A transarticular pinning technique was used in a total of 78 cases in dogs and cats for open reduction of traumatic coxofemoral luxation in the 16 years from 1990 to 2005. We developed an improved type of guiding tool, which we called a G-point guide, to insert a pin into the femoral head during a surgical operation, and the device was useful in making the troublesome manipulation easier. From the results, the following formula was derived for clinical use: C = 0.16A + 1 (C: the diameter of the pin, A: the width of the neck of the femoral head). The optimum length (L) of the tip of the pin that protrudes into the pelvic cavity was also calculated: L = D + 3 for cats, and L = D + 5 for mediumsized dogs (D: depth of the coxofemoral pit). The unit of length here is mm. Four cases out of the 78 were complicated by either reluxation, constipation, or dogleg curvature of the pin, but completely favorable results were obtained in the other 74 cases (94.9%).

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Pulmonic stenosis (PS) is the second common congenital cardiac disease after aortic stenosis. Echocardiography is a useful tool, and provides the primary means of diagnosis of PS in humans and animals. The pressure gradient (PG) between the right ventricle and pulmonary artery is generally used as an index of severity of PS; a modified Bernoulli equation is adopted for the calculation. But some dogs show no abnormal clinical signs in spite of their PG values being higher than 80 mmHg. Therefore, different parameters which can show a better correlation between PG and the clinical severity of PS are necessary. In the present study, stroke volume decreased in dogs with over 80 mmHg PG values, especially in dogs with over 60% fractional shortening (FS) of the internal diameter of the left ventricle. These seriously ill dogs were found to have a shifted interventricular septum probably due to right ventricular pressure overload. FS, one of the left ventricular systolic function parameters, was also useful in evaluating the pathologic status of PS because FS values were correlative of clinical signs in serious PS cases.

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The knockdown effect of permethrin, fipronil and imidacloprid was examined in vitro on isolates of the cat flea Ctenocephalides felis collected from 6 dogs and 6 domestic cats which had been naturally infested by the fleas. Five fleas each were kept in petri dishes which contained the insecticides at various dosages. The drugs all showed excellent knockdown effect on the fleas within 24 hours. However, some differences were observed in drug sensitivity among the flea isolates.

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In preliminary research to establish an effective method for prevention of blood sucking by mosquitoes on animals, experiments were carrid out with 24 hairless rats (HWY/Slc, males, 4 weeks old), which were assigned to 4 groups of 6 animals each. One group was an unmedicated control and the other 3 groups were treated with a permethrin pour-on formulation at a dose of 100 mg active ingredient per kg body weight, a fipronil spot-on formulation at a dose of 7 mg/kg and an imidacloprid spot-on formulation at a dose of 10 mg/kg, respectively. The rats were individually caged and left for 30 minutes in an environment where a large number of mosquitoes, chiefly Culex pipiens pallens, were flying around. The number of mosquitoes sucking the blood of rats was significantly (p<0.05) lower in the group treated with permethrin than in the control group. In the groups treated with fipronil or imidacloprid, on the other hand, no preventive efficacy was observed. Further, a dog and a domestic cat were treated with the same formulation of permethrin at the same dosage and kept on a leash in the same environment, which demonstrated the preventive efficacy against mosquitoes.

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A nine-year-old female sphinx cat was brought to us with pruritic maculopapular eruption. Skin histopathology revealed findings similar to human urticaria pigmentosa. For the first two weeks, the cat had been treated with predonisolone and an anti-histamic. Further, cyclosporine, an immunosuppressive, was initiated and gradually replaced with predonisolone. As the clinical signs lessened, cyclosporine was reduced and stopped completely 13 months later. About two months after all the therapy was completed, the cat was still in good health with no recurrence.

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A traumatic scleral staphyloma on the left eye of a five-year-old female poodle was successfully treated with microsurgery. The dog had received a severe blow on the left eye a month before. At the first visit, a dark bulging on the sclera was seen at the 12 o'clock position, and the pupil was stretched ovally. Several ophthalmic tests and observations during the surgical operation confirmed the diagnosis of scleral staphyloma. We presumed that the uveal tract of the left eye had been protruded by traumatic, partial rupture of the sclera, lying beneath the bulbar conjunctiva. Surgical correction was successful, and the dog's eye returned to almost normal.

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