Sponsored by Nestlé Purina GI EXCHANGE: A Nutritional Approach to Managing Dogs with Flatulence How common is flatulence in dogs? Flatulence frequently affects canine patients, and chronic flatulence can cause minor discomfort in dogs and distress in owners. In a 2011 Nestlé Purina PetCare pet-owner survey on the incidence of gastrointestinal (GI) conditions,1 excessive gas was noted in 10 percent of dogs, with one in four affected pets experiencing flatulence daily. Dogs with excess gas also tended to be large (the mean weight was 53 pounds). What is the role of nutrition and nutritional supplements in ameliorating excess gas? Undigested food that remains in the colon too long can ferment, leading to gas formation. Flatulence also can be a sign of a more serious GI condition such as malabsorption syndrome, food allergy or other GI problems. In dogs with chronic gas, a dietary change may be warranted and foods with lower fiber content considered. Also, administering Enterococcus faecium SF68, the probiotic in Purina Veterinary Diets® FortiFlora® Canine Nutritional Supplement, can help nutritionally manage dogs with flatulence by promoting greater beneficial intestinal 1. Purina Veterinary Diets Gastrointestinal Issues Study, conducted by Synovate, February 2011. The online survey included 510 dog owners and 515 cat owners in the United States. microflora. FortiFlora is the only veterinary probiotic supplement shown to help with this condition. What evidence supports the efficacy of FortiFlora for dogs with flatulence? Nestlé Purina recently completed a study2 in which FortiFlora helped reduce flatulence in adult dogs.3 Study dogs were normalized to a commercial adult canine diet. Gas samples were collected and measurements taken every four seconds for a period of four hours. The dogs’ food was then top-dressed with FortiFlora for 14 days. Hydrogen sulfide levels and the number of emissions were measured at day zero and day 14. Analysis revealed that supplementation with SF68 significantly reduced the number of emissions (p = 0.025) and the maximum amount of hydrogen sulfide released (p = 0.025). As a result, FortiFlora is now recommended as a probiotic nutritional supplement to aid in the reduction of canine flatulence. — Mark Waldron, PhD Senior Research Nutritionist, Nestlé Purina PetCare 2. Findings presented at the 16th European Society of Veterinary Comparative Nutrition (ESVCN) Congress, Bydgoszcz, Poland. September 2012. 3. n=10. New Chemo Treatment? Electrochemotherapy (ECT) combines systemic or local delivery of anticancer drugs with application of permeabilizing electric pulses. This study evaluated privately owned cats with incompletely excised or recurring soft tissue sarcomas treated with cisplatin-based adjuvant ECT. One group (n = 14) was treated with surgery alone. A second group (n = 64) was treated with ECT. One week after excision, cats receiving ECT were anesthetized, and the surgical suture site and 3 cm of apparently normal tissue were locally injected with cisplatin. Minutes later, electrical impulses were delivered through modified caliper electrodes. Treatment was repeated 1 week later. The primary endpoint was evaluation of cisplatin-related toxicoses; secondary was time of tumor recurrence. Adverse effects were typically mild. Three patients had GI signs responsive to antiemetic therapy. Three cats had local inflammation involving deep SC connective tissues, leading to compulsive scratching and, in 1 cat, dehiscence and resuturing; the other 2 were successfully managed with meloxicam for 1 week. Seven patients had small electrode-induced burns with scars that disappeared in 2–3 weeks. In the surgery-only group, 1 cat was still in remission >1 year; the remaining 13 had tumor recurrence (range, 131–294 days). Of the ECT group, 8 cats died of unrelated pathologies. Nineteen ECT cats had tumor recurrence (range, 535–797 days). ■ Commentary Treatment options in veterinary oncology have long been limited to surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and immunotherapy with one approved vaccine for canine melanoma. The newer technique of ECT has shown great success but has been geographically limited. This article reinforced ECT as a therapeutic option for cancer treatment, as normal tissue is spared and application of permeabilizing electric pulses allows local administration of chemotherapy at the tumor site. In addition, ECT requires only a single anesthetic episode, results in no ionizing radiation, and supplies only minimal patient stress. I expect more successful papers will emerge in the future.—J.A. Impellizeri, DVM, DACVIM (Oncology) ■ ■ Source Electrochemotherapy with cisplatin enhances local control after surgical ablation of fibrosarcoma in cats: An approach to improve the therapeutic index of highly toxic chemotherapy drugs. Spugnini EP, Renaud SM, Buglioni S, et al. J TRANSLATIONAL MED 9:152, 2011. MORE November 2012 • clinician’s brief 59