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Background: Laryngeal paralysis is a common idiopathic degenerative neurological disease in older medium-to-large breed dogs, with surgical correction of the obstruction being the treatment of choice., Objectives: This study evaluated the use of laryngeal silicone stents to treat canine laryngeal paralysis in dogs where classic surgical treatment was not accepted by the owners., Methods: Dogs diagnosed with laryngeal paralysis, for which the owners refused arytenoid lateralization surgery as a first-line treatment, were treated with laryngeal silicone stents., Results: Six dogs with bilateral laryngeal paralysis were included in the study. All dogs showed improvement in clinical signs immediately after the procedure. No clinical signs or radiographic changes were noted in four out of six dogs in the follow-up visit performed 1 wk later. One dog was suspected of aspirating water while drinking, but the signs disappeared after repositioning the stent. Another dog had a relapse of stridor due to caudal migration of the stent. This dog underwent arytenoid lateralization surgery because larger stents are not commercially available. At the time of writing, between seven and 13 mon after stent placement, no significant incidents have occurred in four dogs, and all owners report a satisfactory quality of life., Conclusions: Laryngeal silicone stenting is an interesting alternative for treating dogs with acquired laryngeal paralysis when the owners refuse classic arytenoid lateralization surgery. Furthermore, stent placement can be a temporary solution to stabilize these dogs until a permanent surgical treatment can be performed., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2022 The Korean Society of Veterinary Science.)

OBJECTIVE To investigate effects of storage conditions on the canine urine protein-to-creatinine ratio (UPC) and on SDS-agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE) of urinary proteins. SAMPLE Urine specimens from 20 proteinuric (UPC > 0.5) and 20 nonproteinuric (UPC ≤ 0.2) dogs. PROCEDURES UPC and SDS-AGE were performed on urine specimens stored at room temperature (20°C) and 4°C for up to 5 days and at -20° and -80°C for up to 360 days; some specimens were subjected to 3 freeze-thaw cycles. Results were compared with those obtained for fresh urine specimens. RESULTS UPC was not affected by storage at room temperature or by freezing. A decrease in UPC was observed for specimens from nonproteinuric dogs after 5 days at 4°C (10%) and from both groups after 90 days at -20° and -80°C (≤ 20% and ≤ 15%, respectively). The SDS-AGE profiles revealed no visual changes regardless of duration of storage for specimens stored at room temperature, 4°C, and -80°C, except for 1 profile after 360 days at -80°C. Repeated freeze-thaw cycles did not affect SDS-AGE profiles. Appearance or strengthening of high-molecular-weight bands that could alter interpretation was evident in SDS-AGE profiles after storage at -20°C for ≥ 15 days (31/40 dogs). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Storage of urine at -20° or -80°C for up to 1 year influenced the UPC without affecting clinical interpretation. Storage of urine specimens at -20°C impaired visual analysis of SDS-AGE. When SDS-AGE cannot be performed on fresh or recently refrigerated urine specimens, storage at -80°C is recommended.

Laser-based haematology analysers are routinely used in veterinary clinical pathology laboratories, and are available to practitioners. However, feline haematological reference intervals (RIs) determined according to international recommendations are, to our knowledge, not available. Furthermore, platelet count RI is difficult to establish in cats because of the frequent occurrence of platelet aggregation in blood specimens. The purpose of this study was to establish feline haematological RIs with the Sysmex XT-2000iV and ProCyte DX analysers, in ethylenediamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA) and in citrate, theophylline, adenosine and dipyridamole (CTAD), which is a combination of anticoagulants limiting platelet aggregation. Blood specimens from 120 healthy cats were analysed in duplicate, and the degree of platelet aggregation was assessed on blood smears. After exclusion of inadequate specimens, 81 sets of results (from 44 males and 37 females, aged from 6 to 116 months) were available for the determination of RIs by the non-parametric method. The effects of the anticoagulant, analyser and aggregation score were assessed. When the aggregation effect was significant, the RIs were determined using the subgroup of blood specimens with no or little aggregation. The effects of sex, age and weight were also investigated, but were moderate. The different RIs obtained with the Sysmex XT-2000iV and ProCyte DX analysers, and the two anticoagulants, were very similar to previous RIs established in EDTA with the ADVIA 120, another laser-based analyser, except for the platelet count in CTAD specimens. Its lower reference limit was higher in CTAD vs EDTA specimens, which confirms the interest in this anticoagulant in cats., (© ISFM and AAFP 2013.)