Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Beverage of Choice?



I'm posting this photograph of my former associate in surgery a couple of years ago. (She moved out of state, I didn't have a contract put out on her). This dog had eaten a large amount of carpeting and thought that it would be best if we took it out of a new opening since it wouldn't pass out of any existing natural holes in the body. Both dog and veterinarian did very well. so well, that we got to repeat the entire procedure when the dog did it again.

This illustrates a point that I feel that I have to make, we can't leave our pets alone with things that might be dangerous. We saw the kitten that ate the needle in an earlier post. By the way, she came in for suture removal and is doing well. Just to prove that kittens are not all members of Mensa, her owner caught her trying to eat a tooth pick before she was even fully recovered from the first surgery.

Our pets will do things that are dangerous time and time again. They will eat non food items time and time again. They will get into the garbage and end up with horrible gastro enteritis time and time again. And we think, "stupid pet". In reality, it's stupid owners. We have to protect them from themselves. Do not lock them in rooms with Berber carpet that is their favorite flavor. Keep sharp pointy objects away from them. Do not let them in the garbage.

Side note on garbage. We think that our dogs get diarrhea and vomiting because they ate greasy garbage. That might be part of the problem in some instances. I think that a large number of these dogs actually get food poisoning from bacterial toxins in the garbage. Remember, garbage is spoiled food. It is ... well garbage. The same bacteria such as salmonella, e coli, campylobacter, staph, you name it , the same bacteria that make us sick, can make them sick and it does. Time and time again. Keep them out of the garbage.

And just like our children, keep them away from house hold products that might be dangerous.




We admitted a kitten to the hospital today that sat in a puddle of this product. Lysol, kills germs. After all it is a quaternary ammonium disinfectant. Hard on bacteria, hard on cats. This kitty knocked the bottle over and then sat in the puddle while mom ran off to get some paper towels to clean up the mess. The bad news is that cats are very sensitive to these products. Even worse news, when we called the 800 number on the bottle, the lovely person on the other end of the phone did not know that this product is dangerous to cats. They were helpful and tried to get us a poison control number, but by the time they figured out what was going on, we had all the information that we needed from several of our Internet sources and had started therapy.
The biggest problem that these detergents cause in cats is physical trauma to the oral cavity. Ulcers, tissue damaging, even complete soughing of the tongue. This cat had some much mucous it inhaled some into it's lungs. (sorry to radiographs to post this time). A bath, some steroids, some respiratory nebulization to clear the secretions and so far so good. Unfortunately, we might not know the extent of the damage for a couple of days. Hopefully, I'll not have any pictures of oral pathology to share with you. Most of the ones that I saw on line were post mortem. This is nasty stuff.
So please, be careful out there.
Keith Niesenbaum, VMD
Become a fan of Crawford Dog and Cat Hospital / Black Forest Kennels on Facebook

Friday, March 19, 2010

Spring is in the air and Fleas are in your yard, and on your dog, and on your cat, and in your home ...

I knew I should put this photo at the top of the post just to get your attention. Yup, this little monster is a flea. Look how big and ugly he is. Doesn't even fit into the frame of the picture. Just waiting to jump onto your dog, or cat, or even you and bite you over and over again, taking blood meals until he or she finds either she or he, mate and lay eggs in your brand new sofa, or plush carpeting, or even the cracks of your hardwood floor, infesting your house and making you spend millions of dollars eradicating a plague like one not seen since the days of the Exodus from
Egypt. (OK, sorry, but passover is on my mind).

Fleas don't care if your dog or cat is a mixed breed or a pure breed. They don't care if it is old or young. They don't care about anything but biting someone over and over again causing all sorts of discomfort and spreading diseases. Fleas spread the black plague in europe, they spread bubonic plague in the south west, they spread cat scratch diseae everywhere. (and you thought that was a cat problem).

And just for those that thought, oh my little pookie won't get fleas, this next photo is of fleas on skin. Now, I shamelessly lifted this photo from elsewhere but I can tell you that with my limited experience in lifting photos with or without shame, this one looks like it is of a person with fleas.

