A couple of weeks ago Paul asked this and I'm finally getting around to it. I wonder if you could discuss the issue of blood groups and blood transfusions in dogs.I understand that large breed dogs often are blood donors and that unlike us humans, at least my understanding is, that a dog can receive a blood transfusion from another dog without the blood being of the same blood group as the donor's. Am I correct? How does this work? without killing the dog. Is it only once in a dog's lifetime that a transfusion of another blood group can be done? Are the blood groupings for dogs the same as humans? Excellent question, Paul! I'll try to answer this question in a way that most laypeople can understand. All of my veterinary readers please be patient if I don't get into...
Moving Elderly, Sick Pets
Nathalia send me this email...I have two elderly cats, one is approaching 18 and the other 16.5. My 16 year old is epileptic and receives medication 3 times a day. She has been seizure free for about 4 months, but they can start up at any time…or so has been the case since they began about six years ago. My 18 year old is healthy, although the vet tells me she is in stage 1 or 2 of chronic kidney disease. I am moving to New Zealand in August. I have begun preparations for moving the girls, but my vet suggested that I leave them behind because she did not think they could withstand the flight from Indianapolis to Auckland (flying cargo for most of the flight), plus being quarantined for 30 days in New Zealand upon arrival. (she was worried about my 16 year old going long stretches of time without...
Make It Stop!
Part of being a vet is dealing with noisy dogs. Most of the time we get used to it and learn to tune it out. Frankly, you have to because it's just about a daily occurrence. Dogs bark to communicate with each other, let other know they are there, and express their "displeasure" at being confined. Any and all of these reasons can cause a dog to bark when in the clinic. And once one starts barking it entices others to join in. At times it can be quite a cacophony! I've been having to put up with barking for about 27 years now, and you'd think I'd be used to it. Most of the time I am, but sometimes it gets to me.Today we had a little Yorkshire terrier in for a dental cleaning. He came with a housemate, a shih-tzu, and it quickly became evident...
Men Running From Women
Veterinary medicine has become interesting regarding gender shifts. In 1960 the profession was 98% male. Today it's 50.9% female. From 1976 to 1995 the enrollment rate of men entering veterinary school decreased by more than half and the female applicants doubled. Currently enrollment in US vet schools is 70-80% female, and 2009 was the first year that women menbers of the American Veterinary Medical Association outnumbered men. It's no secret to anyone paying attention that this has become and will increasingly become a female-dominated profession.The question is "why?" Most people have explained the shift in gender demographics in relation to women's rights, changing gender perceptions, acceptance of women in medicine, lower wages discouraging men, and...
When To Spay Or Neuter
A common debate among veterinarians, shelters, and clients is when to have a dog or cat spayed or neutered. The consensus and opinions have changed over time, and there can be some big disagreements depending on someone's experience and education. A recent article in the journal Veterinary Medicine discussed the current views on the pros and cons of this kind of surgery on very young pets, and I thought it would be good to bring it up here.First of all, we need to define "pediatric" spaying and neutering. This normally means performing the surgery between 8 and 16 weeks of age. Older vets would balk at this because the recommendation used to be to wait until six months old or after one heat cycle. Current thinking has pretty much disproven the need to wait this...
Expanding Opportunities
More and more this blog seems to be affording me some unique opportunities. I've been able to connect with people around the world and in every hemisphere, I've reconnected with a client, and I've been able to share my knowledge to a far wider audience than I ever imagined. Though I'm far from a big-time blogger, this whole thing has grown bigger than I realistically thought would happen.Recently I was interviewed for an online college website, talking about what it takes to become a vet. You can find the article here. The interviewer paraphrased a few of my statements, but the answers are mine. These are also similar questions that I have answered in this blog on previous occasions, so long-time readers may find some similarities. And since I've gone through...
Taking A New Oath
When we graduate to become veterinarians, we must take an oath stating our sincerity in our chosen profession. For only the third time in history, the oath in the United States has been revised by the American Veterinary Medical Association. The original oath was adopted in 1954, then revised in 1969, 1999, and now 2011. Here is the oath that every US veterinarian takes:"Being admitted to the profession of veterinary medicine, I solemnly swear to use my scientific knowledge and skills for the benefit of society through the protection of animal health and welfare, the prevention and relief of animal suffering, the conservation of animal resources, the promotion of public health, and the advancement of medical knowledge."Some of this oath may be surprising to the lay-person. ...
Guilty As Charged?
I think we all know the situation. We come into a room and there is a mess on the floor. Maybe a poo or pee accident, or maybe the dog got into the garbage. As we look over the mess the dog slinks away or holds their head down. Maybe we ask "did you do this?" and the dog looks away. It's pretty obvious that the dog knows what they did wrong and that they are feeling guilty about it.Or do they?It's pretty easy to find videos online of "guilty" dogs. Check out a couple of these... It seems pretty clear that these dogs recognize their bad deeds and feel some degree of guilty. However, studies have shown that this isn't the case, and we are attributing too many human emotions to our pets.A dog has little to no long-term association between their behaviors...
Distemper Still Around
Over the last decade or so there has been a move in veterinary medicine to decrease vaccination of pets due to concerns about reactions, cancer, and other adverse events. Much of this attitude has made its way on the internet, and many clients don't seem to think that regular vaccination is necessary. While I agree that we need to investigate and implement longer durations for vaccines, I think that some people have a very false sense of security. And that may include some veterinarians.In my 13 years in practice I have seen only two dogs with confirmed canine distemper, and they were littermates. I have practiced in many different areas of the country and have seen many different diseases, but not much in the way of distemper. There are vets who have graduated...
