The relationship between overall obesity and fat distribution in dogs and the development of heart disease is unclear. In the present study we evaluated the association between overall obesity and fat distribution and clinical heart disease by morphometric and computed tomography (CT)-based measurements. Body condition score (BCS), modified body mass index (MBMI, kg/m2), waist-to-hock-to-stifle distance ratio (WHSDR), waist-to-ilium wing distance ratio (WIWDR), and waist-to-truncal length ratio (WTLR) were compared between dogs with (n = 44) and without (n = 43) heart disease using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Intra-abdominal fat (IAF) and subcutaneous fat (SQF) were measured in dogs with (n = 8) and without (n = 9) heart disease at the center of the fourth and fifth lumbar vertebrae by CT.

Background and Aim: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been widely used as a non-invasive modality to evaluate neurological organ structures. However, brain MRI studies in cats with neurological signs are limited. This study evaluated the association between patient characteristics, neurological signs, and brain lesion locations identified by MRI. Blood profiles of cats with presumptive inflammatory and structural brain lesions were also determined. Materials and Methods: Medical records of 114 cats that underwent brain MRI were retrospectively reviewed. Cats were categorized into five groups based on the location of their lesion: Cerebrum, brainstem, cerebellum, multifocal, and non-structural. Patient characteristics, neurological signs, and hematological profiles were obtained from their medical records. Disease classification was categorized based on their etiologies. Associations were determined using Fisher's exact test. Blood parameters were compared using the Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: A total of 114 cats met the inclusion criteria. Lesions were identified in the cerebrum (21.1%), brainstem (8.8%), cerebellum (6.1%), multifocal (39.5%), and non-structural (24.6%) of the cats. Common neurological signs included seizure activity (56.1%), cerebellar signs (41.2%), and anisocoria (25.4%). The most common brain abnormality was inflammation (40.4%). There was no significant difference in hematological profiles between cats with presumptive inflammatory and non-inflammatory brain lesions. Neutrophils, platelets, total protein, and globulin concentrations were higher in cats with structural brain lesions. Conclusion: The most common neurological signs and brain disease category were seizure activity and inflammation, respectively. However, the hematological profile did not predict inflammatory and structural brain lesions. Further studies with a large number of birds are required to molecularly characterize the circulating strains of this virus in this area. Keywords: brainstem, cerebellum, cerebrum, feline, seizure.

This study aimed to explore prognostic factors for mortality in dogs and cats following traumatic diaphragmatic herniorrhaphy using both multivariable logistic regression, a traditional statistical method, and the random forest algorithm, a machine learning approach. Associations between demographic and clinical variables and mortality were examined. Overall survival was 78.8% (149/189), 77% (97/126) in cats and 82.5% (52/63) in dogs. Key findings revealed that chronic diaphragmatic hernia (DH) significantly increased the odds of death compared to acute cases (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 4.01, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.69–9.53). Elevated blood urea nitrogen (BUN) increased mortality (adjusted OR = 3.24, 95% CI: 1.22–8.57). Cox proportional hazards analysis revealed that chronic DH (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) = 3.31, 95% CI: 1.51–7.30) and elevated BUN (HR = 2.88, 95% CI: 1.23–6.77) were associated with increased one-year mortality risk. The random forest analysis reinforced these findings, identifying hernia duration (Gini importance: 1.90) and BUN (Gini importance: 0.94) as the most crucial predictors. Among chronic DH patients, 55% of those with elevated BUN experienced fatal outcomes based on classification and regression tree (CART) analysis. The consistency of random forest results with logistic regression strengthens the reliability of these prognostic insights for DH patients.

Epilepsy is the most common neurological disorder in cats. However, information on the long-term outcomes and predictive survival factors based on neurological and clinicopathological findings is limited. We aimed to evaluate the clinical manifestations, survival rates, and hazard factors influencing survival in cats with epilepsy by analyzing the medical records of 90 cats diagnosed via brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The cats were divided into the survival and non-survival groups. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify the significant survival factors. The mortality rates at one and two years were 33.2% and 37.8%, respectively. The median age of cats in the non-survival and survival group were 3 and 1 years, respectively. Age over 7 years (p = 0.002), paresis (p = 0.001), structural brain lesions (p = 0.015), leukocytosis (p = 0.001), neutrophilia (p = 0.001), hyperproteinemia (p = 0.037), hypoalbuminemia (p = 0.001), hyperglobulinemia (p = 0.003), and an elevated neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (p = 0.041), were associated with an increased mortality rate. A multivariable analysis identified several predictors of early mortality in cats with epilepsy, including age over 7 years (p = 0.045), presence with paresis (p = 0.012), structural brain lesions (p = 0.042), leukocytosis (p = 0.005), and hypoalbuminemia (p = 0.030). Older age and structural brain lesions were shown to be key predictors of mortality and were important for prognosis prediction and management.

Ki-67 has been reported as a prognostic marker in human cancers treated using RT. The current study investigated the prognostic significance of Ki-67 expression and its association with clinicopathological characteristics in 19 cats diagnosed with nasal adenocarcinoma and treated using hypofractionated RT. Data collected encompassed signalment, clinical signs, clinicopathological variables, treatment outcomes, and survival times. Median survival times (MST) were estimated using Kaplan–Meier curves and analyzed based on the log-rank test. Based on the results, white blood cell counts were significantly (p < 0.001) higher before treatment than after, although this was not associated with survival time. The overall MST was 550 days (range: 56–1118 days). Cats achieving a favorable response (complete or partial response) had significantly (p = 0.006) longer survival times (1055 days) than those with a poor response (stable or progressive disease; 369 days). Cats with high Ki-67 expression had significantly (p = 0.028) longer survival times (1055 days) than those with low Ki-67 expression (256 days). These results suggested that Ki-67 may be a potential prognostic factor for feline nasal adenocarcinoma.