Posts tagged "veterinarian"

Just like the demise of the sole family medical doctor, small veterinary practices are disappearing. Vets are expanding their practices with new facilities, state-of-the-art technology, additional vets, and larger staffs. But despite the many improvements, a human touch may be lost in shuffle. Bigger is not always better.

If you notice that your vet's level of service isn't the same as it used to be, it might be time to change vets. Here are some warning signs to consider if you and your pet find yourselves in this situation:

- Is there a long wait and/or increased fee to see your vet?

- Does the staff lack a personal touch? Do they treat your concerns properly by returning your calls and relaying telephone messages correctly? Do they become confused as to you and your pet's identities?

- Are there new charges for things like calls to have blood test results explained, or asking your vet a question if you're there for a routine service that doesn't require his or her presence?

By Dr. Patty Khuly, via Vetstreet

Each year, I write about the new stuff I learned throughout the course of the year.

This annual post is usually aimed at the geek in you--and all my interesting findings from 2011 happen to be science-based and fall well within the sphere of veterinary medicine. (Although some of my favorites trend toward the more personal.)

SEE ALSO: Secret Lives of Cats: 9 Things Your Cat Won't Tell You

So here, in no particular order, are the top seven veterinary things that inspired me in 2011.

1. Tuna With Lemon Works Best to Tempt Finicky Cats
For some reason, the new tinned tuna "with a hint of lemon" has improved my trapping efficacy. One of my clients suggested it and I'm now hooked. Try it if you're trapping or looking for something new to help inspire your finicky feline to eat.

2. Liposuction for Lipomas Is Worth Considering
I wrote about this yesterday. Sure, it's cool and less invasive, but it still begs the question: Is this a necessary procedure or should it be considered a cosmetic one best avoided?

SEE ALSO: Do Any Dogs Need Sweaters or Coats? Only These 3 Do

3. Older Dogs Benefit From Rehab
Rehabilitation for pets is quickly gaining more respect and popularity - so much so that general practitioners like myself are turning to rehab facilities for help with our patients.

Although this is great news, it isn't always a feasible approach for budget-strapped owners. And not every pet needs to attend a fancy facility to take advantage of routine rehab techniques, which is why I've started to offer my clients simple exercise tips for older canine patients, in particular.

There's no reason every pet owner shouldn't have access to such basic knowledge, especially if they're motivated to improve their older pets' mobility, agility and overall quality of life.

4. The Veterinary Services Market Is Booming
A research group recently predicted that the veterinary services market will grow by nearly 3 percent next year, an uptick that's fueled by rising pet ownership. The economic prospects for 2016 are even better, says IBISWorld, a publisher of industry research. The latest report predicts revenue growth for the veterinary market of 3.8 percent per year through 2016 to $35.4 billion.

5. Sand Impaction Requires Emergency Surgery
In the same way that canine gastric dilatation-volvulus (aka "bloat") almost always calls for emergency surgical attention, goats require the same approach in the case of dire impactions - especially if you live in sandy places like South Florida.

I learned this last month when my goat Tulip's rumen impaction led to her death within 24 hours of becoming symptomatic. (Ten pounds of sand were recovered with her cremation.) It's sad to have to learn things the very hard way, but that's sometimes how things go.

6. Cat Declawing Should Be Reconsidered
If you read my post last week on the subject, you'll know I've become increasingly intolerant of this procedure - even as a last resort for a destructive cat who'd otherwise have to find a new home or face euthanasia. I haven't always taken such a hardline stance, but we wouldn't be interesting if our beliefs and values didn't evolve over time.

7. Treating Feline Cavities Is Easier With X-rays
I guess I should have known this by now, but I didn't. Extracting a feline gumline cavity (feline resorptive lesions) is so much easier when you use an X-ray machine. That way, the offended tooth's crown can be drilled away, which is simpler than making incisions in the gumline - and less painful and cheaper, too.

How about you? Did you learn any cool things this year? Or answer this: What do you wish your vet had learned in 2011?

The 7 Things Pet Owners Do That Drive Veterinarians Crazy
by Dr. Patty Khuly, via Vetstreet

It's a tough subject to tackle. After all, veterinarians do plenty of annoying things, too. But this particular post is all about you - well, not you, but the annoying yous among you. Not that most of you deserve this, but some of you just might! So without any further hedging, let me launch into the most annoying things pet owners do.

