Background: Intestinal protothecosis is an uncommon and insidious mycotic disease. Only one human case a few rare cases in dogs have been reported. To the authors’ knowledge, intestinal protothecosis has never reported cats. Case description: This paper describes a of intestinal nine-month-old male, Bengal cat. The cat presented because onset of haemorrhagic diarrhoea. Investigations allow...

Recent reports highlight the emerging idea that ownership of companion animals can significantly affect human health: Two articles in Frontiers in Psychology report that dogs provided superior social support to children with disorganized attachment patterns than did other humans (Beetz et al., 2012a), and that the neuropeptide hormone oxytocin is likely involved in the formation of these human-...

Behavioral disorders are considered risk factors for relinquishment of pet dogs and cats to shelters. While acupuncture may be a safe and effective treatment option, there is little in the scientific literature to support its use. There are, however, several reports in human medicine on the use of acupuncture to treat a variety of emotional disturbances, as well as animal model research that ha...

BACKGROUND Obesity is a parallel problem in canine and human populations. We describe health perceptions and levels of companion animal attachment in a cohort of dog owners. METHODS As part of a larger trial examining the impact of veterinary counseling on activity levels of dog owners and their pets, owners presenting to a veterinary referral center were asked to self-report perceived levels...

BACKGROUND Several endocrine disorders that affect humans also occur as endocrinopathies in companion animals. Spontaneous endocrine disorders in animals may provide valuable information for their counterparts in human endocrinology. For example, the discovery of progesterone-induced growth hormone production in the mammary gland of dogs may have important consequences for understanding the pat...

PURPOSE Invasive breast carcinoma is the most common cancer in women as in non-ovariectomised pet dogs, which are already identified as a valuable spontaneous preclinical model for that disease. Geographical and time trends suggest that environmental factors may play an important role in the etiology and pathogenesis of breast cancer. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) fit perfectly with thes...

In the past 4 years, incidences of endemic or epidemic respiratory diseases associated with canine influenza H3N2 virus in Asian dogs have been reported in countries such as South Korea and China. Canine species were considered to be the new natural hosts for this virus. However, at the beginning of 2010, influenza-like respiratory signs, such as dyspnoea, were also observed among cats as well ...

Accumulating behavioral and neurophysiological studies support the idea of infantile (cute) faces as highly biologically relevant stimuli rapidly and unconsciously capturing attention and eliciting positive/affectionate behaviors, including willingness to care. It has been hypothesized that the presence of infantile physical and behavioral features in companion (or pet) animals (i.e., dogs and ...

Companion animal owners are increasingly concerned about the links between degenerative health conditions, farm animal welfare problems, environmental degradation, fertilizers and herbicides, climate change, and causative factors; such as animal farming and the consumption of animal products. Accordingly, many owners are increasingly interested in vegetarian diets for themselves and their compa...