Animals as therapy: meerkats cheer up kids at children's hospital

Phil sleeps next to his Valentine's day kewpie doll.

On Valentine's day this year, I scored nothing - but Phil got a bear kewpie doll from an admirer! 

In other news, I was totally unaware, until a family member who is studying health sciences informed me, that the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne includes an open-air meerkat enclosure to cheer up kids.

It was created in conjunction with Zoos Victoria and supported by the Hugh Williamson Foundation.

I love the idea of a hospital committed to looking after the wellbeing of patients - both human and animal. I wonder if we'll ever see multi-species hospitals?

You can watch a brief video by visiting this link.

How to care for reptiles and amphibians - and links

Some of Jane's offspring, just born.

Happy Valentine's Day, SAT readers. We'd love to hear about any Valentine's Day activities you have planned with your pet! 

SAT readers are familiar with Jane Doe, the pink-tongued skink. Jane suffered a dog attack which caused her gravid uterus to herniate, necessitating a caesarian. 

Well, you will be pleased to know that Jane’s experience – and that of other unwell reptiles and amphibians – is being used to educate others.

Robert Johnson, who performed the multi-life-saving surgery at South Penrith Veterinary Clinic, has just co-authored a fantastic book with fellow exotics veterinarian Dr Brendan Carmel. Photos of Jane and her offspring are included.

“A Guide to…Health &Disease in Reptiles and Amphibians”, by Reptile publications, is a stunning book for anyone who keeps or treats reptiles and amphibians in Australia.

It covers all the basics – from pre-purchase examination to anatomy and husbandry – as well as discussing normal structure and function (as any pathologist will tell you, you need to know the normal to recognise the abnormal). The book documents diseases by species, and offers differentials for different signs in a disease checklist.

It is beautifully illustrated with great photos, as well as original drawings and cartoons by Dr Johnson.

The book contains up to date information, for example info on Sunshine virus – a new paramyxovirus – and detailed, practical tips like how to source and set up appropriate UV lighting for your enclosure.

MEET THE AUTHOR (AT LEAST ONE OF THEM!): DR JOHNSON WILL BE ATTENDING THE SYDNEY REPTILE EXPO AT CASTLE HILL THIS WEEKEND, AND SIGNING COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM 11-1PM. FOR MORE INFO CHECK OUT THE SYDNEY REPTILE EXPO FACEBOOK PAGE HERE.

For those keen on learning all they can about reptiles, you might want to sign up for the 2014 Reptile Education Convention (Reptecon). Download the brochure here - some of Australia's best reptile vets and herpetologists will be there and willing to answer questions.

Baby bluetongues. They rival mammals in terms of their cuteness! But they do require proper husbandry.

Links

I'm loving the links that SAT readers are sending through, so thought I'd share a few with you.

Veterinary educator, blogger and 2014 AVA Annual Conference speaker Rebekah Brown wrote this post about diagnostic biases.

Would you use this technology on your dog? I trust my observations, but would this help some dogs?

If you’re looking for the perfect Valentine’s gift to spruce up the home of the object of your affection, you might consider a life-sized model of their favourite bird or mammal. This is the kind of purchase that suits one who wishes to make a grand gesture, but you might want to measure the dimensions of its ultimate destination first.  

Canberra’s National Zoo and Aquarium is putting meerkats to work to raise funds for conservation by painting. Some very cute footage here but I am feeling that the paint is not the focus of their interest.

The Esther Honey Foundation has made a huge impact on the welfare of animals in the Cook Islands, particularly the main island of Rarotonga. It takes time for animal health programs to work, a flying visit every few years doesn't quite cut the mustard...digging in and working with the community does. In a Cook Island News report by Ben Chapman-Smith, one tourist stated:

“I had visited in the late 1970s and was quite appalled at the state of many of the animals in Rarotonga - so was thrilled to see such a mostly happy, healthy and de-sexed bunch of animals." 

Well done, EHF! 

Age of feline registration will be reduced to four months under new recommendation

Kittens are cute...but far too many end up homeless.

Late last year SAT ran a post revealing the shocking truth about sex and cats - namely, they do it, they start young, and our misconceptions about their conceptions are contributing to feline over-population.

