Report on the

NBA SEMINAR 2008

24th May 2008

held at

BUCKS NEW UNIVERSITY, CHALFONT ST GILES,
NR. AMERSHAM, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.

Speakers

Dr Susan Little - Pyometra, HCM and Worming

Dr Kit Sturgess - Flat Chested Kittens and Pectus
Filippo De Bellis - Ringworm

Dr Raymond Wigley - Basic Genetics

The seminar started as ever with teas and coffees with Danish pastries in the refectory from 08.00am during registration.

The first speaker up was Dr Susan Little, President of the Winn Foundation.
Infertility in Breeding, Cystic Endometrial Hyperplasia, Pyometra
Susan introduced members to several new Canadian words and personal friends. The first new word was ICKY, meaning slightly distasteful to the discerning few who had still to digest their sticky buns from earlier.
The second word was gazillions, meaning about 11 in number.

The first items in her presentation were Recording Keeping, followed by Infertility and then Failure to Conceive. Susan emphasised the importance of accurate and timely recording keeping in all that you do. If you need help to your questions you will certainly be faced with a barrage of questions addressed to you before you get any answers back. The accurate recording keeping will certainly help in diagnosis and prognosis.

Then she addressed problems with infertility the last item in her list was the male. It was also important to consider where difficulty in mating from the male exists to check for presence of hair around the tip of the penis.

She then went on to discuss Cystic Endometrial Hyperplasia CEH and the problems and treatment associated with it. Finally she finished her first presentation with Pyometra. The ICKY pictures were of Pyometra presentations. She discussed various therapies available and explained about the various treatments available that are both licensed and unlicensed for use in felines.

Time for a break and some well needed refreshments.

Dr Kit Sturgess
Pectus Excavatum (PE) and Flat Chested Kitten Syndrome (FCKS)
The seminar was proud to present Dr Kit Sturgess from Anderson Sturgess, the multi disciplinary veterinary referral centre in Hampshire. Kit has very close links with the THINK project. He gave a very informative talk on Pectus and FCKS. Taking a leaf out of Susan’s book he also showed some terrific ICKY pictures of examples of Pectus and FCKS.

He was proud to admit that most of the pictures on the internet showing the different effects of FCKS and PE on thoracic cavity shape were in fact his own drawings.

Kit went on to confirm there was still no confirmation as to the cause of Pectus or FCKS and showed some novel ways of treating the symptoms. He did give one word of caution on specific treatment using cardboard tubes. It is important to be careful when applying restrictions to the rib cage to encourage outward movement of the sternum, too much pressure may result in the sternum actually inverting into the chest cavity causing further restrictions to breathing.

Finally Kit discussed breeding advice. Thoracic wall deformities may occur as congenital defects in kittens of all breeds. It is unknown if PE is inherited in cats but it would be prudent to consider whether to consider continually breeding from a queen with a history of producing kittens with PE. It would also be impractical to stop breeding from queens or studs that have produced single episodes of FCKS.

Two pieces of advice were offered:
Avoid inbreeding since FCKS seems to appear in more lines with limited genetic diversity.
Avoid using medications including herbal treatments and increased food supplements during pregnancy, unless the severity of the case necessitates their use.

Dr Ray Wigley
Feline Genetics for beginners
I did my little talk on Feline Genetics. The presentation was aimed at the absolute beginner explaining about inheritance in a simplistic view. Several terms, Dominant/Recessive, Phenotype/Genotype were defined along with explanation of how they fit in the genetics field. Examples of physical and clinical inheritance were presented along with a list of other factors that could influence foetal development. A brief mention was made of colour and colour charts were offered to the eager throng. So if anyone not present wants one, email to Marcia with a request please.

