Since the start of the Pet Travel Scheme in 2000, over 571,000 cats dogs & ferrets have entered the UK. In 2008 alone, the totals were 98,737 dogs and 10,700 cats.

Having travelled regularly with my dog, I have first-hand experience of the pleasure of going into a restaurant in France without having some nork telling you that it’s against the law to bring your dog in with you (which despite what they say, it isn’t, at least in the UK).

The main argument for the old quarantine system was that it kept Rabies out of the UK, and half a million pets later, it appears that the system does work.

However, what didn’t feature in the public debate was the fact that we also wanted to keep a number of other nasty foreign diseases out.

Amongst them were insect-spread infections with fantastic names like leishmaniasis, babesiasis, erhlichiosis, dirofilariasis, and a particularly nasty tapeworm called Echinococcus multilocularis that is rather good at killing people in eastern Europe as we speak.

Although we do not have anything approaching accurate figures, all the relevant authorities agree (and that includes the vets in practice who now see the cases), that these diseases - except the nasty tapeworm one - are here in the UK and are becoming steadily more common.

The current period of ’special requirement’ for dogs and cats to have a tick & tapeworm treatment before entry into the UK is due to come to an end in September 2010, and the EU, in it’s search for harmonisation, is minded to leave open the borders for animal transport into the UK, so watch out.

In a couple of years words like leishmaniasis, babesiasis, erhlichiosis, dirofilariasis, and a particularly nasty tapeworm called Echinococcus multilocularis will be tripping off your tongue in the way that ‘flea’ and ‘tick’ do today…

But that’s EU harmonisation for you.

I know I shouldn’t mention it, but having spent 5 years of my life working for the RSPCA, and another 4 years working overseas for a different but essentially similar animal welfare charity, I feel I’ve earned the right…

Reading the 2008 RSPCA Science Review, I came across 3 pieces that caught my eye

1. Entitled Duck welfare project. No problem there, until in the closing lines they referred to ‘a commercially viable system enabling ducks to perform key water-related behaviours’.

That’ll be swimming, then.

2. On a more serious note, I was delighted to find out about the RSPCA microsite www.supportchickennow.co.uk (yes, really), which some scurrilous wag has suggested might possibly be a covert sister site to the much visited www.eatvegetablebiryani.co.uk. The site reported massive increases in sales of free-range and organic chicken at the major supermarkets after the recent television campaigns & celebrity chef documentaries. Good job.

3. In late 2007, the US Food & Drug Administration concluded that meat and milk products from cloned cattle, pigs and goats and their offspring were safe for human consumption.

Personally I find this a slightly scary step off into the unknown.

But, proving yet again that we are nations cultures divided by our common language and culture, in September 2008, European parliamentarians voted overwhelmingly in support of a motion urging the Commission to prohibit the cloning of animals for food.

Given my long-held view that Government and politicians in general mostly seem to act as if they are no more than the Public Entertainments division of Big Business, I don’t hold out high hopes for their success, but it’s a good start.

Oh and apparently the UK Kennel Club has just announced that from March 2009 onwards, it will no longer register puppies born from mother/son, father/daughter or brother/sister matings.

What a world.

Every year, the UK’s vets are invited to vote half a dozen of their members onto the council of the RCVS, the profession’s governing body.
 

Curiously enough, this year (as usual) only a mere 17% of the 15,000 or so eligible to do so actually bothered to vote, which I suppose is a comment of sorts.  On, err, electoral impotence, the staunch revolutionary independence of the electorate, their general boredom with life, lack of time, sense of hopelessness etc etc.
 

For more years than I can remember (13, actually – Ed.), one of the candidates has been one Thomas Lonsdale, a British vet who now practises in Australia. Apart from the obvious inconvenience of the geographical location of his chosen home were he to have to attend weekly meetings in London, the most interesting thing about his candidature has been his resolute stand against the commercial pet food industry.
 

He is the man behind the Raw Meaty Bones books and campaigns. In his manifesto, he speaks of ‘the diet-induced pandemic of dental disease’ and suggests that ‘our profession is not merely swayed, but bent, twisted and controlled by junk food makers’.
 

He urged the veterinary electorate to ‘consider which candidates are likely to perpetuate the junk pet food scandal and which candidates offer prospects for a solution’.
 

Of the measly 17% of vets who could be bothered to put a few crosses on the form and stuff it in the pre-paid envelope, he as usual garnered the support of but a few hundred.
 

