Goodbye, My Friend......

My new post is dedicated in memory of Maude, my parents' miniature schnauzer. We were all very sad to have to say goodbye this week, as she became very sick very suddenly. She died peacefully. We will all miss Maude terribly, and love her more than words can say. The pain of losing her is indescribable. She is at the Rainbow Bridge and is happy, and that gives me great comfort and peace knowing that.

Rainbow Bridge

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to the Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water, and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All of the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross the Rainbow Bridge together....

Goodbye, my friend......

February is Dental Health Month!

February is Dental Health Month for pets! This means it's time to get your furry friends into the vet for an oral exam, and the sooner, the better! Your vet will be able to identify problems with your pet's teeth, such as gingivitis, calculus accumulation, or mobile, missing, or fractured teeth. Having your pet's teeth cleaned and treated on a regular (every 6 months to 1 year is the recommendation) will help keep him/her healthier longer. Calculus that forms on the teeth is caused by bacteria that can enter into your pet's bloodstream and cause infections and disease to major organs (heart, liver, kidneys, to name a few) that can make your pet very sick. The bacteria can also cause tooth roots to become infected and abscess, which can cause your pet a lot of pain and discomfort, teeth to fall out, jaw bone loss, and bad odor from the mouth.

But this is just the beginning - once your vet has had a chance to get a good evaluation of the inside of your pet's mouth, the next step is to schedule the actual cleaning, especially if your vet finds any suspicious teeth. This will require general anesthesia so that your pet will stay sleeping during the procedure. Prior to going under anesthesia, it is important that you have the necessary bloodwork done to ensure there is nothing abnormal that will make anesthesia unsafe for your pet. This generally should include a CBC and Profile, and sometimes a urinalysis and thyroid check for older pets. If any abnormalities do show up, your vet will be able to discuss with you how to correct the problems so that you can move forward with Fido's oral care.

Once your pet in scheduled and under anesthesia, the technician and vet will have a much easier time determining if there are any major dental issues. This will begin with a cleaning - sometimes there is so much calculus accumulation that makes it difficult to see a fracture, abscess, or root exposure. By cleaning the teeth first, this allows the technician to see what is underneath the calculus and really be able to evaluate the teeth for major dental disease. The cleaning involves using hand scalers (exactly the same as when we have our teeth cleaned at the dentist) and an ultrasonic scaler, (which is a high speed, vibrating instrument that breaks up the calculus much easier than hand scaling alone can do) polishing the teeth (again, exactly the same way our teeth get cleaned at the dentist), a fluoride application, and finally a plaque barrier sealant is applied to help prevent the reccurance of bacteria and plaque. This is a temporary sealant that needs to be reapplied weekly, and there is a kit available for pet owners to do this at home (I will get more into that later).

After the cleaning and polishing, the technician will probe in between the tooth and gum (the gingival sulcus) to measure for any deep pockets that can occur from infection - the bacteria can eat away at the root and cause the gingiva to pull away from it, causing a pocket. The vet will then do a second oral exam (remember, the first oral exam is done in the exam room while your pet is awake) to check for the same things - fractured mobile, or missing teeth, abscesses, gum recession, root exposure, deep gingival pockets, or any signs of oral masses or tumors. This time it's much easier to do a more thorough exam with your pet sleeping.

Once the technician and vet are able to identify any problems, then radiographs are taken to view the roots below. This will allow the vet to see if there are abscessed or fractured roots, (you cannot always tell just by looking at the tooth) or bone loss. Sometimes radiographs are not required if the calculus acummulation is mild and the teeth have no problems as mentioned above, but most of the mouths that I clean are in need of oral surgery. And that is where the radiographs lead us most of the time - Oral Surgery.

If we find tooth root abscesses, more times than not, the tooth (or teeth) will need to be removed surgically (extracted). It sounds horrible, but it's not as bad as most pet owners think, and here's why:

