Vet authors

This juvenile bluetongue was attacked by a dog. Summer is peak basking time so check your garden for these critters. When left alone they are harmless. If you do have to pick up an injured bluetongue, use a towel as they can deliver a nasty nip (they're only trying to protect themselves).

Summer is always hectic in vetland and this week has been no exception...so today SAT is leaving you with a quote from veterinarian and author Dr Nick Trout about being a vet.

Nobody ever suggests that what I do for a living is boring. They might say “gross” or, occasionally, “wicked awesome” and I’ve certainly witnessed some facial expressions ranging from respect to sympathy to dismay, but no one, to my knowledge, has ever labelled by career choice as boring. Unpredictable would be my one-word synopsis because implicit in this adjective is the certainty of surprise. No amount of training will ever fully prepare you. Education may teach you the science but you have to live this job to discover the art. (Love is the Best Medicine, Sphere 2010, p55).

If you aren't familiar with Dr Trout's work, it is worth having a look at Tell Me Where It Hurts. 

We'd love to hear about your favourite veterinary authors and books, so drop us a line.

Fleas are more than a nuisance

"Protection against ectoparasites has never been so important, not only to prevent disease in the dogs themselves but also to reduce the risk of zoonotic disease" - Peter Irwin.

So last night I came home, and my cat Michael made a cry of distress. As I raced over to her she made an impression of a volcano about to erupt, the one that cats do just before they throw up. Those vital seconds that tell you GRAB THE PAPER TOWELS!!!!!!!!!!! Alas I was too slow. She expelled a 15cm x 2cm sausage of fur ball and her dinner.

While Mike is on flea control, as are all members of my household, this time in summer is the hardest to control fleas as populations peak. So she had been bothered by some fleas, overgroomed herself and produced a fur ball. 

My point is that fleas are a pain in a million ways - not just because they bite, but because they trigger a series of unfortunate events that results in fur balls, skin conditions, sleepless nights and behaviour changes.

But there are other reasons to resent fleas. 

Murdoch University specialist Peter Irwin has just written an excellent review on canine vector-borne diseases, and says we need to appreciate that "fleas are more than simply a nuisance". (It isn't just about fleas to be fair - ticks, sand-flies, mosquitos and flies can also transmit significant diseases to dogs and people).

They're estimated to be a factor in over 50 per cent of small animal dermatology cases, a figure that is certainly borne out in my experience.

But they can also transmit diseases such as bartonella and rickettsial diseases (especially Rickettsia typhi and Rickettsia felis) to humans. Bartonella is famous as the agent behind "cat scratch disease", but you don't have to be scratched by a cat to acquire it. A flea bite can transmit it.

This shouldn't come as a surprise - it wasn't so long ago that millions of people were exposed to Yersinia pestis (aka the plague) from fleas - and in some parts of the world still are.

Fleas also spread tapeworm (Diplidium caninum) and no one wants that.

The message is that good flea control is important for human and animal health. So how does one achieve it? It isn't always easy.

Scratching all day is not normal. Check your pet very carefully for fleas and yes, they are really hard to see. Example: I've combed Phil, a WHITE, SMALL dog, for ten minutes and seen nothing. Five minutes into a bath I've managed to catch a flea on him - after chasing it through his coat with a comb.

• Treat ALL animals in the household with species-appropriate products (i.e. do NOT use permethrin containing products on cats; do not use fipronil containing products on rabbits; use the RIGHT DOSE at the right frequency.
• It may be worth rotating products, but if you do so remember to choose something that provides cover against heartworm if you use a spot-on as your main heartworm control.
• Wash all bedding, blankets and toys.
• Wash your pet. NB I won't wash my cats alone. Its more effective to have them groomed professionally with the benefit of sedation, and safer for all involved. But wash your dog. And you may have to do it more than once.
• Treat the environment. The eggs and larvae live off the host, and love hiding under your furniture, between floorboard cracks etc. Vacuum like a demon regularly (when fleas are bad, daily) and change the filter or bag each time.
• If you do flea bomb the place be prepared - not all life stages of the flea will be equally or effectively annilhilated in most cases. So do all of the above anyway.
• Talk to your vet about off-label dosing with flea products (your vet may recommend temporarily increasing the frequency of flea treatment).

To be very clear, this is not a sponsored post and I am not into over-selling flea products. I think they need to be used carefully in a whole program of flea control including environmental control, and I don't think any are perfect.

Some clients argue that flea treatments use chemicals and aren't natural. I get it, and I do appreciate this point of view. No one wants to give their pet any treatment that they don't need, me included. My response is that fleas, natural as they are, are not a benign entity and I personally would rather use flea treatment on pets than have them suffering with flea infestation that will only escalate. And suffer they do when they have fleas.

What lots of people don't realise is how fleas can impact their own health. So there's another reason to get rid of them.

Reference:

Irwin PJ (2013) It shouldn't happen to a dog...or a veterinarian: clinical paradigms for canine vector-borne diseases. Trends in Parasitology 1249.

Is nature important to you, alternatives to animal testing and dog bites in the US

White's Creek Wetland in Annandale. You can see turtles, a variety of birds and native plants here. It is a little oasis smack-bang in the midst of suburbia.

Here at SAT we're all for a bit of research, especially the non-invasive kind. PhD candidate Lucy Taylor is looking at whether nature impacts the wellbeing of urban residents. 

