Yes yes yes, I know you’re all busy reading the The Deathly Hallows and all that, but if you haven’t been hiding from the media to avoid all the spoilers you’ll know all about a real evil monster who’s been making the news this week. Michael The (insert rhyme of choice) Vick.

If there is one good thing to come out of the Michael Vick story, it is the fact that dogfighting has been brought to public awareness as a growing problem. The reaction to his federal indictment has brought a wide range of reactions, from outrage to disgust to ambivalence and even support. I was shocked and a little repulsed to see, on a message board of veterinarians, some “old school” guys basically shrug their shoulders and say, “Man loves bloodsport. What are you going to do.” If men whose lives are spent protecting animals are saying this, what is the rest of the country saying? What are we going to do? Plenty. This kind of violence and antipathy to other living beings should not and cannot be tolerated, not even in a famous sports figure. Or should I say, especially in a famous sports figure.
read more from "Why Michael Vick matters"

Last week at work, I had the occasion to answer questions from a very nice couple about how one becomes a veterinarian. We weren’t overly busy, and the ant bait their dog ingested was fortunately minimally toxic, so while poor Buffy sat in the back vomiting it all back up (don’t worry, we made him do it) I had a few moments to talk.

I shared with them the same advice I had received as a wide eyed vet school applicant- “Lots of people get into this field because they love animals more than they love people. But you have to like working with people or you are going to fail miserably.” And it’s so true. After all, no matter what an animal needs, if you can’t convince their owner you are suggesting the right and necessary course of action, it’s all in vain.
read more from "Faith in Humanity"

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Fourth of July is a booming time for shelters and emergency veterinary clinics. (Like that? No more puns, I promise.) Aside from the obvious- dogs eating corn cobs or too many hamburgers, there are several less often thought of dangers during this holiday. The problems of heat stroke and drowning were covered in an earlier blog entry, but don’t forget the dangers of fireworks.

For you, it’s a loud, smoky display of patriotism. For your dog, it may be Armageddon. This is one of the busiest days for shelters as thousands of terrified dogs across the country flee their homes and end up lost, and all too often injured by cars while running for their lives. Pets are even more sensitive to sound and smell than we are, so to have the unexpected stimulus of a fireworks show can send sensitive dogs and cats over the edge.
read more from "Fourth of July- Pet PSA"

As I was leaving the grocery store today, an older couple exited the restaurant next door, having obviously just enjoyed a late brunch. They walked down the parking lot aisle just ahead of me, and unlocked their car. To my shock, a small poodle popped up from the backseat and jumped into the owner’s arms.

I stood there in the 80 degree heat with my jaw hanging down, debating whether or not to say anything.
read more from "Summer Pet Safety"

This has been a terrible couple months for pet owners and the pet food industry. It started with the initial recall in March- clients coming into veterinary offices with pets in renal failure, mentioning something about a pet food recall. “What?” asked the vets, wondering why they weren’t made aware of it so they could ask the right questions. That is how it started, and it still hasn’t stopped.

Vets found out the same way everyone else did- through CNN, the nightly news. There is no national database of veterinarians that can be alerted of a massive problem like this, so we rely on word of mouth, or maybe contact from the pet food representatives who were, in this case, silent. First it was aminopterin, then later, melamine. People who fed their pets “premium” foods and thought they were safe, found out that some varieties of Ol’Roy and Eukanuba were made side by side in the same plant, from the same tainted ingredient.

People switched to dry, and thought they were safe. Then Hills m/d was recalled. People switched to super-premium foods, ones without wheat gluten, and thought they were safe. Then Natural Balance announced rice protein concentrate was contaminated with melamine and pulled several brands of their food off the shelves. Are we safe now? How about now? What will tomorrow bring? It hasn’t stopped YET, and even yesterday Royal Canin USA added multiple prescription and over the counter diets to the recall. The widening is getting broader and more alarming each day. The latest theory is that melamine was deliberately introduced in order to artificially inflate the protein concentration in these products imported from China, bringing the debacle to a new, horrifying level.

