tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57619706677785610382024-03-05T16:39:26.500-05:00Crawford Dog and Cat HospitalAnimals and pets are everywhere and each comes to us at Crawford Dog and Cat Hospital with a story and a person attached. Here are our patients, our stories, and their people and their stories. We should be able to keep pet owners, veterinarians, and animal lovers entertained and educated.Keith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-17595941563795242762010-08-26T20:01:00.002-04:002010-08-26T20:48:13.791-04:00Them Bones, Them BonesSo, I was out for a long run on Monday. Actually, I didn't have access to a car, my daughter having absconded with it and I had no other way to go home. Now a more sane person might have called someone for a ride, or at least picked the most direct route home. But nooo, I mapped out a 12 mile route, including a little turn around the high school track for good measure and trotted off. The thing about long runs is that there is a period of time where there is nothing to do other than to let one's mind drift, and drift mine did. As various things started to ache, I focused on a bunch of things that I wanted to write about, most of which I have forgotton, but I'll try to stick with the free association that I went through over the two hours it took me to get home to dinner.<div><br /></div><div>First, I was thinking how I should think of things to write about. Seems to make sense. Then I realized that no one, not even one person, ventured a guess about the film references. I'm not going to assume that there are no readers out there (my ego couldn't take it) so I'll assume there are no Italian film fans. The references were to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarcord">Amarcor</a>d, a 1973 coming of age film with everything a guy could want in a movie with subtitles except there was no karate.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then I realized that no one knew that in our practice, Bichons, are the master stone formers. They just pop back and forth between struvite and oxylate, frustrating the heck out of their owners and their doctors alike.</div><div><br /></div><div>By the second mile, I was all warmed up and feeling pretty good. I looked down at my feet and realized that I will need new running shoes after this race in September. (I never race in new shoes) Then I was thinking about the <a href="http://www.crawforddogandcathospital.com/site/view/183105_Soles4Souls.pml">shoe drive</a> that we are running at our hospital, collecting used but wearable shoes to be distributed by<a href="http://www.soles4souls.org/"> souls4soles</a>, a non profit outfit that is actually in Hati right now as we speak, delivering shoes to those who are bare foot.</div><div><br /></div><div>That kept me distracted for a while, until I started thinking about my pace and heart rate and all of those mundane things that I need to keep track of if I am to finish this run in any kind of shape and still be able to get the rest of my work outs in over the week. I was trying to juggle my schedule so that I didn't have runs on back to back days because that is really hard on my legs. Which led me to think how lucky I am that my knees are good. My mind quickly did some trick to ward of the evil eye and then I thought I should talk about arthritis in pets. There was one brief digression as I ran on a bit of roadside path that made me worry about ticks and lyme disease, but that topic doesn't really fit the trend of nutritional posts I wanted to write and maybe I could put that off for a week or so, even though we are getting into the second peak season for deer ticks that spread the disease, even tho we don't have a lot of deer in my area and then I notiticed that I hadn't taken a breath and the run on thought had become a run on sentence and I was going to pass out if I didn't slow down.</div><div><br /></div><div>So miles 4 - 8 were mostly on joint disease. Now, both dogs and cats are subject to degenerative joint disease. I am talking about the type of arthritis that is caused by wear and tear on the joints. There may be underlying instability in the joint as in hip dysplasia. Sometimes it is a genetic predisposition such as the abnormal looking joints in Basset Hounds. And sometimes, it is just part of the aging process. We think of dogs as being arthritic, but there was actually a retrospective<a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1748-5827.2005.tb00340.x/abstract"> study that looked at the x ray films</a> of cats admitted to hospitals for other reasons. 22% of the cats over a year old in this study showed radiographic evidence of osteo arthritis. </div><div><br /></div><div>So what are we to do? There are plenty of medications out there to treat arthritis in dogs, not so many in cats. Some are non-steroidal anti-inflamatory medications (not in cats please). There are nutriceuticals such as glucosamine, chondroitin, green lipped muscles (who knew they had lips). There are surgical treatments (not so good). New research shows promise using <a href="http://www.crawforddogandcathospital.com/site/view/154513_StemCellTherapy.pml">stem cells</a>. And we have had some very good success using our laser to treat painful joints in both dogs and cats. But what if you could do one thing to prevent, or at least mitigate, the degenerative changes in the joints.