Homer's OdysseyJune 1, 2012 Don’t cringe, this book from high school English is not about to haunt you again! Here’s this story… My family and I love Barnes & Noble. Despite the fact that the successful chain of book stores may have contributed to the closing of our downtown bookstore that is like 100 years old, we find pleasure in B&N’s huge selection (oh, and the Starbucks coffee for me!). At a recent trip to B&N, I passed by the clearance table and found this book called, you guessed it, Homer’s Odyssey (written by Gwen Cooper, published by Delacorte Press, 2009). Who can resist a feline on the front cover? The subtitle is quite descriptive: A fearless feline tale, or how I learned about love and life with a blind wonder cat! The book is about this blind cat and his extraordinary life, and it’s a wonderful, quick and easy, reading book (great for planes and hotels!). Now I’m reading it to my daughter. I wanted to give it a review, so thanks for indulging me! Homer is found just a few weeks old as a stray, and his eyes were so infected that he needed a bilateral enucleation (both …
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Stop Feline Inappropriate EliminationMay 29, 2012 By Nicholas Dodman, BVMS, Dipl. ACVB Feline inappropriate elimination is a common behavioral problem reported to veterinarians, accounting for approximately 50 percent of all behavioral referrals. Unfortunately, not only is FIE a common problem, it is also a leading reason for relinquishment of cats. It is a cold, hard fact that cats who fail to use the litter box once a week are four times more likely to be relinquished; if they eliminate outside the litter box daily, these odds increase to over 28:1. About 4 percent of cats urinate outside the litter box weekly, and 1 percent eliminate outside the litter box daily. Nine percent of adult cat owners mention FIE as a problem to their veterinarians, and 10-24 percent of cats will have such a problem in their lifetimes. In most behavior clinics, house soiling constitutes more than 50 percent of referrals, with aggression coming in as a second most common behavior problem, constituting about a third of all referrals. Reasons Cats eliminate outside the litter box for several reasons. Some concern cats’ natural tendencies and others with the circumstances they find themselves in, though often both factors operate together. The …
When ‘Euthanasia’ Is Just KillingMay 25, 2012 It happened to me for the first time when I was only a month into my first job as a newly minted veterinarian. There I was, flying solo on an overnight shift, unblocking the variously obstructed and ministering to the mysteriously urticarial. I was finally getting comfortable living the satisfyingly routine life of an ER doc when one fine night a cat owner claimed to offer me a “simple” problem: “I just need you to put him to sleep.” This woman was the first in what proved to be a long line of similarly minded, morally challenged individuals seeking my services as executioner. I’m sure most of you are familiar with this crass breed: They’re the would-be pet owners who want little more than to tax our hard-won skills only as far as our way with a syringe-full of pink juice is concerned. Interestingly, I’ve found suburban versions of this individual to be surprisingly uniform in a couple of ways: 1) They inevitably supply one or more reasons for taking such drastic action. In this case, for example, the predominant complaint was that the cat urinated on everything and—sin of all sins—refused to live outdoors …
Practical Applications Of ProbioticsMay 21, 2012 Thanks to Dannon Co. and its advertising spokeswoman Jamie Lee Curtis, TV watchers are paying closer attention to probiotics for getting an irregular GI tract back to normal. The trend extends to the veterinary clinic, too. Veterinarians are fielding more client questions about probiotics and about using the beneficial organisms to improve or maintain animal health. The first thing a veterinarian may want to clarify is any confusion between the terms “prebiotic” and “probiotic.” “A prebiotic is a type of soluble dietary fiber that stimulates the growth or activity of beneficial bacteria in the intestines and may improve the host’s health,” says Amy Dicke, DVM, technical services veterinarian for P&G Pet Care. “Probiotics are live bacterial preparations containing beneficial microorganisms similar to those found naturally in people and pets and which provide health benefits,” Dr. Dicke says. “There’s been an expansion of nutrition interest between clinic walls because we’re discovering more ways to use nutrition to improve health. Right now, veterinarians likely mention nutrition when moving a pet to a therapeutic diet, but not before.” Specialists have debunked the idea that bacteria had to come from the same species getting the probiotic. “The …
Enlist Clients In Battle Against DiabetesMay 3, 2012 With November being National Pet Diabetes Month, veterinarians have an excellent opportunity to educate their clients about this growing epidemic. Pet owners should be familiar with the signs and symptoms of the disease, have an understanding of the disease process, and know about treatment options. By keeping pet owners actively involved in the care of their pets, veterinarians gain an ally in the battle against diabetes. The classic symptoms of diabetes are increased thirst, increased appetite and increased urination. In addition to the textbook symptoms of polydipsia, polyphagia, and polyuria, pets with diabetes may become lethargic, lose weight, have a dull coat, and in dogs, develop cataracts. Pet owners should be familiar with the signs and symptoms of diabetes so they can promptly seek veterinary care if these develop. Diabetes mellitus develops when the body is unable to regulate the amount of sugar in the bloodstream. In Type 1 diabetes (insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus or IDDM), the body is unable to produce the hormone insulin. Insulin is released into the bloodstream when sugar levels are high and directs cells to remove sugar from the bloodstream and into cells to be stored or used for energy. …