Change is afoot, in New South Wales at least. The Government will act on a number of recommendations of the Companion Animals Taskforce, including that the Companion Animals Regulation be amended to require a cat to be registered from four months of age.

Kristina Vesk, CEO of the Cat Protection Society of NSW, is one of many people who are over the moon about these changes. CPS pushed strongly for this change. We asked her what this all means.

I nearly cried with happiness when I found out the NSW Government agreed to the Taskforce’s recommendation that cats be registered from four months rather than the present six months. This change is going to be profound for feline welfare in NSW. We were passionate in proposing this change – cats are not dogs, and both male and female cats can be safely desexed from about two months of age. There is a very significant discount for registration of desexed animal; currently $49 to register a desexed cat or dog ($19 for a cat or dog owned by an eligible pensioner) versus $182 for an undesexed animal. This incentive clearly works as some 98 per cent of registered cats are desexed. However, the existing six-month registration age for cats is wrongly associated with a view that cats should not be, or need not be, desexed until that age.
 There is low awareness in the community that cats as young as four months can become pregnant. We know – we deal with the very surprised human clients who find their kitten has had kittens. While many unplanned litters are surrendered to pounds and shelters, others are abandoned or given away ‘free to good home’ and this just further contributes to unplanned feline population growth. Also, the behaviours associated with sexual maturity such as spraying, wandering and aggression are frequent causes for surrender or abandonment of owned cats. The simple act of earlier age desexing in cats will not only prevent unwanted litters but will improve the human-feline bond, increasing the likelihood of people keeping their cats. And of course, there are the health benefits for the desexed cats. Making four months the legal age for registration of cats sets a community standard that all cats should be desexed by that age. That’s a huge leap forward for feline welfare. The decision will be effected with an amendment to the Companion Animals Regulation but the Register itself needs to be redesigned to accommodate this and other changes. The date of effect will depend on the review of the Register so we’re not sure exactly when it will happen but in the meantime we have an opportunity to educate pet owners and vets about the change.

If you're concerned about feline overpopulation, another fantastic way to contribute (apart from early desexing) is by adopting an older cat. A lot of cats are given up, often when the owner must go into a nursing home or hospital. I met a client last week who generously adopted a 14 year old cat because the owner, who has gone into a high-dependency home, cannot care for her anymore. What a great thing to do!

On an unrelated note, I couldn't resist sharing this clip of a dolphin requesting assistance from a diver. (If you can't view this on your device, check here).What an honour.

Autologous vaccines for treatment of cancer in dogs - and guinea pig update

Dr Weir's pomeranian Tex hangs twenty on a surfboard at home. As you do.

UPDATE: Chris and his team have just published an article on the use of streptavidin as a novel immunostimulant for delivery of autologous vaccines in Cancer Immunology Research. See here.

Immunotherapy is a hot area of oncology research, but it isn't easy to get one's head around. As SAT readers will know we're undertaking an oncology distance education program this year, and so far a structured investigation into the literature on cancer in companion animals has been mind-blowing.

Tumour cells survive in part by evading the immune system, so turning the immune system against tumours makes intuitive sense. Of course, tumours are heterogenous, complex structures and there is no magic bullet. They can maniupulate the immune system and use things like inflammation to their advantage. However, canine trials of autologous vaccines are promising.

WARNING: There is a surgical image in this post of a spleen. The patient is anaesthetised and the spleen was removed without complications, and the patient made a full recovery. Spleens look like big purple things and in the scheme of things they aren't all all disgusting, but some readers might want to scroll down with care.

Dr Christopher Weir, at the Bill Walsh Translational Cancer Research Laboratory at Sydney’s Kolling Institute, has been involved in the development of vaccines which have the potential to improve life expectancy of both human and animal patients with cancer.

He uses cells from the dog's own tumour as source material to create an individualised vaccine. In preliminary trials the vaccines have successfully slowed the growth of tumours, reduced the incidence of new tumour formation and prolonged the lives of canine patients, some of whom were diagnosed with advanced cancer. SAT had the opportunity to ask Dr Weir some questions about his research.

How did you get involved?

It started about eight or nine years ago. My then boss Professor Ross Davey was interested in targeting vasculature proteins of tumours with either drugs or monoclonal antibodies carrying drugs. We had developed a method where we could isolate proteins from the vasculature of tumours, and spent about a year trying to make antibodies against these proteins.

