are fed in one location ad libitum, or receive one or two large and usually quite palatable meals daily. In addition, many indoor cats have little environmental stimulation, and eating can become an activity in and of itself as this current type of feeding process does not address the behavioral needs of cats.Appropriate feeding programs need to be customized for each household, and should incorporate the needs of all cats for play, predation, and a location to eat and drink where they feel safe. The Consensus Statement also highlights the importance of feeding programs, which should be designed to consider whether they are indoor-only or have outdoor access, live in multi-pet households, or are aged or debilitated.These feeding programs in many cases include offering frequent small meals using appropriate puzzle feeders, forage feeding (putting food in different locations), multiple food and water stations, and in some instances, automatic feeders.

How to protect a pig farm from African Swine Fever.(ASF).

 How to protect a pig farm from African Swine Fever.(ASF).


ASF is all about contact ASF is spread by contact. Far less by the pig breathing the virus in as in Classical Swine Fever, so it should be easier to prevent and control.

 Think ‘contact’ in everything you plan to do and subsequently carry out on the premises. The contact is not just pig to pig, but what we humans do by allowing the ASF virus in through contact on the clothing equipment, vehicles, food deliveries, breeding stock and every other visit by an ‘outsider’ to or into your vulnerable farm premises.

 1) Keep everybody off your farm You will need discipline and tact to do this effectively. Quite brutally, you do not know where they have been! So do not risk it. The only permissible person as routine is the pig veterinarian and of all people he should take the necessary precautions.

Even so, do not allow his vehicle on to the farm. Have a parking spot outside the perimeter and if necessary, help carry his equipment in for him.

 There will be skilled artisans of course, electricity, roofing, plumbing, etc. who will need access. Keep their vehicles off the farm too and make it clear beforehand (for the sake of good relations) that they will have to use farm overalls and footwear and need their equipment mist-sprayed.

 2)An unbreakable farm perimeter defense. For the delivery of replacement stock (semen is safer than live pigs) and the collection of finished pigs, have designated areas on or just outside the farm perimeter.

On no account allow ‘helpful’ drivers (offering to assist with the loading) on to the premises. The same with bulk or bagged food and supplies.

 As soon as you can, set up food reception bulk bins using your own inlet hoses, not theirs; a covered site for bags and other bulky deliveries. All 3 on the farm boundary, for later inward transmission by your own staff, never theirs.

Agribusiness:How to get small piglets to eat more feed.

Agribusiness:How to get small piglets to eat more feed.What influences feed intake of small piglets? Researchers from the Netherlands looked at the effects on feed intake and feeding behaviour of many aspects of feed in more detail. The scientists, attached to Wageningen University and Research, published about the research in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science. They describe a trial that tested the feeding behaviour of suckling piglets when different diets were supplied to them. The hypothesis of the study was that presentation of the feed in a more diverse form, by varying multiple sensory properties of the feed, stimulates pre-weaning feed intake. Stimulating solid feed intake in suckling piglets is important to facilitate the weaning transition, exemplified by the positive correlation between pre- and post-weaning feed intake. 2 different diets tested by piglets Piglets received ad libitum feed from 2 days of age in 2 feeders per pen (choice feeding set-up).Feed A was an experimental diet from the university’s Animal Nutrition Group. Extruder settings intendedly varied during production, resulting in differences in pellet texture, length and hardness to create diversity within feed A. Feed B is a commercial diet, called Baby Big XL, from Coppens Diervoeding in the Netherlands. Feed B was a 14-mm diameter pellet, with a length of 10-20 mm and a hardness of 6.8 kg.Feeding behaviour was studied by weighing feed remains and by live observations. Observations were also used to discriminate ‘eaters’ from ‘non-eaters’. In addition, eaters were grouped into different eater classes (i.e. good, moderate and bad). Provision of feed A and B increased pre-weaning feed intake by 50% compared to provision of feed A only (with and without additional flavours). Piglets receiving feed A and B had no overall preference in terms of feed intake for either feed A or B, indicating pre-weaning feed intake increased by an enhanced intake of both feeds. These results supported the researchers’ hypothesis that the more diverse the feeds provided in terms of sensory properties (e.g. ingredient composition, texture), the greater the intake will be. The reason for this is expected to be sensory-specific satiety and/or piglets’ intrinsic motivation to explore.