The Pet Care Trust - News Releases

1996 Research Programs:

Metabolic Scaling and Pharmacokinetics of Enrofloxacin in Green Iguanas
-The University of Florida, College of Veterinary Medicine

Drs. Elliott Jacobson and Lara Maxwell submitted a summary of the progress to date. Preliminary single dose IM injection and oral dose in intermediate-sized iguanas has been done and the blood samples have been analyzed in the lab. The single IM injection provided a longer blood concentration after administration than did the single oral dosage. The results of the oral administration show that there is a wide range of variation compared with the IM dosage. While absorption of the drug was rapid in the oral dose, the time that it was at or above therapeutic levels was variable. In order to study to range of adequate blood levels for the drug to be effective, additional studies must be performed to test multiple oral dosage administration. Multiple-dose studies for IM injection and oral dosage enrofloxacin have not been completed but are scheduled for May-July, 1998.

Intravenous catheters in the jugular vein allowed a continuous drip in larger size iguanas. This testing was completed in December 1997, but the lab test results have not yet been completed.

A presentation on the progress of this study was made to the Assoc. of American Zoo Veterinarians. The paper stated that the antibiotic had good activity against many gram-negative bacteria and some gram-positive bacteria, but all previous work had been empirical as no enrofloxacin pharmacokinetic studies have been published in any lizard. The conclusion at that meeting was that due to the variation in oral administration, the parenteral route (IM or IV) may be more suitable for the treatment of critical infections in green iguanas.

When more data has been collected by Dr. Jacobson, he will forward the interim results. The research and development of an oral medication and accurate dosing regimens for reptiles is important for owners who must treat their animals at home.

Proventricular Dilatation Disease
- Univ. Georgia, Psittacine Disease Research Group

The following information is from the "PDD Update" a quarterly publication of the International Aviculturists Society, Fall 1997.

Brief history: The disease was first reported 20 years ago and occurs in over 50 species of the Parrot family. The infectious agent kills companion, aviary and free-ranging bird throughout the world. In contrast with polyomavirus and PBFD virus which primarily affects young birds, PDD is more prominent in adults. At this time there is no prevention or protection known.

Research findings: The responsible agent appears to be a virus. An enveloped virus has been recovered from affected birds and has been used to transmit the disease to experimental birds. A test has been developed to demonstrate this virus in tissue of birds affected with PDD. This virus appears to be the causative agent. This virus has been demonstrated in tissues of all of the birds infected in the laboratory, and is frequently shed in the bird's excrement.

Now that the research has shown that PDD is transmissible, the research team will investigate this suspect virus to confirm it as the causative agent. The chance that this organism is coincidental to the presence of disease is possible (while unlikely) and that fact must be ruled out before the next steps can be taken. If the virus is the PDD agent, a pure cell line must be cultured and work on a possible vaccine can commence. It is very positive that a diagnostic test has been found for this fatal disease, but ideally a vaccine to prevent the disease will be developed for immunization of all psittacine birds.

Early Experience and the Development of Behavior Problems in Dogs.
-University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine

Dr. James Serpell reported that he has postdoctoral candidate for the study, Dr. Yuying Hsu, who recently completed her PhD in Animal Behavior at NYU, Syracuse, has been hired. The project was started on January 2, 1998. This project is part of a $33,000.00 program, funded by an individual donor and the Pet Care Trust. A mid-term report will be due in July, 1998.

1997: Special Programs

"Pets and People" - The Providence Animal Rescue League, Rhode Island

Since the opening of the Providence Children's' Museum in October 1997, the Museum has served 30,000 visitors and they expect 150,000 visitors in 1998. The Pets and People exhibit is an integral part of the Museum and has received three times as many children and adult visitors than was originally planned for (see attached article).

The exhibit space is 450 square feet of pet animal related activities. The focus is on age 5 to 9 years, but information is available for all age groups and adults. Much of the information is presented as bilingual syntia boards. The seven theme areas are:

The Adoption Center: interactive information about different pet animal needs; flip books about healthy, well adjusted animals; a kids questionnaire to see if they qualify to adopt; crates of stuffed animals for pretend adoption. Volunteers from the Providence Rescue League (located one block from the Museum) spend most of their time talking to children about responsible pet ownership. The focus in on dogs and cats, but volunteers also use three Kits covering bird, reptile and unusual pet care.

