Expert veterinarian Dr. Tina, speaks out in a short series about Heartworm Disease and the effects it has on pets. Come listen & learn…to part 3!
*If you have more questions or would like to book an appointment please go to: www.tomobilevet.com
Expert veterinarian Dr. Tina, speaks out in a short series about Heartworm Disease and the effects it has on pets. Come listen & learn…to part 3!
*If you have more questions or would like to book an appointment please go to: www.tomobilevet.com
Expert veterinarian Dr. Tina, speaks out in a short series about Heartworm Disease and the effects it has on pets. Come listen & learn…to part 2!
*If you have more questions or would like to book an appointment please go to: www.tomobilevet.com
Expert veterinarian Dr. Tina, speaks out in a short series about Heartworm Disease and the effects it has on pets. Come listen & learn…to part 1!
*If you have more questions or would like to book an appointment please go to: www.tomobilevet.com
Dental disease is important to control in our cats and dogs as infection can set-in causing them to stop eating, develop kidney and liver disease, amongst other health conditions. Dental disease starts off with tartar buildup. Tartar is a hardened or calcified often brown coloured version of plaque. Plaque is the precursor to tartar and is a clear, slime we can easily remove by brushing it away when we toothbrush. We witness plaque most commonly in ourselves when we wake up in the morning with that slimy film in our mouth. In our pets because most of them do not have their teeth brushed daily, the tartar buildup on the teeth causes irritation of the gums around the base of the teeth, resulting in exposure of the roots, infection and tooth loss. Dental disease can also be painful as it is in humans when we develop cavities or even infection extending to our jawbone.
When a general physical examination is performed on your pet, your family veterinarian will also stage the dental disease your pet has. A score of 0/4 means your pet’s teeth are great and a score 4/4 means your pet has significant dental disease that warrants immediate attention.
Depending on the stage, your family veterinarian will discuss various plan of care options with you. It is important to note, that even if your pet has a perfect score of 0/4, your family veterinarian may discuss at-home dental preventive options with you to keep your pet’s smile in tip top shape. If your family veterinarian stages your pet’s dental disease and recommends planning for a dental procedure the following information may be helpful for you to know.
A full and thorough oral or mouth examination in our companion animals can only be conducted when they are under anesthesia. Blood and urine testing in addition to the aforementioned general physical examination would need to be done prior to dental cleaning to evaluate organ function, safety for anesthesia and other medications to help ensure your pet is a good candidate for the procedure to be conducted under general anesthesia. Although aesthesia always carries a degree of risk, the modern aesthetics in use in the clinics minimize this risk, even for older pets. The decision to schedule a dental procedure is discussed with your family veterinarian and depends on the individual needs of the pet and pet guardian.
While your pet is under anesthesia, if rotten teeth are found, removal of these teeth or dental extractions are important so the infection no longer continues and healing can begin. Pain control and antibiotics may given prior, during and after this scheduled dental procedure for a set period of time.
SO, to delay development or progression of dental disease, even if your family veterinarian rates your pet’s teeth as a perfect stage of 0/4 or even if they have just had a dental procedure done, they will often recommend your pet be started on some at-home dental care measures to minimize the need for a future dental procedure.
There are a plethora of at-home oral care measures to consider. Incorporating as many of these different measures together will do a better job at combating and preventing progression of dental disease. At-home dental products such as tooth brushing, toothpaste, diets, treats, water additives can be started to help delay further progression of dental disease as they help remove plaque, again that a sticky clear bacteria film on the teeth that is a precursor to the calcified version, called tartar that we mentioned earlier. It is important to note that once plaque becomes tartar, that brown hardened substance on teeth, no amount of tooth brushing or other at-home care measures can safely remove tartar. It requires dental cleaning with dental instruments such as a scaler. This is why we humans try to visit our own dentist once or twice a year.
Tooth brushing remains the best at-home oral care routine and so I have devoted a separate instructional video specifically about tooth brushing. Please visit the Toronto Mobile Veterinary Services website at www.tomobilevet.com to access this video.
I will briefly talk about two other more common secondary measures of at-home oral care that are good at helping to keep your pet’s gums and teeth healthy. These are the dental kibble diets and the dental water additives. I mention these ones over other products because of ease of incorporating them into your pets daily oral care regimen as the dental kibble taste good and they can also be used as treats or snacks. And, finally the water additive is mentioned because it too is a method that can be more easily incorporated into your daily pet oral care regimen because it will not alter the taste of their drinking water.
