A ten-year-old non-descriptive male dog was presented to Small Animal Surgery Unit of Veterinary Clinical Complex,VCRI, Orathanadu with a history of perineal swelling for past two months.On general clinical examination the dog had normal temperature, congested conjunctival mucous membranes, tachycardia, tachypnoea and enlarged lymph nodes. Per-vaginal examination revealed hard mass in the roof of the vaginal passage and on ultrasonographic examination, a mass measuring around 32.8 x 37.6mm was noticed inside the vagina. The case was tentatively diagnosed as “vaginal tumor” and surgical removal of the tumour was decided. The animal was sedated with inj.dexmedetomidine at the dose rate of 2µg/kg b.wt i.v. and inj. butorphanol at the dose rate of 0.1mg/kg b.wt i.m. Anaesthetic induction was done with inj.ketamine at the dose rate of 5mg/kg b.wt i.v. and inj.diazepam at the dose rate of 0.5mg/kg b.wt i.v. and maintained with isoflurane with variable vaporizer setting and the fresh gas flow at the rate of 20 ml per kg body weight per minute. The cardiopulmonary parameters such as heart rate, respiratory rate, ECG, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure, saturation of peripheral oxygenation and end-tidal carbon dioxide were monitored and recorded throughout the anaesthetic maintenance. Upon examination of the perineal region, a large mass was observed on the dorsal aspect of the vaginal roof. En-bloc resection of vaginal tumour was performed through dorsal episiotomy. The resected mass was weighing 375gms. Postoperatively the animal was treated with antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs along with fluid therapy. The animal made an uneventful recovery. 

A non-descript breed, 6 month old female calf was presented with history of high fever and severe convulsion at Large Animal outpatient unit Veterinary Clinical Complex of Veterinary College and Research Institute, Tirunelveli. Clinical examination revealed congested mucous membrane, severe dehydration, and enlarged prescapular lymphnode and nervous signs. Haematological examination revealed reduction of haemoglobin and hypoglycemia was noticed in biochemical examination. Blood pictures showed normocytic hypochromic anemia. Peripheral blood smear examination confirmed the presence of Trypanosoma evansi based on the morphological characters. Animal was treated with supportive therapy of 5% dextrose, tribivet and vitamin C. Animal died on the day of presentation but it might have recovered if treated early.

A pluriparous crossbred cow was presented with sudden bilateral abdominal distension. Based on gynaeco-clinical and ultrasonographic investigation, the case was diagnosed for hydrallantois. Medical termination of the pregnancy was initiated using Cloprostenol sodium and dexamethasone. An 18G Rusch catheter was fixed trans-cervically in the uterine cavity to allow gradual drainage of fetal fluid. Complete cervical dilation was observed by 48 hrs post treatment, which permitted the extraction of a deceased male fetus

Many of the dogs and cats lives affected with behavioral disorders have been ended either in euthanasia, relinquishment, chronic suffering or would have handed over to shelters. Various types of behavioral disorders in dogs and cats include nonspecific/idiopathic aggression, fear, phobia, anxiety disorder and stereotyping behavior. The goal of therapy should be the modification of the abnormal behavior by environmental management, training with pharmacological intervention being adjunct to the behavioral modification training. Major classes of behavioral modifying drugs used in pets are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), tricyclic antidepressants (TCA), monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI), antipsychotic agents, anticonvulsants and benzodiazepines. The mechanism of action has been attributed to modification of the availability or function of various neurotransmitters implicated in the behavioral disorders. Presently, the approved drugs for veterinary use has been limited to: selegiline, a SSRI, for canine cognitive dysfunction and clomipramine, a TCA, for separation anxiety in dogs, with majority drugs being used on extra label fashion with the extrapolation of human data. The article reviews about the pathophysiology of behavioral disorders, diagnostic approaches and drugs available for the treatment of abnormal behavior caused by variation in neurotransmitter.

One of the major concerns in poultry rearing has been the use of antibacterials for the control of infections. The antibacterial drugs often find their way into the edible part of chicken, thus making it an issue of human food safety. Screening of chicken meat for antibacterials is thus an important part of ensuring food safety. Simple sensitive methods which could be adopted easily at laboratories of research institutes and testing centres are a need of the hour. In this study, one such assay method for the assay of oxytetracycline, a popularly used antibiotic in poultry farms, in broiler chicken meat standardized using High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is described. The HPLC assay method consisted of a C18column as the stationary phase and a mobile phase consisting of 0.2M oxalic acid: Acetonitrile: Methanol (3.5:1:1, v/v) pumped in with the flow rate of 1.5 ml/ min and assayed at 360nm for detection of OTC The Limit of Detection and Limit of Quantification was 0.141 µg/ ml and 0.465 µg/ ml respectively. The total elution time was less than 4 minutes with a recovery rate of 105%. The results suggest that this method, with its high detection throughput and remarkable sensitivity and specificity, can be applied successfully for the field screening of oxytetracycline residue in chicken meat samples.

