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BACKGROUND Metastatic disease is frequently present at the time of diagnosis of canine thyroid carcinoma; however, utilisation of computed tomography (CT) alone for staging pre-treatment has been rarely reported in the veterinary literature. METHODS The aims of this retrospective study were to stage affected dogs using CT findings of the cervical and thoracic regions, combined with histopathology/cytology results, in order to assess whether metastatic disease/WHO staging was of prognostic significance. RESULTS Fifty-eight dogs were included in the study. Classification of cases into WHO stages I, II, III and IV were 10%, 50%, 9% and 31%, respectively. No statistically significant effect of WHO stage classification on overall survival/follow-up time was found (P = .576). Surgery resulted in a statistically significant increase in overall survival/follow-up time (P < .01). There was no statistically significant effect on overall survival/follow-up time in dogs that received medical therapy, either as sole therapy or as an adjunctive post-surgery (P = .198). CONCLUSION In summary, this study documents the metastatic rate of canine thyroid carcinoma using CT for staging pre-treatment. Staging utilising CT revealed a higher distant metastatic rate in dogs with thyroid carcinoma when compared to historical studies using different imaging techniques. As long-term outcomes are possible for cases with advanced disease, surgical intervention could still be considered.

Over the years, several studies have shown that many factors are likely to affect the results of forensic hair analyses and complicate their interpretation. Among these factors, one of the major drawbacks in hair analysis is the affectability of deposited xenobiotics by cosmetic treatments, which could be eventually used to adulterate the sample. It is well known that some cosmetic treatments containing hydrogen peroxide, such as permanent dyeing or bleaching, lead to the formation of 1-H-pyrrole-2,3,5-tricarboxylic acid (PTCA), a melanin degradation product. Considering that PTCA is also an endogenous compound, spontaneously formed by natural oxidation of melanin, its only detection in hair is not enough to confirm a cosmetic oxidative treatment. For this reason, the aim of the present work was to develop and validate a reliable liquid–liquid extraction method in ultra-high-performance liquid chromatographic–tandem mass spectrometry for the determination of endogenous PTCA in hair from a wide multi-ethnic population (African, Arab, Asian-Pacific, Caucasian, Hispanic and Indian). According to previous studies, untreated hair samples showed a PTCA content of 8.54 ± 5.72 ng/mg (mean ± standard deviation [SD]), ranging between 0.44 and 23.7 ng/mg; after in vitro cosmetic bleaching, PTCA increased to 16.8 ± 6.95 ng/mg (range: 4.16–32.3 ng/mg). Comparing baseline PTCA levels of each subgroup with the others, we could not observe any statistically significant difference, except for Caucasians (P

Case summaryIn this report we describe the occurrence of intracranial meningioma in two adult cats from the same litter. The location of the meningioma varied: one tumour was at the level of the brainstem, and the other was affecting the temporal and piriform lobes. The cat with the brainstem meningioma was treated with radiotherapy and the littermate had a rostrotentorial craniectomy for tumour removal. Both cats had a histopathological diagnosis of grade I meningioma of a predominantly fibrous subtype.Relevance and novel informationCases of familial meningioma in cats have not previously been described in the veterinary literature. However, familial meningioma is well described in humans and it is possible that cases are underestimated in animals. We discuss the possible genetic background and other causes, as well as challenges we may face in veterinary medicine in identifying these associations.

Background A previous study showed an association between owner-reported exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and lymphoma in cats. This study aimed to investigate the association between ETS exposure and gastrointestinal lymphoma in cats, using hair nicotine concentration (HNC) as a biomarker. Methods This was a prospective, multi-centre, case–control study. Gastrointestinal lymphoma was diagnosed on cytology or histopathology. Hair samples were obtained from 35 cats with gastrointestinal lymphoma and 32 controls. Nicotine was extracted from hair by sonification in methanol followed by hydrophilic interaction chromatography with mass spectrometry. Non-parametric tests were used. Results The median HNC of the gastrointestinal lymphoma and control groups was not significantly different (0.030 ng/mg and 0.029 ng/mg, respectively, p=0.46). When the HNC of all 67 cats was rank ordered and divided into quartiles, there was no significant difference in the proportion of lymphoma cases or controls within these groups (p=0.63). The percentage of cats with an HNC≥0.1 ng/mg was higher for the lymphoma group (22.9%) than the control group (15.6%) but failed to reach significance (p=0.45). Conclusion A significant association was not identified between HNC (a biomarker for ETS) and gastrointestinal lymphoma in cats; however, an association may exist and further studies are therefore required.

An 8-year-old female neutered Australian Cattle Dog that had recently moved to the UK from Arizona presented with a 4-month history of lethargy, inappetance and right forelimb lameness, and a 6-month history of stranguria and haematuria. Diagnosis and treatment of a fungal infection are described.

A 5-year-old Domestic Shorthair cat with a history of IMHA (successfully treated a year before) presented as an emergency following a tonic clonic seizure. The diagnosis and treatment of polycythaemia are described.