pet connection

After hearing what Dr. Laura D. Garrett of the University of Illinois had to say about Palladia at last month’s Western Veterinary Conference, I realized there’s more to the story than the fact that this is the first drug approved in the United States to treat canine cancer.

Palladia (toceranib phosphate) is what’s known as a “tyrosine kinase inhibitor.” That means it blocks an enzyme that can help cancer spread.

Other tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) include the human drugs Sutent (sunitinib) and Gleevec (imatinib mesylate), and a European veterinary drug, Masivet (masitinib), which will be known as “Kinavet” if it’s approved in the United States.

Right now, Palladia is approved to treat mast cell tumors in dogs, and it’s fairly successful at treating those that don’t respond to other forms of treatment. In one study, mast cell tumors were reduced in size in 43 percent of dogs who received the drug, while only 8 percent of the dogs given placebo responded similarly.

Dr. Garrett, who is a board certified specialist in oncology, cautioned that TKIs are not a first line of treatment, but are meant to be used for particularly severe mast cell disease and only after other forms of treatment, like surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, have failed.

Even then, these drugs don’t always work. But for some mast cell tumors, particularly those with mutations in what’s known as the c-kit gene, TKIs have a much greater chance of success. Your veterinarian can have your dog’s tumor tested to see if it has that mutation.

Another big plus to treating cancer with Palladia is that it can be given at home, unlike other forms of chemotherapy. However, that’s a minus, too, because it can cause pretty severe side effects, mostly gastrointestinal. Owners have to be very vigilant in watching for signs of diarrhea or vomiting, and getting the dog to the veterinarian immediately.

There’s another potential benefit for dogs in the approval of a veterinary TKI: research. Manufacturers of human drugs don’t test them for how well they work in animals, but those making veterinary drugs do. Pfizer and AB Science are continuing to sponsor research into mast cell tumor treatment and other uses of their TKIs, which can lead to better ways to treat many kinds of cancer.

And once a veterinary drug is approved for one use, it can legally be used “off-label” to help animals with other problems. So veterinarians can try TKIs in the hope that they might benefit animals who aren’t responding to other therapies. Their outcomes will contribute to the body of knowledge about this class of cancer drugs, and possibly lead to new research and new and better therapies.

The first FDA-approved veterinary cancer drug isn’t going to cure every case, or even most of them. Neither will other tyrosine kinase inhibitors as they roll out of the pipeline. But cancer is one of the worst enemies a veterinarian ever battles. The more weapons we have against it, the better.

Right now, only boarded specialists who treat cancer have access to the drug, although it’s expected to be available to veterinarians in general practice later this year. If your dog is diagnosed with a mast cell tumor and you want more information on TKIs, talk to your veterinarian and see if he’s likely to be helped by this drug.

Photo courtesy of Pfizer Animal Health.

Disclosures: Palladia is manufactured by Pfizer Animal Health, and Pfizer sponsors the web archive of the Pet Connection syndicated feature.

Dr. Garrett does not work for Pfizer, but received an honorarium for presenting on Palladia at the Western Veterinary Conference. She also received, as did all board certified veterinary specialists who treat cancer, free Palladia for use in her patients during its testing and introduction.

We tore across the grassy scrubland, as much as one can tear across grassy scrubland. Our top speed was probably 40 kilometers per hour, a little slower when there were obstacles in our way.

Who knew that I would find a DogCar to write about in Botswana? Except this one is not for hauling dogs to shows or agility trials or the veterinary clinic. No, this one is for going cross-country, following after packs of African wild dogs as they move through their enormous territory. It mows down bushes and small trees (which usually spring right back up again) and goes over logs with ease.

The 4×4 URI (which means “jump” in the Khoisan language) was designed by a Namibian farmer and is used by Kwando Lagoon Camp, where we stayed, and its sister camp Lebala, specifically for seeking out the wild dogs who live in the area. The open vehicles seat up to seven passengers, plus the guide in the driver’s seat and the tracker, who sits on a seat firmly attached to the hood.

What makes it different from the vehicles at other camps? Carlos, our guide, thumped the hood. “This is steel. That’s why we don’t mind bumps. We can go over stumps and big logs on the ground.”

Sometimes there were big holes that we didn’t see until we were in them or big logs blocking our route. We’d start over them and then stop. I’d think, ‘Well, this is it. We’re not going to get out of this one. Someone will have to come tow us.” And then Carlos would put it in high 4 and off we’d go.

The only trick, he says, is you have to know how to drive through sand and mud. If you don’t, that’s when you get stuck.

I’m thinking field trialers and Malibu dog owners in mudslide areas might want to special-order a few of these babies.

Want to change your cat’s diet? For the owners of many cats addicted to one food and one food only, that switch falls under the “easier said than done” category.

My cat Dickens has health issues that meant a diet change, but he arrived here at the age of 9 months as a kibble addict. When we discovered he had struvite crystals at the age of one and a half, I tried to incorporate canned food, but he wasn’t having any of it. Apparently canned food is, in this cat’s opinion, inedible.

