When It Gets Personal

It's hard to be a doctor. There are a lot of decisions you have to make that affect your patient's life and well-being. Test results can sometimes be interpreted in different ways, and different combinations of results can mean different things. Not every case is clear-cut, and many are difficult to figure out. Many decisions have to be made on the path to a proper diagnosis and treatment. It's never an easy thing to do. It's even harder when its your own pet.My oldest cat, Perceval, is 16. The summer before I started vet school I was working for a veterinarian in my home town. A litter of three kittens was dropped off for routine leukemia...

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Puppy strangles

By request, I am posting about a disease called puppy strangles, otherwise known as juvenile cellulitis. While we don't see cases of it every day, it is nonetheless not rare.Affected puppies are usually between one and four months of age. with symptoms that are often quite shocking in appearance. They include a swollen face, ears, muzzle, and spectacularly enlarged lymph nodes. The symptoms are consistent with other diseases and must be differentiated from a severe bacterial or fungal infection and mange (Demodex or Sarcoptes mites under the skin). Puppy strangles can be quite painful, unlike the other diseases just mentioned.While it may...

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"Doc, There's Something Stuck In His Throat"

The longer I practice, the more surprised I get at certain things. One of them is the number of people who think that their pet has something stuck in their throat.The situation normally begins something like this. A client brings in their dog because he has been coughing. The pet may or may not have been chewing on a bone or a stick or paper or something like that. The cough is sporadic and not constant and has been going on for a few days. The main concern that the client has is that the dog has something stuck in its throat and that's the reason for the cough.In order for something to cause a cough, there needs to be irritation in the trachea. Yes, things can get caught there, but it's not a simple thing. If some sort of object is stuck in the trachea it is VERY irritating. This...

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Dogs in the news

Today, The Globe and Mail reported that a 4 month-old Lhasa Apso, sealed in a bag, was found in a Toronto dumpster. Nice, eh? A maintenance worker heard the whimpering of the poor animal and discovered it in the refuse bin. The adorable little puppy is up for adoption at Toronto Animal Services. On the opposite page in the Globe, you can read about how another two dogs, belonging to one owner, were likely deliberately poisoned in Whitby Park. This after a weekend of deliberate poisonings in nearby Port Perry. These dogs had ostensibly eaten treats laced with ethylene glycol (antifreeze). It imparts a sweet taste to anything so would be...

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Puppy Watches TV

Tonight my wife and I were sitting on the bed, each of us on our computers, with the movie Eight Below on the TV. For those of you who haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. The story is about an Antarctic researcher and his sled dogs. He has to be flown off the base, and the dogs end up getting left behind to fend for themselves for an entire Antarctic winter. Much of the movie follows the dogs on their struggle for survival.As is typical in our household, both dogs are up on the bed, almost crowding us out. Guinevere was very relaxed and just about asleep. Then we hear a little growl, and then see Inara's head and ears perk up. For those of you who have seen the movie, this was during the scene where the dogs are facing the leopard seal. Inara was watching it very intently, and...

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Pet Mythbusters, Part 2

I did an entry on misconceptions about pets several months ago (in December), and thought I would address a few more.Cats need to drink milk.Dairy products aren't inherently harmful, but also aren't good. A dog's or cat's digestive system changes after weaning. The structure of the lining of the intestine alters to no longer be able to absorb lactose, the main sugar in milk. So once a pet has weaned (about 5 weeks old in dogs and cats), they develop a sort of lactose intolerance like some humans have. A little cheese, milk, or ice cream isn't a big concern, but enough can cause problems. Thankfully, these aren't serious problems, and are usually limited to diarrhea or vomiting. So the old image of a cat drinking from a bowl of milk or cream isn't really proper, and is nothing that a...

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Finding A Balance

Sometimes one of the hardest things to deal with is a patient with numerous problems at the same time. Like my patient today. Actually, I was filling in at a different location than I normally work, but I had good notes from the other doctor to follow. Spice is a 12 year old poodle who has had chronic ear infections, a low-grade heart murmur, and has recently started having seizures. Oh, and recently he had some pretty dramatic increases in the liver values in his blood tests, indicating that there was something really wrong with the liver. On top of all of that, he has some pretty bad arthritis and needs to be on pain medication daily or he can't easily get around. Think this little guy has enough problems?Let me give you a better idea of the specific problems and decisions that he...