This recall has shaken this industry badly. When you look at the statistics, the pet food supply is even now safer than the human food supply. With home cooking at a very low level, food borne illness was and continues to be a very rare problem with pets. One of the things that bothers me the most about this is how little trust we can have now in this industry. The suppliers may have lied to the producers like Menu Foods (if indeed this was a deliberate contamination.) The producers waited for a good month before revealing that they knew there was a problem. Some pet food companies, scared of revealing a link to Menu after the story broke, hid from pet stores the fact that they used Menu in some of their production lines. Some of the pet food companies themselves were unaware of the source of their products, as happened with Royal Canin Canada. There was not just one failure here, there were failures on the part of EACH and every member of the chain here, and that is what is truly mind blowing.

So now what?

If you continue to feed your pet commercial food, you are still making a good choice. The number of confirmed deaths represents 0.005% of the US pet population, or 1 in 100 million. The companies are more vigilant than ever right now about the safety of their foods. You can switch your foods up to dilute the risk of any one food being contaminated.

You can choose to home cook. This is a challenging, time consuming proposition, especially in the long term. It is highly advised to consult with a veterinary nutritionist if you are choosing to do this, as finding the right amounts of additives can be tricky and requires specific weight related calculations. BalanceIt is one example of a reputable online source for recipes. UC Davis also offers services to clients and veterinarians- call (530) 752-1393 for more details. It is not recommended to follow any home cooked diet more than a month or two without follow up with your veterinarian to make sure your pet is receiving adequate balanced nutrition. Nutritionists report about 1-3 in 100 pets eating homemade foods do end up with imbalances or problems, so the risk is real. You also run into the risk of food poisoning that is the same you face yourself. It can be done, especially if you are vigilant and motivated, but just be aware that it is actually still safer to stick with commercial food unless you are going to follow all the involved recommendations and do it correctly. Raw diets are a subset of this group of foods, but going into detail is beyond the scope of this article at this time.

For More Information:

FDA Pet Food recall list
Sign up for FDA e-mail alerts
Recall List at Itchmo
Recall Info at Howl911

jesvet

written by: a cat

1. Vacuum the carpets and sweep the floors a minimum of at least once a week. Why you ask? Spend a day walking around at this level with me. You will understand the importance of this rule after that. Trust me.

2. On Friday and Saturday nights, I would appreciate a little extra dinner. You sleep late on the weekends and I do not understand that whole “days of the week” concept. Please be considerate of the fact that you throw off my daily eating schedule when you do this.

3. While we are on the topic of days of the week, I don’t understand the whole changing of the seasons concept either. We should discuss a temperature guideline to determine when the windows can be opened. This every other day stuff confuses me.

4. Clean my food bowl everyday. There’s nothing I hate more than getting a fresh can of wet food in the morning and biting into something crunchy that is dried out and stuck to the bowl from the day before. That’s disgusting.

5. Change my water everyday, too. No one likes floaties.

6. I don’t get to flush each time I go to the bathroom, like you human things do. Clean my litter box on a regular basis. Three or four cleanings per week should suffice.

7. Each time you see crusties in the corner of my eye, please remove them promptly.

8. Make the bed everyday. It is much more comfortable to lay on when it’s made.

9. Open the blinds before you leave for work in the morning. I like to have a bright sunny spot on the carpet that mysteriously rotates around the house throughout the day. When you forget to do this, you mess up my napping routines.

10. Decide on a minimum number of times to hit snooze button on the alarm. Since the alarm is my cue for breakfast, I don’t like to be teased that early in the morning. It confuses me when you fall back to sleep over and over again.

11. Cold cuts. If you take them out of the fridge, you must share with me. To account for this, please order an extra quarter pound of deli meat when you’re at the grocery store.

12. Plants are fair game, either inside or outside the house. If you insist on spraying them to try and keep me away, please be considerate of my taste buds. No tabasco laced water allowed.

13. There should be at least 3 cat toys available at all times. I will let you use your discretion in deciding which toys there should be. I prefer small and lightweight toys with feathers. Hint: The best kind have been douced in catnip. Speaking of catnip…

14. I must have access to catnip at least two times weekly for a minimum of 20 minutes per sitting. No exceptions.

15. I need to be brushed at least once a week. Coughing up hairballs sucks.

*Feel free to discuss any concerns or ask any questions about this manual in between my naps.

Southerner

April 10th is the birthday of the oldest human organization in the Western hemisphere, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The ASPCA is an amazing organization that, thanks to the efforts of thousands of dedicated volunteers, has helped make incredible strides in the protection of wild and domesticated animals in the United States.

