Consensus Statements of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) provide veterinarians with guidelines regarding the pathophysiology, diagnosis, or treatment of animal diseases. The foundation of the Consensus Statement is evidence-based medicine, but if such evidence is conflicting or lacking, the panel provides interpretive recommendations on the basis of their collective expertise. The Consensus Statement is intended to be a guide for veterinarians, but it is not a statement of standard of care or a substitute for clinical judgment. Topics of statements and panel members to draft the statements are selected by the Board of Regents with input from the general membership. A draft prepared and input from Diplomates is solicited at the ACVIM Forum and via the ACVIM Web site and incorporated in a final version. This Consensus Statement was approved by the Board of Regents of the ACVIM before publication.

Consensus Statements of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) provide veterinarians with guidelines regarding the pathophysiology, diagnosis, or treatment of animal diseases. The foundation of the Consensus Statement is evidence‐based medicine, but if such evidence is conflicting or lacking, the panel provides interpretive recommendations on the basis of their collective expertise. The Consensus Statement is intended to be a guide for veterinarians, but it is not a statement of standard of care or a substitute for clinical judgment. Topics of statements and panel members to draft the statements are selected by the Board of Regents with input from the general membership. A draft prepared and input from Diplomates is solicited at the ACVIM Forum and via the ACVIM Web site and incorporated in a final version. This Consensus Statement was approved by the Board of Regents of the ACVIM before publication.

Amlodipine besylate, a calcium channel blocker, was used to treat (mean +/- standard deviation [SD], 127 +/- 68 days) 12 cats with systemic hypertension. Amlodipine was administered orally at a dosage of 0.625 mg per cat (range, 0.08 to 0.23 mg/kg body weight; mean dose +/- SD, 0.17 +/- 0.04 mg/kg body weight) once daily as a single agent. Average indirect systolic blood pressure measurements in the 12 cases decreased significantly from 198 to 155 mmHg during amlodipine treatment. Significant changes in body weight and serum creatinine and potassium concentrations were not detected. Amlodipine appears to be a safe and effective oral treatment for systemic hypertension in cats when used chronically once daily as a single agent.

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of positive allergen reactions in cats with small-airway disease (i.e. 'feline asthma', 'feline allergic bronchitis', 'feline bronchial disease'). Intradermal skin tests (IDT) and serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) tests were performed in 10 cats with idiopathic small-airway disease and in 10 normal cats without a history of respiratory disease. None of the cats had a history of skin disease or clinical signs of skin disease at the time of testing. Significantly more individual positive allergen reactions were found on serum IgE tests than on IDT in both groups of cats. Affected cats had significantly more individual positive allergen reactions on both tests than unaffected cats. Both IDT and serum IgE tests resulted in more individual positive allergen reactions to weeds, trees, grasses, and/or moulds in affected cats than in normal cats. Significantly more positive allergen reactions to house dust mites were found in affected compared to non-affected cats by IDT but not by serum IgE testing. One unexpected obstacle to inclusion of more affected cats in the study was the concurrent presence or history of suspect or known allergic skin disease. Concurrent allergic skin disease has not been reported in association with small-airway disease in cats. The increased prevalence of individual positive allergen reactions in affected cats may be due to increased immunological reactivity in these cats. Further studies are needed to answer this question and to determine what role, if any, aeroallergens have in the pathogenesis of this complex feline disease.

Central nervous system (CNS) infection caused by anaerobic bacteria (including (Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, and Pasteurella) are thought to be more common than anaerobic bacteria as causes of CNS infection in dogs and cats.' Two recent reviews of anaerobic infections of dogs and cats included a small number of animals with CNS infections from which obligate anaerobic bacteria were A pituitary abscess syndrome was described recently in cattle. Obligate anaerobic bacteria were isolated from four of 20 animals included in that study.' Obligate anaerobic bacteria are recognized as important pathogens in localized infections of the CNS in humans, especially brain abscess and subdural empyema.'0-22 The purpose of this report is to describe the clinical signs, laboratory findings, and necropsy findings of two dogs and two cats with CNS infection associated with anaerobic bacteria. Case 1A 6-year-old, 25.0 kg, male Bassett hound was referred to the Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital (CSU VTH) for neurologic evaluation after a 3-day history of increasing depression, abnormal behavior, shaking, incontinence, and polyuria and polydipsia. Heart rate, respiratory rate, and rectal temperature were normal. Abnormal findings on physical and neurologic examinations included mental depression, pelvic limb weakness, severe scleral injection and chemosis, exophthalmos, and prolapse of the right third eyelid. At rest, horizontal nystagmus with a fast phase to the left was noted. With alterations of head position, the nystagmus became vertical. The neck was painful when manipulated. There was hypalgesia of the face and the dog resisted having its mouth opened.Hematologic abnormalities included leukocytosis with a left shift (white blood cell [WBC] count was 38,300 cells/pI with 26,705 neutrophilslpl and 1,915 band formslpl) and a monocytosis (7,277 cells/pl). Hyperglobulinemia (4.2 g/dl; normal, 1.9 to 3.9 g/dl), hypercholesterolemia (470 mg/dl; normal, 54 to 290 mg/dl), and hypernatremia (1 6 1 mEq/l; normal, 145 to 158 mEq/l) were present on a serum biochemistry panel. Serum osmolality was 319 mOsm/l (normal, 290 to 310 mOsm/l) and urine specific gravity was 1.022.A specimen of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was collected from the cerebellomedullary cistern. The fluid was red, with 17,600 WBCs/pI (95% neutrophils and 5% large mononuclear cells), 1 1 1,000 red blood cells/pl, protein of 1,500 mg/dl, and Pandy's test of 4+. Microorganisms were not seen and the fluid was submitted for aerobic and anaerobic bacterial culture. Red blood cell phagocytosis was not observed.Treatment for suspected bacterial meningitis was instituted with potassium penicillin G (22,000 U/kg intravenously [IV]