2015 - 84 (3)

An oropharyngeal penetrating wound can occur in dogs playing with sticks. Acute symptoms includepain, blood in the saliva, dysphagia and even respiratory complaints. Surgical exploration of thecervical region to lavage the sinus tract and to remove foreign material (wood fragments, grass, sand)is imperative. The prognosis of stick injuries is good, unless the oesophagus is perforated (mortalityrates of 15-50%). The chance of developing a chronic draining tract is 1%. When initial trauma is notrecognized or treated, chronic stick injuries (> 7 days) evolve, and abscesses and discharging drainingtracts develop. Preoperative medical imaging is helpful to detect residual foreign material. Despiteextensive surgical exploration in chronic cases, symptoms persist in nearly one-third of cases.

In this case report, a markedly painful ulcerative dermatitis consistent with pyodermagranulosum is reported in a 2.5-year-old entire female Maltese dog. The dog had a nasal stridorand irregular ulcers with raised inflammatory borders involving the lumbar area, tail and thehindlimbs. The lesions did not respond to antibiotics. Histopathologic features include deepcrateriform ulcerations with massive infiltrations of neutrophils beneath and adjacent to theulcers. Treatment with prednisolone (Kela Laboratories, Sint-Niklaas, Belgium) alone resultedin the resolution of nasal signs and all skin lesions.

Calvarial hyperostosis syndrome (CHS) is a rare, non-neoplastic, proliferative bone disease ofthe flat bones of the skull. The lesions of CHS are initially painful, but self-limiting with skeletalmaturity. Therefore, treatment is aimed at relieving pain. Until recently, CHS has only been describedin young Bullmastiffs and the etiology is still unknown. In this report, CHS is describedin a six-months-old, male Weimaraner with the typical presentation of an asymmetrical swellingaffecting the frontal, parietal and sometimes occipital bones of the skull.

A two-month-old German shepherd dog was presented with anorexia, lethargy and left hindlimb lameness associated with swelling of the thigh. Clinical findings combined with cytology ledto the presumptive diagnosis of necrotizing fasciitis (NF). Extensive debridement was performedand silver-foam-based negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) was applied. During the first48 hours, a negative pressure of -75 mmHg was used. Evaluation of the wound demonstrated noprogression of necrosis and a moderate amount of granulation tissue formation. A new dressingwas placed and a second 48-hour cycle of NPWT was initiated at -125 mmHg. At removal, ahealthy wound bed was observed and surgical closure was performed.The prompt implementation of NPWT following surgical debridement led to acceleratedwound healing without progression of necrosis in this case of canine NF. Negative pressure woundtherapy could become an integral part of the management strategy of canine NF, improving theprognosis of this life-threatening disease.

A 16-year-old Friesian gelding was admitted to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (GhentUniversity) with complaints of exercise intolerance, pale mucous membranes, tachycardia and anirregular heart rate. General examination revealed decreased heart sounds and bronchovesicularsounds in the ventral lung fields, combined with a low hematocrit, which led to the suspected diagnosisof hemothorax. The diagnosis of hemothorax was confirmed by ultrasonographic examination of thethoracic cavity and thoracocentesis. Because it was a Friesian horse, aorto-pulmonary fistulation wassuspected, but this was excluded by thorough echocardiographic examination. The electrocardiogramshowed that the irregular heart rate was caused by atrial premature contractions. The horse washospitalized and was treated conservatively with broad spectrum antibiotics. Because both thehematocrit and the ultrasonographic images evolved well, the horse could leave the clinic after 15days. Re-examination after six weeks showed no more abnormalities.

Chlamydia psittaci is a gram-negative, obligate, intracellular bacterium, which mainly infectsbirds and mammals. Not much is known about innate immunity initiated by C. psittaci. Thefocus of the present study is on chicken macrophage activation and expression of cytokine,chemokine, caspase-1, iNOS and TLR genes during the early phase and mid-cycle period ofthe developmental cycle of the highly virulent C. psittaci strain 92/1293. C. psittaci significantlyaugmented the transcript levels for all genes investigated, especially during the mid-cycle period.These results demonstrate a robust innate immune response of chicken macrophages initiated bya C. psittaci infection.

Postpartum dysgalactia syndrome (PDS) is an economically important condition in sows. Thesyndrome is characterized by a reduced milk and colostrum production within 12 to 48 hourspost partum. The objective of this study was to determine whether preventive treatment withketoprofen (Ketofen®10%, Merial, Belgium) has a positive effect on the subclinical form of PDS.Sows (n = 39) were randomly divided into two groups: one served as control group whereas theother was treated intramuscularly with ketoprofen within twelve hours after parturition.During the first 24 hours postpartum, the rectal temperature of the sows decreased (-0.43 ±0.13 °C) in the ketoprofen group. In the control group, an increase was seen (+0.07 ± 0.02 °C)(P < 0.05). There was no significant effect on back fat loss of the sows, weight gain of the piglets(n = 541) and survival rate.In conclusion, a single intramuscular administration of ketoprofen to sows shortly afterfarrowing decreased rectal temperature but did not improve the performance of the piglets.