behavior final

Describe obsessive compulsive disorders and examples

-a wide variety of disorders

-referred to as stereotypy or stereotypical behaviors

-normal behaviors are behaviors that stop once an alternate outlet is given But ocd never stops if given alternate outlet

-dogs: flank sucking, spinning/tail chasing, acral lick dermatitis

-cats: pacing, excessive grooming, fabric chewing/sucking, feline hyperesthesia syndrome

What is flank sucking

-most common in Dobermans, type of ocd disorder, puts a section of flank in mouth and can suck on other items as well, viewed as a coping mechanism, ignored unless the dogs develop a lesion or becomes so obsessive it interferes in everyday life

What is Lafora’s disease

-neurodegenerative disease

-insoluble glycogen collects in the brain and other tissues

-in wirehaired dachshunds

-Hypnic jerks, reflex and spontaneous myoclonus, seizures, vision, loss, ataxia, decreased cognitive function

What is chiari malformation and syringomyelia

-brain is too large for the cranial cavity and cerebellum herniates through the magnum foramen

-syringomyelia: cyst of CSF that develops in the spinal cord

-can be symptomatic or asymptomatic

-common signs: phantom scratching, spontaneous vocalizing, pain on palpation of neck or when picked up, irritation with collar/harness, facial pruritus/rubbing

-less common signs: seizures, air licking, tail chasing, paw licking, vestibular dysfunction

What is hallucinatory behavior

-known as fly catching

-thought to be result of partial seizure

-animal snaps/bites at nonexistent object in the air

What is Scotty cramp?

-happens in Scottish terriers

-leg hyperextension, spasms, hyperflexion

-genetic condition thought to cause serotonin deficiency

What is ceroid lipofuscinosis

-inherited neurodegenerative disorder

-cats and dogs

-happens in 1-2 years old

-anxiety, constant circling, aggression, compulsive behaviors, loss of learned skills

What is pacing

-most common in cats, can be type of ocd, can be caused by lack of appropriate outlets for energy, intact animals, chronic pain, can be caused by stress and anxiety

What is spinning/tail chasing

-most common in bull terriers, can be ocd, can be the result of pain/disorder on the tail/anal region or seizure disorder, or may have inadvertently trained or lack of appropriate outlets for energy

What is acral lick dermatitis

-most common in large breeds (Great Danes, labradors, Dobermans), generally the legs or paws, can result in hair loss to raw open wound and can lead to infections and development of scar tissue, can be ocd, underlying medical conditions include skin condition, allergies, arthritis, chronic pain, behavioral causes are boredom and stress relief

What is wool sucking/fabric chewing

-most common in cats, can be ocd, can be the result of dental disease or immature behavior, not limited to wool or fabric items, can result in cat developing foreign body

What is feline hyperesthesia syndrome

-twitch skin syndrome, psychomotor epilepsy (seizure that begins in the brains temporal lobes, common in cats, considered ocd disorder, twitching skin, violent swishing of tail, and repeated biting or licking of the back, tail, and pelvic limbs, affected cats have dilated pupils, appear agitated, express erratic behavior

What is rage syndrome

-springer rage, sudden onset aggression, common in english springer spaniels, cocker spaniels, bull terriers, retrievers, characterized by inappropriate and uncontrollable aggressive behavior, pet is normal afterwards or may appear contrite after event, often have episodes around sleeping, thought to be epileptic condition

What is narcolepsy

Sudden loss of consciousness, occurs when animal is stimulated, eye movement, muscular twitching, and whimpering during episodes, life long and need to be monitored, genetic and can be hereditary, episodes ends when stimulus stops and they calm down

What is cataplexy

Sudden loss of muscle tone, occurs when animal is stimulated, eye movement, muscular twitching, and whimpering during episodes, life long and need to be monitored, genetic and can be hereditary, episodes ends when stimulus stops and they calm down

What is pica

-intentional eating of non food items, medical conditions can be GI upset, disruption of microbiome, trying to induce V+ , hunger, other causes are boredom and anxiety, can toddler proof house or restrict to a few rooms, if they have a favorite item keep it away from them, basket muzzle for life

What is urinary tract infection and female lower urinary tract disease

-uti is common in male cats, obsessive licking, periuria, stranguria, crying/vocalizing, needs immediate medical intervention

What is postictal rage

Postical is the time period after a seizure and can last seconds to days, any type of seizure can result in postictal period, she blatant personality change towards mild to extreme aggression

What is light/shadow chasing

-form of OCD, boredom, attention seeking, partial seizure, or ocular abnormality

-dogs

-animal will stare fixed at or chase light or shadows repetitively with no obvious purpose

