New In-Clinic Test for FeLV and FIV

a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19930142"Sand C, Englert T, Egberink H et al: Evaluation of a new in-clinic test system to detect feline immunodeficiency virus and feline leukemia virus infection, Vet Clin Pathol 39:210, 2009./abr / br / Feline leukemia (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) are both important pathogens of cats that often result in lifelong infection. Routine testing as well as testing of clinically ill cats is recommended, and is usually done using in-clinic test kits. For FeLV, these assays detect a viral protein, while for FIV, virus-specific antibody is detected. A new test system, Anigen Rapid FIV Ab/FeLV Ag test kit is now available on the European market. These investigators examined the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of this new test kit on 300 samples using western blot as the gold standard for FIV infection, and polymerase chain reaction for FeLV infection; in addition, results were compared to those attained using the most commonly-used kit made by IDEXX (SNAP Combo). In comparison to the gold standard for FIV, the new Anigen test had a sensitivity of 88.9% and specificity of 97.7%, and for FeLV, a sensitivity of 40% and a specificity of 100%. In comparing to the IDEXX Combo SNAP test for FIV testing, the Anigen assay had one false positive result; the SNAP test had no false positive results. Both kits had one false negative result. For FeLV testing, neither kit had a false positive result, but the Anigen kit had 9 false negatives, while the SNAP kit had 7 false negative results. The investigators concluded that the new test performed very well, similar in performance to the SNAP Combo test. For both kits, any positive result should be confirmed with a second, more sensitive test, especially in healthy cats. [MK]br / br / bRelated articles:/bbr / a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18455463"Levy J, Crawford C, Hartmann K et al: 2008 American Association of Feline Practitioners' feline retrovirus management guidelines, J Feline Med Surg 10:300, 2008./abr / br / More on cat health: a href="http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/Health.html"Winn Feline Foundation Library/abr / a href="http://www.facebook.com/WinnFelineFoundation"Join us on Facebook/abr / a href="http://www.twitter.com/WinnFeline"Follow us on Twitter/adiv class="blogger-post-footer"Providing expert cat health information and supporting cat health research since 1968.img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1170470470666539402-42278374776865373?l=winnfelinehealth.blogspot.com' alt='' //divdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=31c1E8_PrEg:sdCI2zXfBSA:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=31c1E8_PrEg:sdCI2zXfBSA:UT3xtbGYFzA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=UT3xtbGYFzA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=31c1E8_PrEg:sdCI2zXfBSA:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=31c1E8_PrEg:sdCI2zXfBSA:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?i=31c1E8_PrEg:sdCI2zXfBSA:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=31c1E8_PrEg:sdCI2zXfBSA:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?i=31c1E8_PrEg:sdCI2zXfBSA:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=31c1E8_PrEg:sdCI2zXfBSA:oCFASsrFxfc"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=oCFASsrFxfc" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation/~4/31c1E8_PrEg" height="1" width="1"/

FIV and Papillomavirus

a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20042039"Munday JS, Witham AI: Frequent detection of papillomavirus DNA in clinically normal skin of cats infected and noninfected with feline immunodeficiency virus, Vet Dermatol 21:307, 2010./abr / br / Feline squamous cell carcinomas (SCC), a type of skin cancer, often have evidence of infection with feline papillomavirus (FPV); it is not known if the virus contributes to cancer development in cats. Cats infected with feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) have a higher incidence of SCC, perhaps due to increased FPV infection. This study examined the rate of FPV infection in healthy cats (without SCC), and compared this rate in FIV-free (n=22), and FIV-infected cats (n=22). The investigators found that 52% of cats tested positive for FPV; no difference was found in FIV-infected versus uninfected cats. In addition, both FPV-infected and uninfected cats were found within single households, indicating exposure does not necessarily lead to infection. The investigators concluded that while FPV infection in asymptomatic cats is common, a link with SCC could not be shown. [MK]br / bbr / /bbr / bRelated articles:/bbr / a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19649022"Munday JS, Dunowska M, De Grey S: Detection of two different papillomaviruses within a feline cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma: case report and review of the literature, N Z Vet J 57:248, 2009./abr / br / More on cat health: a href="http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/Health.html"Winn Feline Foundation Library/abr / a href="http://www.facebook.com/WinnFelineFoundation"Join us on Facebook/abr / a href="http://www.twitter.com/WinnFeline"Follow us on Twitter /adiv class="blogger-post-footer"Providing expert cat health information and supporting cat health research since 1968.img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1170470470666539402-2410158691240237945?l=winnfelinehealth.blogspot.com' alt='' //divdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=eGoFSkmLkcc:hSwh5r_UgDA:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=eGoFSkmLkcc:hSwh5r_UgDA:UT3xtbGYFzA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=UT3xtbGYFzA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=eGoFSkmLkcc:hSwh5r_UgDA:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=eGoFSkmLkcc:hSwh5r_UgDA:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?i=eGoFSkmLkcc:hSwh5r_UgDA:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=eGoFSkmLkcc:hSwh5r_UgDA:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?i=eGoFSkmLkcc:hSwh5r_UgDA:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=eGoFSkmLkcc:hSwh5r_UgDA:oCFASsrFxfc"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=oCFASsrFxfc" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation/~4/eGoFSkmLkcc" height="1" width="1"/

