vetNews Summer 2013: Veterinarian Founded, Veterinary Focused

vetNEWS

Summer 2013

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Veterinarian Founded, Veterinary Focused

Veterinarians enrolled in the Golden

Retriever Lifetime Study are building longlasting relationships with dedicated clients.

Michael Guy, DVM, MS, PhD Director, Canine Lifetime Health Project

Dear Fellow Veterinarians,

Where science meets hope Morris Animal Foundation OUR MISSION

improves the health and well-being of companion animals and wildlife by funding humane health studies and disseminating information about these studies.

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Morris Animal Foundation has been funding quality animal-health science at veterinary schools for 65 years. Just last year, we ventured in a new direction by launching the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study, the first research project directly managed by the Foundation. Just as Dr. Mark Morris Sr.’s invention of the first prescription diets changed how veterinarians manage disease in companion animals, the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study also has the potential to change the course of veterinary medicine.

We are currently enrolling young Golden Retrievers to reach our goal of 3,000 dogs, and we will collect annual health data and samples throughout their lifetimes. This research will provide a detailed look at environmental, nutritional and genetic risk factors in the largest cohort of dogs ever studied. Information gained will open paths into the development of methods for the prevention of many canine diseases. This issue of vetNEWS explains how you can participate in the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study and be part of this new chapter in veterinary medicine.

In this issue, we also update you on Foundation-funded research, including helpful information about allergy testing and potential treatment of asthma in cats and treatment of inflammatory bowel disease in dogs. We also feature one of our institutional partners and tell you which veterinary conferences we’ll be attending next.

I believe the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study, together with our continued investment in research at the best veterinary institutions around the world, will germinate the next great ideas to improve animal health— today and tomorrow. At the Foundation’s annual meeting in 1967, then executive director Claude Ramsey proclaimed: “Think new thoughts, look into the great unplowed fields of animal research.” This call to action continues to ring true today.

Morris Animal Foundation has plowed many fields, and companion animals and wildlife have reaped the health benefits. By participating in the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study or supporting research through our veterinary partner programs, you can help steer the plow and grow a new crop of ideas that will make a true difference in the lives of the animals in your care.

Help be the force of change and progress,

Michael Guy, DVM, MS, PhD Director, Canine Lifetime Health Project

Join research history in the making

By Michael Guy, DVM, MS, PhD

Executive Team David Haworth, DVM, PhD, President/CEO Wayne Jensen, DVM, PhD, MBA, Chief Scientific Officer Dan Reed, Executive Development Officer John Taylor, Chief Operating Officer VETERINARY OUTREACH AND COMMUNICATIONS Winona L. Burgess, DVM, CPA, MBA Director of Scientific Communications & Veterinary Outreach Thomas Stevens, Senior Specialist, Veterinary Outreach Allen Byrne, Specialist, Scientific Communications & Veterinary Outreach

In September 2012, Morris Animal Foundation launched the largest prospective research study ever conducted in veterinary medicine. The Golden Retriever Lifetime Study is recruiting 3,000 purebred Golden Retrievers, their owners and their veterinarians into a lifelong observational study to evaluate the influence of genetics, diet and environment on the incidence of cancer and other diseases.

The Foundation is pleased that so many veterinarians have already joined the study in both roles—as veterinarians and as dog owners.

Michael Lappin, DVM, owner of the Animal House in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, has four patients in the study and enrolled one of his own dogs, Isaac.

“It has been heartbreaking in my 40 years as a practicing veterinarian to see young, seemingly healthy Golden Retrievers struck down in what should be the prime of their lives,” he says. “I have been driven by the need to do as much as I can to help this wonderful breed enjoy a longer, healthier life.”

Build long-term relationships with your clients In addition to helping to improve canine health, the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study provides an opportunity for veterinarians to build long-term relationships with dedicated clients. The Morris Animal Foundation study team has observed that owners who enroll their dogs in this study are extremely committed to canine health. Many have previously lost a dog to cancer and are, therefore, even more dedicated to advancing veterinary medicine to benefit their current and future pets.

“I enrolled my Golden Retriever Journey in the study because I have always wanted better health for my dogs,” says Nancy Bishop, a veterinary technician who is also participating in the study.