The Animal Hospital: this space focuses on science and exploration. White doctor jackets, an exam table with drawers of instruments for children's role playing and a variety of stuffed animals for examination. The x-ray viewer with numerous x-rays has been a very popular section for kids discussion and interaction. A microscope is fixed to the counter with items for viewing such as animal hair, quills, scales, feathers and parasites in laminated slides. Flip books focus on animal health and the elements of owner responsibility. A plexiglass cabinet includes turtle and snake skeletons, animal bones and a synthetic heart infested with heartworm. A large mural on the Adoption Center and Animal Hospital wall depicts the mathematical problem related to pet reproduction and pet overpopulation.

Kids Talking to Kids about pets ... : a combination of mediums eliciting response from children. A video monitor with information on choosing the appropriate pet and proper pet care, e.g. guinea pigs and proper diets, nail trimming and proper way to hold the animal. Other topics include choosing pets if allergies are a problem - turtles might be a good choice. One monitor helps children write about or draw a picture of a favorite pet. Drawings are hung on the walls and kids are encouraged to contribute photos of their pets. Pet loss and grieving is also a topic for discussion.

Puppet Theater: the bottom level of a hexagon space designed for creativity and pretend. A puppet stage, a bin filled with various animal puppets, stage scenes with indoor and outdoor sets are available for spontaneous presentations.

Book Nook: four steps above the theater is an animals library with children's books for all ages, colorful cushions, good lighting and a quiet place to read.

Animal Homes: three animal homes in this component and each is accessible for entry. Each space has costumes so the child can pretend to be the animal that lives in the Dog House, the Rabbit Hutch and the Bird Cage.

The Dog House contains food and water dishes, dog toys, a dog bed, collar and leash and a big chew bone. Lucy, the dog, is painted on the inner wall asleep and dreaming about playing Frisbee with her owner. She is painted on the outer side back wall of the doghouse with a cutout where her face should be, so kids can have their pictures taken as Lucy. The dog costume is a Dalmatian.
The Rabbit Hutch is also entered by the children with the front enclosed with wire and the back wall is solid. Food dish with plastic pellets, lettuce and carrots, a water bottle on the wire, hay on the floor and rabbit costume with fluffy tail. Rabbit murals and information about care and needs of rabbits, especially during winter.
The Bird Cage is an aluminum circular cage with all the needs required by pet birds, and of course a colorful bird costume. There is also the Tree, designed to remind kids that wildlife should not be considered as pets, and should be left in the wild.

Aquariums: The wall that separates People and Pets from Water Ways (another Museum exhibit), with fish viewing from both exhibits. The focus is that fish make great pets in this Fish Are Animals Too. Fish need food, clean water and good care just like pet dogs and cats. Fish teach responsibility for even the smallest animal.

After three months since the grand opening, the Pets and People exhibit has out performed all expectations. It has become the most popular exhibit in the Museum and kids don't want to leave to visit other areas. The program coordinator, Jane Deming has yet to make her final assessment on the use and function, and will wait until she has six months of visitation data, parent and children comments and use patterns of the seven components. Jane has already been approached by other museums and SPCA's to share her information and experience with the development and opening of this pet animals museum program.

Service Dog Education System. The Delta Society, Renton,WA

A 50 page confidential report was submitted to the Pet Care Trust and other donors on December 1, 1997. Each page contains the request not to reproduce, circulate, quote or reference without prior permission of Delta Society. The following is a synopsis of the work to date. I will provide an oral presentation at the March meeting. If anyone wants the full document, I will send you a copy.

Project started in July, 1997, as the first widely available, formal curriculum to teach people how to train service dogs. The goal is to increase the number and quality of service dogs available to people with disabilities. The core curriculum will focus on teaching, testing and credentialing trainers who can train service dogs and train people with disabilities how to work successfully with the dogs. The emphasis is on training unwanted dogs and will include a selection tool that trainers can use to choose good service dog candidates from animal's shelters and breed rescue groups. The courses will be completed in four stages over a five-year period, ending in 2002. The program will include: Service dog training; Trainer/Master Instructor training; Handler training (training the person with a disability, including work with the dog, knowledge of legal rights, and care and well being.)

The report includes the following sections:

Standards and Evaluation Tool
SDES Development Team Meeting and (dogs) Selection Criteria
Financial Report and Budgets
Fund raising efforts
Staff and Project Experts
Marketing and Public Relations and press releases.

The PETSAFE Program and Manual - Purdue University, College Veterinary Medicine

The manual is complete and now in proof copy (attached) ready to go to the printers. I have requested that the Pet Care Trust logo on the acknowledgements page be corrected prior to printing. The final document will be in a three-color format and the graphics in the manual will carry over and be used in a new trifold introductory pamphlet and a poster. Veterinary students wrote and produced the manual with help from Drs. Janice Sojka and Alan Beck, project coordinators.

