Gammeherpesvirus a potential pathogen in cats

  An international team of researchers lead by Australian veterinarian Associate Professor Julia Beatty has identified a novel gammaherpesvirus as a widespread potential pathogen in cats.   Gammaherpesviruses (GHVs) affect a very broad range of species including humans and other primates, ruminants, squirrels, badgers and sea lions. Like all herpesviruses they cause persistent infection but […]

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Connective tissue disorders in domestic animals

Though soft tissue disorders have been recognized and described to some detail in several types of domestic animals and small mammals for some years, not much progress has been made in our understanding of the biochemical basis and pathogenesis of these diseases in animals. Ehlers-Danlos syndrome described in dogs already in 1943 and later in […]

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Abstracts: Retroperitoneal fibrosis in feline renal transplant recipients: 29 cases (1998-2011)

Objective: To evaluate features, treatment, and prognosis associated with retroperitoneal fibrosis that developed after renal transplantation in cats. Design-Retrospective case series. Animals-29 cats. Procedures: Medical records of cats that developed retroperitoneal fibrosis after renal transplantation at the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, between 1998 and 2011 were reviewed for signalment, date of transplantation, […]

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Cat-friendly crusader Andrea Harvey

Feline patients are notoriously challenging: some are difficult to handle, others become so stressed at the vet their blood glucose skyrockets, and the mere scent of a vet is enough to manifest profound physiological changes including pyrexia, tachypnoea and dyspnoea. But according to feline specialist Andrea Harvey, there is much the average vet can do […]

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Challenges in prognostication of FIV-positive patients

A Sydney University study published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine found that the presence of haematologic and biochemical abnormalities could not be relied upon to determine clinical progression of FIV in sick feline patients, and that FIV-positive status alone did not have a negative impact on survival. The authors set out to compare […]

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