Therapy with clopidogrel or rivaroxaban has equivalent impacts on recurrence of thromboembolism and survival in cats following cardiogenic thromboembolism: the SUPERCAT study.

Objective: To assess the impact of clopidogrel or rivaroxaban administration on recurrence of arterial thromboembolism (ATE) in cats that have recovered from cardiogenic ATE.

Methods: This multicenter prospective double-masked protocol enrolled 45 cats that had recovered from cardiogenic ATE and were randomized to receive either clopidogrel (18.75 mg/cat, PO; n = 19) or rivaroxaban (2.

2024 RECOVER Guidelines: Monitoring. Evidence and knowledge gap analysis with treatment recommendations for small animal CPR.

Objective: To systematically review evidence on and devise treatment recommendations for patient monitoring before, during, and following CPR in dogs and cats, and to identify critical knowledge gaps.

Design: Standardized, systematic evaluation of literature pertinent to peri-CPR monitoring following Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology. Prioritized questions were each reviewed by Evidence Evaluators, and findings were reconciled by Monitoring Domain Chairs and Reassessment Campaign on Veterinary Resuscitation (RECOVER) Co-Chairs to arrive at treatment recommendations commensurate to quality of evidence, risk:benefit relationship, and clinical feasibility.

2024 RECOVER Guidelines: Updated treatment recommendations for CPR in dogs and cats.

Objective: After the 2012 Reassessment Campaign on Veterinary Resuscitation (RECOVER) CPR Guidelines, this is an update of evidence-based consensus guidelines for Basic Life Support (BLS), advanced life support (ALS), and periarrest monitoring.

Design: These RECOVER CPR Guidelines were generated using a modified version of the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system for evidence evaluation and translation of this evidence into clear and actionable clinical instructions. Prioritized clinical questions in the Population, Intervention, Comparator, and Outcome (PICO) format were used as the basis to conduct systematic literature searches by information specialists, to extract information from relevant publications, to assess this evidence for quality, and finally to translate the findings into treatment recommendations.

Evaluation of darbepoetin therapy on platelet count and function in healthy cats and cats with surgically induced chronic kidney disease.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of darbepoetin on platelet population and reactivity in healthy cats (HCs) and azotemic cats with remnant kidney (RK) model-induced chronic kidney disease.

Animals: 12 purpose-bred domestic shorthair cats (n = 6 HCs and n = 6 RK).

Methods: In this pilot study, all cats received darbepoetin (1 µg/kg, SC) on days 0, 7, and 14.

Evaluation of activation characteristics of a canine platelet concentrate produced by a commercial double centrifugation system.

Introduction: In veterinary medicine there are few readily available products for platelet transfusion to patients with thrombocytopenia. Commercial tabletop platelet concentrating systems have recently become available to veterinarians, primarily directed towards uses associated with regenerative medicine. These systems could potentially be used to produce fresh concentrated platelets for use in transfusion medicine.

Evaluation of coagulation and platelet activation state and function in heartworm-infected dogs.

Background: Enhanced platelet responses have been demonstrated in heartworm-infected (HWI) dogs; however, the cause and clinical implications of altered platelet function have not been fully elucidated.

Objective: This study evaluated platelet function in HWI dogs.

Methods: Anticoagulated whole blood collected from eight HWI and eight uninfected dogs was evaluated using turbidometric platelet aggregometry, a platelet function analyzer (PFA-100), a total thrombus analysis system (T-TAS), tissue factor-activated and tissue plasminogen activator modified thromboelastography (TF- and tPA-TEG), CBC, von Willebrand Factor activity, and fibrinogen concentrations.

Performance evaluation of a Test&Treat rapid detection kit for the diagnosis of septic effusions in dogs and cats.

Objective: To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of a veterinary point-of-care (POC) luminometer-based kit for the diagnosis of septic peritoneal or pleural effusion in dogs and cats.

Design: Prospective study performed between January 2020 and July 2021.

Setting: University teaching hospital.

The sodium correction factor for dogs undergoing treatment for a hyperglycemic crisis is a 1.6-mEq/L decrease in sodium per 100-mg/dL increase in glucose.

Objective: To determine the sodium correction factor for clinical use in hyperglycemic diabetic dogs.

Sample: Retrospective analysis of 76 hospitalization episodes from 67 different dogs presenting to the University of Georgia Veterinary Teaching Hospital between January 1, 2015, and January 1, 2023.

Methods: For each hospitalization episode, paired blood sodium and glucose concentration measurements were recorded from the time of presentation until glucose concentration was ≤ 201 mg/dL.

Point-of-care and traditional erythrocyte sedimentation rate, point-of-care rheometry, and cell-free DNA concentration in dogs with or without systemic inflammation.

RBC aggregation and deformability characteristics are altered by inflammatory, microcirculatory, and hemorheologic disease. These changes can be indirectly evaluated using the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Newer point-of-care devices employ syllectometry to evaluate RBC rheology, which can give information beyond the ESR.

Acute kidney injury is common in dogs with septic peritonitis and is associated with increased mortality.

Objective: To identify the frequency of and risk factors for acute kidney injury (AKI) in dogs undergoing abdominal surgery for septic peritonitis, and to evaluate outcome and kidney-related risk factors for survival to discharge in those dogs.

Animals: 77 dogs that underwent abdominal surgery for septic peritonitis.

Methods: Medical records of dogs that underwent surgery for septic peritonitis from 2012 through 2022 were reviewed.

Effects of orally administered pimobendan on platelet function in healthy adult cats.