Which is probably a shame.

Second up is an update on kidney transplantation in cats.

Our dearly beloved Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (that’s the UK profession’s governing body) has expressed grave concerns about the ethical issues raised by the issue of kidney transplants for cats.

Whilst it is clearly true that kidney failure is a major killer of cats, and that transplantation of a healthy kidney into an otherwise dying cat can extend the happy & healthy life of the lucky recipient, what of the donor cat?

In human medicine, this procedure should only go ahead with the express informed consent of the person donating a kidney. Unless, that is, you happen to be one of those unfortunate individuals who wakes up after a night on the tiles with a nasty back ache and a massive scar where one of your kidneys used to be – and yes, it does happen, but probably not in Tunbridge Wells.

Given that any potential feline donor will be unable to read the small print, sign the form and enjoy spending the cash, the upside for them has to be fairly limited.

The cat kidney transplantation programmes in place in the USA report that around 75% of recipient cats survive long enough to leave hospital. Around 60% make it through the first year. The average survival time is around 2 years although there are reports of 7-year survivors.

The cost? Aound $10,000 for the pre-testing, the surgery and hospitalisation, followed by about $2,000 a year for medication and maintenance.

Oh, and a condition is that the donor cat is adopted by the recipient cat’s owner.

Does that make it all right?

A recent survey of 4000 people bitten by dogs in Spain has come up with the following findings:- dog bites are more common in areas of low population- more men than women get bitten, with a peak in boys aged 5-9 years

- children are more likely to be bitten on the head and neck, adults cop it on the extremities

- more bites occur in the summer than winter

- lots of bites occur when the subsequent victim is attempting to help a dog that has been hit by a car or hurt in a dog-on-dog fight

- the biters tend to be large, young male dogs that are known to the victim

My experience tells me that (as a large, male but no longer so young vet) I am most likely to be bitten or scratched if I haven’t had enough sleep the night before.

Which leads me to one of a number of the golden rules of veterinary practice that I bore students with.

1. Get enough sleep, unless you like getting shredded
2. Don’t wear black unless you like being obviously coated in your last patients’ cast-offs
3. Eat at any opportunity you can. Sod’s law dictates that at the very moment when there would be a natural conjunction between your imminent starvation and the arrival of a nice plate of steaming spaghetti / toasted cheese sandwiches / cake, the natural order of things requires a third element to be thrown into the equation. This being a seriously ill / grievously injured or fetid creature that requires your immediate attention until such point that either the food has congealed, died of old age or has been stolen and eaten by either the practice dog or another vet obeying Rule #3.

 A loyal reader has sent us the following link to the NHS information page:

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Pandemic-flu/Pages/QA.aspx#Howdangerous

Meanwhile, our friends at the WHO have announced: 

The situation continues to evolve. As of 06:00 GMT, 2 May 2009, 15 countries have officially reported 615 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection.

Mexico has reported 397 confirmed human cases of infection, including 16 deaths. The 241 rise in cases from Mexico compared to 23:30GMT of 1 May reflects ongoing testing of previously collected specimens. The United States Government has reported 141 laboratory confirmed human cases, including one death.

The following countries have reported laboratory confirmed cases with no deaths - Austria (1), Canada (34), China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (1), Denmark (1), France (1), Germany (4), Israel (2), Netherlands (1), New Zealand (4), Republic of Korea (1), Spain (13), Switzerland (1) and the United Kingdom (13).

Those most reliable of sources of information, the weekend newspapers seem to quoting ‘leading scientists’ as saying that maybe swine flu isn’t that serious after all.. 

The World Health Organisation last night upgraded to Phase 5 the state of pandemic alert. This means:

Phase 5 is characterized by human-to-human spread of the virus into at least two countries in one WHO region. While most countries will not be affected at this stage, the declaration of Phase 5 is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalize the organization, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short.

The WHO bulletin last night stated: The situation continues to evolve rapidly. As of 18:00 GMT, 29 April 2009, nine countries have officially reported 148 cases of swine influenza A/H1N1 infection. The United States Government has reported 91 laboratory confirmed human cases, with one death. Mexico has reported 26 confirmed human cases of infection including seven deaths.

The following countries have reported laboratory confirmed cases with no deaths - Austria (1), Canada (13), Germany (3), Israel (2), New Zealand (3), Spain (4) and the United Kingdom (5).

