Month: September 2024

Pets are great. They are good fun, and they often complete a family. But could they have a hidden benefit – do they in fact hold the elixir of life, the holy grail – do they help you to live a longer, happier life? For years anecdotal stories and common sense seem to suggest that pet owners are happier, more satisfied and healthier individuals. Now science seems to be catching up to what many pet owners have known all along.

First of all – does living with pets confer a benefit to the human immune system. Dogs have been domesticated for around 30,000 years.
That’s a long time for them to have cohabited with humans. So it is likely they have had some effect on the human immune system
Cat’s have been domesticated for about 10,000 years, or, more accurately, cats domesticated us 10,000 years ago! So both species may be
affecting us in ways that we are only beginning to learn about. There is a theory that modern western houses are “too clean”. This leaves our immune system with less to do, and so, without germs to fight, it instead malfunctions and gives us allergies like hay fever.
While science is looking into this, some folk think that if you live with a pet, it stimulates your immune system and makes it strong. This means there is less chance of developing allergies or disease. It is a complex area, but there is a part of the immune system
involving IgE antibodies which interacts with parasites and animals, and this is a promising area of research. It can be summed up in the old adage “a bit of dirt is good for you!”.

Mental Health is of course a massive issue in our society, and societies around the world. Pet ownership has benefits in this area too.
The simple companionship of a cat or dog can assuage loneliness, a scourge of modern living. This by itself can reduce depression and
help improve quality of life. Owning a dog in particular can help folks to meet people and feel a part of society again. Dogs are
often profoundly optimistic and can lift you out of a bad mood in a jiffy. Cat’s often seem to possess a sixth sense and will comfort you when you are feeling down. A relatively new use for dogs is as “therapy dogs” – where they brighten up the days of folks in care homes and hospices. I personally have the privilege to know some fantastic dogs performing this role in Lecale today.

Dogs, (admittedly less so, cats) can encourage you to exercise. We all know that exercise is good for the most important muscle in your body: the heart. Dogs generally need walked twice a day. Having a dog will tempt you out on the wettest of days, when you would otherwise crash on the couch. Even 10mins of exercise twice daily can reduce the risk of heart disease. How can you resist with a pair of canine eyes staring at you, lead in mouth? You don’t need a personal trainer to get out there, you don’t need a new pair of sports shoes: you need a dog.

So in summary, pets may be good for the immune system, good for mental health and good for exercise. They really are “man’s best friend.”

One definition of a hybrid animal is the offspring of two related species. These animals have been common throughout history, initially found in the wild, but also bred by humans for specific purposes. Hybrids can be stronger and bigger than both their parents. They can also, sometimes display a phenomenon called “hybrid vigour”. The mixing of genetics creates a more robust individual. However, there are also barriers to hybridisation. Some species are not closely related enough, sometimes the offspring are infertile, and sometimes they don’t survive at all.

The best known local animal hybrid is probably the mule. This is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. Mules are usually infertile, but stronger than donkeys or horses. They were bred as pack animals – for transport before the days of rail and lorry transportation. Large numbers were used by the armies of various nations from antiquities until the mid 20th Century. When you cross a female donkey with a male horse, the offspring is called a Jinny. The Jinny is usually smaller than a mule, and they are rarer.

Another example of hybrids from North America is the beefalo. The beefalo is a cross between a bison and the domestic cow. This cross has occurred with wild bison – indeed many bison herds are not genetically “pure”, but incorporate some domestic cow DNA. However, a concerted effort was made to breed this animal as more resistant to the cold winters experienced in northern states of the USA. Prior to housing in the 20th century, domestic cattle herds were prone to succumb to the extreme continental temperatures. Buffalo had adapted with shaggy coats and were seen as one solution.

The wolf-dog is a hybrid with a chequered history. Domestic dogs and wolves are obviously very similar, and there is a debate as to whether they are the same species. Crosses between the two are likely as old as when the first dog became domesticated. Crosses between wolves and huskies or malamutes have occurred, and their offspring vary in appearance. Wolf-dogs have been controversial in some countries, as questions have been asked as to their level of domestication and suitability for living in human communities. They are banned in some countries.

These are just some of the many hybrids that exist both naturally and in captivity. Others include:

Tigron = Lion X Tiger
Hybrid Camel = Dromedary (1 hump) Camel X Bactrian Camel
Narluga = Beluga Whale X Narwhal
Killer Bees = European Bee X African Bee
Jaglion = Jaguar X Lion
Zonkey = you can probably work this one out yourself!

We are living in the first global pandemic that the vast majority of us have ever seen – in the human sphere. The last disease that earned that title was the Spanish Flu of 1919. However, we have seen and seen off serious epidemics in the veterinary world before. Most of us remember the Foot and Mouth outbreak of 2001. But perhaps less well known are the control measures for diseases such as Rinderpest and rabies. I feel that this is a cause for hope in these dark times. We have faced serious challenges to public and animal health in the past; and with the application of science and determination we have prevailed.

Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is a highly contagious virus that affects cloven-hoofed animals. Sheep, cows and goats are the common animals in the British Isles that can be affected. The British Isles are FMD free due to a rigorous control plan. The disease can be vaccinated against, but it has many variants so it can be hard to immunise the national herd. Instead the control strategy relies on isolation in the face of an outbreak. Movement of animals is very restricted so that the virus cannot spread and dies out. This strategy was employed very successfully during the 2001 outbreak. The UK is again FMD free.

