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OBJECTIVE To develop a population-derived, parsimonious, and objective risk stratification model for dogs following trauma and compare its predictive performance to the animal trauma triage (ATT) score. DESIGN Observational cohort study using data from the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Veterinary Committee on Trauma (VetCOT) trauma registry acquired between September 2013 and October 2017. SETTING Nine Level I and Level II veterinary trauma centers. ANIMALS Nine hundred eighty-four dogs assessed within 24 h of traumatic injury. INTERVENTIONS None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Patient mortality was 10.8%. The VetCOT model was constructed based on 4 variables: plasma lactate and ionized calcium obtained within 6 h of admission, and presence or absence of clinical signs consistent with either head or spinal trauma. The VetCOT score had good discriminatory performance (AUROC = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.83-0.91) comparable to that of the 6 variable ATT score for the same population (area under the receiver operator characteristic [AUROC] = 0.87; 95% CI, 0.84-0.90). No statistical difference in discriminatory performance between the 2 scores was identified (P = 0.98). The VetCOT score showed good calibration on this population (Hosmer-Lemeshow test P = 0.93), whereas the ATT score failed to calibrate (P = 0.02) due to overprediction of mortality at low scores. Sensitivity and specificity for outcome of the VetCOT score at a risk probability cutoff of 0.5 for this population were 28.97% and 97.95%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The VetCOT score is a more parsimonious model with comparable discriminatory performance and superior calibration to the ATT score for risk stratification in dogs following trauma. Further prospective validation studies are required to confirm the discriminatory performance of the VetCOT score.

Local recurrence after surgical excision of canine massive hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been poorly studied in veterinary medicine with scant information published regarding risk factors for and outcome following recurrence. The aim of this case-control study was to describe the time to recurrence, evaluate potential risk factors for recurrence, and report the outcome in dogs with massive HCC. Medical records for 75 dogs who developed recurrence and 113 dogs who did not develop recurrence were reviewed. Statistical analyses were performed to determine risk factors for recurrence as well as the median time to develop recurrence and overall survival time (OS). None of the risk factors evaluated were significant for the development of recurrence. The median time to develop recurrence was 367 days (range 32-2096 days). There was no significant difference in median OS for dogs who developed recurrence vs. those who did not (851 vs. 970 days). For dogs with recurrent HCC, treatment at recurrence trended toward prolonged OS but was not significantly different from dogs not undergoing treatment at recurrence. There was no significant difference in median OS for dogs with histologically complete vs. incomplete tumour excision (990 vs. 903 days). Although specific risk factors for recurrence were not identified, elevations in liver values were noted in patients with recurrent disease and could act as a noninvasive surveillance tool. Recurrence was noted earlier in dogs who had routine post-operative surveillance (228 vs. 367 days). Routine surveillance for recurrence is recommended especially in dogs where further intervention is possible and should extend beyond 1 year. Patients with massive HCC have a good long-term prognosis regardless of incomplete excision, pulmonary metastasis, or recurrent local disease. Published version