PROJECTS

2009 Grant Award

TIFF is proud to announce that it has selected its grant project for 2009.

A total of 16 proposals were received, and the TIFF Awards Review Committee (comprised of representatives from the veterinary community, education sector, and knowledgeable breeders from the cat fancy) evaluated each proposal for its scientific merit, value to cats, clinical relevancy, soundness of budget and human considerations to any cats involved in the project. After a thorough review, the Committee rank ordered the proposals and presented their recommendations to the TIFF Board.

Based upon the recommendations of the Awards Review Committee, The International Feline Foundation has awarded its 2009 grant to Dr. Philip Solter at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for his project entitled "Circulating Forms of B-type Natriuretic Peptide and the Pathogenesis of Feline Heart Failure". The grant award amount -- $9,000.00.

PROJECT ABSTRACT

Heart failure is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in domestic cats. The physiological changes that occur with feline heart failure are poorly understood, which has hampered the development of appropriate treatments and the early screen for the disease. One element of feline heart failure that develops is an apparent lack of response to a major "rescue hormone" called B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) that is normally produced by cardiac muscle cells to prevent the symptoms of congestive heart failure. BNP is produced in very large amounts in cats with the common heart muscular disease, cardiomyopathy, but appears ineffective in alleviating the symptoms of heart failure. Studies in non-feline heart failure of other species suggest that the cause of this may be production of an inactive precursor of BNP, called proBNP, rather than the active peptide. The goal of this project is to determine whether a significant proportion of the total BNP produced in cats with cardiomyopathy is in the form of proBNP, which could hamper the heart's ability to alleviate the symptoms of heart failure. By so doing, this project could suggest more specific therapeutic interventions for feline heart failure than are currently available. It may also elucidate new screening tests for proBNP that could detect signs of the disease in cats at an earlier stage of the disease than is currently possible.

PROJECT TIMELINE

The 2009 grant was awarded in May, 2009. With a 1 year project timeline, and another 3 months for drawing conclusions, the final report will be provided to TIFF in August/September, 2010.

PROJECT REPORT

Report is pending. It will be loaded as soon as it is available.

2008 Grant Award

TIFF is proud to announce that it has selected its grant project for 2008.

A total of 11 proposals were received, and the TIFF Awards Review Committee (comprised of representatives from the veterinary community, education sector, and knowledgeable breeders from the cat fancy) evaluated each proposal for its scientific merit, value to cats, clinical relevancy, soundness of budget and humane considerations to any cats involved in the project. After a thorough review, the Committee rank ordered all of the proposals and presented their recommendations to the TIFF Board.

Based upon the recommendations of the Awards Review Committee, The International Feline Foundation has awarded its 2008 grant to Dr. David Twedt of Colorado State University (in partnership with Dr. Kenneth Simpson of Cornell University) for a project entitled “Investigation of the Role of Bacteria in the Etiology of Feline Pancreatitis”. The grant award amount -- $9,990.0.0

PROJECT ABSTRACT

Pancreatitis is reported to occur in 1.3% of the feline population with 2/3 of the cats having chronic pancreatitis.  Chronic pancreatitis occurs in older cats and common signs include chronic debilitation associated with anorexia, vomiting and weight loss.  Diabetes mellitus and pancreatic insufficiency may result.  The cause of pancreatitis is unknown and treatment modalities have been ineffective to date.  Many cats having pancreatitis also have liver disease (cholangitis) associated with chronic inflammation of bile ducts of the liver.  The microscopic changes showing inflammation around pancreatic ducts has a similar appearance to that in the bile ducts.  In cats the pancreatic duct and bile duct connect before they enter the intestinal tract.  It is this ductal relationship that may account for the frequent association of pancreatitis and concurrent cholangitis.  We have shown using special staining techniques the presence of bacteria in and around bile ducts of the liver in cats with chronic cholangitis.  We suspect that bacteria from the intestine invade the ducts to cause this inflammation.  Because of the direct relationship of the duct system of the pancreas and liver we believe similar bacteria may also invade the pancreatic ducts causing chronic pancreatitis.

PROJECT TIMELINE

The project was funded in March, 2008. With a 1 year project timeline, and another 3 months for drawing conclusions, the final report will be provided to TIFF in June/July, 2009.

PROJECT RESULTS

Click here for the project's results!

2001 Grant Award

The International Feline Foundation awarded its 2001 grant award to Dr. Moore of Tufts University for a project titled "Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Risk of Malignant Lymphoma in Pet Cats".

PROJECT ABSTRACT