Abstract
ISFM
Cat Friendly Clinic launched in the UK at WSAVA
Part 1 of the new ISFM and Purina WellCat for Life programme – Cat Friendly Clinic – launched in the UK at WSAVA in Birmingham as part of a Europe-wide programme, was received with great enthusiasm. The programme has been developed by ISFM and Purina who share a joint vision for improving the lives of cats, and will also be available in Spain and Portugal this year. It enables clinics to align themselves with the new international ISFM Cat Friendly Clinic standard which sets out what clinics need to achieve in order to demonstrate their cat friendly credentials. ISFM member practices will be contacted directly with information and a form to apply for the application pack. The form is also available on www.wellcat.org and on request from Purina or ISFM. Clinics applying for the programme will receive an application pack with a veterinary manual giving practical advice on becoming cat friendly, the AAFP and ISFM Feline-Friendly Handling Guidelines and an application form for the clinic to complete.
WellCat for Life has two phases: the first is Cat Friendly Clinic; the second part is the Partnership of Care – a blueprint for owners and veterinary clinics to use so that together they can develop a comprehensive preventive health care plan for the life of the cat – and will follow later. Together these two parts will enable clinics to engage with their cat clients in meaningful and innovative ways.
The programme is also being rolled out in the USA by the AAFP (see below) and the easily recognisable logos highlight an international recognition of practices aligned to excellent cat care.
AAFP
Cat Friendly Practice sees quick uptake in the US
The AAFP opened the online Cat Friendly Practice Program to its members on 16 February. Just three weeks later, over 200 participants had signed up and were one step closer to being recognized as a Cat Friendly Practice.
Dr Colleen Currigan, who sits on the AAFP board and is a member of the Cat Friendly Practice task force, said: ’The Cat Friendly Practice program is an important initiative, primarily because it gives tools to help veterinarians provide better health care for cats, along with delivering that care in a less stressful way. The initiative will help practices to focus on better ways of feline handling, as well as behavioral and other unique needs of the cat, all with the end result being an elevated standard of care for our feline patients.
‘It is well known that cats are an underserved species for a host of reasons. The Cat Friendly Practice Program helps to tackle each of these in an effort to help get more cats in to see the veterinarian, along with minimizing anxiety and fear in those kitties. Many small animal hospitals and even many cat-exclusive hospitals, can make their facilities and provision of care more rewarding for cats and cat owners with a few simple changes. I was in the midst of a clinic remodel when going through the Cat Friendly Practice checklist and resources. It’s amazing the number of changes, many very simple, that I was able to incorporate based on knowledge from the program about feline behavior and cats’ unique needs to make my clinic more cat friendly.
‘Veterinary business can be competitive, particularly in some areas, but there are plenty of underserved cats in our country – enough for all of us. I would absolutely welcome any and all veterinary practices to support the Cat Friendly Practice Program so that cats, through education of veterinarians and cat owners, can receive medical care that assures a healthy, comfortable and environmentally enriched life.’
For more information go to www.catvets.com.
Feline leprosy: request for case material and clinical samples
While early investigations implicated Mycobacterium lepraemurium as the sole causative agent of feline leprosy, it is now known that there are at least four Mycobacterium species involved. This has raised the question as to whether rodent bites are the only route of infection. Investigations are under way in Australia to characterise the epidemiological features of feline leprosy syndrome, and to learn more about the ecology and possible environmental reservoir of the causative bacterial species, as Drs Carolyn O’Brien and Janet Fyfe explain.
We are undertaking investigations to characterise the epidemiological features of feline infections caused by ‘non-culturable’ mycobacteria (as opposed to those infections caused by members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, the Mycobacterium avium/intracellulare complex or rapidly growing mycobacteria). Our investigations will include the ecology and possible environmental reservoir of these bacterial species.
Multiple cutaneous lesions in a cat in New Zealand caused by Mycobacterium sp. ‘cat’. Courtesy of Dr Anna Day, Dairy Flat Veterinary Clinic
Although they cannot be cultured in the laboratory at this stage, molecular methods have determined that a variety of different mycobacterial species are responsible for feline infections. The exact geographical distribution of these bacteria is presently unknown; however, certain species appear to be more common in particular locations. Preliminary work performed by several groups of investigators, including our research group, has thus far identified four Mycobacterium species causing ‘feline leprosy syndrome’:
Mycobacterium lepraemurium – the so-called ‘rat leprosy’ bacterium, which has a focal, but globally distributed, endemic pattern (assumed to be Australia, New Zealand, southwestern USA and western Canada, Italy, Greece, France, United Kingdom and the Netherlands – although some areas have not reported genetic testing);
Mycobacterium visibile – western Canada and northwestern USA; 1
‘East Coast species’ or Mycobacterium sp. ‘cat’ – Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia in Australia, and the North Island of New Zealand;2,3
Mycobacterium sp. ‘Tarwin’ – which has a highly focal distribution around the north, east and southeast of Melbourne, including the Mornington Peninsula and parts of South Gippsland, Victoria. 4
Because early investigations implicated M lepraemurium as the sole causative agent of feline leprosy, it was presumed that cats acquired the infection via bites from infected or colonised rodents. The discovery of a range of causative agents has cast doubt on this as being the only method of transmission. Other possible routes of infection include inoculation via breaches in the skin due to trauma sustained via cat fights or other penetrating injuries (eg, from vegetation), or via biting insects such as flies or mosquitoes. Although the disease was first described over 50 years ago, to our knowledge, investigation of possible environmental sources of these organisms has never been undertaken in any meaningful way.
The use of a specific and sensitive real-time PCR assay has enabled our research group to investigate the potential environmental source of Mycobacterium ulcerans (the cause of a significant and potentially disfiguring skin infection in people and animals, known internationally as Buruli ulcer). 5 We hope to apply this methodology to rapidly and accurately differentiate the causative agents of feline leprosy, from fresh or formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded biopsy samples (10 x 10–20 micron slices cut with a fresh microtome blade) or Romanowsky-type stained cytology slides (eg, Diff Quik) obtained from cats with feline leprosy syndrome confirmed to be caused by a ‘non-culturable’ mycobacterial species.
Having identified cases, we hope subsequently to obtain other epidemiological, clinical and treatment data from the attending veterinarian. Eventually, we intend to investigate a variety of environmental samples in and around endemic areas identified in the study. Practitioners or veterinary pathologists who are interested in submitting material to the study are encouraged to contact the investigators for further information.