With the weather cooling down, many of our older pets are feeling the strain.
Arthritis is quite common in older animals and is exacerbated by cool, humid weather. Being overweight or having had joint surgery at some point in their life are recognised risk factors. Large breed dogs often develop arthritis at an earlier age than smaller breeds. The impact of arthritis on a pet’s quality of life can be significant, but there are management strategies available. Continue reading Arthritis in pets
Does your dog have itchy skin?
Itchy skin is a common problem for many animals. A dog with itchy skin will excessively scratch, lick or bite its skin, and the skin will become hot and lose its hair. If the scratching is severe, it might even have cuts and scabs, or a bad odour. The itching can be confined to just one area, or affect the dog’s entire body. This can make a dog absolutely miserable and understandably quite irritable.
What are the causes of itchy skin?
Itchy skin is not a condition in itself, but a sign of some other disease. The most common causes in Canberra are allergies. Atopic dermatitis is an allergy to airborne particles such as pollens, moulds or grasses, and causes itchiness of the face, armpits, groin and feet. The cause may never actually be isolated, or it may be widely dispersed in the air and therefore unavoidable.
Things to think about in itchy dogs.
What tests can the vet do?
The first thing the vet will do is physically examine your dog, looking for any rashes, scabs or inflamed areas. A flea comb may be used to look for fleas and other skin parasites. Smaller agents such as mites, bacteria and yeasts can only be seen under a microscope, so samples from the skin may need to be taken. This could include a swab, a sticky tape test (where the skin is gently squeezed and sticky tape is pressed against it), a skin scraping (where a scalpel blade is scraped against the superficial skin layer) or an impression smear (where a slide is pressed directly against the skin). Blood tests are required if endocrine disease is suspected.
How is itchy skin treated?
Fleas are treated by using regular preventative flea treatments on all animals in the house at the same time and by removing fleas from the dog’s bedding and environment. Vet branded monthly top spots or tablets are proven to be more effective in removing fleas from the dog than those found elsewhere. Mite infestations require a combination of medicated shampoos and oral medication for some months. Food allergies are diagnosed by exclusion diets and treated by avoiding the offending food. Allergies are managed with medications that reduce the itch, as well as treating the secondary bacteria or yeast that colonise the inflamed skin and aggravate the irritation. Omega 3 supplements, medicated shampoos, cortisone and other medications that reduce itch are often helpful too. Endocrine diseases are treated with hormonal supplements. Recheck appointments are valuable to monitor progress and ensure your pet has maximum comfort whilst minimising the side effects of medications.
Canberra is in the middle of a nasty parvovirus epidemic. If your dog is less than 1 year old please check that he or she has had 3 puppy vaccinations, with the final one at 14 weeks of age or older.
Older dogs should have had a distemper, hepatitis and parvovirus booster at 15 months of age and then one every 3 years.
Please call us if you have any doubts about your dog’s vaccination status.
Parvovirus causes vomiting and diarrhoea. Often the diarrhoea is bloody. Infected dogs feel really sick and usually need a drip to keep them hydrated and antibiotics to prevent infections from escaping the bowel and entering the body.
Eye injuries are an emergency at Hall Vet Surgery. If your pet has a tightly closed or red eye, with or without a watery or pussy discharge, phone us immediately.
Eye injuries are painful and dogs will rub and damage the eye further if not promptly treated.
Injury to the eye damages the cornea, the clear window at the front of the eyeball.
Blunt trauma, from a grass seed caught under the eyelid, or a laceration like a cat scratch or scratch from a branch or grass are very common causes of corneal injury. Chemicals such as irritating shampoos or sprays may also damage the cornea.
Corneal damage interferes with vision, creates problems deeper in the eye and, if not treated, lead to loss of the eye.
At the Surgery we apply a local anaesthetic and examine the eye for a grass seed or other foreign body under the upper, lower or third eyelids. A fluorescein dye highlights scratches or ulceration of the cornea.
Treatment of corneal injuries depends on the extent of the damage. Superficial corneal damage is treated with antibiotic ointments and pain relief. Surgery or hospitalisation is necessary for deeper injury to protect or repair the eye.
Fleas are out in force this summer because of the warmth and humidity. People complain that flea treatments on their pets are not working, but if the fleas are jumping onto the pet as fast as the treatment is killing them, we can’t blame the treatment.
Fleas spend most of their lives OFF dogs or cats, so we must attack them off the pets as well as on them.
Look at flea control for some suggestions on how you can get rid of the pesky pests.
Already this spring we have seen dogs and cats back from the beach with tick paralysis.
Reports from the coast say that the ticks are the worst seen in many years.
Treat your pet for ticks before you leave for the coast. Advantix must be applied 2 days before traveling down and reapplied every 2 weeks while at the coast.
Alternatively rinse dogs with permethrin before leaving and then weekly while down there.
Frontline spray is the only safe tickicide for cats. Apply 2 days before leaving for the coast and then fortnightly while down there.
Please note that Advantix and Permethrin are extremely toxic to cats. A cat brushing up against or grooming a treated dog can die of permethrin poisoning.
Supplement the tickicide application with close daily inspection of your pet. Feel inside the ears, under the arms, around the tail and in all the crevices and skin folds. Ticks love to hide in long hair. Remove any ticks you find immediately.
If your pet is weak in the legs or drooling contact a vet immediately.
Cats and dogs who live with smokers have a higher risk of developing cancer.
The risk of lymphoma, the most common cancer in cats, is tripled in cats from smoking households. Squamous cell carcinomas of the mouth are also more prevalent in cats exposed to tobacco smoke.
Dogs living in a household with a smoker are more likely to have a chronic cough to match their owner’s. Most sobering of all, they have a higher risk of developing nasal and lung cancer.