What is stealing/hoarding

-pet takes and hides items that do not belong to it

-dogs, some cats, ferrets

-food hoarding: underlying dietary/metabolic issue

-ocd, hyperactivity

-can happen from juvenile trauma

What is trance like syndrome

-dog will creep very slowly under materials that skim their back like hanging leaves, tablecloths, or other fabrics

What is hyperkinesis

-similar to ADHD

-dogs

-fidgety, attention seeking, easily distracted, impulsive, unable to pay attention, struggles with new stimuli and repetitive behaviors

-destructive behaviors, aggressiveness, poorly socialized

-look at diet, exercise regimen, attention and stimulation

What is lissencephaly

Lack cerebral gyri

What is cerebral hypoplasia

-underdeveloped cerebrum

What is microencephaly

Overall reduction in the size of the brain

What is hydrocephaly

Enlargement of the cerebral ventricular system secondary to increased CSF volume

What are the signs of cephalic conditions

Seizures, abnormal behavior

What is paroxysmal dyskinesia

-episodes of involuntary movement including hypertonicity, hypotonicity, or dysmetria, may resemble partial or generalized seizures

-no changes in level of consciousness

-episodes may last minutes to hours and occur once over several months to multiple times daily

What is cerebellar hypoplasia

-more common in cats, developmental condition in which the cerebellum of the brain fails to develop properly

-jerky/uncoordinated walking, swaying from side to side when trying to walk, hypermetria, mild head tremors, intention tremors

What is cognitive dysfunction

-similar to dementia, abnormal interactions with environment, disrupted sleep cycle, loss of learned behaviors, gait abnormality, gegenhalten, stooped posture, blindness, deafness, anosmia, stuff that can help are prescription diet, and selegiline

What are phobia

-an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something, traumatic learning experience, sensitive period, lack of socialization/exposure and genetics, fluoxetine, clomipramine, benzodiazepines can be used but need to be combined with desensitization and habituation training

Cerebrum

High functions and signal interpretation

Thalamus

Transmits PNS signals to cerebrum

Hypothalamus

Mediator between nervous system and endocrine system via pituitary and regulates and controls autonomic nervous system

Medulla

transmits sensory stimuli between spinal cord & brain,

controls vital physiological fxn (breathing, heartbeat, BP, V+,

temperature, etc)

Hindbrain

-includes the cerebellum, pons, and brain stem

-connects the brain to the spinal cord

-cranial nerves pass through this area are involved in respiratory and cardiac function

-cerebellum consists of the network of nuclei that control arousal and attention, involved in coordination, thought to be involved in the attention and cognition process

Midbrain

Dorsal to brain stem,

-consists of tegmentum and tectum

-used for reflexes and reactions

-also involved in attention, arousal, reward modulated behaviors and tegmentum involved with predation and defensive behaviors

Forebrain

Coordinates communication within the brain, forms, memories, and perception

-2 hemispheres

-4 lobes: frontal, parietal , temporal, occipital

-other structures are thalamus, hypothalamus, basal ganglia, olfactory bulb

Parietal lobe

-rostral and caudal portions

-rostral: receives impulses for pain, joint movement, limb position, temperature, touch pressure

-caudal: selective attention and cognition

Occipital lobe

-visual cortex: interprets information from the eye

-functions in conjunction with the parietal lobe to from the cognitive association area of the brain

Temporal lobe

-area for interpretive association, learning and memory

-houses the limbic system: hippocampus and amygdala

-emotional control center: controls fear, aggression, initiative, affection, imagination, anxiety

-hippocampus: learning and spatial memory, stress response

-amygdala: modulates fear and aggressive responses, processes stressful stimuli, interprets facial expressions

Basal ganglia

-not well understood

-often associated with regulation of movement, ocd, dementia, depression

Frontal lobe

-not as well developed in cats and dogs as humans

-controls temperament, alertness, and intelligence of each individual

Hypothalamus

Homeostasis and works with hippocampus and amygdala to control aggression and rage

Thalamus

Distribution center, receives information from one area of the brain and transmits it to correct area of cerebral cortex

Olfactory bulb

-most animals most rostral part of the brain

-axons from amygdala, limbic cortex, piriform lobe to project into this part

-important to reproduction, finding food

Cerebrospinal fluid

Cushions the structures, transmits hormones, provides nourishment

-normal: clear, colorless, water like consistency

-no RBC

Blood brain barrier

-semipermeable barrier formed of tight cellular junctions around the capillaries that prevent extracellular fluid from entering CSF

-only lipid soluble, unionized, nonpolar medications can cross

Neurotransmitter

-chemicals released from presynaptic vesicles

-used to transmit information between neurons

Monoamine

-4 neurotransmitter s

-catecholamines: dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine

-idolamine: serotonin

Acetylcholine

In CNS: function not well understood, triggers rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, implicated in chemosensory associationS