Dietary Therapy for Feline Arthritis

a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20337921"Lascelles BDX, DePuy V, Thomson A et al: Evaluation of a therapeutic diet for feline degenerative joint disease, J Vet Intern Med 24:487, 2010./abr / br / Cats with degenerative joint disease (DJD) or arthritis commonly have radiographic evidence of its presence. DJD is often associated with pain and pain can result in decreased mobility. This study set out to test a diet high in eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) content and supplemented with green-lipped mussel extract and glucosamine/chondroitin sulfate for its pain-relieving and activity-enhancing effects in cats with painful, mobility-impairing DJD. Forty client-owned cats were enrolled in a randomized, blinded, prospective study. Outcome measures were subjective owner and veterinarian assessments, and objective activity monitoring (accelerometry). Results showed that activity significantly increased in the cats fed the test diet over a control diet. Evidence is also accumulating that diets high in DHA and EPA might be beneficial in preventing obesity and promoting weight loss by creating an appropriate physiological environment. [VT]br / br / bRelated articles:/bbr / a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20193911"Lascelles BD, Robertson SA: DJD-associated pain in cats: what can we do to promote patient comfort?, J Feline Med Surg 12:200, 2010./abr / br / More on cat health: a href="http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/Health.html"Winn Feline Foundation Library/abr / a href="http://www.facebook.com/WinnFelineFoundation"Join us on Facebook/abr / a href="http://www.twitter.com/WinnFeline"Follow us on Twitter/adiv class="blogger-post-footer"Providing expert cat health information and supporting cat health research since 1968.img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1170470470666539402-7800723361446675526?l=winnfelinehealth.blogspot.com' alt='' //divdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=xsmQGjiaw38:g8sh10TahRk:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=xsmQGjiaw38:g8sh10TahRk:UT3xtbGYFzA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=UT3xtbGYFzA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=xsmQGjiaw38:g8sh10TahRk:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=xsmQGjiaw38:g8sh10TahRk:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?i=xsmQGjiaw38:g8sh10TahRk:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=xsmQGjiaw38:g8sh10TahRk:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?i=xsmQGjiaw38:g8sh10TahRk:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=xsmQGjiaw38:g8sh10TahRk:oCFASsrFxfc"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=oCFASsrFxfc" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation/~4/xsmQGjiaw38" height="1" width="1"/

