About the Authors

Thomas A. Shaw

Current address: Veterinary Emergency and Referral Group, Brooklyn, New York, United States of America

Affiliation Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom

Imelda M. McGonnell

Affiliation Department of Veterinary Basic Sciences, The Royal Veterinary College, London, United Kingdom

Colin J. Driver

Affiliation Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom

Clare Rusbridge

Affiliation Stone Lion Veterinary Hospital, Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom

Holger A. Volk

hvolk@rvc.ac.uk

Affiliation Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom

Competing Interests

This work was supported by ‘Cavalier Friends’. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: TAS HAV IMM CR. Performed the experiments: TAS CJD. Analyzed the data: TAS HAV. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: CR HAV. Wrote the paper: TAS IMM CJD CR HAV.