Top 10 Medical Conditions

Veterinary Pet Insurance of Brea, CA released the 2010 top 10 medical conditions from a data search on insurance claims on nearly a half million pets.
For Dogs:
1. Ear infection
2. Skin allergy
3. Skin Infection
4. Vomiting/Gastritis
5. Diarrhea/Enteritis
6. Arthritis
7. Bladder infection
8. Soft tissue trauma
9. Non-cancerous tumor
10.Hypothyroidism

For Cats:
1. Lower urinary tract disease
2. Vomiting/gastritis
3. Chronic kidney failure
4. Hyperthyroidism
5. Diabetes
6. Skin allergy
7. Enteritis/diarrhea
8. Periodontitis/dental disease
9. Ear infection
10.Upper respiratory infection

April Things

Easter lilies are highly poisonous to cats. In a communique from the Pet Poison Helpline released April 4th to the media and veterinarians they warn that all parts of the plant are toxic- the petals, leaves, stem, and even the pollen. Cats that ingest as few as one or two leaves or even a small amount of pollen while grooming their fur can suffer severe kidney failure. Symptoms start within six to 12 hrs. after exposure. Clinical signs include loss of appetite, lethargy and dehydration. As symptoms worsen some cats will have disorientation, staggering and seizures. Since there is no antidote veterinarians attempt to lessen the toxic effects with drugs to inhibit intestinal absorption and i.v. fluids to flush the poison through the kidneys.

April 15 was the traditional date in Iowa (earlier south of us and later north of us)to start dogs back on heartworm preventive. Now, most heartworm preventives also contain drugs to control intestinal parasites and year round prevention is recommended. It's only an additional three months of the year anyway and it also protects dogs from exposure of a very late or very early mosquito hatch. Remember also that heartworm preventives don't kill the heartworm larvae until they have been in the body from a mosquito bite for six to eight weeks. That's why we give it until very late fall or early winter. If your dog hasn't been on heartworm preventive or if you have interupted the monthly preventive you should test now. If your dog has been on continuous monthly preventive you should test one year after the last test regardless of what time of year it was.

Its also time to restart flea and tick control if you haven't been using something year around. There are some new products this year. Stop by the office for more info.

Hormone Creams Risk to People and Pets

From a recent comminique from the Iowa Veterinary Medical Association to its members: An article in the October 26th, 2010 issue of The New York Times reported that some veterinarians have been seeing mysterious hormonal changes in some dogs and cats such as males showing swollen breasts and hair loss while spayed females exhibited signs of "heat" (estrus). It was discovered that the animals had had close skin to skin contact or had licked their owners skin after they had applied creams that are used to control symptoms of menopause. You can find the article from the Times and a report from the F.D.A. on the risk of accidental exposure to pets and children related to human estrogen hormone products by going to these links:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/25/when-creams-expose-others-to-risks/

http://www.avma.org/issues/drugs/Evamist_10079.asp

More Rocks

This case doesn't involve ingested rocks but "rocks" or stones (cystic calculi) that can form in the bladder when minerals that are normally dissolved crystalize out in the urine. At first the crystals are microscopic but can build on each other like a lattice work until they are large enough to irritate the bladder lining or even block the flow of urine. I've seen bladder stones that ranged from the size from grains of sand to hen's egg. These photos show the stones visible on x-ray, the stones following surgical removal, and the placement of the last suture in the bladder following removal. The patient is an 8 year old Miniture Schnauzer.

Please Don't Eat the Rocks

Bottom photo: 2 rocks visible in the small intestine. The angular one was blocking the small intestine. A 3rd. rock is in the stomach to the left of the other two, not as easily seen because it is partially whited out by the stomach. The rocks were successfully removed surgically through 2 incisions in the small intestine (enterotomy) and 1 in the stomach (gastrotomy).

Top Photo: Ben on suture removal day feeling much better.

Don't Ignore the Lump!

The huge majority of growths in the skin (cutaneous) or under the skin (subcutaneous) are benign. The problem is that you can rarely tell the difference from just looking at them. The most common malignant cutaneous skin tumor in the dog is the mastocytoma, also called mast cell tumor. It makes up 16 to 20 percent of all skin tumors in dogs. They can vary greatly vary in appearance. While most malignant cutaneous masses are firm and often nodular, the one in the photo on a dog's abdomen had the appearance of a fleshy benign patch of skin on a mammary gland. A "needle biopsy" revealed mast cells and subsequent surgical biopsy comfirmed that it was a mast cell tumor.

Fleas, Fleas, Fleas

Here's a quick flea quiz: In which of these months do we see the highest numbers of animals coming into the clinic with fleas? February, May, August, or November? In ideal weather conditions fleas can double their numbers every 2 weeks. This doubling causes a geometric progression in flea numbers (like 2x2=4, 2x4=8, 2x8=16 and so on) so in just 8 weeks a single male and female flea hiding under your sofa can produce 1024 offspring! It doesn't take too many more doublings until the numbers are off the chart. Flea numbers don't begin to slack off until we get several killing frosts. Also, when it cools down in the fall fleas will stay on the animal to keep warm and jump off to lay their eggs in a warm environment like your living room where they will continue to reproduce (although at a lower rate) indefinately. So, when would you expect to see the highest numbers of fleas? Just before a killing frost in the fall like early November. The point of all this: don't slack off flea control in the late fall. Continue with monthly control at least through December. So far this year we're seeing excellent control with Vectra (monthly spot-on), Comfortis (monthly oral tablet), Sentinel (oral tablet that prevents eggs from hatching into larva), Revolution (monthly spot-onthat also prevents heartworm) , and good to very good control with Frontline. Remember that Sentinel and Comfortis do not kill ticks.