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 »
Health
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 »
5 pet dangers (besides chocolate)
Ah, fall. The leaves are turning, the air is getting chill, and people everywhere are assembling the assorted holiday regalia that autumn brings. Now we all know chocolate is bad for pets, right? I don't need to tell you about that. Don't leave it on the counter. Here are a few others, some well known, some less so, that many of us run into this time of year and may not realize how dangerous they are. 1. liquid potpourri Little old ladies the world over take note: Sure, it makes your house ... Read more »
The good news is, it’s not a tumor…
When a client tells you a pet is rolling over and acting really out of it, they get priority in the queue. That is how I found myself in the exam room with a small, middle aged grey terrier and a small, middle aged bespectacled owner. "When did this start?" I asked her. "This afternoon," she said quietly. "Georgie just started listing to one side and kind of stumbling." The list of differentials start running through my head as I instruct the owner to place Georgie on the exam table, ... Read more »
Top 5 Nutrition Myths
OK, I don't know if they are myths so much as long-held veterinary standard talking points, but it was a lot easier to type "myths" than "standard procedures and protocols with which I disagree." 1. Feed your pet the same food every day or they will get sick. This is true in some cases, namely if you have a pet on a prescription diet or a pet with dietary sensitivities, but for most healthy pets, there's no reason not to switch it up. You have to be careful if you are watching your ... Read more »
How to vaccinate a dog in 13244 easy steps
I feel compelled to do one of those serious "issue based" posts, with "facts" and all that boring stuff. Partly because I've spent most of the week blathering on about my animals, but mostly because my friend shared last week's vaccine post on Fark and someone responded with something the equivalent of, "Well, the lady has a point." NO SHE DOESN'T. She has a pointy head and that I will concede. Let me be clear: If you say to me, hey, I have some concerns about overvaccinating my pet, can we ... Read more »
Teach me, Jedi master
As a vet, I get asked behavior questions all the time, both at work and here through the blog. They are important questions, questions that set the tone for the entire bonding process and the life of the pet. They are complicated questions, more often than not. I am happy to answer them as follows: "Has he been to training?" I ask. If they say no, I tell them to go find one. If they say yes, I tell them to call their trainer and ask them. Boom. Next question. Hopefully it's about ... Read more »
Cast your eye this way
Have you ever stayed up late at night wondering to yourself, "What is the most common cause of broken bones in dogs?" No? Well, I'm going to tell you anyway. Veterinary Pet Insurance, one of the largest providers of pet insurance in the country, reviewed 5000 claims from 2008 and summarized the most common causes as follows: 10. Car accidents. The truth is, most people don't securely restrain their animals while driving, and even accidents at low speeds can turn a pet into a projectile. 9. ... 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 »
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 »
Tip of the day
Here's a helpful tip for everyone: 1. If you have a brachycephalic breed dog (pug, bulldog, Boston terrier, etc) you need to be very careful with their eyeballs since they are particularly susceptible to eye injury. 2. This means, you probably shouldn't let them roll around in the sandbox. 3. If they do roll around in the sandbox, and you notice a ton of sand in their eye, instead of wiping it out and thus dragging it all over the eyeball, rinse it out with saline. Better yet, call your ... Read more »
The cat food experiment, Part 2- or, uh oh
So the last you heard of me and my cat food experimenting, I had to give all the freeze dried food to Emmett and was tackling my bag of raw food patties. The Nature's Variety brand makes feeding raw food very convenient, if you're not into preparing all that stuff yourself. It appealed to me for several reasons: 1. You can buy it in little 1 ounce medallions, or larger 3 ounce patties. 2. The meat is ground up, so you don't have big bone chunks floating around in the stuff. 3. They actually ... Read more »
Weird things happen in threes
It's the oddest thing. I can go 3 months without seeing a blocked cat or a glaucoma, and all of a sudden I will see three in one day. It always comes in waves. In yesterday's case, we marked the start of foxtail season. In our area, foxtails are one of the banes of a dog's existence. They aren't found everywhere, but in my neck of the woods they are ubiquitous. Foxtails are, essentially, grass awns. When they dry out, they turn into nasty little sticky bayonets that stick to a dog's fur, and ... Read more »