12 - Sunday, July 12, 1998 ~ North Shore News

Cats can benefit
disease research

West Vancouver vet sees valuable

Judy Smith

Contributing Writer

ALL cuteness aside, a
West Vancouver veterinar-
ian has discovered more
xzasons why cats deserve
to be North America’s
most popular pet.

Dr. Sandy Jamieson returned
June 29 from the first ever three-
day International Feline Disease
Conference in Philadelphia excit-
ed by what he feels are huge
implications for improved
human and cat health.

“uly 25 tisiggn chase, Cant
» Applies to any 2'Cinnamon Rolls

Roy Jonsson
sow it grows —

“What they found out by
using gene models was that
genetic diseases in cats are virtu-
ally identical to genetic diseases in
humans,” said Jamieson at his
Marine Drive cat hospital.

Because of the discovery that
cat diseases mimic human ones,
it will be that much casier to
study the onset and progression
of diseases in people toa.

“Think of the difference
between studying a genetic dis-
ease in. a woman who has one
child as opposed to a cat with a
litter of six kittens,” he said. “The
cat’s life span is only 20. years

LOCAL CORAMON crry

linkages

compared to 70> years for
humans.”

The difference means there
are seemingly endless passibilies
for studving genetic mapping of
disease in’ multi-generatns of
cats and kittens.

Carts, like humans, are predis-

d to certain diseases, such as
idney disease and progressive
retinal atrophy. And suprising:
he said the cliseases are located in
the same area of genetic material
in cats and humans.
The practical application for

See Cat page 13

bs

t

WEST Vancouver vet Or. Sandy Jamieson poses with a client. Jamieson is fasel-
nated by the similarities between cat disease and human diseese.

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