It dawned on me that we could see if they would work in a vaccine scenario. We started with pretty crude vaccines around four to five years ago that didn’t work initially. Since then we’ve done a lot of work to improve and then fine-tune them.

How do vaccines work against cancer?

We aim to get as much of the tumour as we can, and we mash it up, using soluble proteins in a special buffer. We slightly modify the tumour proteins and link these to a bacterial protein, which acts like a stimulant and attracts T-cells. Our understanding is that because the tumour cells are linked to a stimulant, the immune system processes and recognises them as foreign, then goes back in and attacks the residual tumour.

But the sample needs to be large?

Where we only have a biopsy sample it doesn’t work as well. We think that you need to disrupt the tumour significantly because it is a closed off environment. The immune system gets in there but its effects appear to be short-lived. If you get a nice chunk and disrupt the tumour, and then vaccinate, the immune system has a bit of an advantage. We’ve made vaccines for dogs with really advanced cancer, and their vets have done some pretty amazing surgery to get a good part of that tumour out.

Splenic mass being removed via an emergency splenectomy. (NB this mass turned out to be a haematoma, not a tumour, but one needs histopathology to differentiate).

How long does it take to make the vaccine?

Dependant upon when the sample is received, the vaccine should be ready for injection at the vet by suture removal. The tissue needs to be fresh or frozen – you can’t have formalin near it.

How many vaccines does a dog need?

Two shots, three weeks apart.

Would autologous vaccines work against some cancers better than others?

It seems so, although it may be too early to tell. For the safety trial we have taken on almost any patient whose owners are willing to enrol them in the study. One type of cancer the vaccines work particularly well on is osteosarcoma. The average survival time with amputation and chemotherapy is around 9-12 months. We’ve treated three dogs with vaccines, and two lived beyond two years. The third had metastatic disease and lived for nine months.

Are you still accepting animals into the trial?

We have limited places left in the safety trial and we only have Animal Ethics approval for cases in NSW, Queensland or Victoria. As a part of this trial the Bill Walsh Cancer Research Laboratories have made the vaccines for free but we do require the tumour to have histopathology done on it to be correctly identified and graded, and be able to track the dog’s progress.

RegeneusLtd have the rights to commercialise the vaccine and next year we will perform a controlled study on the use of the vaccine in dogs with osteosarcoma in the US.

What about cats?

We haven’t yet obtained ethics approval to recruit cats.

Dr Weir will be talking at the 2014 Annual AVA Conference in Perth. For more info visit the conference website here.

Meanwhile, about those guinea pigs...

I've had a lot of queries about the wellbeing of Osler and Cushing, the guinea pigs born on Saturday. I can report that they continue to be the cutest critters on the planet, they're healthy, and that Cornflake really is the most wonderful mother. If you have the opportunity, now is the time to buy shares in Basil, bok choy, parsley and every other vegetable that I am spending a fortune on. Cornflake is making up for all the calories she pumped into those babies!!! 

Cushing and Osler are held while their Orchard grass is freshened up. 

Five minutes with Trudi McAlees, emergency veterinarian - and a word on shark culling

Cats with breathing difficulties (dyspnoea) are very challenging to manage. This cat has metastatic mammary adenocarcinoma with cavitated pulmonary lesions and a pleural effusion.

Today's post contains a great interview with an emergency vet and a link to a thought-provoking piece on shark culling by expert Christopher Neff.

As a general practitioner I always admire that breed of vet who dedicates their career solely to emergencies. Yes, we all enjoy the challenge of an adrenalin rush, but I don't mind my adrenalin rushes being punctuated by vaccinations or non-eventful anal gland expression sessions. I am fascinated by those who do emergency work full time. Dr Trudi McAlees is a registered specialist in emergency and critical care at Animal Accident and Emergency Essendon and Point Cook.

When she's not tackling acute abdomens, trauma and intoxications, she undertakes research on topics as diverse as bacterial colonisation of IV catheters and the influence of the full moon on the number of accessions to emergency clinics.

She's a straight-shooting, right-to-the-point, problem solving machine. SAT was lucky enough to e-interview her ahead of her appearance at the Centre for Veterinary Education's emegency conference in February (visit here for more info).

