We had a busy weekend. Someone had a third birthday party, which meant a lot of fun. And cake. And boxes and trash, too. It was worth it. Everyone pitched in that afternoon to get the place cleaned up. And by everyone, I mean my husband and I, since the kids had too many new things to play with to be able to concentrate much on helping. They took off into the front yard with Emmett. What's this? Past the detritus, I mean. Yup. It's Emmett under a trash bag. The kids have a close relative ... Read more »
Blog
Conversation of the day
First, the phone call: "My cat has red bugs. What are they?" After several minutes of trying to figure out what the person was talking about, we told him to come in. My tech went into the room to look at the bugs in question, which had been extracted from the cat and gingerly placed in a Tupperware bug habitat. "Those are scabs," she told the owner. "What do you know?" retorted the owner. "You're not the doctor." So I go in, and confirm to the owner that yes, those look like scabs. I ... Read more »
Nutro cat food recall
This one is flying somewhat low on the radar, but Nutro has recalled several types of dry cat food. Here's a snippet of the press release linked above: " Franklin, Tennessee (May 21, 2009) -- Today, Nutro Products announced a voluntary recall of select varieties of NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® COMPLETE CARE® Dry Cat Foods and NUTRO® MAX® Cat Dry Foods with “Best If Used By Dates” between May 12, 2010 and August 22, 2010. The cat food is being voluntarily recalled in the United States and ten ... Read more »
Or, maybe not
I received a fax from our emergency center yesterday morning (yes, we were open Memorial Day) about a dog who had died over the weekend. His littermate had died earlier in the day with bloody diarrhea, and he presented to the emergency clinic with the same. He didn't make it. A 2 year old dog, dead of parvo. Make that two 2 year old dogs, dead of parvo. Adult parvo deaths are uncommon, but not unheard of, especially in undervaccinated or immunocompromised dogs. The owners stated their dogs ... Read more »
In memoriam
On this Memorial Day, when we're honoring the men and women who have given so much in service of their families and neighbors, I'd like to also recognize the thousands of canines who have given the same. Although dogs have been used in military actions for as long as someone has been around to record it, it wasn't until World War II that the United States officially recognized the use of dogs in war through the creation of the "Dogs for Defense" program. Interestingly, the breeds initially ... Read more »
When I die…
Please let me come back as a dog that lives in Carmel. I just got back from a most wonderful mini-trip to see a friend (if you read this blog from day one you would remember my mention of Candie from vet school) who is now an emergency vet up in Northern California. She mentioned that she has been to Carmel a few times and suggested we go grab dinner there one night and try to spot Clint Eastwood. While I didn't see Dirty Harry, I spotted a good 50 dogs in a one block radius- in and out of ... Read more »
Daily graffiti
Yesterday my receptionist came out of the restroom with the most perplexed look on her face. Imagine her surprise when she entered the washroom, only to be greeted with this: For those who can't read graffiti scratches, it says, "(name of our clinic) bitches are ugly". Aside from the annoyance of having graffiti in our bathroom that we now have to deal with, it's an odd choice of insult. Our staff is, all things considered, quite attractive, so it's not much of a blow. Are they instead ... Read more »
Allergy sufferers rejoice
I've spent a couple of entries deconstructing pet food, but I wanted to take a moment to specifically mention a brand that has done something really good. When we suspect a pet of having a food allergy, it can be very difficult to get to the root of the problem. Pets can be allergic to anything, but usually they have a reaction to one specific protein or carbohydrate. Trying to figure out what it is- fish, beef, chicken, wheat, corn- can be difficult. If you read the labels on your pet food ... Read more »
OK, you first
I had a client complain about me this week. To back up a bit, he had come in a month ago with his dog, whose left side of her head was swollen to about twice its normal size. "It's an abscess," he told me, and wanted me to 'stick something in it and drain it.' I do what I always do, and come up with my list of differentials- all the things it might be. You just can't assume it's the most likely thing, even though it probably is, because sometimes it's not, and if you aren't keeping all the ... Read more »
Friday frivolity
It's amazing the weird, innovative, useless, and useful you can find on the internet when you actually look. I'm not sure what category this one falls into: The Porch Potty, a self-contained patch of grass that waters itself. A mini yard for your mini dachshund. Emmett would destroy that with one big pee, so clearly this is intended more for the toy chihuahua apartment dwellers. If I lived on the 5th floor of a walkup in Manhattan, this would seem a very viable alternative to schlepping a 4 ... Read more »
