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Last Updated: Oct 26th, 2008 - 17:41:44 |
MY PET WORLD: EXPERTS GATHER TO ADVOCATE FOR CATS
By Steve Dale
Cat didn't get their tongue. Experts from around the
country met in Palm Springs, CA, Feb. 5-6 to chart a course of action to
help cats at the CATalyst Summit. Cats don't fair as well as dogs when it comes to veterinary visits, they are more often abused than dogs, and they are relinquished to shelters more than their canine cousins - not to mention the plight of millions of stray and feral cats.
As an outcome of the meeting, the American
Association of Feline Practitioners and the American Animal Hospital
Association agreed to craft new guidelines for veterinary professionals
(subject to their respective boards' approval) on the latest and greatest techniques and protocols for treating cats, even how to make their practices more cat-friendly. Hill's Pet Nutrition promised to fund similar guidelines for the general public and will be released in 2009.
"We all went into the meeting with different
perspectives, and left agreeing to focus on helping the cat," said Dr. Jane Brunt, past president of the American Association of Feline Practitioners. Jim Flanigan (cq), director of marketing at the American Veterinary Medical Association, spoke to the group, offering new data which supports the unfortunate predicament cats face - not receiving the kind of veterinary care they should. In my talk, I suggested cats are the Rodney Dangerfield of pets: they get no respect.
Part of the problem is that cats need a public relations makeover. Misconceptions and myths have been repeated so often in
the media and within popular culture that they've been accepted as fact. Perhaps cats need a new spokesperson - a celebrity cat lover. Since his character loved cats in the movie "Meet the Parents," one Summit attendee is hoping Robert DeNiro will do a series of 'cats are cool' public service announcements. Since data illustrates that the old notion about cats being pets for women only is false, De Niro could say, "Real men can love cats, too."
This was the first CATalyst Summit. The goal is to
create an organized coalition of experts and organizations to advocate for cats, which the American Association of Feline Practitioners and the summit sponsor, Pfizer Animal Health, are now working on.
More pet world news:
A BOOST OF VIAGRA IS GOOD FOR THE HEART
In a new study published by the American College of
Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM), sildenafil citrate (Viagra) was given to 22 dogs with pulmonary hypertension, a kind of heart disease. The drug improved quality of life for most of these dogs, lessening and even eradicating symptoms. Researchers still don't know the long-term outcome for these dogs, since most are still alive thanks to the drug. No word yet on whether Viagra could ever be used to treat heart disease in people.
GREYHOUND STUDY
In another study published in the ACVIM Journal, the
health of retired racing Greyhounds was investigated. For all breeds of
dogs, there's tons of anecdotal talk about which diseases and behavior
tendencies are breed-specific but rarely solid evidence. This study offers real data about adopted Greyhounds once used for racing.
As is the case with many other breeds, cancer
accounted for the most deaths among the 747 Greyhounds in the study: 58%. Of those who succumbed to cancer, bone cancer was the most prevalent form, diagnosed in 46% of the Greyhounds studied. The authors also report that bone cancer (osteosarcoma) occurs most often in Greyhounds, followed by Rottweilers and Great Danes.
The most common acute problem in Greyhounds turns
out to be diarrhea, likely explained by the raw food diets many are fed as racing dogs. The most common chronic problem is osteoarthritis, which occurs in over half of all Greyhounds. The most common behavior problems, occurring in around 20 to 30 percent of the Greyhounds are noise phobia and/or storm phobia and/or separation anxiety.
FOLLOWING THE FELINE DNA MAP
The DNA of a 4-year-old Abyssinian cat, named
Cinnamon, has been sequenced, according to a report published recently in the journal Genome Research. The mapping of this cat's genetic makeup is expected to help investigators more efficiently research and treat feline diseases. Domestic cats possess over 250 naturally occurring hereditary disorders, some of which also occur in people. For example, Cinnamon's pedigree carries a genetic mutation that causes retinitis pigmentosa. The domestic cat is an excellent model for studying this eye disease in people.
(Steve's website is www.stevedalepetworld.com; he
can be heard Sundays on WGN Radio, 8 to 10 p.m. (www.wgnradio.com to listen live), and hosts Steve Dale's Pet World and The Pet Minute, both syndicated radio shows. He's also a contributing editor to USA Weekend.)
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