Vets in general practice often contact me looking for practical advice managing canine and feline lymphoma patients in house. It’s a disease that is seen often and, while there are guiding principles, every patient presents slightly differently and responds to treatment individually. In this lecture we’ll aim to cover the common diagnostic and treatment challenges and provide a good base for improving your confidence in approaching these patients. We’ll discuss standard diagnostic techniques and options for when the diagnosis is difficult to achieve. As we move to discussing clinical staging and treatment we’ll cover the options for several different anatomical locations and histopathological subtypes. We’ll review practical tips for chemotherapy administration including a review of the common chemotherapy agents used in treating canine and feline lymphoma and what to do when things don’t go according to plan. We’ll cover what’s new and what’s evolving in the management of canine lymphoma with a focus on what’s practical and relevant for you.

Blood smear examination remains an integral part of the complete blood count (CBC) and is probably the most important aspect of a routine haematological examination. It has the potential to provide the most diagnostically useful information in comparison with any other routine test. Blood smear examination may provide knowledge of the presence of a left-shift, toxic change, atypical cell populations, diagnostic red cell changes etc, which would otherwise remain undetected by other means. It is hence important to maintain a good level of competence with blood smear examination, to compliment (and significantly enhance) the results obtained from automated cell counters. This seminar will review and discuss changes present in a selection of case studies, as an example of diseases that rely heavily on the blood smear examination for a diagnosis.

This webinar will include a discussion of the common causes of pruritus in our canine companions, a practical and achievable diagnostic workup of these patients, and management of the no 1 cause of pruritus – allergies!