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Learning Research Service Volunteer Engagement

In a series of SJDAWC-funded projects from 1995-99, Dr. Gary Conboy and colleagues showed that lungworm was an important cause of chronic coughing in dogs in Atlantic Canada, and developed a diagnostic test for the condition, which can be readily treated. This test is now part of the standard workup in dogs with chronic cough, formerly most often diagnosed as due to allergies and managed (but not cured) with long-term corticosteroids.

These projects include:
The medical importance of lungworm in Island dogs (Dr. Gary Conboy et al)
Improving the diagnosis of lungworm in dogs (Dr. Gary Conboy)
Canine lungworm in the Atlantic Provinces (Dr. Gary Conboy)
French heartworm in Newfoundland (Drs. Gary Conboy and Fred Markham)

In 2001, Dr. Conboy’s team identified the first French heartworm case in a dog in Atlantic Canada (in Newfoundland) and since then, also through SJDAWC-funded projects, he and his colleagues have shown the importance of this life-threatening parasite in this region and have made substantial progress towards developing a diagnostic test.

Three graduate students have received training through these projects. A major focus of Dr. Conboy’s research has been investigations into treatment options for dogs infected with these parasites, and this has attracted significant funding through grants and research contracts from Bayer Animal Health and Novartis Canada to study Crenosoma vulpis and Angiostrongylus vasorum infection in dogs.