Rinderpest was a horrible disease of cattle with a high mortality rate. It affected cattle worldwide. Again it was caused by a virus This caused widespread suffering and hardship for the animals and affected communities. However, note my use of the past tense. Rinderpest eradication is a major success story of veterinary medicine. The United Nations declared that the world was “Rinderpest Free” in 2011. The disease is now consigned to history due to a global effort of vaccination and isolation policies.

Rabies is a terrible and fatal disease of both animals and people (a zoonosis). It is endemic in many countries, but the UK successfully eliminated the disease in 1902. It has never made a successful comeback. This was achieved by the control and isolation of infected dogs. Today rabies is on the run as many countries are successfully vaccinating both domestic dogs and wildlife.

These three diseases – Foot and Mouth Disease, Rinderpest and Rabies are all serious. Yet science and veterinary medicine rose to the challenge and successfully reduced the incidence of all three, eliminating them from the British Isles. We have the knowledge, the fortitude and the determination to prevail against our current epidemic. Keep well everyone.

Keyhole surgery, also known as laparoscopic surgery, is a minimally invasive technique used to explore the abdomen in both humans and animals. It is a technique which is becoming more and more widely available in people, and is now making inroads into veterinary medicine. Keyhole surgery is different from “traditional” surgery in that instead of making a large incision (cut) in the abdomen, very small incisions are made and advanced instruments are used via these incisions to perform the surgery. It has many benefits for the patients, and, in our case, the owners.

Laparoscopy involves making two to three small “keyhole” incisions in the abdomen. A camera and fine instruments are introduced through these incisions, allowing various procedures to be performed. In human medicine, laparoscopy has been widely used due to reduced surgical trauma and quicker recovery times compared to traditional open surgery. Similarly, in veterinary medicine, laparoscopy offers the same advantages. This is particularly important for our patients, as they often don’t do what they are told! It can be very challenging for our clients to rest a boisterous dog to prevent them bursting their stitches. After undergoing a laparoscopic surgery, there are far smaller incisions and often two or even just one stitch!

One of the most common procedures that laparoscopic surgery is used for in dogs is spaying bitches. The advantages over older methods of surgery include:

• Less postoperative pain: Laparoscopic spays result in less discomfort for your pet.
• Fewer stitches: Both internally and externally, leading to a faster return to normal exercise levels.
• Smaller incisions: Reduced risk of complications and less trauma to tissues.
• Quicker recovery: often bitches that have undergone laparoscopic spays return to almost normal function after a few days, as opposed to the traditional two weeks for open surgery.

Other Laparoscopic Procedures in Veterinary Medicine include removing retained testicles, minimally invasive biopsying of organs and bladder surgery. It has now become possible even to remove a spleen from a dog laparoscopically.

Laparoscopic surgery was once considered too specialised for general practice. However, Downe Vets are pleased to offer this refined technique to our clients in the Lecale area and beyond.. We have invested in the necessary equipment and training in order to offer a better, less painful procedure to the pets under our care. Please contact us if you have any questions about keyhole surgery, or would like to book your pet in for a procedure.

Are Birds Living Dinosaurs?

I was asked to examine an emu the other day. Now, if you’re wondering what an Emu is – it looks like a small ostrich, native to Australia. Why I was asked to examine this large, flightless bird is another story. But what I want to talk about this week is why it looks like a dinosaur. I was struck by how the bird moved – carefully picking its way around the field with large goose steps. Moving it’s small head back and forward with a hesitant, darting motion. It reminded me of the movie Jurassic Park (and it’s many sequels). This bird moved like a velociraptor. Which is appropriate, because scientists think that they are cousins. The emu is in fact one of our only living fossils – a living dinosaur.

Now, of course, no-one has ever seen how a dinosaur would walk. The movie makers extrapolated how they thought the dinosaurs would move by studying their fossils and consulting experts in anatomy. So that’s where we will start – the fossil record. Fossils are the petrified remains of dinosaurs preserved in stone forever. They are found everywhere, from Donegal, to Dorset to China. The fossils are like a shadow of what the dinosaurs looked like. And the skeleton of some dinosaurs bears a striking resemblance to the skeleton of our modern birds.

The limbs of mammals – hands and feet, are based on five digits – in our case four fingers and a thumb, or five toes. This is known in anatomy as the pentadactyl limb (penta = 5). However, this structure is not unique to mammals, it is found in birds, and dinosaurs. In birds, the five digits have become very thin and support feathers to allow for flight. If we x-ray a bird’s wing, it looks just like a splayed human hand, only longer and thinner. Now, the exciting thing is, if we look at some dinosaur fossils e.g. Archaeopteryx, we can see the same structure – 5 digits forming wings. In fact some scientists think that these dino-bird hybrids had feathers on their legs as well as “arms”. So they perhaps flew through the air with four wings rather than the more usual two. Which must have looked a bit, well, prehistoric.

So now to the final piece of the puzzle. We have fossils that look like bird skeletons. The limb structure is strikingly similar to the modern bird wing. So what about feathers? In the early part of the twenty-first century, fossils were uncovered in China that had what appeared to be the outline of feathers attached to the limbs. So it would appear that some dinosaurs had feathers. Some scientists have even been able to speculate on their colour – ginger! These fossils are almost identical to the modern bird in every respect. Some have even been found nesting over eggs in the manner of a modern bird. So our emu friend is a living, breathing dinosaur whose ancestors have walked the earth for millions of years more than ours have, and perhaps he will be here long after we have gone.