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) modification that enables molecular diagnosis and detection viable cells from diverse samples is based on the Viability PCR (V-PCR). In this study, we optimized V-PCR using a candidate L. plantarum probiotic strain and the technique performed efficiently in detecting live cells from an admixed suspension of live and dead cells. Application of the V-PCR on different probiotics strains (B. coagulans, L. plantarum and L. fermentum) also revealed a strong positive correlation in its performance across the strains tested even with an admixture of varied concentration of live and dead cells and different dilutions respectively (r=0.93 to 0.98). We obtained five and four commercial probiotics available for humans and animal use respectively from the market and tested for the recovery of total viable bacteria by agar pour plate method and also the count of viable bacteria by V-PCR. All commercial preparations when tested by the pour plate method recovered their listed viable counts except for the probiotic B and F, and C & G revealed lower counts (<1 to 2 log, and <3 to 4 log respectively) than the the manufacturer’s claims. A semi quantification approach using arbitrary density units with the universal 16S rRNA

Two 8-week old Aseel chicks were presented for necropsy from a native chicken farm with the history of swollen left eyelid, dyspnoea, off feed, dullness and sudden death. Gross examination of the carcasses revealed swollen left eye with cheesy exudate on incision. Lungs revealed severe congestion, with multifocal grey consolidated areas (1-2 mm diameter) while, the intestinal lumen was clogged by numerous round worms. Histopathological examination of lungs revealed multifocal granulomatous area with central necrosis, presence of macrophages, lymphocytes and multinucleated giant cells. Special staining with Periodic acid Schiff and Grocott-Gomori’s methenamine silver stain showed the presence of fungal hyphae and spores in the lung lesions. The fungus was identified as Aspergillus sp. by cultural examination. Intestines revealed numerous cut sections of worms with eosinophilic and mononuclear cell infiltration and were identified as Ascaridia galli. Eye lesion had multifocal mild to moderate mononuclear cell infiltration with osseous metaplasia of scleral cartilage in eyeball. Staphylococcus hyicus was isolated from the eye exudate by cultural examination. Etiological diagnosis revealed an outbreak of Aspergillosis, Ascariasis and Staphylococcal blepharitis in the farm.

A sow aged 3 years was presented to veterinary clinical complex, Gannavaram for treatment of prolapsed uterus. On examination averted uterine horns were found hanging from vulva and tear was observed in the vaginal wall. The prolapsed uterine mass was congested and oedematous. The averted mass was cleaned thoroughly and attempted for reposition but failed. The sow lost its life after 30 hours.

A Ten year old intact dachshund bitch weighing around 13kgs body weight was presented with the history of pendulous swelling on the caudal ventral abdomen for past six months. On palpation, swelling was soft, painless and reducible. On radiographic examination, herniated intestinal loop was noticed. Haematobiochemical values were within normal range except for mild neutrophilia. Based on the clinical examination and radiographic evaluation, it was diagnosed as inguinal hernia. Herniorrhaphy and ovariohysterectomy was performed under general anaesthesia. Postoperatively, antibiotics and analgesics were administered for 7 and 3 days, respectively. No postoperative complication was recorded and the animal recovered uneventfully.

Lantana camara is a weed which affects both livestock production and the growth of other plants near them. It is a sturdy plant with multi-colored flowers which can grow well in diverse climatic and soil conditions. Initially cultivated as an ornamental plant and transferred to various regions of the world; the plant has now become one of the  common weeds in agricultural land and forest regions. It is found in almost all parts of India and its invasion in forest cover of the country is a great concern as the plant has inhibitory effect on growth of other plants. It has been listed among the ten most toxic weed in the world. Although grazing animals primarily do not consume this plant, scarcity of pasture lands cause the animals to eat this plant. Consumption of this plant cause hepatotoxicity and secondary photosensitization in animals. The toxic compound in this plant is ‘Lantadenes’ and is predominantly found in leaves of the plant. The history, phytochemistry, toxicity in animals, toxicopathology, treatment and prevention of toxicity are reviewed in this article.