The Winn Feline Foundation was established by the Cat Fanciers' Association in the USA (www.cfainc.org) in 1968 to create a source of funding for feline medical research. Winn's mission is to help improve the health and well-being of all cats. The Foundation was named to honour CFA's long-time attorney and advisor, Robert H Winn. Over the years, Winn's grants to researchers around the world have helped advance veterinary knowledge in all areas of feline health. Virtually every day in practice, veterinarians are using tests or treatments or benefiting in some way from research funded by Winn. To date, Winn has awarded over $2.5 million for feline medical research, funding important studies in areas such as feline hypertension, early age altering, polycystic kidney disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, feline immunodeficiency virus, to name but a few. For more information on Winn and its activities, including the symposia sponsored and the pet memorial program, please visit www.winnfelinehealth.org or e-mail, Winn Feline Foundation President, at SusanLittleDVM@compuserve.com.
The Winn website has progress reports on studies which have been funded. These include:
Feline upper respiratory disease and shelter dynamics (funded 2000)
Jan Scarlett, Julie Dinnage, Jim Richards, Cornell University
Early biochemical detection of heart disease in cats (funded 2000) Philip Solter, University of Illinois
A study of healthy carriers of feline coronavirus and viral transmission (funded 2003) Diane Addie, University of Glasgow
Evaluation of oesophageal transit of tablets and capsules in 30 cats (funded 2000) D C Twedt, D S Westfall, Colorado State University
Role of diet in health of feline intestinal tract and in inflammatory bowel disease
Angela Glasgow, Nicholas J Cave, Stanley L marks, Niels C Pedersen, University of California, Davis
And information on 2005 grant awards
A clinically viable B-type natriuretic peptide assay for feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy Philip F Solter, D David Sisson, Mark A Oyama, University of Illinois
Targeted gene mapping in gaps of the feline/human comparative map William J Murphy, Texas A & M University
Effects of L-asparaginase on plasma amino acid profiles and tumor burden in cats with lymphoma Any LeBland, Claudia A Kirk, Sherry Cox, University of Tennessee
Nutritional and environmental influences on the development of feline hyperthyroidism Cynthia R Ward, University of Pennsylvania
Normal tissue tolerance to radiation therapy following induction chemotherapy in cats with intra-abdominal high-grade lymphoma
Laurel E Williams, North Carolina State University
Comparison of endoscopic and full-thickness intestinal biopsies to diagnose feline inflammatory bowel and alimentary lymphoma
Sarah E Evans, Jennifer J Bonczynski, John Broussard, Eveline Han, Keith Baer, Animal Medical Centre
Effect of pirfenidone on myocardial fibrosis and diastolic function in feline familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Mark Kittleson, Kristin MacDonald, University of California, Davis
New diagnostic tests of thrombosis in cats with cardiac disease: D-dimer and thrombin-antithrombin complex
Tracy Stokol, Marjory Brooks, Hollis Erb, Cornell University