-in PNS: binds muscarinic and nicotinic receptors

-nicotinic: fast receptors, activation results in release of other neurotransmitters

-muscarinic: slow receptors, involved in movement, learning, formation of new memory

-not reabsorbed, instead the body breaks it down into choline and used to make more ACh

Dopamine

-does not cross the BBB, trapped in CNS

-excitatory or inhibitory

-fine motor movement, attention, sociability, motivation, cognition, reward

-5 receptors

Norepinephrine/epinephrine

-dopamine precursor

-produced in CNS and PNS

-responsible for fear, mood, hunger, thirst, arousal, dreaming, anxiety, attention, and processing information

-implicated in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and depression

-2 different types of receptors are alpha and beta

Gamma-aminobutyric acid

-GABA

-responsible for promoting sleep, reducing anxiety, muscle relaxation, reducing seizure activity

Glutamate

-primary excitatory neurotransmitter in CNS

-interacts with many other neurotransmitters to control learning, sensory and motor function, memory, cognition

-3 receptors: kainite (epilepsy), metabotrophic (anxiety), N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) (learning, memory, psychosis)

Pharmacokinetics

-what the body does to a drug

-absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion

Absorption

-affected by age, sex, health status, species

-injection, ingestion, inhalation, topical

-route impacts bioavailability

Distribution

-bloodstream to target tissue

-BBB, eye, prostate, placenta are hard to get drugs to

-drug accumulation in high blood flow organs (liver/kidneys)

-drug to target to receptor site to reaction

-agonist causes reaction

-antagonist prevents reaction

Metabolism

-aka bio transformation

-utilizes the drug then eliminates it

-main organ responsible for metabolism of drugs is the liver

-metabolism depends on age, species, health status

Excretion

-primarily renal excretion

-can excrete though liver, skin, mammary glands, liver, GI tract, lungs

Half life

-half life is the time it takes for the drug concentration in your body to decrease by 50%

Therapeutic index

-calculated by dividing lethal dose by effective dose to determine the margin of safety and you want to drug to have a high margin of safety

What is the goal of pharmacokinetics

-to achieve a steady state

Therapeutic monitoring

-testing blood, urine, CSF to make sure the drug is at a therapeutic level and not at ineffective or toxic levels

What factors influence concentration of the drug in the body

-rate of absorption, amount absorbed, distribution through body, biotransformation, rate/route of excretion

How do you go about treating behavioral disorders

-involve both training and medication

-almost all behavioral drugs are used off label

-both owner and veterinary team need to be involved and potentially a trainer

-life long, animals are rarely cured

Phenothiazines

-acepromazine is low potency

-tranquilizers, neuroleptics, antipsychotics

-block DA receptors

-not an anxiolytic, slows animal down, can make them hyperreactive to noises

-side effects: inability to learn, paradoxical excitement, hypotension, tranquilization, possible decrease in seizure threshold

-long term use can lead to several neuromuscular disorders

Anxiolytics

-benzodiazepines, azapirones, antihistamines, barbiturates

-inhibit GABA

-need to be administered 1-2hr before event if being used as needed

-used to treat intense anxiety or panic

-causes relaxation and control seizure activity

-adverse affects are increased appetite, memory deficits, disinhibition, liver damage, paradoxical reactions

Tricyclic antidepressants

-can take 3-4 wks to take effect

-narrow safety margin making an overdose easier and can cause serotonin syndrome

-contraindications: KCS, glaucoma, urinary retention, thyroid disease, seizures

-can use to treat anxiety disorders and compulsive disorders

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors

-can use to treat anxiety, fear, aggression, and compulsive disorders

-have fewer side effects and a higher margin of safety

-side effects are vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, constipation, insomnia, tremors, increased aggression, agitation, and anxiety

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors

-MOAI

-can be used to treat cognitive dysfunction syndrome and pituitary dependent hyperadrenocorticism

-can cause increased motor activity, vomiting, diarrhea, agitation, restlessness, disorientation

Carbamazepine

-mood stabilizer

-used to control explosive aggression

-can be used in combination with other behavior medications to control other disorders

-can have side effects of dizziness, increased liver values, blood dyscrasias, dermatological lesions

Trazodone

-antidepressant, anxiolytic, sleep aid, anti-obsessional

-can cause vomiting, diarrhea, sedation

Mirtazapine

-antidepressant in humans, occasionally in cats and dogs

-appetite stimulant

Methylphenidate

-used to diagnose hyperkinesis and treats narcolepsy

Clonidine

-anxiolytic and analgesic effects used as needed

-can cause sedation, vomiting, diarrhea, hypotension, bradycardia,