“I can’t thank Morris Animal Foundation enough for taking on this pioneering study to help my beloved breed and other dogs.”

Every year, during the lifetime of their enrolled dogs, owners will complete a detailed online questionnaire about their dog’s diet, travel, reproductive history, living environment, exercise

Jean Vore, Specialist, Scientific Communications

vetNEWS Summer 2013 vetNEWS is published four times per year by Morris Animal Foundation.

10200 East Girard Avenue Suite B430 Denver, Colorado 80231 TOLL-FREE 800.243.2345 P 303.790.2345 www.MorrisAnimalFoundation.org vetinfo@MorrisAnimalFoundation.org

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Be part of research history

and behavior. Owners must also take their dogs to their veterinarian annually for a physical examination and collection of blood, urine, feces, hair and nail clippings.

The veterinarian enters the exam results into an online database and ships samples to a biorepository for long-term storage, where they will be made available to future researchers for additional studies. Samples are also submitted to Antech Diagnostics for a serum chemistry panel, including a total T4 and complete blood cell count, as well as urinalysis, fecal analysis and a heartworm antigen test. Antech Diagnostics sends test results to the veterinarian at no cost.

Clients are also expected to bring their dog to their veterinarian for all other health events that take place over the dog’s lifetime, and the veterinarian must provide Morris Animal Foundation with a brief online summary of the findings from these additional visits. If a dog develops cancer during the study, the veterinarian will collect samples for evaluation and submission to the biorepository.

Southern states lead enrollment

than 1,200 additional dogs were completing the application process. The Southern states were leading enrollment with 26 percent of dogs.

Dogs eligible for enrollment • Must be healthy, purebred Golden Retrievers • Be younger than 2 years of age • Reside in the contiguous United States Ruth M. Roberts, DVM, owner of the Sun Dog Cat Moon Veterinary Clinic in Johns Island, South Carolina, says she is participating with her clients because she admires what Morris Animal Foundation is doing.

“We can finally compare apples to apples and have an opportunity to stack up what we believe may influence each dog’s chances of developing a disease, or not developing a disease, and see if those theories hold up,” she says.

You can help Morris Animal Foundation needs the help of dedicated veterinarians to reach the recruitment goal of 3,000 dogs.

The aim is for participating dogs to be evenly distributed among the four reproductive status groups—intact females, spayed females, intact males and neutered males—and across five geographic regions of the contiguous United States: Northeast, South, Midwest, Mountain and Pacific.

1. Register yourself as a veterinarian willing to participate.

As of May 1, 378 dogs were enrolled in the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study, and more

4. Tell your clients and colleagues about the study and how they can get involved. 

Enrolled Dogs

Reproductive Status Intact Male 29% Spayed Female 29% Neutered Male 21% Intact Female 21%

2. Review your client database for owners of Golden Retrievers younger than 2 years of age.

3. Contact those owners and encourage them to apply to the study.

Enrolled Dogs

GEOGRAPhIC REGION South Midwest Mountain Northeast Pacific

26% 23% 19% 17% 15%

TOP VETERINARY PARTICIPANTS Thank you to the veterinarians and their teams who have multiple patients participating.

Five Patients Scott Carpenter, DVM Arvada West Veterinary Clinic Arvada, Colorado Four Patients Michael Lappin, DVM The Animal House Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts Deborah Pickett, VMD Bernville Veterinary Clinic Bernville, Pennsylvania Three Patients Douglas Davies, DVM Broadview Animal Clinic Denver, Colorado Tracey Jensen, DVM Wellington Veterinary Clinic Wellington, Colorado Renee Leton, DVM El Camino Animal Hospital El Camino, California Margaret Levy, DVM North Kingstown Animal Hospital North Kingstown, Rhode Island Kari Swenson, DVM Gallatin Veterinary Hospital Bozeman, Montana

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Morris Animal Foundation’s veterinary conference ‘tour’

By Thom a s St e v e ns

In January Morris Animal Foundation started what staff members jokingly call “The Morris Animal Foundation World Tour.” In reality, this is a comprehensive commitment to meet as many veterinary professionals as possible at the major veterinary conferences in 2013.

