Rare Cat Caught On Video

Those of you who know me, know I love felines -notably wild felines.  Many people are familiar with  tigers, lions, cheetahs, and cougars (to name a few), however, there are quite a few wild felids that don't get much attention. Most of these cats are smaller - some similar in size to our house cats.


This is a story about a rare African golden cat.

Scientists capture rare video of elusive African cat

Scientists tracking one of Africa’s most elusive and poorly understood animals say they’ve recorded a rare – and possibly the only publicly released – video of the species in the wild.

The video, recorded by a motion-activated camera placed in a Gabon forest, shows an African golden cat: a shy, medium-sized feline that ducks human contact and lives in hard-to-access parts of central African forests.

“As far as we know, it’s never before been filmed (in the wild) for ... the public domain,” said Luke Hunter, president of Panthera, the conservation group providing most of the funding for the team that captured the video this year.

The footage, photos and other information that the team is gathering – part of an effort to get a population estimate in certain areas of Gabon’s forests – could contribute to a greater understanding of the species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature, which lists the animal as near-threatened, says it is not only infrequently observed in the wild, it is “Africa’s least studied felid.”


Read More and See a Short Video Clip of this Beauty

Update on a Miracle and Coughing Dogs

The other day I mentioned a kitten that had pneumonia. Today she was in for a recheck and she is just amazing! She was running all around the room like a devil, looks like she has been grooming herself and is nearly 100% better!

A little blurry I know but they NEVER stay still!!! 


Lately it seems I've been seeing a run of coughing dogs. Most of these are older patients with little exposure to other dogs or a history of boarding/grooming/dog parks, etc. 


In general people, don't seem to take this stuff seriously. These dogs lately have also been larger breed dogs. When I hear that an older dog is coughing, there are two main things that come to mind before I even walk in the door - cardiac (heart) disease/failure or cancer (primary or metastatic). The breed plays some role in which might be #1 vs #2 (ex: Doberman Pinschers have a lot of dilated cardiomyopathy.)


This week, I saw a 12 yr Pit Bull that turned out to have cancer throughout the lung fields, a 9 year old Pit Bull (no the breed doesn't have a predisposition to either of these but see a lot of the breed) that had a very enlarged heart and a significant murmur and then a 9 yr old Lab that had...kennel cough.  Yes, every once in a while, it is something nice and simple!


These were all diagnosed with chest radiographs and in some cases supported by blood work.


If your dog is coughing, call your vet for an appointment!!  

Warning: Pictures May Disturb You

Today someone dropped off a 3 month old kitten that had been attacked by a raccoon.  At first glance, her face had a large scab over it with only one nostril showing.  After we cleaned it up - this is what we saw: 

Yes, it is bad. But she has two things working for her: 
1. youth
2. being a feline 


Being a feline gives her a heads up on healing. Remember those other kitty cases I've shown you?  And as we learned in vet school, if you get two parts of the bone in the same room and it's a cat (or cow) it'll heal. In other words, they overcome quite a lot!  


This kitten does have some obstacles:
1. The one nostril is partially destroyed at this time. What will become of her ability to smell or breath through her nose? Too soon to tell!
2. She will have some type of deformity - to what degree too soon to tell!
3. She must be a rabies suspect until she's passed 10 days. Though if the raccoon was rabid and the bite occurs this close to the brain, she would show signs before 10 days. This is the reason I handle her with gloves. However, should she turn out to have rabies, I still will need and get post exposure vaccinations. You do NOT want to mess around with rabies. 


Our plan: A few days of antibiotics and then some plastic surgery for her. We can't repair it completely as there are large pieces of tissue missing but we can get some things closer together.


I hope to show you pictures as she progresses!

A Canine War Hero

Just a nice feel good story - glad we are recognizing the animals that help our soldiers out there on the battlefield!

Veteran dog gets full military funeral

By Clifton French (cfrench@wsbt.com)
5:05 p.m. EDT, August 13, 2011

KNOX – A war hero, Purple Heart recipient and man’s best friend was buried in front of the VFW Post in Knox Saturday.

