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Category: Canine

  • Take note of high Hgb and Hct levels on pre-anaesthetic bloods

    A young French Bulldog is sedated prior to surgery.
    A pre-anaesthetic blood test can reveal hidden or undetected health problems that are not obvious from a physical examination alone. Image ©iStock.com/DenGuy

    Have you ever noticed that, sometimes after starving, the haematocrit (Hct) and haemoglobin (Hgb) levels appear a little high on pre-anaesthetic bloods prior to a surgical procedure that morning?

    If so, make sure you look at the figures.

    If, like us, your laboratory machine produces a band with a red marker in the middle indicating some elevation, make sure you also look at the absolute figures.

    I recently saw a nine-year-old boxer that, after a surgical procedure, developed redder and redder skin and mucous membranes. She had high Hct and Hgb on pre-anaesthetic bloods and subsequently turned out to have polycythaemia vera with, eventually, a Hct of 84.9.

    Four episodes of venipuncture (taking 200ml to 300ml of initially very viscous blood on each occasion), plus treatment with hydroxycarbamide, and she was feeling much better.

  • Low-level laser therapy for dogs

    Low-level laser therapy for dogs

    laser therapy
    Image ©iStockphoto.com/DenGuy

    Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) is a rapidly growing adjunctive therapy in companion animal practice.

    Low-level laser or cold laser therapy is a non-invasive procedure that uses light to stimulate cell regeneration and increase blood circulation, thus helping damaged tissue to repair.

    LLLT can be used to treat dogs with arthritis, tendon or soft tissue injuries, and to promote wound healing.

    Most lasers are programmable to a range of frequencies in order to treat many different types of problems in dogs.

  • Routine ear cleaning in chronically waxy ears

    Ear drops
    Consider routine ear cleaning in chronically waxy ears.

    When I attended the North American Veterinary Conference back in January, I was surprised to hear one of the dermatologists say he did not recommend cleaning ears [in chronic cases].

    That being said, I’ve heard other specialists espouse the virtues of routine cleaning from upon high.

    I’m a great believer in the rule of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, but I do see atopic dogs that develop significant build up of wax – and routine cleaning with my favorite ear cleaner twice weekly just keeps the use of prescription drugs to a minimum and increases the interval between flare ups.

    So, my tip for this week would be to consider this in certain cases.

  • Don’t feed your dog bones

    bones
    Don’t feed your dog bones. Image ©iStock.com/mashabuba

    Time for a controversial one, I feel… I have three dogs, and other than those they manage to scavenge in the park, I won’t let them have bones!

    For those of you preparing to type away and tell me how wrong I am to advocate such a thing, this tip is based on one of the hardest cases I’ve dealt with in my 25 years as a vet, which involved a lamb bone lodged in the distal oesophagus.

    This incident was several years ago and, thankfully, our friend is now doing fine, but it was incredibly traumatic for all concerned at the time.

    As I type this I am waiting to see a dog that is straining to pass fragments of bone and is in a lot of discomfort.

    So, go on – tell me how wrong I am, and give me all the evidence-based medicine that you should…

  • Challenging Shar Pei dermatology cases

    Shar Pei
    Shar Pei’s are special – dermatologically speaking. Photo credit: FreeImages.com/Renxx Gmdr

    I recently saw a challenging dermatology case involving a 14-month-old Shar Pei bitch. (more…)

  • Smartphone app monitors dogs’ breathing rate

    Heart2Heart Canine RRR App
    The respiratory rate calculator from Boehringer Ingelheim is available for both Apple and Android devices.

    I’ve just discovered the “respiratory rate calculator” by Boehringer Ingelheim, which acts as a useful tool in aiding clients to keep an eye on their dogs’ respiratory rate.

    I find this invaluable for dogs with congestive heart failure, and because it allows owners to keep a record of results over time it can be a great aid in monitoring the response to various therapies.

    Further information and download links for both Apple and Android devices can be found at www.yourdogsheart.com.

  • Higher frequency passing stools can indicate adverse food reactions

    Dog on toilet
    It’s worth asking clients how many times a day their dog passes stools. Image ©iStock.com/damedeeso13

    While not exactly a major sign of food allergies, the number of times a day a patient passes stools can raise suspicion of the condition.

    Between 60% and 65% of dogs with adverse food reactions (AFR) have concurrent gastrointestinal disturbance (Paterson, 1995) and (Loeffler, 2004).

    Another study confirmed my impression dogs with AFR produce on average 3 stools a day, compared with an average of 2.1 stools/day in atopic dogs and 1.6/day in normal dogs (Loeffler, 2004). This decreases to normal in dogs with confirmed AFR once managed.

    So, it’s definitely worth asking the question, and given encouraging clients to undertake food trials can be challenging, this can be very helpful in discussions as to the possible causes of pruritus.

    REFERENCES
    Paterson S (1995). Food hypersensitivity in 20 dogs with skin and gastrointestinal signs, Journal of Small Animal Practice 36(12): 529-534.

    Loeffler A et al (2004). Dietary trials with a commercial chicken hydrolysate diet in 63 pruritic dogs, Vet Rec 154(17): 519-522.

  • Role of bacterial colonisation in allergic skin disease

    Beagle
    Pruritus: the unpleasant skin sensation that frequently provokes scratching. Image ©iStock.com/olaser

    As spring warms up, my own nose and sinuses have detected increasing pollen levels, and there’s been a corresponding increase in pruritic patients coming across the threshold.

    I think the role of pyoderma in allergic skin disease is well established and accepted. However, it is not uncommon to see dogs with no obvious skin lesions that are markedly pruritic, and cytology often reveals large numbers of cocci without the correspondingly high levels of inflammatory cells.

    In patients with reduced barrier function, this overgrowth can contribute significantly to the levels of pruritus. I find a significant number of dogs’ pruritus reduces by at least 50%, if not more, with appropriate antibiotic and shampoo therapy when overgrowth is identified by cytology.

    I usually repeat the cytology in around 2 to 3 weeks to check for resolution, although, of course, given the relapsing nature of the condition periodic treatment is required.

    Reference
    Rosenkrantz W (2010). Proceedings of the NAVC Conference 2010.

  • Subcuticular sutures: a great idea in sensitive regions

    We routinely audit postoperative complications for our canine neutering surgery.

    Over time, it became clear we were seeing a few castration wounds come back in where the dog had licked both the wound and surrounding area, making it sore to the extent it was delaying healing. In some cases, additional treatment was required.

    We then wondered to what extent non-absorbable skin sutures were playing a role. Making the change to using absorbable skin sutures reduced our complication rate significantly – nuff said!

    How to bury knots at the start and finish of a subcutaneous suture. Video by John Inns via YouTube

  • The power of the food trial

    "Dog food 203365" by Anne Hornyak - Flickr: Fromm 203/365. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
    Image courtesy Anne Hornyak via Flickr. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

    A very itchy, erythematous young boxer with very sore ears came in to my consult room.

    A normally very docile chap, it really resented having topical treatments applied to its ear canals.

    It turned out he was passing stools three to four times a day (two is more normal) and showed signs of gastrointestinal disturbance on an intermittent basis.

    Thinking we were heading in the direction of atopic disease, I instigated a food trial, with my personal favourite, Purina HA. Three weeks later, we had a different (much better) dog.

    Amazing – particularly given only 25% of cases respond within the first three weeks of a trial. Now I have to persuade the owners we should do a re-challenge to confirm our diagnosis.