Sydney, Australia.  A sometimes rainy but always post card picturesque Darling Harbour was the backdrop for the 32nd.Annual World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) Congress August 19 through 23 at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Center. The gathering attracted over 3,000 veterinary professionals from 55 countries, August 19 through 23. Experts presented on topics ranging from new vaccine guidelines to the sex lives of dogs. “The idea is to share international knowledge,” said Dr. Matthew Miles, president and executive officer of the host Australian Small Animal Veterinary Association.

            In America, the WSAVA has come up with vaccine guidelines. In the U.S., the American Feline Practitioners Association has formalized vaccine guidelines for cats (they can be seen at www.aafponline.org) and the American Animal Hospital Association similar crafted guidelines for dogs (available at www.healthypet.com). Now, added to the list are new vaccine guidelines for the world, announced at the Sydney meeting by Dr. Michael Day of the World Small Animal Veterinary Association Vaccination Guidelines Group.

            The Group’s two philosophical recommendations are to increase total number of pets vaccinated and to cut down on the frequency each pet is vaccinated. Day, who is a professor at the University of Bristol at Langford in England pointed out that even in affluent nations, optimistically only 30 to 50 per cent of pets are fully vaccinated. Of course, those numbers are far lower, if even existent, in developing nations. “While one challenge is to vaccinate to protect against disease or the reemergence of disease, another is to avoid over-vaccination,” said Day. “While we should aim to vaccinate every animal, we should also vaccinate individual animals less frequently. Historically, we’ve used vaccines on annual basis. We now recognize that is not necessary.”

            One concern is adverse reactions to vaccines, and that’s one of the incentives for creating the guidelines in the first place. Day said, “These reactions are incredibly rare’; the vaccines we use are very safe and efficient. But if it’s your pet with that adverse reaction, it doesn’t matter that you’re literally one in a million.”

             Veterinary behaviorist Dr. Sarah Heath of Chester, England didn’t mention Cesar Millan’s name – but clearly he must have been at least a part of the motivation for her talk about the myth of dominance in dogs. In his popular TV show, “The Dog Whisperer” he’s perpetuated dominance theory. “It’s an over-used term,” said Heath, who proceeded to scientifically make a case that dogs aren’t wolves and that dogs don’t yearn to be dominant. She even offered a formula to determine hierarchy.

            “The biggest danger is that (this thinking about dogs wanting to be dominant) produces the need to want to dominate them (before they can presumably dominate us) and with it punishment to squash animals into submission to get them to comply with what we want. It’s quite simply this: The dog is a social creature that wants to have positive interactions with us. Dogs don’t want to take over the world, or even the household. Being a good leader is fine. Dogs do need consistency and individuals who show love and affection, but in a constructive way and not a gooey way.”

            Heath said you can love your dog without smothering. The same is true for cats, who in developed countries are increasingly being kept indoors, which could mean a longer and healthier life.  However with little to do except to eat, and because owners leave out food all the time – some suggest half or more indoor cats are overweight. “We know that this impacts health and also quality of life,” said Dr. Jacquie Rand, professor of Companion Animal Health at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

            Rand says new data suggests that the old recommendation of high fiber diets is not substantiated. Instead, she does suggest a weight loss program of 80 per cent of the current caloric intake with a high protein and low carbohydrate moist diet. She says cats are less hungry on moist foods. L-Carnitine is a supplement in foods to look for because it promotes weight loss while maintaining muscle mass. She implores, never put cats on a crash diet.

            Rand also described how even overweight cats can begin exercise programs. Clearly, these cats are food motivated – so for starters, instead of leaving food out all the time, twice or three times daily food dishes can be positioned at different places around the house so cats burn calories searching for their meals.

                        Additional highlights:

• Pulmonologist Dr. Philip Padrid of Chicago, IL, said inhaled steroids and brochodilaters are the standard of care to treat humans with asthma and should be for cats as well. “Over the past four years, we’ve treated more than 100 steroid-dependent asthmatic cats with twice daily flovent and prventil (via inhaled bronchodialotor),” he said. “As a result approximately 80 per cent of these patients no longer use oral prednisone, avoiding various complications of chronic steroid use.”
• Dr. Paula Davidson of the University of Queensland in Brisbane revealed the results of her study on Labrador retrievers with elbow dysplasia: Female Labradors with shorter scapula bones are more prone to elbow dysplasia.
• Veterinary behaviorist Dr. Patrick Pageat of Avignon, France said that it turns out that a common preservative in perfumes is the same as a attracting pheromone (chemical receptor) given off by female dogs in heat.  No wonder some dogs get the wrong idea – the problem turns out to be that dab of perfume.