"I think about her every day," said Neil Burg, commander of the American Legion in Hamlet.

At the VFW post in Knox, it was a full military honor for the funeral of a veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan. The ashes of Mira, draped with a small flag, were put in a final resting place right in front of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. A 21-gun salute rang out and Taps was played for a final salute.

Mira spent half her life as a bomb-sniffing dog in Iraq and Afghanistan before she retired in Hamlet. A Purple Heart recipient, Mira spent six years in combat and was wounded three separate times. She has a military record that shows numerous acts of heroism, including alerting a group of Marines to a bomb, allowing all five of them to get to safety before it exploded.

"Five men or women get to go home and spend time with their families because they're alive, thanks to Mira," Burg said.

But it was in Hamlet, Indiana where she was able to be a dog. She was adopted by Donald Thomas only a few years ago.

"She was an excellent dog, I couldn't have chosen a better one," Thomas said.

It was in Starke County were she was treated by Thomas and others like a veteran and hero and where she was laid to rest as one.

"I know she's going to be missed. She'll be missed for a good many years by the VFW, the American Legion and the people who knew her and worked with her," Thomas said.

Mira was 12 years old.  Thomas said she died from lung cancer.

Mira was the first dog to be made a member of the VFW in the state of Indiana, and only the second dog in the state to be made a member of the American Legion. This was the first military funeral in Indiana for a dog that served in combat.

Link to Article with Video

Breed of the Week: Jack Russell Terrier

Energy.  High energy. Those are the first words I think of when someone tells me they have a JRT or we are seeing one as a patient.


Now most of these dogs are very nice and easy to work on if...IF...you can get them to sit still!! Good luck.


They are very sturdy little dogs. They are also considered to be good family dogs, though they can be strong willed so an owner must be the alpha dog or the cutie will take more than an inch with them.

They do not have too many health issues. The main few I've seen are:
1. Luxating patellas
2. Legg Perthes - a degenerative disease of the femoral head


Below is a photo of an x-ray of a Yorkshire Terrier with this:

The femoral head on the left hand side is being destroyed and is not a nice pretty ball sitting in the acetabulum. This causes pain so we went in and removed the femoral head and smoothed the edges of the remaining bone. Remember - this  is really the only orthopedic surgery I do. This is a common condition in toy/small breed dogs and some cats. 

Case Updates

Those of you that regularly read my blog are familiar with these cases but if you are not, I will provide links to the blog/s they were mentioned in along with each one.


1.  The Americana chicken - "Rosa".  She had a crop infection that ruptured to the outside. It took many weeks and some diligent care on the part of the owners plus a few vet checks, 2 surgeries to close the crop and now the skin is nearly closed over the wound.  The crop has been healed and functioning normally. Throughout this entire episode Rosa has been a sweetheart of a patient. 

The First Blog On Her
The Day of Her First Surgery



Side note: In case anyone is wondering what a crop in a bird is it's a part of the gastrointestinal tract that dilates and stores food prior to digestion.  In the picture below it is the white balloon like object at the front of the bird.

2. The cat with the large gaping wound on her abdomen that we put the drain in last week is doing great! The skin had some tension on it but it is healing. There a few spots that will have to granulate in but overall it's healthy tissue and is not swollen anymore.   We removed her drain today. I'll try to get another picture when she comes in for suture removal.

The Day She Came In




3. I didn't see that I posted this one before, but a cute scraggly little kitty that a very good client brought is doing well after leaving the hospital the other day. She had developed aspiration pneumonia.  The lady found her at a local (and excellent!) restaurant where she works. I told her the kitten had great taste to have climbed on their deck! She's been taking care of her since then - first for an upper respiratory infection and supportive care (force feeding, etc) and now for pneumonia. We don't know how she developed this as she has NOT been force fed for quite some time. But it is always possible she attempted to vomit or did vomit and got something in her lungs. She didn't look too good for a few days even in the oxygen cage with injectable medications.  Still, she's always been a fighter.  


Here's a pic of her I sent to her owner - who frequently texts me with updates.