The first one I want to talk about is dental kibble. It is important to note that not all kibble effectively removes plaque from your pet’s teeth. The kibble needs to be a dental formulation because dental kibble are designed so that when your pet chews on them, its design will help “pull off” plaque. This will prevent further plaque and subsequent tartar buildup.
Another product to consider are special water additives. These products, when added to water also help to remove plaque on teeth when your pet drinks his/her water.
Thank you for watching this video. I hope it will help you in building an everlasting happy and healthy bond with your pet. If you have any questions or concerns about information from this video, speak to your family veterinarian. If you would like to schedule a phone consult with me regarding this topic, please visit the Toronto Mobile Veterinary Services website at www.tomobilevet.com and book online.
Have a wonderful day!
Things you should have handy if you are trimming your pets nails in case you do cut the quick are:
When you accidentally trim your pets nails, bleeding from that nail occurs and sometimes can seem almost profuse.
Step 1: do not panic as your pet will sense your anxiety and panic with you.
Step 2: Take a wad of tissue and apply pressure on the site.
Step 3: If you have styptic powder, while trying to dab/wipe and clear the affected nail of blood, dab this styptic powder or even all purpose flour on the site that is bleeding.
Step 4: Keep you pet calm for then next few hours. Let them stay in resting position for the next few hours so their body’s repair mechanisms have time to kick-in. The wounded area should form a clot itself preventing further bleeding. Once it is stopped bleeding, do not touch the site for 2 hours and try to have your pet not use this paw in that time so that the clot is not prematurely removed.
Step 5: If the aforementioned steps do not stop or slow down the bleeding, you can repeat steps 2 and 3 until you see improvement. If after a few minutes, the bleeding still seems profuse or you feel uncomfortable or concerned, call your family veterinarian with your phone on hand.
Over the next week, watch that your pet is walking fine, still active and energetic, that there is no malodour coming from the nail or further bleeding or discharge from the wounded nail bed. Although that would not commonly occur, should that happen, your pet may warrant an examination by your veterinarian as it may have become infected.
ASK THE VET: Hosting Dr. Tina
Question: In the last week, my 1 year old poodle has been scooting/dragging his rear end on the rug and leaving a foul odour on furniture. Other than this, we have not noticed any other changes in his behaviour. He is still energetic, eats, urinates and defecates normally—but where is that awful odour coming from?
The pungent odour you smell is from his anal glands. Dogs (and cats) have two small sacs just inside the muscle wall around their rectum. The walls of these sacs contain anal glands that produce pheromone-rich malodourous secretions into these sacs. The pheromones secreted are your dog’s unique “scent fingerprint” used for communication with other dogs and territory marking.
The anal sacs normally express (through a small duct) its secretions when dogs have bowel movements. When the sacs do not empty on a regular basis, impaction (clogging of the emptying duct) or infection (leading to an abscess) can occur.
Dogs with anal gland issues can be seen scooting, dragging their rear end or licking the affected area. In worse situations, the anal area can also appear red and swollen, it can be painful/cause discomfort and/or bloody pus can be seen draining from either side of the anus.
From your description, it sounds like your dog is exhibiting a mild case of anal sac impaction. Ask your veterinarian to check your dog’s anal sacs. They may need to be manually emptied or “expressed”. Depending on how full they are and the how the discharge from the sacs look, your veterinarian may discuss regular times his anal sacs need to be expressed. Short-term antibiotics may be required if the discharge expressed from the anal sacs is indicative of a brewing infection. Do not worry. Anal sac disorders are common, but are usually easily controlled.
Just for the record, the gentleman who asked this question thought the comic above was hilarious and appropriate to illustrate the discussion. Its use was not intended to offend anyone. Hope it made you chuckle—Have a great day :D!!
Dr. Tina’s Answer: No.
General Information: Dogs are the only species in which toxicity has been well described to date. It is uncertain whether or not it is toxic in cats and ferrets as there have only been anecdotal reports and data are lacking to confirm this. To err on the side of caution, avoid feeding your cats/ferrets any grapes/raisins.
What does it do? The toxicity damages the kidneys leading to severe Kidney Failure and death.
How does it cause Kidney Failure? The mechanism of toxicity are currently unknown. Amounts (estimated as low as 1/3 oz of grapes per pound body weight and 0.05 oz of raisins per pound of body weight) and type of raisins or grapes to cause toxicity is variable.
