Improving oral health care accessibility for homeless and vulnerably housed pet-owning populations.

Individuals experiencing homelessness face unique barriers to oral health care. In collaboration with local universities in Ottawa, Canada, research was conducted to explore the experiences of Community Veterinary Outreach (CVO) clients in accessing oral health care. CVO utilizes a One Health approach, providing preventive veterinary care alongside human health care services to promote health service uptake among pet owners experiencing homelessness. Based on the results of 4 research projects, this short communication proposes recommendations for promoting accessible oral health care and increasing service uptake at One Health clinics by CVO clients experiencing homelessness. Relevant themes leading to the recommendations were 1) barriers to care, including financial and individual circumstances, and discrimination by service providers; and 2) facilitators of care, including the presence of pets, compassionate care, and care received in community settings. Recommendations to improve accessibility of oral health services for CVO clients are 1) continuation of pet-friendly services; 2) delivery of oral health care in alternative settings; and 3) reduction of discrimination through continuing education for oral health professionals. It is hypothesized that the implementation of these recommendations will improve oral health care service accessibility and uptake among clients at CVO clinics and in the community.

Les personnes sans abri sont confrontées à des obstacles uniques en matière de soins de santé buccodentaire. Une recherche a été menée en collaboration avec des universités locales d'Ottawa, au Canada, pour explorer les expériences des clients de la Community Veterinary Outreach (CVO) en matière d'accès aux soins buccodentaires. La CVO utilise une approche « One Health  ¼, offrant des soins vétérinaires préventifs en parallèle aux services de santé humaine en vue de promouvoir l'utilisation des services de santé par les propriétaires d'animaux sans abri. Cette brève communication propose des recommandations en fonction des résultats de 4 projets de recherche pour promouvoir l'accessibilité des soins de santé buccodentaire et faire en sorte que les clients sans abri de la CVO utilisent davantage les services des cliniques One Health. Les thèmes pertinents qui ont mené aux recommandations étaient : 1) les obstacles aux soins, y compris les circonstances financières et individuelles et la discrimination par les prestataires de services; et 2) les facilitateurs de soins, y compris la présence d'animaux de compagnie, les soins prodigués avec compassion et les soins obtenus en milieu communautaire. Les recommandations visant à améliorer l'accessibilité aux services de santé buccodentaire pour les clients de la CVO sont les suivantes : 1) continuer d'offrir des services adaptés aux animaux de compagnie; 2) fournir des soins de santé buccodentaire dans des milieux non conventionnels; et 3) réduire la discrimination au moyen d'une formation continue pour les professionnels de la santé buccodentaire. L'hypothèse est que les clients de la CVO auront un meilleur accès aux services de soins buccodentaires et utiliseront ces services dans les cliniques de la CVO et dans la communauté grâce à la mise en œuvre de ces recommandations.

Understanding the associations between owner and pet demographics on pet body condition among those experiencing homelessness and housing vulnerability in Canada.

Approximately 35 000 people experience homelessness in some form each night in Canada, with similar rates (approximately 1/200 individuals) among developed countries. Ten to twenty percent of those individuals are pet owners. Animal companionship provides a variety of mental and physical benefits to people who are living homeless or vulnerably housed, but many in the non-vulnerable sector, including veterinary professionals and animal welfare advocates, express concern for the health and welfare of these animals. We describe the demographics of a population of animals owned by individuals experiencing homelessness and housing vulnerability, and investigate animal and owner factors influencing body condition score and over-conditioning using data collected from Community Veterinary Outreach (CVO). Community Veterinary Outreach is a registered charity focused on improving the health and welfare of people and their pets who are experiencing homelessness and housing vulnerability. The organization provides free services to clients in ten Canadian communities. Data associated with 636 owners and 946 animals were collected during clinics held between April 2018 and March 2020, representing a total of 1124 visits. The population of dogs and cats seen by CVO was demographically similar to populations seen in general companion animal veterinary practice and were in similar health. For both species, the mean body condition score was 5.4/9, where an ideal score is five for cats and four to five for dogs, and 38 % of animals were considered over-conditioned (overweight/obese). Risk factor analysis demonstrated significant associations between being over-conditioned and pet age and the reason for the veterinary visit for cats, and pet age, the number of abnormal findings on physical exam, and a previous CVO visit for dogs. Pet age, sex-neuter status, disease of the oral cavity, and a previous CVO visit were significantly associated with body condition score in cats. Body condition score in dogs was associated with owner age, and with interactions between pet age and breed size group, and between sex-neuter status and owner-reported housing security. These findings suggest that animals owned by those experiencing homeless and housing vulnerability are generally in good health and similar factors influence body condition score and over-conditioning as animals seen in general companion animal veterinary practice. Further efforts to provide support to pet owners within these communities by veterinarians will help support the good health of this population.

Review of growth plate closure compared with age at sexual maturity and lifespan in laboratory animals.

Although it is assumed that most mammals experience growth plate closure and cessation of bone growth soon after sexual maturity, bone growth in rats continues throughout their lifespan. The rat was compared to other laboratory animals to assess differences in the duration of bone growth and its relationship to age at sexual maturity and lifespan. We reviewed the literature from 1966 to March 1999 by searching MEDLINE and other databases. Growth closure times and age at sexual maturity were retrieved for the mouse, rabbit, dog, cat, sheep, cow, horse, nonhuman primates, and human. For all species, we calculated the ratios of: 1) age at growth plate closure to lifespan, 2) age at growth plate closure to age at sexual maturity, and 3) age at sexual maturity to average lifespan. The ratio of age at physis closure to the average lifespan was large for the rat (22 to 35) and showed some overlap with that of humans (17 to 25); this ratio was comparatively small in all other nonhuman species (range, 4 to 17). This finding indicates that bone growth continues in the rat for a greater proportion of their lifespan than does that in other species. The ratio of age at physis closure to age at sexual maturity was larger for the rat (5 to 6) than that for other species, indicating that bone growth continues much longer after sexual maturity in rats than in other animals. The ratio of age at sexual maturity to average lifespan was largest for humans and nonhuman primates (13 to 14), indicating the increased time to reach puberty versus that in other species. These differences are important for studies in which animal models are used in research involving bone growth.

Comparison of three different methods of total carbon dioxide measurement.

The objective of this study was to compare total carbon dioxide (TCO(2)) levels measured by three different methods. Two hundred jugular venous blood samples from dogs admitted to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Ontario Veterinary College with various clinical disorders were analyzed by the Radiometer blood gas analyzer (BGA) and the Coulter DACOS analyzer. In 70 of these samples, TCO(2) was also measured by the Kodak Ektachem DTE chemistry analyzer. Comparison of the agreement between methods revealed intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) of 0.63, 0.79, and 0.82 for the DACOS-Ektachem, DACOS-BGA and Ektachem-BGA comparisons, respectively. Evaluation of the effect of storage time on TCO(2) content of stored serum samples measured on the DACOS analyzer revealed a decrease of almost 2 mmol/L and a decrease in the intraclass correlation coefficient values between the DACOS analyzer and other methods after 7 hours storage time. The results of this observational study revealed lower agreement between the three methods in this study than previously reported between other methods of TCO(2) measurement. Possible reasons for the lower than expected agreement in this study included changes in DACOS values because of storage and differences in methodologies between the methods.