The entire package, with a PetSafe video and the Pet Care Trust funded "Breaking the Cycle of Violence" video produced by the Latham Foundation, will be presented and displayed at the national meeting of the Student Chapter of The AVMA (SCAVMA) in March, 1998. The manual will be the key to success in expanding the Purdue project to other North American schools of veterinary medicine. The package will be sent to all veterinary schools and the student delegates attending SCAVMA meeting will be able to promote the idea in their own schools. With a greater proportion of veterinary students now being women, I believe that this program has a greater chance of expansion than it would have ten or fifteen years ago.

A preview copy of the PetSafe video was sent to me for pre-screening. The video deals with the issue of housing for animals temporarily displaced by emergency. The film starts with a family displaced when their home burns down and they must find temporary lodging in a motel. Due to the economic constraints, they cannot afford a kennel, but the dog (who is the narrator of this segment) is welcomed to the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine where the PetSafe program is described in detail. The dog is shown being cared for by first and second year veterinary students, with views of examination, kenneling and other animals being cared for. Other emergencies, such as domestic violence, are discussed with encouragement for veterinarians and community services becoming involved. In local emergencies, the animals' needs are often forgotten and they can suffer as a result of this oversight. The video is a good introduction to stimulate interest in this issue and a quality adjunct to the manual.

Dr. Sojka was invited to make a presentation to the HSUS "First Strike" meeting last Summer in Washington DC. She had numerous requests for the Pet Care Trust funded PetSafe manual and materials. Dr. Sojka noted that a variety of similar programs are emerging across the nation, with an interesting mix of support and leadership. She states, " ... I think it is important that the veterinary community remain leaders in this area."

The final manual, document and video will be circulated to the Board of Trustees upon its completion. After your review, I will create a press article for circulation to the trade journals.

1997 Research Projects:

Feline Inappropriate Elimination Behavior Problems - Univ. Georgia, College Vet Med

Dr. Sharon Crowell-Davis submitted a mid-year report on the effect of litterbox location on normal and inappropriate elimination behavior in cats. The initial effort to provide adequate study sites in the Athens, Georgia area proved inadequate to fulfill the needs of the proposed study protocol. A brochure was developed to describe the study and provide information for a person interested in participating in the study (attached). Ms. Sung, the graduate student, coordinates her outpatient schedule directly with the volunteer households. Of the 40 proposed study sites listed in the grant, only 17 sites were in operation by December 1997. Even though the brochures were circulated by the Athens Humane Society, the Vet School and other University offices and posted in area pet stores, the progress was a disappointment.

The recruitment of households is a major limiting factor in the study and will affect the date of completion. While trying to expand the number of sites, Ms. Sung has been entering the data for the first half of the research and working with owners on solutions for the problem cats. In late December, it became apparent that new households would not be found in the Athens area, so the research team decided to expand the project to Atlanta. Dr. Crowell-Davis contacted me in late December to request a budget change to facilitate the needed geographic expansion for the project. The final equipment costs were reduced by $807.00 (from the application estimates) through the competitive bid process. The request was to transfer $700.00 into the grant's travel budget to allow the graduate student to make the needed house calls to Atlanta (140 miles rt). To date, "we have had good success recruiting households in the Atlanta vicinity". No specifics were provided. I contacted the Univ. GA Division of Sponsored Programs, providing written notification for the requested changes.

The Effects of Early-Age Gonadectomy on Domestic Dog Behavior and Behavioral Problems.
Mercer University, Department of Psychology.

Dr. James Wright reports that the second year of this three year study has found additional funding ($1,080) to hire 200 hours of student time as an additional research assistant. The two assistants are coding data (transcribe answers from questionnaires) onto the computer spreadsheets.

To date, data from 89 extensive questionnaires have been entered. Fifty-one of the questionnaires assessed behavior in the month following adoption and the remaining 38 assessed behavior when the pups were either 6-months of age or 1-year of age. Twelve additional "project puppies" from the Mass SPCA are currently being evaluated through the survey questionnaire. In order to increase the number of puppies available for the project in 1998, MSPCA ? is bringing in litters form outlying areas of Boston, including litters from Vermont. This MSPCA effort is to maximize the number of puppies in the second half of the project year. The project anticipates the adoption of 40-50 new puppies by July 1998, to fulfill the proposed study group cited in the research proposal. The project is on track for completing the second year study with respect to the goals stated.