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A Pen From Heaven

I posted this earlier this week on my other blog, The Christian Ninjate. I don't know how many people read both, so I thought it was worth repeating here.God works in some pretty cool ways sometimes. The Bible talks about the little ways that God talks to us, but we're always looking for the big things.Last week I was really struggling with my life and happiness. Without going into the details right now, work and life were really getting to me. I've been trying to work through it, and do pray and seek God's guidance, but it isn't always easy. I know that He has plans for me and that He is always watching me, but it's hard to feel that sometimes. I often say that I'm not worried that God has something good in mind for me...I just wish He would let me in on the plan.That's why I was surprised...

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A Cut Below The Rest

If you've been following this blog for a while, you'll have seen me mention that everyone should have several hundred dollars set aside in an emergency fund for their pets. Today I saw yet another validation of this idea, as well as a validation of my policy against unnecessary euthanasia.A client had a 3 year old female rottweiler mix that had received a nasty gash on her leg. She had already been to the local emergency clinic earlier in the day, and they had quoted her around $700 to suture it up. She came to us for a second opinion, concerned that they were a bit high on their pricing. When she first called, she seemed to downplay how bad the cut was, so we didn't know what to expect. The dog was very calm and nice and overall looked to be in very good health. The owner didn't know...

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The Heartworms Just Keep Coming

Last year I wrote an entry about heartworms not just being a problem in dogs (if you weren't here then, read it right here). I swear, I'm starting to get extremely paranoid about heartworm disease. In the past two weeks, I've had five different dogs that have tested positive. That's more than I think I've ever had in such a short period of time. Today it got worse. I had my first heartworm positive cat in 12 years of practice.I've known that cats can contract heartworms since veterinary school, so it didn't totally surprise me. I've also tested cats over the years, and have always had negative results. But this one was most definitely postive. Want to know why he came in to see me? Sporadic vomiting for the past three weeks. And as surprising as it may seem, vomiting is one of the...

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A Matter Of The Heart

One of my favorite memories from veterinary school involves a little puppy with a severe heart condition. The puppy had a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), which is a very serious disorder. When the fetus is in the mother the blood bypasses the lungs since the lungs have no oxygen in them. Instead of the blood pumping into the lungs, it passes from one side of the heart to the other. When the baby is born, this ductus arteriousus is supposed to close down, allowing blood to flow completely into the lungs.In rare cases the ductus arteriosus remains open. Some of the blood bypasses the lungs, not picking up oxygen. So the puppy's blood has less oxygen than it should, potentially starving the body and tissues. If this continues for long enough, it can be life-threatening. The only cure...

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Death By Chewing Gum?

This is one that many people may not know about. Last week a client called because her dog (about 16 pounds) got into her purse and ate an entire pack of chewing gum. She thought she had remembered something about it being poisonous, so she called my office. We had her check the package, and indeed it did carry the toxic ingredient. Thankfully, we were able to help her induce vomiting right away, managed to get the gum out of the stomach, and after some observation the dog was fine.Xylitol is an artificial sweetener found in many products, but most commonly sugar-free chewing gum. In dogs it can cause a sudden drop in blood sugar, sometimes as quickly as 30 minutes, but also as long as 12 hours after ingestion. The hypoglycemia often appears as stumbling, weakness, incoordination, or...

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Horner's syndrome 2

When you type "Horner's syndrome" and "dogs" in Google's search engine, VetBlog shows up on the first page. Considering this syndrome is not uncommon, many people have posted questions on this blog in the comments section of my previous post on Horner's syndrome.Due to its popularity, I have decided to post again on this subject.Horner's syndrome (or Horner syndrome) is not a disease but rather a constellation of clinical signs resulting from a lesion to the sympathetic branch to the eye. The symptoms are 1) a droopy eyelid, 2) miosis (a constricted or smaller-than-normal pupil), 3) enophthalmos (a sunken eyeball) and 4) a protruding 3rd eyelid...

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Practice makes perfect

I don't know how to tell this story modestly, well, because it was simply impressive and exhilarating (how's that for modesty?!). I was sitting in a café this morning reading some notes on canine rehabilitation when a young woman approached me and asked me, half-jokingly, if I could help her rehabilitate her anxious and aggressive dog, Chico, a middle-aged Chihuahua. He was sitting outside on the deck barking his head off, with the owner's other more psychologically-stable dog. We shared a chuckle when I told her that I was reading about physical rehabilitation therapy and not about dog behaviour. However, I did offer to try something, with...

