Families and Companion Animals in a Contemporary World： A Study of Bodies, Minds, and Emotions in Brazilian Cyberspace

The objective of this paper is to present the result of a research of images and messages addressed to pet owners, posted in news and advertising websites in Brazilian cyberspace in the period between 2005 and 2012. There are a wide variety of pet products and services, similar to those available to the human being and note that pet care industry address the posts to pet owners and the messages intend to motivate the emotions and feelings for the animals, in a sentimental anthropomorphism process. The marketing messages are similar to those of products shaped to induce a person to buy luxury products. Market social interaction is driven by both the human-animal bond and the pet care market campaigns advertisement. In many situations, people interact with pet as a person or a member of the family, as a unique and special living being. The authors conclude that in families which people and animal interacts, new meanings emerge from this contact.

Low prevalence of colistin-resistant Escherichia coli from companion animals,China,2018-2021

China banned colistin as growth promoter for animals in the year of 2017.A decrease of colistin-resistant Escherichia coli(COREC)and mcr-1-positive Escherichia coli(MCRPEC)were observed in livestock(pigs and chickens)and humans after the ban policy.However,the prevalence of COREC among Chinese companion animals after the ban policy has not been investigated.Here,we recovered 771 E.coli isolates from the China Antimicrobial Resistance Surveil-lance Network for Pets(CARPet)surveillance system(19 provinces/municipalities)from 2018 to 2021.We identified 12 COREC from eight dogs and four cats,among which one feline and three canine isolates were MCRPEC.The prevalence of COREC and MCRPEC in pets from 2018-2021(1.1%-2.2%and 0.8%-1.1%)were lower than those from 2012-2016(7.1%-17.8%and 6.1%-14.3%).The phylogenetic analysis revealed that the four MCRPEC isolates displayed genetic diversity,while one canine isolate exhibited only 26 SNPs difference with one human MCRPEC isolate in the same city,suggesting the exchange of MCRPEC isolates between companion animals and humans.In three MCRPEC isolates,mcr-1 was located on an IncI2 plasmid,which exhibited 99.5%-99.9%nucleotide sequence identity with plasmid pHNSD133-MCR from E.coli of chicken origin.In the remaining MCRPEC,mcr-1 was chromosomally located flanked by intact ISApl1 elements forming a unit of ISApl1-mcr-1-pap2-ISApl1.Despite the low prevalence of COREC and MCRPEC observed in companion animals after the ban policy,the association of pet-derived MCRPEC and mcr-carrying plasmids with those from humans and farm animals suggest that annual surveillance of colistin resistance in bacteria of pet origin is essential.

Dehydrated Natural Feed for Cats: Influence on Apparent Digestibility Coefficient, Feces Scores, and Serum Immune, Antioxidant, and Metabolic Biomarkers

The present study aimed to determine whether natural dehydrated feed (DNF) can replace dry extruded feed while preserving the required daily intake, nutrient digestibility and benefits for immunity and antioxidant response in cats. The animals were divided into two groups of seven animals each. One group received DNF, and the other consumed commercial extruded dry feed (DCF). The experiment lasted 45 days and we measured daily consumption and collected blood and feces samples. The animals in the DNF group showed greater digestibility of fiber and mineral matter than DCF. Cats in the DNF group had a higher volume of feces. DNF cats had lower leukocyte and granulocyte counts and cholesterol levels. Serum enzymatic antioxidant responses and non-enzymatic were higher in DNF cats. Cats in the DNF group showed lower serum acute phase proteins in addition to a tendency toward a higher concentration of transferrin than in the DCF group. Fecal Escherichia coli and total coliform counts of cats fed DNF were higher than DCF. We conclude that the daily consumption of cats is adequate. This feed had greater digestibility of fiber and mineral matter, in addition to an improvement in antioxidant and immunological responses.

Estimates for Lyme borreliosis infections based on models using sentinel canine and human seroprevalence data

Two models were developed to estimate Lyme borreliosis(LB)cases.One was based on the seroprevalence of Borrelia infections in human samples.This model used corrections for false negative and false positive results from published test sensitivity and specificity measures.A second model based on Borrelia infections in sentinel dogs was used to quantify the prevalence of Lyme disease Borrelia infections in humans;the reference baseline for this model was human and canine infections in Germany.A comparison of the two models is shown and differences discussed.The relationships between incidence,prevalence and total infection burden for LB were derived from published data and these were used in both models to calculate annual incidence,prevalence and total LB infections.The modelling was conservative and based on medical insurance records coded for erythema migrans.Linear model growth rates were used in place of the commonly adopted exponential growth.The mean of the two models was used to create estimates for various countries and continents.Examples from the analyses for LB estimated for 2018 include:incidence e USA 473,000/year,Germany 471,000/year,France 434,000/year and UK 132,000/year;prevalence e USA 2.4 million,Germany 2.4 million,France 2.2 million and UK 667,000;total infections e USA 10.1 million,Germany 10.0 million,France 9.3 million and UK 2.8 million.Estimates for the world for 2018 are:incidence 12.3 million/year;prevalence 62.1 million;and total infection burden 262.0 million.These figures are far higher than officially published data and reflect not only the underestimation of diagnosed cases,which is acknowledged by health agencies,but also undiagnosed and misdiagnosed cases.