Tag Archives: Dogs

Reward-based training

Dogs play an important part in many of our lives. With proper training from an early age, they can learn to interact with people in a positive way.

With this in mind the Australian Veterinary Association has developed a set of practical recommendations for vets and dog trainers on training methods based on positive reinforcement.

Reward-based training: a guide for dog trainers outlines the benefits of reward-based training and identifies some of the problems associated with alternative training methods. It also includes a number of case studies, examples of training and comprehensive list of references for further reading on the subject.

Ticks worst in years

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.

Bloat or the dreaded GDV

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:

  • Gulping air down with food
  • Strenuous exercise soon after a meal
  • Leanness
  • Drinking a lot of water immediately after a large meal of dry food
  • Increasing age
  • An anxious or timid temperament

Factors thought to decrease the risk of bloat and GDV include:

  • Canned food
  • Table scraps in the diet
  • Happy or easy-going temperament
  • Two or more meals per day

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.

  1. Large quantities of intravenous fluids treat the shock.
  2. The pressure in the stomach is relieved with a tube passed from the mouth to the stomach or with a needle pushed through the skin into the stomach.
  3. The stomach is returned to its normal position in surgery.
  4. Any dead areas of the stomach are cut out. If the spleen has died it is also removed.
  5. The stomach is stitched to the abdominal wall (gastropexy) to reduce the chance of recurrence of GDV.
  6. We monitor the heart for abnormalities in its rhythm (arrhythmias) before, during and after surgery, and treat as necessary.

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

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.

 

Teddy vs bone cancer

Teddy waits for his treat

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.

 

Festive season for pets?

Spare a thought over the festive season for our pets.  Christmas is a fun time of year for humans but it disrupts our animals’ lives, causing stress and untoward changes in their behaviour.

Potential sources of stress include:

  • Car travel
  • Boarding
  • Visitors to their home
  • Parties and increased noise in the neighbourhood
  • Fireworks
  • Changes in routine
  • Visits to unfamiliar environments such as a holiday house or extended family

Many pets become anxious under these stresses. Their behaviour changes to cope with the stresses. These behavioural changes are usually temporary but occasionally turn into long-term, serious problems.

How can we reduce our pets’ anxiety this Christmas?

Reassure your pets in unfamiliar circumstances by allowing them to stay close to you and spending as much time with them as possible. If you have to leave them, give them something familiar like bedding or your shirt.

Provide a comfortable safe hidey hole with lots of fun things to do if visitors are expected or you are planning a party. Long lasting treats like stuffed Kongs and chew toys keep dogs engrossed and happy.

Avoid confronting a dog with anyone they fear. Children or big men frighten some dogs.

Don’t punish a frightened dog or make it face up to its fear. This usually makes an already tense dog more anxious.

Try not to initiate any more fears in your pet. A house suddenly full of noisy party-goers and no secure place to hide will make a timid dog frightened of more people.

Pheromones, naturally produced communicators, reduce anxiety significantly in many pets.   ADAPTIL® (containing Dog Appeasing Pheromone) and Feliway® (containing a calming cat pheromone) are synthetic copies of the animals’ own natural pheromones. They reduce behaviour changes resulting from stress or anxiety.

Feliway replicates the feline facial pheromone that cats rub around their environment so they feel relaxed and at home.

ADAPTIL (Dog Appeasing Pheromone) replicates the pheromone the dam releases when suckling her puppies. It reassures dogs of any age, reducing anxiety and preventing fear and stress related behaviours.

If behaviour resulting from fear and anxiety is out of proportion to what is happening or causes long lasting problems then schedule an appointment with one of our vets. They will work through a programme of retraining or behaviour modification in conjunction with a prescription drug, appropriate for your pet.

 

Heart care for dogs

Dogs suffer from heart failure, just like humans. If dog owners recognise the warning signs of heart failure they can seek help earlier and enjoy a healthy, happy pet for longer.

Research shows that most dog owners are not aware of the risk of heart failure in older dogs, even though 1 in 10 dogs presented to vets suffer from heart disease.

