Holly has this question about her dog...I've taken my 10-year-old mixed breed, Biscuit, in to be seeing by the vet on a regular (well pet) schedule. She is 10 years old, a border collie/ shepherd/??? mix. She had issues with diarrhea as a young dog and has been on Eukanuba low residue diet her entire life since these problems emerged (18 - 24 mos.) She is exhibiting pain in jumping up onto "her" chair, never jumps on the bed anymore and her right upper leg appears to be "wasted". Nonetheless, she still enjoys a 3 mile walk each and every day without limping and is not overweight. My vet took an x-ray of her hip and spine. While the spine shows evidence of some arthritis, the hip appears unaffected. What are we missing here? I've changed...
Christmas With The Berns
I've taken a few days off and let my associates handle the duties, a perk of being in charge. Don't worry, they're getting time off also. But I wanted to have a little extra time with my family.Yesterday I spent the entire day in PJs, playing games and watching movies with my wife and kids. It was really nice to have that kind of slow, relaxing quality time with my family. With the way life can get hectic sometimes, it can be hard to have that kind of time. We rarely slow down long enough to really see what is around us in our own lives, especially this time of year. There is so much going on around Christmas with obligations, parties, shopping, and so on that we can forget what the season is really about.Remember that this is supposed to be the Season of...
Mysterious Bloody Urine
Meaghan presents this situation...ok here is the background...female american bulldog/french mastiff mix. dob 9/2/2009.i had gotten her, Chaise, when she was 8 weeks old. she was from a litter of 13. at around 3-4 months she started to have blood in her urine. everything else was fine, eating sleeping, playing all fine. took her to vet, said twice it was just a uti. she was on antibiotics for 4 weeks and nothing helped clear it up. switched vets and the new vets ran many more tests including; xrays, cultures, cbc, liver functions, kidney function, clotting test, ultrasound, and finally exploritive surgery which she also got spayed. still nothing. all the test came back fine. and the surgery all they could say was that there was...
MMMRREOOOOOWWW!!!!
I've been practicing for 13 years, so it takes a lot for a client to really surprise or startle me. Today this happened.The client came in because her cat had been in a fight last night and had a swollen leg. Not necessarily a big deal, as I suspected an abscess or other injury. When my tech came out of the room after the initial exam, he said that the client seemed a little bit strange and wasn't being reasonable. For example, she refused to let us weigh the cat, saying he was "about 13 pounds" but not letting us confirm (I was able to weigh him later and he was 14.3 pounds). I've seen some strange clients, so I didn't worry about it much at that point, figuring it would be just another odd interaction. Little did I know....So I went into the room, introduced...
Using Drugs With Imagination
Acepromazine is a common drug in veterinary medicine, used primarily as a sedative. It comes in both pill and injectable forms and is something we use in one form or another on a daily basis. It's also been around for a long time, so it's something we're all very familiar with. Yet one of my techs showed me something quite surprising.On the bottle of acepromazine there was a drug guide, something common to all medications. These guides discuss the pharmacology of the medication, including structure, common uses, dosages, adverse effects, and so on. Much to my surprise, this is what is printed on part of that label."Description: Acepromazine maleate USP, a potent neuroleptic agent with a low order of toxicity, is of particular value in the tranquilization...
Costs Of Dog Ownership
I received a great question from a reader, Jessica....I'm going through the very intensive decision over whether I will adopt a dog next year. I am an extremely responsible, pet-experienced twenty year old, and I have two years experience in the doggy daycare industry and I know I'll have no problems properly caring for a dog. Similarly, I've also realized that I can work my schedule out so I'm home most of the day with the dog. My only concern is the cost of vet bills. I have a good chunk of money saved up in case of emergencies (which I would use if necessary) but I do wonder what the yearly physical, with shots and such, tends to cost. I know that perhaps one of the biggest problems people have when they own animals is being able to pay for them financially and I want...
Evolving Anesthesia
Currently my practice is getting ready to change our anesthesia protocols. We've spent time reviewing the literature, consulting with specialists, and deciding what is both safe and cost-effective to use. I'm pretty excited about the changes, and really believe that it will allow us to have better and safer anesthesia, as well as better and safer pain control.Most clients probably don't realize that the anesthesia can be extremely different from one veterinary practice to another. There simply is no one, single consensus among veterinarians regarding which protocol should be used. Some vets elect to do anesthesia as cheaply as possible to make it available to more people, recognizing that the cheapest drugs usually come with greater risks than others. Some vets...
