Toxoplasmosi nel cane: cause, sintomi e terapia
Ecco cause, sintomi, diagnosi e terapia della Toxoplasmosi nel cane. E miti da sfatare.
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Weekly Instagram/Facebook/Tumblr Roundup.
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When he’s not occupied killing dish towels, Archie likes to relax by shredding paper and spitting the pieces all over the place.

Charles and the Little Nap on my Belly.

Her head certainly looks tiny in this picture (I hope for her sake the kittens take after her and not their Daddy in that regard.)
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Good night, innernets.

Sometimes it’s a Jake box, and sometimes it’s a Khal box.

Good night, innernets. (Caroline’s across the room in her pie plate bed, in front of the window.)

Breakfast! He almost always sits back and waits for her to finish before he eats.
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That pregnant waddle.

Time to clean the ears! (His ears are so big I swear she could just about fit her entire head in one.)

“Why does her belly keep moving like that?”

“Hallo.” (Charles the mighty feather teaser hunter man.)

“Where did THAT (foot) come from??” (Caroline)

Caroline’s takin’ care of business. (And by “business” I mean “Charles’s ears.”)
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Watching the belly.

These two are just unbearably sweet.
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Previously
2018: No entry.
2017: That FACE.
2016: “You gonna come in here and serve up those snacks, lady?”
2015: “Okay, lady. Time for the belly rubbing!”
2014: “They have really pretty kittens in there,” thinks Dennis.
2013: No entry.
2012: Alice Mo approves of Everett’s form.
2011: Okay, so, the story on Reacher.
2010: Oh, M’Lynn. Break my heart, why don’t you?
2009: Miz Poo will put up with the kittens as long as they don’t get TOO much in her space.
2008: No entry.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.

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How to use Facebook group announcements
As a Facebook Group owner, I’ve often wished there was a way to pin more than one post at the top of the group page. Finally, Facebook has made that possible with their new announcements feature. See this short video to see exactly how it works. (for more info, see this from Facebook: A New Investment in Community Leaders.
As a Facebook group owner, there may be certain posts you want to highlight for your community. The new announcements feature lets you easily add posts to the top of the page in a way that’s not too terribly obtrusive. Up to ten posts can be added to the announcements section, which show up at the top of the group page. However, only one announcement shows up, with a little “See More” link to view the rest of them.
‘Pin to Top’ is still available, and can be used to pin one post as the top announcement.
Group owners can also set specific posts to expire at a set time. This will remove the post from the announcements section, but won’t delete it from the page.
I can see quite a few uses for the new announcement feature.
Although this isn’t a super huge update from Facebook, it’s one I’ve wanted for a long time. So I was pretty happy to see this when I stumbled on it. How about you? If you’re a Facebook group owner, do you think you’ll use this new feature?
Want to know more about Facebook and Facebook Live? Follow me on my Facebook business page.

