October 2023

Welcome to the latest edition of the scientific newsletter!

This issue includes news of the upcoming Antibiotic Amnesty, summaries of recently published research on a variety of topics, scientific news and a variety of upcoming conferences and events. Access to full journal articles featured is not provided via this newsletter (unless the article is already open access).

The scientific newsletter is intended to facilitate an evidence-based approach to veterinary medicine and we hope that the content is interesting and valuable to you. Have a suggestion for content or features for future newsletters? Please get in touch at [email protected]

Take part in this year's Antibiotic Amnesty

The veterinary profession is coming together again this November to hold an Antibiotic Amnesty campaign, which encourages the public to return out-of-date and unused antibiotics for safe disposal to help tackle the growing issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

A campaign toolkit has been developed for practices, comprising a range of promotional assets including reception posters, practice guidance documents, client hand-outs, pre-written social media posts, newsletter content and animations for use on practice screens. Find out more about registering your practice to take part and download the toolkit.

Research paper spotlight

Stakeholder opinion-led study to identify canine priority diseases for surveillance and control in the UK.

Read the full blog.

Which canine infectious diseases should be prioritised in surveillance and control programmes? This new study is the first to use a stakeholder opinion-led approach to identify the most impactful infectious diseases that should be prioritised for inclusion in a nationwide surveillance and response strategy.

Cuartero CT, Radford AD, Szilassy E, Newton JR and Sánchez-Vizcaíno F (2023) Stakeholder opinion-led study to identify canine priority diseases for surveillance and control in the UK. Vet Record. https://doi.org/10.1002/vetr.3167 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37415378/

Journal Watch

A selection of the latest papers in small animal veterinary medicine.

1) Clinical Success of Guided Tissue Regeneration for Treating Vertical Bone and Furcation Defects in Dogs

Lee BL, Soukup J, Rendahl A, Goldschmidt S (Frontiers in Veterinary Science; Sec. Veterinary Dentistry and Oromaxillofacial Surgery)

This study evaluated the clinical success rate of guided tissue regeneration (GTR) for treating advanced periodontal disease in a large canine cohort. A total of 112 GTR procedures performed from 2003-2021 were retrospectively evaluated including pre- and posttreatment (3-12 month) periodontal probing depths of 104 treated teeth, dental radiographs of 73 treated teeth, and both diagnostic modalities in 64 treated teeth. Probing depth, radiographically apparent bone height, bone graft material, barrier membrane material, and tooth extraction adjacent to the GTR site were investigated as factors affecting success. Vertical bone defects were evaluated separately from furcation defects. GTR was clinically successful, defined as objective improvement in probing depth, objective decrease in radiographic vertical bone defect, and subjective radiographic gain in bone height, in 90.3% of vertical bone defects. Success was significantly associated with the magnitude of initial probing depth, and type of barrier membrane used. GTR was clinically successful, defined as objective improvement in furcation probing and subjective radiographic improvement of the bone in the furcation, in 22.2% of furcation defects. When F3 lesions were excluded, GTR was successful in 64.3% of furcation defects. GTR is an appropriate treatment to maintain teeth in the oral cavity of dogs with proper client counseling and patient selection but is most likely to be successful in vertical defects.

2) Use of maropitant for pain management in domestic rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) undergoing elective orchiectomy or ovariohysterectomy

Roeder M, Boscan P, Rao S, Proença L, Guerrera W, Grayck M et al. (Journal of Exotic Pet Medicine)

Background:

Pain control is a challenge in domestic rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). The objective of this study was to describe the effect of maropitant on pain scores, food intake, and fecal output in domestic rabbits following elective orchiectomy or ovariohysterectomy.

Methods:

Rabbits that underwent orchiectomy or ovariohysterectomy at three institutions were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: low-dose maropitant (2 mg/kg SC once), high-dose maropitant (10 mg/kg SC once), and control (1 mL/kg saline SC once). Rabbits were monitored using video surveillance postoperatively. Pain scores were assessed by three blinded observers, and results were grouped into time frames after surgery. Food intake and fecal output were measured until discharge.