Exotics Week: Practice Builder
Today's entry is specifically directed at veterinarians and veterinary students. But the rest of you can get some insight into running a veterinary practice.I know that as veterinarians we don't get much practice in exotic pet medicine in school, and some vets simply don't like seeing these pets for personal reasons (such as s snake phobia). However, I've known many vets who don't see exotics because they feel they don't have the right training for it and are unwilling to take the steps to get the training. Those vets are missing out on a potential practice builder.I'm one of the few vets in my area who will see just about anything you can bring in (other than livestock and large animals). I don't consider myself an expert, but I can certainly see many kinds of animals...
Exotics Week: Overgrown Teeth
All rodents and rabbits (technically rabbits are lagomorphs, not rodents) have teeth with open roots that grow throughout their lives. By chewing on hard objects they naturally wear the teeth down so they don't become too long. However, sometimes the teeth do become overgrown and this can cause serious problems.Most people don't look at their pet's teeth, so early signs usually go unnoticed. It's also impossible to see their molars by simply looking at their mouth, so normally the incisors are the only ones visible. Therefore problems with the incisors can be noticed by an owner, but not problems with the molars. ...
Exotics Week: Blood Feathers
Anyone who has birds should know about blood feathers. This isn't a disorder and is a natural part of the feather growth. However, broken blood feathers can be a big mess.When a new feather starts to grow in, it has blood in the shaft to give nutrients during the growth phase. The blood gives the shaft a dark blue appearance and is very distinctive. Here are a couple of pictures.Once the feather reaches full growth, the blood recedes, leaving the shaft hollow and clear.Problems can happen when the blood feather breaks. This can occur when the wing or tail beats against the side of a cage or other hard object, during...
Exotics Week: Guinea Pig Mites
I see a lot of guinea pigs in my practice and the single most common problem I see in them is skin mites. Now first I want to clarify that mites and lice are very different. Mites are microscopic and lice are barely visible. Though they may have some similarities in causing itching, their behavior and progression are different.A guinea pig with skin mites is invariably itchy. Sometimes mildly so, but often very significantly so. In fact, a guinea pig can itch so severely that they will go into full-blown seizures. This may happen spontaneously or after handling or scratching. Though the seizures are scary to see, they aren't harmful and will go away once the pet is treated.These pets will start to have scaly, scabbed skin and will lose hair. As the...
Exotics Week: Metabolic Bone Disease
Continuing with reptiles, let's take a look at another completely preventable condition in captive reptiles...metabolic bone disease. This disorder involves a lack of proper bone absorption of calcium, resulting in a serious health condition. Though it's primarily seen as a problem in the bones, calcium is also involved in proper muscle contraction so you can see muscle problems as well.Proper calcium metabolism requires two parts. First is taking in enough calcium. Reptiles must be fed specific calcium-rich fruits and vegetables, especially dark green leafy vegetables (kale, spinach, mustard greens, collard greens, etc.). It's sometimes surprising how many people don't realize that many pet reptiles are mostly herbivores and don't need much in the way of insects as...
Exotics Week: Vitamin A Deficiency
I haven't done a themed week in a while, so it's about time. Exotic pets are a strong interest of mine to the point where I'm designated as training people in this area in my practice. I thought I would share some important topics that might help owners of these pets.The first topic is vitamin A deficiency, mainly seen in turtles. This is a completely preventable disease, as it's related to improper feeding. The patient most commonly presents with swollen, puffy eyes and potentially torn or raw skin. It's also common to have some nasal discharge. Though lab tests can help establish the pet's health, this is...
Why So Many Women?
There was a recent article describing why women choose certain professions, especially in medicine. The study described that one of the biggest determining factors was not an inherent love of the field, but its low cost to families. The professions that allowed the best balance of work and family are the ones that women are choosing to go into. And yes, veterinary medicine is one of those fields. Here's a quote from the article.Among professions with the fastest-growing proportions of women are veterinary medicine. Because of growth in veterinary hospitals and emergency clinics, vets increasingly have been able to eliminate on-call, night and weekend hours, and to work part-time, Goldin says. The proportion of female grads in vet medicine has soared to almost 80%,...
Bonding With The Physician
I've come to a good understanding and bond with my own physician. He's known what I do since I started seeing him and we'll sometimes talk about cases together. I went to see him today and realized that veterinarians and human doctors have things in common besides our medical training.He was running late today, and it was almost an hour from the time that I checked in until he came into the room. Honestly, it didn't bother me. I always bring a book or something to work on when I have a doctor's appointment, because there's usually a wait. I'm also well aware of how your schedule can get off-kilter, so I'm very forgiving of other doctors' delays. When he entered he apologized for the wait. Since we sometimes "talk shop" he explained one of the cases...
