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References

2014 AAHA weight management guidelines for dogs and cats.

Summary:

Communicating and implementing a weight management program for dogs and cats can be a challenging endeavor for veterinarians, but a rewarding one. An effective individualized weight loss program provides a consistent and healthy rate of weight loss to reduce risk of disease, prevent malnutrition, and improve quality of life. Weight loss is achieved with appropriate caloric restriction, diet selection, exercise, and strategies to help modify behavior of both the pet and client.

Conclusion:

This document offers guidelines and tools for the management of weight loss and long-term maintenance of healthy weight.

Author & Journal:Brooks D, et al, J Am Anim Hosp Assoc 2014; 50:1-11
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2015 AAHA/AAFP Pain Management Guidelines for Dogs and Cats

Summary:

The included pain management “guidelines continue the trend in all branches of medicine toward evidence-based consensus statements that address key issues in clinical practice. Although not a review article, this compilation is a force multiplier for the busy practitioner, consolidating in a single place current recommendations and insights from experts in pain management.”

Conclusion:

“Behavioral changes are the principal indicator of pain and its resolution, for which there are now several validated, clinical scoring instruments. Pain is not an isolated event but instead exists either as a continuum of causation, progression, and resolution or as a chronic condition. Thus treatment of pain should consist of a continuum of care in the form of anticipatory analgesia through the anticipated pain period followed by longer-term or even chronic treatment that relies on periodic reassessment of the patient’s response.”

Author & Journal:Epstein, Mark et al, Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association, 2016
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A meta-analysis of the efficacy of laser phototherapy on pain relief.

Summary:

Laser phototherapy has been widely used to relieve pain for more than 30 years, but its efficacy remains controversial. To ascertain the overall effect of phototherapy on pain, we aggregated the literature and subjected the studies to statistical meta-analysis.

Conclusion:

Fifty-two effect sizes were computed from the 22 articles that met the inclusion criteria. The resulting overall mean effect size was highly significant; d = +0.84 (95% confidence interval = 0.44-1.23). The effect size remained significant even when a high outlying d value was conservatively excluded from the analysis; d = +0.66 (95% confidence interval = 0.46-0.86). The fail-safe number associated with the overall treatment effect, that is, the number of additional studies in which phototherapy has negative or no effect on pain needed to negate the overall large effect size of +0.84, was 348.

Author & Journal:Fulop AM, et al, Clin J Pain 2010;26:729-736
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A multicenter study of the effect of dietary supplementation with fish oil omega-3 fatty acids on carprofen dosage in dogs with osteoarthritis

Summary:

Human clinical studies and a recent meta-analysis7 have found that dietary supplementation with fish oil and fish oil-derived fatty acids (in particular omega-3 fatty acids) provides benefits for patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Although the pathophysiology of rheumatoid arthritis in humans differs from the pathophysiology of OA in dogs, both conditions have an inflammatory aspect that could be sensitive to omega-3 fatty acids. In 2 recent studies, the effects of dietary supplementation with fish oil omega-3 fatty acids in dogs with OA found that feeding a diet containing 3.4% to 3.5% omega-3 fatty acids improved some clinical outcomes and weight bearing. In clinical practice, many dogs with OA are treated long term with NSAIDs such as carprofen, and neither of the aforementioned studies9,10 examined whether dietary supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids would allow a decrease in NSAID dosage. The purpose of the study reported here, therefore, was to determine the effects of feeding a diet supplemented with fish oil omega-3 fatty acids on carprofen dosage in dogs with OA.

Conclusion:

Results suggested that in dogs with chronic osteoarthritis receiving carprofen because of signs of pain, feeding a diet supplemented with fish oil omega-3 fatty acids may allow for a reduction in carprofen dosage.

Author & Journal:Fritsch DA, Allen TA, Dodd CE, Jewell DE, Sixby KA, Leventhal PS, Brejda J, Hahn KA., J Am Vet Med Assoc.
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A multicenter study of the effect of dietary supplementation with fish oil omega-3 fatty acids on carprofen dosage in dogs with osteoarthritis.

Summary:

To determine the effects of feeding a diet supplemented with fish oil omega-3 fatty acids on carprofen dosage in dogs with osteoarthritis.

Conclusion:

Results suggested that in dogs with chronic osteoarthritis receiving carprofen because of signs of pain, feeding a diet supplemented with fish oil omega-3 fatty acids may allow for a reduction in carprofen dosage.