Cougar Cub Gets Special Surgery

Thought I'd share this great story with you. I love reading stuff like this! A cougar cub had what we call a vascular ring anamoly where a piece of embryonic tissue (that would normally close down after birth) entraps most commonly the esophagus, causing regurgitation and poor growth. The only way to fix this is via surgery.


The picture below shows the esophagus distended with food/fluid. The yellow object is the trachea, the red is the aorta and the blue is the pulmonary artery. 

Here's the Story! 

Where's the Eye???

Sometimes an animal is born without a body part or one that simply never fully develops. 


A stray kitten someone brought in had an eye socket that seemed to be empty. The kitten was otherwise ok. She did have discharge from that eye. What she had was actually "microphthalmia" or a very tiny eyeball! If we didn't take it out and close it up permanently, she would have chronic discharge from that eye. . Of course, she wasn't seeing out of that side anyhow.


So we took her to surgery the other day (to do what we call an enucleation)  and this is what we got out:

It was a little challenging because of her small size AND because of this little eye being sunken pretty far back in.  We remove the eyelids so we can suture skin to skin and it will heal beautifully! 


One caveat with that - if the entire eyelid is not removed and there remains even a small fragment (tends to happen near the corner of the eye close to the nose or the nasal canthus area), there will not be complete sealing of the incision and the cat can present years later with chronic eye discharge, requiring a second surgery to correct this. 


Once she has hair regrowth over the area, no one will ever notice. This is her post-op (wishing I had taken one pre op but I admit to simply over looking that!).

The eye we did surgery on is on the right hand side of picture. Her tortoiseshell coloring makes it hard to get good contrast. 

She needs a home too! 


This is something we see here and there. Not a rarity but certainly not an every month event even in a busy practice. 


The site below has some pictures of kittens with this condition and a few other interesting things as well. 


Kitties with Eye Problems



***********************************
Update on the kitten from Monday's post. She came in the next day, not doing so well - low blood sugar and low body temp. Tuesday, she was up and down all day - crash, be ok, seem to rally, seem bad again, etc. A staff member took her home and she did ok through the night with a few scares. Today she spent most of the day not doing well despite very attentive nursing care. She ended up dying and only late in the day did we know why. She did have a moderate flea anemia on Monday. However, she had diarrhea today and given her other signs, we confirmed a diagnosis of panleukopenia (where all the white blood cells get wiped out) - a nasty viral infection of kitties - it's the feline version of parvo. Kittens this small/weak do not survive. This is something highly contagious and is one of the core vaccines we recommend to all kitties! This girl was too young to have been vaccinated.  Sad :(

If You Could Not Breathe For 3 days...

..what would you do? Yeah, seems like a silly question right? I mean, would you sit at home and stare at your TV? Or might you think about heading into the ER during day 1-2? 


Yeah, I think I'd head in fairly close to a few hours into respiratory distress. Ahh..but if you have a pet with these same signs??? You'd wait a few days, right? 


Ok, how about if you were vomiting and not eating for a week? Would you think nothing of it? You would be concerned?! What? Are you kidding me? 


Listen, I admit, today I am a bit bothered ok? Not having money and not "knowing" anything about pets is not an excuse. Think of YOU - how would you feel if you or your child were experiencing these very same symptoms?


And while in both cases, the prognosis was grave, a few days, a few weeks, a few regular vet check ups ago, it was NOT. 


Please, understand - having a pet is a responsibility, a life long commitment, an expense and yes, a luxury - NOT  a right! 


Both of these animals died - humanely. Their suffering was ended. Did they have to die when they did? No.  Their conditions may have been ultimately fatal but not necessarily in the fashion that they were. We can intervene and often prolong with excellent quality of life...if..IF we know. 

Simply Cute

Ok, I admit this is somewhat due to the fact that I am exhausted after a very busy day of surgeries and appointments but I figured you all would appreciate a light blog today - a picture of a simply gorgeous little kitten (she looks like a Himalayan or Siamese mix - has "points" and actually reminds ME of a little snow leopard cub..a very little one at that!) that a nice lady found under a shed. She is keeping her. This cutie has flea anemia - so little and so many fleas they sucked her nearly dry of her blood. But we did get her to eat and treated her for the fleas so I expect her to be in great shape in no time. Don't you think she'll be quite a stunner when she is an adult cat? 