The Signs of Toxicity: Signs can develop within 24 hours to several days: Vomiting, diarrhea, inappetance, lethargy, abdominal pain, dehydration, decreased urine production to no urine production. *NB: If you know your pet has ingested grapes/raisins, it is always better to have him/her treated rather than wait for these signs to develop!!
Immediate Action: Seek veterinary assistance and induce vomiting.
Veterinary Care: Induction of vomiting, gastric lavage may be performed, and activated charcoal administered. Supportive care for monitoring and treatment for kidney failure with hospitalization, intravenous fluid therapy, diet change and medications will be initiated.
Prognosis: Variable and can depend on how quickly supportive care is initiated.
We all know that our pets need to have veterinary physical examination at least once or twice a year. Conducting at-home physical examinations does not replace a professional veterinary examination. It is meant to complement this veterinary visit, add more structure, help with accuracy and increase appointment flow during the visit.
Every vet knows that the most important part of your pet’s vet visit is the annual/bi-annual consultation and physical examination. Because our pets do not speak words to us, an important component of your pet’s physical examination is what you, the guardian noticed (both subjective and objective) in your pet over the year. The health of your pet depends not only between you and your pet, but also between you, your pet and your family veterinarian. This is called the guardian-pet-veterinarian relationship. My hope is that this talk will help strengthen this bond and in so doing, allow for more accurate understanding of issues that may need to be addressed to ensure your pets stays happy and healthy.
An at-home pet examination is conducted monthly by you and is an easy tool to provide you with a more objective approach to the progress of at-home care of your pet. The importance of this examination is at least 3-fold:
1) It helps to make the best use of your usually 15-20 minute annual veterinary visit—you will have an outline of questions/concerns you have noted in your pet over the year that you can have your family veterinarian address at the appointment. A good understanding of your pet’s health can depend on how you’re your family veterinarian can understand your description of your pet’s problems.
2) 1 year in our pet’s years is approximately 7 years in our human years, this is an oversimplified calculation, but the point is, if you can conduct a pet examination ONCE a month, you will be able to pickup subtle changes that may warrant veterinarian attention sooner than the 6 month or yearly examination.
3) It will help you develop a stronger bond with your pet as you will be able to pickup and notify any subtle changes in their behavior/emotional state, daily routine and changes to their physical bodies that may guide your veterinarian to investigate further during their vet visit.
At-home pet examinations are easy to do and although we may not have fancy equipment, we can utilize our own human senses as well as other home tools to help us get a cursory understanding of our pet’s health status.
The pet examination is divided into two parts: The first part entails assessing our pet’s emotional state or daily routine and our pet’s gait or movement through observation. The second part of the pet examination entails more a hands-on evaluation and using other senses besides observation such as touching, smelling and listening. Both parts of this examination are equally important.
Getting Started:
This is Roly and he is going to be our demonstration kitty for this talk. When conducting your monthly examination on your pet, pick a time and place that is relaxed for both you and your pet—especially for the second part of the examination where you will need to handle your pet. So for example, if you have a rambunctious puppy, it may be best to conduct an examination in a quiet room and after the puppy has been tuckered out from play.
**Part I: Starting with the first part of the pet examination:
MENTATION/EMOTIONAL STATE/DAILY ROUTINE: As all other days, Roly is bright, happy and alert today. Relaxed at the moment, but did not deviate from his regular routine licking and patting my face at 4:30am this morning, eating his food, defecating and urinating. I know that when Roly eats, he will always leave a few bites of his food in his bowl for a later snack and that he poops and urinates at least once every 12 hours.
GAIT/MOVEMENT: Roly was very active since this morning at 4:30 am. No difficulty in jumping up onto his favourite spot on a high shelf in my bathroom or onto by bed and has been racing around. I did not notice him limping.
**Part II: This is the hands-on part of the examination and we will start at the tip of Roly’s nose end at the tip of his tail. You can use the printable PDF version of our body chart at www.tomobilevet.com/blog to document any changes you may need to bring up to your family veterinarian. At your pet’s vet visit, bring your filled out body chart to your veterinarian to review. Guaranteed, your vet will be impressed with how organized you are with any questions/concerns that you would like he/she to address!!
