Pet Industry News - 12 January 2007
Canine Lymphoma is one of the most prolific cancers in the dog population. It accounts for more than 20% of all cancers and in certain high risk breeds this figure could be considerably higher. Now a pioneering British bioscience company, PetScreen Limited (http://www.pet-screen.com) has announced an innovative screening and treatment optimisation programme which is the first of its kind to be made commercially available. 
    The screen is inexpensive, minimally invasive and relies on a small blood sample which can be taken by any vet, and then conveniently shipped directly to PetScreen's laboratories in Nottingham from anywhere in the world using a global logistics partnership with FedEx.
    PetScreen has developed the screen based on proteomic technology which has emerged from the sequencing of both the human and canine genomes. It facilitates regular, routine screening which enables cancer to be detected at a much earlier stage when, as in humans, treatment has the best chance of success. The problems associated with the late detection of cancer are well understood, and whilst proteomic screening is at a comparatively early stage in humans, an ovarian cancer screen is expected to be announced in the United States next year... the work that PetScreen is undertaking in the canine world will have a significant impact for both four and two legs.
     One in four dogs will develop cancer in their lifetime. Ideally a mature pup should be screened at twelve months and then annually. For high-risk breeds and dogs from middle age onwards, bi-annual screening should be considered, since six months in the life of a dog is equivalent to approximately three years in human terms. Any dog which may have been treated for lymphoma should be screened bi-annually to monitor for recurrence. 
 

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The Macy's fashion store chain on December 22, 2006 withdrew from sale two styles of Sean John brand hooded jackets, after mass spectrometry testing commissioned by the Humane Society of the U.S. revealed that "imitation rabbit fur" and "faux fur" collars were made from the fur of tanuki dogs, members of the domestic dog family with raccoon-like markings, native to China and Korea.
    "A Sean John snorkel jacket on sale for US$237.99 at Macys.com specifically identified the materials used as 'Nylon/faux fur/goose down,' " HSUS said. "When investigators purchased the coat, they found that the labels read 'Made in China' and 'genuine raccoon fur.' "
    "I was completely unaware of the nature of this material. As soon as we were alerted, the garments were pulled," designer Sean "Diddly" Combs said through a publicist. "I have instructed our outerwear licensee to cease the production of any garments using this material immediately."
    Macy's "has a long-standing policy against selling any dog or cat fur," spokesperson Orlando Veras told Associated Press business writer Anne D'Innocenzio. 
    "This is an industry-wide problem," said HSUS president Wayne Pacelle. "Our investigation demonstrates that retailers and
designers are not paying close enough attention to composition of the fur trim they are selling. It's especially problematic when the fur
is sourced from China, where domestic dogs and cats and raccoon dogs are killed in gruesome ways, even skinned alive. The safest course
of action is for Sean Combs and other designers and retailers to stop using fur trim. That single act would solve the problem."
 

 

Overseas news

Petfood Forum 2007, to be held in Chicago, Illinois, USA on April 16-17 is the place for pet food professionals to gain knowledge about their industry. The Forum promoters say attendees will benefit from useful ideas and contacts, face-to-face contact with symposium speakers, suppliers and professional peers.
    The following is a list of some of the topics and speakers for Petfood Forum 2007.

Marketing & Production sessions:
Executive roundtable Doug Cahill, Mars; Ladd Hardy, Nutro; Marcel Blok, Breakthrough; and Brian Connolly, Castor & Pollux;
In-depth, exclusive market research David Lummis, Packaged Facts;
Popular functional ingredients Greg Aldrich, PhD, Pet Food & Ingredient Technology;
Production—what's new and innovative Sajid Alavi, PhD, Kansas State University;
The future of petfood retailing Jon Haupton, Willard Bishop Consulting;
Global sales trends Elizabeth Higgins, Euromonitor;
Scrutinizing superpremium petfoods Nancy Kerns, Editor of Whole Dog Journal.

Nutrition & Regulatory sessions
Genomics—customized diets Keith Murphy, DVM, PhD, Texas A&M University;
New and significant global regulations Terry Plant, Regulatory consultant;
Cognitive palatability testing Joseph Araujo, PhD, CanCog Technologies;
Obesity prevention Sean Delaney, DVM, Davis Veterinary Medical Consulting;
US regulatory report David Dzanis, DVM, PhD, Dzanis Consulting;
Nutrition for skin and gut health Sally Perea, DVM, Davis Veterinary Medical Consulting;
Innovative treats Ken Meyers, CEO of Chomp Inc.

For a complete list, more details and to register for Forum go to www.wattnet.com/petfoodforum or email Marcia Riddle (attendees) at mriddle@wattnet.net.

 		 Victam Asia 2008 will bring together exhibitors, conference delegates and visitors from throughout Asia. The Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre in Bangkok, Thailand is again host to Southeast Asia's premier event for the animal feed, aquafeed, petfood and grain processing industries. The exhibition will have a dedicated area devoted to Thai and Chinese companies who manufacture and develop equipment and technology for these industries. 
    Conferences organised by the Thai Department of Livestock Development on animal feed and an aquafeed workshop organized by Aquafeed.com USA will be repeated in 2008. A new conference will also be included - Petfood Forum & Petfood Focus - organised by Petfood Industry magazine, published by WATT Publishing Co. Forum and Focus will follow the format of these well-known events organised by WATT in the US and the Netherlands. Further information is available at www.victam.com.


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Research notes: Prediction of urine pH in cats fed dry and wet foods.

The objective of this study was to determine if urine pH can be predicted using the nutrient components of feline foods.
    One hundred fifty foods (90 dry foods, 60 wet foods) were fed to groups of ten adult cats (mean, 8.5 years of age) to determine the urine pH of cats fed each food. The food was fed for a period of seven days, and pH was determined on freshly-voided urine on days five to seven of the test. 
    Through step-wise regression, it was determined which cations, anions and sulfur-containing amino acids were of importance for urine pH prediction. Three models were developed for urine pH prediction. These models included: 1) wet and dry foods; 2) wet only foods; and 3) dry only foods. The cations included in all models were sodium, potassium and magnesium.
    Calcium was excluded from the wet-only model. The anions for all models were chloride, sulfur and phosphorus. Including sulfur in the model allowed for the exclusion of methionine and cysteine from the dry model.
    Urine pH of adult cats can be predicted from the nutrient components of the food, thus reducing the number of animal studies in order to optimize urine pH (for struvite and/or oxalate prevention) for specific products. 
    Separate formulas must be used for dry and wet foods in order to maintain accuracy.

Source: Yamka, R.M., Friesen, K.G. and Schakenraad, H., 2006. The prediction of urine pH using dietary cations and anions in cats fed dry and wet foods. Intern J Appl Res Vet Med 4(1):58-66.