Thus far, the veterinary outreach team has had an opportunity to have one-on-one conversations with veterinary professionals across North America. Morris Animal Foundation’s team has talked with more than 5,200 veterinarians, veterinary technicians, veterinary students, practice managers and pet lovers at the following meetings: North American Veterinary Conference (NAVC), Orlando, Florida; Western Veterinary Conference (WVC), Las Vegas, Nevada; American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) Conference, Phoenix, Arizona; Student American Veterinary Medical Association Symposium, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Central Veterinary Conference, Washington, DC. At these conferences, Morris Animal Foundation showcased our new Pet Parent

At upcoming conferences, you can learn about the new Pet Parent Awards Program that helps you honor clients.

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Awards Program and our newly redesigned memorial cards.

The Foundation’s “Research That Impacts Your Practice” symposia hosted at NAVC, WVC and AAHA featured a mix of currently funded Morris Animal Foundation research and practice management speakers. The goal of these symposia was for Morris Animal Foundation–funded investigators to communicate their research results directly to veterinarians. 

University Spotlight: Colorado State University

By A l l e n By rn e

With the Morris Animal Foundation offices located in Denver and Colorado State University (CSU) located just 65 miles away in Fort Collins, the two organizations are nearly neighbors. The Foundation supports scientists at veterinary schools throughout the world, and CSU is one of its oldest partners.

The relationship began in 1951, when the Foundation funded a canine nutrition study at CSU. Since then Morris Animal Foundation has invested in 157 studies at CSU, including 18 studies that are currently underway.

Their shared commitment to animal health has led to some incredible breakthroughs in animal science, ranging from vaccines to prevent feline leukemia to novel modalities in cancer treatment.

“Colorado State University has a long history of performing impactful clinical research on diseases that commonly afflict dogs and cats,” says Craig Webb, PhD, DVM, an associate professor of internal medicine at CSU and a Foundationfunded investigator. “Our efforts to find ways to better help these important family members have been helped tremendously by the generous support of Morris Animal Foundation, one of the few agencies that is geared toward clinically relevant veterinary research.”

In addition to funding traditional research, Morris Animal Foundation invests in training the next generation of veterinary scientists, including many who are studying at CSU. One training program the Foundation has helped fund since 2005 is the Flint Animal Cancer Center’s Cancer Biology Program, which is a multidepartmental program designed to train scientists focused on identifying the causes of cancer, as well as developing preventions, diagnostics, therapeutics and risk assessments.

The university’s cancer center is also a big part of the Foundation’s most recent initiative. Rodney Page, DVM, the cancer center’s director is also the lead investigator for Morris Animal Foundation’s Golden Retriever Lifetime Study. (Read more about the study on pages 2–3).

“Colorado State University is a world leader in the treatment and research of animal cancer, and Morris Animal Foundation is honored to be associated with CSU on the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study,” says Michael Guy, DVM, MS, PhD, director of the Canine Lifetime Health Project.

Many veterinary students, including those at CSU, have launched research careers through the Foundation’s Veterinary Student Scholars Program as well as through its Fellowship Training and First Award grant programs.

“Morris Animal Foundation has been an indispensable source of research funds for faculty and students conducting research for the sake of animal health at Colorado State University,” says Sue VandeWoude, DVM, associate dean for research and professor of comparative medicine at CSU.

FUNDED STUDIES AT

COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY

Canine Feline Equine Wildlife Multiple species Llama/alpaca

49 35 29 14 3 2

132 total studies

With the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study partnership in full swing and numerous other studies underway, it’s likely that these neighbors will continue to play an integral part in the future of animal health. 

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RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT

Dietary therapy alone improves inflammatory bowel disease in many dogs

By Wi non a B u rge ss, DV M, C PA, MBA

Inflammatory bowel disease that is characterized by infiltration of the intestinal mucosa by lymphocytes and plasma cells (LPIBD) is the most common cause of chronic gastrointestinal symptoms in dogs, but little is known about its cause. Treatment of LP-IBD varies widely but usually involves a combination of dietary changes along with antibiotics and immunosuppressive drugs.

Funded by Morris Animal Foundation, scientists at Cornell University studied LP-IBD in dogs to better understand why some dogs respond to one treatment but not another. During this study, the researchers performed a standardized sequential treatment trial of dogs with LP-IBD that began with dietary changes and progressed to administration of antibiotics and then immunosuppressive drugs.