</div><div><br /></div><div>Well, if you are a regular reader, you know that weight control is very important in preventing arthritis in pets. Purina did a great<a href="http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dvm/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=26745"> study</a> in labs showing a correlation between arthritis and increased (excessive) body weight. (Leaner dogs also lived longer) So, work with your veterinarian to get the weight off of your heavy furry friends. Or, better yet, don't let them get fat to begin with.</div><div><br /></div><div>What if they are thin and have arthritis anyway? It does happen you know. There was a series of three articles published in the past year in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA) showing that there was an excellent response to a diet made by the folks at Hills. Dogs fed J/D (Hills cleverly uses initials to make it easier for veterinarians to remember what the food is for. Joint Diet - get it?) had a good resolution of clinical signs related to arthritis. In fact, there were all sorts of things that were measured and showed improvement over the initial 30 day period that the food was fed. I know, these diets are expensive. Not really when you consider that one of the articles demonstrated that dogs could reduce the amount of NSAID that they took when they ate this food. Add that savings in (not to mention that there are no side effects to feeding <a href="http://www.petsneedfood.com/products/Hills-Prescription-Diet-K9-j%7B47%7Dd-(12)-Cans-13oz.html">J/D</a> and there can be with medications) and then the food is not that expensive after all. Oh, what about cats you ask? Well, they just came out with a diet for cats (Feline J/D, so clever those folks at Hills) and it works great too.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now stop your whining before you start. "My cat won't eat that food" I can hear it already. They have a money back guarantee, my rep told me so today. If your cat won't eat the stuff, you can return it to your vet and get your money back.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, here it is, you can actually decrease your pet's chances of getting a debilitating disease by feeding it optimally to prevent obesity. And if your pet is unlucky enough to develop osteo arthritis, you can "treat" the condition with food. Hey we all have to eat anyway, why not feed something that will make your pet's legs get better.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm not going to go into what I ws thinking about for the last couple of miles of the run. It wasn't pretty, and the thoughts were not all that pleasant. Just leave it to I finished, I was happy with the time it took, my legs felt OK and I had a cold beer waiting for me. My idea of optimal, post workout re hydration and recovery.</div><div><br /></div>Keith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-59881524549515359212010-08-10T20:51:00.004-04:002010-08-10T21:27:21.861-04:00Something's Amiss if a Dog ....<div><br /></div><div>OK, so no one read the last blog post. It can't be that no one knows where the film quotes are coming from. But just in case there are hundreds of you out there and you are just to shy to let me know what movie I'm rambling on about, today's post title is another hint.</div><div><br /></div><div>I also purposely skipped dogs in last week's post about lower urinary tract disease. No, not because I think dogs are second class pets. It's just that their disease is actually easier to write about and the photos that I have are better, or at least more dramatic.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now, dogs with lower urinary tract disease often have infections. These respond well to antibiotics. The diagnosis is made by clinical signs, (frequent urination other than marking by unaltered males), +/- blood in the urine, a urinalysis indicating infection or inflammation, and sometimes a culture. Simple <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">UTIs</span> (urinary tract infections) are more common in females than males, an anatomical issue not a sexist one, and should respond to a short course of antibiotics. Cure should be confirmed with a follow up urinalysis. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">UTIs</span> that do not respond to treatment usually fall into one of several categories. 1. The antibiotic chosen was not appropriate for this specific infection due to bacterial resistance, solution, culture to get correct antibiotic sensitivity. 2. Antibiotic was appropriate, but not given for a long enough time or at the correct dose. 3. There is some sort of underlying problem causing the infection or the clinical signs that are interpreted to be an infection. These can be any of the following; bladder failing to empty completely due to anatomical defect or neurological problem, <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">obesity</span> causing anatomy problems leading to ascending bacterial infections, bladder tumors, or (if you peaked ahead) bladder stones.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBzMWuCAfEZESkEQDFNP6nMUAlO2GWZQiRcj_X2KR2cvd7qbslg3E6Uqra1Qqqqp5GmABQ1jrAYV-AopqfzCJuA6m3ibYJsKsqL3GVn7-LmUCKrds8hTtz0ZGNgNxoUmVn9DaPiR-MpT4/s1600/k9stonesrad.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBzMWuCAfEZESkEQDFNP6nMUAlO2GWZQiRcj_X2KR2cvd7qbslg3E6Uqra1Qqqqp5GmABQ1jrAYV-AopqfzCJuA6m3ibYJsKsqL3GVn7-LmUCKrds8hTtz0ZGNgNxoUmVn9DaPiR-MpT4/s200/k9stonesrad.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503949218201996242" /></a><br /><div>This <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">radiograph</span> is a much better illustration than the cat photo from last week. Need I point out the mass of minerals in this poor dog's bladder. I hope not because I still haven't gotten around to the use of arrows in my photographs. (any hints on this would be greatly appreciated.