Author & Journal:Fritsch DA, et al, J Am Vet Med Assoc 2010;236:535-539
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A Pilot Clinical Study Assessing Treatment of Canine Hip Dysplasia Using Autologous Protein Solution.

Summary:

Five dogs with bilateral hip dysplasia and without osteoarthritis of other joints were enrolled in this pilot study. Objective kinetic data using a pressure sensitive mat and owner assessments using the canine brief pain inventory (CBPI) and Liverpool Osteoarthritis for Dogs (LOAD) questionnaires were obtained prior to treatment. Enrolled dogs were treated in one hip with autologous protein solution(APS) and the contralateral hip was injected with an equal volume of saline. The hip to be treated was selected using a random number generator. At exactly 28 days following treatment dogs were re-assessed using the pressure sensitive mat and the CBPI and LOAD questionnaires. No dogs were treated with any other medications or supplements throughout the study period.

Conclusion:

Assessment of the total pressure index (TPI) collected using the pressure sensitive mat showed that the hips treated with APS improved significantly more than hips treated with saline (p = 0.0005) and that the hips treated with APS bore significantly more weight than the hips treated with saline at day 28 (p < 0.05). Statistically significant improvement was noted by owners in “pain” and “function” as assessed by the CBPI as well “mobility at exercise” using the LOAD questionnaire. This pilot study provided proof of principle that APS is beneficial in treating pain and lameness in dogs affected by coxofemoral osteoarthritis.

Author & Journal:Frank, S.P., Front Vet Sci. 2019 Aug 9;6:243. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2019.00243. eCollection 2019
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A population study of neutering status as a risk factor for canine prostate cancer.

Summary:

Prostate cancer has been reported to occur more commonly in neutered than intact male dogs in several case series. This study was undertaken to evaluate risk of prostate cancer in a large population database. The hypothesis was that castration is a risk factor for prostate cancer in male companion dogs.

Conclusion:

Breed predisposition suggests that genetic factors play a role in the development of prostate cancer. The riskassociated with being neutered is highest for TCC, supporting previous work identifying the urothelium and ductular rather than acinar epithelium as the source of these tumors.

Author & Journal:Bryan JN, et al, The Prostate 2007;67:1174-1181
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A prospective, randomized masked, and placebo-controlled efficacy study of intraarticular allogeneic adipose stem cells for the treatment of osteoarthritis in dogs

Summary:

This report describes a prospective, randomized, blinded, and placebo-controlled clinical efficacy study of intraarticular allogeneic adipose stem cells for the treatment of dogs with OA.

Conclusion:

The study’s primary objective was achieved and the data confirm that the target dose of allogeneic adipose-derived MSCs delivered intraarticularly to one or two joints was statistically significantly more effective than a placebo in reducing clinical signs of OA in dogs. Both veterinarians and dog owners evaluated stem cell-treated dogs as more often experiencing treatment success than placebo-treated dogs.

Author & Journal:Harman R, et al, Frontiers Vet Sci 2016
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A Prospective, Randomized, Masked, Placebo-Controlled Multisite Clinical Study of Grapiprant, an EP4 Prostaglandin Receptor Antagonist (PRA), in Dogs with Osteoarthritis.

Summary:

This study evaluated the effectiveness and safety of grapiprant for treatment of pain in dogs with osteoarthritis (OA).

Conclusion:

Grapiprant is an effective treatment for alleviation of pain in dogs with OA, and represents a modality of treatment that may be better tolerated than current options.

Author & Journal:Rausch-Derra L, et al, J Vet Intern Med 2016
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A randomized blind placebo-controlled trial investigating the effects of photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) on canine elbow osteoarthritis.

Summary:

The effect of photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) or sham light therapy on pain, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) requirement, and lameness was studied in 20 dogs with naturally occurring elbow osteoarthritis.

Conclusion:

There was greater improvement in lameness score post PMBT versus S therapy (P = 0.001). A greater reduction in pain score was detected in 9/11 parameters in group PBMT (P < 0.05). Regularly scheduled PBMT at 10 to 20 J/cm2 per joint for 6 weeks was successful in improving lameness and pain scores, and in lowering NSAID requirement in canine elbow osteoarthritis patients.

Author & Journal:Looney AL, et al, Can Vet J 2018 59(9):959-966
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