https://phys.org/biology-news/veterinary-medicine/ en-us Veterinary medicine news stories about diseases, disorders and injuries in non-human animals An insect-driven disease that causes high mortality in white-tailed deer and mimics the symptoms of foot-and-mouth disease in cattle is still rare in New York state, but the warming climate may increase its future spread. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-virus-sickens-cows-deer-rare.html Veterinary medicine Wed, 21 Oct 2026 20:40:01 EDT news711802216 A pilot study tested an electronic nose, called NOS.E, alongside human-remains detection dogs to see whether it could detect buried remains and help confirm dogs' signals. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-electronic-nose-police-dogs.html Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 21 Oct 2026 14:00:30 EDT news711801841 In the southern United States and across Latin America, kissing bugs can bite people and pets both outdoors and when they enter homes. While not every kissing bug carries disease, these insects can spread a parasite that causes Chagas disease, a tropical illness that can be fatal for both humans and animals. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-bugs-potentially-fatal-chagas-disease.html Veterinary medicine Wed, 21 Oct 2026 10:20:24 EDT news711790801 Leptospirosis is a neglected zoonotic disease caused by pathogenic Leptospira bacteria and can affect humans and animals, including horses. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-connecticut-horses-exposed-leptospira-bacteria.html Veterinary medicine Tue, 20 Oct 2026 15:20:14 EDT news711713359 "Why haven't farm animals evolved to protect themselves against humans?—Sarang, age 15, Latur, Maharashtra, India" https://phys.org/news/2026-10-havent-farm-animals-evolved-humans.html Evolution Mon, 19 Oct 2026 16:20:12 EDT news711625274 A previously unknown population of immune cells in chickens has been discovered by researchers from the University of Bristol Veterinary School in collaboration with The Pirbright Institute. The finding could help transform the way poultry vaccines are developed. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-discovery-chicken-immune-cells-pave.html Veterinary medicine Mon, 19 Oct 2026 15:00:11 EDT news711621732 Scientists have learned a lot about what happens to the human body as we age. But there's still much to learn about how other species age, including dogs. Even carrying extra weight could affect a dog's cognitive health. Alexandra Genualdi, a student at Oklahoma State University who presented her research in September at the American Physiological Society's 2026 Comparative Physiology conference in Orlando, talks about her efforts to learn more. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-extra-weight-dog-brain.html Veterinary medicine Thu, 15 Oct 2026 21:00:01 EDT news711298309 Fireworks are an integral part of many celebrations and cultural events. With their pretty colors, spectacular sights and big bangs, fireworks are a popular attraction for many people. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-pets-fireworks.html Veterinary medicine Thu, 15 Oct 2026 11:40:13 EDT news711274814 Many of the Australian animals most at risk of extinction are extremely tough to track down. That's because they live in small pockets of disappearing nature, such as rare grasslands or ancient forests, in worryingly low numbers. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-dogs-australia-imperiled-lizards.html Ecology Wed, 14 Oct 2026 17:20:13 EDT news711193632 Sounds have shapes. That might sound strange since sound waves are invisible, but a famous psychological experiment in the 1920s showed that our brains naturally link spoken sounds to visual forms. According to new research published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, dogs may do this too. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-dog-link.html Plants & Animals Wed, 14 Oct 2026 10:10:01 EDT news711189791 The white-tipped feathers found in many chicken breeds may look like variations of the same decorative pattern, but new research shows that they do not all share the same genetic origin. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-uncover-multiple-genetic-paths-mottled.html Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 13 Oct 2026 16:40:01 EDT news711114178 The old "more is better" mindset in racehorse training is changing. And with no link identified between higher racehorse training workloads and a trainer's success, there's a big opportunity to change things. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-racehorse-bone.html Veterinary medicine Tue, 13 Oct 2026 11:00:02 EDT news711092055 We give our pet dogs shelter, veterinary care, affection, training and play. We decide when they eat, where they sleep, when they go outside, who they meet and how they move through the world. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-freeliving-indian-street-dogs-pet.html Veterinary medicine Mon, 12 Oct 2026 12:20:08 EDT news711018301 Giardia duodenalis is a microscopic, flagellated parasite that often calls the human and animal gut its home. In most cases, it coexists harmlessly with its host, and most infected pets and people show no signs of illness. However, when it becomes pathogenic, it can cause diarrhea, digestive issues or weight loss. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-house-cats-gut-parasite-infect.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 12 Oct 2026 10:20:09 EDT news711014703 For decades, scientists have believed that a protein called interferon tau (IFNT) is indispensable for pregnancy in cattle. Produced by the early embryo, it was thought to signal its presence to the mother and prevent the hormonal changes that would otherwise end the pregnancy. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-cows-healthy-calves-embryonic-protein.html Biotechnology Thu, 08 Oct 2026 19:20:01 EDT news710690701 Across mammals, larger species typically have longer lifespans, ranging from only a couple of years for mice to almost 200 years for some whales. