Christopher B. Riley

Background: Most veterinary literature examining medication compliance has described the phenomenon in dogs. The evidence available regarding factors affecting cat owner medication compliance is limited. Objectives: Identify and describe factors associated with cat owners' noncompliance with veterinary recommendations for pet medications, as well as client-reported barriers and aids to administering medications prescribed by primary care veterinarians. Subjects: Cat owners presenting their animals for veterinary examination and treatment. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of cat owners' compliance with veterinary medication recommendations was performed from January 9, 2019, to July 18, 2020. A convenience sample of owners prescribed medication for their pets by veterinarians during or after elective veterinary examination was recruited to respond to questions regarding medication administration experience and compliance. Follow-up was obtained from owners to determine if the course of medication had been completed. Compliance data were analyzed descriptively, and logistic regression was performed. Results: Medication noncompliance was recorded for 39% (26/66) of cat owners. A quarter (16/66) reported challenges in administering medication to their pets; the most commonly cited reason was a resistant pet. Oral administration of antibiotics was significantly associated with noncompliance (P = .01). Clients with limited pet ownership experience were less likely to be noncompliant (P = .04). Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Clients' inability to medicate their cats PO may have implications for clinical outcomes and antimicrobial stewardship. Alternatives to direct PO administration of solid-form medications in cats should be considered. Demonstrating administration techniques to all clients may improve compliance and influence clinical outcome.

Veterinarians are essential in antimicrobial stewardship. Companion animal (CA) practitioners have recently received more attention. There are few relevant studies on CA antimicrobial prescribing practices in South Asia. A cross-sectional survey on the antimicrobial prescribing practices of Sri Lankan veterinarians associated with six common CA infections and factors associated with bacterial culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) was conducted. A survey of antimicrobial prescribing practices was distributed via email or professional events among veterinarians treating CAs. There were 127 respondents. Most were from CA-only practices (63%); the remainder worked in government, mixed, or other practices. Based on the World Health Organization’s criteria, 1.7% (13/783) of cases were treated with drugs authorized for human use only; 23.9% (187/783) were treated with highest-priority critically important antimicrobials; 4.7% (37/783) were treated with critically important antimicrobials, and 66.8% (523/783) were treated with highly important antimicrobials. The antimicrobial treatment of abscesses, skin, urinary, and ear infections was usually empirical, with only 12.4% (72/579) of cases utilizing AST to guide diagnosis and treatment. The use of AST was significantly associated with the type of antibiotic prescribed, the medical condition, the practice type, and continuing professional development, with the latter recognized as a pathway toward improved veterinary antimicrobial stewardship and the implementation of a One Health approach.

Client compliance with prescribed medication instructions to treat their pets is a concern. This study describes factors associated with the noncompliance of dog owners with veterinary recommendations for medication, as well as client-reported barriers and aids to administering medications. A cross-sectional survey of dog owners’ compliance with veterinary medication recommendations was performed from 9 January 2019 to 18 July 2020. A convenience sample of owners who prescribed medication for their dogs during or following elective veterinary examination was surveyed regarding medication administration experience and compliance. Owners were followed up to determine if the course of medication had been completed. Compliance data were analyzed descriptively. Logistic regression was performed with compliance as the outcome. Medication noncompliance was recorded for 47% (71/151) of owners. Increasing dog age was associated with better owner compliance (p < 0.05). Pet owners who used “nothing” as an aid to medicating were less likely to be noncompliant (p < 0.05). Forty-seven percent (71/151) of owners reported that “nobody” showed them how to administer the medication. One-third of dog owners (47/151) reported challenges in medicating their pets. The most common reason cited by clients reporting challenges was a resistant pet. Demonstration of medication administration techniques and discussion about available aids to medicating a pet may improve client compliance.