HEAD AND FACE:
Starting with the head and face, look at your pets eyes make sure they are both opened up equally, no squinting and the pupils are symmetrical (cats have vertical shaped pupils, dogs’ are round and similar to ours) there is no eye discharge. Abnormal yellow or green discharge could signify an infection. Squinting could signify pain or discomfort of the eye. You can also pull back the eyelid (dogs and cats have very movable skin so this does not hurt them) to visualize the sclera, the white portion of our and their eyes to make sure it is not red or appears irritated. While manipulating with their eyelids, if a slightly pinkish membrane starts to cover the eye, do not be alarmed, cats and dogs have a modified caruncle the red prominence we have at the inner corner of our eyes. Cats and dogs have it modified so it acts as a third eyelid. This should not normally be up. If it stays covering the eye, there may be concern for illness.
Next look at the nose—any discharge? There should be none. The nose can be slightly moist to dry depending on the time of day, but it should never appear cracked or have anything dripping or clogging from the nostrils. Roly’s natural nose colour is pink and it is pink today and appears clean and dry.
Next look into each ear and see if it is clean and free of discharge or scabs from scratching. Smell the ear to ensure there is no malodour.
Looking inside your pet’s mouth—it’s a good idea to learn how to do this. For kittens and puppies, this is an opportune time to get them trained and used to you handling their mouths, but for our adult pets who are not used to this handling, take it slow as they may find it offensive if you force open their mouths if they are not used to you doing this. A way to start is to give them plenty of cheek and chin rubs. Eventually rubbing the outside of their teeth and gums with your finger. Again the pet skin is very loose so you can pull back the lips quite far to visualize the teeth and gums. So you can pull their cheeks right back to see the molars and premolars. When I am doing this I am checking that Roly’s gums are a nice healthy pink colour, there is no redness signifying inflammation of the gums, there is no bleeding or abnormal bumps in the mouth. The teeth should be white, browning of the teeth could signify tartar (calcified plaque) buildup. If your pet is comfortable with this step, you can next try to open their mouth (again you may need to take this part slow and try at a later time). Place your index and thumb just behind their upper canine teeth and applying firm but gentle pressure, then take your free hand and with your index finger gently pull down the lower jaw by pushing down on the lower incisors. You may have to try this several times and/or on different occasions before your pet is comfortable with this step, but you eventually want to be able to look inside the mouth, back of the throat and on the tongue to see if there are any abnormal growths, bleeding gums. The tongue roof of the mouth gums should all be pink. Smell the breath and ensure there is no foul odour
NECK AND THROAT:
Gently massage the throat region and under the chin on either side paying attention to any bumps or scabs or sores in this area. Cats and dogs also have an “Adam’s Apple” so gently feeling a small hardened bump over the throat like ours is normal.
FORELIMBS AND FINGERS:
Pet over the neck and shoulders and then down each of the forearms. Take a look at the nails. Press down on each of the toes and look at the nails. You are checking to ensure there are no nails that need trimming or evidence that they are curling in towards the toe pads that could cause potential problems in the future such as ingrown nails, infection and pain. The average cat has 5 fingers on the forepaws. The average dog has 4 fingers (there can be 5 if there are dew claws—the thumbs), but some of them may still have dewclaws which are the thumbs.
BACK:
Massage gently over the back and along each side of the spine. Your pets should enjoy this. Anytime you feel there is muscle tension or if there is whimpering or growling from your pet, this may suggest your pet is uncomfortable in this area and you should take note of this and seek veterinary assistance if you feel this cannot wait for their yearly checkup.
ABDOMEN/BELLY: Gently massage over the back and then down towards the abdomen where this should feel soft and supple. Almost like a water balloon that is partly filled with water. Not rock hard or tense. There should not be signs of discomfort yelping or growling when touched in this area. The abdomen generally covers the area behind the rib cage and in front of the hind legs.
HINDLIMBS AND TOES: Continue your gentle massage over the hips and down to the hind toes. Again, press down on each of the toes and look at the nails. You are checking to ensure there are no nails that need trimming or evidence that they are curling in towards the toe pads that could cause potential problems in the future such as ingrown nails, infection and pain.
The average cat has four toes. The average dog has 4 toes (there can also be 5 if there are dew claws the big toes), but some of them may still have dewclaws which are the thumbs.
TAIL/REAR: Stroke the tail from the base to the tip making sure you do not feel any lumps or bumps or scratches that you may need to take note of.
