Careful assessment of nutritional needs of dogs and cats must be taken into consideration in order to maintain optimum health, be part of a treatment regimen for a diseased state, or to maximise the quality of life in all animals. Therefore, the goal of these WSAVA Guidelines is that a nutritional assessment and specific nutritional recommendation be made on every patient on every visit. This will become known as the 5th Vital Assessment (5VA), following the four vital assessments of temperature, pulse, respiration and pain that are already addressed on each patient interaction. Routinely doing a brief screening evaluation of the nutritional status during history taking and the physical examination can be seamlessly performed as part of every patient exam. Nutrition-related risk factors that can be easily identified from the history and physical examination include age (growing or old), suboptimal body condition score (overweight or thin), muscle loss, atypical or homemade diet, medical conditions, or changes in appetite. An extended evaluation would follow, if one or more risk factors is identified on screening. These guidelines provide criteria to evaluate the animal and the diet, as well as key feeding and environmental factors. In addition, recommendations for interpretation, analysis, and action are included so that a plan for optimising the animal's nutritional status can be instituted. Client compliance with nutritional recommendations requires input from the veterinarian, veterinary technicians/nurses, and the hospital staff. A team approach to continuous nutritional education, implementation of appropriate protocols, and focused client communication, utilising these WSAVA Nutritional Guidelines, are key components to reach this 5VA goal

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The ability of Diatomacious earth (DAE) in reducing the toxic effects of aflatoxin (AF) in broiler diet was evaluated. DAE was supplemented @ 400 and 800 mg kg -1 of feed along with 0.5 and 1 ppm of AF kg -1 of feed. Healthy unsexed day old broiler chicks (n=360) were assigned to 9 groups comprising of control and treatment groups. Feeding of AF resulted in significantly lower feed intake as well as body weight gain and increase in feed conversion ratio in comparison to the control groups. Supplementation of DAE in aflatoxin mixed diet significantly reduced the deleterious effects of AF on growth parameters. Feeding of AF alone caused significant decrease in serum levels of total proteins, albumin, triglycerides and cholesterol. However, significant increase was found in serum levels of AST, ALT, ALP, BUN and creatinine in AF fed broilers. Supplementation of DAE to the AF mixed feed ameliorated the adverse effect of AF on the serum biochemical values by causing increase in serum total proteins, albumin, triglycerides and cholesterol levels. In addition, a significant increase was recorded in AST, ALT, ALP, BUN and creatinine levels in DAE supplemented broilers. The study concluded that diatomaceous earth is an effective adsorbent to decrease the negative effects of aflatoxin in broiler chicken

The study was conducted to determine the effect of subclinical mastitis (SCM) and clinical mastitis (CM) on haemato-biochemical parameters and milk leukocyte count of crossbred cattle. Milk and blood samples were collected from 20 healthy, 223 SCM and 47 CM affected animals from Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts of Karnataka state, India. The SCM were diagnosed by California Mastitis Test (CMT) and electrical conductivity (EC) of milk. Blood and milk of mastitis infected crossbred cattle were analyzed for haemato-biochemical parameters and milk leukocyte count. Haematology showed significant increase in TLC in crossbred cows affected with mastitis. Significantly (P< 0.05) lower average values of TEC, Hb and PCV were observed in SCM infected animals, however no significant change were observed in values of CM infected than healthy animals. Differential leucocytic count (DLC) revealed higher granulocytes and lymphopenia in mastitis infected animals. Biochemical estimation revealed significantly (P< 0.05) higher average values of Ca, P, Na, Cl, and K in mastitis infected compared with healthy animals however, no significant (P> 0.05) change was observed in Mg and ALT levels. AST and TP values were significantly increased in SCM infected compared to healthy animals however, no significant change were observed in CM infected animals.

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