Boehringer Ingelheim has launched a Heart Failure Awareness Program to raise owners’ awareness of the signs of heart disease in dogs. The company wants to reduce the numbers of dogs suffering unnecessarily from this life threatening condition.

The Heart Failure Awareness Program is aimed at dog owners because they are most likely to notice changes in their dog’s health and behaviour.

Early signs of heart failure, like loss of appetite, are subtle and often overlooked.

The common signs of congestive heart failure include:

  • Coughing, especially at night
  • Poor appetite
  • Reluctance to exercise and tiring quickly on walks
  • Laboured or fast breathing
  • Fainting – often associated with exercise
  • Weight loss
  • Enlarged abdomen
  • Weakness

If your dog is aged seven or more and showing one or more of the above signs visit a vet without delay.

Effective treatment of heart failure is available and when started early greatly improves affected dogs’ quality of life.

If owners recognise the signs of heart failure early and seek veterinary advice before the heart deteriorates markedly, treatment has the greatest benefit.

Research has shown effective treatment allows dogs with heart failure to enjoy many healthy, good quality years of life.

And that’s something all dog owners want.

Pet Insurance

(This post is archived on our website at https://www.hallvet.com.au/about/pet-insurance/)

Some perspective…

According to the Australian Companion Animal Council,

  • vet fees only account for about 1/4 of the cost of your pet,
  • about 1/3 is spent on other services (toys, kennels, grooming, holiday accommodation etc) and
  • the rest – nearly 1/2 – is spent on food.

Big Bills

But there are times when vet bills loom large because of accident or illness. In the last four years at Hall Veterinary Surgery, about 90% of invoices over $1000 were for dogs. They included conditions as diverse as dog-fight injuries, pancreatitis, surgery for cancers, blocked waterworks, broken bones or cruciate ligaments, snake bite, heart failure, car accidents, tick paralysis, vomiting, diarrhoea, and chemotherapy for cancer.
Big bills hit young pets as well as old.

Budgeting

If unexpected vet bills would blow your budget, you could try one of these strategies to minimise the fallout:

  1. Pet insurance costs range from about $18/month (cats, accident only) or $33/month (dog, accident only) up to $65/month (dog select breed, accident/illness.
    Depending on pre-existing conditions and payout limits, pet insurance will reduce the impact of most big bills. Some plans work on a co-payment system, which reduce the premium if you pay 20% or more of any bill.
    Most insurance companies reimburse you after you’ve paid the vet.
  2. A low-fee credit card kept for emergencies only.
  3. Self-insure by putting a monthly contribution into an interest-bearing account. This is the most cost-effective method for small costs; you don’t have to worry about pre-existing conditions and you can economise on multiple pets -as long as they don’t all get sick at the same time. You can also budget for costs that aren’t covered by the pet insurance companies. These include vaccinations, worming, flea and tick protection and wellness programmes. The average monthly costs below will give you an idea of what to put aside. If a big cost comes up before you’ve accumulated enough you’ll still have to bridge the gap.

Total Spend

The table below shows amounts carers spent on individual pets over the last four years. It breaks this down to the average monthly cost of vet care and the percentage of dogs and cats in that spend category. This is the average per pet for all products and services offered at Hall Vet Surgery, including flea and tick products, prescription diets, dental work, big surgeries, cancer treatment, desexing and vaccinations.

Total spent over 4 Years Ave per Month Dogs Cats
$500 $10 54% 38%
$1,000 $21 28% 17%
$2,000 $43 9% 4%
$5,000 $104 1% 0.4%
$10,000 $208 0.1%

So you can think of the percentages as indicative of the chance that your pet will cost at least that much in vet bills. eg if you own a cat, there’s a 1:250 chance your cat might total $5,000, or a 1:10 chance that your dog might cost over $2,000 over four years.

Pet insurance is more cost-effective if your pet is unlucky enough to have a bad accident or becomes ill. But you have to have your pet insured before it happens!

