Pawcurious Vet Blog: With Pet Blogger and Veterinarian Dr. V

Catch Me if You Can

So what do you do when the surf is too dangerous to practice your surf technique?

Raise mayhem, of course.
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Hang 20: Safety First

I am a competitive person. I am the first person to admit this. Although we are doing the Helen Woodward Surf Dog Surf a thon to have fun, there is admittedly some small part of me that is whispering, “But next year we’re taking this thing.”

This year we are just trying to stay on the board for a full set. That being said, I’m not one to turn down a surf lesson, so on Sunday Brody and I headed down to the World’s Best Dog Beach (aka Coronado) for our lesson with Evan the Surf Instructor. I had heard mutterings on the news that there was particularly high surf this weekend in San Diego, but the Coronado beach is usually pretty protected.

After about 5 minutes of waiting by the entrance, letting Brody soak in the glory and attention that only comes with being a gorgeous Golden in a hot pink rashguard, we were approached by a person who was clearly Evan the Surf Instructor. (Surf instructors have a certain aura about them.)

“The waves are a little gnarly today,” was how he started.

I’m not fluent in surfer, but I get the gist. This was bad gnarly, not good gnarly.

“We could go out but I think you’d get a little mashed and smashed,” he continued.

I nodded.

It continued for a few more minutes like this, with a few “epics” and “rips” and “hard breaks” thrown in for good measure. Long story short, Evan had determined that the most likely outcome of a surf lesson on this beautiful but treacherous day would be a broken bone or two.

I went out to the beach a little later, to see what Evan was talking about. It was pretty major. The waves were rising out of the shallows in solid 8-10 foot walls and collapsing straight down on the shoreline. I’ve never seen anything like it. Even the dogs running around were hanging back saying, “nuh uh.”

We postponed the lesson to later this week, when the surf dies down. I really appreciated Evan’s caution with us noobs. I probably wouldn’t have known the difference had we headed out there, at least not until someone died. It would have sucked and Brody would have ended up terrified of the water. So to Evan the Surf Instructor, I salute you. Thank you for not drowning my dog in the name of good fun. We still had a great time making a scene on shore.

On Thursday, we’re kicking butt.

Have a Question?

Health topic you’d like to hear more about?

Wondering what Brody and Koa do all day?

Dying to know my favorite fruit?

I’ll be picking questions to answer in the Ask Dr. V section over here. You can send in your questions via the contact form. Questions will be selected at my discretion.

That’s Spike from Iams, who is mulling over what he might want to ask.

As always, if your pet has an immediate health concern, please see your regular veterinarian. I will answer questions about general health topics, but I will not select any questions that have to do with your specific pet’s health.

Surf’s Up Bro! The Hang 20 Surf Dog Experience Part 1

It’s a new day, the sun is shining, and this blog is up and running! YES!

I can’t think of a happier way to celebrate than to talk about our participation in the upcoming Surf Dog Surf-a-thon on September 11th. As you know, Brody and I have given surfing a shot a couple of times, but it’s been very casual.

So when Eukanuba asked if we would be interested in being sponsored by them to participate, I said “Heck yes!” and then, “But only if you don’t have any performance expectations.”  (more…)

It’s National Holistic Pet Day!

I finished a comprehensive course in veterinary acupuncture in 2006. It was intense. Thinking about health from a Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine standpoint as opposed to our standard Western approach is just such a different mindset, but once you think about it, it makes sense. Our bodies are not a collection of closed systems that function independently of one another, yet we’re trained to treat them that way. Once you step back and see the entire organism as a collective effort, your entire approach takes a shift.

August 30th is National Holistic Pet Day, celebrating the myriad ways we take care of our pets’ bodies, minds, and hearts as well as the way we function as part of a larger pet community. Given that I just got back from a conference celebrating that very thing, it’s a perfect fit.

Holistic health its core simply means taking the big picture into account, which makes perfect sense to me. It’s hard to think changing a pet’s diet will make a significant difference if they get no exercise and live in a high stress environment. They’re all puzzle pieces. It’s really not that different from our own lives, right? “I’ll have a double double, a chili cheese fries and a diet Coke. DIET, please. I’m watching my figure.” etc.

A recent survey of 700 pet owners asked them what they currently do to contribute to their pets’ overall well-being.

Out of 700 respondents, 74.8% have dogs and 57.7% have cats

78.7% of pet owners surveyed exercise their pets regularly

2.1% take their dog for Doga (Dog+Yoga!)

26.2% learn about holistic living at their local pet food or natural food store

59.5% use non-toxic household products

48.9% use natural supplements for skin, coat or digestive care

43.7% take their pets for regular dental check ups

54.8% play mind stimulating activities and games with their pets

5.7%  take their pets for acupuncture

44.8% help a local rescue or shelter

47.6% use all natural shampoo and grooming products

Well, you all know how I feel about doga, but I’ve done the rest to varying degrees. Do you have a favorite health-promoting activity? Any you’re dying to try?

3 Tips for a Happy Cat Vet Visit

August 22-28 is 2011 Take Your Cat to the Vet Week, which ranks right up there with Get Your Annual Prostate Exam Week and Pull Off Your Toenails Week on the fun scale. I know it’s not fun, for you or for the cat. It’s a necessary evil, one of our first lines of defense in catching disease processes early before they are crisis situations. In fact, most vets recommend taking your cat in twice a year, though we know from surveys that less than half of you take your cat in unless he or she is sick.

Do these visits actually accomplish anything? I asked my Facebook friends if they had ever taken their cat in for routine care and discovered an unexpected medical issue, and here’s what you said: (more…)

The Litterbox Chronicles: Scoop Free Litter Box Review

As you know, Apollo has some marking issues that have made life rather, well, pungent. That is not a good thing.