After Death

Today's blog was inspired by a friend who has to say a formal goodbye to her Mom today. She is in my thoughts and prayers. It brought the topic of finalizing goodbyes to our furry loved ones to my mind.

What does one do with a beloved pet after he/she dies or is euthanized?


This is something we have to discuss nearly daily. Most people are aware of their options but not everyone has to had to go through the process.


There are 3 basic choices:


1. Bury at home - I do not know if this is legal or illegal in your locale but many people have done it without any trouble. My thought is that deer, squirrels, rodents, etc die all the time out there - what's the difference??  Keep in mind though that if you move, you are going to have to leave your pet behind.


2. Group cremation - this is where a private crematory puts several pets in the incinerator and the ashes are buried or spread somewhere together.


3. Individual cremation - this is where you get your own pet's ashes back in some type of box or urn. If you have any doubt about the credibility of this process ask them to see their facility. They may let you watch - if you can deal with that. I know of several very reputable companies that do get you YOUR pet back.


Cremations are often based on weight - a mastiff will cost a bit more than a 5 lb cat. Also if you want your pet back, it will cost more. They have to clean out the crematory and then only do one pet at a time which obviously means it will cost them time/money. 


Most vets have one or two of these services they work with. They come to pick up the pets from the practice and then take them and return the ashes when necessary.


There are a few other things people do to help memorialize their pets.


 I once went to a pet funeral at a lovely place in NJ. A very dedicated client lost their pet to bone cancer after a long battle. I didn't know what to expect but it was done very tastefully and not "over the top." The dog was in a small casket for viewing. They did an excellent job as it looked like he was simply sleeping. After the owners said a few words, we went to his personal burial site and said goodbye. This is an option for pet owners - even just getting a personal burial site with a tombstone - but obvious will cost more money.


I also work at a place that does clay paw prints for clients. You can then put the name and a few decorations on it, bake it and its permanent. I had one done on Arizona. 

Some people get memorial rocks made up for their garden:

The other thing I have seen - but personally not something *I* would do - is have a few of the ashes put into jewelry. This can be for human or pet ashes.


Here is just one company that does it: Ashes to Ashes but there are others. If interested - just Google something about pet ashes/remains and jewelry.


These decisions are all very personal ones. There is no "right" one. You have to decide what you want and need to do to best memorialize your pet and give you closure.

Breed of The Week: Vizsla

Whenever I hear this breed mentioned, I have one specific memory that comes up: a friend's dog on the roof of my car. Yes, you heard that correctly. 

About 10 years ago, I was driving a Ford Escort and went to see a technician friend I worked with at her home. She had several dogs that came out to greet me. I turned around and this dog was standing on top of my car! 


This is not surprising if you know the breed. By that, I mean that they are very energetic dogs. Sweet but high energy!

Vizslas are Hungarian in origin and have been used for hunting/sporting and as a companions.  They point AND retrieve and are mainly used for waterfowl. 


I don't have a lot to say about them from a medical standpoint. They are a healthy breed, overall, with few distinct breed problems. Like most "larger" dogs, they can have hip dysplasia but by no means is it as prevalent in this breed as it is in so many others. Some of that may be due to the fact that since this breed is not as popular as some others, there is not the same degree of overbreeding.  Their lifespan is 10-14 years. 

If I Don't Get A Lunch Break...

..at least I get to do surgery!!


Today I was seeing appointments all day, alone in the office. Sometimes you end up seeing a case that needs immediate surgical intervention. If it's critical, well, I just have to cancel and rearrange appointments. If it's not, then I try to fit it in (depending on what "it" is) between appointments or at lunch and least preferably at the END of the day.  We want as much time post-op/post-anesthesia to monitor the patient.