EWWWWWW !

And this is all before I get started on ticks. Here is my homage to ticks. These disgusting little guys are embedded in a dog. While it is an old wives tale that they burrow so deep that they disappear into the pet, they do attach, take a large blood meal, and then drop off. But often not before spreading diseases like Rocky Spotted Mountain Fever or Lyme Disease. They will attach to people and do the same nasty things.

So, if all of this is so gross and dangerous, what can we do about it? The answer is easy. Short of wrapping your pets and yourself in a plastic bag, or moving to antarctica, the key is using a safe and effective product to control fleas and ticks.
But wait you say, You heard that all of these products are dangerous poisens that will kill your pet and turn your home into a superfund toxic waste site. Really, get a grip. There are products that are not safe. There are products that don't work, but there are products that are safe and effective. The EPA report last fall did find that as a group, some of these products did have adverse reactions when used in pets. Unfortunately, they did not discriminate between products, just condemed the entire group of treatments. They did not differentiate between products used with veterinary supervision or with out. Did not try to determine if the dose was correct, or if the product was even appropriate for the species of pet it was used on.
Now come on, this is Dr. Keith talking to you. Would I let you hurt your pet? My clients know that I'm not going to recommend something that doesn't have the research behind it. I'm not going to tell you to use a product or give a vaccine or medication if your pet doesn't need it. We're talking about disease prevention here.
Talk to your veterinarian. Get a recommendation for something to use to prevent disease. Be a responsible pet owner and buy the product he or she says is best for you. If they don't have it, you can probably get it from an on-line source. Frontline plus for dogs and cats as well as K9 Advantix for dogs (DOGS ONLY) are both excellent products and you can get them from this web site, delivered directly to your home, no shipping charges or anything. Just do it now, the bugs are getting ready to pounce.
Keith Niesenbaum
www.TheVetsChoice.com

ps. Look for me at the NYC 1/2 Marathon this weekend. I'll be somewhere in the back of the pack and will need all the encouragement I can get.










Monday, March 15, 2010

A needle in a Haystack.

I've decided that I can't continue to keep some things to myself. No I'm not talking about another rant as in some previous posts. (see 8/25/09). I just can't believe some of the things that my patients eat. I'm not talking about edible items. I'm not talking about semi edible, or even quasi edible items such as the Turkey Carcass of Thanksgiving '92. although the turkey story is one of my wife's all time favorites, I'll leave that for another time. Noooo, I'm talking about totally inedible, possibly toxic, straight up dangerous, will kill your pet meals.



Now, sometimes we get lucky, like the kitty whose radiograph is below.










Lucky you might ask, How so? Lucky because the owner actually saw this cat eat that needle. In fact she tried to grab it out of the kitty's mouth, risking her own digits in the process. Unfortunately, a second too slow and the needle was just coated in enough cat drool to make it tough to hold onto and zoop, it was gone.



The radiograph confirmed that it was in the stomach, along with enough cat food to feel a feral colony in Queens. (no colony specifically comes to mind but this is a good time to give a shout out to the groups in Whitestone that are doing a great job caring for their colonies). More on trap, neuter and release programs at a later date.


Of course, the full stomach posed a dilemma. If I waited for the food to pass, who knows where this needle would go. If I jumped in and did surgery, we risk complications from regurgitation, or even worse from peritonitis when the food leaks into the abdomen. Now you know this probably goes well if I'm posting it but hey, sometimes I might throw in a real tear jerker just to see if you're paying attention.


We anaesthetised the cat and I made a large (really large) incision so I could exteriorize the stomach. I didn't include any bloody intraoperative photos, sorry. The stomach was full but after a bit of searching, I was able to feel the needle and push the eye end up against the gastric wall. A small stab incision with a #11 blade and voila, no more needle. Quick 2 layer repair and kitty was home in a day, looking for more mischief to get into.


The thing is, the owner was aware that the cat might eat the needle and thread so she put it up on a counter, away from where the cat usually goes. That's the cool thing about cats. There is no place that they don't usually go. She saw the kitty jump up on the counter and scarf the needle like it was an anchovy waiting to meet it's maker. The rest, as they say is history.


