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  • Dogs & Country

    A Quick Update on Taurine

    A few weeks ago, I posted about taurine and, more specifically, about some breeds which might be less efficient in producing it (you can read everything here). As taurine deficiency can lead to DCM (dilated cardio miopathy) I think all those owning a breed at risk should assess their dogs. I eventually tested Briony and her results fell in the normal range: she eats an homemade diet and, apparently, despite my poor cooking skills, she is getting enough methionine and cysteine that she can convert into taurine. As said above, her results are within the normal range, but I showed them to a nutritionist (Lucia Casini, Professor of Veterinary Nutrition…

  • Dogs & Country

    Taurine, English Setters & other breeds

    Last week the server crashed after I published an article on tyrosine and dark coats. I stayed away from the admin panel for ten days because I was afraid I could crash it again, but now I am back discussing another amino acid. A couple of days ago, an English Setter owner living in the USA posted on FB about her dog’s being diagnosed with congestive heart failure. The dog had developed DCM (dilated cardiomiopathy) and the cardiologist suggested testing his taurine blood levels. She tested him and her other dogs and the tests confirmed that some of them had indeed very low levels of taurine. Curiously, those with lower levels…

  • Dogs & Country

    Heartworm “vaccines” are not vaccines!

    These words came out of my keyboard a couple of days ago. It was one of the same old discussions in which vets end up being blamed for everything that goes wrong. Along the years, I have learnt to ignore them, but sometimes I cannot ignore the sacrifices I had, and I have, to face in order to graduate in veterinary medicine. Summarizing, the story was about an Australian Shepherd, younger than a year old, who died after being given the annual heartworm preventive (moxidectin, commercial name Proheart 6). To be honest, it is still not clear whether the dog died because of this drug, or by accidentally eating some…

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