An owner lost her cat for 2 months! She assumed - as I'm sure many of us would - that she was dead and likely never to be seen again. Well, kitty showed up only with a few changes, including weight loss and this:

 This is actually a pretty deep wound over the right side of the cat's belly (over a mammary gland which is actually missing). What you can't appreciate from these photos is how deep this goes down toward the inguinal (groin) area. Amazingly, this did not communicate into the abdomen. AND even more amazing, it was pretty clean and there were no maggots. That might be a testament to a cat's propensity for cleanliness and grooming!


She was an unspayed female that had kittens several months ago, so the owner wanted to get her spayed. We figured she since was going to have to have anesthesia to have this dealt with, we might as well do it then. Given my schedule today, the only reasonable time to do this was over lunch. That's all part and parcel of medicine - you may or may not get a break - at all! We learn to eat in between appointments, blood draws, procedures, etc. 


Her spay was interesting,too, in that her uterus was the most friable uterus I have ever encountered in all my years doing this. This means that it broke down and tore apart very easily -with normal manipulation. I had to be very careful when I got to the body of the uterus that I didn't have it tear apart because finding the vessels could've been very challenging that far back into the pelvis. 


In any case, after the spay, we addressed this large wound which was trying to close on it's own. There was so much dead - or open/gaping - space that we placed a drain to help fluid and contamination come out for a few days. We don't know what caused it to begin with. Many times if we have a small contaminated wound we will NOT close it but this was far too large and basically exposed her abdominal wall, that we could NOT let it stay open. Of course, she's on antibiotics and pain meds.

Hopefully I'll have some great follow up pics to show you again what amazing healers cat truly are! 

It's Not Always What it Sounds Like

Quick update on the kitten from the August 5th blog. This is her face today:

The area that previously showed exposed bone is nearly completely closed! 

Proof positive that cats are GREAT healers! This sweet little kitten needs a home - HINT, HINT!!
***********************************************************************
The past few days I've taken a few interesting pictures at work (thank goodness for cell phone cameras!) and even one video.
These are always great launching points for educational or fun topics.


The other day a guy walked in because his dog's foot was bleeding. He woke up and found him that way. The dog was a 10yr old Rottie mix.  He told the technician the nail had come off. Yes, if nails get pulled off (getting caught on something or breaking), there will be a lot of bleeding. I was expecting to see a toe with the "quick" exposed or the nail partially broken off. The "quick" is the soft pink tissue under the nail - the blood/nerve supply to that nail. 


When I examined the dog, this is what I saw:

This is NOT simply a missing nail. I asked the owner how long ago the nail was missing. He tells ME (clients always tell my techs one thing and me another -sometimes the receptionist has heard even a 3rd thing!) it's been missing ONE month!
This did not surprise me. The photo above shows a mass of some type growing out of the base of the nail. The edge of the mass was ulcerated and bleeding. The end of this dog's digit was very thickened and swollen, also consistent with some type of growth. The only solution for this dog is toe amputation. So we bandaged it up and hopefully he'll go ahead and do this procedure. They don't do well when they have to have bandages on constantly - the moist, humid environment is perfect for some nasty infections.


This is another case of a client simply not knowing that it could be something as serious as a malignant tumor. Many times, clients simply don't look at the problem area on the pet or if they do, they don't know how to evaluate what it means - exactly why it's always better to have us take a look at it and why senior pets really should get exams every 6 months.

Another Case of Unexpected Bad News

I'm hoping you don't get tired of these stories and cases from the "front lines." Sometimes, being IN this world all time, I lose perspective on what those outside don't know about or would be interested in - which is why I always say (and mean) - I am open to suggestions, comment, questions, and criticisms!


I find no better or more "real" topic than what I see in day to day practice. There is always a chance to educate in these stories (even if to ME, they can be repetitive, old hat, etc.)


Today I had a 12 yr old chocolate Lab arrive that was in lateral recumbency (flat out on his side) and not moving. He was minimally responsive. Yesterday he was fine! He ate dinner and overnight, vomited a large amount of food/fluid. The major sign that alerted this owner early on that something was wrong was his refusal to eat this morning (most Lab owners know a Lab NEVER turns down food!) and his increasing lethargy as the day wore on.


