About 14 percent of the U.S. population is infected with Toxocara, or internal roundworms, contracted from dogs and cats. That’s according to the results of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study announced at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in Philadelphia.

The CDC study shows the transmission of Toxocara from dogs and cats to people is most common in young children and youth under age 20, and more common in non-Hispanic Blacks than in Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic Whites of all age groups. It is highest in lower socioeconomic and less-educated populations. All children, however, are more susceptible to infection given their propensity to play in and sometimes eat contaminated soil.

Infections are acquired by accidental ingestion of Toxocara eggs found in environments contaminated with feces of infected dogs and cats. This includes play areas and sandboxes.

“The results of this study demonstrate that Toxocara infection in the United States is more widespread and common than previously understood,” said Peter Schantz, VMD, PhD, an epidemiologist in the Division of Parasitic Diseases at the CDC and a founding board member of the Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC). “Although most persons infected with Toxocara have no apparent symptoms, this infectious agent is capable of causing blindness and other serious systemic illness, which makes it a public health issue.”

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Many puppies are born in Oklahoma each year in substandard conditions, lacking veterinary care and proper nutrition.

Oklahoma has no regulation of the dog breeding industry. Rep. Lee Denney veterinarian from Cushing, hopes to change that next year with legislation that would put in place local regulations and licensing requirements for dog breeders in Oklahoma. The state is the second-largest producer in the country of commercial pets, only behind Missouri.

The legislation, known as the Oklahoma Pet Quality Assurance and Protection Act, would put in place state-mandated regulations for Oklahoma dog breeders. Under the proposed bill, breeders who sell or give away 25 or more animals annually would have to be licensed through the state, likely through the Agriculture, Food and Forestry Department.

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Equine veterinarians and public health officials are urging horse owners and others who come in frequent contact with horses to wash their hands and clean grooming tools after each use in order to reduce the risk of contracting an antibiotic-resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus known as MRSA (methicillin-resistant S. aureus). The pathogen–blamed for the recent deaths of two boys–frequently resides in the nasal passages, skin, and intestines of horses. It can be transmitted from horses to humans and vice versa via direct contact or through contact with contaminated grooming or other tools.

“Probably the most important method for transmission from horses to humans or humans to horses is via hand contamination,” said Paul Morley, DVM, PhD, director of biosecurity for the James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Colorado State University. “The most important method of preventing transmission includes washing hands before and after contacting different horses and before you eat, or touch your face.”

Morley also recommended using disposable gloves when working with wounded horses that could be infected with MRSA.

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A new study published in Veterinary Microbiology found methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) prevalent in Canadian pig farms and pig farmers, pointing to animal agriculture as a source of the deadly bacteria.

The Veterinary Microbiology study (Khanna et al. 2007) is the first to show that North American pig farms and farmers commonly carry MRSA. The study looked for MRSA in 285 pigs in 20 Ontario farms. It found MRSA at 45% of farms (9/20) and in nearly one in four pigs (71/285). One in five pig farmers studied (5/25) also were found to carry MRSA, a much higher rate than in the general North American population. The strains of MRSA bacteria found in Ontario pigs and pig farmers included a strain common to human MRSA infections in Canada.

An estimated nine million Canadian hogs will be imported into the United States this year.

A study published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) (Klevens et al. 2007) estimated almost 100,000 MRSA infections in 2005, and nearly 19,000 deaths in the United States. In comparison, HIV/AIDS killed 17,000 people that year.

Until recently, conventional wisdom had MRSA pegged as an opportunistic infection occurring mainly in hospitals. The JAMA study found that even healthy people are developing MRSA infections. The Veterinary Microbiology study points to pig farms as a possible source of these resistant infections, as have earlier European studies.

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The DNA of a 4-year-old Abyssinian cat named Cinnamon, whose well-documented lineage can be traced back several generations to Sweden, has been sequenced. Cinnamon is one of several mammals that are currently being analyzed using “light” (two-fold) genome sequence coverage. To make sense of Cinnamon’s raw sequence data, a multi-center collaboration of scientists leveraged information from previously sequenced mammalian genomes as well as previous gene-mapping studies in the cat. In doing so, they found that Cinnamon’s sequences spanned about 65% of the euchromatic (gene-containing) regions of the feline genome.

The similarity between the cat genome and six recently completed mammalian genomes (human, chimpanzee, mouse, rat, dog, and cow) allowed the scientists to identify 20,285 putative genes in the cat genome. The comparison also revealed hundreds of chromosomal rearrangements that have occurred among the different lineages of mammals since they diverged from a diminutive ancestor that roamed the earth among the dinosaurs some 100 million years ago.

The genome sequence analysis is certainly expected to lead to health benefits for domestic cats, 90 million of which are owned by Americans alone, according to The Humane Society. But the domestic cat also serves as an excellent model for human disease, which is one reason why the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) initially authorized the cat genome sequencing project three years ago.