Objective: Several phosphodiesterase inhibitors have demonstrable antiplatelet actions when administered to human patients. Concentration-dependent inhibition of feline platelet aggregation by pimobendan has been previously demonstrated in vitro. However, there are no published reports characterizing the effect of oral pimobendan, administered at therapeutic doses, on platelet function in cats.

Comparison of a commercially available veterinary digital refractometer to analogue refractometer and laboratory chemistry analyzer in the evaluation of canine serum total protein.

Objective: To assess the agreement between measurements of total protein (TP) concentrations in canine serum samples between a commercially available veterinary digital refractometer (DR), an analog handheld refractometer (AR), and a laboratory-based chemistry analyzer (LAB). An additional objective was to assess the effects of various potential interferents (ie, hyperbilirubinemia, increased BUN, hyperglycemia, hemolysis, and lipemia) on DR measurements.

Sample: 108 canine serum samples.

Evaluation of blood thiamine concentration in hospitalized dogs with and without critical illness.

Objective: To evaluate blood thiamine concentration in healthy and critically ill hospitalized dogs over 72 hours of hospitalization and to identify any association of thiamine concentration with patient morbidity and mortality.

Design: Prospective, observational, clinical study.

Setting: University veterinary teaching hospital.

2022 Update of the Consensus on the Rational Use of Antithrombotics and Thrombolytics in Veterinary Critical Care (CURATIVE) Domain 6: Defining rational use of thrombolytics.

Objectives: To systematically review available evidence and establish guidelines related to the use of thrombolytics for the management of small animals with suspected or confirmed thrombosis.

Design: PICO (Population, Intervention, Control, and Outcome) questions were formulated, and worksheets completed as part of a standardized and systematic literature evaluation. The population of interest included dogs and cats (considered separately) and arterial and venous thrombosis.

Coagulation testing in green iguanas (Iguana iguana) with development of prothrombin time assays using reptile and avian thromboplastin.

Background: Captive reptiles often present with clinical signs suggestive of a clotting disorder or severe illness that can induce or exacerbate a coagulopathy. However, coagulopathies in reptiles are difficult to characterize due to lack of species-appropriate reagents to perform coagulation tests. The objective of this study was to develop screening tests to evaluate the extrinsic and common pathways of coagulation in green iguanas (Iguana iguana).

2022 Update of the Consensus on the Rational Use of Antithrombotics and Thrombolytics in Veterinary Critical Care (CURATIVE) Domain 1- Defining populations at risk.

Objectives: To expand the number of conditions and interventions explored for their associations with thrombosis in the veterinary literature and to provide the basis for prescribing recommendations.

Design: A population exposure comparison outcome format was used to represent patient, exposure, comparison, and outcome. Population Exposure Comparison Outcome questions were distributed to worksheet authors who performed comprehensive searches, summarized the evidence, and created guideline recommendations that were reviewed by domain chairs.

NOVEL DIAGNOSTIC AND THERAPEUTIC APPROACHES TO ELEPHANT ENDOTHELIOTROPIC HERPESVIRUS 1A HEMORRHAGIC DISEASE IN A CAPTIVE JUVENILE ASIAN ELEPHANT ().

Novel diagnostic and therapeutic methods were utilized in the successful management of severe elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus hemorrhagic disease (EEHV-HD) in a 1.9-yr-old captive Asian elephant (). High levels of EEHV1A viremia were detected for 12 d.

Effects of potential confounding variables on accuracy of a commercially available veterinary point-of-care hematocrit meter in the evaluation of blood samples from dogs and cats.

Objective: To assess the agreement in measurements of Hct values and hemoglobin (Hgb) concentrations in blood samples from dogs and cats between a commercially available veterinary point-of-care (POC) Hct meter and a laboratory-based (LAB) analyzer and to determine the effects of various conditions (ie, lipemia, hyperbilirubinemia, hemolysis, autoagglutination, and reticulocytosis) on the accuracy of the POC meter.

Samples: Blood samples from 86 dogs and 18 cats.

Procedures: Blood samples were run in duplicate on the POC meter, which reported Hgb concentration, measured via optical reflectance, and a calculated Hct value.

Evaluation of the i-STAT Alinity v in a veterinary clinical setting.

Many point-of-care (POC) analyzers are available for the measurement of electrolytes and acid-base status in animals. We assessed the precision of the i-STAT Alinity v, a recently introduced POC analyzer, and compared it to 2 commonly used and previously validated POC analyzers (i-STAT 1, Stat Profile pHOx Ultra). Precision was evaluated by performing multiple analyses of whole blood samples from healthy dogs, cats, and horses on multiple i-STAT Alinity v analyzers.

Platelet number and function in response to a single intravenous dose of vincristine.

Background: Vincristine might increase circulating platelet numbers but the functional capacity of these newly released platelets is unknown.

Objective: To evaluate and compare the functionality of mature and immature (reticulated) platelets after a single intravenous dose of vincristine in dogs.

Animals: Ten healthy purpose-bred dogs.

Intravenous Fluid Administration and the Coagulation System.

Intravenous fluid administration in veterinary patients can alter coagulation function by several mechanisms. Both crystalloid and colloid fluids cause hemodilution, reducing platelet count and plasma coagulation protein concentrations. Hemodilution is associated with a hypercoagulable effect at low dilutions and a hypocoagulable effect at higher dilutions.

Effects of a perioperative antibiotic and veterinary probiotic on fecal dysbiosis index in dogs.

Although widely used, the effects of perioperative antibiotics on the gastrointestinal microbiome are still being researched. The role of probiotics to ameliorate adverse effects of perioperative antibiotics is unclear. The dysbiosis index (DI), based on a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) technique, is used to assess gastrointestinal health.