World Small Animal Veterinary Association Global Dental Guidelines.

Dental, oral, and maxillofacial diseases are some of the most common problems in small animal veterinary practice. These conditions create significant pain as well as localized and potentially systemic infection. As such, the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) believes that un- and under treated oral and dental diseases pose a significant animal welfare concern. Dentistry is an area of veterinary medicine which is still widely ignored and is subject to many myths and misconceptions. Effective teaching of veterinary dentistry in the veterinary school is the key to progression in this field of veterinary medicine, and to the improvement of welfare for all our patients globally. These guidelines were developed to provide veterinarians with the information required to understand best practices for dental therapy and create realistic minimum standards of care. Using the three-tiered continuing education system of WSAVA, the guidelines make global equipment and therapeutic recommendations and highlight the anaesthetic and welfare requirements for small animal patients. This document contains information on common oral and dental pathologies, diagnostic procedures (an easily implementable and repeatable scoring system for dental health, dental radiography and radiology) and treatments (periodontal therapy, extractions). Further, there are sections on anaesthesia and pain management for dental procedures, home dental care, nutritional information, and recommendations on the role of the universities in improving veterinary dentistry. A discussion of the deleterious effects of anaesthesia free dentistry (AFD) is included, as this procedure is ineffective at best and damaging at worst. Throughout the document the negative effects of undiagnosed and/or treated dental disease on the health and well-being of our patients, and how this equates to an animal welfare issue, is discussed.

Acute Lantana camara poisoning in a Boer goat kid.

Acute Lantana camara poisoning in a Boer goat kid is described. The animal was part of a flock of boer goats that was introduced from the Kalahari thornveld, where the plant does not occur, to an area where the plant grew abundantly. At necropsy, the animal was severely icteric, dehydrated and constipated, with hepatosis, distention of the gall-bladder and nephrosis, but no skin lesions. Histopathological findings of the liver confirmed moderate hepatosis with single-cell necrosis and bile stasis. The pathology is consistent with that described in acute Lantana poisoning in cattle, sheep and goats. The absence of photosensitisation may be attributed to relatively mild liver damage, or the rapid course of this toxicosis.

Postpartum mummification of a co-twin fetus in a Cameroon dwarf goat doe.

An 18-month-old Cameroon dwarf goat doe had chronic, bilateral hindlimb paresis and difficulty in rising two months after the birth of a normal kid. The doe was weak, pyrexic and had a purulent vaginal discharge. A large, firm mass was palpated in the caudodorsal abdomen. Abdominal ultrasonography revealed an ill-defined impenetrable mass which cast acoustic shadows. Radiography identified the mass as a fetus. The doe had a low normal haematocrit and a marked leucocytosis. A caesarian section through the caudal left paralumbar fossa was attempted, but contraction of the uterus had trapped the fetus in the cranial entrance of the pelvic canal preventing the uterus from being exteriorised. Adhesions were found between the uterus and abdominal viscera. The doe's inability to rise was attributed to the chronic pressure exerted on the ischiadic nerve by the fetus. A diagnosis of fetal mummification secondary to obstructive dystocia and fetal death was made. Radiography was a better diagnostic tool than ultrasonography in this case.

Digital dermatitis: report of an outbreak.

An outbreak of digital dermatitis in a dairy herd in the Gauteng province of South Africa is described in which 72% of the lactating herd was affected. Many of the affected cows showed a severe lameness and a drop in milk production. Other complications included heel horn erosion, under-running of heel horn and boxy claws. The diagnosis was made on the typical clinical appearance of the condition and the presence of spirochaetes on histopathological sections from biopsy material. The condition responded to spraying affected feet with an oxytetracycline mixture after cleaning with water using a high pressure hose. The prevalence was reduced to 28% after one month of therapy. A repeat outbreak occurred on the same farm 7 months later during which time 37% of the lactating herd was affected. Of the cows affected, 48% represented new cases, whereas the rest were reinfections.