1. Answer Their Cells
Need I say more? Is there anything more annoying and disrespectful than answering a phone call while your vet is delivering her state-of-your-pet's-health address? OK, it might be worse if you dug out your phone to initiate a call midexam, but only by a smidge. They're both just plain rude.

SEE ALSO: Dog Missing for 8 Years Turns Up!

2. Bring Their Kids
I dearly love children (mine mostly, but yours can also be cool), but very young or badly behaved children are an unnecessary liability in a veterinary environment. It's hard enough to keep pets safe - much less kids. So unless your children are old enough and/or chill enough to hang out in a vet setting, they should probably stay home.

One exception: If your pet has an emergency and you have no one to care for your kids, you are most definitely excused. We'll understand. Call ahead and we may even assign an employee to keep tabs on them so you can concentrate on what's wrong with your pet.

Every veterinarian offers basic care such as vaccinations, neuter surgery, and parasite control. But today, just as in human medicine, veterinary specialties offer modern techniques that go "beyond the basics."

Here are just a few "wow" techniques now available to our cats and dogs. Most are available only in university settings or specialty practices. Ask your veterinarian if these or other procedures might have special benefit for your fur kids.

Back Injury Treatment
An innovative preventive procedure pioneered at Oklahoma State University called laser disk ablations treats dogs with a history of back pain. Instead of surgically removing damaged disks (as in conventional treatment), lasers zap the spinal needles inserted through the skin into the disks, to vaporize the problem material--no incisions, no muss, no fuss--and no disks left to prolapse. A number of specialty veterinary practices now perform this procedure.

Bone Cancer Limb Sparing
Limb-sparing surgeries allow dogs and cats with bone cancer to keep the affected leg, rather than amputating the limb. Surgeons remove only the diseased bone. They then replace it with a donor bone from a deceased pet, or use a living section of bone from a healthy part of the pet's leg. Other times, a metal rod takes the place of the bone. It takes about sixteen weeks for the graft to fuse to the dog's existing bone and heal.

And in the most WOW-medicine of all, the section of radius bone with the offending tumor is removed. Then a one-inch section of healthy bone cut from the stump end is slowly moved 1 mm per day-prompting the healthy bone to grow/heal new bone in about 4 to 6 months.

Vision Surgery
Pets with eye injuries or ulcers benefit from corneal transplants performed by veterinary ophthalmologists. Older dogs may develop problems that cause the cornea to turn blue, and the small central portion is removed and replaced. Cats sometimes develop eye problems resulting from chronic herpes virus infection that cause the cornea to turn brown and die. A partial thickness corneal graft can correct the defect, and in about six weeks the eye heals and looks clear and beautiful. Pets that develop cataracts also can benefit from the same surgery that treats people.

Kidney Transplants
Kidney transplant can save pet lives. Cats seem particularly accepting of the procedure and don't have the high rejection rate the way dogs and people do. Don't worry, no kitties are killed to provide organs-instead, the feline that donates the kidney gets adopted as part of the arrangement. It's been reported that 59 percent of the cat transplant patients were still alive six months after surgery and 41 percent were still alive three years after surgery--some have lived for a decade or longer. About five universities and private specialty practices offer cat kidney transplants.

Cartilage Transplant and Stem Cell Therapies
Arthritis, dysplasia and other joint problems damage cartilage and make movement painful. An innovative procedure patterned after human techniques harvests healthy normal cartilage (often from the patient's other joints) and transplants it in plugs in the damaged area. The bone/cartilage plugs grow more cartilage, which spreads and covers the deficit.

Vet-Stem Regenerative Medicine employs a concentrated form of adult stem cells derived from the pet's own fat tissue to treat tendon, ligament, and arthritic conditions of horses and dogs. The veterinarian collects about two tablespoons of fat from the patient, which is shipped to the Vet-Stem.com laboratory in San Diego, California. Once processed, the stem cells are shipped back to the veterinarian in ready-to-inject syringes, and the stem cell treatment is injected directly into the injured site. Any extra can be stored at the Vet-Stem Bank for future treatments.

Heart Repair
Open-heart surgery currently remains limited to a few universities, and UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital is the only place in the US that has regularly scheduled procedures for animals. They can do pretty much any procedure performed on humans, and employ a cardiopulmonary heart-lung bypass machine that allows the heart to be stopped for one to two hours.

One surgical procedure replaces defective valves with cow or pig tissue. Leaking heart valves is common in small animals, especially very small dogs. Surgery requires a six- to nine-person team to carefully monitor the patient before and during the invasive surgery. The entire surgery lasts five hours or longer.

