Short Takes

Baycom Diagnostics, Inc. has developed a cost effective diagnostic kit for monitoring and testing feline and canine diabetes. Currently, veterinarians use hand held glucose meters to test cats and dogs for the potential of diabetes. These meters are a critical part of human diabetes management, yet often do not work well with small animals, are expensive and must be used several times a day. The companys president says veterinarians could administer Baycoms product in a simple, easy test once every 90 days to get an accurate measurement.

Legislation in California that seeks to mandate spay and neuter surgery for most cats and dogs has been placed on the suspense file pending further review. Senate Bill 250, introduced in February by Sen. Dean Florez, requires that dogs be spayed or neutered unless their owner gets an unaltered dog license. It also requires that roaming cats be spayed and neutered. The Senate Appropriations Committee analysis on SB 250 states that the bill has costs associated with it in the short term. As a result, it was placed on a list with other bills which have a fiscal impact on state and local governments. All bills placed on the suspense file are scheduled to be taken up together at a later date. Staff and lawmakers review all bills that are projected to cost more than $150,000, and then decide which bills will be released to the committee and voted on.

Canaries and cats have another thing in common - besides an aversion or appetite, respectively, for one another. Like the legendary canaries in the coalmines, cats can be "Sentinels for Public Health," the title of an article in Veterinary Clinics of North America (Vol. 39, Issue 2). The journal says "companion animals have an especially valuable role as sentinels because of their unique place in peoples lives, with exposure to similar household and recreational risk factors as those for the people who own them." For example, cats suffering plumbism (lead poisoning) "have led to the discovery and successful treatment of lead toxicity in children living in the same household," according to the journal. When chemicals leaked from a Georgia plant in 2006, public-health workers went door to door, asking if cats and dogs were suffering respiratory effects. And of course, cats and dogs were the first to be affected in 2007 by melamine-contaminated wheat gluten from China. The subsequent investigation stopped chicken and pork that had been fed contaminated gluten from reaching the human food supply.

What once was termed "renal failure" is now called feline chronic kidney disease (CKD), in part because the word "failure" sounded too terminal: Many cats live on for years (with treatment) with chronic kidney disease. One such survivor was the first ShortTakes office manager, the late, great Gertie. That stalwart kitty was diagnosed with renal failure in "middle age," around 11 years old. She hung on to see her 20th birthday - a little shaky toward the end - but mostly thriving with good "quality of life" thanks to expert veterinary care, therapeutic renal diets, blood pressure medicine for her hypertension, and plenty of fresh water for the thirst that goes along with kidney disease.

A study in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (Vol. 234, No. 2) found that some dietary supplements don’t dissolve fast enough to be absorbed by cats and dogs. The report was titled "Composition, disintegrative properties, and labeling compliance of commercially available taurine and carnitine dietary products" and said that two out of three (labeling and composition) were adequate. Researchers concluded: "Taurine and carnitine products evaluated in this study closely adhered to manufacturer claims and labeling guidelines. However, disintegration testing suggested high variability in some products, possibly limiting uptake and use by animals that receive them."

Here at ShortTakes office, we are on a healthcare honeymoon with Frannie, the feline "office manager" who is barely three years old. We are saving our worries (and money) for feline old age (the last ShortTakes muse, Gertie, lived to 21) when maladies like feline lower urinary tract disease (FLUTD) are likely to strike. Just in time to start to worry comes this report in Veterinary Clinics of North America (Vol. 39 Issue 1): "Changing Paradigms of Idiopathic Feline Cystitis." Cystitis is inflammation of the urinary bladder. Idiopathic means its cause is currently unknown. However, the stressors for cystitis have been identified. The report mentions "stressful events such as earthquakes, seasonal weather changes, moves to a new home, major holidays and diet changes." That settles it, Frannie. You cant move to California during the Santa Anna winds. Or Easter-Passover holidays, either.

