Research

 

Current Intramural Research Projects

 

Clinical

 

"Anesthesia Related Morbidity and Mortality in Cats with Cardiac Disease"

  • PI: Jennifer Carter
  • Co-PI: Bruce Keene  

Overview: Anesthesia related perioperative mortality in cats has been described with a frequency of 0.1-0.43% with perioperative morbidity much greater. No research has addressed this frequency in the select population of cats with cardiac disease. This project will examine cats undergoing dental procedures, a common reason that a cat with cardiac disease would be anesthetized.

 

“The Pharmacokinetics of Intravenous and Transmucosal Buprenorphine in Donkeys and Sheep”

  • PI: Jennifer Carter
  • Co-PI: Lori Bidwell, Kristen Messenger 

Overview: Transmucosal dosing offers a route of administration that can be performed by untrained personnel and owners and this route has been investigated and validated in several species. This project will determine whether transmucosal dosing is a valid route of administration in donkeys and sheep. 

 

"Feline Litter Box Preferences: Covered verses Uncovered Litter Boxes"

  • PI: Emma Grigg
  • Co-PI: Lindsay Pick 

Overview: Common veterinary advice regarding litter box choice in felines suggests cats prefer an uncovered litter box. However, no statistical data establishes the significance of this behavioral recommendation. Current recommendations in treating cats with elimination problems (substrate preference versus marking behavior) often have clients offer problem cats a “buffet” of litter box options. Were there existing statistical evidence regarding the preference of cats in terms of covered versus uncovered litter boxes, clinicians could integrate this data into both recommendations for litter box preference establishment in cats demonstrating elimination issues as well as set up new feline owners and normal cats for success in avoiding elimination issues and house soiling. The objectives of this study are to (1) experimentally determine whether domestic felines exhibit a preference for covered versus uncovered litter boxes and (2) provide data for practicing clinicians regarding future litter box recommendations.

 

 "Does pain perception and response to pain relieving drugs differ between horses and donkeys?"

  • PI: Nicki Grint
  • Co-PI: Thierry Beths, Kathy Yvorchuk, Jo Murrell, Polly Taylor

Overview:The stoical behaviour of donkeys has led to the belief that they are less vulnerable to experiencing pain, compared with horses, and as a consequence their pain is undoubtedly undertreated. Moreover, there are no pain-killing (analgesic) drugs with Marketing Authorisation for administration to donkeys and it is likely that inappropriate dose recommendations for analgesics are derived empirically from horse data.

The aims of this project are to, firstly, investigate whether there are differences in pain perception between horses and donkeys, given the huge disparity in their behavioural responses to pain. This will be achieved by comparing baseline responses to standard noxious stimuli between the two species (nociceptive threshold testing, NTT). Secondly, to improve pain management protocols for donkeys. This will be achieved by applying the technique of NTT to establish the optimum dose and duration of action of analgesic drugs in donkeys. Different classes of analgesics will be evaluated including opioids (e.g morphine) and alpha 2 agonists (e.g xylazine). This is the first study to rigorously evaluate the efficacy of analgesic drugs that are commonly used in horses, in the donkey.

 

“Comparison of the Effect of Site of Intramuscular Injection of Dexmedetomidine and Hydromorphone on Onset and Quality of Sedation in the cervical, lumbar, gluteal, and semimembranosis muscles” 

  • PI: Crace Lewis 
  • Co-PI: Thierry Beths, Lori Bidwell, Erin McNally, Jennifer Carter, Roger Warren, Jen Dupre 

Overview: From observation many dogs that are premedicated with drugs injected into the cervical muscles become sedated faster than dogs that are injected in other commonly used muscle groups. We suspect that this difference could be due to the proximity of the cervical muscles to the heart, the anatomy of the cervical muscle compartment or possibly the skill and experience of the personnel administering the injection.

The objectives of this study are to (1) determine the time from intramuscular injection of dexmedetomidine and hydromorphone to effect following a single injection into the cervical, lumbar, gluteal or the semimembranosis muscles, and (2) to identify which muscle group results in the fastest onset of sedation and to verify the comparison of sedation between groups of muscles.

 

"A comparison of the analgesic effects of lidocaine, bupivacaine, and their equal volume mixtures in rams" 

  • PI: Ignacio Lizarraga
  • Co-PI: Thierry Beths, Kathy Yvorchuk

Overview: Mixtures of lidocaine and bupivacaine are used to combine the faster onset of action of lidocaine with the longer-lasting effects of bupivacaine. Despite the common clinical use of such combinations of local anesthetics, little has been published about the properties of mixtures of lidocaine and bupivacaine for peripheral nerve blocks. The controlled, randomized, blinded study proposed here will compare the onset, duration, and overall degree of analgesia of a volume for volume mixture of 2% lidocaine and 0.5% bupivacaine with corresponding values for either drug alone in rams. The results from this project will allow us to make decisions on whether to use such a mixture to control pain more effectively in sheep, and potentially in other animal species, based on scientific evidence.