Hookworm

Hookworms attach to the intestinal wall with hook-like mouthparts. They are hard to see because they are only about 3 mm long and very thin.

Dogs are infested with hookworms in one of three ways:

1. Hookworm larvae pass from the dam to the pups through the placenta before birth

2. Pups ingest larvae in the mother’s milk

3. Larvae penetrate the skin

 

What problems do hookworms cause?

Hookworms suck blood from the tiny vessels in the intestinal wall and cause anaemia especially in puppies.  Pale gums, lethargy and weakness are signs of anaemia.

Hookworm also cause bloody diarrhoea, weight loss and failure to grow.

Hookworm larvae burrow into the skin and cause itching and discomfort in a heavily infested environment such as kennels.

 

How do we diagnose hookworm infestation?

Hookworms produce a lot of eggs which are easily found in faeces under a microscope. Faecal examination is less reliable in very young puppies.

 

How is hookworm treated?

Most broad spectrum wormers, like Milbemax and Drontal, kill adult hookworms. We repeat the treatment 2-4 weeks later to kill the next wave of larvae maturing into adult worms.

 

Are canine hookworms infectious to people?

Adult hookworms do not infect humans. However, hookworm larvae can burrow into human skin and cause itching. They do not mature into adults. Wear shoes to avoid skin contact with hookworm infested soil especially in wet weather.

 

How do we prevent hookworm infection?

1. Deworm pups at six weeks of age

2. Deworm pets at high risk of reinfestation

3. Pick up and dispose of dog faeces, especially in yards, playgrounds, and public parks.

4. Do not allow children to play in potentially contaminated environments.

5. Treat nursing bitches concurrently with their pups.

6. Use broad spectrum worm treatments that are effective against hookworms.

 

Roundworm

Roundworms, also known as ascarids, have round bodies and are 7-12 cm long. They live in  dogs’ intestines on partially digested food.

Pups infested with roundworms lose weight and look pot-bellied. They lose their appetites and may vomit or develop diarrhoea. Serious roundworm infestations obstruct or twist the bowel.

Most puppies acquire roundworm infection from their mothers before birth and then through the milk afterward.

Both puppies and adult dogs are also infected by swallowing roundworm eggs from bowls, hair or dirt contaminated with faeces. They can also be infected by roundworm larvae encysted in the organs of prey like mice, cockroaches, earthworms and chickens.

Ingested larvae and eggs are activated in the dog’s stomach and small intestine and migrate through the muscle, liver, and lungs. After several weeks, the larvae make their way back to the intestine to mature. When these worms begin to reproduce, new eggs will pass in the dog’s faeces, and the life cycle of the parasite is completed.

Roundworm eggs in the faeces confirm roundworm infestation. Because roundworm don’t produce many eggs we sometimes have to examine several fecal samples before we find eggs. Occasionally, we see mature worms in the dog’s vomit or faeces.

Treatment with broad-spectrum wormers like Milbemax or Drontal eliminates adult roundworm. No treatment reliably kills the migrating larvae so we give two or three treatments 2 weeks apart catch them as they mature into adult worms.

The eggs are resistant to most disinfectants and survive in quite harsh environmental conditions. They remain infective to dogs and humans for years.

Regular removal of dog faeces and deworming as detailed below prevent reinfection.

Roundworms are a risk to human health.  Children and people who are immunosuppressed or on immunosuppressive drugs are particularly vulnerable. The roundworm eggs only develop as far as larvae in people. As the larvae migrate through the body they can cause damage, particularly to the eye. Worming people does not kill the larvae as only adult worms are susceptible to wormers. To prevention human infestation

  • Deworm pups fortnightly until 12 weeks of age, then monthly until 6 months of age. Adult dogs must be dewormed every 3 months
  • Remove and dispose of dog faeces promptly
  • Teach children to wash their hands thoroughly after playing with dogs
  • Deworm pregnant bitches in late pregnancy and then every time her pups are dewormed, as above
  • Discourage dogs from defecating in children’s play areas