Out-of-date adder antivenom: to use or not to use?

I am not going to go into any detail here suffice to say that when it comes to treating envenomation by the common adder (common European adder, Vipera berus), antivenom is the only therapy shown to have a beneficial impact on progression and outcome. It is true that mortality in dogs and cats from bites by this snake is (very) low but antivenom use can significantly reduce severity and duration of morbidity which attenuates suffering and saves pet carers money too! As I say, I am not going to get into any more about the treatment here – except to say NO STEROIDS and NO EMPIRICAL ANTIBIOTICS!

Inducing emesis in cats: what's to be done?

Cats do not tend to ingest poisons as often as dogs do, this we know, and therefore the scenario in which one may be considering inducing emesis in a cat is encountered less often. That said, the Veterinary Poisons Information Service (VPIS), based in the UK, gets more or less one telephone enquiry a day about a cat that has ingested a toxin (personal communication, 2014) so it is not totally unheard of! I am going to skip some of the other talking points about gastrointestinal decontamination, especially in cats, here and just consider the circumstance in which it has been decided to induce emesis in a cat. What are the options?

Neonatal puppy viability: modified APGAR score

I imagine most people will agree that perinatal and neonatal medicine in companion animal practice lacks a certain degree of sophistication and expertise when compared to human medicine. The reasons for this are of course numerous and not for elaboration here. I did recently come across someone referring to the modified APGAR score when describing a case of dystocia in a bitch and I must admit I had not heard of it being used before.

Feline arterial thromboembolism (FATE): 10 points and a paper

Theory refresher

I came across the paper below on feline arterial thromboembolism (FATE) and thought I would share some of its findings.

Journal bits 'n' pieces 001 Dog blood types and Methocarbamol CRI

These ‘journal bits ‘n’ pieces’ blogs are meant to be summaries of the background to and findings of interesting journal articles I come across without any intention to discuss the methodology or critique the papers.

What's involved in making a clinical decision?

Clinicians make decisions all the time, indeed it is inherent in being a ‘clinician’, but what are the factors that influence the decisions we make. Some came to mind (in no particular order)…

Immunosuppressive drugs in canine primary IMHA: what's the evidence?

Background

In the treatment of immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia (IMHA), both primary (idiopathic) and secondary, immunosuppressive therapy is essential.