Some dogs now benefit from pacemakers. But the most common congenital heart disease, patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) affects miniature poodles and German shepherds most often. Texas A&M and other specialty practices use catheters (long flexible tube) threaded through the arteries to fix the problem, sometimes by placing stainless steel fiber-embedded coils into the hole. The fibers stimulate clotting, which shuts off the hole.

Research has led to new diagnostic tools, new surgical procedures, new prevention options, and new uses for existing or novel drugs. These innovative veterinary options not only save lives but also extend a pet's longevity and improve the overall quality of life. And that's just doggone good for everyone!

Amy D. Shojai, CABC, is a certified animal behavior consultant and the award-winning author of 23 pet care books. She also writes for http://www.puppies.About.comand http://www.cats.About.com and appears on Animal Planet's CATS-101 and DOGS-101. Check out Amy's latest book, Pet Care in the New Century: Cutting-Edge Medicine for Dogs & Cats on Red Room, where you can read her blog.

Each week, Ben Westhoff shares the ups and downs of owning Pippi, the Dalmatian mix he and his wife, Anna, adopted as a puppy in late 2009.

Many readers expressed concern about our post from a couple weeks ago, in which we noted that, despite Pippi's traumatizing experience at the kennel earlier this year -- she got frighteningly sick and lost a bunch of weight -- we decided to bring her there again during a recent vacation. "Please reconsider," pleaded one Doggie Diaries reader. "I don't understand why you would put Pippi back in the same situation that made her so miserable before," said another.

Trust us, we would prefer to board her with a friend or have someone come look in on her at our house, but we just moved to a new town and don't really know anyone here. As for why we returned to the same kennel, well, we couldn't isolate exactly why she had a bad time before, and weren't sure it was their fault -- she'd stayed there previously without incident. Otherwise, we'd had great experiences with that kennel, which is also home to our vet.

Amy D. Shojai is a certified animal behavior consultant and the award-winning author of 23 pet care books, including "Complete Kitten Care" and "Pet Care in the New Century: Cutting-Edge Medicine for Dogs & Cats."

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Cats get the short end of the health care stick. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, cats visit the vet much less frequently than dogs. It's not that felines are healthier (although cats do hide illness better) but many cats hate the vet so much their owners find it easier to just skip it. But even healthy cats need well exams once or twice a year.

Cats are adept at protecting themselves from stranger danger. What's familiar is safe, while anything new or different raises kitty suspicions. A vet visit delivers a triple whammy by changing the cat's routine, environment and exposure to strangers. Here are seven reasons cats hate the vet and how you can ease the angst.

Negative Crate Expectations. Cats learn very quickly to recognize cause and effect. The appearance of the cat carrier prompts kitty disappearing acts if used only for vet visits. Make the carrier part of the furniture and add a fuzzy bed or catnip toys inside to create a pleasant association.

Each week, Ben Westhoff shares the ups and downs of owning Pippi, the dalmatian mix he and his wife, Anna, adopted as a puppy in late 2009.

We wrote last year about the trouble we had with Pippi's first vet. She seemed to make quick, unfounded diagnoses, and attempt to prescribe everything under the sun. Our new veterinarian is much improved, but we still had an upsetting experience recently when we boarded her there.

Anna and I were vacationing in Florida for six days. In fact, we were sitting on a beach about to go kayaking when I got the call -- Pippi had become extremely anxious, someone from the vet's office said, and was vomiting and had bloody diarrhea. Her nervousness was likely due to the boarding area being crammed with more dogs than usual, that person said, as it was President's Day weekend. Apparently, it can get very loud down there. Complicating matters, Pippi had just received her first Lyme disease vaccination, so the vet wasn't actually sure what was wrecking havoc on her system.

Each week, Ben Westhoff shares the ups and downs of owning Pippi, the dalmatian mix he and his wife Anna adopted as a puppy in late 2009.

Can you believe it? "The Doggie Diaries" is a year old. This column kicked off last October, just a couple of weeks before Anna and I got married. Back then we lived in a tiny apartment in Hoboken, and Anna wanted a dog with all her heart. I was on board with the plan, though a bit nervous that it would chew up our possessions, poop all over the place, and require a lot of walking.

Most of that came to pass. But guess what? These days I count myself as a dog lover, and if Anna is to be believed, Pippi has taken quite a shine to me. (She's taken a shine to Anna as well, though it may be harder for her to see. She's the medicine administrator, after all.)

