Medical

Diarrhea is one of the most common concerns of owners with young kittens or teen-aged cats. Often times, diarrhea in kittens can be attributed to dietary changes, parasites or infectious diseases, and these should be the initial focus of any investigation in these young cats.

Like the disease in humans, diabetes in cats is a multi-factorial process combining genetic factors with environmental ones. However, there are two factors that likely have a crucial role in determining whether or not diabetes develops, and if diabetes does occur, whether or not it is insulin dependent.

Lower urinary tract diseases of cats are a common, and sometimes frustrating, group of clinical problems that practitioners must deal with.

Feline pancreatitis is a very difficult disease to definitively diagnose (especially chronic cases or in cats that do not have persistent signs) and treatment remains symptomatic and supportive.

Feline inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is the term applied to a collection of feline enteropathies that are characterized by the infiltration of the gastrointestinal mucosa by inflammatory cells.

Molecular studies have determined that the intestines of dogs and cats harbor a complex population of commensal bacteria, referred to as the microbiota. Depending on its composition, the microbiota can be beneficial or harmful to the host.

The mammalian intestinal tract contains a complex, dynamic, and diverse society of pathogenic and nonpathogenic bacteria.

Vomiting is a common and frequently complex problem in cats. Adult cats often have different and more chronic causes of vomiting than kittens, but the condition remains a common reason for cats to be presented to veterinarians for care.

Giardia duodenalis (also known as G. intestinalis, G. lamblia) is a pear-shaped, binucleated, flagellated protozoan parasite that infects the small intestine, impairs mucosal absorption, and causes diarrhea.

Chronic hepatitis associated with abnormal accumulation of copper in liver cells is emerging as an important form of chronic liver disease in dogs.

Esophagitis is characterized by acute or chronic inflammation of the esophagus resulting from mechanical, corrosive, or acid-peptic injury to the mucosa. Mild esophagitis may be self-limiting or resolve with medical treatment.

Clinical signs suggestive of esophageal disease include regurgitation, dysphagia, odynophagia, salivation, retching, gagging, and repeated swallowing. Other less specific signs can include weight loss, anorexia or ravenous appetite, and depression.

Idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by chronic gastrointestinal signs associated with diffuse accumulation of lymphocytes and plasma cells in the lamina propria and morphologic abnormalities of the intestinal mucosa and epithelium.

While there is no doubt that administration of immunosuppressive drugs to dogs, and sometimes cats, is critical for control of immune-mediated disease, administration of these drugs can cause adverse effects.

Immune-mediated neutropenia is an uncommon disease in small animal practice, although some have argued that it may be more prevalent than believed.

Immune-mediated thrombocytopenia (IMTP) is one of the more common immune-mediated diseases in small animal practice, especially in dogs.

The diagnosis of immune-mediated polyarthritis can be challenging. The difficulties of establishing a definitive diagnosis of immune-mediated polyarthritis lie in generating a clinical suspicion of the diagnosis, and the absence, with few exceptions, of definitive diagnostic tests for the majority of cases that have the disease.

The immune system in many ways represents an ideal tool with which to fight cancer. It is capable of killing tumor cells, has the potential to provide long-lasting protection against recurrence, and because immune responses can be antigen- and thus tumor- specific, side effects in normal tissues may be better spared than with other conventional therapy.

Infectious tracheobronchitis is a contagious respiratory disease of dogs caused primarily by Bordetella bronchiseptica, associated or not with other bacterial and viral agents.

Empiric antibiotic therapy is the appropriate use of antibiotics without knowing the agent, or before its susceptibility is known.

Tick-transmitted disease caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi.

Spirochete with more than 200 serovars. The pathogenic serovars do not replicate outside animal hosts.

Many clinical signs compatible with left-sided heart failure also may occur in respiratory diseases, making the distinction difficult in some cases.

A large number of immunocompromised persons live with dogs and cats. This situation is not without risks, but pets are part of their life and provide many long-term benefits, offering non-judgmental support, decreasing morbidity and improving survival-time.

Pulmonary edema is the accumulation of fluids in the interstitium and alveoli of the lung. There are two main basic mechanisms for edema development: increased hydrostatic pressure in the lung capillaries (high-pressure edema) and increase vascular permeability (low-pressure edema).

Cough is one of the body's defense mechanisms to prevent the entry of noxious materials into the respiratory system, and to clear potentially harmful debris from the lungs and respiratory tract.

Dyspnea is the sensation of having difficult or laborious breathing. It is a subjective phenomenon that needs to be inferred by the clinician in companion animals. Dyspnea, tachypnea (rapid breathing), and hyperpnea (increased ventilation) are not synonymous but are frequently grouped together in veterinary patients.

The diagnostic challenges of immune-mediated hemolytic anemia (IMHA) were covered in a previous presentation. The controversies in managing IMHA are being discussed in this lecture and illustrated by case presentations.

Immune-mediated hemolytic anemia (IMHA) is a common hematological disorder in dogs, may be primary (idiopathic, autoimmune) or occur secondarily to underlying diseases (e.g. infections) and is often associated with life-threatening complications.

There are approximately 900 hereditary disorders and genetic predispositions in dogs and about 200 in cats.