1) Prior to anesthesia (while your pet is still awake), he/she is given a preanesthetic pain injection to ensure that there will be pain relief "on board." We do this, even if we are unsure that oral surgery will be needed, just because we want to have that available in the body when your pet needs it the most. This makes for a much smoother anesthesia and recovery from anesthesia.
2) Prior to any oral surgery, the extraction sites are blocked with a local anesthetic (think Novacaine) which will numb the area(s). The block will last for about 6 to 8 hours.
3) Once the infected tooth, root, and bone are removed, the infection is essentially gone and not able to infect other teeth or other parts of the body (we still put your pet on antibiotics post-surgically to ensure that the infection is wiped out completely). This also means that the pain will be gone for your pet, and he/she will be feeling so much better (a lot of our furry friends hide that they are feeling crummy and we as pet owners don't notice until they begin acting so much better afterwards!)
4) The extraction sites are treated with a synthetic bone product that will fill the empty space and allow faster healing (it gives the bone something to grab onto). Then the extraction sites are closed using an absorbable suture material. So no dry sockets for our pets like we humans have to deal with! (think wisdom teeth - Yikes!)
5) A pain injection is given post-surgically also.
6) We will send you home with antibiotics (as mentioned above) and pain medications for your pet, so he/she remains pain free after surgery.
7) Pets really do just fine eating with missing teeth or no teeth at all. You can still feed kibble - just moisten it with water to soften it, or feed canned food. You will not notice much of a difference, if any, with your pet's appetite - in fact, he/she might be eating much better afterwards because the mouth is feeling so much better!

So we're done with the cleaning, radiographs, oral surgery, and recovery, and now Fido can gow home with you. You're all done, right? WRONG! Once the mouth has healed, you need to begin following a routine dental maintenance schedule at home. Why let all of your hard-earned money go to waste that you just invested in your pet's mouth? If you don't follow a home regimine, then that is eventually what will happen.

Brushing is the best choice, and it does not have to be a big production. It should really only take 5 minutes per day (I always suggest to pet owners to brush Fido's teeth when you brush your teeth at night, and make that a DAILY routine!) And you really only need to brush the outside surfaces of the teeth, since this is where the plaque and calculus will accumulate the most. Begin slowly if your pet is not used to having his/her teeth brushed. Eventually your pet will view it as a treat, because pet toothpaste usually tastes really yummy! Your vet should be able to provide you a dental kit which should include a toothbrush and a toothpaste sample. Have a technician show you how to get started with brushing the teeth if you are unsure.

There are other dental products available that can be used in conjunction with brushing (not to replace brushing!) Remember the plaque barrier sealant I mentioned above? (it's called Oravet) (r) It gets applied during the cleaning, but will need to be reapplied at home. This is a once a week treatment, and again, only needs to be applied to the outside surfaces of the teeth. It helps prevent the bacteria from forming plaque on the teeth.

Another great product available are dental diets - I recommend Hills (r) t/d or IVD (Royal Canin) (r) Dental Diet (these are both only available through vets). They come in different sizes (feline, small bites, and large bites). The food is a larger kibble that pets have to work on chewing, and while they are doing this, it helps to scrape plaque off of the teeth AND releases an enzyme that helps to clean the teeth. Pretty nifty, huh? AND it is a completely balanced diet, so you can feed this as Fido's main food (or use it as treats).

There are several different types of dental chews available for both dogs and cats. Many of them are not safe to be given because they are too rich and can cause digestive problems, or are too hard and can break teeth (YIKES!) I recommend C.E.T. (r) chews or Tartar Shield (r) chews and treats, which are sold only through vets. These both are soft, pliable rawhide chews that help to remove plaque as they chew, but also release an enzyme to help clean the teeth, and both are availble for dogs and cats! If you have a pet that has allergies to food, these may not be the best choice.

Make note that there are certain breeds that will chronically have periodontal disease, despite your efforts of home oral maintenance, and the recommendation is to schedule an oral exam every 6 months (and most likely have the teeth professionally cleaned that often too). For some pets who have chronic gingivitis and dental disease, your vet may want to do several courses of antibiotics to keep the infection under control in between cleanings. Talk to your vet about your pet's specific dental needs, and have them help you get started on a new plan today!

Dentistry is SO important for our pets (just like it is for humans), and continuing to keep the mouth healthy is going to help to continue to keep your pet healthy!

Remember:
Pets Have Teeth Too!!!

Thanksgiving Can Mean Gut Rot for Your Pet

I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween. I am very happy to report that we had no cases of chocolate ingestion or toxicity at our clinic this year after Halloween. That means that we as pet owners are being much more careful with keeping the candy and treats away from our pets!

But the holidays are not over yet, and with Thanksgiving and Christmas now just around the corner, we still need to be careful about feeding people food to our pets. Along with the harmful effects of chocolate, other types of people food are bad for our pets, and can make them very sick.

1) Anything fatty (such as turkey skin) can cause pancreatitis. This can be as mild as an upset stomach and some vomiting, to as severe as death. Pancreatitis can worsen quickly, and become very bad very quickly. It is nothing to mess around with. Most pets that come into our clinic with pancreatitis are SICK, and need to be on IV fluids, GI medication, a bland diet, and a lot of rest. Some cases have even been referred to 24 hour veterinary facilities, simply because the pet is so sick that he/she needs 'round the clock care. Please be sure to again tell your guests and children not to feed your pets anything, and make sure to keep the trash out of reach. Trash cans at this time of year smell like heaven to pets, and even the most well behaved of them are tempted to go dumpster diving. Take the temptation away.