Let's take a brief look back at some of our most popular (and controversial) posts of the past year.

What Breed Is Pippi? Shortly after adopting her, we delved into determining Pippi's heritage. To this day, folks insist that she's a German shorthaired pointer, but we have two DNA tests proving that she is almost purely dalmatian.

Each week, Ben Westhoff shares the ups and downs of owning Pippi, the dalmatian mix he and his wife Anna adopted as a puppy in late 2009, and the first dog Ben's ever had.

Back in April, Anna wrote about her trying experience meeting Pippi's first vet. Not only did this woman lack a decent bedside manner (implying Pippi had behavioral issues. As if!), but she pushed to prescribe Pippi a bunch of pointless medicines and treatments, including an unnecessary antibiotic and a preventative lyme-disease treatment (despite the fact that she already had a recent negative lyme-disease test). The experience left Anna exasperated, and many of you readers commiserated with us.

After that semi-traumatizing incident, we found a new vet from a friend's referral. Though this one was a bit further away -- getting there, it felt like we bypassed every outlet mall in northern New Jersey -- she was well worth it. For one thing, she didn't make us feel like Pippi was a freak just because she was a bit nervous and squirmed when her ears were being cleaned. The "puppy wrangler" had to be called in -- a short brunette with arms thicker than mine -- to contain and calm Pippi while the medication was being squirted into her floppy ears, but the team helped put us and our dog at ease. They smiled, joked, and truly seemed to enjoy being around her. They also were quick to praise what we were doing right, rather than only criticizing.

In an age where all of your pet's necessities can be purchased online, it only seems natural that its medication should be available through the click of a mouse. While a multitude of online pharmacies provide a convenient and often inexpensive way to obtain prescriptions you'd normally purchase at the vet's office, many veterinarians warn against using them.

Risk #1: Pharmacy Could be Selling Counterfeit or Inferior Medicine
A major concern for most veterinarians is the source of the medications sold by online pharmacies. "Many online pharmacies are not well regulated," said Dr. Michael Farber, Practice Owner and Chief of Staff at West Chelsea Veterinary. "Not all of these sites are licensed to sell drugs. Some sites are not based within the United States, so many of the medications they're selling are foreign-made or bootleg, and may not be exactly what has been prescribed by the vet."

Counterfeit products, expired products, and "products replaced with lesser products under the same name or category" may put your pet's health at risk, warned Farber.



Risk #2: Even High Quality Products Can Degrade During Shipping
Quality control also worries many veterinarians when their clients purchase medication from online sources. "There is no real quality control that I'm aware of with most online pharmacies," said Dr. Alan Stewart, Internal Medicine Specialist at San Francisco Veterinary Specialists. "When medications are shipped under the correct conditions, they're safe to use, but medicines shipped improperly in extreme hot or extreme cold may become damaged."

If you've just moved to a new town or if you've recently adopted a pet, one of the first things you'll want to do is to find a veterinarian you can trust to care for your animal's health. But how is the best way to do that?

Paw Nation asks Louise Murray, D.V.M., Vice President of the ASPCA's Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital in New York City and author of "Vet Confidential: An Insider's Guide to Protecting Your Pet's Health," for advice on finding the right doctor for your pet.

Start by seeking recommendations from friends, animal-shelter workers or neighbors in the dog park. Use the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) website to find accredited clinics in your area. Once you have a short list of recommendations, Dr. Murray advises that you call and ask them key questions about their approach to veterinary medicine and the services their practice offers.

"It does make a difference, and there are objective parameters you can use," Dr. Murray tells Paw Nation.

Round One - Phone Evaluations

1. How many veterinarians are in the practice?
Your pet can benefit from a clinic that has more than one veterinarian. One vet might be a specialist in a particular field, and multi-vet practices are often more able to afford better technology, more staff members and perks like extended office hours and overnight care.

2. Does the vet refer patients to specialists?
"This speaks to the vet's priorities," says Dr. Murray. "It's about that the pet is the number-one priority, above money, above ego, above time." Most practices will not be able to provide every type of care your pet might need, so referring should be essential.

3. How are overnight patients monitored?
The practice might have an overnight employee who monitors the patients constantly, or one that just stops by periodically. If the practice is unable to provide round-the-clock care, then they should be able to refer the patient to another facility.

"It could be worse. We could be heading home with an empty carrier."