Fillipo de Bellis
Ringworm
Just after lunch we were treated to the delights of ringworm by another new presenter to the Seminar, Fillipo de Bellis.  Fillipo talked in depth about the condition and how to treat not only the cat but also the environment. He talked about Topical and Systemic Therapy and in the ideal world both therapies should be used. He also mentioned about grooming tools and the importance of keeping them in tip top condition. Mention was also made of environmental decontamination. Various treatments were also discussed with their potential side effects.

He recommended that breeding programmes be suspended, and showing should not take place until the condition has been eradicated. It was also possible for the condition to ‘disappear’ only to reappear soon after.

The last thing to consider is that ringworm is zoonotic and can be passed from animal to humans.

Dr Susan Little
Hypertrophic CardioMyopathy
Once again Susan showed her mettle in the realms of HCM in felines. It is not just limited to Maine Coons (MC) it is also found in Ragdolls and a number of other breeds. The problem is that it is not found in the same gene in both cats.
It is the number one cardiac disease in cats. The big problem is that although there is a DNA test for HCM in MCs just because it is not found in the test does not mean that the cat cannot develop the symptoms later in life. There is also seemingly more than just one type of genetic defect causing HCM in MCs and in Ragdolls. Males are more clinically affected than females. It is most common in middle aged cats. Most cats have no significant signs of illness at time of diagnosis. Quite often the disease was only diagnosed following annual checkups and simple identification of murmur. We were treated to a number of ICKYs here along with some marvellous video of ECGs. One piece of information not accurately recorded is the actual weight of the infected heart.
One video did show an enormous blood clot in the left atrium and I do wonder whatever did happen to that large clot.

Fillipo de Ballis
Short Questionnaire
Fillipo came back with a review of his previous presentation. It was in the form of a short question and answer session with multi choice answers. Suddenly there were so many ‘children’ in there shouting out answers at the tops of their voices. They will not admit it but you could see their little faces light up when they got the answers right.  It really was a novel way of reinforcing the earlier presentation. And of course the comment that when this presentation was put to veterinarians the number who failed, compared to those who answered successfully in the seminar bore testimony to the commitment of you all there.

Dr Susan Little
Pests and Parasite Fleas and TapeWorms
In this her third presentation Susan introduced us to a number of parasites, worms and fleas. She also introduced us to another of her Canadian words ‘Barf’
Among quite a few parasites mentioned, were:
Giardia Cati found in a high number of cats at one show when tested. Testing is done using faecal samples. Treatment is also controversial some drugs are licensed others are not. Bleach can help in reducing contamination.
Toxocara cati the round worm found in cats. Testing is done the faecal samples.
Dipylidium caninum is also known as the common tapeworm. Lives in the small intestine, and hooks on to the intestine wall.
Hookworms found in the intestine of the cat. These can also pass to the kittens through the mothers milk, what a clever little parasite.
We were then introduced to Susan’s favourite parasite of all time, Ollanulus Tricuspis (stomach worm). This ‘barffed’ up in vomit.
Tritrichomonas.  This can cause an unmistakable diahorrea which can be identified by its unique odour.  This is one that the cat shares with cattle, which it is known as venereal parasite.
In most case regular worming of your cats and kittens is recommended at various intervals some weekly others monthly others less frequently.

Finally there was a Q&A session right at the end. Some interesting questions were offered in particular comments were made concerning the use of raw foods.

The Thank You’s
It is always difficult to thank everyone by name who contributed to the success of this seminar for fear that you miss a name out or spell it wrongly, so can I just say a big thank you to the committee for being as supportive as ever, Marcia of course and the staff of the refectory for providing drinks and lunch in style. Also special thanks must go to Susan, Kit and Fillipo for taking time out of their busy schedules to come and present at the seminar, and to Christian from Royal Canin for sponsoring the event and Rommy for helping him.

Finally I just want to give a big thank you to you all for coming and making it another brilliant seminar and for raising money on the raffle to the sum of £273. Of course what would be nice would be to see more of you help advertise and support the seminar next year.

Ray Wigley and Marcia Owen