Vaccines: the big, the bad, the ever changing topic. There's enough information to write about this for a whole week, but for now I'm going to keep it to a few posts. This week, I'm doing a 2 part series on dog vaccinations. Today, I'm going to summarize the most current vaccine recommendations for canines. Tomorrow, I'll share some of the tidbits I got at the Western Veterinary Conference that give us some additional insight about how to use these to optimum benefit. Here's to our dogs' ... Read more »
Health
The real yogi reveals himself
I've already made my thoughts on dog yoga pretty clear: they'll do it, but not willingly. Certainly not with the spirit of relaxation and meditation one is supposed to bring to the practice, anyway. Cats, on the other hand, are natural yogis. They can inherently go from a million miles an hour to dead body pose in 2 seconds flat. They meditate, as anyone who has watched them stare intently out the window for an hour and a half will attest to. Their spines bend and twist into conformations ... Read more »
Litterbox Chronicles, Part 2: Setting the Stage
Today, poor Apollo is getting a dental cleaning and his full yearly workup. It was due anyway, and it will make me feel better to know he is still doing well at 12 years old. (12? Wow, how time flies.) And while he is a little overglazed on meds, I'll be setting the stage for his triumphant recovery from his marking behavior. At the Western lecture, Dr. Yin referenced a study from Dr. Patricia Pryor that I remember them undertaking while I was in school. The study followed marking cats, both ... Read more »
Cat in a Box: The Litterbox Chronicles, Part 1
I have pages of notes from the Western Veterinary Conference, which I will be sifting through over the next week or so to bring you the most valuable bits. For me, the most personally useful seminars were those on kitty problem potty behaviors, which as you know is something we are dealing with here at the casa. Dr. Sophia Yin is a veterinary behaviorist and wonderful lecturer who I was fortunate enough to learn from this go round at the conference. She broke down this confusing and ... Read more »
Why I never get invited to block parties
Apollo's been looking exceptionally mangy lately. It happens whenever he's been getting into the foods he shouldn't have, which is pretty much all of them. I do the best I can, but with the household we have, it is pretty much impossible to keep all foods out of reach of all animals at all times. There are dogs eating, kids snacking, people munching at all hours of the day, and all it takes is one forgotten nugget for Apollo to go temporarily bald. This despite the fact that he feasts on ... Read more »
Talking Chomp
As you may or may not know, February is National Pet Dental Health Month. This is the month we beg and plead owners to do just one little trick- flip your pet's lip up and check out those back molars, where the worst tartar tends to hang out. Confronted with the yellow, malodorous reality of what's really going on behind those fuzzy jowls, most people are quick to realize that canine and feline dental disease is more widespread than they realized. Virbac has a very nice visual of the ... Read more »
I want a happy litterbox! Please?
When I was in veterinary school, I rotated through the behavior service. It's an elective, and interestingly enough not a particularly popular one; more's the pity for that. What percentage of relinquishments come on the tail end of a behavior issue that wasn't properly handled? (Answer: A whole lot.) Vets tend to avoid behavior stuff for a multitude of reasons: It's time consuming to work through a behavioral issue. It's complicated. Changing behavior isn't nearly as simple as ... Read more »
6 easy dog yoga poses (that you’re probably already doing)
Ever since I saw the local Doga group dog yoga session here in San Diego, I've been fascinated by the idea of dogs and yoga. Heck, even Bo the Presidential dog's gotten in on the act. Now, I watched that Bo video as well as the video of the San Diego 'doga' session, and I can't for the life of me figure out how the heck they got that many dogs to hold that still. I guess having a group of 15 pound dogs helps. In the spirit of adventure, I tried some of the stuff they recommended in that ... Read more »
Airlines, young pets and the travel conundrum
This recent post over at Petopia about the tragic death of a young kitten who was being transported from Utah to Connecticut really made me sad. And then it made me angry. Here is the gist of things: A family purchased a hairless Sphynx from a breeder. On January 22, the breeder put the 11 week old kitten on a Delta flight from Utah to Connecticut. The plane landed in 7 degree weather, sat on the tarmac for nearly an hour, and, sadly, the cat died. This was totally preventable. TOTALLY. ... Read more »
