Man, that was an intense movie. *wipes forehead* As I was perusing Facebook yesterday, I saw a link from my friend Annette over at Biscuits By Lambchop that took me to a column about pet nutrition in the New York Times. "The truth about cat and dog food," it is titled. You should read it. Then let me know what you think. As far as I can tell, the gist of the article is this: Super premium pet food is rife with gimmicks. Most pet foods in the same quality range have similar ... Read more »
Health
The Fantastic Mr. Foxtail
I have a love-hate relationship with foxtails. On the one hand, they are nasty. Little sharp spiky pieces of grass material with tiny microscopic retrograde barbs that cause them to migrate on a one-way trip into yucksville, they like nothing better than to jump onto a dog's fur and burrow into just about any orifice they can find. I've pulled them from eyes, ears, noses, tonsils, toes, vulvas, prepuces, teeth- you name a surface, I've seen a foxtail in it. On the other hand, they sure do ... Read more »
Careful where you put that thing
Some people read Rolling Stone. Others read National Geographic. On the rare occasion we have a quiet moment in the clinic, my staff likes to read Veterinary Dermatology. Now, I know lots of veterinarians are less than excited about this particular aspect of practice. Ear infections aren't sexy, they say, not like, say, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or immune mediated hemolytic anemia. Bo-ring, they ho-hum over a flea allergy dermatitis while hoping a nice cranial cruciate ligament tear limps ... Read more »
My Anaconda Don’t Want None
One of the prices we pay for living in paradise (aside from traffic, cost of living, and all of that manmade stuff) is sharing the land with the lovely rattlesnake. Generally speaking, they aren't too difficult to deal with if you are your average suburbanite- just leave them be. It's not like they're Boomslangs that drop randomly out of trees onto your head (I had nightmares after learning that little factoid); they sun themselves on rocks and other exposed places trying to be left alone. ... Read more »
chompchompchomp
People ask me on a regular basis what kind of toy they should give their dog to chew on. We go through the usual: Bully sticks, rawhides, Greenies, Kongs (each with distinct advantages and disadvantages.) We eliminate the problem items I never recommend: pigs ears, cow hooves, dried femur bones. For the most part, we can find something that most dogs can use. Sticks, by the way? I don't recommend them. (My husband took this picture when I wasn't around.) About once a week, an owner ... Read more »
Sometimes you just need a fresh perspective
We got a visit today from one of my favorite families. They brought in their sweet kitty Boca because she had a cough. The family had recently been sick, and based on what they saw on the news with H1N1 they were concerned that Boca might have the flu. The owners wrung their hands nervously as I opened Boca's carrier. I was immediately assaulted with...something strong, sort of like Febreze. I sniffed the carrier. I sniffed the cat. They both smelled equally strong. Boca did indeed have an ... Read more »
New frontiers
Do you know Batman the cancer dog? I didn't either, until today, when I read that he died. This is sad news, but also one that represents a great victory. Batman was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumor in 2008; according to the news article, the same type as that which took Senator Ted Kennedy- a glioblastoma. Average survival time for a human: about one year. The senator survived 15 months. Batman survived 19 months. Needless to say, most pets with a diagnosis of cancer live ... Read more »
Fleas and novel control ideas not to try
Fleas stink. No doubt about it. They make your pet miserable, you miserable, they carry parasites, and they're gross. Worse still, once they take up residence in your home, they can be very difficult to get rid of. Why is that? ... Read more »
Bad for me, good for you
My childhood dog was a Lhasa Apso named Taffy. For the first 8 months of life on the East Coast, she was an adorable ragamuffin of flopsy adorableness. Then- we moved to California. In the warm Southern California climate, flea season is year round. And over the next few months, Taffy became Scrappy. Her long lustrous fur fell out, to be replaced with that hyperlichenified elephant skin indicative of massive irritation. Her skin was one raw welt. The only way to keep her comfortable was to ... Read more »
Flip the lip Part 2: Dental care at home
I will tell you, and I will stand by it until the day I die, that dental cleanings are an extremely important and helpful measure in keeping your pet healthy. My teeth are white. My gums aren't red. My teeth aren't falling out of my head. And I still get cleanings twice a year. Visible disease is not the only sign your mouth needs care. Every once in a while, someone will come in a few months after a cleaning and point out the fact that there is, again, some visible plaque. "How come?" they ... Read more »
Flip the lip!