Feline Diabetes: Five Principles Breed SuccessMay 3, 2012 Diabetic cats and the challenges associated with their management intrigue me, which is why I have about 75 diabetic patients in my practice at any given time. Successful management of a diabetic cat requires a multifaceted approach that begins with five principles: • Tight control is not essential and probably not even desirable. Cats tolerate hyperglycemia without significant consequences better than humans or dogs do. • Hyperglycemia is always better than hypoglycemia. The latter can be fatal. • As long as the cat is not ketoacidotic, it is not critically ill. You do not have to get the cat regulated in the first week, or even in the first month, after diagnosis. • Consistency is extremely important in maintaining regulation. The more things you can keep the same—diet, exercise, stress—the easier it is to regulate the diabetic cat. • Monitoring clinical signs is vital in achieving and maintaining regulation. With few exceptions, if the clinical signs and the blood-glucose level conflict, believe the clinical signs. What Can Be Done Based on these five principles, here are four treatment steps: • Client education. You are the coach on the sidelines. Your job is to instruct the quarterback so …
The Changing World Of Veterinary Anesthesia Guidelines And MonitoringMay 2, 2012 UPDATE: AAHA released its anesthesia guidelines in early November. The American Animal Hospital Association is poised to release the first-of-its-kind small animal anesthesia guidelines. A task force comprising six board-certified veterinary anesthesiologists and a certified technician specializing in anesthesia created the approximately 10-page document in an 11-month timeframe. The AAHA guidelines is an all-inclusive, easily digestible document created for use by the entire veterinary team. With expanding anesthesia capabilities for the profession, Jason Merrihew, associate public relations manager at AAHA, says the association recognized the need to develop guidelines for veterinary professionals. He attributes the multitude of factors to consider when sedating or anesthetizing a healthy dog or cat, as well as the pet with one or more medical conditions a leading incentive. “AAHA’s guidelines include information on pre-anesthesia bloodwork, examination, equipment, staffing recommendations, monitoring from induction through recovery, pain management, drug choices, drug combinations, what drugs to use according to patients’ age, body type and temperament,” says Richard Bednarski, DVM, Dipl. ACVA, associate professor (anesthesia) at The Ohio State University in Columbus and chair for AAHA anesthesia guidelines. “These guidelines differ from the American College of Veterinary Anesthesiologists’ (ACVA) anesthesia monitoring guidelines because their …
Keeping Hospice In Veterinary HandsMay 2, 2012 Our focus with this article is on people who compulsively collect old or sick animals and proclaim themselves operators of pet hospice homes or sanctuaries. Unfortunately, most of these self-proclaimed hospice workers use little to no veterinary medical supervision. Their collected animals suffer to death without proper pain management, comfort care or the human-animal bond. They might have started out as good Samaritans, working alone or with a group, rescuing animals and keeping a few, then a few more. Over time, they develop a strong urge to “save” more old and sick animals that were “abandoned.” That urge develops into a compulsive disorder. They collect more and more old, sick and special-needs animals. When their animals die, they exhibit tearful distress, blind denial or experience a pathological enlightenment. Their compulsiveness to collect more animals winds up harming their animals, themselves, their neighbors and their communities. A certain percentage of compulsive collectors of sick and old animals can maintain their operations for a time. But eventually many find themselves overworked, in debt, depressed and overwhelmed. The tipping point is when they acquire more animals than they can properly care for and house. Another tipping point into …
Feline Heartworm’s A Different AnimalApril 25, 2012 A recent study at Auburn University has shown us a new side of feline heartworms. Dillon and Blagburn, with the financial backing of Pfizer Animal Health of New York, performed an amazing study1. They infected three groups of cats with heartworm larvae. The first group was untreated to see what would happen from natural exposure. The second group was given ivermectin at the time in the life cycle that would kill the immature adults but not the adults. This group showed the pathology that occurs when the 2-inch-long immature adults die; the pathology that occurred was only due to immature adults, not to 6-inch-long adult worms. The third group was infected while receiving selamectin. This group was to demonstrate the efficacy of this drug in preventing heartworm infections; its high efficacy was clearly demonstrated. The following is a synopsis of what we now know about heartworm disease in cats. Life Cycle When a mosquito bites a cat, third-stage larvae (L3) are deposited on the cat’s skin. Within minutes they enter the subcutaneous tissue through the bite wound. The L3 molt within a couple of days to fourth-stage larvae (L4). L4 migrate …
Managing Hyperthyroidism With Food? Check ComplianceApril 3, 2012 The team at VCA West Los Angeles Animal Hospital was puzzled. Veterinarians had recently begun managing feline hyperthyroidism with nutrition, using a pet food formally launched in October 2011, Hill’s Prescription Diet y/d Feline Thyroid Health. The food limits dietary iodine intake, and the staff was finding that in the majority of cats, thyroid levels returned to normal within three weeks of transitioning to the food. But one patient’s thyroid levels had barely budged—even though the owner insisted the cat had been fed only the recommended food. So team members started probing, says David Bruyette, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, medical director at the hospital. Was the cat getting treats? Never. Did it sneak bites from other food bowls? Not that the owner knew. Finally, a new fact emerged: The owner had been out of town for 10 days. And it turned out that when the affected cat’s food bowl ran empty, the owner’s husband had simply re-filled it with the same food that the other cats in the household ate, Bruyette says. Bingo. “This food is so good at limiting iodine that if the (cat’s condition) is not improving, there’s an incredibly high chance …