Oh no! Furry fleabag causes plague! etc etc
An upcoming article in Emerging Infectious Diseases is already raising hackles and stimulating a great deal of debate by suggesting sleeping with your pets in the bed can be risky. The authors, one of whom I remember from Davis as a great zoonotics expert with a vast and horrifying litany of case studies, reviewed past medical literature to come up with examples of human infections that most likely originated from the pet. Before we get into anything else, it's worth noting this fundamental ... Read more »
On breed and health and what we love best
I'll finish recapping the AKC Eukanuba experience this week (in between building my gingerbread houses and working on the 12 Days and all the other things that manage to pile on this time of year), but I wanted to deviate for one moment into this large cloud that looms over any sort of dog discussion, and that is the vast and gaping chasm separating two equally passionate groups of pet enthusiasts. I had some very interesting conversations with some of my fellow bloggers at the conference ... Read more »
Nulo Challenge: Final Weigh In
Wow, 90 days flies when you're having fun! Kekoa is wrapping up her 90 days on the Nulo challenge, and boy has it been eventful. We survived a long road trip, a cancer diagnosis, envying a younger brother with a better metabolism, and a few too many fingers sneaking treats in when the taskmaster wasn't watching. Despite this, she continued to progress over the course of the challenge, and at her final weigh in Koa is now 73 pounds! That puts her total weight loss at 6 pounds for the 90 days! ... Read more »
Pets and arthritis
A while back, I was invited by Petfinder to write a guest post on arthritis in pets. I happily accepted- even though I tend to the more chatty around here, I can write something useful when necessary. Jane just let me know the post is live today! How to help pets with arthritis stay comfortable during cold winter months This makes me feel better about the fact that I did not write a single medical post during the blogathon. :) ... Read more »
Your Questions Answered: Part 2
Most difficult class in vet school?That's a toss-up. Clinical pathology was a bear, but so was neurology. The first because of the topic, the second because of the teacher. Did the dogs get any of the cat litter chicken breast? Nope. It was immediately tossed, much to Koa's chagrin. She really wanted it (as you could see, I didn't realize until watching the video that she was pacing like Jaws!) What was the biggest animal you have treated & what for? And the smallest & what ... Read more »
Your Questions Answered: Funniest Exam Room experience (and giveaway!)
It's late and dark, so I'm going all Blair Witch on you. Your turn! It's time for another FETCHING TAGS giveaway! To enter, you can either: 1. Tell me a funny experience from your own work or 2. Ask another question for me to answer. ... Read more »
Even dog-girls get the blues
I weighed Kekoa on Tuesday and I am happy to report that she is back on track at 74.5 pounds- one more pound gone! She really is a trooper. She has this great talent of utilizing her lower center of gravity to butt Brody out of the way when they are jockeying for position at feeding time, so despite her shrinking weight she still had mad leverage skills. We ran into someone who hasn't seen Koa since shortly after she came to live with us in March. He was floored. "She's so shiny!" he said. ... Read more »
Fun With Google: Doing the Pigeon!
Today, a client called in a panic because her dog ate a bluebird and she was concerned that the dog would get rabies. "Birds don't get rabies," we told her. "Oh," she said. Then, hopefully, "Distemper?" Dogs are, at the end of the day, dogs, and one of the imperatives of dog-dom is eating stuff they're not supposed to, including dead things, things with eyeballs, and entrails. While there are specific instances that cause concern- a dog playing with a dead bat, say, or eating a rat that ... Read more »
Weekly Weigh-In
Koa held steady this week at 75 pounds. I'm just happy she didn't gain weight in her inactive state. This morning, she chased Brody around the yard for a good 5 minutes after their morning ablutions, which is pretty much unheard of for her. In addition to her recovery, I wonder if her sarcoma was causing her some discomfort that is now alleviated. I took her staples out on Sunday, so I no longer have to see her and think Frankenpup, which is good since it made me feel guilty every time. ... Read more »
