Using agarose gel as the supporting matrix for serum protein electrophoresis in horses resulted in excellent resolution and accurate results that facilitated standardization into 6 protein fractions.

Background: Measurement of salivary cortisol is a useful diagnostic test for hypercortisolism (HC) in humans. Objectives: To determine whether measurement of salivary cortisol concentration is a practical alternative to plasma cortisol to diagnose HC, to validate the use of salivary cortisol, and to examine the effect of time of day and sampling location on salivary cortisol.Animals: Thirty healthy dogs and 6 dogs with HC. Methods: Prospective, observational clinical trial including healthy volunteer dogs and dogs newly diagnosed with HC. Salivary and plasma cortisol concentrations were measured with an immunoassay analyzer. Intra-and interassay variability, linearity, and correlation between salivary and plasma cortisol concentrations were determined.Results: The required 300 mL of saliva could not be obtained in 88/326 samples from healthy dogs and in 15/30 samples from dogs with HC. The intra-assay variability for measurement of salivary cortisol was 5-17.7%, the interassay variability 8.5 and 17.3%, and the observed to expected ratio 89-125%. The correlation (r) between salivary and plasma cortisol was 0.98. The time of day and location of collection did not affect salivary cortisol concentrations. Dogs with HC had significantly higher salivary cortisol values than healthy dogs (10.2 AE 7.3 nmol/L versus 1.54 AE 0.97 nmol/L; P o .001).Conclusions and Clinical Importance: The ROCHE Elecsys immunoassay analyzer correctly measured salivary cortisol in dogs. However, a broad clinical application of the method seems limited, because of the large sample volume required.

In the present study, the LaserCyte instrument, a fully automated flow cytometer for use in veterinary practice, was evaluated for dogs and cats. Precision (coefficient of variation, CV) for red blood cell (RBC) parameters was 3.9%, for reticulocytes between 14.9 and 102%, for white blood cells (WBC) between 3 and 9.5%, for neutrophils between 3.9 and 6.5%, for lymphocytes between 7 and 17.9%, for monocytes between 4.9 and 13.1%, for eosinophils between 10.4 and 32.1%, for basophils between 7.8 and 32%, for platelets between 3.1 and 13.2%, and for platelet indices between 0 and 28.2%. The range of linearity extended the reference ranges. The agreement with reference methods (coefficient of correlation, r) were 0.96 (RBC), 0.94 (hematocrit), 0.96 (hemoglobin), 0.95 (mean corpuscular volume), 0.94 (WBC), 0.93 (neutrophils), 0.77 (lymphocytes), 0.77 (monocytes), 0.29 (eosinophils), 0.03 (basophils), 0.13 (reticulocytes), and 0.86 (platelets). The LaserCyte allowed the correct assessment of RBC and WBC parameters with respect to clinical relevance in the majority of samples. Lymphocytopenia was detected in only 51 out of 89 cases and monocytopenia in one out of 11 cases. The reticulocyte counts were correctly estimated in 85 out of 149 cases. It was concluded that the LaserCyte allowed reliable determination of the RBC parameters, WBCs, neutrophils in both species and platelets in dogs. Based on its capability to reliably determine feline platelets and of the parameters mentioned above, this instrument is considered a useful in-house analyzer for the veterinary practice. Qualitative microscopic assessment of blood smears is still necessary for detecting abnormal cell morphologies, certain cell precursors and blood parasites.

Background: Various protocols using different doses of recombinant human thyrotropin (rhTSH) in TSH stimulation testing have been described. However, the influence of TSH dosage on thyroxine (T4) concentration has not yet been evaluated in suspected hypothyroid dogs.Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of 2 doses of rhTSH. Animals: Fifteen dogs with clinical signs consistent with hypothyroidism and abnormal stimulation results with 75 mg rhTSH and 18 clinically healthy dogs.Methods: All dogs were stimulated with 75 and 150 mg rhTSH IV in a 1st and 2nd stimulation test, respectively. Blood samples were taken before and 6 hours after rhTSH administration for determination of total T4 concentration.Results: Using the higher dose led to a normal test interpretation in 9 of the 15 dogs, in which stimulation had been abnormal using the lower dose. Based on follow-up information, hypothyroidism was excluded in 7 of these 9 dogs. In all 6 dogs with a blunted response to the higher dose, hypothyroidism could be confirmed. Healthy dogs showed significantly higher post-TSH T4 concentrations with the higher compared with the lower dose. Post-TSH T4 concentrations after TSH stimulation were not related to dogs' body weight in either healthy or diseased dogs.Conclusions and Clinical Relevance: TSH dose significantly influenced test interpretation in suspected hypothyroid dogs. Differentiation between primary hypothyroidism and nonthyroidal disease was improved with 150 mg rhTSH. Because this effect was independent of the dogs' body weight, the higher dose is recommended in dogs that have concurrent disease or are receiving medication.

BackgroundDespite appropriate antiseizure drug (ASD) treatment, around two-thirds of dogs with idiopathic epilepsy (IE) have seizures long-term and 20–30per cent of affected dogs remain poorly controlled.MethodsThe current study aim is to test in a field trial the efficacy and tolerability of a commercially available diet enriched with 6.5per cent medium chain triglyceride (MCT) oil in dogs (n=21) with at least a tier 1 idiopathic epilepsy diagnosis, without cluster seizures, in 10 veterinary practices across Europe. Each dog’s quality of life (QoL), ataxia, sedation and frequency and severity of seizures were recorded by owners throughout the study.ResultsThe mean seizure frequency per month, averaged over the entire 84-day study, significantly (P=0.04) decreased 32per cent compared with the baseline monthly seizure frequency recorded during the month immediately before feeding the diet. Similarly, the seizure days rate (days/month) also declined (P<0.001) by 42per cent. QoL was reported as very good to excellent (>8.5/10) in 20 of the 21 dogs before starting the diet and this remained unchanged during the trial.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates the use of a diet enriched with MCTs as an adjunct to ASD treatment may have some antiseizure properties for dogs diagnosed with IE, as demonstrated in previous studies.