She writes:

I’m sure many of you would be familiar with the supporting research. For example, green space has been found to influence mental health and life satisfaction with exposure to vegetation being associated with improved mood and cognition. Spending time in natural spaces helps us recover from stress and can provide an inoculation effect against daily stressful events. While mental health is important, research suggests that our physical health is impacted by the presence of green space as well. Vegetated areas can mitigate extreme temperatures in urban environments, protecting vulnerable members of the population from heat waves or cold snaps. Encouraging physical activity via a walk through the park, particularly in areas with lower socio-economic residents, can help to mitigate cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death worldwide. And with pollution now found to be a leading cause of cancer, so the mitigating effects of green spaces become critical in cities and industrial areas. In addition, there is research on the benefits of ‘green exercise’, our relationships with companion animals, and even the presence of indoor plants.

 

Nature can impact our wellbeing anywhere, but because residents of cities make up more than half of the world’s population, and because cities are some of the most degraded environments on earth, the risks to urban residents’ health are particularly numerous. I will be comparing the survey results with biodiversity indicator information and census data for each city using GIS using a comparative ecology of cities. My study sites are Sydney and Melbourne (Australia), and Auckland and Wellington (New Zealand).

To participate in Lucy's research, visit her site www.whoneedsnature.com and complete the survey (it should take 10-15 minutes, and its not painful at all - it asks questions about how interact with and value nature, what you know about nature, whether you live with companion animals and which species, how you rate your wellbeing and a few very general and non personal demographic style questions. 

A moment with nature at Bondi Beach, Sydney.

You can also volunteer to be part of a focus group, held in Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland or Wellington, in September-November this year.

Animal testing

Every year, about $3 billion is spent worldwide on animal tests to ensure the safety of consumer products - including drugs, chemicals, food and cosmetics. While pesticides and drugs are extensively tested, food additives are mostly not, and the testing of cosmetics is banned in some parts of the world. But what are these animal tests worth when a common, relatively safe drug like aspirin fails most of them?

Good question.

Professor Thomas Hartung, Director of the Centre for Alternatives for Animal Testing, will be giving a public lecture at the University of Sydney on Monday February 10 from 5.30-7.30pm. For more info or to register visit here.

Dog bites

Uluru, the site of this country's most famous (and controversial) dog attacks. 

Having been at the site of one of Australia's most famous dog attacks recently, I was very interested to read this piece on Scott Weese's Worms and Germs blog on dog bites in the US. It is based on Gary Patronek et al's Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association paper which looked at 256 dog bite fatalities in the US from 2000-2009.

Warning sign for visitors arriving at the Ayers Rock (Uluru) Resort airport.

In some situations attacks came out of the blue, but some factors may have prevented attacks including supervision of kids around dogs, desexing and addressing (rather than burying one's head in the sand about) previous aggressive behaviour.

Continuuing education in 2014

Companion animals. There is always more to learn.

We're now well into 2014 (getting there) and I've already had an email from the Centre for Veterinary Education preparing me for the arrival of my notes for the distance education program in medical oncology (if you're thinking about a distance ed program but haven't yet enrolled, its not yet too late). I am looking forward to learning how to better assist patients with cancer.

The NSW AVA division has released the program for its regional conference which this year is all about surgery. I'm very tempted by the program, see here.

Meanwhile the national AVA conference is in Perth from May 25-30. The program also looks excellent (more info here). The theme, "What's best practice", is an important one. In my view best practice is not a state one achieves but something we should all continually work towards. 

On another note, IVAS is running its acupuncture course again. Veterinary acupuncture is a wonderful modality and if I weren't focusing on oncology this year it is an area I'd been keen to explore. [Phil has had several acupuncture sessions and they really help with his little knees (he has bilaterally luxated patellas). When he gets a bit stiff he can't jump up the front step. He can jump up the front step after acupuncture sessions - without any concurrent treatment - and the effect seems to last a while.]

They are a bit tricky to see but the acupuncture needles (placed by trained veterinary acupuncturist Dr Jacqueline Norris) have blue tips on them. Phil, a needle-phobe, is quite relaxed.

The human animal bond gets weird

The problem with blogging from remote locations is a matter of signal. Apologies for the late post, but conditions were challenging:

Not...quite...enough...bars. ARGH!

However, back in civilisation I've been informed about a guy called Chris Naka, now a weblebrity (is that a word?) who has strangely reenacted a bunch of movie scenes with his boss's dog Wrigley.

I don't know, if I were Wrigley's owner I think I might be a bit jealous?

It started with that famous scene from Titanic, and escalated, with reenactments of that award-winning kiss from Spiderman, the dramatic lift in Dirty Dancing and even the bizarre pottery-wheel and clay scenario from Ghost.

Peering into the minds of dogs

Could it be anything else? The beautiful Sofi and her look of love.

What are dogs really feeling, or thinking, when they look at us with what we perceive is the look of love? Is it really reciprocal, or are they just reinforcing our feeding behaviour? Are we just recklessly anthropomorphising when we suggest that the bond between humans and dogs is two-way?

Neuroscientist Professor Gregory Berns used fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) to image the brains of dogs. The challenge is that to undergo an fMRI you need to be stock still. To perform an MRI in a dog, the animal is normally anaesthetised, but he managed to train some dogs to lie still enough to perform the test - a remarkable feat in itself.

His aim is to try to create a brain map and to compare human and dog perception to try to get a sense of our similar our thinking is.

Of course seeing bits of brain light up doesn’t mean we can read dog’s minds. But you can read more in his book How Dogs Love Us.

Or you can listen to a fantastic interview with the brilliant Natasha Mitchell on ABC here.

In other news, if I win lotto I am getting this chandelier installed.