The Joy Of Spaniel PuppiesSeptember 16, 2013 Hue and I have been doing rescue work with Cavalier King Charles spaniels for the past five years. We love being able to transport, foster and heal dogs in need. A few weeks ago we received a desperate phone call from one of the regional rescue coordinators, asking if we could head to north Jersey to pick up a pregnant dog that was just picked up from a backyard breeder. Of course, we dropped everything and headed north. We met another transport volunteer at a hotel near a turnpike exit. Shadow, the rescued mommy, was gingerly placed into my lap for the trip back to south Jersey. Normally we "rescue” older dogs with medical problems. It was very unusual to contemplate having puppies in the house. All our dogs are older. We had no area prepared for whelping and raising puppies. After a quick exam, it was apparent Shadow would be delivering within a week, but I figured we still had a few days to figure everything out. The first night we tried to make Shadow a bed on the floor in our bedroom. She took one …
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The Dog-Spay Disconnect: It’s Time To Rethink This Formidably ‘Simple’ ProcedureSeptember 10, 2013 Not long ago a family member from out of town brought me her dog so I’d take a quick look at a lump. Because it would be at least a month before she’d be back to see her hometown vet, I agreed to remove the small mass ASAP. Once the surgery was underway, however, she called to ask if I could spay the dog, too—"as long as you’re already there." Strictly speaking, I wasn’t even in the neighborhood. The lump was in the skin over the right side of her belly. But, like most of you, I’m well-accustomed to the common client misconception that anything around the abdomen might as well be within the abdomen. As widespread as this muddling of anatomical locales might be, more common is the erroneous conviction this request implied: that a dog spay is a simple procedure, one that’s easily tacked on to most any other with a minimum of stress, discomfort, time, ability or expense. As you know, little could be further from the truth. The everyday canine ovariohysterectomy is a procedure that’s both hard to master and easy to underestimate. Is there any other routine procedure we …
Lap Cholecystectomy—Minimally Invasive OptionSeptember 10, 2013 Missy is an 11-year-old female spayed miniature schnauzer. She was happy, active and, to the owners, appeared normal. But she had a ticking time bomb inside. Her veterinarian had examined her regularly and had noted progressive increases in her liver enzymes. Missy was referred to radiologist Jessica Basseches, DVM, for an abdominal ultrasound. Her scan revealed that Missy had a fulminant gallbladder mucocele with no active evidence of inflammation. Gallbladder mucocele is a condition in dogs in which there is accumulation of mucus in the gallbladder. It has recently been reported as the most common cause of canine extrahepatic biliary duct obstruction. It is most commonly seen in older small- to medium-sized dogs. Cocker spaniels, Shetland sheepdogs and miniature schnauzers appear to be predisposed to the condition. There has been a weak association reported with hyperadrenocorticism (Cushing’s disease) and gallbladder mucocele. Findings Gallbladder mucocele may be an incidental finding but can be clinical in about 75 percent of patients diagnosed. Inflammation and necrosis of the gallbladder may result in gallbladder rupture and bile peritonitis. Clinical signs may be vague in milder cases, but in more severe cases, vomiting and abdominal discomfort are often noted. …
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 …
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 …