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Quando parliamo di Toxoplasmosi nel cane, di solito pensiamo alla forma neurologica, magari associata a Cimurro o Neospora. Oppure alle forme polmonari o epatiche. Tuttavia in letteratura veterinaria sono descritte anche delle forme cutanee di Toxoplasmosi nel cane. Ora, c'è da dire che sono rare, quindi non è che adesso bisogna per forza mettere la Toxoplasmosi in cima alla lista delle diagnosi differenziali quando si riscontrano problemi dermatologici nel cane, però è da prendere in considerazione. Vediamo, dunque, cause, sintomi, diagnosi e terapia della Toxoplasmosi cutanea nel cane.
http://media.petsblog.it/th/2014/6/p82463-620x350.jpg?t=1401703215" alt="Toxoplasmosi nel cane: cause, sintomi e terapia" />
Ecco cause, sintomi, diagnosi e terapia della Toxoplasmosi nel cane. E miti da sfatare.
Questa forma di Toxoplasmosi secondaria è assai rara nei cani ed è stata descritta poche volte. In alcuni casi si è visto questa forma di Toxoplasmosi in cani sottoposti a terapie immunosoppressive. I sintomi che si sono visti nella Toxoplasmosi cutanea del cane sono:
In teoria anche i pazienti umani, raramente, possono sviluppare lesioni cutanee come eritemi, noduli, papule e lichenificazione della pelle. I gatti, rarissimamente, possono sviluppare singoli noduli cutanei o noduli cutanei ulcerati.
La diagnosi di certezza di Toxoplasmosi cutanea nel cane è stata possibile solo tramite biopsie con esame immunoistochimico e PCR. Spesso è difficile capire se la forma cutanea della Toxoplasmosi sia una disseminazione di una forma sistemica o se sia una forma primaria della malattia.
La terapia, di base, rimane quella per la Toxoplasmosi: la somministrazione per periodi adeguati di clindamicina. A questa si aggiunge la terapia sintomatica a seconda del bisogno. Importante è notare che non è detto che la Toxoplasmosi si fermi lì: alcuni cani hanno poi anche manifestato forme polmonari e neurologiche, soprattutto nella forma cutanea generalizzata. In caso di forme generalizzate, la prognosi è riservata.
Queste informazioni non sostituiscono in nessun caso una visita veterinaria. Ricordiamo che Petsblog non fornisce in nessun caso e per nessun motivo nomi e/o dosaggi di farmaci.
Foto | iStock

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By J. Swanson
When Charlotte resident Jason Gasparik found a chocolate lab near his neighborhood post office on March 1, he knew he couldn’t leave the frightened animal alone by herself. Gasparik took the lost animal home, and then started posting about her on Twitter, Next Door, PawBooster, and Facebook, but nobody seemed to recognize the lonely chocolate lab.
So Gasparik and Roxy headed towards the vet, where the shipping employee was thrilled to find the dog wore a microchip. Gasparik eagerly dialed up the number only to find himself speaking with a Pennsylvania breeder who vaguely recalled selling a lab to someone in Charlotte several years back. Another dead end.
Viewer Julie Holmes shared a photo with us of a man standing on the corner of Ballantyne Commons Parkway and Rea Road in Charlotte Saturday trying to find a lost dog's owner.
Posted by WBTV News on Saturday, March 2, 2019
Regardless, Gasparik was determined to find Roxy’s owner – even if it meant he had to do things the old-fashioned way. So he wrote “Do you know this lost dog?” on a large piece of cardboard with arrows pointing to Roxy. Then the pair camped out together on a popular street corner to wait. And wait. The next day, the pair returned to the same street corner and waited some more.
Finally, Gasparik’s milk carton gambit worked. Roxy’s owner Sam had been driving around the neighborhood looking for his dog Indy when he asked a woman walking a different chocolate lab if she’d seen his missing lab.
Thankfully – because of Gasparik’s massive social media outreach — she had.
Indy and Sam were both overjoyed to be reunited, but Gasparik doesn’t consider his Good Samaritan stint officially over quite yet. He’s already offered to help Sam by taking Roxy/Indy on regular walks and, of course, by getting the dog’s microchip information updated STAT.