Osteoarthritis is a leading cause of lameness and joint disease in horses. A simple, economical, and accurate diagnostic test is required for routine screening for OA. This study aimed to evaluate infrared (IR)-based synovial fluid biomarker profiling to detect early changes associated with a traumatically induced model of equine carpal osteoarthritis (OA). Unilateral carpal OA was induced arthroscopically in 9 of 17 healthy thoroughbred fillies; the remainder served as Sham-operated controls. The median age of both groups was 2 years. Synovial fluid (SF) was obtained before surgical induction of OA (Day 0) and weekly until Day 63. IR absorbance spectra were acquired from dried SF films. Following spectral pre-processing, predictive models using random forests were used to differentiate OA, Sham, and Control samples. The accuracy for distinguishing between OA and any other joint group was 80%. The classification accuracy by sampling day was 87%. For paired classification tasks, the accuracies by joint were 75% for OA vs. OA Control and 70% for OA vs. Sham. The accuracy for separating horses by group (OA vs. Sham) was 68%. In conclusion, SF IR spectroscopy accurately discriminates traumatically induced OA joints from controls.

There is an increased understanding of shared human–animal risk in terms of “one welfare”, whereby when animals are at risk, so are people, so preventing injury to one species may also prevent injury to the other. Because transport-related injuries to horses are common, the authors considered this paradigm to study road equine transport-related injuries to humans in New Zealand. The aim was to determine their frequency and associated factors by distributing a survey to horse industry participants through industry organisations asking about their horse activities, road transport experiences, and any related self-injury. There were 112/1067 (10.5%) handlers injured while preparing (13/112), loading (39/112), traveling (6/112), or unloading (33/112). Of these, 40% had multiple injury types, and 33% had several body regions affected. Hand injuries were most common (46%), followed by the foot (25%), arm (17%), and head or face (15%). Median recovery time was 7 days. Injuries were associated with the responder’s industry educational background, years of driving experience, and reporting a horse injured during road transport in the past two years. Wearing helmets and gloves, and adopting strategies designed to eliminate equine injuries associated with the road transport of horses to reduce the risk of injury to their handlers are recommended.

Biomarkers for osteoarthritis (OA) in horses have been extensively investigated, but translation into clinical use has been limited due to cost, limited sensitivity, and practicality. Identifying novel biomarkers that overcome these limitations could facilitate early diagnosis and therapy. This study aimed to compare the concentrations of synovial fluid (SF) and plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) over time in control horses with those with induced carpal OA. Following an established model, unilateral carpal OA was induced in 9 of 17 healthy Thoroughbred fillies, while the remainder were sham-operated controls. Synovial fluid and plasma samples were obtained before induction of OA (Day 0) and weekly thereafter until Day 63, and cfDNA concentrations were determined using fluorometry. The SF cfDNA concentrations were significantly higher for OA joints than for sham-operated joints on Days 28 (median 1430 μg/L and 631 μg/L, respectively, p = 0.017) and 63 (median 1537 μg/L and 606 μg/L, respectively, p = 0.021). There were no significant differences in plasma cfDNA between the OA and the sham groups after induction of carpal OA. Plasma cfDNA measurement is not sufficiently sensitive for diagnostic purposes in this induced model of OA. Synovial fluid cfDNA measurement may be used as a biomarker to monitor early disease progression in horses with OA.

Negative outcomes associated with the road transport of horses are a significant welfare issue. This study aimed to describe the injuries sustained by horses during road transport in New Zealand and factors associated with trauma while in transit. New Zealand horse industry participants were surveyed on their horse transport experiences and equine industry involvement. Participants were solicited through horse organisations. The data were tabulated, and a logistic regression was performed to identify significant (p < 0.05) factors associated with transport-related injury. In total, 201/1133 (17.7%/2 years) eligible surveys reported at least one horse injured during road transport. Most incidents occurred in transit (137/169; 81%), or when transported with one (76/193; 39.4%) or more (41/193; 21.2%) other horses. Most commonly, the hindlimbs, the head, or the forelimbs were injured (59.1%; 110/186 horses), ranging in severity from bruises to catastrophic orthopaedic trauma necessitating euthanasia. Eventing, not always checking horses’ fitness for transport, using a tail guard or bandage, a stallion guard in the vehicle, bedding type on the floor, and behavioural problems were associated with injuries. This survey identified a significant incidence of injury and related death when horses are transported by road in New Zealand, and the key risk factors associated with the odds of injury.

