How our pets benefit from the latest developments in human health research

Neurosurgery, dentistry and prosthetics break into animal welfare to improve pet lifespan

Five-month-old cat Nico made a full recovery from injuries to his spine. Photo: GVC

Animals are benefitting from decades of extensive research into human health, with techniques for analysing DNA and attaching prosthetic limbs being extended to our pets.

The dilemma vets now face is when to apply the latest crossover techniques, with several aspects, including ethical and financial issues, to consider.

Animal welfare has improved significantly in recent years, but that also comes at a cost, with more complex animal procedures often prohibitively expensive or not covered by pet insurance.

“With advances in technology, we have been able to transfer some of the technology from the human sector to the veterinary sector, but we're always five or 10 years behind,” said Dr Katrin Jahn, an animal behaviour specialist and head veterinary surgeon at the German Veterinary Clinic in Abu Dhabi.

“An appetite to do things as well as we can, to get animals home more quickly to improve healing, speed up recovery with better clinical outcomes and fewer complications, is always the aim. But sometimes we have to just wait for the technology to catch up with us.”

Complex surgery

Complex neurological surgery is becoming more common in pets, as are dentistry procedures once reserved for humans. Some pet clinics even have in-house cardiologists to treat heart problems with the latest interventions, many inspired by human medicine.

Animal DNA testing has also become an option for some pet owners. Using similar sampling to that used in human ancestry DNA tests, the results can give vets crucial information about an animal’s lineage, what disease they may be more likely to contract, or what medications they should avoid.

Dr Jahn said even though there are more animal treatments available, there are ethical considerations. “Just because we can, doesn't mean we always should,” she said. “Age is a big factor, like how much more can we prolong an animal’s life. Even more important is what does that quality of life look like? A prolonged recovery time and pain are things we must consider.”

“DNA testing panels for pets is interesting – a lot of the time you would come back with 45 per cent unknown or you'd have a couple of obvious breeds, the rest would be a little bit unknown. From a health point of view, detecting inherited diseases, which we have quite a few of, is more interesting.”

DNA pet test

A DNA test to find a dog’s relatives, or check for medication sensitivities can cost from about $85. A more extensive analysis of an animal’s overall health, behaviour traits and lineage can cost about $120.

An example of a complex spinal procedure performed at the German Veterinary Clinic involved a five-month-old kitten, Nico, found under a car bonnet. The young cat was unsteady and unco-ordinated, but X-rays and an MRI scan revealed a misalignment in the joint between the first two vertebrae in his neck. The cat’s young age would have prevented surgery in the past. However, now techniques used to manipulate muscle around vertebrae could be used to ensure the kitten's full recovery.

Due to better care, pets are generally living longer in some nations. In Japan, for example, dogs live 50 per cent longer today than in the 1980s, while the life expectancy of dogs in the US has increased from 10.5 years in 2002 to 11.8 in 2016.

The data from a pet health report conducted by Banfield Pet Hospital, a US chain of veterinary practices, showed a 12.4 per cent increase in the lifespan of dogs. Like humans, disease prevention and healthy living is linked to longer life in pets. Regular check-ups, exercise and good diet offer a solid platform for animal longevity.

Dr Sarah Ramsey, senior veterinary surgeon and co-owner of the Dr Well Veterinary Clinic in Al Wasl, has seen a change in owner behaviour across 20 years.

“People are more likely to bring animals in for a check-up, but it is also shocking how few cats go regularly to see a vet,” she said. “There are a lot of things we can pick up on with routine visits. We can look at nutrition and body condition scores, to put preventive measures into place.

“Just like with humans, if your body condition score is good, you've got a much better life expectancy. If an animal DNA test was really reliable, it could be really good. But we can already run blood tests to understand the likelihood of some cancers. Genetically, we know a lot of animals are predisposed to certain problems, regardless of looking at the DNA.”

Cat pain scale

While humans can speak to doctors about their pain and health issues, the onus on pet owners to spot problems makes diagnoses a challenge, particularly with cats.

However, certain protocols such as the Feline Grimace Scale are helping to change that. Developed by the University of Montreal, the scale can be accessed via a mobile app and gives advice on a cat’s facial expressions to determine its level of pain or discomfort.

The scale is based on ear positions, orbital tightening – when an animal's eyes narrow or close, muzzle tension – the shape of its mouth area (for example, the cat may be grimacing), whiskers position, and head position. Observing these can help vets understand the level of pain management required during treatments.

Keeping animals healthy also has benefits for humans. For example, World Bank figures show 2.4 billion people in developing nations are impacted by zoonotic diseases – those originating from animals – with 2.2 million dying as a result.

Improved animal welfare and advances in care could help prevent and control the spread of zoonotic diseases. The most common are leptospirosis – a blood infection also known as Weil's disease, tick-borne diseases, MRSA, parasitic pathogens and bird flu. According to the World Health Organisation, more than 30 new human pathogens have been detected since 1993, 75 per cent of which originated in animals.

“Unfortunately, the push for more intensive farming has decreased welfare [in cattle and livestock] and increased disease risk,” said Dr Ramsey. “Smaller production set-ups are easier in which to control welfare and disease. From a veterinary point of view, specific herd health schemes aim to prevent problems rather than just go in and try to solve the problems once they're already there.”