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California is poised to become the first state to explicitly bring veterinarians into the arena of medical marijuana, following the passage of a bill that protects licensees from disciplinary action solely for discussing the therapeutic use of marijuana in animals.
The state Senate on Wednesday approved AB 2215 on a vote of 37 to 1. The Assembly passed an earlier version of the bill, 60-10, in May.
The bill was back in the Assembly Thursday for concurrence on amendments. Gov. Jerry Brown has not indicated whether he will sign the legislation.
Speaking before the vote, Valerie Fenstermaker, executive director of the California Veterinary Medical Association, said, "We really want it to pass and for the governor to sign it. It’s what’s best for animals, it’s what’s best for clients and certainly, it’s what’s best for the veterinarians, because they’re the professionals.
"We have dispensaries selling these products," she explained, "and nobody ... outside of a veterinary professional should be giving advice about using these products in animals."
The legislation prevents state regulators from penalizing a veterinarian for merely talking with clients about using marijuana, also known as cannabis, in animal patients. However, veterinarians may not dispense or administer cannabis or cannabis products to patients.
Because the federal government outlaws marijuana — classifying it as a Schedule I controlled substance, which means that it considers the drug addictive, prone to abuse and without medical benefit — veterinarians in the United States widely believe that they mustn't talk about the drug with their patients' owners.
The wariness prevails even in states that permit recreational use of marijuana because no state laws directly address the use of cannabis in veterinary patients, either to permit or prohibit it.
A California Veterinary Medical Board legal memo dated Oct. 5, 2017, states that "Although a veterinarian may lawfully discuss and administer treatment for cannabis toxicity, it is unclear whether a veterinarian is prohibited from DEA [U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration] discipline or prosecution during discussions with a client regarding the use of cannabis treatment on an animal patient."
In the memo, Tara Welch in the state Department of Consumer Affairs Legal Affairs Division notes that "case law [has] determined that physicians would not place their DEA registrations in jeopardy for discussing cannabis treatment options with their patients.” Welch cites an appeals court decision that “physician speech with a patient regarding cannabis treatment is entitled to First Amendment protection because of the significance of the doctor-patient relationship." The case is Conant v. Walters.
"As with the physician-patient relationship," the memo continues, "the veterinarian-client-patient relationship depends upon open and frank communication for the proper treatment of the animal patient. However, legal protection of veterinarians and their discussions with clients of cannabis treatment for animal patients has yet to be codified in statute or challenged in court."
The memo concludes: "Due to the increasing exposure of animals to cannabis products and the need for veterinarians to properly treat animals suffering from cannabis toxicity or medical maladies for which animal owners are treating with cannabis products, the Board may wish to recommend legislative proposals to address these issues."
The bill passed by the Legislature requires the veterinary board to develop guidelines by Jan. 1, 2020, for practitioners to follow when discussing cannabis with clients.
While the legislation protects veterinarians from disciplinary action just for talking about cannabis with pet owners, it also provides for penalties if they:
Fenstermaker said those prohibitions are consistent with restrictions placed on physicians in the state.
While California would be the first, and so far only, jurisdiction to expressly authorize veterinarians to discuss the use of medical marijuana with their patients' owners, that doesn’t mean veterinarians elsewhere can’t talk about it, maintains Dr. Narda Robinson, a veterinarian and physician in Colorado.
Robinson runs CuraCore Integrative Medicine & Education Center, a business in Fort Collins that offers courses in integrative medicine to health-care providers, focusing on the science behind complementary treatment approaches such as acupuncture, botanical medicine, massage and photomedicine.
Robinson said she’s heard time and again from veterinarians that they can’t talk about cannabis with clients, but when she searches for direct prohibitions, she comes up empty.
For example, Robinson said, she had heard from veterinarians in the Canadian province of Ontario that if they talked about cannabis with clients, they could lose their licenses. She asked representatives from the College of Veterinarians of Ontario, which regulates licensees in the province, whether that was true.
"They said that it’s not that you can’t discuss it at all," Robinson reported. The issue is that veterinarians don’t have the authority to administer, dispense or prescribe the product. That is not the same, Robinson said, as being unable to talk about it. "I don’t see where we can’t educate our clients," she said.
The Colorado Veterinary Medical Association has a similar, and stronger, view. Its position statement says: "Veterinarians have an obligation to provide companion animal owners with complete education in regard to the potential risks and benefits of marijuana products in animals."
The subject of cannabis comes up frequently at veterinary clinics, judging from the results of a survey by the Veterinary Information Network, an online community for the profession. About 36,000 members were invited by email to complete the survey, which was conducted between April 27 and May 16.
Of 2,131 respondents, 63 percent said they are asked by clients at least monthly — and some weekly or daily — about cannabis products for their pets. Most veterinarians answering the survey said they have never been the ones to initiate the discussion.
Fifty-six percent of the respondents said they have clinical experience with cannabis products, either by direct observation of effects or from client reports of effects on their pets.
Of those with experience, nearly 79 percent indicated that the products were somewhat or very helpful as analgesics for chronic pain; and more than 62 percent found them somewhat or very helpful for managing anxiety. A smaller proportion found them helpful as analgesics for acute pain (about 50 percent) and for reducing the frequency or severity of seizures (about 41 percent).
A great majority — more than 80 percent — had not observed or received client reports of any adverse effects except for sedation.
One aspect the California bill does not address is quality standards for medical cannabis products sold for use in animals. Originally, the bill would have amended the state Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act to include veterinary use. Owing to concerns that the proposal would increase the workload of the already burdened state Bureau of Cannabis Control, Fenstermaker said, the bill subsequently was changed to amend only the state Business and Professions Code.
Fenstermaker said addressing quality control of cannabis products sold for pets is a goal for a future legislative session. She also anticipates that veterinarians might one day be authorized to recommend cannabis for their patients.
“A lot depends on research,” she said. “There’s research going on right now even with the Schedule I classification. ... We think that eventually, if it proves out that this helps animals and the treatment of animals, that yes, that [authority] should come along in the future. We just don’t know when.”
Two scientific papers were published in July on research into the use of cannabidiol, also known as CBD, in dogs. The first, published in the Canadian Journal of Veterinary Research, examines the pharmacokinetics of a CBD product being used in a clinical trial at Colorado State University.
The second paper, published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science, describes the results of a clinical trial at Cornell University involving the use of CBD in dogs with osteoarthritis. Researchers found that the drug “can help increase comfort and activity in dogs with OA.”
Update: The Assembly approved the amended bill on Aug. 30, completing passage by the Legislature. The governor has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto it.
VIN News Service commentaries are opinion pieces presenting insights, personal experiences and/or perspectives on topical issues by members of the veterinary community. To submit a commentary for consideration, email [email protected].