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Bladder stones in dogs are similar to urinary stones in most mammals. They are mineral concretions that form in the urinary tract. We do see calcification of the kidneys as well, but clinical kidney stones are less common than bladder stones in dogs. The most common stones historically were <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">struvite</span> stones. These phosphate based stones need a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">nidus</span> to form, usually a bacteria and are therefor associated with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">UTIs</span>. An important factor when talking about prevention. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Struvite</span> stones are usually smooth, yellow to tan colored little rocks. They tend to form in alkaline (not acid) urine but I have seen them look like anything and form in all sorts of urine. The only way to tell what type of stone the dog has is to get one and send it off to the lab. Now, in male dogs, there is usually only one way to get one, surgery. I have been lucky in females and have been able to get them to pee out a small stone that we can have analysed. The other cool thing about <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">struvite</span> stones is that they can be dissolved by diet. While the <a href="http://www.petsneedfood.com/products/Royal-Canin-K9-Urinary-SO-(24)-Cans-13.6oz.html">SO diet</a> by Royal <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Canin</span> will do this, I find that <a href="http://www.petsneedfood.com/products/Hills-Prescription-Diet-K9-s%7B47%7Dd-(12)-Cans-13oz.html">S/D (could that be for stone diet?) made by Hills</a> does a great job. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Struvite</span> stones can be dissolved in about 1 month in most dogs. There is a catch for the guys tho. I don't like to try to dissolve stones in a male dog. The thing is, that before a stone <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">dissapears</span>, it becomes small. Small stones can pass out of the bladder and get stuck in the urethra, just above the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">os</span> penis (penis bone) This can cause an obstruction, a true surgical emergency. </div><div><br /></div><div>So for all you guy dogs out there, and you know who you are, your choice is surgery. Here's what came out of the bladder above.</div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiExDQp5DYOwEoxSr882QDQCiL-tcx78gUPmsfVEBQCGn0Jy1oN7FDZ2Um4kkW9gOSGEyDPaEE5JBECG_VrHus5UTCLjR358B1YKt1lxhmAnurd1euva7PEIiLWMUuk_oNLf-SuEZunSuU/s1600/k9stones.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiExDQp5DYOwEoxSr882QDQCiL-tcx78gUPmsfVEBQCGn0Jy1oN7FDZ2Um4kkW9gOSGEyDPaEE5JBECG_VrHus5UTCLjR358B1YKt1lxhmAnurd1euva7PEIiLWMUuk_oNLf-SuEZunSuU/s200/k9stones.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503949105734831090" /></a><br />Pretty impressive collection, huh? Now once the stones are out, if they turn out to be <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">struvite</span>, we do put the dogs on S/D just to make sure that we are good to go and that nothing else is forming. Then we put the pet on a maintenance diet and monitor the urine every month. What are we looking for? Infection. Remember, these stones need a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">nidus</span> of bacteria to form, so if we can catch the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">UTI</span> early, we can prevent the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">struvite</span> stones from forming. The thing we have to be careful about tho is the other end of the spectrum, stone wise. We used to try to promote an acid urine, either by diet manipulation or by adding <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">acidifiers</span> to the diet to prevent these stones from forming. That's when we started to see an increase in the number of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">oxylate</span> stones in our canine patients. These stones cannot be dissolved by diet, do not need infection to form, and must be removed surgically in males and females. They are rough surfaced and can stick to the lining of the bladder. They can be difficult to remove and I can only assume that they are quite painful. Once out, we usually use the Royal <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Canin</span> diet to prevent them from coming back. This diet maintains a neutral <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">ph</span> so as not to encourage <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">struvite</span> stone formation and works by decreasing the precursors for stone formation in the bladder. Another new improved option is Hills C/D <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">multicare</span>, it does the same thing. I won't put another set of links to the website, just follow the ones above.</div><div><br /></div><div>So the take home message is, re occurring bladder symptoms in the dog are not usually just repeated infections. Additional testing needs to be done to find out why the dog is having the problem, what the problem is, and what can be done to cure this episode and prevent future ones. It is an on going problem that can be managed very well with diet and follow up.