Efficacy of medium chain triglyceride oil dietary supplementation in reducing seizure frequency in dogs with idiopathic epilepsy without cluster seizures: a non-blinded, prospective clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Despite 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. METHODS: The 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. RESULTS: The 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. CONCLUSIONS: This 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.

Evaluation of the Prevalence and Risk Factors for Undernutrition in Hospitalized Dogs.

Hospitalized dogs are predisposed to undernutrition, which can potentially affect outcome. This study evaluated the prevalence of undernutrition in hospitalized dogs (measured as loss of body condition score, BCS and body weight, BW) and studied the risk factors that affect nutritional status, and outcome (discharge or death). Data was collected prospectively during 9 months from 500 hospitalized dogs with a hospitalization length longer than 24 h in a veterinary teaching hospital in Spain. The BCS and BW changes were modeled using multiple linear regression and outcome was modeled using logistic regression. The risk factors studied were energy intake, hospitalization length, initial BW and BCS, age, sex, severity of clinical signs, department of admission, fasting or nutritional interventions, and the presence of anorexia, vomiting or diarrhea at admission. Most of the dogs (84.0%) consumed less than 25% of their energy requirements and only 3.4% of the dogs met these requirements. The majority of hospitalized dogs maintained their BCS (78.2%) and BW (77%) during hospitalization. Older patients (P = 0.040), higher initial BCS (P < 0.001), and vomiting at admission (P = 0.030) were associated with a decrease of BCS status during hospitalization. BCS was also decreased in patients with low energy intake, particularly in patients with hospitalization length longer than 3 days (P < 0.001). Both longer hospitalization length (P < 0.001) and vomiting at admission (P = 0.004) were also associated with a decrease in BW. Dogs that consumed their theoretical energy requirements [P < 0.001; Odds Ratio (OR) 0.95, 95% CI: 0.92 to 0.98], and had a higher initial BCS (P < 0.001; OR 0.39, 95% CI: 0.22 to 0.63) had a lower odds of dying. Anorexia at admission (P < 0.001; OR 5.67, 95% CI: 2.23 to 15.47) was associated with a higher risk of death. The results from this study support the finding that undernutrition is relatively common during hospitalization, with age, hospitalization length, decreased energy intake, and vomiting at admission as risk factors for undernutrition. Furthermore, an association was found between inadequate energy intake and death.

Effect of enzyme supplements on macronutrient digestibility by healthy adult dogs.

Some enzyme supplement products claim benefits for healthy dogs to compensate for alleged suboptimal production of endogenous enzymes and the loss of enzymes in commercial pet foods secondary to processing. The objective of the current study was to determine macronutrient and energy digestibility by healthy adult dogs fed a commercial maintenance diet with or without supplementation with plant- and animal-origin enzyme products at the dosage recommended by their respective manufacturers. A group of fourteen healthy neutered adult Beagle dogs (average age 8 years) was divided into two equal groups and fed the basal diet alone and then with either the plant- or animal-origin enzyme supplement in three consecutive 10-d periods; the treatment groups received the opposite enzyme supplement in the third period. Digestibility in each period was performed by the total faecal collection method. Serum trypsin-like immunoreactivity (TLI) was measured at the end of each trial. Data were analysed by repeated measures and the α level of significance was set at 0·05. There were no differences in energy and nutrient digestibility between enzyme treatments. When comparing basal with enzyme supplementation, fat digestibility was higher for the basal diet compared with the animal-origin enzyme treatment, which could be a period effect and was not biologically significant (94·7 v. 93·5 %). Serum TLI was not affected by supplementation with either enzyme product. Exogenous enzyme supplementation did not significantly increase digestibility of a typical commercial dry diet in healthy adult dogs and routine use of such products is not recommended.

Intoxicaciones agudas pediátricas en el área Metropolitana de Caracas 1999 / Acute intoxications pediatrics in zone Metropolitan of Caracas 1999

Con el intéres de conocer el comportamiento de las intoxicaciones agudas pediátricas ocurridas en Caracas, se realizó un estudio de revisión, de tipo descriptivo, en los archivos de registro en los centro asistenciales de referencia en el área metropolitana (CIATO-UCV., Hospital de Coche y Hospital de Niños J.M de Los Ríos) durante el período de enero-diciembre de 1997. Se atendieron 975 pacientes pediátricos, siendo CIATO el centro que atendió la mayoría de los casos (78,87 por ciento). En relación con la distribución por edades, los escolares comprendieron el grupo más afectado con 516 casos (52,92 por ciento); siguiendo los preescolares (26,87 por ciento). Estas cifras están relacionadas con intoxicaciones alimentarias masivas ocurridas en unidades educativas. Los agentes causales más importantes fueron: los alimentos (51,18 por ciento) y los medicamentos (23,43 por ciento)