Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is a painful, incurable disease that’s nearly always fatal. But over the past 18 months, thousands of cats have reportedly been cured of FIP by a drug that’s very similar to remdesivir—the antiviral currently under investigation as a promising treatment for COVID-19 in humans. As a recent article in the Atlantic explains, the success of remdesivir turns out to be the main reason you probably didn’t even know a FIP cure existed.

Dogs aren’t known for their sophisticated palates. Their tendency to eat first and react later can easily backfire on them. So when dogs get sick and experience symptoms like diarrhea, nausea, vomiting or a loss of appetite it may be easy for a pet parent to think it was that stolen helping of birthday cake. But if these symptoms persist for weeks even intermittently in your dog they may be symptomatic of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), a chronic condition that occurs when the lining of the gastrointestinal tract becomes inflamed and loses its ability to properly digest and absorb nutrients. While the exact causes of IBD in dogs are not well defined and vary between individuals, Dawn Kingsbury, Chief Veterinary Officer at AnimalBiome, says there are several common factors at play among dogs with IBD.

Remote veterinary care has been around for decades, but it has taken a global pandemic to make it (nearly) mandatory for veterinary practices to use the available technologies. In the past, remote veterinary care was difficult because of certain laws and the need to establish a veterinary–client–patient relationship (VCPR) in person. But now telehealth is much easier for vets with temporarily relaxed telemedicine rules due to forced lockdowns across the country. In this article we address these concerns, as well as some benefits and drawbacks of telehealth for vets, new ways for vets to incorporate telemedicine services into their business model, and how AnimalBiome products can support at home care for patients. 

Dogs who start life with a nursing mother and a stable puppyhood have the best chance of developing the strong immune system they need to grow up healthy. But some dogs—like Emmy, don’t have those advantages. Without a well-established immune system, Emmy the dog suffered from chronic intestinal (GI) issues that developed into a disorder known as, inflammatory bowel disease in dogs. But a close look at her gut microbiome (bacteria in the digestive tract) revealed the key to turning her health around.

April 29th is International Guide Dog Day, a day to celebrate the amazing canines that help people who are blind safely navigate obstacles. There are just over a dozen guide dogs schools in the United States, who coordinate an army of volunteers to provide guide dogs - at little to no cost to the owner - to about 2% of people who are blind or have visual impairment (helping over 10,000 people each year). Countless people are involved in the raising and training each guide dog: breeders, breeder hosts, puppy raisers, veterinarians, instructors, family members, guide dog school staff, and of course, the owner. In the article, we address some common misconceptions about guide dogs and share more about our research collaboration with Leader Dogs for the Blind. 

National Scoop the Poop Week (April 24–30) was originally established to highlight the importance of cleaning up after your dog. But there’s more to poop than scooping! Your cat’s or dog’s poop can tell you a lot about their overall health. Sending a sample of your pet’s poop for microbiome analysis can tell you the status of your pet’s gut health, whether the bacteria that make up your pet’s microbiome are in the proper balance, and how to support their gut health and potentially prevent health issues from arising down the road. 

CE just doesn’t stand for Continuing Education, it also stands for Chronic Enteropathy (CE), an umbrella term used to describe gastrointestinal (GI) disease that lasts longer than three weeks in cats and dogs and lacks a more specific diagnosis. Historically, CE has been referred to as Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), once histopathological evidence of inflammation has been reported via gastrointestinal mucosal biopsies. Specialists now prefer CE as the term for diagnosis because the predominant inflammatory infiltrate in animal IBD (lymphocytic plasmacytic) is very different from human IBD (neutrophilic & monocytic).

In these strange and stressful times, the good news is that it appears that pets are unlikely to become infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 in people, SARS-CoV-2. Only a few cases have been observed in cats and dogs since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. In all of these cases, the human was infected first and then unknowingly transmitted the virus to their pet.

There has been a lot of discussion about social distancing in the past few weeks. Because this is a new concept for many of us, here is a brief discussion of what social distancing is, why epidemiologists recommend it as a way of slowing the spread of an infection, and what current efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 might mean for pet parents.

You may have seen in the news that a dog in Hong Kong—the pet of a patient who had Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)—tested “weak positive” for the virus. This story has worried a lot of pet parents and brought up questions about whether dogs and cats can become infected with COVID-19. We want to reassure you: at this time there is no evidence that dogs or cats can transmit the new coronavirus to humans or to other animals. Here’s what we know so far.