I have been an ASPCA supporter for a long time. They have a fantastic, easy to use website with action items ready to be e-mailed to your local representative (like the current call for a law against the use of dog and raccoon dog fur.) But it wasn’t until after Hurricane Katrina that I really understood just how dedicated organization this is. Before the National Guard arrived, before FEMA, when heartbroken evacuees were forced to abandon their beloved companion animals to an uncertain fate, volunteers fought their way in with incredible speed to save countless animal lives.

In their 141st year, the ASPCA is launching a new program called Mission Orange, with the goal of working on communities one at a time to improve the lives of the animals who live there. In honor of this, they are asking everyone to wear orange on April 10th to show support for our animal friends and get the word out about their new program. I know orange is not my best color, I’m an earth tone kind of girl myself- but for this, I’ll do it! And I’ve got an orange bandana for my dog ready to go too!

jesvet

With life comes death. In the field of veterinary medicine, this is a reality that comes full circle on all too regular a basis. Over time, I’ve learned to accept this and step into the role I have in assisting people and pets with attaining quality of both. While it is always sad, I’ve gotten to the point where I can quell my own empathetic pangs for grieving owners enough to be strong for them so they can do what they need to do. But every once in a while, a situation presents itself that breaches those walls and just leaves you struggling to hang on to a composure that was tenuous to begin with.

One Tuesday, I saw a little 1 1/2 year old cat who has been sick for a week or so. He came in two weeks prior for vaccines, and other than a mild fever he was fine. The other vet in the office sent him home and told the owner to come back in a couple days because of the fever. A couple days later, he was not eating, and kind of dehydrated. He got some fluids and antibiotics.

A few days after that, he stopped eating. That brings us to Tuesday. He had been steadily declining; starting to stumble a little, moderately dehydrated by this point, not drinking water. The owner agreed to bloodwork. Based on what I saw, I was pretty sure he had Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP), a fatal viral disease.

I sat down with the owner, a very nice woman, as I explained that her cat very likely had this horrible virus for which there is no cure. We discussed the prognosis, with me as usual wincing while telling someone there wasn’t a whole lot we could do. After absorbing this information and going through several tissues, she decided to take her cat home for a couple days to say goodbye, then come back with her boyfriend Thursday to euthanize him.

Thursday, the boyfriend arrived, alone, with the cat. The woman had decided she wasn’t able to accompany them. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to be present when the cat was euthanized, and after the tech went over a few things I went into the room to explain how the process goes. I expressed my sympathy, and asked him if he had any questions.

“Well,” he said, “I kind of want to know how it happens. I feel like I should be there…but, I don’t know.” He pauses, then speaks softly. “I had a son, with leukemia. He got sick just like this, this fast. I was with him when he died. And I don’t know if I could do this again.”

And as the tears start to well in both our eyes, he shares with me the loss of his 17 month old baby. How he had to choose whether to keep him in the hospital or bring him home to hospice care, to die. And how eerily similar this experience has been for him, that two years later he again has to make the same decisions for the cat who he had taken in such a short time ago as a salve to that rent in his heart.

My usual expressions of sympathy, the words of comfort and encouragement, all just faded away on my lips as I watched him relive the loss of his son while he held his cat, and all I could do was give him a heartfelt hug and then take the cat away.

All this happened in the midst of a huge rush of clients, so I bit my lip and tried with only moderate success to keep the tears away so I wouldn’t scare off the rest of the clients. You can blame allergies; an errant eyelash- but only if you cry only a little. So while Reggie’s owner went home to mourn another unexpected loss, my nurses and I held Reggie while I told him to keep an eye out for a little boy waiting for him on the Rainbow Bridge who would take good care of him, and off he went.

And off I went, false smile hastily glued on, to the waiting pets with the litanies of worms and vaccines, hoping the rest of the day would be exceptionally unexceptional.

(And for those who haven’t watched Sesame Street for a while, the reference in the title is to a character on that show.)

With the news of the mass euthanasia at a Las Vegas shelter fresh in mind, there is no better time to remind people of the importance of spaying and neutering your pets- and to help keep this in people’s minds, the Humane Society of the United States has proclaimed February 27th Spay Day USA.