As many of you already know, February is National Pet Dental Health Month. Do your pet a favor and take a few seconds to take a peek at his or her teeth- a GOOD peek. You might be surprised at what you find. According to many veterinarians (including this one), periodontal disease is the most commonly diagnosed disease in dogs and cats. According to Dr. Brook Niemiec, "By the age of just two, 80% of dogs and 70% of cats have some form of periodontal disease." As a board certified veterinary ... Read more »
Vet magic tricks
We're all a little on edge these days, with all the mayhem, destruction and parvo we've been seeing lately. So much so that when any puppy with a peep of diarrhea comes in, my techs have taken to whisking it into the back, shouting "POSSIBLE PARVO! OUTTA MY WAY!!" as they rush by with a little furry ball into the isolation ward. I don't blame them. It's been a long couple of weeks. So when I saw a little furball go whizzing by this morning, I sighed inwardly. I asked the tech to get a parvo ... Read more »
Fun with Math: The Nutrition Game
I was in the grocery store yesterday, and like I always do, sort of did a double take at what some of the brands are charging for their food. Clients come in every day and say that they are feeding their dogs high quality, all natural food- a common example would be something like Beneful- believing it is top quality food simply based on the marketing. But when they go back and read the label, they are inevitably surprised. "I can't afford the really expensive food," is something I hear ... Read more »
May your days be merry and bright…
The parvo puppy is still hanging in. Every day he survives is a victory, and I'm allowing myself to feel optimistic for the first time since he was admitted. On the second day he was hospitalized, he was struggling. The plasma transfusion we performed had been minimally helpful. So once again, I pulled a Hail Mary and called in the quarterback. He's so big now, and the wee pup so small, I barely needed anything to get enough for a blood transfusion. Fresh whole blood has some majorly nice ... Read more »
If willpower was enough, this dog would already be at home
The days leading up to Christmas, as I have mentioned many times before, are always hard for me work-wise. This year is no exception. It was exactly one year ago that I had the most difficult euthanasia I've ever had to do. It's a long story, one that combines my sadness over Mulan's proximity to her own passing, an elderly woman losing her only friend, and a family whose lack of compassion left me stunned and nearly incoherent. As we speak, a 10 week old puppy lies alone in a cage at ... Read more »
Hour 19: Pet Insurance
Kim asked me what I think about pet insurance. Me? I love it. It means people who would normally be unable to afford an emergency surgery or illness are able to get their pet treatment. Most veterinary clinics don't offer payment plans. We all wish we could. The problem is not that we don't want to deal with it, but that they never work. There are too many people who renege on it and ruin it for everyone else, so the only way we can stay in business is to be paid at the time ... Read more »
Hour 15: FIV and you
I had a request to cover the topic of FIV in cats and what someone who was considering adopting such a cat needs to know. First of all, anyone who adopts a special-needs pet has an extra special place in heaven. :) Always good to accumulate good karma. Here are the basic things you need to know (which I have summarized from the excellent article at Veterinary Partner: ) 1. FIV (or feline immunodeficiency virus) is not an automatic death sentence. The average life ... Read more »
Hour 11: ER Dos and Don’ts, Part Deux
In Part 2 of the ER guest post, Dr. Baebler divides some of the most common emergency complaints into three categories based on degree of urgency. PART 2: DO I NEED TO GO INTO THE EMERGENCY ROOM OR NOT? Onto the meat of this post. Below are a list of signs/disease conditions and the urgency with which they should be attended: Get thee to the ER doctor ASAP (remember to call us to let us know you're on your way!): - Trouble breathing or choking - Trauma - obvious broken bones, open ... Read more »