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Once pet food is exposed to air or light, a process called “oxidation” occurs and food can become rancid quickly. We spend a lot of money on dog food, particularly if it’s a premium food, and that makes it more important than ever to learn how to properly store it. This is your guide to storing pet food.

First up, always check for a ‘best if used by’ date on the container or bag before buying. Some stores use an inventory method that rotates bags to place the “expiring” food up front. Others may not be aware of expiration dates or best buy dates.
Dry Food:
Manufacturers spend a lot of time and money researching the best ways to store food and extend shelf life, so storing dry food in their original bags is an excellent first step to keeping food fresh. However, the package must be tightly resealed after opening. Store dry pet food in a cool, dry place, preferably in an airtight container, out of the light.
Many pet parents find that opening a bag of dry food and lowering the entire bag into a dog food storage container best preserves freshness and helps to keep the food safe from rodents and insects. Vittles Vaults are one of our favorite airtight, opaque pet food storage containers designed especially for keeping pet food fresh and allow pet owners to more easily buy in bulk.
Note: Lamb-based dog foods have a much shorter lifespan than other meats, so if you regularly rotate your dog’s protein source, remember to check freshness dates as they may vary.
Canned Food:
Most unopened canned pet foods have a fairly long shelf life and will safely stay good for 2-5 years if stored properly, but remember that ingredients and canning methods will impact how long they can be stored. Canned dog foods packaged in plastic tubs will generally not last as long on the shelf as those in actual cans.
Keep a close eye on the “use by” dates. After purchase, move the older cans to the front of the shelf and put the newer ones in the back or use a can organizer for your pantry. That will help ensure you use them in the right order.
Once a can has been opened, you can transfer the unused portion to a small, airtight storage container or use a tightly fitted can lid and refrigerate the food for up to five days, depending on ingredients.
Freeze Dried or Dehydrated Foods
Since most freeze dried foods rely on natural antioxidants, they have shorter shelf lives than other foods. As soon as you break the seal on these foods, the clock is ticking and you should plan on consuming within a few weeks.
Moisture is a deadly enemy to these types of foods, so it’s important you store in a cool, very dry place so bacteria and mold does not grow. Without repacking these foods, you only have about 6 months to feed dehydrated or freeze dried food to your pets.
However, these types of foods are very easy to repackage. If you do choose to repackage, transfer the contents into airtight packages and store in a cool, dry place or freeze. This can extend the shelf life to between 2-5 years.
Raw Food
Raw food is not intended to be stored for long amounts of time. Always use raw food within 1-2 days of opening or thawing (if frozen).
Generally, frozen raw food will stay good in a frozen state for about 6 months if sealed or wrapped properly. Once food is opened or thawed, you have fewer than 3 days to use it. If you make or buy raw or frozen food in bulk, portion it out into sealed containers and freeze. This helps you preserve the life of the food while only thawing the portions you need to feed each day.
Reminders
Because all dog foods have different ingredients, preservatives, and packaging types, shelf life and use-by dates will vary between brands and types. The type of preservatives used may also affect the shelf life of a pet food. Natural preservatives (such as vitamin C, vitamin E, citric acid, and some types of herbs) tend to break down more quickly than artificial preservatives (like ethoxyquin, BHT, and BHA), making natural or holistic pet foods more susceptible to spoiling more quickly.
Use the guide above as a general rule for keeping food fresh and always refer to manufacturers’ recommended storage guidelines. When it comes to your pet’s food, when in doubt, throw it out.
How do you store your dog’s food to keep it freshest? Please, share your experiences in a comment below!

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Pixie and Brutus (previously here, here and here) are some of those comics characters you wish you could meet in real life. And even though you can’t actually pet these adorable four-legged critters, illustrator Ben Hed keeps delivering strips that can surely satisfy everyone’s thirst for cuteness. The duo has earned Ben over 1 million Instagram followers, keeping him as busy as ever.
Ben, however, isn’t intimidated by his huge fanbase. “My creative process isn’t any different now than it was back when I had 25k followers,” he told Bored Panda. “I have been able to transition to illustration as my full-time job, and it’s all thanks to those guys and their overwhelming support for my comics. I know it sounds cliche, but I can’t thank them enough.”
