Weekly companion animal news: November 9, 2020

New feline facility at UC Davis aims to improve efficiency of care

The University of California, Davis veterinary school has opened a feline treatment and housing suite to better care for sick cats. The new facility combines a 20-cat hospitalization ward with examination and treatment space. The veterinary hospital treats more than 5,000 cats per year, and during wildfires and other emergencies, upwards of 50-75 cats can be hospitalized at the same time. The new facility allows the veterinary team to treat and house the cats in an all-in-one suite, eliminating the need to transport them from a hospitalization ward to an examination room in another part of the hospital. The saved time will allow more efficiency in care. More details on the facility are available from UC Davis.

More than 600 dogs and cats airlifted out of Hawaii to be put up for adoption on the U.S. mainland

More than 600 adoptable cats and dogs were airlifted from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland in the largest animal rescue flight in history, according to Hawaii’s Emergency Management Agency. Known as “Paws Across the Pacific,” a chartered Hercules C-130 plane flew across the Hawaiian Islands on October 28, picking up dogs and cats from overcrowded shelters on Kauai, Oahu and Maui. “Pet shelters in Hawaii are in a COVID-19 crisis. Normal operations have been affected by months of shutdown, economic downturn, limited hours and routine flights to mainland halted,” Liz Baker, CEO of Greater Good Charities, told CNN. “The Paws Across the Pacific flight is urgently needed to make space in Hawaii’s shelters for at-risk pets who otherwise wouldn’t be able to receive necessary care to survive.”

FDA continues to investigate DCM, reiterates no regulatory action has been taken

Steven Solomon, director of the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, provides here clarification and emphasis on a few aspects of its investigation into causes of canine dilated cardiomyopathy. “FDA has not taken regulatory action against or declared any specific pet food products unsafe or definitively linked to DCM,” Solomon writes. “As the scientific community looks further into the role that diet may play in these cases, we hope to explore additional avenues about ingredient levels, nutrient bioavailability, ingredient sourcing, and diet processing to determine if there are any common factors. We have asked pet food manufacturers to share diet formulation information, which could substantially benefit our understanding of the role of diet.” Solomon adds that “if there is one point I want to drive home, it’s that the best thing you as a pet owner can do is to talk to your veterinarian about your dog’s dietary needs based on their health and medical history.”

Resource clarifies recommendations for opioid prescribing regulations

A new document from the American Association of Veterinary State Boards aims to clarify rules and regulations for the prescription and administration of opioids in veterinary medicine. The model regulations are meant to serve as a resource for AAVSB’s member boards when considering changes to rules or regulations. “The task force recognized veterinarians dispensing or prescribing opioids should follow best practices and should be held accountable,” said Jim Penrod, AAVSB’s executive director. “As regulators, we must ensure animals and people are protected, and consumers have an avenue to file a complaint should something go wrong.” The document should be used in conjunction with the association’s Practice Act Model, AAVSB said. Veterinary Practice News reports.

PetSmart pulls $4.65 billion Chewy debt deal as buyers balk

PetSmart is shelving a $4.65 billion debt sale that would have helped finance its split from Chewy, after struggling to get buyers on board, Bloomberg reports. The company withdrew its joint junk bond and leveraged loan offering, citing market conditions, according to a PetSmart spokesperson. The financing, led by private equity firm BC Partners as part of a plan to separate the companies, had yet to generate enough orders to match what it was trying to raise, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Even after the BC Partners-led group made protections stronger and prices better, buyers were still wary over the core purpose of splitting the two companies, which would have left them with only the brick-and-mortar PetSmart retail operation, without the valuable online business of Chewy.

Pet Valu to close all U.S. stores, citing COVID

Pet Valu U.S., a specialty retailer of pet food and supplies in the United States, will close all of its U.S. stores, following a wind-down of its operations “due to severe impact from COVID-19,” company officials said. The company expects that all of its 358 stores and warehouses in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States, as well as its corporate office in Wayne, Pennsylvania, will close by the end of the wind-down process. “The company’s stores have been significantly impacted by the protracted COVID-19-related restrictions,” said Jamie Gould, Pet Valu U.S.’ recently appointed chief restructuring officer. “After a thorough review of all available alternatives, we made the difficult but necessary decision to commence this orderly wind-down.”

Study shows new—but disputed—discoveries about the spread and domestication of ancient dogs

The most extensive study of ancient dog DNA to date has shown how rapidly dogs spread across the world after domestication, and pins their likely origin to a group of extinct wolves, The New York Times reports. Until now, scientists had published the genomes of only six ancient dogs and wolves. Now an international team of researchers has sequenced and analyzed an additional 27 genomes of ancient dogs. The study also raises many questions. Among the findings: While it’s widely accepted that dogs were domesticated at least 15,000 years ago, this study suggests, but doesn’t prove, that domestication probably began about 20,000 years ago. Researchers found that dogs probably evolved from an extinct form of wolf, yet to be identified. There’s some disagreement among experts about the strength of this finding.

Dogs and cats became family after World War II, gravestones show

A new study of more than 1,000 U.K. pet gravestones shows that the human-pet relationship has changed substantially since the late 19^th century, with many pets becoming full-fledged family members, not just friends. Over time, pets were more likely to be memorialized with the family name, referred to as children and even given figurative passage to heaven, Science magazine reports. After World War II, gravestones began denoting owners as “Mummy” or “Dad,” said researcher Eric Tourigny, who collected data on 1,169 U.K. grave markers from 1881 to 1991. Only three gravestones before 1910—less than 1% of those surveyed—referred to a pet as a family member, and only six used surnames. After the war, almost 20% of grave markers described pets as family, and 11% used surnames. Tourigny also noticed more cat graves as time went on.