Millions of unwanted dogs and cats are euthanized every year- and as much as people like to think that many of them are unadoptable, it simply isn’t true. Puppies, kittens, purebreds, sweet loving family pets- no animal is guaranteed an “out” at the shelter. The need outweighs the number of available homes. A large burden falls on us to do what we can to help decrease these numbers, and you as a pet owner can do the single most important thing to help by spaying and neutering your pet.

There are many of good reasons to do this, health wise, behavior wise, and population control wise. There really aren’t very many good reasons not to. Unless you are an experienced breeder, you shouldn’t be breeding your pet. Period. Sorry, but true. And if you are looking into a purebred, please, please- consider animal rescue, petfinder.com, looking in the shelter before buying. If you are set on a puppy, look for an ETHICAL breeder. Backyard breeders abound, people in it for the profit and not the well being of their animals. And for all that is good in this world, whatever else you take from this please do not buy from a puppy store at the mall. They tell you their pets are from “good” breeders, and guess what? They are lying. (Though I suppose someone may know of an exception, I have yet to see it.) If you don’t know where to start, the lovely animal advocates in the pets forum here at constant chatter are a great resource, and member Gayle is herself an experienced breeder.

Spay Day USA is sponsoring events across the country during February and March, offering low cost spays and neuters. Please look at the link for the many ways you can contribute:

• by getting your pet spayed or neutered
• sponsoring the spay or neuter of a pet
• volunteering at a Spay Day event

It is a measure of a society to see how we treat our most helpless- including the domesticated animals we bring into this world to provide unconditional love and affection, in return for our stewardship.

jesvet

One of the most common complaints a veterinarian hears is, “My dog’s breath stinks.” There are a lot of causes of this, certainly - diet, illness, coprophagia (the polite term for poop eating), but far and away the most common reason is dental disease. This is a very underdiagnosed problem in the veterinary field, and can lead to many more problems down the road. For this reason, a number of veterinary groups including the American Veterinary Medical Association have declared February National Pet Dental Health Month.

Just how bad of a problem is dental disease? According to the AVMA press release on the topic, “According to the AVDS, 80 percent of dogs and 70 percent of cats show signs of oral disease by age three, often indicated by bad breath, a change in eating or chewing habits, pawing at the face and mouth and depression. Besides causing receding gums and tooth loss, the infection may enter the bloodstream, potentially infecting the heart, liver and kidneys.”

A lot of clients are reticent to pursue dental care for their pets. They say, “My pet’s teeth look fine, what’s the problem?” Think about it. Your teeth look fine too, but somehow your dentist manages to find enough garbage under those gums even with daily brushing and flossing to warrant two cleanings a year. Pets accumulate invisible plaque and tartar as well, both on the visible tooth and under the gingiva. If you lift your pet’s lips to look at the molars on the side of the mouth, where few people really look, there is often a large accumulation of plaque that you don’t see on the incisors or canines. Often (and especially noticeable in cats) a dark pink line right where the gum meets the tooth can indiciate gingivitis. Every time your pet swallows, they are swallowing bacteria which can and do enter the bloodstream and cause life threatening infections.

So how is this prevented? Daily toothbrushing is ideal, of course, but this may be impractical or impossible for some owners. Beyond that, regular dental cleanings done at the veterinarian are essential. Although many grooming facilities claim to offer tooth cleaning services, be careful. A full cleaning with the same tools your dentist uses requires general anesthesia. Veterinarians also have the ability to take dental x-rays (or refer you to a specialist who does), extract infected teeth, and provide appropriate antibiotics if needed. Many grooming services who offer “teeth cleaning” just brush their teeth! And in California as well as many other states, licensed veterinarians are the ONLY providers who can legally offer dental services to pets.

I can’t tell you how many times people bring in an older pet with complaints of lethargy, not wanting to eat, etcetera and they have a mouthful of rotting teeth. Literally, held in place only by green decay. These poor animals are in terrible pain, and after hours of very expensive and in and of itself painful work, they become like new pets. Getting regular cleanings done before this point, while the teeth are still healthy, can prevent this down the road.

The expense is worth it. Get it done when is convenient, but keep in mind many veterinary practices offer a discount during the month of February to promote Pet Dental Health awareness, so it’s worth asking. That happy doggie or kitty smile makes it all worthwhile!