The Best Veterinary Breakthroughs of 2007

Jan. 3, 2008 — -- Americans now spend more than $41 billion a year on their pets, according to Business Week magazine.

This year much of that money has been spent on a wide range of exciting breakthroughs in pet care. Marty Becker, veterinarian and author of two new books, "Bow Wow" and "Meow Wow," joined "Good Morning America" to talk about 2007's innovations in pet veterinary medicine.

The canine melanoma vaccine from Merial is the first therapeutic cancer vaccine approved in the United States for any species, human or animal.

We all knew you could vaccinate for viral diseases, such as distemper and rabies, but for bacterial diseases, such as periodontal disease, or some cancers? Wow!

The vaccine was developed through a partnership between Merial, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and the Animal Medical Center of New York. As an adjunct to traditional therapies, initial trials using this vaccine show significantly longer survival times for dogs with melanoma.

Note: There's also a vaccine for melanoma being jointly developed by the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania and its School of Veterinary Medicine. If this vaccine continues to work well in dogs with lymphoma, it would eventually be tested in children with the human equivalent, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The new Porphyromonas bacterin dental vaccine from Pfizer targets the three kinds of Porphyromonas bacteria that cause most of this disease. Periodontal disease is the most commonly diagnosed disease in veterinary medicine with almost 85 percent of dogs older than 3 having the disease. It is seen most often in small-breed and brachycephalic breeds (like Pugs or Pekinese).

Common signs of the disease include bad breath, bleeding gums, tooth loss, ulcers in the mouth, gum recession or a poor appetite. Most pet owners only notice bad breath until very advanced stages of the disease. Besides being painful, the bacteria from the disease get into the bloodstream and have been linked to diseases of the heart, kidney and lungs.

Dogs that have good oral health live 15 percent longer or an average of two years. While brushing is the gold standard of good oral care, most pet owners are unwilling or unable to do it (less than 25 percent of dogs receive in-home brushing). The vaccine is given as two doses, three weeks apart, then repeated as recommended by the vet.

No needles! Rather than the typical injection of a vaccine into a blood vessel via a syringe, the new Canine Transdermal Device from Merial allows the vaccine to be injected directly into the muscles, simplifying the procedure. The immune response of the animal is better and it may be more comfortable for them as well.

Giving cats medicine is difficult even for people who work at a veterinary hospital. Too many feline preventive health-care products and meds end up on the cupboard and not in the cat because of this difficulty. While there have been chewable products for dogs for years, nobody paid much service to cat meds. But now there's good news for cats as well.

Profender, from Bayer, is the first and only topical feline de-wormer that treats and controls ascarids (roundworms), hookworms and tapeworms. Profender combines powerful, broad-spectrum coverage of intestinal worms with the ease and convenience of a single dose treatment. No more struggling cats, no more stressed-out or injured owners, and above all, no more worms.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved Slentrol from Pfizer for the safe and effective management of canine obesity, making it the first and only veterinary-approved obesity drug for dogs in the United States.

About 50 percent of U.S. dogs are overweight or obese, and obesity is an important medical condition that puts pets at increased risk for heart disease, joint problems, skin disease, even cancer. Slentrol offers another option in weight management in dogs by giving veterinarians a tool when diet modification and increased exercise are difficult to implement successfully.

Slentrol decreases a dog's appetite, thereby reducing food intake. Slentrol is given once a day as an oral solution either directly in the mouth or with a small amount of food; the duration of treatment depends on how much weight needs to be lost.

Royal Canin and Iams are now making food for specific breeds of dogs and cats. At Royal Canin the details of each dog breed's unique physiology impact the formula for every one of their breed-specific diets. Not just protein, fat and nutrient levels, but kibble shape, kibble texture and more.

There are now breed-specific foods for boxers, bulldogs, Chihuahuas, dachshund, German shepherds, Golden retrievers, Labrador retrievers, poodles, Shih Tzus and Yorkshire terriers.

For example, Golden Retriever 25, launched in October 2007, supports and protects the health and longevity of adult and mature Golden retriever dogs. Sensitive skin, a tendency to gain weight and cardiac disease are three common problems cited by owners and veterinarians.

Golden Retriever 25 addresses each of these factors through a combination of nutrients such as borage and anchovy oils, vitamin B and sulfur amino acids for healthy skin and coat and L-carnitine for optimal function of the cardiac muscle. A larger, less dense kibble encourages slower food intake and results in greater satiety. Click here to visit Royal Canin's Web site.

Meal time is the most enjoyable part of a pet's day, yet, most consumer canine food products are based on human behavior of putting food in a bowl for a dog to consume. Appeal to your dogs "inner wolf," and let biology trump the bowl.

Rather than feeding your dog dry kibble or canned dog food, you feed a biometrically designed, single-piece meal from WholeMeals Brand Food for Dogs (a bone shaped in four different sizes, that has a chewy exterior and a dense, meaty interior) that not only meets a dog's nutritional needs; it also addresses a dog's physiology, instincts and enjoyment.