That's how I talked my husband down off the cliff after we'd learned that our 9-month-old dachshund, Balthazar, needed stomach surgery, and that it was going to cost over $3,000.

To be fair, the surgery would be no small feat for the four vets taking care of Balty. While my husband and I were at work, the dog had made a snack of some CDs that my husband had left out. Gazing at Balty's snout-to-tail X-ray, I could make out a pile of shards that had settled in his lower intestines and his stomach. As I sat there, all I could think was that I'd do anything to save my pet's life, even if it meant melting down my credit card.

It's a tricky and often sensitive subject. How much is too much to spend on a pet, especially at a time when people are struggling to pay their own medical bills?

A recent Associated Press/Petside.com survey of over 1,000 pet owners found that 62 percent of those polled would shell out $500 for a sick animal. Less than half would pay a $1,000 bill, and only about a third would consider covering $2,000 in medical fees for their pets. Anything over that amount, and most respondents said they'd halt treatment, putting me clearly in the minority.

But I have no regrets, and I'd do it again if I had to. Even when they're healthy, I'll splurge on my pets long before I shell out for the newest Manolos or over-hyped gadgets. There's also the fact that little 12-pound Balty saved me. Not in the dog-miraculously-dials-911-with-paws kind of way. It was more subtle than that, but no less meaningful.

We all know that curious pets can wind up in sticky situations from time to time, but by putting together a first aid kit in advance you can be ready to react the moment an emergency arises.

Susan Nelson, an assistant professor of clinical sciences at Kansas State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, agrees that "You never know when something is going to go wrong. But if you have everything together and in a certain place, you won't be worrying or wondering where it's at when something does happen."

We've broken the first aid supplies into several categories but you may also choose to buy a commercial pet first aid kit such as the one offered by the ASPCA which contains 126 items including a pet first aid guide. Whether using a commercial kit or creating one based on the suggestions here, you should personalize it based on your pet's needs, the number and type of animals you have and your own vet's recommendations.

The following items, however, are considered must-haves for your dog's or cat's first aid kit, according to Nelson and New Jersey-based veterinarian Jill Richardson.

Basic Medical Supplies
- Antibiotic ointment
- Gauze pads, gauze rolls, and medical tape
- Styptic powder to stop bleeding
- Hydrogen peroxide, 3% (to induce vomiting if a professional recommends)
- Saline solution (for flushing out eyes)
- Isopropyl alcohol
- Iodine (antiseptic)

Basic Equipment
- Muzzle (When a pet is in pain, it may bite.)
- Absorbent maxi pads (for absorbing any kind of liquid)
- Towels
- Tweezers (good for removing splinters and ticks)
- Scissors
- Rectal thermometer
- Book on pet first aid (such as the Red Cross first aid books for dogs and cats )

Lucky, the world's oldest sheep at 23 years, died in late November in Australia after a record heat wave sent temperatures soaring to over 86 degrees. Lucky was inducted to the Guinness Book of World Records after exceeding twice the normal life expectancy for a sheep. Is Lucky's incredible life span indicative or a greater trend of our furry friends living longer, or is she just, well, lucky?

No comprehensive study has looked into whether animals are living longer. But talk to any veterinarian and he'll tell you tales of dogs living to be 15 years old and cats reaching the national drinking age.

To what can we attribute this longevity? Dr. Steven Kasanofsky, Medical Director of Riverside Animal Hospital in New York City, accredits it to better pet food, better veterinary care and owners being far more aware of their pets' needs. "There are more comprehensive prevention programs that include not only annual visits and vaccinations, but also special diets, supplements and prevention for heartworm disease, which used to take the lives of many pets" he told Paw Nation. "Pet lovers have definitely become attuned to the needs of their animals and are taking the appropriate actions to keep them happy and healthy."

Canine cataracts can be an upsetting and frightening diagnosis for any dog owner to face. Paw Nation spoke with Donna J. Spector -- a board-certified veterinary Internal Medicine specialist from VCA Animal Hospital -- to learn exactly what every dog owner should know about the ocular disease.

What are some signs that your dog might have cataracts?
On examination, you may see a blue, gray or whitish color change in the center of the eye. This should not be confused with nuclear sclerosis, an aging change that causes cloudiness in the lens but does not cause blindness. Dogs with cataracts will often bump into things or be hesitant in unfamiliar environments. They often don't want to use stairs or jump. They may appear disoriented or even acutely blind in some cases.