He’s not alone. Dr. Lisa Peterson of CatInfo.org says that cats are often extremely hard to switch from one diet to another. Many are “addicted” to kibble, but more and more feline experts are suggesting that diets high in moisture content are healthier for cats. Others need to make the switch to a diet formulated for a specific health problem. Either way, diet change can be a difficult prescription to fill:

There are few things in life more frustrating than dealing with a finicky cat. The members of this species can be incredibly “set in their ways” when it comes to their dietary preferences. Cats, like children, often resist what is best for them.

The two most frequent comments that I hear from people when trying to convince them to feed their cats a healthier diet are “my cat won’t eat canned food” and “but my cat really likes his dry food.” Children really like potato chips and ice cream but that certainly does not mean those food items constitute optimal nutrition.

The transition process often involves much more than just plunking down a new food item. Time, patience, and tricks are often required.

One reason that cats like dry food so much is because the pet food companies do not play fair when manufacturing this sub-optimal food source. They coat the kibble with extremely enticing animal digest sprays which are very pleasing to a cat – making a poor quality diet very desirable to the target animal.

In addition to the aforementioned coating of dry food with animal digests, another issue is one of a crunchy texture which is very different from canned food. Cats are very resistant to such a drastic change in the texture of their food.

What can owners do? Fortunately, Dr. Peterson has suggestions and step-by-step tips:

The key is to do it slowly and with patience and incorporate various tricks for the stubborn cats. The most important issue is actually making the change, not how fast you accomplish it. I must say that my cats tested every ounce of patience I had over a 3 + month period of time during their transition from dry to canned food. They had been on dry food their entire lives and did not recognize canned food as food. My cats ranged in age from 2 years to 10 years at the time of the transition.

The single biggest mistake I see people make time and again is to say that their cat “won’t touch” the new food and then panic and fill up the bowl with dry food. In many cases, it is simply not that easy to get cats off of dry food! So, roll up your sleeves and be prepared to patiently out-stubborn your cat.

Boiled down to the basics, Dr. Peterson recommends switching diets when a cat is healthy, not when he gets sick. She recommends starting by mixing the two types of food together, and not to free feed because no one will change when they’re not hungry. You will end up throwing away some unconsumed canned food.

On the flip side, never let them go without eating for more than 24 hours maximum because they could get the potentially fatal hepatic lipidosis.

She offers numerous tips – freezing tuna water, sprinkling parmesan cheese, offering deli meat, dipping some kibble in juice from the can, crush the kibble and sprinkle it over the wet food, pet the cat while he’s eating wet food, and so on. The real trick is to have lots of patience for these enigmatic pets (or as I often call them, c*ts.) This is where we all need to stand up to the yowling and not buckle under to the pressure of the pleas. Keep reminding yourself that this change is the best thing for their health, and therefore for your peace of mind and wallet.

A year after Dickens had struvite crystals, he was having increasing difficulties with chronic constipation. I changed his kibble, shaved his long hair into a lion cut, gave him canned pumpkin, and gave him a stool softener at every meal. At the advice of a feline specialist I work with at the Veterinary Information Network, I made other changes. I started him off with little bits of heated, cooked chicken and then stopped heating it. Then I increased the amount of chicken. Then I started incorporating a commercial raw chicken mix  (I don’t even prepare food for myself most of the time.) Eventually he was eating only the raw chicken mixture, with the exception of an occasional rodent.

On Christmas day, Dickens and I spent the morning in the ER where he had an enema that removed a two-inch “clay-like” piece of stool. This blockage meant we were back to the drawing board for his diet.

Through trial and error with my veterinarian, we’ve arrived at a solution that seems to work for his obstipation (that’s the fancy word for chronic constipation).  Half of his meal is chicken I cook, and the other half is a high fiber kibble. He gets stool softener with every meal. Once or twice a week he gets flavored chewable cisapride.  Once in a great while I’ll use tuna instead of chicken. I want to get to the point where he’s not eating any kibble again, but for the moment this delicate balance of food is working for his urinary and digestive issues.

The good news is that he does not seem to have megacolon. The bad news is that we don’t know what’s wrong, but his low folate levels have improved, he’s gained weight, he’s pooping and peeing pretty normally, so for right now he’s doing well. Now he eats the chicken before he eats the kibble, whereas before kibble was his world. His diet over his lifetime – and his third birthday is in a couple of weeks – will undoubtedly see saw depending on his health issues.

The more willing he is to eat whatever is best for him at  any given time, the better off he’ll be. We all need to remember that and ignore the yowling, even if the neighbors think you are somehow torturing your c*ts.

When Dr. Marty Becker and Gina Spadafori first launched DogCars.com as an offspring to PetConnection.com, they set out to inform, educate and enlighten dog lovers about the dog-friendly differences in vehicles on the market today. Then, at the end of the first year, DogCars.com sorted through all its research to come up with a DogCar of the Year Best in Show award for the vehicle that best fit the safety and comfort attributes craved by serious canine carrying travelers.

What vehicle was the distinguished recipient of that first-ever DogCars.com Best In Show award? And the winner is . . . the Honda Element! The Element’s versatile cargo area and easy-to-clean interior were just some of the key points that made the Element the best among many other vehicles ranked high on the DogCar of the Year list.