Ultrasound Findings in Cats with FIP

div class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US"a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20439937"Lewis KM, O'Brien RT: Abdominal ultrasonographic findings associated with feline infectious peritonitis: a retrospective review of 16 cases, J Am Anim Hosp Assoc 46:152, 2010./a/spanbr / br / span lang="EN-US"Feline enteric coronavirus (FeCV) is especially contagious and present throughout the domestic cat population.nbsp; Feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV) is considered to be a mutated form of FeCV. Risk factors for FIP include cats living in multicat households or a cattery, being sexually intact, being less than 5 years of age, and being purebred. There are two forms of FIP that have been described. An effusive form is an immune-mediated vasculitis with the subsequent loss of protein-rich fluid into such areas as the pleural or peritoneal cavities. The non-effusive form involves pyogranulomatous or granulomatous inflammation in multiple organs. This study was a retrospective review of 16 cases analyzing abdominal ultrasonographic results where necropsy or findings were highly suggestive of FIP. This study found that 75% of diagnosed FIP cases had abdominal effusion. Renomegaly was also a frequent finding in this study, while the majority of the feline livers examined in this study were described as normal on ultrasound. In the majority of cases with FIP, the spleen also had a normal ultrasonographic appearance while the spleen is found to be diffusely affected.nbsp; Almost half of the study population did not have abdominal lymphadenopathy. None of the ultrasonographic findings were found to be specific for FIP, a combination of findings should increase the index of suspicion for FIP when considered along with appropriate clinical signs. On the other hand, a normal abdominal ultrasound does not exclude the possibility of FIP. [VT]/spanbr / br / /divbRelated articles:/bbr / a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20180212"Goodson TL, Randell SC, Moore LE: Feline infectious peritonitis, Compend Contin Educ Vet 31, 2009./abr / br / More on cat health: a href="http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/Health.html"Winn Feline Foundation Library/abr / a href="http://www.facebook.com/WinnFelineFoundation"Join us on Facebook/abr / a href="http://www.twitter.com/WinnFeline"Follow us on Twitter/adiv class="blogger-post-footer"Providing expert cat health information and supporting cat health research since 1968.img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1170470470666539402-50251011626421796?l=winnfelinehealth.blogspot.com' alt='' //divdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=7rCmKeQMOaI:70kFrBMzfBs:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=7rCmKeQMOaI:70kFrBMzfBs:UT3xtbGYFzA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=UT3xtbGYFzA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=7rCmKeQMOaI:70kFrBMzfBs:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=7rCmKeQMOaI:70kFrBMzfBs:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?i=7rCmKeQMOaI:70kFrBMzfBs:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=7rCmKeQMOaI:70kFrBMzfBs:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?i=7rCmKeQMOaI:70kFrBMzfBs:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=7rCmKeQMOaI:70kFrBMzfBs:oCFASsrFxfc"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=oCFASsrFxfc" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation/~4/7rCmKeQMOaI" height="1" width="1"/

Spleen Biopsies in Cats

a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19351344"Leblanc, C.J., L.L. Head, and M.M. Fry, Comparison of aspiration and nonaspiration techniques for obtaining cytologic samples from the canine and feline spleen. Vet Clin Pathol, 2009. 38(2): p. 242-6./abr / br / The objective of the study was to compare the quality of splenic cytology specimens obtained using aspiration versus nonaspiration techniques. Along with 24 dogs, 7 client-owned cats were evaluated. Two clinical pathologists were used to blindly and independently score the samples for cellularity, amount of blood, and preservation of cellular morphology. The aspiration technique is performed by using a 22-25 G needle and a 6-20 mL syringe to apply suction and obtain negative pressure for cellular yield. In the nonaspiration technique, a 22-25 G needle is guided into the target organ and incompletely retracted and redirected several times in an attempt to shear and displace cells into the cylinder of the needle. The authors concluded the nonaspiration technique is recommended for obtaining more cellular, less hemodiluted cytologic specimens of the feline spleen. [VT]br / br / bRelated articles:/bbr / a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17331053"Ballegeer, E.A., et al., Correlation of ultrasonographic appearance of lesions and cytologic and histologic diagnoses in splenic aspirates from dogs and cats: 32 cases (2002-2005). J Am Vet Med Assoc, 2007. 230(5): p. 690-6./abr / br / More on cat health: a href="http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/Health.html"Winn Feline Foundation Library/abr / a href="http://www.facebook.com/WinnFelineFoundation"Join us on Facebook/abr / a href="http://www.twitter.com/WinnFeline"Follow us on Twitter/adiv class="blogger-post-footer"Providing expert cat health information and supporting cat health research since 1968.img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1170470470666539402-3922450555998382580?l=winnfelinehealth.blogspot.com' alt='' //divdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=sareqbNGuDs:6ri0a6C2W8s:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=sareqbNGuDs:6ri0a6C2W8s:UT3xtbGYFzA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=UT3xtbGYFzA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=sareqbNGuDs:6ri0a6C2W8s:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=sareqbNGuDs:6ri0a6C2W8s:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?i=sareqbNGuDs:6ri0a6C2W8s:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=sareqbNGuDs:6ri0a6C2W8s:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?i=sareqbNGuDs:6ri0a6C2W8s:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=sareqbNGuDs:6ri0a6C2W8s:oCFASsrFxfc"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=oCFASsrFxfc" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation/~4/sareqbNGuDs" height="1" width="1"/