</div><div><br /></div><div>Oh, and if anyone thinks they know their stones, here's a little trivia question. What breed do you think has the greatest incidence of bladder stones in our practice. I'll give you a hint, nah, no hint, but I will give you a prize. First person that doesn't work at my hospital to leave the right answer as a comment will get a $10 gift certificate for some really outstanding pet food. Check it out at www.TheVetsChoice.com.</div>Keith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-20989630835496200482010-08-03T21:33:00.016-04:002010-08-04T21:40:34.661-04:00To be Fit as a Fiddle, a Cat Has to ....<div>OK, there it is, right in the title, my homage to Fellini. Not that the oblique film reference has anything to do with today's topic, I'm just trying to show that I am a multi dimensional kind of guy. The first person to identify the reference and leave it in a comment will win ..... My undying respect for your film knowledge. I mean come on, I gave you the artist, you should be able to figure this one out.</div><div><div><br /></div><div>But on to our first topic in nutritional therapy, feline lower urinary tract disease. (maybe we should have stayed with Italian films). Back in the dark ages, when I graduated from vet school, (go Penn class of '84), we used to see a lot of cats with signs of lower urinary tract disease. You know, increased frequency of urination, perhaps some blood or straining in the litter box with little urine produced. In male cats it would frequently get bad enough that they would block and be unable to urinate at all, <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">necessitating</span> surgical intervention of some sort. Ultra sound was not readily <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">available</span>, so we assumed that these cats had infections and gave them antibiotics and made some diet <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">recommendations</span> (at the time Hills Prescription Diet C/D was all that was really <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">available</span>) and lo and behold, most of these cats got better. Logic, incorrect as it might have been, dictated that there was an infection that the antibiotics cured. Current theory was that the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">ph</span> of the urine (measure of acidity calculated by the inverse of the negative log in base 10 of the hydrogen ion concentration, but now I am just showing off) was too high so we added <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">acidifiers</span> to the diet as well.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Theories came and went over the next few years, but the antibiotics stayed. In that time we thought it was the ash content of the diet, the magnesium content of the diet, the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">ph</span> of the urine, and people even thought that urinary disease in cats was related to the phase of the moon. What did change, is that we started to culture some of these cats' urine and we found, you guessed it, no infection. So what was going on? We had made the urine acid, we had given antibiotics, but then after really screwing up the urine of these felines, we started to do some imaging. First was x rays. It's hard to see in this photo, (and I don't know how to put arrows in these yet but hey, I'm an old dog learning new tricks.)</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQjyVu4-ifNr5lgf0kq-qZ2Nex88EuFpYHb-2BA-B4CLVHc9HcLN4sDyJGrwigfEAkHzTgEAjobqWjyTXjTHQRdFexShIVhIVjlAs0xWq5vTf7DsYpC5le_nZgmyX5Kj7lRUnowQl1Xl4/s1600/feline+stones+rads.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQjyVu4-ifNr5lgf0kq-qZ2Nex88EuFpYHb-2BA-B4CLVHc9HcLN4sDyJGrwigfEAkHzTgEAjobqWjyTXjTHQRdFexShIVhIVjlAs0xWq5vTf7DsYpC5le_nZgmyX5Kj7lRUnowQl1Xl4/s200/feline+stones+rads.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501704848255855826" /></a>The bladder is to the left of the bones and to the right of the black gas. If you look carefully, you can see a line of small white stones. This is what we started to see on a certain percentage of our bladder x rays. Stones are made of minerals so they show up white. Most are <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">struvite</span> (phosphate) or calcium <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">oxylate</span> stones. It is hard to tell which are which on <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">radio graphs</span>, you need to take them out and send them off for analysis. The thing is, a lot of cats had urinary tract signs, negative cultures, and no stones on <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">radio graphs</span>. Enter the ultrasound machine. Now, some people can read ultrasounds with no problem. I on the other hand have difficulty. So, I have a <a href="http://www.sounddiagnosticsvet.com/index.html">doctor that does imaging</a><a href="http://www.sounddiagnosticsvet.com/index.htm"> </a>come to our practice to do our studies. And what he finds in many cases, is simply a thickening of the bladder wall. No infection, no stones, no nothing.<div><br /></div><div>These are cases of sterile interstitial cystitis. A potentially serious inflammation of the bladder that causes all of the signs that we see. Sometimes it is self limiting and usually episodic. That explains why so many cases get better after a week of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">antibiotics</span>. They would have gotten better even without antibiotics. Some do not resolve so <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">quickly</span> and others are real bears to manage. They require constant dietary manipulation and medication just to keep the disease under control.