It Didn't Have To Be....

...but it was and it was too late. I wish I could reach EVERYONE and make them understand that. 


1. Trying to save money by NOT doing preventative care, not only generally costs you MORE money in the future but also can cost your pets years of life, of quality life and may even result in very premature death.


2. If you don't feel you can care for an animal, financially, it's ok to give that animal up. And then NOT get another one. 


3. If an animal is suffering, it's not only OK but part of your responsibility as a pet owner to let them go humanely - please.


4. The longer a problem is permitted to continue - be it behavioral or medical - the more expensive it'll be to ATTEMPT to fix and often the odds of fixing go down. In some cases, death is the result. 


There are a lot of things we cannot prevent or cure, a lot of diseases we are still learning about how to diagnose and treat but there are a good number of diseases we can either prevent or intervene early on to slow the progression of signs and improve quality of life. 


If you are a pet owner - don't miss out on these things:
-routine exams - the physical exam of your pet and history we get from you (so be honest and as accurate as possible) are the most important things
-vaccines for your pet's lifestyle - yes all those diseases we vaccinate for are still out there and yes, I personally have seen them
-prevention of external (flea/tick) and internal (heart worm, intestinal worms) parasites
-spaying and neutering - reducing cancers, infections and preventing unNEEDED pregnancies and behavior problems


The pet I refer to above will die from not uncommon secondary organ failure preventable with a vaccine and some great topical products. Yep. 


A veterinarian I respect and know said to me: "Vets don't kill pets, owners do."  In other words, we can recommend what is best for your pet based on your lifestyle, their exposure and our years of training and experience. Ultimately, though I may be upset about it and disagree with it, you are the one to pick and choose what you do for your pet, even if hurts the pet.

Lion Melanoma

So the kitten did NOT have rabies. Some of the other possible causes of her neurologic behavior could be: infection with other viral or bacterial agents, inflammation from trauma, etc and parasitic infection.  


Here's a cool story about the first known case of a cutaneous melanoma in a lion and the treatment they are pursuing. There's a great short video clip in the link too!


http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/jul/08/ut-uses-targeted-radiation-to-tackle-lions-tumor/

Rabies Scare and a Heartworm Reminder

The other day a good Samaritan brought a stray kitten in to the hospital. She was weak, had a few open wounds (one with maggots) and obvious intestinal roundworms. Anytime you have a stray and most especially, anytime that stray has wounds of unknown origin, you must consider the possibility that this animal could become rabid and therefore take appropriate precautions.  Only vaccinated individuals in the practice should touch this animal and even those should be gloved. Does this always happen? Of course not and for a variety of reasons.


So this kitten was admitted for treatment of her wounds, worms and some general supportive care as well as observation.   


The wounds were cleaned up, she was given a dose of Revolution and subcutaneous fluids and put on oral antibiotics. She was given food and water and nice bed to rest in.


The next morning, she was found to be profoundly neurologic in her behavior/ambulation. It would come and go.  She was also drooling.  


Since this was the case and multiple unvaccinated people had been exposed, the decision was made to euthanize her and have her brain tissue tested. This is a serious public health issue.


Today we found out she was negative, but clearly she had some serious neurologic issue and would likely have no survived anyhow. Now we know that several people do not need to get vaccinated or boostered.


Rabies is OUT there and most definitely is in Pennsylvania. Again, vaccines are not very expensive. It's the MINIMUM to get for any pet - barn cats and cats you "just feed" out back are the primary domestic sources of rabies. Get them vaccinated. You are protecting human health as well as the horses, sheep, cows, dogs, etc that live near them.


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Today I had a dog that was heart worm positive. He lives in the Poconos. He never travelled out of them. He was only 1 1 1/2 yrs old and was not on prevention. Heartworm is OUT there and in PA too! Keep your dogs on prevention...year round. 

The Root of the Problem

Most dogs lose their baby teeth and have all their adult teeth by the age of 6-7 months. A few may hang on for a bit but generally with normally chewing and teething, they fall out. 


In the smaller breed dogs, it is very common for them to remain and we call these retained deciduous teeth (baby teeth). These pose a problem because they line up right against their adult counterpart and create a great area for tartar, food and in some cases even hair, to accumulate. They can also prevent the adult tooth from coming in to a normal position.


This is why when a dog in getting spayed or neutered, one of the things we check for is any of these baby teeth. This is the time to remove them.  They are not always easy and the picture below explains why:

As you can see these are VERY long looking teeth but the part YOU would see is just the tip toward the top and down to where there is a fine line (seen better on the tooth to the right). The REST of that is solidly IN the gum and in it's socket. It takes a bit of work to get this out and if it breaks we often have to dig the root fragment out.  The hardest ones are the canine teeth and generally these are the most commonly retained. 


In the Yorkies, Maltese, Shih Tzu's etc it's also not uncommon to find retained incisors and molars also. These generally come out with more ease as the roots are not that deep.


The dog's do great post op - heck they do great post ovariohysterectomy - in both cases, they seem to fair better than us in these things - and it's a great preventative measure for later dental disease, which these dogs are already prone to getting.

Pixie-Bobs

Pixie-Bobs are a relatively recent breed, developed in the state of Washington and said to have in their lineage, naturally occurring Bobcat/domestic cat matings. However, DNA has shown these cats are purely domestic. 

The other "draw" to these cats is that they are said to get quite a bit larger than a DSH (domestic short hair). However, most do grow to about 11 lbs. Unlike other breeds, they continue to grow until 4 years of age. They don't have any major health problems. 

The are intelligent, playful and social and are said to be vocal with chirps and chatters versus many "meows."  

The pictures above showcase 2 kittens brought in to me recently for their first check up.  One was polydactyl (the one behind held up - you can see his cute mittens!).  

If you want one though, just be prepared as they can cost you >$1200.  

More BIG Cat Surgery

You know me: I can never get enough of these stories! It makes me long for my zoo days...


Joint Surgery for Two Houston Zoo "Kitties"

A "Small" Eye Problem

Eye problems - notably infections and trauma - are common in pets. Kittens can be plagued with chronic eye issues like herpes virus infections that cause permanent damage to the eye - ranging from mild corneal scarring to enough damage to require removal of the entire eyeball.


This procedure is called an enucleation. It's also done in large animals for similar reasons.


We don't remove the eye simply because it's non-visual. The decision to remove the eye is generally based on the comfort of the patient. A blind but bulging eye (often from uncontrolled or untreated glaucoma - increased INTRAocular pressure, a tumor behind or involving the eye, etc) that is clearly causing the animal pain must be removed. Signs can be subtle but include not eating well, lethargy to actually pawing at or rubbing the eye, further traumatizing it. We also remove eyes that aren't fully developed (a condition called agenesis of the eye) or that were previously ruptured and shrunk. These eyes tend to be chronic accumulators of debris and ocular discharge and also cause discomfort. 


The case below is from a kitten that very obviously need the eye removed. The initiating cause is unknown here as this was a stray kitten found with an already bad eye - certainly infection and trauma are the top two likely causes.

Before surgery

You can see how far out this goes - some of it is scab w/pus underneath but it created an issue when he'd turn and "bump" it

Post op :)