“Pixie is a tiny, joyful, energetic kitten,” the artist said. “She’s innocent, and also somewhat oblivious to the serious, dangerous stuff around her.” On the other hand, Brutus is a large, scar-faced German Shepherd. “He was adopted by Pixie’s owner after retiring as a Military Working Dog (MWD). Brutus, in many ways, is the exact opposite of Pixie. He’s… Seen things. He’s a very serious and intimidating military dog, but he has a soft spot for Pixie, and does what he can to protect her from the harsh realities of the world around them.” Continue scrolling to check out their latest adventures!
More info: Instagram
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In order to provide for a more comprehensive overview and opportunity for discussion, the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine is postponing its Public Webinar about Genome Editing in Animals, originally scheduled for December 3, 2018, to a later date. We hope to announce a new date soon in order to accommodate significant public interest in this arena.
October 30, 2018
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the Plant and Animal Biotechnology Innovation Action Plan to outline the key priorities the agency will pursue to support innovation in plant and animal biotechnology while advancing the agency’s public health mission. The overall goal of the action plan is to ensure the safety of plant and animal products of biotechnology while avoiding unnecessary barriers to future innovation.
Key next steps from the action plan include:
The FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) is launching a pilot of this program today to offer intensive technical and programmatic assistance to developers of certain innovative veterinary products, including animal biotechnology products. VIP includes a set of tools to guide sponsors through the regulatory process, options to develop alternative strategies for generating necessary evidence, pre-submission reviews of data packages, and cross-disciplinary and coordinated FDA review.
The FDA intends VIP to enhance regulatory predictability and efficiency, improve agency responsiveness, and enable early, sustained interactions with innovators. Learn more by visiting: VIP: Veterinary Innovation Program.
CVM, along with representatives from FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), will host a live-cast webinar on Dec. 3, 2018 to discuss FDA’s flexible, risk-based regulatory approach and current scientific evidence and regulatory science questions that are important for the agency’s decision-making for genome editing in animals.
This webinar is an initial step in FDA’s public communication strategy to help innovators understand how FDA regulatory oversight applies to their products and support safe and responsible innovation for public health.
Advance registration is required: Webinar Registration. When registering, stakeholders are encouraged to submit questions for FDA to address during the webinar. A recording will be posted to the website shortly following the live cast.
The FDA is committed to adopting and clarifying a comprehensive policy framework for the development and oversight of animal biotechnology products, including for drug and food products derived from intentionally genetically altered animals.
In the coming year, the FDA intends to issue several guidance documents in the area of animal biotechnology. Among these documents will be highly anticipated guidance for industry that clarifies FDA’s regulatory approach using risk-based categories for regulatory oversight, gives clear criteria and risk questions or data requirements where relevant for each risk-based category, and provides flexibility to move across categories as science and technology progress and FDA gains greater understanding with product risk profiles.
After reviewing information submitted to the 2017 request for comment on the use of genome editing techniques to produce new plant varieties for use in human or animal food, the FDA intends to publish draft guidance for industry to explain FDA’s current regulatory policy for human and animal foods produced through modern molecular plant breeding techniques.
As part of efforts to engage with domestic and international partners, the FDA will coordinate with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture as the agency clarifies its oversight of genome edited products, consistent with the U.S. Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology. The FDA will also support international regulatory alignment on risk-based genome editing policies and provide leadership in international forums.
In addition, the FDA will work with domestic and international partners and engage in a dialogue about how transformative biotechnology tools, such as gene drives, may eventually strengthen measures to address vector-borne diseases.