</div><div><br /></div><div>So what do we do to manage feline lower urinary tract disease? Well if we find an infection, antibiotics are still the answer. If we find stones, we take them out. Here are the stones from the cat in the above <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">radiograph</span>. Easier to see now that they aren't in the cat.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhykc89XjvBf8FgeYf2dpA76UZOLpOk4fuy5cQ-8DIunsScA2wBsIAPkWJVgSSntIQ4N9dfDTPO1IuUQO8LaOKATLh3bYfvJjrvNFx8EZcgXyJpGWuHwpX0w-X80C3R4Vb9ai6VLpBPSA4/s1600/Feline+Bladder+stones.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhykc89XjvBf8FgeYf2dpA76UZOLpOk4fuy5cQ-8DIunsScA2wBsIAPkWJVgSSntIQ4N9dfDTPO1IuUQO8LaOKATLh3bYfvJjrvNFx8EZcgXyJpGWuHwpX0w-X80C3R4Vb9ai6VLpBPSA4/s200/Feline+Bladder+stones.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501704626641368818" /></a>We will send these off to the lab and once we know what type of stones they are, then we will make long term management <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">recommendations</span>. The tough cats are the ones with the sterile <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">cystitis</span> (SC). These get a combination of pain medications, anti <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">inflammatory</span> medications and even some anti anxiety medications. But the only thing that seems to have any science behind it is dietary manipulation. Now, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">anicdotally</span>, colleagues of mine in feline only <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">practices</span> have told me that they have significantly reduced the incidence of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">FLUTD</span> (feline lower urinary tract disease) in their patients simply by having all of their clients feed canned food. It seems that the increased moisture may play a roll. Cats are notoriously poor drinkers so it does make sense that a more dilute urine brought on by increased water intake might help with irritants in the bladder. There are actually studies showing that feeding canned <a href="http://www.petsneedfood.com/products/Royal-Canin-Feline-Urinary-SO-Canned-Food.html">SO</a> a diet made by <a href="http://www.royalcanin.us/library/cat-health-lower-urinary-tract-disease.aspx">Royal <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Canin</span></a> actually has been demonstrated to decrease the signs of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">FLUTD</span> in cats. It will also dissolve those pesky <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">struvite</span> stones and prevent new calcium <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">oxylate</span> stones from forming. It is our go to diet for most of our cats with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">FLUTD</span>. There are some issues tho, it is high in salt which can be a problem if cats have marginal kidney function. </div><div><br /></div><div>Another choice is a <a href="http://www.petsneedfood.com/products/Hills-Prescription-Diet-Feline-c%7B47%7Dd-Multicare-Dry.html">Diet made by Hills</a>. <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Remember</span> the C/D I <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">mentioned</span> earlier? Come on, pay attention. Well it has been reformulated. It is designed to dissolve <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">struvite</span> stones in the dry form, so it probably will in the canned form as well. The canned <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">formulation</span> is lower in salt than the Royal <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">Canin</span> diet and we are going to start using this a bit more for our cats with SC. </div><div><br /></div><div>So we have come a long way from just popping our feline friends with antibiotics every time they strain to urinate. And, we have done far fewer <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17893&id=111423998884890#!/photo.php?pid=237015&id=111423998884890&ref=album&fbid=124092950951328">urethrostomy</a></span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17893&id=111423998884890#!/photo.php?pid=237015&id=111423998884890&ref=album&fbid=124092950951328"> surgeries</a> on blocked male cats, which is a good thing. We can control and treat many cases of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">FLUTD</span> in cats with diet and common sense. Talk to your <a href="http://www.trilogyonline.com/Trilogy/Catalog/ProductDetail.aspx?realname=20009034&cat=0&hdr=&Ath=False&ProductID=405001(Pet_Base)">veterinarian for dietary recommendations</a> and don't forget to let me know if you figure out the reference at the beginning of this post.</div><div><br /></div><div>I didn't forget about dogs, they are just entirely different beasts and I will post about them next time.<br /><div>.</div></div>Keith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-5677359631046921222010-07-19T21:19:00.002-04:002010-07-19T21:48:39.896-04:00You are what you eat, they are what we feed themI have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the feed back that I received for the last blog series. Maybe there is something to this whole series concept. People that are not related to me actually sent me suggestions for topics and I wrote about them. I whole new experience for me, positive feedback from the blogisphere. <div><br /></div><div>Now I've made this mistake before. As rush chairman at Penn Iota chapter of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity in the late 70's I did sign off on a series of theme parties that went from the very successful Hawaiian themed rush kick off, to the disastrous "Come Get Mugged", beer mug give away, (those of you that were there will remember that we ended up with hundreds of leftover beer mugs), I'm still going to give this theme thing a go.