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Background: Treatment of canine otitis externa with owner-administered products can be difficult., Objectives: To evaluate otic treatment administered by a veterinarian on quality of life (QoL) of dogs with otitis externa and their owners, and on clinical and cytology parameters of otitis; compared to an owner-administered treatment., Animals: Fifty client-owned dogs randomly randomized into two groups and treated for 2 weeks., Methods: Veterinarians treated Group A dogs with a veterinary licensed otic gel on two occasions at a 1 week interval; owners treated Group B dogs once daily with a veterinary licensed otic drop based product along with twice weekly cleaning. Veterinarians evaluated otitis with the OTI-3 scale and semi-quantitative cytological examination on days 0, 7, 14 and 28. At each visit, owners assessed QoL with a validated questionnaire and pruritus with a Visual Analog Scale. Scores before and after treatment of each group, and differences between groups were analysed statistically., Results: In both groups, all parameters improved significantly. There was a significantly higher improvement of QoL scores, for dogs and owners, in Group A, compared to Group B at all time points (P < 0.05), except for owner QoL on Day 28. There was no difference in improvement of OTI-3 between groups at any time point, whereas Group A cytology scores and pruritus improved significantly more by Day 7 (P = 0.0026 and P = 0.0294, respectively)., Conclusion: A veterinarian-administered otic gel provided equivalent efficacy and higher QoL to dogs with otitis externa and their owners, compared to an owner-administered topical otic therapy., (© 2017 The Authors. Veterinary Dermatology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of the ESVD and the ACVD.)

Background: Lynxacarus radovskyi has been observed in cats in Malaysia; previously treatment with fipronil and moxidectin/imidacloprid spot-on has been described., Objectives: To compare the efficacy of two spot-on treatments of moxidectin/imidacloprid, two weeks apart to a single oral dose of fluralaner against Lynxacarus radovskyi and evaluate time to re-infestation., Methods: Thirty cats were assigned to three groups of ten cats each. Group 1 received one 250 mg fluralaner tablet. Group 2 received two doses of moxidectin/imidacloprid spot-on two weeks apart. Group 3 consisted of untreated controls. For each cat, three plucks of about 50 hairs each were collected from three sites (dorsal neck, lateral thigh and perineal/tail region) for a total of nine pluckings every two weeks. Severity of infestation was scored from 0 (no parasite), to 1 (only nonhatched eggs), 2 (both hatched and nonhatched eggs), 3 (<50 mites) and 4 (>50 mites). Efficacy was compared between treatment groups and over time in the same group, and results analysed statistically. Re-infestation was defined as the identification of new eggs or mites on hair pluckings., Results: Moxidectin/imidacloprid spot-on and oral fluralaner achieved 100% eradication within 28 days. No significant difference was observed between groups 1 and 2; re-infestation occurred by Day 56 in both treatment groups., Conclusion: A single dose of oral fluralaner or two moxidectin/imidacloprid spot-on treatments two weeks apart are efficacious in the eradication of L. radovskyi in cats and able to prevent re-infestation for at least 42 days post-treatment., (© 2016 ESVD and ACVD.)

Background: Feline Dermatitis Extent and Severity Index (FeDESI) and Scoring Feline Allergic Dermatitis (SCORFAD) are two different scoring systems for the evaluation of feline allergic dermatitis., Objectives: To evaluate the correlation between FeDESI and SCORFAD and pruritus., Animals and Methods: The dermatological lesions of 32 cats affected by feline allergic dermatitis were evaluated with both FeDESI and SCORFAD before treatment and once monthly during treatment where ciclosporin was administered at 7 mg/kg orally once daily for 1 month then tapered, when possible, in the subsequent 2 months. Pruritus was scored by pet owners with a Visual Analog Scale (VAS). Correlation between scores at Visit 1, and between absolute and percentage score improvements at visits 1, 2 and 3, were analysed statistically using a nonparametric Spearman's rank correlation test., Results: Correlation between FeDESI, SCORFAD and VAS pruritus scores at baseline was low and nonsignificant for all combinations. The correlation of absolute score improvement was moderate and significant only between FeDESI and VAS pruritus at Visit 3. Correlation of improvement percentage was moderate and significant between FeDESI and SCORFAD and between FeDESI and VAS pruritus at Visit 2, whereas at visits 3 and 4 it was high and significant for each combination., Conclusion: Only improvement percentage of FeDESI and SCORFAD scores seem to correlate well. SCORFAD is the only scoring system to have been validated, although it seems to correlate less with pruritus and may be more difficult to use than FeDESI. The latter could thus be more appropriate for use, but further studies are needed especially in regard to its validation., (© 2015 ESVD and ACVD.)