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Il maltempo in Calabria continua a fare danni. Mentre continuano le ricerche del bambino disperso a causa dell'alluvione nel Lametino, i Vigili del Fuoco si sono attivati su più fronti. Nella zona di Crotone, infatti, i Vigili del Fuoco sono intervenuti per salvare i 250 cani del canile di Cirò Marina, letteralmente finito sotto l'acqua. Ad intervenire sono stati gli operatori del soccorso acquatico di stanza al comando provinciale di Crotone e del distaccamento di Cirò Marina: i Vigili del Fuoco sono riusciti a salvare tutti i cani presenti al canile, gestito dall'associazione Oasi Argo.
Il canile di Cirò Marina, a causa della recente ondata di maltempo che ha provocato un'alluvione in Calabria, è stato sommerso dall'acqua. Per salvare i 250 cani qui ospitati, sono intervenuti i Vigili del Fuoco: tramite un gommone sono riusciti a recuperare tutti gli animali. Adesso i cani stanno cercando una nuova casa, in attesa che l'acqua si ritiri e si conteggino i danni fatti alle strutture del canile.
I Vigili del Fuoco hanno fatto salire sul gommone i cani presenti nel canile, portandoli poi a terra dove altri Vigili e volontari si sono presi cura di loro.
Ecco il video postato sull'account Twitter dei Vigili del Fuoco dove si vede il salvataggio dei cani:
http://media.petsblog.it/8/824/istock-108178340.jpg" alt="Bassotto salvato dai vigili del fuoco: 4 ore per liberarlo da una tana" />
Un bassotto rimasto incastrato in una tana è stato salvato dai vigili del fuoco, che hanno dovuto lavorare per 4 ore per liberarlo.
Via | TgCom
Foto | Screenshot dal video presente sull'account Twitter dei Vigili del Fuoco