When veterinarians ask, "How are things at home?" they probably dont want to hear about your mortgage, your migraines or Aunt Millie in the guestroom. They should be asking about "lifestyle" issues that might be affecting the health of your cat. Problem is, too few vets do, according to a report in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA Vol. 233, No. 10) about client-veterinarian communications. The study compared verbal interactions during well-pet visits - the once-a-year checkups (or twice-yearly visits for older cats) as opposed to vet appointments when a medical problem prompted a visit. Typically, as it turns out, well-pet visits include more verbal interaction with the pets, according to the report: Wellness appointments included "twice as much verbal interaction with the pet as did problem appointments, and the emotional atmosphere of wellness appointments was generally relaxed. There were more social talk, laughter, statements of reassurance and compliments directed toward the client and the pet." In contrast, during problem visits, 90 percent of the talk focused on what the report called "biomedical topics." And that is a problem, the JAVMA report concluded, because "veterinarians may neglect lifestyle and social concerns that could impact patient management and outcomes" when focusing on biomedical issues.

What a year it was for pet food recalls. Who would have thought, in January 2008, that by years end more than 100 brands of dry cat food and dog food from just one plant in Pennsylvania would be recalled - not for making pets sick, but for a possible link to human cases of infection with Salmonella enterica? So how can the average cat owner make sure not to miss an important food recall? One way is to periodically check the "Recalls & Safety Alerts" section of the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations Web site: www.fda.gov. While youre there, sign up for Email updates. Theres no telling what 2009 will bring.

A recent report in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association provided encouraging reassurance that lessons were learned from the tragic melamine contamination of pet food in 2007. Several of the investigators in the study "Clinicopathologic, histologic, and toxicologic findings in 70 cats inadvertently exposed to pet food contaminated with melamine and cyanuric acid" (JAVMA Vol. 233, No. 5) were from Cornell, where the New York State Animal Health Diagnostic Center did some of the groundwork that led to the largest recall of cat and dog food in U.S. history. The 70 cats in this study were not privately owned, nor were they laboratory cats that were deliberately fed suspect food to see if theyd get sick. Rather, they were 70 animals (from a licensed commercial cattery) that happened to be engaged in scientific diet-preference studies when the melamine contamination problem hit the national news. It was their good luck, however, to be where expert veterinary medical care was immediately at hand.

In a recent issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA Vol. 233, Number 4), the article, "Evaluation of inciting causes, alternative targets and risk factors associated with redirected aggression in cats," describes a typical case of redirected aggression like this: Your indoor cat is watching through the window. Along comes a neighborhood cat, which makes your cat really mad. Suddenly, your normally sweet pet attacks you instead. Redirected aggression is one of the most commonly reported problems to animal-behavior experts, who take the problem seriously: "Bites from aggressors are uninhibited, attacks are usually difficult to stop, and aggressors typically remain highly aroused long after the inciting event is over," according to the JAVMA report. Sometimes all it takes is a loud noise to trigger an episode of redirected (also called displaced) aggression. (For more information on cat fights, please see related article on page 3 of this issue.)

While the world holds its breath to see if the highly pathogenic avian flu virus H5N1 mutates enough to spread from person to person, German scientists wondered if the average house cat could have a role. An article in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery (Vol. 10 Issue 4: "Prevalence of influenza H5N1 virus in cats from areas with occurrence of highly pathogenic avian influenza in birds"), gave the results of surveys that covered 171 cats in Austria and Germany. The study was presented "to learn more about the role of cats in the spread of the virus and about the risk posed to cats." They were looking for a good "sentinel" animal among mammals, to give an early warning - the way caged canaries in coal mines used to warn of poisonous gases.

With 28.7 percent of all adult American cats classified as "overweight" and 6.4 percent as clinically obese, things only get worse with age. Among cats between five and 11 years of age, fully 44 percent are either overweight or obese. Just in time (we were about to have Frannie, the ShortTakes office kitty, fitted for running shoes) comes this report in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (Vol. 232, No. 11): "Nutraceuticals and dietary supplementation for the management of obese and overweight pets." The study looked at everything from omega-3 fatty acid supplementation, amylase inhibitors and DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) to L-carnitine, CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) and dietary phytoestrogens. Some, such as diacylglycerol, make a computers spell-checker burp. And not all, including the last one, have been tested on cats.