Velagliflozin, a once-daily, liquid, oral SGLT2 inhibitor, is effective as a stand-alone therapy for feline diabetes mellitus: the SENSATION study.

Objective: To investigate safety and effectiveness of velagliflozin oral solution as sole therapy in naïve and previously insulin-treated diabetic cats.

Animals: 252 client-owned cats receiving ≥ 2 doses of velagliflozin; 214 (85%) naïve diabetics and 38 (15%) insulin-treated diabetics.

Procedures: Prospective, baseline-controlled, open-label clinical field trial.

Prognostic value of C-reactive protein in dogs with elevated serum pancreatic lipase immunoreactivity concentrations.

Objective: To determine the prognostic value of serum C-reactive protein (CRP) in dogs with pancreatitis.

Animals: 503 client-owned animals with pancreatic lipase immunoreactivity (PLI) > 600 µg/L.

Methods: Routine submissions to the Texas A&M Gastrointestinal Laboratory were monitored for canine samples with PLI > 600 µg/L.

Clinical utility of fungal culture and antifungal susceptibility in cats and dogs with histoplasmosis.

Background: Culture can be used for diagnosis and antifungal susceptibility testing in animals with fungal infections. Limited information is available regarding the diagnostic performance of culture and the susceptibility patterns of Histoplasma spp. isolates.

Clinical features of muscle stiffness in 37 dogs with concurrent naturally occurring hypercortisolism.

Background: Severe muscle stiffness (SMS) in dogs with hypercortisolism (HC) is uncommon.

Objectives: To evaluate signalment, presentation, treatments, and long-term outcomes of dogs with concurrent HC and SMS.

Animals: Thirty-seven dogs.

Effect of withholding food versus feeding on creatinine, symmetric dimethylarginine, cholesterol, triglycerides, and other biochemical analytes in 100 healthy dogs.

Background: Withholding food is often recommended before collection of blood for routine biochemical analysis in dogs despite a paucity of evidence to support this requirement.

Objectives: To compare measurements of selected biochemical analytes collected before and after feeding in clinically healthy dogs.

Animals: One hundred clinically healthy staff- and student-owned dogs weighing ≥15 kg.

Schistosomiasis in the United States.

Canine schistosomiasis is a well-established cause of a granulomatous enteropathy and hepatopathy in dogs. In a small subset of patients, infection triggers significant hypercalcemia. Clinical signs and clinicopathologic findings are fairly nonspecific but ultrasonographic evidence of heterogenous small intestinal wall layering and pin-point hyperechoic foci in bowel, nodes, and liver is highly suggestive of infection.

Prospective evaluation of complications associated with transesophageal echocardiography in dogs with congenital heart disease.

Background: Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is useful in the assessment and procedural monitoring of congenital heart disease (CHD) with a relatively low complication rate in humans.

Objectives: To evaluate the safety of TEE and report complications in dogs.

Animals: Forty client-owned dogs with CHD.

Replacing a Veterinary Physiology Endocrinology Lecture with a Blended Learning Approach Using an Everyday Analogy.

Understanding scientific concepts and processes is critical for veterinary education. This article outlines the impact of blended learning and the use of an analogy on student understanding of the hypothalamic-pituitary-target gland axis over a three-year period. The first-year veterinary physiology course at our institution was modified to incorporate a blended learning approach.

Mucocutaneous nasal histoplasmosis in an immunocompetent dog.

Background: Histoplasma (H.) capsulatum is a dimorphic fungus, and infection is typically via inhalation of microconidia. After conversion to the yeast phase within the lung, the organism is subsequently disseminated to other tissues by macrophages.

Heterobilharzia americana infection in dogs: A retrospective study of 60 cases (2010-2019).

Background: The trematode Heterobilharzia americana (HA) causes granulomatous gastrointestinal and hepatic disease in dogs. Before 2008, diagnosis relied on saline fecal sedimentation or histopathology, and earlier reports primarily described dogs with advanced disease or cases diagnosed incidentally at necropsy. The advent of a fecal PCR test has facilitated the diagnosis of HA and provided insights into manifestations and response to treatment.

Feline comorbidities: Recognition, diagnosis and management of the cushingoid diabetic.

Practical Relevance: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common feline endocrinopathy, and is often driven by underlying insulin resistance with associated pancreatic beta (β)-cell dysfunction. Although spontaneous hyperadrenocorticism (HAC) with hypercortisolemia (hypercortisolism) is relatively uncommon in cats, it is a well-established cause of insulin resistance and is routinely associated with DM in this species.

Clinical Challenges: Many of the clinical signs associated with feline HAC are subtle and may be attributed to concurrent DM or the aging process.

Sonographic findings of pinpoint hyperechoic foci in the small intestine, liver, and mesenteric lymph nodes are indicative of canine Heterobilharzia americana infection.

