Excellence in veterinary medicine knows no borders. This was the theme of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Forum and Canadian Veterinary Medical Association Convention June 3-6 at the Palais des Congres de Montreal. Presenters offered the latest news in veterinary medicine. Here are a few highlights:

--Dr. Stephen Withrow, veterinary oncologist and director of the Animal Cancer Center at Colorado State University, studies bone cancer, and increasingly he's sharing his knowledge with human pediatric oncologists. That's a good thing since bone cancer - which is common in larger dogs - is pretty much the same as bone cancer in children.

Withrow discovered that following a surgical procedure called limb-sparing, dogs who developed infections actually lived longer than those who had no infection following surgery. After alerting colleagues in human medicine, pediatric oncologists studied the issue and reported the same was true for children. Withrow says presumably it's because infections stimulate the immune system to kick in. As a result of this research, children are given an immunostimulator drug following a limb-sparing surgery, and lives are spared.

Withrow says another recent discovery is that dogs with bone cancer commonly have a gene called Ezrin. Unfortunately, dogs with this gene have a poor prognosis. No surprise, the same poor prognosis associated with the gene was found among children with bone cancer. Drug therapies can't be tried on people without jumping through many regulatory hoops. However, clinical trials in dogs don't require as much red tape, and if there's even hope their pet may be saved, many owners will opt for experimental options. Today, several veterinary schools are learning if a drug may specifically help dogs with this 'bad gene.' If that drug works, as Withrow believes is possible, it's also possible the same drug will soon be extending, even saving, the lives of kids with bone cancer.

--Several speakers addressed the increasingly controversial question: What should I feed my cat?

Many discussed the relationship of what people feed their cats to disease.

Dr. Debra Zoran, an internal medicine specialist at Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine, College Station, explained that cats don't require any carbohydrates (nor do dogs). Cats receiving carbs may potentially derive more energy than they produce, causing obesity. And obesity may cause diabetes and other problems. Rather than dealing with those problems, preventing obesity is the best course of action, she noted.

Commercial canned diets generally are lowest in carbohydrates. According to Zoran, most cats should be fed some (50 percent is a starting point) canned food throughout life -- both to reduce the carbs they consume, and also to better control calories (dry foods are very calorie-dense) and increase the amount of water consumed daily.

Furthermore, eating canned food is a learned behavior, Zoran noted. If canned food is part of a kitten's diet, the pet will more readily eat canned food as an adult (for example, when a cat needs canned food for urinary disease or renal disease diet later in life). An important follow up point to remember about all diets is that calories count, Zoran said; you can't leave food out all the time for most indoor cats - even with high-protein diets - because they simply eat too much.

--The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the approval of Palladia (toceranib phosphate) on the first day of the conference.

This is the first drug developed specifically for the treatment of cancer in dogs. Palladia is approved to treat canine mast cell tumors, a type of cancer responsible for about 20 percent of canine skin tumors. The drug is approved to treat the tumors with or without regional lymph node involvement.

All other cancer drugs now used in veterinary medicine originally were developed for use in people. While canine mast cell tumors often appear small and insignificant, they can be a very serious form of cancer in dogs. Some mast cell tumors are easily removed without the development of any further problems, while others can lead to life-threatening disease. Palladia works in two ways -- by killing tumor cells and by cutting off the blood supply to the tumor.

--Internal medicine specialists Dr. Cythnia Ward and Alexis Cistol, from the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine-Athens, are developing a means to continuously track glucose in diabetic dogs and cats using a wireless sensor.

--Feline Interstitial Cystitis (FIC) is among the most common explanation for cats "missing their boxes," according to Dr. Tony Buffington, a professor at the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine.

He notes that while the problem may resolve on its own within a few days, as many as half of affected cats will have another episode within 12 months. It is not yet possible to determine which cats will relapse, but the best therapy seems to be enriching the cat's environment, making life more interesting, and at the same time lessening conflict with other cats (or other pets) in the home.

Steve Dale welcomes questions/comments from readers. Although he can't answer all of them individually, he'll answer those of general interest in his column. Write to Steve at Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, NY 14207. Send e-mail to PETWORLD(at)STEVE DALE.TV. Include your name, city and state. Steve's website is www.stevedalepetworld.com; he can be heard Sundays on WGN Radio, 8 to 10 p.m. CST (www.wgnradio.com to listen live), and hosts the nationally syndicated "Steve Dale's Pet World" and "The Pet Minute." He's also a contributing editor to USA Weekend

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