Abstract
This book contains 16 chapters that discuss mental and emotional health in the veterinary practice, ruling out physical disorders leading to behavioural changes, addressing pain in veterinary psychiatry, normal behaviour, raising mentally and emotionally healthy pets, diagnosis, learning principles and behaviour modification, psychopharmacology, problem behaviours and management, aggression, affective disorders, elimination problems, abnormal and repetitive behaviours and aging-related problems in cats and dogs.
Moral stress is a major concern in veterinary practice. Often, it is associated with the challenges in end-of-life situations. Euthanasia, however, is also meant to bring relief to animal patients and their owners. The reasons for the moral strain euthanizing animals causes to professional veterinarians need to be further clarified. This article investigates “euthanasia” from a philosophical, legal, and practical perspective. After introducing relevant aspects of euthanasia in small animal practice, the term is analyzed from an ethical point of view. That includes both a broad and a narrow definition of “euthanasia” and underlying assumptions regarding different accounts of animal death and well-being. Then, legal and soft regulations are discussed with regard to the theoretical aspects and practical challenges, also including questions of personal morality. It is argued that the importance of ethical definitions and assumptions concerning euthanasia and their intertwinement with both law and practical challenges should not be neglected. The conclusion is that veterinarians should clarify the reasons for their potential discomfort and that they should be supported by improved decision-making tools, by implementation of theoretical and practical ethics in veterinary education, and by updated animal welfare legislation.
Veterinary anaesthesia may be facing new challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the potential for shortages of cylinders of oxygen and some drugs in veterinary practice if resources are diverted to the NHS. This article prepares the veterinary surgeon in the event of such shortages, and discusses how to safely limit the use of oxygen in practice as well as the use of alfaxalone as an alternative induction and maintenance agent to propofol. Finally, the use of ephedrine to manage hypotension as an alternative to other vasopressors and inotropes that may be in short supply is described.
Summary: Antimicrobial use is influenced by vaccination status, neutering and membership of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons practice standards scheme. Responsible antimicrobial use is promoted through use of preventative medicine and client engagement.
Escherichia coli is a common cause of infections in companion animals. In recent years the increasing prevalence of resistance to β-lactams, including extended-spectrum cephalosporins, antimicrobials frequently used in small animal veterinary practice, was observed in canine isolates of E. coli. The aim of this study was to detect and to characterize extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) produced by E. coli isolated from diseased dogs in Poland. Four isolates out of 119 studied (3.4%) were ESBL-positive. They harbored the blaSHV-12, blaCTX-M-15, and blaTEM-116 genes. This study provides the first report of the occurrence of ESBL-producing E. coli in dogs in Poland.
Philosophy of a “Good Death” in Small Animals and Consequences for Euthanasia in Animal Law and Veterinary Practice