Results:

There were no local side effects with maropitant administration. There were no statistically significant differences between groups with regard to pain behaviors. An inverse trend was noted between increasing maropitant dosage versus food intake and fecal output, which was not statistically significant.

Conclusion and Clinical Relevance:

Maropitant at 2 mg/kg SC and at 10 mg/kg SC failed to significantly reduce pain when compared to control group.

3) Retrospective study and outcome of 307 cats with feline infectious peritonitis treated with legally sourced veterinary compounded preparations of remdesivir and GS-441524 (2020–2022)

Taylor SS, Coggins S, Barker EN, Gunn-Moore D, Jeevaratnam K, Morris JM et al. (Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery)

Objectives:

Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is a serious disease that arises due to feline coronavirus infection. The nucleoside analogues remdesivir and GS-441524 can be effective in its treatment, but most studies have used unregulated products of unknown composition. The aim of the present study was to describe the treatment of FIP using legally sourced veterinary-prescribed regulated veterinary compounded products containing known amounts of remdesivir (injectable) or GS-441524 (oral tablets).

Methods:

Cats were recruited via email advice services, product sales contacts and study publicity. Cats were excluded if they were deemed unlikely to have FIP, were not treated exclusively with the veterinary compounded products, or if there was a lack of cat and/or treatment (including response) data. Extensive cat and treatment data were collected.

Results:

Among the 307 cats recruited, the predominant type of FIP was most commonly abdominal effusive (49.5%) and then neurological (14.3%). Three treatment protocols were used; remdesivir alone (33.9%), remdesivir followed by GS-441524 (55.7%) and GS-441524 alone (10.4%). The median (range) initial treatment period duration and longest follow-up time point after starting treatment were 84 (1–330) days and 248 (1–814) days, respectively. The most common side effect was injection pain (in 47.8% of those given subcutaneous remdesivir). Of the 307 cats, 33 (10.8%) relapsed, 15 (45.5%) during and 18 (54.5%) after the initial treatment period. At the longest follow-up time point after completion of the initial treatment period, 84.4% of cats were alive. The cats achieving a complete response within 30 days of starting treatment were significantly more likely to be alive at the end of the initial treatment period than those cats that did not.

Conclusions and relevance:

Legally sourced remdesivir and GS-441524 products, either alone or used sequentially, were very effective in the treatment of FIP in this group of cats. Variable protocols precluded statistical comparison of treatment regimens.

4) A prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebocontrolled multisite, parallel-group field study in dogs with osteoarthritis conducted in the United States of America evaluating bedinvetmab, a canine anti-nerve growth factor monoclonal antibody

Michels GM, Honsberger NA, Walters RR, Tena JKS, Cleaver DM (Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia)

Objective:

Bedinvetmab, a fully canine anti-nerve growth factor monoclonal antibody, was evaluated in dogs for control of osteoarthritis-related pain in a study conducted to support registration in the USA.

Study design:

Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter, parallel-group study.

Animals:

General practice client-owned dogs with osteoarthritis (n = 272).

Methods:

Dogs were block randomized 1:1 to placebo (saline, n = 137) or bedinvetmab (n = 135; 0.5–1.0 mg kg–1) administered subcutaneously, once monthly. The primary end point, day 28 Canine Brief Pain Inventory (CBPI) treatment success (TS), required pain severity score (PSS; 0–10) decrease ≥1 and pain interference score (PIS; 0–10) decrease ≥ 2. CBPI TS rates [and number needed to treat (NNT)], change in scores [and standardized effect size (ES)], change in quality of life (QoL) and bedinvetmab half-life were calculated.

Results:

Significant (p < 0.05) improvement with bedinvetmab over placebo occurred (days 28, 42, 56, 84) for CBPI TS. Of cases evaluable for day 28 CBPI TS (placebo, n = 131; bedinvetmab, n = 128), success rates were 36.6% and 47.4%, respectively (p = 0.0410) (NNT, 9.3; PSS and PIS ES, 0.3). CBPI TS increased after the second dose in both groups, plateaued for bedinvetmab at day 42 and decreased for placebo beginning day 84. Day 84 NNT (4.3), PSS (0.4) and PIS (0.5) showed continued improvement with monthly dosing. After the first dose, mean (± standard deviation) bedinvetmab half-life was 19.1 (8.3) days. Adverse events were similar between groups and not considered treatment-related. There was a significant effect of bedinvetmab versus placebo on all CBPI components (PIS, PSS, QoL).