Ringworm in a Cat Shelter

a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19706005"Carlotti, D.N., et al., Eradication of feline dermatophytosis in a shelter: a field study. Vet Dermatol, 2009. 21(3): p. 259-266./abr / br / Dermatophytosis is a superficial fungal skin infection affecting many animals, as well as humans. In otherwise healthy cats, it is self-curing, resolving in several months. Treatment, however, shortens the course and prevents spread, including to humans. This is particularly important in a shelter situation where infection can impede adoptions, and is a risk for staff and visitors. This report describes a successful eradication of fungal infection from a shelter in the UK. The authors used a three-area method in the existing facility. One area was used to isolate cats with lesions and positive skin culture; cats with no lesions, but positive by fungal culture were placed in a separate area; and healthy, fungus-free cats were kept in a third area. Cats in the first two groups were treated topically (enilconazole) and systemically (itraconazole). In addition, the environments were sampled every three weeks using a dust-catching cloth. Sequential use of detergent (cleaning) and 1% sodium hypochlorite (disinfection) were used on premises and materials. Cats were not moved into group C (fungal-free) until two negative culture results (done every two weeks). The protocol described did have a significant cost but proved successful in eradicating fungal infections from the shelter housing approximately 140 cats. In addition, by isolating incoming animals initially and assessing for infection, maintenance of fungal-free population was possible. [MK]br / br / bRelated articles:/bbr / a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17845620"Newbury, S., et al., Use of lime sulphur and itraconazole to treat shelter cats naturally infected with Microsporum canis in an annex facility: an open field trial. Vet Dermatol, 2007. 18(5): p. 324-31./abr / br / More on cat health: a href="http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/Health.html"Winn Feline Foundation Library/abr / a href="http://www.facebook.com/WinnFelineFoundation"Join us on Facebook/abr / a href="http://www.twitter.com/WinnFeline"Follow us on Twitter/adiv class="blogger-post-footer"Providing expert cat health information and supporting cat health research since 1968.img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1170470470666539402-695085574595377225?l=winnfelinehealth.blogspot.com' alt='' //divdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=Pzf-huHfhmY:PHgQMplrbZ0:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=Pzf-huHfhmY:PHgQMplrbZ0:UT3xtbGYFzA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=UT3xtbGYFzA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=Pzf-huHfhmY:PHgQMplrbZ0:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=Pzf-huHfhmY:PHgQMplrbZ0:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?i=Pzf-huHfhmY:PHgQMplrbZ0:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=Pzf-huHfhmY:PHgQMplrbZ0:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?i=Pzf-huHfhmY:PHgQMplrbZ0:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=Pzf-huHfhmY:PHgQMplrbZ0:oCFASsrFxfc"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=oCFASsrFxfc" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation/~4/Pzf-huHfhmY" height="1" width="1"/

FIV in Western Canada

a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20514250"Ravi M, Wobeser G, Taylor S et al: Naturally acquired feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infection in cats from western Canada: prevalence, disease associations, and survival analysis, Can Vet J 51:271, 2010./abr / br / While feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infection is well known as a cause of illness in cats worldwide, little data has been available about infection rates in Canada. In this retrospective study, 1205 client-owned cats in western Canada were tested for FIV antibodies. 5.5% of the cats were FIV-antibody positive. Infected cats were more likely to be males, to have bite wounds, and were older than antibody-negative cats. The survival time of FIV-positive cats was not significantly different from age and gender matched FIV-negative cats. This research adds to the knowledge that veterinarians in Canada need to develop testing and management plans for FIV. [SL]br / br / bRelated articles:/bbr / a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19721785"Little S, Sears W, Lachtara J et al: Seroprevalence of feline leukemia virus and feline immunodeficiency virus infection among cats in Canada, Can Vet J 50:644, 2009./abr / br / More on cat health: a href="http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/Health.html"Winn Feline Foundation Library/abr / a href="http://www.facebook.com/WinnFelineFoundation"Join us on Facebook/abr / a href="http://www.twitter.com/WinnFeline"Follow us on Twitter/adiv class="blogger-post-footer"Providing expert cat health information and supporting cat health research since 1968.img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1170470470666539402-4954880163653585037?l=winnfelinehealth.blogspot.com' alt='' //divdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=YKRbCBeO4XA:9Mri7aviPdo:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=YKRbCBeO4XA:9Mri7aviPdo:UT3xtbGYFzA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=UT3xtbGYFzA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=YKRbCBeO4XA:9Mri7aviPdo:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=YKRbCBeO4XA:9Mri7aviPdo:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?i=YKRbCBeO4XA:9Mri7aviPdo:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=YKRbCBeO4XA:9Mri7aviPdo:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?i=YKRbCBeO4XA:9Mri7aviPdo:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=YKRbCBeO4XA:9Mri7aviPdo:oCFASsrFxfc"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=oCFASsrFxfc" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation/~4/YKRbCBeO4XA" height="1" width="1"/