Scientists from all over the world have detected nicotine metabolites in the family pets of smokers. The more smokers and smoking in the household, the higher the levels of nicotine metabolites found.
Carbon material, a byproduct of smoking, has also been found in these pets’ lungs.
As if we needed more reasons to give up smoking!
In bloat, also known as gastric dilation, a dog’s stomach is over distended with gas. Often it twists as well, sending the dog into shock. When this happens it is called gastric dilation and volvulus, or GDV.
Factors thought to increase the risk of bloat and GDV include:
Factors thought to decrease the risk of bloat and GDV include:
Male, deep-chested large breeds like Great Danes, Irish Setters, German Shepherds, Afghan Hounds, Basset Hounds and Rottweilers are most often affected.
A bloating dog becomes uncomfortable and restless immediately after a meal. The left side of the abdomen distends and the dog tries to vomit. Some dogs adopt a “praying position” because of the pain.
An x-ray confirms the bloat and tells us if the stomach has twisted.
Affected dogs go into shock because the distended stomach puts pressure on the large veins in the abdomen that carry blood back to the heart. The output of blood from the heart drops and the supply of oxygen and nutrients to the rest of the body comes to halt.
The blood supply to the stomach wall also drops and with increasing internal pressure the stomach wall begins to die and may rupture.
If the stomach twists the blood supply to the spleen is cut off and it swells and soon dies.
In many dogs the heart goes out of its normal rhythm either before, during or up to 2 days after surgery.
When the stomach is distended, digestion stops. Toxins accumulate, move into the circulation and activate chemicals which cause inflammation. Blood clots then form within blood vessels. This is called disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) and is usually fatal.
How can we save the dog’s life?
We must act quickly to save the dog’s life.
What is the survival rate?
The survival rate depends on the severity of the distention, the degree of shock, how quickly treatment is begun, and the presence of other diseases, especially those involving the heart. Approximately 60 to 70% of treated dogs survive.
How do we prevent bloat and GDV happening again?
Gastropexy does not prevent bloat but it is usually successful in preventing twisting of the stomach and spleen. We assess each individual’s meal time habits for any of the predisposing factors mentioned above.
Heartworm live in the heart and major blood vessels of infected dogs.
How do dogs get heartworm?
Female heartworm produce millions of young, or microfilaria, which live in the bloodstream. Mosquitoes ingest microfilariae when they bite an infected dog.
The microfilariæ develop further in the mosquito. When the mosquito bites another dog it injects larval heartworm. These larvae migrate to the heart and adjacent vessels over a few months, and grow to adult heartworm.
Usually dogs do not show outward signs of infection for a few years.
How do heartworm affect dogs?
Adult worms:
Adult worms clog the heart and the major blood vessels leading from the heart. They stop the heart valves from closing and reduce blood supply to the rest of the body.
The most obvious signs are: a soft, dry, chronic cough, shortness of breath, loss of stamina, and weakness, especially after exercise. Heavily infected dogs may faint.
Sometimes we hear heart murmurs or abnormal lung sounds with a stethoscope. In advanced cases the abdomen and legs swell with fluid accumulation. Weight loss, poor condition, and anaemia develop with a chronic infection.
Severely infected dogs may die suddenly during exercise or excitement.
Microfilariæ (Young worms):
Microfilariæ circulate throughout the body but prefer small blood vessels. Because they are as wide as the vessels, they may block blood flow to vital organs such as the lungs, liver and kidney.
How do we prevent heartworm?
Annual injections of Proheart SR-12, or monthly tablets such as Heartgard or Proheart, or spot-ons such as Advocate or Revolution all kill larval heartworm before they reach the heart.
Before starting a preventative we run a blood test in the surgery to check for any existing infection.
If we detect an existing heartworm infection an effective treatment is available. Before admitting an infected dog for treatment we screen for damage to the liver, kidneys, heart and lungs to reduce the chance of complications.
Fun-loving Teddy is a regular visitor to Hall Vet Surgery. He is a much-loved member and protector of a young family, as gentle as he is outgoing.
At age three Teddy started limping on one of his hind legs. At first his owners thought he’d hurt himself on one of his wild runs around the lake. We prescribed rest and pain relief and thought he’d soon get over it, but he got lamer and lamer.
Perhaps he had ruptured a ligament in his knee, a common injury in busy dogs. We anaesthetised him and manipulated it. The instability we associate with cruciate ligament damage was missing so we took X-rays of the whole leg.
The X-rays confused even the specialists. A lesion in his long bone could have been a bone infection or bone cancer. A biopsy of the bone confirmed the worst – Teddy had osteosarcoma, an aggressive bone cancer.
By this time Teddy was withdrawing into himself and spending a lot of his time trying to rest. Pain relief medication helped a little but it was obvious that the cancer was causing him much pain.
To alleviate the pain and prevent further spread his owners decided we should amputate his leg. Teddy’s relief was immediate. He bounced home next morning as if he’d been made to run on three legs.
However we knew that the osteosarcoma had probably already spread to his lymph nodes and lungs. Although we could not see any metastases in his lung X-rays, we knew they were probably there. Without further treatment Teddy had only 6 weeks of life left.
The veterinary oncologist suggested a chemotherapy regime that would extend his life expectancy. His family did not want to do anything that would make him feel unwell. We reassured them that chemo for pets is designed to ensure that they have a good quality of life. Doses are tailored to suit the patient and reduced if they affect blood cell production or cause nausea, vomiting or diarrhoea.
Teddy came in weekly for his chemotherapy. Although he had a few days off his food in the 12 weeks, he came into the Surgery with a wag in his tail every single time, delighted to see us and clearly enjoying life.
So far we have detected no recurrence of the cancer at his monthly rechecks. His family is delighted with his response to the treatment – and so are his fans at Hall Vet Surgery.