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Weedy Worries

Over the last few days we had a good, steady rain, one of the best ones in quite some time. Our area has been under a drought for well over a year, so it was nice to see. Spring is here, and I can see trees and bushes starting to bloom.I can also see the clover and weeds springing up in my yard. This is one of the downsides to home ownership. I love the way a well-kept yard looks, but I'm not very good at doing it myself. It takes time and money, and I don't have a lot of excess of either. In the winter I could look at the relatively dead foliage and plants and not worry about it. But now that my grass is growing and the weeds are springing up in my flower beds, I can no longer pretend that my yard is doing okay.It's so frustrating to have to deal with this. I mean, grass should just...

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Shrieking Kids

I often tell people that when someone goes into veterinary medicine because they don't like dealing with people, they are in for a very rude surprise.Clients with young kids are a bit unpredictable. When the kids are well-behaved, I like to talk to them and interact with them. Sometimes I'll let them listen through my stethescope and participate in the exam. I give talks to schoolkids, so I don't mind answering their many questions. However, the rambunctious kids make me cringe. Sometimes there will be several in the room, pulling on the pet, opening cabinets and drawers, climbing on the exam table, and otherwise making it almost impossible to carry on a conversation with the parent.A few days ago I was getting ready to go into a room to see a puppy for its vaccine boosters. Through...

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Onions And Dogs

Last month I wrote about how onions are very toxic to cats. Here is a related question....I know that onions are not good for dogs. But what if you use tomato sauce that was made with onions (it's a thin, consistent sauce - no onions present but was cooked with onions during preparation). Is that safe to use? I make lots of dog treats for my dog and his buddies and just checking on whether I can use some homemade tomato sauce in a I normally bake.One of the very interesting things about animal physiology is the differences between superficially similar animals. On the first day of vet school we had one of our most important lessons. And it was pretty simple. "Cats are not small dogs." Our class even had t-shirts printed with this saying. There are some very significant differences in...

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Preparing For Epilepsy

Christina sends in this question. It's a long one, and so is my answer, but this is a great topic for discussion.My husband and I are looking to adopt our first dog soon, and one online listing in particular has caught our eye. This dog is being rehomed because he has idiopathic epilepsy, which I understand means that he has seizures without any known cause. He is currently on phenobarbitol and potassium bromide but still seizes about once a month, usually at night while sleeping. We don't object to taking in a dog with special needs, in fact we would be happy to, but we want to be absolutely certain that we can handle this particular condition before we commit. I have done a lot of research already, but as much as I want to help him I'm still not sure if this would be getting in over our...

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A dog in a wheelchair

Today on 1010 AM, CFRB, John Moore was commenting on a story he heard about, in which a 3 year-old, paralyzed dog was in a wheelchair, and whose owners had to "squeeze" him several times daily in order for the dog to urinate. The host commented that he would not be willing to devote so much time and energy to a paralyzed dog and would have had him euthanized instead.Many callers phoned in to convey sympathy and understanding for these owners' willingness to do so much for their beloved pet.Firstly, I am not condemning this man. I believe he is neither heartless nor callous. Some people simply would not be able to do these things, whether constrained...

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For Pete's Sake, Put Them On Prevention!

You'll have to excuse me for a moment as I rant a bit. I almost did this yesterday, but can't hold back today, as it is really bugging me.Today I diagnosed my fourth case of heartworm disease in a week. To put it in perspective, from May to December of last year (an 8 month period), I diagnosed 8 cases, making an average of 1 per month. Now in a week, I have a month's worth of cases. The worst part is that each and every one of these cases was 100% preventable. Four dogs were allowed by their owners to get heartworm disease. Each of those clients did know about the disease, and had chosen not to put their dogs on prevention. The owners in essence gambled with their dog's lives and lost. Rather than purchasing prevention, they decided that they would rather take the risk. Unfortunately,...

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Eeewwww!

Last night my wife and I were sitting down playing a game and just enjoying some quality time together once the kids were asleep. To keep Inara and Guinevere quiet (as they were extremely distracting with their play), we gave them each a rawhide strip. Both dogs love these, and it was a great way to keep them occupied. Guinevere is pretty quick to go through one, but Inara really takes her time. She spent a good couple of hours chewing on hers, until it was a soft, extremely slimey consistency. Perfect for a dog, but not so much fun for a person.It became more fun when she jumped up on the couch with the gooey rawhide in her mouth, and jumped right onto my wife. Despite being a vet's wife, she doesn't have a high tolerance for these sorts of things, and was freaking out about it almost...