The Best Veterinary Colleges In The US
Considering that my last post was on choosing undergraduate colleges, today's entry fits very nicely. I am a graduate of North Carolina State University, and today I received an email from our alumni organization about a newly released ranking of US veterinary colleges. For as long as I can remember, NCSU has been ranked #5, but this time we made it up to #3 (in a tie). Click here for the article, and the list is presented below....1. Cornell University2. University of California, Davis3. Colorado State University3. North Carolina State University5. Ohio State University5. University of Pennsylvania5. University of Wisconsin, Madison8. Texas A&M University9. Michigan State University9. University of Georgia9. University...
Picking The Right College
A commenter posted this, which I felt was worthwhile answering.I am a high school student aspiring to become a veterinarian. I'm in the process of looking at colleges and figuring out which undergraduate programs will give me the best chances of getting into a good vet school (which I know is very competitive). I was wondering what advice you might have about what's important to consider in the whole college-search process in order to reach my goal of ultimately getting a DVM. I may be a bit controversial with my comments here, but I don't feel that there is much difference in colleges when it comes to going into veterinary school as long as you can meet the minimum requirements. Yes, some schools have higher ratings than others. But you don't need to go to a school...
Finding Motivation
This might be a shocker to those outside of the veterinary field. Sometimes vets simply don't want to go to work or don't want to see cases while they are there. Yes, I know we're supposed to love our job and according to surveys most vets do. But we're only human and no matter how much someone loves their job there are some days when you're just simply lacking motivation to perform.This isn't a good situation in any job. A factory worker needs to be able to perform up to standards or they could be injured or produced shoddy materials. A cashier may not have many responsibilities, but they should still be careful about what they ring up and what kind of attitude they have. When a doctor is unmotivated it's a bit trickier, because they are responsible for...
Proper Communication
LeAnne emailed me with the following...I am currently in the process of applying to veterinary school (I have an interview next week at UC Davis - wish me luck!) and I'm a full time technician at a four doctor canine and feline practice. My question stems from my experiences at work and from contemplating my own future as a veterinarian. Part of my job is to restrain pets during exams. Because I'm pre-vet, I like to stick around after the exam to listen to the doctors go over their observations and recommendations. One of the doctors surprises me regularly by using a lot of veterinary words such as "palpation", "crepitus", "cranial abdomen", and other words that it seems to me lay people may or may not know (she says things like "I don't feel anything when I palpate the cranial abdomen")....
Wait, Where's The Microphone?!?
Today I had a brand new experience. I was on TV for a local station talking about dental care in pets. And it didn't go exactly as I expected.I've never been in a TV studio before, so I didn't know what was going to happen. I brought my dog, Inara, to use as a sort of prop to demonstrate how to brush a dog's teeth, and had arranged this ahead of time with the producer. I arrived at the appointed time, abut 15 minutes before air time, and spent some time talking to the station receptionist. At 5:30 they called me into the studio and I quietly entered as they were starting their broadcast. I had never actually met anyone from the station in person, so I wasn't completely sure who I was supposed to talk to. I discovered that the person I was told to contact...
Peri-Operative Care
Amanda emailed me with this... My name is Amanda M**** and I am a student working on my Associate's Degree in Veterinary Technology. I have an assignment to prepare a presentation on the preop, peri-op, and postop procedures for a surgery. I have chosen Enucleation for my topic, but I'm having a hard time finding information specific to preop, peri-op, and postop procedures. I read your post "Bye Bye Eye" from August 4, 2010, and it was helpful--especially the pictures (which are also hard to find). I read that you welcomed questions, so I thought I'd send you a line. If you have time, could you please tell me what is needed to take care of the animal surrounding the surgical procedure? I thought you would be a perfect source of information,...
The Privilege Of Pets
My latest poll was a little surprising for a couple of reasons. First, there were 152 responses, which is almost double the last poll and far higher than any previous. Second, the opinions were very strongly one-sided. How did people view pet ownership?A right--5%A privilege--93%Not sure--1%I strongly believe that nobody has a RIGHT to own a pet. You also don't have a right to drive a car, a right to buy a TV at a certain price, and so on. Dictionary.com defines "right" (in this context) as follows:a just claim or title, whether legal, prescriptive, or morala moral, ethical, or legal principle considered as an underlying cause of truth, justice, morality, or ethics. I don't think that owning a pet would fall under any of these definitions, or other similar ones.If pet...
The Essentials
Back in December I talked about changes in anesthesia protocols, emphasizing how new research and technology allows us to evolve and adapt to make procedures safer. Yesterday I discussed one monitoring parameter, and unexpectedly started a bit of a debate on the usefulness of electrocardiograms (ECGs). Since I believe that open and honest debate is how we learn from each other, I thought that I'd clarify the things that I feel are essential to safe anesthetic events. Personally I don't think that general anesthesia should be performed without the following things, and I know that my views mirror those of anesthesia specialists.Pre-Anesthesia Blood TestsJust because a pet looks healthy on the outside doesn't mean that everything is normal. Low-grade anemia can be a sign...