Canine schistosomiasis, caused by the trematode Heterobilharzia americana, can pose a diagnostic challenge due to nonspecific symptoms. The aim of this multicenter, retrospective, descriptive study was to compare the prevalence and extent of sonographic changes associated with schistosomiasis between affected and infection-free dogs. Medical records of two referral centers were searched for dogs with confirmed schistosomiasis that had undergone an abdominal ultrasound.

Impact of preheparinization and sample volume on routine hematology findings in healthy cats.

Objectives: It can be challenging to collect sufficient blood from feline patients for both a biochemical profile and a complete blood count (CBC). The ability to generate accurate hematologic and biochemical data from a single, small (<2 ml) sample could reduce patient stress and improve clinical efficiency. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of preheparinization and/or sample size on routine hematology findings in cats.

Small Animal Resident Selection Processes at a University Teaching Hospital: An Analysis and Recommendations for Improvement.

Concerns regarding resident performance within a small animal department prompted a review of selection practices, with the intent of improving validity and efficiency. Information was gathered from semi-structured interviews and descriptions of current processes; emphasis was placed on determining how the Veterinary Internship and Residency Matching Program application was used. Processes were found to lack standardization and rely heavily on arbitrary judgments.

Multiple-Choice Questions in Small Animal Medicine: An Analysis of Cognitive Level and Structural Reliability, and the Impact of these Characteristics on Student Performance.

Students entering the final year of the veterinary curriculum need to integrate information and problem solve. Assessments used to document competency prior to entry to the clinical environment should ideally provide a reliable measurement of these essential skills. In this study, five internal medicine specialists evaluated the cognitive grade (CG) and structural integrity of 100 multiple-choice questions (MCQs) used to assess learning by third-year students at a United States (US) veterinary school.

Bacterial Biogeography of the Colon in Dogs With Chronic Inflammatory Enteropathy.

The intestinal microbiota is believed to play a role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease in humans and chronic inflammatory enteropathy (CIE) in dogs. While most previous studies have described the gut microbiota using sequencing methods, it is fundamental to assess the spatial distribution of the bacteria for a better understanding of their relationship with the host. The microbiota in the colonic mucosa of 22 dogs with CIE and 11 control dogs was investigated using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with a universal eubacterial probe (EUB338) and specific probes for select bacterial groups.

Untargeted metabolomic profiling of serum from dogs with chronic hepatic disease.

Background: Chronic hepatopathies present a diagnostic challenge, with different diseases being associated with similar clinical and laboratory findings. Characterization of dogs with chronic hepatopathies can be difficult and require costly diagnostic procedures such as acquisition of a liver biopsy specimen. Noninvasive and inexpensive biomarkers that reliably characterize chronic hepatopathies such as chronic hepatitis or a congenital portosystemic vascular anomaly may decrease the need for costly or invasive diagnostic testing and guide novel therapeutic interventions.

Comparison of intestinal expression of the apical sodium-dependent bile acid transporter between dogs with and without chronic inflammatory enteropathy.

Background: Intestinal absorption of bile acids is mediated by the apical sodium-dependent bile acid transporter (ASBT). Fecal bile acid dysmetabolism has been reported in dogs with chronic inflammatory enteropathy (CIE).

Objective: Characterization of ASBT distribution along the intestinal tract of control dogs and comparison to dogs with CIE.

Likelihood and outcome of esophageal perforation secondary to esophageal foreign body in dogs.

OBJECTIVE To determine the likelihood and outcome of esophageal perforation secondary to an esophageal foreign body (EFB) in dogs. DESIGN Retrospective observational study. ANIMALS 125 dogs evaluated for EFB at 2 veterinary teaching hospitals from January 2005 through December 2013.

Pretreatment Histoplasma capsulatum urine enzymatic immunoassay concentrations do not correlate with outcome but may be influenced by renal function in cats with histoplasmosis.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine if urine Histoplasma antigen (HAg) enzyme immunoassay (EIA) concentrations at the time of diagnosis and prior to the administration of antifungal agents are predictive of outcome for cats infected with Histoplasma capsulatum and to determine if compromised renal function affects urine HAg EIA measurements.

Methods: Medical records at four institutions were searched to identify cats diagnosed with histoplasmosis between April 2012 and December 2015. Pretreatment urine Histoplasma EIA values were recorded, along with patient signalment, serum creatinine concentration, urine specific gravity, site(s) of infection and survival data.

Subclinical bacteriuria in cats: prevalence, findings on contemporaneous urinalyses and clinical risk factors.

Objectives Subclinical bacteriuria (SB) is bacterial colonization of the urinary tract in the absence of clinical signs. The purposes of this study were to determine the prevalence of SB in cats and to describe results of the contemporaneous urinalysis. Secondarily, patient characteristics associated with SB were compared with those for cats without SB.

Hepatic encephalopathy in dogs and cats.

Objective: To comparatively review the pathogenesis, clinical presentation, diagnosis, and management of hepatic encephalopathy (HE) in dogs and cats.

Data Sources: The Medline database was searched for articles related to HE in people, dogs, and cats. Articles published within the last 5 years were given special importance.