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, I would like to write a series of posts on nutrition and the treatment of disease. We use nutritional therapy as a stand alone for certain conditions and as a adjunct therapy along with medicine and surgery for others. Sometimes just diet changes, sometimes supplements. There is a whole lot of misinformation out there. People are making recommendations that are not based in science. Alot of these people want to sell you something. Some of them are just misinformed, Some are just parroting things that misinformed people from the previous sentence told them. Others are just silly.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm going to try to limit my discussions to things that the general scientific community knows to be true. I will offer my opinion when I feel it is appropriate, but will tell you when it is my opinion. I will try to provide references when I can to support my statements, and I will try to make them independent or at least independently corroborated when I can.</div><div><br /></div><div>So what do I want from you dear readers? Well, I'd love you to keep reading. I would also like it if you could send me some subjects that interest you. Disease conditions your pet's have that are being managed with nutrition or that you would like to manage with nutrition; things that you have heard that you would like to know more about; things that have worked for your pets and things that have not worked. I'll do some research, see what I can find out, and then post. You are free to comment, but I'll cut you off at the knees if your comments are just sales pitches to my readers.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now this may sound like an excuse, but some of these posts will take some serious thought. So, there may be a bit of a lag between them. No, I'm not getting lazy during the height of my triathlon training season, I just want to bring you quality information along with my entertaining wit.</div><div><br /></div><div>So let me know what you want to read about and we'll get started. I announce my new posts on <a href="www.twitter.com/knvet">twitter </a>, so feel free to follow. If the whole twitter thing is too much for you to deal with (I mean who likes to tweet anyway), become a fan on<a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Garden-City-Park-NY/Crawford-Dog-and-Cat-Hospital/111423998884890?ref=ts"> facebook</a>, I announce my posts there as well. It is also a great source of information and cute pet pictures, if I do say so myself.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="www.TheVetsChoice.com">Keith Niesenbaum, VMD</a></div><div><a href="www.crawforddogandcathospital.com">www.CrawfordDogandCatHospital.com</a></div>Keith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-83621909977912032152010-07-07T20:18:00.007-04:002010-07-07T21:07:54.169-04:00Live Long and Prosper, the final chapterOK, those of you that have been following along probably have some documentation indicating that this was going to be a 5 part series and if you've been counting, it's only 4. Too bad, my blog, my rules. I actually am quite surprised that I was able to focus long enough to string together 4 posts over a rather regular interval on a related subject. Fortunately, I just got back from vacation, so I should be able to avoid the rant that happened in a previous post. I'm feeling very mellow after spending some quality time with family and friends and their dog. That's right, a true<a href="http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_the_idiom_'busman's_holiday'_originate_from"> busman's</a> holiday, their dog Zeus was with us for the week. Just to make me feel at home, my host's fed their dog some table food (you all know how I feel about that) and he had a bout of an upset stomach that ruined a previously reviled and hideous, yet functional area rug in the living room. But I digress. Zeus is a really cool dog of the 60 lb mixed breed type. Not without his foibles like a bit of separation anxiety and a quirk that won't allow him to pee or poop unless he is taken for a walk at the most inopportune time. One thing I will say, he is well behaved. In fact most of the dog's we encountered on this trip to Martha's Vineyard were well behaved. Well, that one black dog did almost knock his owner over trying to get to Zeus on one of our previously alluded to walks and their was the dog aggressive Leonberger on the beach that barely looked like a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonberger">Leonberger</a> but we'll defer to his owner since the owner and the dog both were trying to behave.