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People and pets are now living longer than ever before. As owners, we naturally want our pets to live the longest, healthiest lives possible. After all Pets aren’t just pets, they are cherished members of our family and for most of us, best friends. Our love is so deep, and our relationship so special, that today almost 75% of Americans wouldn’t hand over their pets even in exchange for $1 million cash.

Longevity is attributed to 70% to lifestyle and 30% to genetics. Up to 90% of diseases in pets are due to the degenerative processes associated with aging. Research confirms the fact that optimal nutritional supplementation can help deter and slow the aging process. Proper vitamin supplementation will promote your pet’s health, help your dog or cat enjoy longer, happier, healthier days, and ultimately enhance quality of life for you both.

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The days of putting a sick or injured pet in the back seat and rushing to the vet may be drawing to a close.

Animal ambulances loaded with modern equipment once reserved for human use are cropping up across the country, and emergency medical service providers here in Connecticut have also taken an interest in pet care. A collaboration of nonprofit groups and the Connecticut Veterinary Medical Association has put pet-sized oxygen masks in the hands of departments serving more than 100 communities in the state.

One ambulance group has taken it a step further still: Several emergency medical technicians with Derby’s Storm Ambulance Corps recently completed a dog rescue course taught by Jo-Anne Brenner, operations director for Ontario, Canada-based Alpha Response, a provider of customized medical training. The course covered a variety of emergency medical procedures once reserved for humans which Brenner and colleagues have adapted for animals.

Top 10 Items Surgically Removed from Pets

According to Veterinary Pet Insurance, socks, underwear, and panty hose top the list of items that must be surgically removed after being ingested by household pets. In a release issued today by VPI, the California based pet health insurance company lists the top 10 most common surgically removed items based on reports from its claims adjusters. They are:

1. Socks
2. Underwear
3. Panty Hose
4. Rocks
5. Balls
6. Chew Toys
7. Corn Cobs
8. Bones
9. Hair Ties/Ribbons
10. Sticks

While these are the 10 most common, the complete list of ingested items that have required surgical removal is broad and seemingly limited only to what a pet can get a hold of and has an interest in. Some of the other items adjusters have seen include rubber bands, batteries, pagers, nails, needles, and baby-bottle nipples. The cost to the pet owner to diagnose the problem and remove the item can run about $1000. VPI policy holders are reimbursed for the expense.

“It’s no secret that cats are curious and dogs like to chew on things,” said Dr. Carol McConnell, vice president and chief veterinary medical officer for VPI. “Unfortunately, those traits can motivate pets to chew on, bite, or swallow items they shouldn’t. Some of these objects will pass naturally, but others have a tendency to become lodged in pets’ gastrointestinal tracts, resulting in pain, vomiting, or internal injury. In those cases, surgery may be a necessity.”

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Some veterinarians are documenting more and more cases of drug-resistant staph infections in dogs and cats, but say there is no reason for alarm among pet owners if they follow measures of simple hygiene.

Dr. Lewis Gelfand, a Long Beach, N.Y., veterinarian, said he’s treating an increasing number of animals with skin eruptions infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, called MRSA. The cases seem to have increased, he said, in recent months.

“It’s definitely a rapidly expanding problem,” Gelfand said, adding that he has had 19 cases in dogs in the past year. “I believe it is a significantly underdiagnosed problem. We have been seeing dermatological cases as well as open sores. “I haven’t had a case in a cat yet but I am sure it’s just a matter of time.”
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When the order to evacuate Bouquet Canyon neighborhood came down, it came fast. Thomas Davis’ wife, Lupe, managed to grab cats Nipper and Sweet Pea. Four others scattered and hid throughout their Santa Clarita, Calif., home.

A police officer arrived and told Lupe to get out right away, Davis says, forcing her to leave the other four cats and dog Buddy behind.

The Davises, like thousands of Southern California residents fleeing the devastating fires, made the agonizing decision to leave their pets in their fire-threatened homes. Now, volunteers and animal control officials are launching a massive effort to rescue those pets and provide shelter to the ones that got out.

“We had to cross the fire line,” says Bobby Dorafshar, who went into the Bouquet Canyon neighborhood Monday to rescue Buddy, a Labrador mix, and the four cats. Dorafshar is president of the animal rescue group New Leash on Life in Santa Clarita.

He and another rescuer couldn’t find three of the cats, which were hiding inside the house, but managed to coax Cookie into a carrier, Davis says. Cookie was so distraught, however, she clawed her way out of the carrier and ran away outside, he says.

Cookie, a tortoiseshell, long-haired cat, is still missing. Davis discovered the other three cats safe inside the home when he returned Wednesday.

“The whole thing has taken such an emotional toll,” says Davis, a hospice chaplain, who was out of town at the time of the evacuation. “I just wish I could get Cookie back.” Read the rest of this entry »