On the bright side, by following veterinary behaviorist Dr. Yin’s advice to create a beautiful, austere, absolutely delightful potty palace for the cat I have been able to reduce a large amount of that behavior.

So now that we’re in a good place, I think you can understand why I was nervous to mix things up and try a new litter box, but in the name of technological advancement, we all must soldier on.

I’ve used the LitterMaid back when it first came out, but it was kind of a pain, messy and sticky and clumpy. The makers of the ScoopFree litter box sent me an Original Scoop Free box to test out, and lo and behold, automatic litter box technology has come a long way. And that is a good thing. (more…)

Behold the power of the internet

I’ve spent a lot of time rubbing my temples in frustration at the things people pull off the internet and read as gospel- everything from “How To Assemble a Home Bloat Kit at Home Depot” to “Drug Dosing for your Cat” including, of all things, deadly Tylenol. The DIY instructions out there run the gamut from the harmless-but-useless to the downright killer.

On the flip side, the internet can also be an absolute godsend. I say this not only as a medical professional, but as a patient and a caregiver. Our healthcare professionals are pressured to see more and more patients in smaller increments of time, meaning that time we used to have to really talk with our doctors is shrinking away. It’s less pronounced in the veterinary profession than in the medical profession, at least so far, but the trend is still going in that direction.

Professor Pawsy doing a little internet research

Let’s take the example of feline diabetes. You bring your cat in because he’s been drinking a lot, and you think it’s probably just the heat, but hey, he’s getting on in years so you just want to be sure. Several hours and a few hundred dollars later you’re back at home with insulin syringes, prescription food and your head spinning from the turn your life just took. It’s 10 at night and you’re still trying to digest all the information. (more…)

Dogs, the great garbage disposal

I couldn’t even get through this whole article without getting the willies. Dogs eating cicadas until they got sick. Eww. Given Brody’s proclivities for partially ingested rodent bits and rotting seaweed, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but I still manage to be impressed by the gross things our pets decide seem good enough to eat.

A fellow vet once commented, shortly after I posted about Brody’s strange love of earplugs, that he would be having his first foreign body removal before he was one. I am proud to say that here at two, he has yet to create a surgical situation. He still loves earplugs, but for the most part whenever he destroys something he chews it up and then spits it back out. Thank goodness.

Others are not so lucky. I had a client whose poodle loved rocks. Not gravel, mind you, golf-ball sized rocks. After his first surgery at 10 months, they vowed to do a better job monitoring him in the yard. After his second surgery at 18 months, they re-landscaped the yard.

Probably my own worst experience came when my daughter was about a year old. Emmett was still working though his jealousy issues. The nanny was home with the kids, and apparently left a dirty diaper on the changing table, which Emmett promptly ate, contents and all. An hour later, he threw it all back up, all over my couch. ALL OVER the couch.

Of course, I came home about 10 minutes into the debacle, the nanny standing there over the carnage, paralyzed with horror. “I have no idea what he ate,” she said, “and I have no idea what to do.” Translation: you don’t pay me enough to deal with this mess, lady.

Honestly, one whiff and it was pretty obvious what he ate, but given the extent of the situation, I think she was just in shock. I sent her home, looked in vain for a Hazmat suit, and ended up just throwing the entire set of cushions into the backyard to be hosed off until I could call in a professional cleaner. That was a fiasco. Think “Exorcist” level nasty, that one.

Gross, but not unique. I’ve heard of coin rolls, knives, and Power Rangers digested in toto by dogs lacking any discrimination. What’s the worst your pet has eaten?

The heart of the matter

I feel very fortunate to be in an area where heartworm is not a huge problem. I say huge because we still see it, though not to the extent of our friends in other parts of the country and the world where it is highly endemic.

If you have a dog and you don’t know about heartworms, you need to take the time to learn about them. In short, they are teensy little creatures that infect your dog via a mosquito bite. Those microscopic larvae develop into full-sized worms that live in the pulmonary artery and the heart itself. Untreated, they can lead to heart failure and death.

The treatment is also not without risk. Extreme care must be taken to keep activity low to prevent life threatening emboli or inflammation. The treatment takes place over at least a month with very limited activity on the part of the dog. I’ve gone through this with several clients now, and hoo boy, it is not fun. (more…)

In Defense of (some) Breeders

I’ve been following Dog Time’s multi part series about No-Kill with interest. Fascinating stuff. Then I saw yesterday’s piece: “There are no responsible breeders.” I read it, waiting for the twist, waiting for some clarification on the idea, and then I got to the end and realized that the author meant it, as is, in all sincerity.

And, here comes the part where I step in it. (more…)

The long slow descent down the totem pole

I loved this recent post over at PetMd by Dr. Khuly talking about the association between becoming a new parent and having your pet pack on the pounds. I think anyone who has had a new baby as well as a pet can relate. Sure, everyone tells themselves, “Oh no! I know other people put their pets on the back burner but not me! I’m going to carry my kid around in a papoose and just go out with a jogging stroller every day at 5 am and we’ll be just fine!”

And yes, some people actually do that, and kudos to them. On the opposite end of the spectrum are those who can’t even be bothered to try and put in a little effort, dumping their loyal companion at the shelter with some excuse about “no time now that I have something really important, like a kid.”

Photo: Derek Leffew

Most of us, I would venture to guess, fall somewhere smack in the middle. In the bleary-eyed sleep-deprived miasma that is the fog of new parenthood, we neglect not only our pets but our other kids, our spouses and ourselves. It’s a huge adjustment no matter how well you think you’ve prepared, like jumping into the deep end only to be shocked by the icy smack of the water on your face. (more…)