Posts

March 13, 2013

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5:49 PM | Screening Tests and Pre-Anaesthetic Bloodwork in Veterinary Patients: Issues & Evidence

A perennially hot topic in human medicine is the risks and benefits of screening tests. Blood tests, imaging (like CT scans) and other diagnostic tests are usually seen by the general public as only beneficial. How could it be a … Continue reading →

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4:26 PM | "Cuba Is Not a Zoo"

Sen. Rubio "slammed Americans who visit Cuba", saying "Cuba is not a zoo". What he goes on to say indicates he wasn't referring to a good zoo.He mentions, in the same "zoo" sentence, "cages" and "suffering". He won't see either here.We agree, however, when the Senator says "Cuba is not a field trip." We offer a good, free one to over 100,000 students, with their teachers, annually.

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12:39 PM | Dead Bird Quiz: Lori Benson edition!

I’m probably embarrassing poor Lori, but who wouldn’t want to be publicly associated with dead birds and their quizzes? Lori is a Seanetter along Buzzard’s Bay in Massachusetts, and she has had a couple interesting finds this past few weeks. The first, Bird A, is twisted around, mangled, footless and inside out. Wing chord, the [...]

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12:30 PM | Do Dogs Find Their Owners Presence Supportive When a Threatening Stranger Comes Near?

How does your dog compare to a toddler? Recent animal research is comparing the abilities of dogs with young humans. A brand new study by Márta Gácsi et al in Hungary investigates whether dogs have the same response as infants to a test called the Strange Situation.In humans, attachment theory explains how children need to develop a strong attachment to at least one caregiver. If they don’t, their social and emotional development will be disrupted. As infants begin to crawl, the caregiver […]

Gácsi, M., Maros, K., Sernkvist, S., Faragó, T. & Miklósi, �. (2013). Human Analogue Safe Haven Effect of the Owner: Behavioural and Heart Rate Response to Stressful Social Stimuli in Dogs, PLoS ONE, 8 (3) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0058475

Citation

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10:45 AM | Keep calm

March 12, 2013

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7:12 PM | Vet checks exposed!

And the reality? They're just a judge-check, not a vet-check. Here, Crufts Chief Vet Andreas Schemel demonstrates exactly what they entail. Or rather don't entail. Dr Schemel is, of course, a judge himself and all he does is simply repeat what a judge would do. • there is no stethoscope; • no pen-light to look in the dogs eyes. • he runs his hands down the dog's limbs but doesn't make any attempt to manipulate the joints. And as for […]

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4:16 PM | Evidence-Based Medicine in Song

No summary available for this post.

March 11, 2013

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9:25 PM | Neapolitan Mastiffs? Better. But...

Two years ago to the day, the photographs I published here of the Neapolitan Mastiffs at Cruft's 2011 caused an outrage. Parade of Mutants is this blog's second most popular post and it prompted a call from the veterinary profession for "urgent" action to address the extreme conformation in this breed. Above - BOB 2011 Class of 2011 Last year, they were still pretty awful - as I documented in this post. And the BOB duly failed her vet-check. Here's what she looks […]

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8:38 PM | Behind the painted mask

Boxer paint-job... photographed at Cruft's on Sunday.

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3:30 PM | Crufty bagbiters

Look what landed in my inbox on the first day of "The World's Greatest Dog Show" last week. Date: 7 March 2013 01:30:00 GMTSubject: "crufty, adj." - Word of the Day from the OED OED Online Word of the Day Your word for today is: crufty, adj. crufty, adj. [‘Of software: poorly designed, esp. unnecessarily or unintentionally complex; containing redundant code.’] Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈkrʌfti/, U.S. /ˈkrəfti/ Etymology:Apparently < […]

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11:54 AM | UVP 003: Wildlife Veterinarian Dr. Mike Cranfield

I interview Dr. Mike Cranfield, wildlife veterinarian and co-director of the Gorilla Doctors. We discuss educational paths and career options for vets in zoo and wildlife medicine, conservation, and research.The post UVP 003: Wildlife Veterinarian Dr. Mike Cranfield appeared first on Elliott Garber.

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12:17 AM | Wrinkle, wrinkle little star

Crufts Best of Breed 2013 ©onEdition 2013 Crufts Best of Breed 2010 © The Kennel Club This year's Shar Pei BOB is a much more moderate dog than the UK and American champion who was was all the rage in 2010. Another improvement - although still some way to go before they resemble the original "bonemouth" Shar-pei (below).

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12:00 AM | Ease of Web publishing raises potential for copyright breach

Ignorance doesn't diminish liability

March 10, 2013

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11:32 PM | "Crock of shit"

These Bulldogs belong to a breeder who, on a Facebook page discussing my earlier blog about Bullodgs, has written: "Fuming... crock of shit." And it neatly illustrates the problem. They simply don't see - and hear - how abnormal this is. They think it's a bunch of Bulldogs having fun in the show. While the rest of us watch and weep.