2) Along with fatty foods making Fido sick, also make sure to keep those turkey bones away from your pets. Cooked turkey bones may seem like a good thing for Fido to use as a chew toy, but the truth of the matter is, once bones of any kind are cooked, they become very brittle and splinter very easily. This means that once your pet has ingested the splintered pieces of a turkey bone, the esophagus, stomach, and/or intestines can become perforated or torn from the sharp bone pieces. Bones can also cause a GI obstruction or blockage. This is a very dangerous medical emergency to have happen to your pet, and would require an expensive surgery to fix the damage. Again, please make sure the trash can (and your Thanksgiving all day buffet) are out of reach of your pets.

3) Raw foods can make your pets very sick, especially raw turkey. Just like with humans, ingesting raw meat can increase the chance of your pets picking up Salmonella or E. coli. And just like with humans, these bacteria can make your pets VERY sick. So while you are thawing that turkey out to be cooked, please take the necessary precautions to make sure that your pets will not be able to get a hold of it. Keep it up high or contained in a place where Fido cannot get to.

It may be best to keep your pets in a separate room during food prep, dinner, and clean up, just to make sure that he/she will not get into any dangerous situations regarding food (or food wrappers for that matter!). Several pet stores sell pet friendly treats, so make Fido feel special this holiday season by buying a special treat just for him. Again, remember to watch those calories!

If you do suspect that your pet has eaten something bad, please contact your local vet right away.

I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season, for both you and your pets!

Halloween: SpQQky Treats for Pets

We all love Halloween! Who doesn't, what with the costume parties and trick-or-treaters and CANDY?!? But we all have to remember that candy, especially chocolate, is toxic to pets. This is because chocolate contains a chemical called theobromine, which is in the same family as caffeine. In sufficient quantities, chocolate can make your pet very sick. Dark chocolate is far more toxic than milk chocolate, as it contains higher quantities of theobromine. Here are some simple tips to keep your pets safe from the hazards of chocolate:

1) When your children arrive home from trick-or-treating, (or once all of the trick-or-treaters have gone home for the night) please make sure to find a safe spot to keep the candy so that your pets cannot get into it. It is best to put it up high or in a safe cupboard that your pet is unable to open. Advise your children to do the same. Always monitor the candy around your children and pets.

2) If you are having a party, please tell your guests not to feed anything to your pets. Often times, your guests may not know that certain people foods can cause your pets harm, and will offer a hand out just because Fido is there begging. Better yet, it might be wise to keep your pets in a separate room where guests will not be, just to eliminate the temptation to feed Fido.

3) Make sure that the trash cans in the house are frequently emptied, especially if there are any left over pieces of candy in there that your pets can get into.

4) Make Halloween fun for your pets! Pets can be dressed up in costumes also, and there are many safe Halloween goodies made specifically for pets to eat. Just watch those calories!


What should you do if your pets DO get into chocolate? Well, it does depend on how much chocolate is consumed. An M&M, for example, is probably not going to cause any harm. However, if Fido manages to chow down the entire bowl of Kit Kat Bars that you left out for the trick-or-treaters, you may have a problem on your hands. Some of the signs that you should watch for if a significant amount of chocolate has been consumed would be vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, increased heart rate, panting, and shaking, to name a few. It is best to call your local vet, emergency vet hospital, or animal poison control right away to get further information (depending on what was consumed and how much - ESPECIALLY if you are in doubt at all) and/or to have you pet seen right away. A large consumption of chocolate should be viewed as an emergency situation.

Let's all follow these simple preventative tips to keep our pets safe, not only for Halloween, but for ALL of our holidays coming up. By being prepared and knowing what to do, we are providing for our pets a much happier and healthier Halloween!

Happy HOWLoween!!!

So How Do You Get a Picky Dog to Eat?