<div><br /></div><div>Why am I prattling on like this you are probably asking at this point. Well, I would like to address an often overlooked reason for early death in both dogs and cats. Euthanasia for behavior issues. Cats are trickier so we can get them out of the way first. While I have seen cat's euthanized for behavior issues, these are often not training deficiencies, but rather behavior problems. The most common being failure to use the litter box, destruction by scratching and aggression towards people and other animals. These can be stress related, although looking at the lifestyle of most of the cats that I know I can't imagine a more stress free life. </div><div><br /></div><div>However, the stereotype of the cat collector aside, cats are not pack animals like people. In the wild they are generally solitary hunters, coming together when necessary at common feeding areas and to seek the company of other cats to make kittens. (there, doesn't get anymore G rated than that does it?) We put a bunch of them together in one home and sit back and wait for behavior issues to develop. There are a number of good sources of information on reducing this stress, but my favorite is put out by <a href="http://www.vet.ohio-state.edu/indoorcat">The Ohio State University, School of Veterinary Medicine</a>. Give it a look see. </div><div><br /></div><div>To summarize, make sure everyone is neutered (cats not people, different topic and less G rated), have adequate, clean litter boxes with varied substrate, separate feeding and watering areas, and plenty of perches and scratching posts. This should take care of most of you issues. For those that are particularly troubling, consult your veterinarian, and take a look at the Ohio State link.</div><div><br /></div><div>Dogs are both more complex and actually easier to deal with. They are pack animals and as such can and should be trained. That doesn't mean that all dogs will be neurosis free and never have a bad moment. I mean, my dog Cookie is generally well behaved unless you let your toddler put their face too close or it thunders out. Even Zeus had his moments this week. However, it is a rare dog that can't be made obedient in most, if not all situations. Dogs should listen to their owners, come when called, sit, stay, and go to the bathroom outside. Some can even be trained to pick up after themselves and friends although I think Piglet has way too much supervision in this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b-Hbrii3VE">video.</a><div><br /></div><div>The point is, well trained dogs are easier to deal with and people will enjoy being around them and therefore, around you as well. So start as a puppy, socialize your pet, and get some basic obedience training. Oh, and you can't just go to some classes when your dog is 4 months old and expect that it will be trained for life, you have to keep working at it and working at it.</div><div><br /></div><div>If I had read the manual for the digital camera that my wife purchased a couple of weeks ago, I would have a picture of Zeus behaving for you to see and it would make this blog more interesting. So, if you have photos of your dog doing tricks, why don't you post them on my <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Garden-City-Park-NY/Crawford-Dog-and-Cat-Hospital/111423998884890?ref=ts&ajaxpipe=1&__a=12">Facebook Fan Page</a> so everyone can see them. Or, if you know how, put them in a comment right here on the blog.</div><div><br /></div><div>While we're talking about comments. I had to reject a couple in the past week. While I love to hear from you all, please don't submit comments for products or services. If you want to promote yourself, then write your own blog. It's not hard, any well trained dog or cat can do it. Heck, even a veterinarian that can't use a digital camera can do it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next week, we'll try to focus on nutrition and specific diseases. If you have any favorites that you would like me to touch on, let me know. These may end up being a little less rambling and a little more educational, but hey, you never know.</div><div><br /></div><div>Keith Niesenbaum, VMD</div><div><a href="http://www.crawforddogandcathospital.com/">www.CrawfordDogandCatHospital.com</a></div></div>Keith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-51431205148594499272010-06-28T21:46:00.015-04:002010-06-28T22:37:19.766-04:00Live Long and Prosper, Third in a Series<div>So here it is, a couple of days late due to a little techno hang up. (I couldn't find any pictures to use for this post even though I have saved many over the past couple of months in anticipation). I think the glitch has something to do with my abandonment of the Blackberry Storm that I have hated for two years and the acquisition of the yet to be mastered Droid Ally. However, I think that my technology foibles can be another whole series of posts for some future date. I'm not here to talk about phones or apps, or even my laptop computer which seems to spend more time at a certain apartment in Brooklyn than it does on my lap. I'm here to talk about one of the most important things you can do to help your pet live a long and healthy life. We've covered <a href="http://crawforddogandcathospital.blogspot.com/2010/06/live-long-and-prosper-first-installment.html">vaccines</a> and <a href="http://crawforddogandcathospital.blogspot.com/2010/06/live-long-and-prosper-2.html">Nutrition/weight control</a>. Now it's on to oral health.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now this doggie seems to have nice, shiny, white teeth. You might say, "Gee, the gums look a little red and maybe I detect some staining on that upper 4th premolar." (big tooth with two points). You might also wonder why this dog has a clear tube coming out of it's mouth, and why Kim's fingers are so close to the aforementioned pointy teeth. Well, as you might have guessed, this dog is sleeping and it's teeth didn't look like this a little while ago.