March 09, 2013

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11:45 PM | Breeding better Bassets

© onEdition 2013 Here's the Best of Breed Basset from Thursday's Crufts...Ch Switherland Touch N The Dark with Sasilady. And, below, is the 2012 Crufts BOB that failed the vet check, Buzz Lightyear at Dereheath. It's quite an improvement, isn't it? Now as this picture from a different angle shows, the Bassets are not yet home and dry. The 2013 winner's eyes do not look sore or inflamed, but he has clear and evident ectropion which will always put his […]

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12:04 PM | Bulldogs @ Crufts 2013 - Part 1

There's something odd that happens if you're around abnormality for long enough. You start to become desensitised to how grossly abnormal it is. This is why the alarm about the severe morphological problems in some pedigree dogs took so long to register; why Bulldog breeders look at you in astonishment when you challenge the wisdom of breeding an animal that fails on so many basic functions (breathing and running freely, mating, whelping). I am not immune to this process myself. I was […]

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11:50 AM | Bulldogs @ Crufts 2013 - Part 2

Sore muzzle Powder in the skin folds

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8:50 AM | Crufts 1927

Click to view.. This is British Pathe's earliest clip of Crufts - from 1927. Have a look at the Great Danes. I grew up with Danes that looked pretty similar to this - lighter, more athletic, more moderate dogs than anything you see in the ring today with their bigger ear, exaggerated flews and - often - very loose eyes. This dog was photographed at Crufts last year.

March 08, 2013

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7:55 PM | Elephants, PTSD, and life as a wildlife veterinarian

I am terrified of elephants. Don’t get me wrong, I love, respect, and am fascinated by elephants, but they scare the ever loving shit out of me. It didn’t used to be that way. As a wildlife vet who has dabbled in zoo medicine and wildlife biology, I have always had a healthy respect for [...]The post Elephants, PTSD, and life as a wildlife veterinarian appeared first on The Plague Years.

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4:28 PM | A respite from all those dead

Though the die-offs continue (Mary Myers emailed to say she spotted another pile of 11 dead Razorbills on Cape Cod this week), it’s time for a bit of live bird news from all quarters. Georgia Graves, naturalist on St. Simons Island in Georgia, has spotted some banded piping plovers on the beach once again! Georgia [...]

March 07, 2013

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11:40 PM | Westies: how to make-up a champion

The Kennel Club has caved in regarding the use of cosmetic products on show dogs - after a breeder-protest (memorably dubbed "The Ellnet Revolution" by Dog World writer Kevin Colwill). Although, technically, the rules prohibiting the use of enhancing "product" on dogs are still in force, no one was taking a blind bit of notice on the Westie benches at Crufts today and no one was policing it. Chalk, talc,Thick "n" Thicker, Ducky White, mousse and hairspray were all being used […]

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11:08 PM | Bull Terriers: head case

Bull Terrier 1925 This is what a Bull Terrier looked like 90-odd years ago - a fit and functional, well-balanced and in-proportion dog. Note in particular this dog's head... marked by not much "stop", but there's nothing abnormal here. And here's a modern Bull Terrier - bred by a chap in called Lyndon Ingles in Wales who breeds for a Bull Terrier that is a working all-rounder. The breeder of that 1925 Bull Terrier would have no problems recognising Lyndon's dog. But what on […]

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9:49 PM | Bravo Mr Foote

Yesterday morning, I had an anonymous phone call from someone in Chihuahuas tipping me off to a Long Coat Chihuahua called Ch Ballybroke Harry. The dog, said the informer, has been diagnosed with syringomyelia (SM) - the neurological condition best known for being rampant in Cavalier King Charles Spaniels but which is also evident in other toy breeds. Harry, I was told, is being shown in the Open Dog class at Crufts tomorrow (Friday) and, apparently, the the dog had been given […]

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9:22 PM | Atlantic Puffin Portrait

Atlantic Puffin Portrait, a photo by Ian Lambert on Flickr.Predator!

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6:49 PM | Top Endocrine Publications of 2012: Canine Diabetes Mellitus

In my second compilation of the canine and feline endocrine publications of 2012, I’m moving on to the theme of canine diabetes mellitus.Listed below are 30 research papers written in 2012 that deal with a variety of topics and issues related to the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of diabetes mellitus in dogs. I've already reviewed a few of these papers and, if so, I've included a link to that paper's review.These range from the studies of the alternative sampling sites for home glucose […]

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5:26 PM | Worth $4 Million?

Is Luna, the polar bear cub, "worth a million bucks"? How 'bout four times that?The Buffalo Zoo hopes the answers are "Yes".

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4:39 PM | Final destination for Ross veterinary students - Buffalo?

Abandoned medical facility could become veterinary teaching hospital

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3:06 PM | Points win prizes - but wreck dogs

As Crufts Dog Show begins its annual four-day jamboree at the NEC in Birmingham today, a team at the University of Manchester University researching the history of pedigree dogs has pinpointed who I can blame for bigging up the idea that you can judge the worth of a dog by its appearance. The guilty party? John Henry Walsh. The team, researching the history of pedigree dogs, has unearthed an article by John Henry Walsh published in the Field Magazine in 1865 which, according to a press […]

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12:14 AM | Oh great. Now grebes?!

We are still in the throes of a sizeable Razorbill die-off, and a smaller, though still notable puffin mortality event, and yet it now appears we might have yet another unusual data blip. In the past three weeks, we’ve have five Horned Grebe carcasses turn up on SEANET beaches in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. This [...]

March 06, 2013

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10:40 PM | Carolina Tiger Rescue: Veterinary Internship with Big Cats

Read about a pre-vet student's hands-on experience working with big cats during her internship at Carolina Tiger Rescue. Vet school application material? Check.The post Carolina Tiger Rescue: Veterinary Internship with Big Cats appeared first on Elliott Garber.