1) The first mistake that a lot of dog owners make is to leave food sitting out all day long. This has to stop right here, right now! YOU are in the charge of your dog's food, which means you are in charge of the TIMES your dog gets fed every day. Leaving food out all day long can create a lot of problems! First of all, your dog has not learned that YOU are in charge (we as owners ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS have to be the Alpha, or leader of the pack!) Second of all, you are not able to monitor how much food Fido is eating on a daily basis if you are not measuring the amount you are feeding. All of the sudden Fido stops eating because of a medical problem, and becomes very sick because the bowl is always full and no one knows when the last time was that Fido ate. Lastly, your dog is MUCH more likely to become obese if you do not limit the amount of food you feed. If we eat all day, isn't it more likely that we will become overweight too? The same thing applies to our pets! So here is what we all need to start doing to keep our dogs eating normally: A good rule of thumb is to offer food in two separate meals - Breakfast and Dinner. That's easy - most people eat breakfast and dinner themselves, so include Fido in this routine also. Talk to your vet to figure out the appropriate diet and amount to feed your dog every day, then divide that amount into two separate servings. If you are just beginning with the limited feedings, you may have a dog who won't take to it right away. This is normal and to be expected. Put the food down, and leave it for 20 minutes. If your dog does not eat, the food goes away and he/she does not get it again until later in the day, say around lunch time for example. Do the same thing - place the food down for 20 minutes and whatever is not eaten in that amount of time goes away. And then the same thing again at dinner. If your dog learns to expect YOU to provide the meals (instead of the food just being left out) then he/she will learn quickly that this is the only chance to eat at the time alloted. No healthy dog has ever starved him or herself, and eventually when the food is placed in front of him/her again after several times of rejecting it, it will get eaten. DO NOT cave in and offer other treats, tidbits, or morsels because you feel bad for Fido - ignore the sad eyes looking at you, and find something fun for you and your dog to do (say, go for a walk) instead of stressing out and focusing on the food situation. You can set the food down for the 20 minute intervals several times per day when you are getting started with this new schedule. Once Fido has it down, neither of you will need to think about it - it will just become the routine every day.

2) So you have a picky eater. Well, here are a few things you can try to break your dog of his/her pickiness (once, of course you have mastered the limited feeding schedule). I always recommend switching food around every month or so, so that dogs do not become bored with the food they are currently eating. This also allows a different variety of proteins to make their way into your dog's diet (again, to alleviate any boredom with the same food, but to also eliminate the possibility of allergies to occur to one protein source). Having said that, it is not a good idea to offer canned food or other tasty morsels just to get your dog to eat (DO NOT mix canned food in with the dry just because Fido does not want to eat, and likes the canned food better). Then we are back to square one, with Fido being in charge. He now has learned that it is okay to hold out for the good stuff. Instead, try soaking his dry food with water or low sodium chicken/beef broth (it is a good idea to add extra moisture to dry food anyway). If he still will not eat, start all over with the 20 minute interval feedings (as mentioned above). That is not to say that canned food is bad - there is nothing wrong with feeding a canned diet. If you feed a canned diet, then this is what Fido gets twice per day, and nothing else is offered at that time. Canned diets tend to be higher in calories, so you do need to be more careful with the amount you are feeding per day so that your dog does not become overweight.

3) Cooking is another option for any dog, but especially for the picky eaters. My clinic sells a homemade, completely balanced diet called Furishnikovs that essentially ends up being a hot dish for dogs. It comes complete with the mix that contains all of the nutrients and vitamins your dog needs, and all you have to do is cook chicken and rice, and add the mixture to this. If you have the time, it actually is a really good, well balanced diet for dogs, and works well for those picky eaters. Make sure to stick to the same feeding schedule as you would for feeding the dry food (two feedings per day, no extras just to get your dog to eat something, YOU are in charge!)

4) If it comes down to it, and you are more than frustrated at getting your dog to eat (on YOUR terms), I would suggest seeking out the help of a behaviorist to consult this over with. Check with your local vet for a behaviorist recommendation.

5) If all of the suggestions above are not working, it could be medically related, especially if there is vomiting and/or diarrhea involved. I would recommend having a complete work up done to include a CBC, (complete blood count to check for red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets) a profile (to check for liver and kidney values, proteins, and electrolytes) and a stool sample check (to check for intestinal parasites and "bad" intestinal bacteria that could be causing problems). In some cases, X-rays can be taken to assess the abdomen for abnormalities. Further diagnostics would include an abdominal ultrasound and/or endoscopy (+/- biopsies). Talk to your vet for recommendations of diagnostic tests and treatments that can be done if you do suspect that a medical problem is keeping your dog from eating.

**** Please note that this section (other than the diagnostic tests) does NOT apply to cats. Cats are very different creatures, and WILL starve themselves if they do not like a food...... They can become very sick very fast by not eating. If your cat is not eating a diet (and seems healthy otherwise), it is best to continue offering different types of food until you find something that he/she will eat. It is always best to talk to your vet if you have any doubts.

