BSAVA Foundation Collection

This chapter introduces basic concepts of clinical decision-making and evidence-based veterinary medicine, and suggests how they can be applied in a pragmatic way in a shelter or charitable environment. Decisions made in shelters and charitable organizations can be very different to those made in private clinical practice.Quick reference guides: Dealing with the elderly thin cat; Dealing with the elderly dog; Dealing with heart murmurs in dogs and cats.

Infectious diseases can be a major problem in the shelter environment. This chapter provides a very brief overview of the infectious agents that can cause disease, how the pathogens of importance are transmitted, and how they might be managed and treated.

Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, liver and pancreas in dogs and cats can occur separately or concurrently. The most important considerations for supportive care in all of these diseases are: fluid and electrolyte balance; nutrition; and, particularly for pancreatic disease, analgesia. There are also nursing, homecare and infection control considerations for the dog or cat with vomiting and diarrhoea. Case examples: Acute parvovirus infection in a puppy; Inflammatory bowel disease in a dog; Acute sever pancreatitis in a dog; Chronic pancreatitis in a dog; ‘Triaditis’ in a cat; Chronic hepatitis in a dog.