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Those Wacky Clients

One of this blog's readers is also a veterinarian, and recently posted about one of her clients. Check out this very interesting story right here. I have to say that her story tops any of the ones I have. But that doesn't mean that I don't see some strange clients. Part of dealing with the public is seeing those quirky, strange, or downright insane people that make you wonder what in the world kind of medication they're on.Once I had a client who insisted on talking about her various medical disorders, especially of the skin. I think she talked to us more about her own problems than her dog's. The worst part was that she always insisted on showing us the lesions, and asking if we thought the scabs in her hair were due to mites.Several years ago we had a client who started nursing her...

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Following Big Sis

My new puppy, Inara, is now four months old, and has fit into the family very well. We're still getting through the housebreaking, but it's getting better. Our adult dog, Guinevere, has fully accepted her, and it's great to see them playing together. In fact, we've had to move some things off shelves because they play so hard and fast we've been worried things will come tumbling down.One of the greatest things to watch is how little Inara follows Guinevere anywhere. Wherever Gweny goes, Inara tags along. When they go outside, Inara is right behind her "big sister". In fact, it can be a bit annoying to Gweny. There she is, sniffing around,...

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The Shark-Mouthed Dog

Many small breed dogs are prone to retaining puppy teeth. These teeth normally start falling out around four months old, and take around two months for all of them be replaced by adult teeth. Many of my clients are surprised when I tell them that their puppy's baby teeth are coming out, but I try to warn them so they don't panic when little Fluffy's incisor suddenly goes *plop* onto the floor.As I mentioned, it's not uncommon for some of these teeth to stay in the mouth. In these cases the baby tooth stays in place and the adult tooth comes in right next to it. Sometimes this can cause the adult tooth to emerge abnormally, causing it to press into the gums of the opposite jaw, or otherwise causing a misalignment. Most of the time, though, it doesn't appear to be a major issue at first....

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Dog left in van

Michou, a handsome, grey, curly-haired, little poodle, spent 19 days in a van at a Vermont airport while his owner was vacationing. Pascal Bellon, the said owner from a charming little town in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, told authorities he did not know the dog was in the car. His fine: $100. Authorities could not prove he wasn't telling the truth so he got off with a slap on the wrist.Michou lost 50 percent of his weight over 19 days of starvation, dehydration, and freezing temperatures. There was an outpouring of both compassion for the dog and outrage with the fine against the owner. I know humans are an imperfect species, but I...

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Toughest animal cruelty laws in Canada

On March 1, 2009, the government of Ontario amended animal cruelty lesgislation, last changed significantly seven years after the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank on that fateful night in 1912. Ninety years ago, these laws were avant-garde, showing a society that was ready to care for its animals as well as its hungry, sick, and homeless human citizens.The new legislation sees increased fines and tougher sentences brought upon those who harm animals. Veterinarians are now required by law to report cases of suspected animal abuse, the government assuming all responsibility for liability. Strangely, animals used in law enforcement will have...

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No, It's Not Ear Mites

Does your dog have itchy ears? Does she shake her head a lot and scratch at the ears? Does he have a bad odor and dark "goop" coming from his ears? If this is your first time having a dog with "bad" ears, there is a better than average chance that you'll think it's ear mites. And if you think that the problem is due to mites, you might go to your local pet supply store, pick up some over-the-counter ear mite medicine, and start using it. You might then be a bit surprised when the problem keeps going on, despite a few weeks of treatment.Some of you are nodding a bit sheepishly, as you have done this very thing. And I know it happens commonly, because a couple of weeks ago one of the people in my church asked me about this, and I had two clients on Saturday that thought the same thing....

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The Wonder Of Fevers

My family has been fighting off illnesses this week. Our daughter was sick and had a fever in the beginning of the week. She recovered after a few days, but last night our son started a fever, getting up to 102 (F) at one point. My wife took our daughter to the doctor to rule out strep throat, and it turns out that it's just a virus and nothing to worry about. It's inconvenient (I'm staying home from church this morning to stay with our son), but not a real concern.My son is a curious person, and this morning he asked us how we knew he had a fever. As my wife explained it to him, I started having one of my moments where I thought of things in a somewhat skewed way. I started thinking about how cool and wonderful fevers were.Mammalian and avian bodies have an internal thermostat, and...

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