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-genes-big-dogs-age-faster.html Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 08 Oct 2026 14:00:48 EDT news710602201 Sleeping alongside your dog probably doesn't disrupt your sleep as much as you might think, according to a study published Oct. 7, 2026, in the journal PLOS One by Ming Fei Li of the University of Toronto, Canada, Lavania Nagendran of the University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada, and colleagues. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-dogs-owners-disturb-night-pretty.html Veterinary medicine Wed, 07 Oct 2026 14:00:07 EDT news710520001 The moment Kate Heath saw her 12-year-old pug, Ivy, sitting silently and staring at a wall, she knew something was wrong. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-dogs-dementia-explore-gene-therapy.html Veterinary medicine Wed, 07 Oct 2026 13:00:14 EDT news710584982 In eastern Ethiopia, pressures like conflict and displacement are changing how people and their camels travel, shifting livestock into new environments and potentially influencing the risk of zoonotic diseases spreading between animals and humans. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-political-cultural-economic-zoonotic-disease.html Veterinary medicine Tue, 06 Oct 2026 10:00:11 EDT news710494802 National happiness is influenced by complex relationships beyond basic economic factors, according to a study by Javier I. Borráz-León of the Secretariat of Science, Humanities, Technology, and Innovation in Mexico City and colleagues. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-cats-key-happy-countries.html Plants & Animals Wed, 30 Sep 2026 08:40:15 EDT news709969742 How do we know when an animal virus might pose a risk to humans? Canada confirmed a human case of H5N1 avian influenza (often called "bird flu") in 2024, the first known to have been acquired in Canada. The patient, a 13-year-old from British Columbia, suffered severe symptoms, including respiratory failure, but recovered with intensive care in a hospital. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-bird-virus-infect-person.html Veterinary medicine Tue, 29 Sep 2026 12:40:05 EDT news709892402 Researchers from North Carolina State University have found that blood serum concentrations of neuroproteins and neurosteroids are associated with neonatal maladjustment syndrome (NMS) in newborn foals. The work could lead to better diagnostic tools and potential therapies. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-neuroproteins-potential-diagnostic-tool-sick.html Veterinary medicine Mon, 28 Sep 2026 13:40:06 EDT news709813681 For many years, antibiotics have been added to animal feed to help control harmful bacteria and improve growth. But amid concerns about antibiotic resistance—when bacteria adapt to survive treatments that would normally kill them—poultry producers are trying alternatives, including probiotics, which contain helpful bacteria, and essential oils, which come from plants and may have antimicrobial properties. Researchers at Penn State have now found that feeding broiler chickens an antibiotic, a probiotic or essential oils did not significantly affect the overall diversity of antimicrobial resistance genes. Instead, the chickens' age had a much stronger effect on the resistome—the collection of antimicrobial resistance genes—as the birds grew. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-age-additives-affects-antimicrobial-resistance.html Plants & Animals Fri, 25 Sep 2026 10:20:01 EDT news709549922 Researchers at the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Baker Institute of Animal Health have published the first molecular characterization of Marfan syndrome in domestic cats in a paper in the Sept. 19 issue of Scientific Reports. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-case-marfan-syndrome-feline-siblings.html Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:20:08 EDT news709467367 Dog brains segment speech into words in a way previously seen only in humans, a new study from Hungary finds. This suggests that efficient speech processing is not necessarily a consequence of humans' unique language abilities: Regular exposure to speech alone can reshape how the brain functions, even in a mammalian species evolutionarily distant from humans. The discovery by the Neuroethology of Communication Lab at the ELTE Department of Ethology in Budapest is published in Science. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-dog-brains-track-consonant-patterns.html Plants & Animals Thu, 24 Sep 2026 14:00:25 EDT news709392061 The University of Liverpool's Cat Prospective Aging and Welfare Study (CatPAWS), which follows a group of pet cats from middle age into later life, is celebrating more than nine years of work to improve the health and welfare of cats more than 7 years old. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-feline-aging-years-clinical-trial.html Veterinary medicine Thu, 24 Sep 2026 09:20:08 EDT news709454162 In a new study, cats and dogs showed a short-term preference for kibble containing some protein derived from microorganisms over kibble containing only standard animal-derived protein. Ally Motta de Matos and A.L.B. Cruz of MicroHarvest—an European company that produces protein ingredients through fermentation, with pet food as its first market—present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-kibble-microbial-proteins-appeals-cats.html Biotechnology Wed, 23 Sep 2026 14:00:05 EDT news709290528 There is no "one-fix-for-all" solution for sarcoids, said Sophie Bogers, an assistant professor of large animal surgery. Many require chemotherapy or invasive surgery. But she wants a better solution. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-horse-pea-focused-ultrasound-treatment.html Veterinary medicine Wed, 23 Sep 2026 13:40:07 EDT news709378562 A new study led by Australian veterinarians has exposed the challenge of identifying pain in horses with gastric ulcers and highlights an urgent need to better detect when horses are suffering. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-blood-falls-short-quest-gastric.html Biotechnology Wed, 23 Sep 2026 07:40:01 EDT news709363441 Gastrointestinal parasites can cause serious health problems in North American bison, but the drugs producers rely on to control them can become less effective when used too frequently or without knowing which animals actually need treatment. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-reveals-gaps-bison-parasite.html Veterinary medicine Mon, 21 Sep 2026 17:40:06 EDT news709215842