WHO advises no restriction of regular travel or closure of borders. It is considered prudent for people who are ill to delay international travel and for people developing symptoms following international travel to seek medical attention, in line with guidance from national authorities.

The UK Chief medical Officer has been quoted as saying that most people will recover….

Keep washing your hands

For those of you who, like my teenage daughter, are in a state of advanced panic about the possibility of a swine influenza epidemic, here are a few key points:

It is true that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has just raised its current state of Pandemic Alert to Phase 4 of 6, where Phase 4 is characterized by verified human-to-human transmission of an animal or human-animal influenza reassortant virus able to cause “community-level outbreaks.” Phase 4 indicates a significant increase in risk of a pandemic but does not necessarily mean that a pandemic is a forgone conclusion.

However:

1) the world’s population is somewhere around 6,000,000,000 

2)  a WHO report today stated that: ‘The current situation regarding the outbreak of swine influenza A(H1N1) is evolving rapidly. As of 27 April 2009, the United States Government has reported 40 laboratory confirmed human cases of swine influenza A(H1N1), with no deaths. Mexico has reported 26 confirmed human cases of infection with the same virus, including seven deaths. Canada has reported six cases, with no deaths, while Spain has reported one case, with no deaths.”

3) Each year 3-4,000 deaths are attributed to influenza in the UK alone. During epidemics, this number can be much higher, e.g. 30,000 excess deaths in 1989-90 with 89% of these being in people aged over 65 years

As to the virus concerned in this latest outbreak, the UK DEFRA website says:

‘The emerging news about a new variant human flu virus in USA and Mexico suggests that the virus is most similar to swine influenza viruses.

Influenza viruses undergo regular genetic changes and different influenza viruses can gain genetic material from other influenza viruses, even viruses more commonly found in other species. This is known as ‘reassortment’. The new variant of human influenza that has been identified in the USA and Mexico appears to have genetic material from pig viruses as well as human influenza viruses. 

We’ll keep you posted 

(Or more tales of tails on the other side of the pond to amaze and enthral the Brits)Firstly news that the President of the World has finally fulfilled his promise to his daughters to get a dog. Call me old fashioned, but I seem to remember him saying something to the effect that he hadn’t decided what breed it would be yet, but that it was definitely going to be a rehomer from a dog pound.Rock On, Obama, I know you were thinking. Yet more evidence that the Messiah has finally returned to Earth.

But then what did I hear the other day? Did I hear that actually he ended up getting a Portuguese Water Dog (nothing wrong with that), as a gift from Senator Kennedy? Nothing wrong with that either, you might be thinking, but something inside of me is worrying about the slippery slope phenomenon.

He promised me that his hound dog was going to be a pound dog, and now it turns out to be a blue blood through and through. Born to privilege beyond my wildest dreams, and destined for life in the social fast lane.

You do have to watch these guys - if he can go back on as critical an election night promise as that, what hope is there for more trivial decisions on Iraq and Afghanistan?

That’s probably because he’s got CCD (that’s Canine Cognitive Dysfunction to you)

Yes, it’s another one of those glorious acronyms hiding a euphemism that shields our delicate sensibilities from the grim reality that, err, you’ve got an old dog.

Now according to a recent paper in that august publication, the Journal of Small Animal Practice, signs of CCD (come on, wake up, that’s Canine Cognitive Dysfunction, otherwise known as AMRFYDTLTYA, or A Marked Reluctance For Your Dog To Listen To You Anymore) can be found in 22.5% of geriatric dogs.

By my admittedly simplistic calculations, that means that somewhere around 77.5% of geriatric dogs may be physically aged but mentally sharp as a pin.

Do you ever get the sensation that you’re being led a bit of a dance here?

Interestingly, signs of CCD were almost TWICE as common in neutered dogs in comparison with entire dogs.

Luckily, there is a nutraceutical supplement that contains essential fatty acids, antioxidants and free-radical scavengers, that has shown that ‘significant positive changes occurred in both the objective behaviour of dogs suffering from CCD as well as in the perception of the dog’s condition by people in regular contact with them’.

Just one other point. The criteria they looked at were 1. Sleep/wake cycles, 2. Social interaction, 3. Learning and house training and 4. Signs of disorientation.

With the possible exception of house training (still OK on that one), I think I can admit to a noticeable weakening on all 4 counts.

Does that mean I have VCD (Vet’s Cognitive Disorder)?

I celebrate the fact that I am now officially on the slippery downward slope to becoming a UOF (Useless Old Fart).