Cats at the Vet: The Effect of Alpha-s1 Casozepin

Skin Disease and Behavior Changes in the Cat

The health of the skin and coat of a cat is connected to the behavioral health of the animal. Stressed animals can cause lesions to their skin and coat such as alopecia, ulcers, and self-mutilation. On the other hand, localized or systemic health problems can cause stress, or pain, and therefore can increase overgrooming and poor skin health. When treating overgrooming and related skin lesions, all the physical and behavioral causes must be addressed through a multimodal approach.

Feline Stress Management During air Travel: A Multimodal Approach

PRACTICAL RELEVANCE

More cats are travelling by air every year; however, air travel involves several common causes of stress for cats, such as environmental changes and a lack of control and predictability. The use of a multimodal stress management protocol for all stages of the relocation process, including appropriate and effective anxiolytic medication where necessary, is therefore important in order to safeguard the cat's welfare while travelling.

CLINICAL CHALLENGES

Cats may be presented to veterinarians for the purpose of preparing them and/or their documentation for air travel. Maintaining and protecting a cat's physical, mental and emotional health in a stressful environment, while subjected to likely unfamiliar sights, noises, smells and the movement of the aircraft, and additionally dealing with international legislation, regulations and documents, can pose a complex challenge to veterinarians.

AIMS

This review describes the importance of stress management during air travel for cats, aims to raise awareness about the often poorly understood challenges involved, and outlines effective and airline-compliant stress management modalities. While the discussion is focused on air travel specifically, the stress management methods described can be applied to all types of longer distance travel, such as a long road trip or a ferry crossing, as well as a stay in a holiday home.

EVIDENCE BASE

There are currently no studies specifically on air travel in cats and, similarly, there are also limited data on air travel in other species. Many of the recommendations made in this review are therefore based on the authors' extensive experience of preparing pets for travel, supported by published data when available.

Fast Anxiolytic-Like Effect Observed in the Rat Conditioned Defensive Burying Test, after a Single Oral Dose of Natural Protein Extract Products

Anxiety appears among the most frequent psychiatric disorders. During recent years, a growing incidence of anxiety disorders can be attributed, at least in part, to the modification of our eating habits. To treat anxiety disorders, clinicians use benzodiazepines, which unfortunately display many side effects. Herein, the anxiolytic-like properties of two natural products (αS1–casein hydrolysate and Gabolysat^®) were investigated in rats and compared to the efficacy of benzodiazepine (diazepam). Thus, the conditioned defensive burying test was performed after a unique oral dose of 15 mg/kg, at two time-points (60 min and then 30 min post oral gavage) to show potential fast-onset of anxiolytic effect. Both natural products proved to be as efficient as diazepam to reduce the time rats spent burying the probe (anxiety level). Additionally, when investigated as early as 30 min post oral gavage, Gabolysat^® also revealed a fast-anxiolytic activity. To date, identification of bioactive peptide, as well as how they interact with the gut–brain axis to sustain such anxiolytic effect, still remains poorly understood. Regardless, this observational investigation argues for the consideration of natural compounds in care pathway.