Conclusions and clinical relevance:

These results corroborated those previously reported and provide further support of safety and effectiveness of bedinvetmab (0.5–1.0 mg kg–1) administered subcutaneously at monthly intervals to dogs for control of osteoarthritis-related pain.

Would you like more updates on the latest research in veterinary medicine?

If you find these research summaries useful, don’t miss the new Scientific Shorts feature in our weekly newsletters, which brings you bitesize snippets from new papers on a variety of topics in veterinary medicine and science. Look out for these updates in our weekly newsletters!

Other news/resources:

BSAVA PetSavers update

PetSavers in print: newly published papers from PetSavers-funded studies

• Research published in the Journal of Small Animal Practice by Aarti Kathrani and colleagues has cultured Malassezia and other fungi from the duodenum of dogs with gastrointestinal signs undergoing routine endoscopic examination. The study reports the first isolation of M. pachydermatis, M. sympodialis, Kazachstania slooffiae and K. telluris from the canine duodenum. Further studies are needed to determine whether these are resident or transient fungi in the duodenum and whether yeast colonisation has a pathogenic effect on the host.
• Research deriving from a Master’s project on the roles of ageing and myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) in vascular dysfunction in dogs has been published in the American Journal of Veterinary Research. Marco Mazzarella and colleagues found that isometric myography of arteries from pet dogs is feasible and can identify loss of endothelial-dependent relaxation in dogs with MMVD postmortem.

Newly awarded PetSavers grants

PetSavers funding has been awarded to the following clinical research projects:

• Flow cytometric analysis of Ki-67 expression in canine cutaneous mast cell tumours and its prognostic value at University of Cambridge (£18,860.97).
• Blood adipokine and ghrelin concentrations in cats with chronically treated diabetes mellitus and with diabetes and hypersomatotropism undergoing hypophysectomy at RVC (£9,940, joint-funded with the Small Animal Medicine Society).
• An intelligent stethoscope for detecting hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in cats at University of Cambridge/RVC/Davies Veterinary Specialists (£10,000, joint-funded with the Veterinary Cardiovascular Society).

To find out about other recently funded PetSavers projects, click here. PetSavers relies solely on charitable donations and legacies, receiving none of the BSAVA membership fee. If you would like to contribute to future research projects, enabling evidence-based veterinary medicine and helping pets live longer, healthier lives, donate here.

BSAVA Research Notice Board

The BSAVA Research Notice Board lists clinical research projects from BSAVA members which other members can contribute to. Projects are in-line with BSAVA values and mission to promote excellence in small animal practice through science. Take a look at how you can get involved in current projects and how we can help you to promote your own research here.

Upcoming Events

Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists

The AVA spring meeting 2024 will be held on 15th – 17th May 2024 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

British Association of Veterinary Ophthalmologists

BrAVO’s winter meeting will be held in the Forest of Arden on 10th – 12th November 2023.

British Veterinary Dermatology Study Group

BVDSG's annual autumn meeting focusing on dermatological therapeutics will be held on 11th - 12th November in Birmingham.

British Veterinary Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine Association

BVRSMA are running a CPD day focused on spinal cord injury rehabilitation on 4th November at BSAVA’s office near Gloucester. Book at [email protected] by 29th October.

European Association of Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging

The autumn meeting will be held on 10th – 11th November 2023 in Tewinbury, Hertfordshire.

Small Animal Medicine Society (SAMSoc)

The SAMSoc autumn meeting will be held on 10th November 2023 in Warwick.

Veterinary Cardiovascular Society

The VCS autumn meeting will be held on 10th - 11th November 2023 at Chesford Grange, Warwickshire.

BSAVA Congress 2024 - registration open!

Early bird registration is now open for BSAVA Congress 2024, taking place on 21st – 23rd March in Manchester. Don’t miss the chance to register at early bird prices!