Connect With Winn!

bWinn's goal is to help "Every Cat, Every Day" and we can only do this with your assistance./b Stay in touch with our activities and learn how you can become involved in the future of feline health.br / br / Join over 2,500 other cat lovers on our a href="http://www.facebook.com/WinnFelineFoundation"Facebook page/a.br / br / a href="http://www.twitter.com/WinnFeline"Follow us on Twitter/a and help spread the word!br / br / a href="http://winnfelinehealth.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=415b3f2ea14ea9e3390df93aaamp;id=cb095b8233"Subscribe to our email newsletter/a - we promise, no spam :-)br / nbsp;nbsp; br / div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E41qd98I0f8/TCixXfYKQmI/AAAAAAAAALI/8rlItgl6lWk/s1600/Remember+Your+Cat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E41qd98I0f8/TCixXfYKQmI/AAAAAAAAALI/8rlItgl6lWk/s400/Remember+Your+Cat.jpg" width="266" //a/divbr / br / br / br / br / br / br / br / br / br / br / br / br / br / br / br / br / br / br / br / br / a href="http://www.rememberyourcat.org/"bVirtual Memorials/b for special cats loved by special owners/adiv class="blogger-post-footer"Providing expert cat health information and supporting cat health research since 1968.img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1170470470666539402-7586499332619080555?l=winnfelinehealth.blogspot.com' alt='' //divdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=PAIpD9Z9VL8:eIkS76A3ijM:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=PAIpD9Z9VL8:eIkS76A3ijM:UT3xtbGYFzA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=UT3xtbGYFzA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=PAIpD9Z9VL8:eIkS76A3ijM:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=PAIpD9Z9VL8:eIkS76A3ijM:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?i=PAIpD9Z9VL8:eIkS76A3ijM:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=PAIpD9Z9VL8:eIkS76A3ijM:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?i=PAIpD9Z9VL8:eIkS76A3ijM:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=PAIpD9Z9VL8:eIkS76A3ijM:oCFASsrFxfc"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=oCFASsrFxfc" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation/~4/PAIpD9Z9VL8" height="1" width="1"/

