Facing Up To The Past After An Accidental SurgerySeptember 10, 2013 Declawing cats is my least-favorite elective surgery, but because my employer offers it, I long ago made up my mind to become very good at it and use the maximum possible pain medication that would be safe for the patient. Since our practice has an age and weight limit on declaw surgery, many patients present for simultaneous spay and declaw procedures. Two years ago, I accidentally declawed an 8-month-old, 5-pound kitten that was at the clinic for only a spay. When I began entering the surgeries into the computer, the surgery consent form stared back at me with the simple word SPAY. I gasped. No amount of squinting at the line or fiddling with the paper’s angle would change the fact: I made a mistake, the claws were in the wastebasket, and I had to cowgirl up and eat a slice of humble pie. Taking a deep breath, I called the client and put my cards on the table. I apologized, explained our pain management protocol and told her I would send home a bag of special cat litter used for declaw patients, all at my expense. Lucretia (not her real name) took the news …
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Weekends With The Pack At The Jersey ShoreAugust 28, 2013 We have a place on the Jersey shore that is our favorite get-away spot on summer weekends. Unfortunately, we have a second floor condo and no yard, which is not very conducive to life with spaniels. Because we currently have 10 dogs living with us, we have to divide and conquer to make these trips. Our cute little English toy spaniel, George, is everyone’s favorite. He is also low dog on the totem pole and is easily scared by lots of traffic and congestion. So every weekend in the summer he packs his little doggie bag and heads to the grandparents’ house, where he is spoiled by four daily meals and all-day belly rubs. Our foster mommy dog has puppies that are too young to travel, so they win a stay at home with my son. His cocker spaniel is the best watchdog, and tends to bark a lot, so she also gets to stay home. The oldest, Lora Lu, is mostly blind and deaf, making it difficult for her to acclimate to new places; she also stays home. That leaves four who get to …
The Mystery Is Solved!August 27, 2013 In my last blog, you heard about my Mickey, who was sickey. Well, the mystery has been solved! The abdominal ultrasound discovered an unsuspected culprit in the demise of his personality and comfort: pancreatitis. Wow, I didn’t see that coming! Considered acute, the poor guy must have been suffering with discomfort for several months; we know how painful pancreatitis can be for humans, and so we assume the same for animals. But in cats especially, it’s a difficult thing to detect. My main experience with pancreatitis comes from my years working in internal medicine and critical care, where our odds of pulling a dog through were pretty high, and our odds of pulling a cat through were dismal. Mickey’s hope rested on the fact that at least he was still nibbling food, and not consistently vomiting so we had a chance to turn things around. He has been responding to medical treatment thus far (famotidine and cerenia for nausea, and gabapentin for pain) and is finally showing some of his old personality! Such a relief … but it was so aggravating to have taken so long to identify the …
On Handling Outsized Risks From Bite-Sized PatientsAugust 22, 2013 Recently two of my clients found themselves heading to their nearby urgent care facility after their own pets bit them. Both clients openly acknowledged they'd disregarded my counsel, happily paid their bills, and promptly sought medical attention. At the risk of courting your derision along with your sympathy, I'll confess: Recently two of my clients found themselves heading to their nearby urgent care facility after their own pets bit them ... in my exam room! Bad, I know. What's worse is that I was physically present to witness both events. Though I'd urged each of these clients to keep their hands well away from their anxious pets—in the second case, imploring a client not to attempt clipping her own terrified cat's claws—they'd apparently felt compelled to ignore their pets' warning signs (along with my advice). The good news? Both clients openly acknowledged they'd disregarded my counsel, happily paid their bills, and promptly sought medical attention. I then made note of the events in their medical records, flagged the files for future reference ("Never allow this client to handle her own pets—no matter what she says!"), and called the following …
Adding Grooming To Your Practice: What Now?August 22, 2013 You have decided to add grooming to your veterinary practice; smart move! A grooming service can provide additional conveniences for your pet families, while also putting another set of eyes and hands on your patients to detect potential health problems. If you have seen the potential, the decision may have been easy. But integrating the new service may not be as easy without keeping some things in mind. The Groomer It's not easy to find a good groomer. Looking through the "help wanted" ads in veterinary journals and websites, it seems everyone is always looking for groomers. "The hardest part is finding that right person who will work with the veterinary practice team to become an extension of the services it can provide," says Tim Thompson, DVM, partner and Medical Institute Director for VitalPet, a Texas-based group of veterinary hospitals where the mission is, "Quality medicine in a caring family environment." In his practice, the current groomer grew up in that family, previously working as a receptionist, and was sent to grooming school to come back and fulfill that position. She was already part of the team. One way to make sure …