SKIN/COAT: Finally, look through the fur (starting from the head and working to the tail) by combing the fur backwards in general spots, looking to see the skin underneath. The skin should not appear red or flaky. There should not be any specks of dirt and should be clean. The fur coat should be shiny and smooth with minimal odour.
Don’t forget to reward your pet with a treat, kisses or extra pats and words of love at the end of their examination.
If you would like to schedule a phone consult with me regarding this topic, please visit the Toronto Mobile Veterinary Services website at www.tomobilevet.com and book online.
View below or click here for a downloadable .PDF (124KB)
Have a wonderful day
QUESTION:
I just adopted a 2-month-old golden-doodle puppy. I started house-training her yesterday using a crate, but it is harder than I thought! She whined for hours after I placed her in the crate for the night. I even took her out for a long walk to do her business prior to placing her in the crate. Are there any tips on making crate training easier ?
ANSWER:
THE BENEFITS: Crate training is a wonderful tool when used properly to aid in housetraining i.e. preventing destruction of furniture, house soiling and separation anxiety (such as the whining your puppy exhibits when she is left in her crate).
GENERAL INFORMATION: The goal of crate training is that your puppy learns to love resting in her crate. A crate should be like her den, as it provides a safe-haven during times of stress she can retreat to and/or comfortably rest in when she is tired.
In general, during the day puppies can be crated the same number of hours as their age in months and then throughout the night when they are sleeping. For e.g. a 2 month old puppy can be crated 2 hours at a time during the day, but she can be crated throughout the night for sleeping if she has not had a huge drink of water just before going in.
TIPS TO TRY AND WHAT TO DO: It is normal for puppies to whine the first few times they are crated as they are not used to having restricted access to their family. However, it is important that puppies learn that being separated or confined is okay and routine.
The crate should never be used as a punishment tool and should be introduced gently with many good things associated with it such as placing a favourite blanket and toys inside. Provide your puppy with something positive while she is in her crate. You can place treats and some of your puppy’s meal in the crate every time you put her in, so that she associates being in the crate with positive experiences.
If she starts whining when she is in the crate, it is important to IGNORE the behaviour. Each time you respond in any way, you are in fact rewarding the behaviour you are trying to eradicate and she will learn to whine as a way to grab your attention. When you IGNORE the whining you are sending a message to your puppy that whining is a fruitless exercise. If the crate is in a room with a door, shut the door (if it will help attenuate the noise and/or prevent you from reacting to her whines) and leave the vicinity.
Avoid letting your puppy out of her crate when she is barking or whining as this rewards the barking/whining behaviour and it will get worse. Instead, wait until she is quiet to let her out.
You can also reward your puppy for quiet behaviour by tossing treats into her crate when she is quiet or opening the door and giving her attention when she is quiet.
If you are diligent about the crate training early on, the whining should stop within a week. If you reward your puppy by letting her out when she whines, the whining could develop into serious anxiety or barrier frustration that prevents you from being able to leave your dog alone in another room or alone in the house.
REMEMBER: Never reward and therefore reinforce undesirable behaviour—always reward desirable quiet time.
Puppy training in general can be challenging at times, but successful training allows for a more fulfilling relationship between you and your puppy/future dog.
If you are unsure whether the amount of whining is normal. Consult your veterinarian before the whining develops into an expensive and noisy problem.
QUESTION:
Does my indoor cat need to be vaccinated?
ANSWER:
Yes. If your cat leads a totally sheltered life with no exposure to other cats or no chance that you might bring infection from your hands/clothes from other cats directly or indirectly from fomites, some vaccines may not be needed.
Both the American Association of Feline Practitioners and the American Animal Hospital Association have published guidelines for vaccination. Vaccines are divided into “core vaccines” that every pet should have, and “non-core vaccines” that a pet should have depending on exposure risk.
For cats, core vaccines are the combination distemper virus/respiratory disease group (FVRCP) and rabies vaccine. Pet owners are often surprised that rabies is a core vaccine. It is a core vaccine because of the lethal health consequences of rabies exposure (which can and unexpectedly happen to indoor pets) and the legal consequences of owning a pet that has bitten (what happens to the pet generally is dependent on its vaccine status). In Toronto, the rabies vaccine is a bylaw (Regulation 567, Health Protection and Promotion Act). Rabies is a detrimental disease not only to our pets, but also to people in contact with them.
Your veterinarian should discuss a vaccine protocol for your pet that ensures he/she remains healthy, but also ensures that safe ownership is practiced for the benefit of you and the rest of society.