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Transitioning terminology

AMY WEEDEN You may have noticed the terms “urothelial cell” or “urothelium” being used in urinalysis, cytology, or histology reports over the last several years. There has been a shift in human medicine and, later, in veterinary medicine from the use of transitional epithelium to urothelium to describe the specialized stretchy epithelial tissue that lines […]

Feline herpesvirus dermatitis

BERNIE VAATSTRA A 12-year-old female neutered Domestic Short-hair cat developed a raised, crusted, circular lesion on the right upper lip. The lesion was pruritic and did not respond to treatment with glucocorticoids. An incisional biopsy was submitted for histopathology. Histopathology findings: The epidermis was focally ulcerated and crusted (Figure 1). The dermis was infiltrated by […]

Dairy cattle Salmonella study  

Salmonella is endemic in dairy cattle in New Zealand, and can cause large outbreaks of scouring and mortality. The effects of Salmonella on-farm can be devastating and pose a serious risk to the health, productivity and welfare of affected animals. Salmonella is also a common cause of gastro-intestinal disease in humans, with livestock acting as […]

Spleendid samples

MICHAEL HARDCASTLE Splenectomy for nodular splenic masses or diffuse splenomegaly is common, and we often receive entire spleens, or parts of splenic lesions for histopathology. Some spleens (and splenic masses) are very large, so fixing adequately in formalin prior to submitting to the laboratory for histopathology can be problematic. The entire spleen is our preferred […]

Up your staining game

Do you stain blood or cytology smears in-clinic?  Struggle to find an appropriate container to fit the slides and hold the stain? We are very excited to now be stocking Coplin jars for slide staining.  These classic glass jars are designed to hold microscope slides in their vertical grooves for staining, plus they have a […]

Ovine virus causing chaos

JOHN GILL Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) is a sporadic disease of cattle and deer, caused by the sheep-associated virus (ovine herpesvirus 2). MCF is  passed to cattle and deer by carrier hoggets and lambs, but affected cattle and deer do not transmit MCF to their cohorts. The incubation period can be several months. The following […]

Notification of exotic, new and emerging animal diseases

LYNSEY EARL & JOHN O’CONNELL (MPI) The recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Indonesia (after being free from the disease for 36 years) is a timely reminder of the need for ongoing vigilance for exotic, new, and emerging diseases. Whilst it’s important for veterinarians to know the signs of FMD, there are numerous other […]

Scalding rain

SANDY WELTAN Clinical history: Three smears were received from skin scrapings from cattle with diffuse skin lesions.  The lesions were widely distributed but were particularly severe on the white areas of the skin (Figure 1).  Laboratory findings: On cytology, the cellularity was high in all the smears and consisted of keratinocytes in a background of […]

A slide worth a thousand numbers  

LISA HULME-MOIR This recent case highlights the importance of blood film examinations and illustrates how diagnoses may be missed if relying on in-clinic analyser counts alone. Clinical history: A blood sample from a 9-year-old male Labrador cross was submitted for blood film examination after presenting lethargic, off his food and with a temperature of 40.5°C. […]

Larva palaver

LAWRENCE MCMURTRY We often get asked why we recommend not refrigerating (or even chilling) faeces requiring a culture for third-stage nematode larvae or when looking for stage-one lungworm larvae. Cold storage of faeces can affect the development and composition of parasites in larval cultures and extraction of lungworm. Third-stage larval cultures Ovine nematode species are […]