Study results showed that when serum albumin levels were within normal limits, 96 percent of the dogs achieved a favorable response to the sequential treatment. Surprisingly, the researchers also found that 75 percent of the patients responded to dietary therapy alone.

Dogs with LP-IBD that also had low serum albumin levels, however, had much lower response rates to therapy. Only 44 percent of these patients responded to a combination of diet, antibiotics and immunosuppressive drugs.

Using advanced molecular technology, the researchers discovered that there are significant differences in the diversity and types of bacteria present in the small intestine of dogs with LPIBD compared with healthy dogs. Yet when the researchers analyzed the tissue for invasive bacteria, they found little evidence to support the need for aggressive antimicrobial therapy.

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For dogs with inflammatory bowel disease and clinically normal serum albumin levels, dietary changes alone may control their condition.

“Many veterinarians view canine IBD as an immune-mediated disorder that requires immunosuppression,” says lead researcher Kenneth Simpson, BVMS, PhD, DACVIM, DECVIM, a professor of small animal medicine at Cornell University. “We showed that the majority of dogs with signs of gastrointestinal disease, a diagnosis of lymphocytic plasmacytic IBD and a normal albumin responded to dietary therapy alone and did not require immunosuppression or use of potent antimicrobials directed at invasive bacteria.”

The results of this research emphasize the importance of serum albumin levels in the prognosis for treatment outcomes of dogs with LP-IBD. Most importantly, in the presence of normal levels of albumin and with a standard approach to treatment, most dogs with LP-IBD will respond to dietary therapy alone. 

By W inon a B u rge ss, DV M, C PA, MBA

With the help of funding from Morris Animal Foundation, researchers from the University of Missouri have been working to develop a potentially curative treatment for feline asthma, allergen-specific immunotherapy (ASIT). Because allergy testing and subsequent ASIT may take weeks to months to achieve a cure, most patients must remain on steroids during that time to control their clinical symptoms.

In their most recent Foundation-funded study, the researchers evaluated whether concurrent steroid therapy would impair allergy testing results or the effectiveness of the ASIT injections.

The results of the first phase of this study showed that both inhaled and oral steroids affected skin-test results for allergen identification.

That said, a two-week withdrawal of steroids was sufficient to produce accurate skin test results.

RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT

However, because steroids did not affect serum IgE testing for allergens, either oral or inhaled steroids could be used when serum allergy testing is performed.

In the second phase of the study, the researchers determined that oral steroids could reduce the effectiveness of the ASIT injections, but inhaled steroids did not affect the response of the cats to immunotherapy.

Thus it appears that inhaled steroids would be the preferred treatment of clinical symptoms during the administration of allergy shots.

ASIT has the potential to give veterinarians a new tool in the treatment and possible cure of feline allergic asthma. As most severely affected cats cannot be withdrawn from steroid therapy for allergy testing, and possibly treatment, the guidelines developed in this study will help veterinarians make effective treatment decisions during allergy testing and potentially during immunotherapy treatment of cats with allergic asthma. 

Researchers are developing guidelines that will help veterinarians maximize the potential effectiveness of immunotherapy for cats with asthma.

Photo courtesy of Thomas Stevens

Allergic asthma affects up to 5 percent of cats and results in significant clinical symptoms, including coughing and difficulty breathing.

The current mainstay of treatment for feline asthma is lifelong steroid therapy to control airway inflammation and minimize symptoms.

Photo courtesy of Thomas Stevens

Promising new allergy testing and treatment for feline asthma

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NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE — PAID — MORRIS ANIMAL FOUNDATION

An n ounc i ng Mo r ris Anima l Found ation ’s Pe t Pare nt Awa rd Progra m!

Recognize a client’s commitment to being a responsible pet owner by honoring him or her with a Pet Parent Award. With a tax-deductible donation, Morris Animal Foundation sends a personalized card on your behalf that includes an “i love my cat” or “i love my dog” sticker.

Recognize clients who purchase preventive health care plans, puppy/kitten vaccination series, dental prophylaxis, etc. Order your Pet Parent Awards today!

www.MorrisAnimalFoundation.org/petparents