A collaborative case

CATHY HARVEY & REBECCA ALLANClinical history:Buddy, a 4-year-old neutered male Border Collie presented with lethargy and an in-house PCV of 12%. There was no free blood in the abdomen and the spleen was normal. He had progressive pancytopenia without regeneration, a single dose of dexamethasone and two blood transfusions, before bone marrow samples and blood […]

Lab tip – keep cool when it’s hot!

We’re heading into warmer weather, so please remember to keep samples cool after collection.Traditionally as summer heats up, we notice a deterioration in the quality of some samples received at our laboratories.  Some even arrive in an unsuitable condition for testing.We recommend you include an ice-pack of some description with your samples if you are […]

Hidden in fat

KATHRYN JENKINSA recent interesting case highlighted the issue of a lesion which can mimic the clinical appearance of a benign lipoma.Clinical history:A 10-year-old dog presented with a 7 cm diameter mass located on the upper forelimb, which had been slowly growing over the last 4-6 months. The mass palpated like a lipoma, and greasy material […]

Update on the prevalence of anthelmintic resistance 2021–2022

Sarah Riddy, Gribbles Veterinary PathologyWith the routine use of Gribbles Veterinary’s automated faecal egg count reduction test (FECRT) report system, we are pleased to announce the resumption of our annual update on anthelmintic resistance. This report details the analysis of data from fully differentiated FECRTs submitted to the Gribbles network for the season November 2021 […]

Transitioning terminology

AMY WEEDENYou may have noticed the terms “urothelial cell” or “urothelium” being used in urinalysis, cytology, or histology reports over the last several years. There has been a shift in human medicine and, later, in veterinary medicine from the use of transitional epithelium to urothelium to describe the specialized stretchy epithelial tissue that lines the […]

Feline herpesvirus dermatitis

BERNIE VAATSTRAA 12-year-old female neutered Domestic Short-hair cat developed a raised, crusted, circular lesion on the right upper lip. The lesion was pruritic and did not respond to treatment with glucocorticoids.An incisional biopsy was submitted for histopathology.Histopathology findings:The epidermis was focally ulcerated and crusted (Figure 1). The dermis was infiltrated by large numbers of mixed […]

Dairy cattle Salmonella study  

Salmonella is endemic in dairy cattle in New Zealand, and can cause large outbreaks of scouring and mortality. The effects of Salmonella on-farm can be devastating and pose a serious risk to the health, productivity and welfare of affected animals. Salmonella is also a common cause of gastro-intestinal disease in humans, with livestock acting as […]

Spleendid samples

MICHAEL HARDCASTLESplenectomy for nodular splenic masses or diffuse splenomegaly is common, and we often receive entire spleens, or parts of splenic lesions for histopathology. Some spleens (and splenic masses) are very large, so fixing adequately in formalin prior to submitting to the laboratory for histopathology can be problematic.The entire spleen is our preferred sample, however […]

Up your staining game

Do you stain blood or cytology smears in-clinic?  Struggle to find an appropriate container to fit the slides and hold the stain?We are very excited to now be stocking Coplin jars for slide staining.  These classic glass jars are designed to hold microscope slides in their vertical grooves for staining, plus they have a glass […]

Ovine virus causing chaos

JOHN GILLMalignant catarrhal fever (MCF) is a sporadic disease of cattle and deer, caused by the sheep-associated virus (ovine herpesvirus 2). MCF is  passed to cattle and deer by carrier hoggets and lambs, but affected cattle and deer do not transmit MCF to their cohorts. The incubation period can be several months.The following cases show […]