The Diagnostic Approach to the Pruritic Cat for Nurses

The evolution of veterinary dermatology and available pharmaceutical options for treatment of atopic dermatitis has changed significantly in the recent past. This lecture will review a wide array of treatment options both old and new for atopic dogs and cats including immunotherapy, antihistamines, fatty acids, steroids, Oclacitinib (Apoquel®), Cyclosporine (Atopica®), and lokivetmab (Cytopoint®). We will discuss how these therapies benefit the atopic patient and when each treatment is appropriate. Learn what side effects to beware of, how to better educate your clients, and when referral to a dermatologist is helpful.

Pruritus is one of the most common presenting complaints of cat owners in practice as many dermatoses of cats are associated with pruritus. The pruritus symptoms may manifest as licking/overgrooming, scratching, chewing, or biting the skin, resulting in alopecia, erythema, and dermatitis. Determining the cause of the pruritus can be more difficult in cats than dogs and it is important to understand that cats are not small dogs. The same cause may elicit different reaction patterns in different cats. This webinar will focus on identifying the reaction patterns, discuss a step-wise diagnostic approach to rule out the common causes of pruritus in cats and discuss management of the various causes. Because cats seemingly tolerate corticosteroids well and are often difficult to medicate, overuse of long-acting steroid injections is common. Using this step-wise approach to identify and control the underlying causes can decrease the use of steroids and reduce the risks of developing serious adverse effects such as diabetes and congestive heart failure.

Some people say that everything in dermatology looks the same; just hair loss and red or black skin. This is far from the case. If you can separate primary lesions from secondary changes you are well on your way to formulate a good diagnostic and treatment plan for your patients. The diagnosis and treatment of skin disease in animals is protocol based and it's foundation is the presentling primary lesion picture. It is vital for accurate histopathological diagnosis that the pathologist is given an accurate description of the lesions. In addition, when requesting advice from a veterinary dermatologist, the key is to be able to describe in mutually understandable terms what is happening. In this presentation, Dr's Rob Hilton and Judith Nimmo will co-present the common primary and secondary lesions seen in our small animal patients and discuss their clinical and histological appearance and some of the more common diseases associated with the lesions