Category Archives: Furkids

Drogo, Furkids

Antiviral clinical trial news 2016

I received another thank you note from SOCK FIP regarding my recurring donation, so I visited their website to see if any new research was available from the UC Davis team. It appears that a closed clinical trial was conducted earlier in 2016 and a paper published about the findings. The PDF for the preliminary report is posted on SOCK FIP’s site date stamped 5/1/2016: http://www.sockfip.org/pdf/Preliminary_Report_5-1-2016.pdf

Within the report is a link to a published article regarding the emerging research. See PLOS.org for more detail. http://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=info:doi/10.1371/journal.ppat.1005531

While the news appear mostly positive in tone, please realize that this was a very small study. The brief also states that the protease inhibitor being tested isn’t available outside of UC Davis’ clinical trials program–and to further that limitation, the word “expensive” jumps right out of the page.

Obviously more trials are needed to determine the efficacy of the trial drug, and if found successful, it will take time to be federally evaluated before released for public consumption.

Furkids, Hodor

Lab Results Perplexing

The Saturday before July 4th, Hodor made his annual visit to the vet and had routine blood work done, got his check up, Sentinel tabs, etc etc. The visit went well…or so I thought.

After waiting nearly a week, the vet called back with a grim report: Hodor tested positive for heartworm AND lyme. Needless to say, we are shocked to hear the news. Hodor had been on Sentinel for the past 6 months and displayed no symptoms of either. With the conflicting literature gleaned from the internet about Accuplex, we began to suspect the results. Because of my lack of familiarity with Accuplex 4, we requested a different test be conducted. Hodor’s shelter paperwork indicated that Snap 4DX was used for testing before his adoption. Another blood draw was ordered and sent off to the lab.

20160706HodorAccuplexSnip

The vet called  back to say that the Snap 4DX results came back negative on all counts, and she admitted she was perplexed by the results and would need to consult others on the reports. Unfortunately, this news hasn’t allayed our fears–it creates more uncertainty. Vet suggested performing an in-house blood test specifically for heartworm…but I’m obviously reluctant due to the differing lab results. Has anybody had similar experience with Accuplex 4 and Snap 4DX?