Background: Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are believed to be hypoimmunogeneic with potential use for allogeneic administration. Methods: Bone marrow was harvested from Connemara (n = 1), Standardbred (n = 6), and Thoroughbred (n = 3) horses. MSCs were grouped by their level of expression of major histocompatibility factor II (MHC II). MSCs were then sub-grouped by those MSCs derived from universal blood donor horses. MSCs were isolated and cultured using media containing fetal bovine serum until adequate numbers were acquired. The MSCs were cultured in xenogen-free media for 48 h prior to use and during all assays. Autologous and allogeneic MSCs were then directly co-cultured with responder leukocytes from the Connemara horse in varying concentrations of MSCs to leukocytes (1:1, 1:10, and 1:100). MSCs were also cultured with complement present and heat-inactivated complement to determine whether complement alone would decrease MSC viability. MSCs underwent haplotyping of their equine leukocyte antigen (ELA) to determine whether the MHC factors were matched or mismatched between the donor MSCs and the responder leukocytes. Results: All allogeneic MSCs were found to be ELA mismatched with the responder leukocytes. MHC II-low and universal blood donor MSCs caused no peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) proliferation, no increase in B cells, and no activation of CD8 lymphocytes. Universal blood donor MSCs stimulated a significant increase in the number of T regulatory cells. Neutrophil interaction with MSCs showed that universal blood donor and MHC II-high allogeneic MSCs at the 6 h time point in co-culture caused greater neutrophil activation than the other co-culture groups. Complement-mediated cytotoxicity did not consistently cause MSC death in cultures with active complement as compared to those with inactivated complement. Gene expression assays revealed that the universal blood donor group and the MHC II-low MSCs were more metabolically active both in the anabolic and catabolic gene categories when cultured with allogeneic lymphocytes as compared to the other co-cultures. These upregulated genes included CD59, FGF-2, HGF, IDO, IL-10, IL-RA, IL-2, SOX2, TGF-β1, ADAMSTS-4, ADAMSTS-5, CCL2, CXCLB/IL-8, IFNγ, IL-1β, and TNFα. Conclusions: MHC II-low MSCs are the most appropriate type of allogeneic MSC to prevent activation of the innate and cell-mediated component of the adaptive immune systems and have increased gene expression as compared to other allogeneic MSCs.

An online survey was conducted to determine associations between equine transport management and transport-related injuries and problem behaviors in Italy. The survey was composed of four sections: respondents’ demographic information and background, transport management practices, journey details and vehicle design, and transport injuries experienced by the horse in the previous two-year period. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression with a binary outcome variable was performed to explore associations between variables (respondents’ and journeys’ details and transport practices) and equine transport-related problem behaviors (TRPBs) and injuries. TRPBs were also considered an explanatory variable for injuries. The survey generated 201 responses; only 148 were complete and analyzed. TRPBs were reported by 14.45% of the respondents and the odds of TRPBs was linked to the respondent gender (p = 0.034), the use of tranquilizers prior to transport (p = 0.002), the use of a whip for loading (p = 0.049), the lack of protection equipment (p = 0.050), and shavings (p = 0.025) on the vehicle floor. Horse injuries (11.49%) were reported by more respondents who did not check the brakes of their transport vehicle before traveling (p = 0.043), had vehicles with padding on the chest bar (p = 0.038), and for horses reported to display TRPBs (p = 0.001). Finally, 10 respondents reported they were injured during horse transport (10/140; 7.14%), 50% simultaneously with their horses. The study findings should be interpreted with caution due to small sample size bias and participants’ recall bias. Nevertheless, the results are in concordance with the literature, confirming that horse transport is a risk for the horse’s and handler’s health and well-being. Further studies are needed to identify best management practices to educate equine industry members on how to minimize transport-related problems.