Page 636 - Small Animal Clinical Nutrition 5th Edition

658 Small Animal Clinical Nutrition

nutrition. Practitioners should know how to determine risks change or supplement has been started, the patient should be
VetBooks.ir and benefits of nutritional regimens and counsel pet owners examined every four weeks for significant improvement in pru-
ritus or skin erythema. Some patients may not respond for sev-
accordingly. Currently, veterinary medical education and con-
tinuing education are not always based on rigorous assessment
eral months or may need concurrent therapy with antihista-
of evidence for or against particular management options. Still, mines, topical agents (medicated shampoo) or corticosteroids.
studies have been published to establish the nutritional benefits
of certain pet foods. Chapter 2 describes evidence-based clini-
cal nutrition in detail and applies its concepts to various veteri- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
nary therapeutic foods.
The authors and editors thank Drs. Candace A. Sousa, Dawn
Assess and Determine the Feeding Method E. Logas and William S. Swecker for their contribution to this
Other than supplementation, the method of feeding is often chapter in the previous edition.
not altered in the nutritional management of allergic dermati-
tis. If a new food and/or a supplement is fed, the amount to ENDNOTES
feed can be determined from the product label or other sup-
porting materials. The food dosage may need to be changed if a. Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc., Topeka, KS, USA.
the caloric density of the new food differs from that of the pre- b. Byrne K. University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA. Personal
vious food.The food dosage is usually divided into two or more communication. 1995.
meals per day. The food dosage and feeding method should be c. Power HT. What’s up about the hepatocutaneous syndrome?
altered if the animal’s body weight and body condition are not Derm Dialogue, Winter 1999: 13-14.
optimal. d. Logas DB. Veterinary Dermatology Center, Winter Park,
For clinical nutrition to be effective, there needs to be good FL, USA. Personal communication. September 1997.
client compliance. Enabling compliance includes limiting the e. Schoenherr WD. Unpublished data. September 1997.
patient’s access to other foods and knowing who is responsible
for feeding the food. If the patient comes from a multiple-pet REFERENCES
household, it should be determined whether the pet with der-
matitis has access to the other pets’ food. The references for Chapter 32 can be found at
www.markmorris.org.
Reassessment
Allergic dermatitis patients receiving appropriate omega-3 fatty
acid dietary intervention will usually respond over several weeks
to several months (Tables 32-10 and 32-11). After a dietary

CASE 32-1

Seborrheic Dermatitis in a Cocker Spaniel
Dawn E. Logas, DVM, Dipl. ACVD
College of Veterinary Medicine
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida, USA
Patient Assessment
A four-year-old spayed female cocker spaniel had a two-year history of seborrhea.The dog had previously been treated with antibi-
otics, steroids and topical antiseborrheic shampoos with minimal improvement. The dog weighed 10 kg and had a body condition
score of 3/5.
The only abnormalities noted on physical examination were an odoriferous generalized dermatosis and bilateral otitis externa.
The dermatosis was characterized by erythematous and hyperpigmented hyperkeratotic plaques in which the hairs were coated with
keratinaceous casts that formed “fronds” (Figure 1). Multiple papules and pustules were noted on the ventrum and dorsum. Both
ear canals were mildly erythematous and swollen with a thick, yellow waxy discharge.
Skin scrapings for parasites and fungal culture for dermatophytes were negative. Tape preparations of the skin revealed many
cocci. Ear cytology revealed numerous yeast organisms. A culture specimen from a pustule grew moderate numbers of Staphylococcus
intermedius colonies that were sensitive to all antibiotics except penicillin, amoxicillin and tetracycline. Histopathologically, the
hyperkeratotic plaques were characterized by marked follicular hyperkeratosis with distended follicular ostia, orthokeratotic hyper-
keratosis of the epidermis and irregular epidermal hyperplasia (Figure 2).