Just when I had finally given up hope of ever finding anything interesting or relevant ever again in our august professional journal, no less than 3 items caught my eye in just one edition.
At the risk of boring you…
Fish oils for arthritis, from the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association:
In a study of 127 dogs with confirmed arthritis over a 6 month period, half were supplemented with high levels of omega-3 fatty acids (fish oils) in their food and the other half just had the food. After six weeks, the owners – who didn’t know which groups their dogs were in – confirmed that the omega-3 treated dogs showed an improved ability to rise from a resting position and play, and by 12 and 24 weeks had an improved ability to walk, compared with the untreated dogs.
Many of the products marketed for skin problems (for example Gomega, Boracutin, Vet Solutions Aller G-3, Invigorate) contain high levels of Omega-3 fatty acids. So now it’s official – you can use these to help manage your dog’s arthritis.
Flea treatments for cats
Please do NOT try to treat your cats with over-the-counter small dog/puppy flea treatments containing permethrin. The products may look similar and you may think that since a cat may be much the same size as a small dog it might be OK, but it ISN’T. Cats are not small dogs. Permethrin can be extremely toxic to cats, so be careful. READ THE LABEL. Or better still, buy a completely safe product like Frontline.
Pergolide for donkeys
A correction on the dose regime for the human medicine Pergolide in the treatment of hyperadrenocorticism or Cushings disease in donkeys. And by chance, pergolide is available from…..vetscriptions
And finally (because that’s enough flagrant product endorsement)
One last item from the Veterinary Journal on the evaluation of udder shape. It is apparently important to be able to make distinctions between the shapes normal, large pendulous, overall small, small but pendulous and large between the hindquarters. There was me thinking that my farm vet colleagues spent their time crawling around in the mud worrying about minerals and lame sheep, when in fact it turns out that we all think about the same stuff…