Cats and Dietary Medium-Chain Triglycerides

a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20367051"Trevizan L, de Mello Kessler A, Bigley KE et al: Effects of dietary medium-chain triglycerides on plasma lipids and lipoprotein distribution and food aversion in cats, Am J Vet Res 71:435, 2010./abr / br / The objective of this study was to determine if there was a possible diet aversion and lipid and lipoprotein alterations in cats fed diets containing medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). A group of 19 clinically normal adult female cats were divided randomly into 2 groups and fed a diet of low MCT or high MCT according to metabolic body weight for 9 weeks. Blood samples were taken after fasting on days 0, 14, 28, and 56 for measurement of plasma triglyceride and total cholesterol concentrations and lipoprotein-cholesterol distributions. MCTs are commonly found in products such as coconut oil and milk by-products. MCTs are more easily digested and absorbed, which results in a more rapid transport to the liver via the portal circulation. Because of the unique metabolism of MCT, dietary MCT supplementation may be beneficial in a number of ways. MCTs may be used in cases that have malabsorptive and maldigestion disorders. Other disorders that might benefit from their use are exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, lymphangiectasia, and chylothorax. Diets containing MCTs might help during weight reduction and for health maintenance after weight loss. In this study, safflower oil was replaced with coconut oil. The results showed no diet differences were found for food consumption, body weight, body condition score, and metabolizable energy factors. There was a significant increase in plasma triglyceride concentration detected with the high MCT diet, though the values were within the reference ranges. The authors concluded that inclusion of MCT in diets of cats did not result in feed refusal and had minimal effects on lipid metabolism. Diets such as described may be useful for both clinically normal cats and cats with metabolic disorders. [VT]br / br / bRelated articles:/bbr / a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15544546"Wanten G, Naber A: Cellular and physiological effects of medium-chain triglycerides, Mini Rev Med Chem 4:847, 2004./abr / br / More on cat health: a href="http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/Health.html"Winn Feline Foundation Library/abr / a href="http://www.facebook.com/WinnFelineFoundation"Join us on Facebook/abr / a href="http://www.twitter.com/WinnFeline"Follow us on Twitter/adiv class="blogger-post-footer"Providing expert cat health information and supporting cat health research since 1968.img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1170470470666539402-7816030480219421290?l=winnfelinehealth.blogspot.com' alt='' //divdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=hTPTIAw46QM:_JMwro16hJo:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=hTPTIAw46QM:_JMwro16hJo:UT3xtbGYFzA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=UT3xtbGYFzA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=hTPTIAw46QM:_JMwro16hJo:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=hTPTIAw46QM:_JMwro16hJo:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?i=hTPTIAw46QM:_JMwro16hJo:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=hTPTIAw46QM:_JMwro16hJo:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?i=hTPTIAw46QM:_JMwro16hJo:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=hTPTIAw46QM:_JMwro16hJo:oCFASsrFxfc"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=oCFASsrFxfc" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation/~4/hTPTIAw46QM" height="1" width="1"/

Cryptococcus in Cats

a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20421942"Byrnes EJ, III, Li W, Lewit Y et al: Emergence and pathogenicity of highly virulent Cryptococcus gattii genotypes in the northwest United States, PLoS Pathog 6:e1000850, 2010./abr / br / The fungus Cryptococcus gatti has the potential to cause life-threatening illness in humans and animals. It is the most common systemic fungus infecting cats. In the last decade, C gatti has emerged as an important pathogen in northwestern North America, including Canada and the US. Normally it is found associated with Eucalyptus trees in tropical and subtropical regions. The emergence of this pathogen in temperate climates may indicate an expansion of its ecological niche. Genetic analysis of this pathogen, as for many others, provides important epidemiologic information. These researchers genetically characterized a number of isolates from the Pacific NW outbreak. The strains from these outbreaks, known as VGIIa and VGIIc, were found to be genetically related and are more virulent than typical strains of C. gatti. In addition, they found that the outbreak is expanding, and the diversity of hosts infected is increasing, affecting a range of mammals in urban and rural areas. The rising incidence of cryptococcosis in humans and animals in this region indicates the need for increased awareness. While still rare, it is unclear why certain humans and animals become infected (i.e. what are the risk factors?). Expansion of the outbreak into California is plausible. The precise origin of these more virulent strains remains unclear. [VT]br / br / bRelated articles:/bbr / a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17370514"MacDougall L, Kidd S, Galanis E et al: Spread of Cryptococcus gattii in British Columbia, Canada and detection in the Pacific Northwest, USA, Emerg Infect Dis 13:42, 2007./abr / br / More on cat health: a href="http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/Health.html"Winn Feline Foundation library/abr / a href="http://www.facebook.com/WinnFelineFoundation"Join us on Facebook/abr / a href="http://www.twitter.com/WinnFeline"Follow us on Twitter/adiv class="blogger-post-footer"Providing expert cat health information and supporting cat health research since 1968.img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1170470470666539402-3387975872604293439?l=winnfelinehealth.blogspot.com' alt='' //divdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=FtgWduMKt0s:BOPifAtWrW4:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=FtgWduMKt0s:BOPifAtWrW4:UT3xtbGYFzA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=UT3xtbGYFzA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=FtgWduMKt0s:BOPifAtWrW4:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=FtgWduMKt0s:BOPifAtWrW4:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?i=FtgWduMKt0s:BOPifAtWrW4:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=FtgWduMKt0s:BOPifAtWrW4:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?i=FtgWduMKt0s:BOPifAtWrW4:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?a=FtgWduMKt0s:BOPifAtWrW4:oCFASsrFxfc"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation?d=oCFASsrFxfc" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CatHealthNewsFromTheWinnFelineFoundation/~4/FtgWduMKt0s" height="1" width="1"/