What sparked your interest in emergency medicine?

My first job was in a small country town in NZ with lots of working and hunting dogs. They have the best trauma. 

What are the most challenging emergencies you deal with?

Dyspnoeic cats. 

How do you keep current in your field?

Teaching - you have to know it before you can teach it - and if you don't, someone will always ask you a tricky question.

What crash cart item would you never be without?

A knowledgeable emergency nurse!

Can you share any tips for dealing with emergencies? 

Try to keep your heart rate lower than that of the patient. 

What was your most adrenalin fuelled emergency moment?

My first GDV - on my own with the practice nurse, 3 months after graduating. The dog arrested, we got him back and he went on to have a long and happy working life. 

How do you wind down?

Relaxing at home with my dogs, or going for a ride on my horse. 

Shark culling

A lego shark at Sydney Aquarium.

Swimming in the ocean is a risky business, for humans and sharks alike.

Sharks and protestors alike have been copping flak from the media and the West Australian Government in the wake of its controversial shark-culling policy. But Christopher Neff, lecturer at Sydney University's Department of Government and International Relations, argues, sharkbites are not governable events - yet policymakers are being lost in a no-win blamefest. He offers some sensible suggestions here.

Baby guinea pigs!

Minutes old - Cornflake with her babies just minutes after giving birth.

NEWSFLASH! Tonight Professor Thomas Hartung will be kicking off a national lecture tour on animals in toxicology testing.

For those interested, the first lecture is at the University of Sydney tonight:

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 even 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? Over the last two decades a biotech revolution has taken place. Exciting technical advances underlie the next generation of safety tests. The 2014 public lecture series will challenge our basic assumptions of toxicity testing and explore how we can promote the uptake of non-animal methods.

For more information, visit here.

On a mildly unrelated note [remember that guinea pigs are used in medical research, so frequently that the term "guinea pig" is used to refer to anyone subject to an experiment, whatever species they are. For example, "I can't come over tonight, I'm being a guinea pig for Sarah's psych assignment questionnaire"], SAT has important guinea pig news to report.

This weekend saw the happy conclusion of Cornflake's tense pregnancy (when I say tense, I mean tense for me as I've been primed for a caesarean all week thanks to the enormous appearance of the foetal skeletons on a radiograph taken seven days ago).

 

On Saturday when I got home from work the formerly expectant mum was gently teasing the afterbirth off a tiny body with flaccid legs like she'd done it ten thousand times. No antenatal classes. No pre-packed hospital bag of necessities. No attacks of the 50 foot hormones (although that is a very fine resource for gravid homo-sapiens). 

 

Within ten minutes of arriving, those flaccid legs had adapted to gravity and were transporting a baby guinea pig through a maze of orchard glass. Within three hours they could run.

 

The amazing thing about baby guinea pigs is this: they look like miniature pigs, just smaller. In fact, they look like a guinea pig head with feet on the back and not much in the middle.

During the week I had partitioned the enclosure so that Randy and Cornflake could be in visual, olfactory and auditory contact without their nether regions mingling. The plan was to avoid a post-partum shag-fest. As it happened, Randy had jumped the barrier. As soon as the bubs could walk, minutes after poor little Cornflake's incredible efforts, he made an intimate attempt (not surprising given his name, but his libido had been repressed prior to the series of events leading to this pregnancy). Fortunately I saw it all unfold before my eyes, and was able to intervene before his undercarriage made contact. He is now living in an enclosure next door and will do so until the babies are four weeks old.

The kids, meantime, needed names. This is a challenging task, but I am of the school of thought that whatever comes into one's head first is probably the best choice. Meet Osler and Cushing, named after two of my favourite medical heroes. Each weighed a healthy 110 grams when born.



Cornflake (rear) watches over Osler (far left) and Cushing (right), just three hours after giving birth.

Little Cushing in focus as he explores his new surroundings (hopefully he won't be as temperamental as his namesake).

Osler peers out from a cardboard box.

In all likelihood, Osler and Cushing will live out their days at SAT headquarters, although which enclosure they will be kept in will be determined by their sex (yet to be assessed...just letting them get used to the world a little more).