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Objective—To investigate whether combined treatment with gemcitabine and piroxicam in dogs with transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the urinary bladder is tolerated and provides an advantage in terms of survival time over previously reported treatments. Design—Clinical trial. Animals—38 dogs with TCC of the urinary bladder. Procedures—Dogs were treated with gemcitabine (800 mg/m2, IV over 30 to 60 minutes, q 7 d) and piroxicam (0.3 mg/kg [0.14 mg/lb], PO, q 24 h). Complete blood cell counts were monitored prior to each gemcitabine treatment. All toxic effects of gemcitabine in dogs were recorded. Primary tumors were ultrasonographically reevaluated after 4 gemcitabine treatments. Results—Dogs received a median of 8 gemcitabine treatments (range, 1 to 38 treatments/dog). In response to treatment, 10 of 38 (26.3%) dogs had grade 1 gastrointestinal tract signs, 11 (28.9%) had grade 2, and 5 (13.2%) had grade 3. Grade 1 neutropenia developed in 6 (15.8%) dogs and grade 2 and 3 neutropenia in 2 (5.3%) dogs each. Thrombocytopenia was rare. All dogs had improvement of clinical signs of disease. Two dogs had a complete tumor response, 8 had a partial response, 19 had stable disease, and 8 had progressive disease. Median survival time with treatment was 230 days. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Administration of gemcitabine in combination with piroxicam treatment failed to provide a longer overall survival time in dogs with TCC of the urinary bladder, compared with previously reported treatment strategies. However, this combination of chemotherapy did provide a new treatment alternative with fewer adverse effects.

Objective—To evaluate predictors of survival time in dogs undergoing adrenalectomy and identify risk factors associated with adrenal gland tumor metastasis and vein thrombosis. Design—Retrospective case series. Animals—52 dogs with primary adrenal gland tumors. Procedures—Medical records were reviewed. Signalment, tumor features, and information from surgical procedures were evaluated to identify factors predictive of overall survival time, which was defined as the time from surgery until death. The association between metastasis or vein thrombosis and tumor type, size, and site (right or left adrenal gland) was investigated. Results—On the basis of results of univariate analysis, survival time was significantly shorter for dogs with adenocarcinoma, tumor major axis length ≥ 5 cm, metastasis, and vein thrombosis and when adrenalectomy was combined with an additional abdominal surgical intervention. On multivariate analysis, survival time was significantly shorter for dogs with an adrenal gland tumor with major axis length ≥ 5 cm and for dogs with metastasis or vein thrombosis. Significant associations were found between metastasis and adenocarcinoma and between vein thrombosis and tumors with major axis length ≥ 5 cm. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Dogs with an adrenal gland tumor with major axis length ≥ 5 cm, documented metastasis, or vein thrombosis had a poorer prognosis. Metastasis was more frequent in dogs with adenocarcinoma and vein thrombosis when tumors were ≥ 5 cm in length.

rug treatment of leishmaniasis in dogs is a chal-lenge for veterinary practitioners. Because of its complex pathogenesis, leishmaniasis may manifest with various clinical signs, ranging from mild and nonspe-cific to those reflecting severe involvement of several organs. The immune response plays an important role in the development, outcome, and response to treat-ment of

Objective—To determine overall survival time and identify prognostic factors associated with survival time in cats with newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus. Design—Retrospective case series. Animals—114 cats with newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus. Procedures—Data for analysis included history, signalment, physical examination findings, hematologic and serum biochemical data, presence of ketoacidosis, and diagnosis of concurrent diseases at initial evaluation. The effects of possible predictors on survival time were determined by calculating hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results—Median survival time of diabetic cats was 516 days (range, 1 to 3,468 days); 70%, 64%, and 46% lived longer than 3, 6, and 24 months, respectively. Survival time was significantly shorter for cats with higher creatinine concentrations, with a hazard of dying approximately 5% greater for each increase of 10 μg/dL in serum creatinine concentration (adjusted HR, 1.005; 95% CI, 1.003 to 1.007). Ketoacidosis was not significantly associated with survival time (HR, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.590 to 1.78). Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Cats with newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus had a fair to good prognosis. High serum creatinine concentration at diagnosis was associated with a poor outcome, likely because of the adverse effects of renal dysfunction. Ketoacidosis apparently was not associated with decreased survival time, suggesting that this complication should not necessarily be regarded as unfavorable.

Objective—To determine results of cytologic examination of fine-needle aspirates and impression smears of gastrointestinal tract tumors in dogs and cats. Design—Retrospective case series. Animals—38 dogs and 44 cats with histologically confirmed gastrointestinal tract tumors. Procedures—Results of cytologic examination of fine-needle aspirates (n = 67) or impression smears (31) were compared with the histologic diagnosis, and extent of agreement was classified as complete, partial, none, or undetermined. Results—For 48 of the 67 (72%) fine-needle aspirates, there was complete or partial agreement between the cytologic and histologic diagnoses. For 12 (18%) aspirates, the extent of agreement could not be determined because the cytologic specimen was considered unsatisfactory. For 29 of the 31 (94%) impression smears, there was complete agreement between the cytologic and histologic diagnoses, and for 2 (6%), there was partial agreement. None of the impression smears were considered unsatisfactory. Proportion of samples with complete agreement and proportion of samples with complete or partial agreement were significantly higher for impression smears than for fine-needle aspirates. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Results suggest that there was moderate agreement between results of cytologic examination of fine-needle aspirates from dogs and cats with gastrointestinal tract neoplasia and the definitive histologic diagnosis. The agreement between results of cytologic examination of impression smears and the histologic diagnosis appeared to be higher.