Steroids and Diet Best For Treating Canine IBDAugust 7, 2013 Inflammatory bowel disease in dogs continues to be one of the most challenging conditions for veterinarians to treat. The cure for this painful, chronic gastrointestinal condition remains elusive, but a treatment plan that combines the synthetic steroid budesonide with a novel protein or hydrolyzed diet is generating support among leading veterinary specialists in the internal and nutritional fields. Dogs suffering from IBD may demonstrate such signs as chronic or recurring vomiting, loose stools, loss of appetite, lethargy, low-grade fever, poor-quality hair coat and weight loss—signs that can be present in other medical conditions, making diagnosing IBD trickier. These dogs typically have inflammation of the stomach lining, colon and small intestine. Their immune systems are waging war on the invasion of bacterial, food or parasitic antigens. They are miserable and in pain, and their owners are often frustrated by the lack of a quick diagnosis and recovery. "We still don’t know much about this condition, but we’re finding better ways to treat it,” says Joseph Wakshlag, DVM, Ph.D, associate professor of clinical nutrition at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in Ithaca, N.Y. "We tend to identify IBD by ruling out other possible causes, such as parasites …
How Techs Talk To Clients About Slimming Their Hefty Pets DownAugust 7, 2013Whether they think fat cats are cute, or that loving their dog means treats or human food, getting a pet’s weight down starts with communicating the dangers of obesity to clients, according to a handful of veterinary technicians who have tackled some difficult cases. Perhaps no fat pet has received as much recent publicity as Skinny, a 43-pound cat found in late 2012 in the Dallas area. Skinny ended up in the hands of the staff at East Lake Veterinary Hospital and Pam Nowell, RVT, who has a history of slimming down fat cats. It’s a story that Nowell likes to recount, especially to clients—to drive home just how damaging it can be when a pet is overfed. She and other techs cite overfeeding as a principal reason for pet obesity. "He was 43 pounds when we got him,” Nowell said. "He couldn’t even groom himself because he was so overweight.” Starting a Program The hospital put Skinny on Hill’s m/d pet food, and a volunteer from the local pet orphanage came in regularly to walk him. At first he could walk only about six steps before having to sit and catch his breath, and Skinny also …
Bond & BeyondJune 28, 2013 Dr. Alice Villalobos offers insights into timely issues affecting the human-animal bond, animal welfare and the relationships among pets, owners and veterinary practitioners. For Dr. Villalobos’ Quality of Life Scale, click here »
Weight-Loss Study Finds New Hill’s Food A SuccessJune 10, 2013 Veterinarians often find it challenging to discuss weight-loss options with owners of chubby pets. The new Hill’s therapeutic food is formulated with L-carnitine to help a pet burn excess body fat and spare lean muscle mass without depriving pets of needed daily caloric intake. With more than half of dogs and cats deemed overweight or obese, based on a 2011 survey by the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, veterinarians often find it challenging to discuss weight-loss options with owners of chubby pets. Some owners become defensive while others might express frustration in not being able to prevent their pets from overeating. "Sadly, some owners brag that they have 25-pound cats, so we need to educate them about the role obesity plays in certain diseases like diabetes and arthritis,” says Amy Lowe, DVM, a veterinarian at the Bytown Cat Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Her clinic participated in a recent veterinarian-supervised blinded feeding trial involving 314 cats and dogs throughout the U.S. and Canada. Chubby pets were weighed, measured and exclusively fed the new Hill’s Prescription Diet Metabolic Advanced Weight Solution. Suzie struts her stuff before and after her weight-loss program. …
A Quick Review Of Otitis Products Old And NewJune 10, 2013 Experts concur that systemic antibiotics are inadequate to squash the bad-boy bugs of otitis externa. They also concur that some animals won’t hold still for clients to topically medicate their ears. "I have rarely found that systemic antimicrobials alone are sufficient to resolve a severe otitis externa case, which typically has copious amounts of organic material in the canal,” said Jon Plant, DVM, owner of the SkinVet Clinic in Lake Oswego, Ore. "If one tries this approach, it is important to thoroughly clean the ear canal. In situations when pet owners are unable to medicate ears topically, I’ve had some success using compounded lanolin-based ear medications that provide a repository effect.” Paul B. Bloom, DVM, Dipl. ACVD, Dipl. ABVP, also uses a compounded product to pack ears weekly in problem patients until the infection resolves. A combination of gentamicin 0.3 percent, ketoconazole 2.0 percent and triamcinolone 0.1 percent is favored by Bloom, owner of the Allergy, Skin and Ear Clinic for Pets in Livonia, Mich. Alternatively, he offers clients the choice of bringing in the animal daily to have the ears medicated. Zymox, a non-prescription, enzyme-based family of products manufactured by Pet King Brands Inc. in …