The Element’s popularity among dog owners was so impressive that the marketing folks at Honda jumped at the opportunity to capitalize oncater to the dog-loving public by creating a cute little ad campaign featuring pups and the DogCars.com Best in Show logo.

It also set into motion the design of a new dog-friendly version of the Honda Element for 2010 that features a built in dog bed, flexible crate, stow-away ramp and many other accessories that make it appealing to those of us who like to travel with our dogs.

And the praise keeps rolling in for the Element. This year, the Dog Friendly Honda Element was back in the Best In Show winner’s circle when it tied with the Toyota Venza for top honors by DogCars.com.

Last month, Bark BuckleUp named the 2010 Dog Friendly Honda Element as of the Top 10 PetSafe vehicles. And DogSmith.com gave high praise for the Honda Element by endorsing it as the vehicle of choice for dog training professionals.

“The Honda Element reflects our DogSmith standards of superior quality and professionalism in pet care at an affordable price,” says  Niki Tudge  of DogSmith,

Now just because the Element is right for some dog-loving families, doesn’t mean that it’s right for everyone. That’s why DogCars.com provides in-depth reviews of a variety of vehicle makes and models, providing pluses and minus each one tested. Check them out here.

(Photo: Twyla, Harper and Bella pose in the dog friendly Honda Element during DogCars.com reviewer Kim Campbell Thornton’s test drive.)

It is a simple enough thing–  a 3- to 6-foot piece of leather, nylon or rope. In a pinch, I have even used a bungee cord, which has caused a few stares as I enter the teaching hospital, although it is utterly possible that the clown suit led to the stares, and the bungee had nothing to do with it.

The fact is a humble item can have the power of life over death.

That item? A leash.

Every day, veterinary hospitals everywhere receive thousands of trauma patients. For many of them, the lack of a simple leash led to injury. Some fell prey to the unlatched gate, some the open door and an opportunistic dash for freedom, but for many it is the naive belief that their master’s voice holds more sway than the tasty squirrel across the road.

In an instant, a joyful romp turns to tragedy, all set to the soundtrack of squealing tires and screaming brakes.

It is simply amazing the amount of trauma two tons of onrushing steel and aluminum can wreak upon tiny, furry bodies in just a split-second of impact. I am constantly amazed these impacts are even survivable.  Collapsed lungs, torn diaphragms, ruptured bladders, broken bones — these are all the sometimes invisible outcomes of trauma. Some of the injuries are dramatic and obvious, such as the many patients we see in ER with open fractures (what used to be called “compound” fractures, where the broken bones protrude from the skin). Some are more subtle, sometimes taking hours or even days to become apparent.

But most of these injuries were preventable with just a bit of planning and common sense.

When we are are faced with a trauma victim as doctors, we have a unique opportunity. Many trauma patients were perfectly healthy prior to getting injured, and can get right back to their previously scheduled lives after we patch them up — if nothing too serious is going on. But separating the seriously injured from the merely bruised and beaten can involve a mountain of testing and anxious waiting.

Not all accidents can be prevented, and most pet owners, especially the kind who read PetConnection, are responsible and have their pet’s safety topmost in their minds.  But there are still the lucky few out there who have managed to dodge a bullet for a while and walk with their dogs off-leash, or allow their dogs to roam unfenced. Luck tends to run out after a while, and I am here to tell you the consequences can be deadly. Costly and heart-wrenching for you, deadly for your dog.

Perhaps a bit of the glorious, glamorous and dangerous history of the dog leash (or ‘docg leigsh‘ as it was known in the original Gaelic) will convince some to adopt it.

Invented by by Archibald MacLeish in 1715 in Glasgow,  the leash was originally made of sheep parts that were deemed too awful to include in a Haggis. MacLeish’s wife, Peter (known to their close friends as Lucy), grew tired of the mountains of sheep innards that were scattered about their humble home and pestered her husband to do something about it.

At the same time, the neighbors just to the east of the MacLeish’s had a litter of Scottish Whisky Hounds. Now, nothing is cuter than a puppy,  but as those puppies grew up they were drawn to the overpowering and irresistible smell of sheep offal that wafted over from the MacLeish’s (a series of events which, coincidentally, gave rise to the common Gaelic saying of cluthd grrewl cwm ngongo lgthulan, or “cuter than a puppy covered in sheep pancreas”).

The neighbors, frustrated at having their prize sporting dogs come home every afternoon covered in intestines and pancreas (as cute as that is) decided to take matters into their own hands.  They built a sturdy fence and walked the dogs using the only available source of linear and easily knotted material available in highland Scotland in 1715 –  those selfsame sheep intestines! Invention surely is the bastard child of necessity.

Every time the neighbors would take one of the dogs for a walk, one would ask the other for a ‘MacLeish.’ Over time, and after a few rounds at the pub, this was shortened to, simply, a leash.

We don’t get too many chances in life to prevent badness and there’s no going back once your dog gets hit.  Don’t squander this chance: please use a MacLeish.