Veterinary Medicine

When we needed an oxygen cage recently, we decided to make our own by covering the front of a cage with Press'n Seal (Glad) sealable plastic wrap. It worked fantastically well for our patient.

Dr. Brian Spar

Rockville Centre, N.Y.

Send us your great idea and we'll send you $50!

E-mail us at vm@advanstar.com, send a fax to (913) 492-4157, or write to Idea Exchange Editor, 8033 Flint, Lenexa, KS 66214.

Americans love their pets. In 2006, they spent more than $38 billion on food, collars, toys, and other pet-related products and services. (1) About one-quarter of this expenditure went to veterinary care. (1) Yet, there is a darker side to Americans' relationship to their pets. More than six million dogs and cats enter the nation's shelters annually, and well over half of them are euthanized because of insufficient homes. (2) In a country where most dogs and cats are considered...

In 1952, an outbreak of fatal liver disease in dogs occurred in the southeastern United States. The disease, termed hepatitis X, was characterized by icterus, lethargy, anorexia, petechiae, melena, epistaxis, and hematemesis. Affected dogs died one to 14 days after clinical presentation. (1-4) The postmortem findings of hepatitis X were noted to be similar to those in swine and cattle after ingestion of moldy corn. (5) Further investigation revealed that the disease resulted from exposure...