When he got to us, he had to be carried in on a stretcher. His gums were a pale pink but not too bad (I was expecting white gums) and his abdomen was definitely distended with either a mass or a bloated/twisted stomach. We ran a full blood panel and did two radiographs (chest and abdomen). 


Why both? 


An older patient like this can have more than one problem or a problem with more involvement (ie, a mass in the abdomen and spread to the chest) which will influence OUR recommendations to the client, costs and the client's decision. 


This dog's chest radiograph was fine but he had a very large splenic mass in his abdomen which was slowly bleeding but had gotten to the point that NOW the owner noticed. We know this mass was in there yesterday - even probably a few weeks or months ago. The dog just dealt with it until it reached a critical size, putting pressure on the stomach AND until the red blood cell count got to the point that this dog was very weak. 


There were only 2 options here - surgery or euthanasia. Surgery is not inexpensive AND there are important considerations even if we went ahead with the splenectomy:
1. It may be malignant (we wouldn't know for sure until we got the pathology report the following week) - in which case, most of these dogs don't live past 2 months post op 
2. When we get in there we could find it involves other organs (liver, etc)


Based on the patient's age, the above considerations and the expense, the owner very understandably chose euthanasia. 


The hard thing about cases like this is that the owners are not really "prepared" for this. The animal did not have a previously diagnosed terminal illness or some chronic disease to which we knew he'd eventually succumb. There wasn't time to say "goodbye."  

FIP = RIP

FIP stands for Feline Infectious Peritonitis. Invariably, it is nearly 100% fatal. Personally, I have not seen a cat survive this dreaded disease.


The disease is caused by a virus, in the very common coronavirus family, that generally cause gastrointestinal signs.
Coronaviruses affect people, cats and dogs as well as other animals.   It is transmitted via fluids and excretions BUT it is very easy to kill in the environment with standard disinfectants. 


In most cases these signs are mild and the animal clears the infection. In SOME cats - and we still don't know why or how - this coronavirus mutates within the cat to this deadly form. 


There are two main types of FIP:


1. Wet ("effusive") - where fluid builds up in the chest and/or abdominal cavities - this happens because the virus causes blood vessels to become leaky

Cats often come in with a swollen belly - almost looking "pregnant" or suddenly fat - and usually a very unkempt haircoat. These cats are often thin along the back with the spine very prominent.

2. Dry - certain organs (kidneys, liver, central nervous system) - develop lesions that are like little mini abscesses (pyogranulomas) 


FIP affects mainly very young cats but there is a sub group of older (>10 yrs) cats that develop this as well. The wet form is easy to diagnose based on a physical and often getting a fluid sample. We can tell by looking at certain characteristics of the fluid that it is FIP.

The fluid we obtain is generally viscous and pale yellow to straw colored.

 A definitive test would involve sending fluid or tissue samples out to special labs. These tests could take weeks and frankly, would not change the outcome. 


The dry form is very difficult to diagnose and may only be found at a necropsy (if the owner allows it). Signs in these cats can be related to the organs involved - so possible kidney failure, neurologic signs, etc.  


A "coronavirus" titer (a simple blood test) is essentially useless as most cats, unless kept in an isolated type of cattery, have been exposed to these viruses. A titer does not equal disease or the propensity to develop the virulent form - FIP.


In general, treatment for these cats is purely supportive and making sure they are comfortable. This usually involves a course of corticosteroids and possibly draining some of the fluid (if applicable). However, some of these cases come in too far gone and need to be euthanized. Sadly, this can happen rapidly, leaving the cat owners very confused and distraught. 


There is no good vaccine for this since the process that produces these deadly results occurs within the cat's cells. At this time research is on going into why this happens and what we can to do to prevent and/or predict who this will happen to, as well to treatments/cures. 


A blog called The Conscious Cat discusses recent research updates from the leaders in the field. As she says in her blog:


The bottom line? There is much research that still needs to be done. Research requires money, and cat health studies are notoriously underfunded. In his opening remarks, Steve Dale’s statement that ”if FIP happened in the dog world, there would already be a cure” was met with loud applause from the audience.


As I always say, cats are the true "under dogs" in the pet world. They often get the short end of the health care straw - from their owners to the drug companies.