This is Marley. He has lymphoma and is receiving chemotherapy through the combined efforts of MSU Oncology, Veterinary Care Specialists and, of course, his owner.
Marley loves snow, playing and his owner and we were so happy to receive these pictures from his family this week.
Researchers in the veterinary clinical sciences department at THE Ohio State University, (I can make fun of them since I received my Masters of Science degree from OSU) , have reported a new technique for calming stressed felines. They developed a clip, similar to a large ladies hair clip, that is applied to the scruff (the loose skin) of the cats neck. This mimics the technique that mother cats use to subdue fractious kittens and move them. They found that this clip aided in relaxing the cat so that minor procedures could be performed without a struggle, creating a safer situation for cat and clinician! Even more important than the improved cooperation of the patient, they found that the cats were happier, some times purring and kneading the blanket they were on. They had lower blood pressures and in general were more content. They coined the phrase, 'clipnosis' for the technique.
About 15 years ago I was working at an area ER clinic where the techs and doctors felt it was cruel to 'scruff' or apply tension on the back of a stressed cats neck to aide in handling them. I thought that was odd since it quieted the cat and allowed us to treat it with minimal stress. I am glad to see that we now have some scientific proof that , once again, we just need to pay attention to those well designed systems that occur within nature.
I was speaking with a classmate from veterinary school recently, she reminded me, albeit gently, that we graduated from Michigan State's College of Veterinary Medicine 24 years ago. It is difficult to comprehend that it has been that long and that we are now the old timers that we looked upon with disdain when we graduated! Since that conversation, I have been thinking about how much patient care has changed since 1986. Almost every hospital and certainly every emergency clinic and referral hospital can monitor blood gasses with a hand held device, SpO2’s are checked on patients throughout surgery and recovery, MRI’s and CT’s are commonly available. These changes have aided our patients and their owners immensely and they have helped our profession grow by leaps and bounds. I am confident that even our professors would not have been able to foretell how our profession would grow. I have recently read a few articles that brought the passing of time into perspective, but these articles spoke to how our patients and their maladies have changed.
Over the years the type of cases I see and the degree with which I understand the patient’s condition has changed immensely as well. After finishing my residency training in the early 1990’s I was with a large referral practice called Veterinary Referral Associates in Gaithersburg, Maryland. We were presented with a wide variety of referral cases at VRA.I recall one of the dermatologists in the area referring a Doberman that sucked the skin on it’s flank area and self mutilated. This was quite a curiosity and the dermatologist was unable to find cause. Fortunately, the dog would stop if an Elizabethan collar was applied (an e-collar, a clear piece of plastic that prohibits the patient from getting access to certain areas on the body). We too thoroughly evaluated the patient and found him to be normal except for his overwhelming desire to suck and lick his skin. We tried sedatives, anticonvulsants and analgesics to no avail. It was unfortunate, but the dog was relegated to wearing the e-collar on and off for the rest of its life. I recall that it was rarely that we would see this type of case and they would first see a dermatologist since they had all the hallmarks of a severe, irritating skin condition that plagued the poor animal to distraction.
In 1992 , I returned to the Detroit area and with a gradually increasing frequency I would be consulted regarding Dobermans, Bull Terriers and other (usually terrier) breeds that tail chased, flank sucked, spun in circles and self mutilated to the point of doing themselves serious harm and driving their poor owners crazy as well. As time progressed we grew to learn that these were Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders. Although many feel that they are best cared for by behaviorists, I argue that these are not solely behavioral problems. I think these cases are neuro-psychiatric conditions, that have multiple factors, certainly environmental, behavioral, but also genetic, neurochemical and structural factors are at play as well. Obsessive Compulsive Disorders are best managed, similar to many human psychiatric conditions, through the management of the environment, diet, retraining (behavioral modification), medication and the treatment of other underlying neurological and metabolic disorders.
So why are these conditions more common? Are we just more observant? Are pet owners more tolerant of these problems and seeking help rather than pursuing
euthanasia?
Possibly, however, the two articles I mentioned earlier, I feel, better explain this escalating problem. First, in the journal, The American Naturalist, two biologists, Christian Klingenberg, PhD, of the University of Manchester and Abby Drake, PhD, of the College of the Holy Cross, looked at the diversity in the structure of the canine skull (the container within which the brain is housed). They found that over the past century, with the benefit of human influence and selection for specific structural traits, we have created an extremely diverse population of animals that are so different they are not similar to the other members of the family Canidae. This means that we, us humans, have exerted our influence to such an extent that we have created animals that could not survive in nature, that are not even akin to their naturally evolving relatives in structure and function. By changing the structure of the skull in some breeds we have taken away their ability to naturally reproduce (ie .the bull dog). By changing the skull shape and hence the brain structure what else have we unwittingly changed? We know that by selecting for a certain skull shape we may have created a serious neurological condition in the King Charles Cavalier Spaniel. What other problems have developed via the unnatural selection pressure of the ‘breed standard’?
The second publication addressed the genetic link for canine compulsive disorders (CCD). In the study, the researchers found an association between CCD and the neural cadherin-2 gene (CDH2) on chromosome 7 in the dogs. Dogs exhibiting multiple compulsive behaviors had a higher frequency of the risk DNA sequence than dogs that showed less severe behaviors (60 and 43 percent, respectively, compared with 22 percent in non-CCD dogs).This article was in the journal,Molecular Physiology.
I think that these two articles illustrate that our patients have changed and are changing, sometimes at a rapid and unnatural rate. As the result of the selective pressures we have applied to that canine breed we aided in creating significant health issues. Possibly, we have inadvertently selected for genes that make Veterinary Neuro-psychiatry a burgeoning field.
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