Why don't you guys let me know some of the things that your pets have eaten and we can see who has the strangest tail to tell. If need be, I'll post the turkey carcass story, you know how I hate to be out done.


Keith Niesenbaum, VMD


Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Welcome to our blog




So, with the passage of time, we have developed several on line presences and they are scattered all over the internet. I have been advised by some who know far more than I do that I should integrate these, you know, pull them all together in one place. I tried to do that with our web page at http://www.crawforddogandcathospital.com/ but not everyone knew about that.

I tried to do it with our facebook fan page , Crawford Dog and Cat Hospital /Black Forest Kennels. Check it out and become a fan for updates. It will let you know when I post here on this blog, or somewhere else. I even use the same logo for all of our sites. (Shout out to Justin for his design).
You can follow me on twitter, www.twitter.com/knvet. Those posts tend to be the most frequent and are not always animal related. (They can also be a bit more snarky as up until now no one really knew that it was me)
I have a rather extensive network of business contacts on Linkedin. Check that out at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/keith-niesenbaum/4/617/a0a.
There are also a couple of other places that you can find us on the web. I am an independent distributor of an excellent, holistic dog and cat food line called Life's Abundance and information can be found at http://www.thevetschoice.com/ It's the food that I feed Cookie, my intrepid Shih Tzu and many of my clients think it is the greatest thing since sliced bread. You can sign up for a newsletter on the web site, no obligation. Give it a try, you can always cancel by unsubscribing. (like anyone ever unsubscribes to anything)
We also have an online store that is currently selling veterinary theraputic diets shipped directly to your home. It is your source for Hills Science Diet, Purina, Royal Canin, and Eukanuba veterinary diets. Check it out at http://www.petsneedfood.com/. (you'll recognize the logo, I just got tired of posting the same picture on the blog time and time again.
So there it is in a nutshell. Most of the places you can find me on line. Check them out and stay in touch. Oh, and feel free to comment so that I don't feel like I'm blogging into empty outer space. Vets need feed back too.




Thursday, March 4, 2010

Come Fly with Fifi

Spring may be in the air, but even before we all pull up stakes and head out for spring break, many pet owners have been traveling with their dogs and cats to escape the harsh winter we have been having here in the Northeast. This is not a new phenomenon, but it seems that more people have smaller dogs and they want to travel with them. There are a couple of things that they should be aware of.

First, dogs can fly in cargo, that is under the plane, or in the cabin if they are small enough to fit under the seats. Check with your airline far in advance as they may limit the number of pets that can fly in the cabin. In fact, a recent article in the NY Times highlighted the concerns of the Canadian Medical Association that pets in the cabin may be a risk to human passengers and are recommending that no pets be allowed in the cabin. Hmmm, that would certainly crimp the vacation plans for a lot of pampered pets that I know.

Each airline has different requirements for pets on domestic flights and they change regularly so you will need to check with them. Don't expect your veterinarian to be current on each airline's policy. My head would explode if that were part of my daily routine. International flights are a bigger problem and you should check with the consulate in the destination country for the current regulations.

Some pets travel really well, like some people I guess. Others, not so well. We generally do not like to sedate animals for travel, especially those traveling in cargo. Nothing like a poor reaction to a tranqulizer at 30,000 feet to ruin a trip. For dogs that are very anxious, speak with your veterinarian. There are some medications that might work with minimal risk to your pet. In some cases it might be best to leave Fido at home with a firend or, heaven forbid, at a kennel. (Note tongue in cheek sarcasm here as I do own a kennel and the dogs really do very well here while you are off galivanting about. Just remember to buy them a t-shirt so they feel loved).

Whatever your decision, make sure that you canine companion is up to date on vaccines and if you are headed south (and I hope you are) make sure that he or she is taking heartworm prevention and that you are using something for fleas.

Stay safe and have a great travel season.

Keith Niesenbaum, VMD
Check out our Face Book Fan Page, Crawford Dog and Cat Hospital/Black Forest Kennels.