Evidence-based clinical decision support tools and calculators for veterinary professionals
An 8-year-old male castrated Border Collie was presented to the emergency service after a motor vehicle accident. On presentation, he had signs of circulatory shock and a caudal abdominal wall trauma with evisceration of small intestines (Figure 1).
Continue reading “The Morel-Lavallée lesion in a dog”This post presents diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to canine and feline patients with hyponatremia. As we all remember, the plasma sodium concentration represents a ratio of plasma sodium content to the water content. As a result, the plasma sodium concentration depends heavily on water balance. Therefore, hyponatremia may develop secondary to either excess of free water in the body or lack of sodium ions relatively to the free water. Also, it is helpful to remember that plasma sodium concentration is the key determinant of plasma osmolality, and the majority of hyponatremic patients will have low plasma osmolality. However, this is not always the case. For example, patients with hyperglycemia or those who received mannitol may develop hyponatremia in conjunction with high plasma osmolality caused by excessive glucose concentration or the presence of other osmotically active substances (e.g. mannitol). Hyponatremic patients with normal plasma osmolality typically have spurious hyponatremia (aka pseudohyponatremia).
Continue reading “Approach to Hyponatremia in Dogs and Cats”Hypernatremia is defined as a serum sodium level above the reference range. It is a relatively infrequently encountered electrolyte disturbance in dogs and cats. In one retrospective study (Ueda et al. 2015), 5.7% dogs and 8.0% cats were diagnosed with hypernatremia. It was associated with increased case fatality rates in this population of patients. Understanding hypernatremia requires a comprehension of body fluid compartments, as well as concepts of the preservation of normal body water balance. The animal body maintains a normal osmolality between 280 and 310 mOsm/kg via Arginine Vasopressin (AVP), thirst, and the renal response to AVP; dysfunction of all three of these factors can cause hypernatremia (Mushin et al. 2016). In this post, I present a step-by-step approach to the hypernatremia in canine and feline patients. Further reading is recommended to deepen understanding of the physiology and pathophysiology of sodium and water balance.
Continue reading “Approach to Hypernatremia in Dogs and Cats”
All causes of hypokalemia can be divided into 3 big groups:
Step 1: Review current medication history. Drugs that can promote hypokalemia (via intracellular shifting or increased losses/decreased intake):
Enterococci are commensal bacteria inhabiting GI tract of animals and humans. It typically emerges in debilitated patients exposed to broad-spectrum antibiotics and as part of polymicrobial infections (especially, GI and/or urogenital). Enterococci are usually part of mixed aerobic and anaerobic flora, and antimicrobial regimens with minimal in vitro anti-enterococcal activity are often effective in treating mixed infections; therefore, the pathogenicity of enterococci in this setting is questionable. These and other factors limit the ability of investigators to determine the independent contribution of enterococcal infections to mortality and morbidity.
Continue reading “A Tricky Enterococcus”
