The 2016 NAVC (North American Veterinary Conferences) started today. I love to attend to this event because 1/ it is in Orlando and in January, all excuses are good to snowbird to Florida when you live in Ontario 2/ I love the learning experience : lots of veterinary lectures with great topics and great speakers. What a best way to kick off the year ?
Today I attended to different lectures on parasitology, working dogs & neonatology. Here are the 10 key take-aways I thought were important to share with our online community.
On protozoa infection in dogs & cats
#1 Up to 30% of purebred show cats in the US are infected with T foetus ;
#2 Tritrichomonas foetus is stable in moist feces for up to 7 days : therefore, no litter box sharing with sick animals ! ;
#3 The sampling technique should not be overlooked. One thing to keep in mind for instance : refrigeration kills trichomonads and can lead to false negatives depending on the test used ;
#4 Tritrichomonas Foestus : there are resistant isolates. Unfortunately in those cases today, not much can be done… Symptoms may abate but it can take up to 2 years to fully resolve ;
#5 Protozoa infection : there is a possibility of post infectious inflammatory bowel disease. Symptoms can go on for months beyond resolution of infection ;
On working dogs
#6 The biggest problem reported in working dogs : cuts and scraps, from far ! Respiratory problems are really limited compared to what one might think for animals working so close to the ground ;
#7 Physical fitness = the ability to perfom. It is not only about joints and bones. There are cardiovascular elements for sure, but also a mental piece to it. No doubt : to better perform, dogs need to feel good in their head ;
DR. EMMANUEL FONTAINE 