Hunting is not for Everyone

I wanted to post this information here today, since fall is very much upon us.... And while we all think of the wonderful and exciting things that fall brings with it, (the leaves changing colors, the crisp, cool air, Halloween and Trick-or-Treating, Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner) we also need to remember the OTHER things fall has to offer. Fall also brings with it deer hunting season, and with this, we need to be sure we are keeping our pets safe. While there are many responsible hunters out there who take the necessary precautions for safe hunting, there are the select few who can make it very dangerous.

The reason I write this? On Saturday, we had a dog come into our clinic with an arrow THROUGH his shoulder. The dog belongs to one of my fellow CVTs. He is recovering from his ordeal, (a MAJOR surgery and 'round-the-clock post-operative care) but not without a lot of angst. He was shot while on the property of a neighbor's, and while this may have been an accident (and it most certainly could have been done on purpose), it certainly was something that could have been fatal. Luckily, the arrow missed all of his major organs and arteries. This is something that could have easily been prevented, had the hunters been more careful in identifying what they were shooting at. The dog should have been kept closer to home also, but he has been able to roam (along with everyone else's dogs in the area) the entire time that he has lived there with no problems of this type occurring in the past. This could have easily been another person that had been shot (had the owners been walking through the woods with the dog at the time, as they often do.) The bottom line is this: PLEASE be aware of your pet's whereabouts, especially during the hunting season. If you take your dog hunting with you, please be sure to put a brightly colored vest on him/her to avoid accidental shootings. Hunters, please take all of the necessary precautions in handling your weapons and identifying prey so that accidental shootings do not occur (of dogs OR humans). And please be prepared in case something should happen - make sure to have a first aid kit with you, prepared especially for your four-legged friend. Talk to your local vet about preparing a first aid kit. In addition, it is a good idea to have your pet microchipped or attired with a GPS collar in case you should become separated.

Let's keep our pets safe this season by keeping these important safety tips in mind!

I'm So Fancy in My New Duds!

Here are a few additional tips for senior pets that occurred to me yesterday while I was at work:

1) Dogs (and cats too if you'd like) can wear clothing! A lot of pet owners (especially those that own larger dogs) would never even consider this, but there is a very good reason (besides the cuteness of it all) for your pets to wear clothing! Unless your pet has a very thick coat (such as huskies, malamutes, saint bernards, chow chows, and golden retrievers, to name a few) or a lot of extra body mass, (no, I am not talking about fat! I'll get to that in a minute) chances are your pets will feel the effects from the cold more, especially if they are not breeds that are meant to be able to withstand colder weather (think greyhound). So in order to add that extra bit of warmth for your seniors while they are outdoors, a coat and maybe some boots would help give that added layer. There is a lot to choose from out there, and this time of year is perfect for finding dog coats and sweaters (and they come in all sizes!)

2) Nail trimming - pure and simple. I thought about this yesterday as I was trimming the nails of a 100 pound senior Rottweiler who looked like he hadn't had them trimmed since he was a puppy. The nails were long talons that had curled and bent sideways. Luckily I was able to get them trimmed a lot shorter. But I have also seen nails so long that they had begun growing into to the paw pads, causing an infection, and nails that were so long that the quick (the blood vessel in the toenail that if cut, hurts and bleeds) had also grown equally as long, which then prevents us from being able to cut the nails short. The concept of nail trimming goes along with providing traction for your senior pets - if their nails are that long, chances are it is affecting their ability to walk correctly. So this stems back to puppy and kitten hood - Begin getting your pets used to having their nails trimmed when they are young so that they will tolerate having it done regularly.

3) Keeping your pets at a healthy weight is THE most important thing that you can do for them, especially for our seniors who have arthritis. If your pets (just like with people) are carrying extra weight, it puts a lot more stress on their joints, not to mention increasing their chances for diseases such as diabetes, liver and kidney disease, and heart disease (again, just like with people). So instead of giving Rover that tasty bacon off of your plate every morning, offer him some carrots, apples, green beans, or bananas. Just about any fruit and veggie that WE can eat, your pets can eat. There are a few exceptions to this - NEVER feed grapes, raisins, or onions. These can cause kidney disease and anemia. Also try cutting back on the amount of food you are feeding, or try switching to a lower calorie diet to help take the weight off (again, just like with people). By keeping your pets thin their entire lives (and getting used to feeding them healthier at a young age) you are helping to lengthen their lives more than you can imagine. Not only do they look good and have more energy, but they are healthier overall. (again, just like with people - see a pattern here?)

Let's all follow these simple tips to help ensure happy and healthy senior pets!