</div><div><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwG7st1L8cuCmioy1WLObAr5VkSypEpJho03cllF5Xt73wmKDPnPZbhwqQGtx_iHBjdNFy6RJTIp52GbgyuwmerPNPZqVkojuSpqzj0oOaGyuADUQIk-N6gzHgQTEFz09D8fCV7slvoGU/s1600/photo+(4).JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwG7st1L8cuCmioy1WLObAr5VkSypEpJho03cllF5Xt73wmKDPnPZbhwqQGtx_iHBjdNFy6RJTIp52GbgyuwmerPNPZqVkojuSpqzj0oOaGyuADUQIk-N6gzHgQTEFz09D8fCV7slvoGU/s200/photo+(4).JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488008556110077586" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">They looked like this. (Cue the horror movie dramatic music)</div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXzJJ8MhUsx2o46wAD4egRzP_PIQ8N4a1Q225Ca_vRNUt-MaIcz6ic8G4IBoCk0BvmqfYK1QmwH_xtdGkIS7hKwecxcI_NtpxPk1pVo6WaMku8u8awZhN5VhMljSoJn1gMBsrePqdnNUE/s1600/photo+(7).JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXzJJ8MhUsx2o46wAD4egRzP_PIQ8N4a1Q225Ca_vRNUt-MaIcz6ic8G4IBoCk0BvmqfYK1QmwH_xtdGkIS7hKwecxcI_NtpxPk1pVo6WaMku8u8awZhN5VhMljSoJn1gMBsrePqdnNUE/s200/photo+(7).JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488008483882853954" /></a>Yes, it's true, someone probably let this dog lick them on the face and couldn't imagine why it's breath smelled like 2 week old dead fish. But bad breath is not the only problem that we see with dental disease of this degree. As you can imagine, this dog's mouth must hurt. Go to your dog right now. I'll wait, bring him or her back to you computer. Now sniff his breath. Lift his lip carefully like Kim was doing in the first picture. If you smell rotten eggs or see any staining on the teeth, or worse, if you see tarter and red gums like this you call your veterinarian first thing in the morning, hang your head in shame and make an appointment to have your pet's mouth examined and the disease treated. That's right, disease. Oral disease is a<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"> painful</span> condition that leads to tooth loss. Infections in the periodontal pocket can cause abscesses. Cat's (not pictured here due to the aforementioned tech issues) also get cavity like lesions that expose the nerves. Bacteria can get into the blood and cause kidney disease, heart valve disease, and liver abscesses. Toxins from these heinous bacteria make your pet feel like crap. This is serious stuff. Oh, I know, your pet is too old for anesthesia and dental treatment. Horse Hockey! (for all you Col. Potter fans). Old age is not a disease but rotting teeth are. Have your vet perform a complete physical examination, including the oral cavity. This, along with some basic blood work will determine the safest way to treat your pet's mouth.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbIBJQPLJJ35DXOyC0lNjeJd3om45m4E78nkKgu4EMWF_8pwxlxf3lwhtMd6Uq78DZw6e5q5Z0zxTVYfdNsVvtyss8oatzMuI6nwXHXP1vNJIt8fDlDUcNTHqjDFvtXeFJf07c-BB-h5s/s1600/photo+(5).JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbIBJQPLJJ35DXOyC0lNjeJd3om45m4E78nkKgu4EMWF_8pwxlxf3lwhtMd6Uq78DZw6e5q5Z0zxTVYfdNsVvtyss8oatzMuI6nwXHXP1vNJIt8fDlDUcNTHqjDFvtXeFJf07c-BB-h5s/s200/photo+(5).JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488008380070358610" /></a>See, here's another dog with horrendous teeth. This guy isn't going to be so lucky. Once the teeth were cleaned and radiographs were taken, it was determined that not all of the teeth could be saved. That's right, we had to make the phone call that owner's hate to hear, "Mrs (fill in your name if you haven't been taking care of your dog's teeth.) we have finished Fluffy's cleaning and radiographs and we have to extract several teeth" The owner always gasps and asks how the dog will eat. I tell them, "better than he is eating now because these teeth are loose and painful."</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw9KP_5H288HDpZ2QIQAFK97VzqEnaMYqh0W_ex9LWrSTJIki3QPfbI_iG8hu50wml1yhvgvvgHWfUEZ8xnGcEBC1LeoM2u2sXImwhWTuNg5zLYG_MVMPdyXXc21VuANOUXKZQqlIEiWk/s1600/photo+(6).JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw9KP_5H288HDpZ2QIQAFK97VzqEnaMYqh0W_ex9LWrSTJIki3QPfbI_iG8hu50wml1yhvgvvgHWfUEZ8xnGcEBC1LeoM2u2sXImwhWTuNg5zLYG_MVMPdyXXc21VuANOUXKZQqlIEiWk/s200/photo+(6).JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488008312972487282" /></a>Notice how clean the teeth left behind are? Notice how many are missing? And this is only one side of the mouth. I assure you that the other side looks much the same. Do not let your pet's teeth get like this. Your veterinarian should be examining your pet's teeth at every wellness visit. You should ask your veterinarian if your pet's teeth are OK and if yes, what you should do to keep them that way. If no, what do you have to do to treat this disease. Once the mouth looks like the pre pictures above, no amount of brushing, or treats, or prayer will clean them. I have to clean them. Then you have to work out a home care program and do your part. Oh, yeah, when your veterinarian tells you the teeth are bad, don't answer with, we just had his teeth cleaned last year. Look in the mouth and have the doctor show you the problem. Then the two of you need to come up with a plan to treat the problem and then prevent the problem from coming back so soon. </div><div><br /></div><div>You may have noted a bit of terseness in my tone for this post. You are correct, I am ranting again. Next to overfeeding your pet, not taking care of it's mouth may be one of the worst things you can do. It will decrease lifespan and will make for a horrible quality of life for both of you.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'll calm down now. I hope no one got bitten looking in their pet's mouth. I should have warned you to be careful earlier. I also wanted to thank my associate <a href="http://www.crawforddogandcathospital.com/site/view/102357_Doctors.pml;jsessionid=4pyrws7vg7ef">Dr. Brian Spar </a>for the photos. He has an I phone and he will be glad to tell you how much better it is than any technology I could ever posses. (wait until his I phone 4 starts dropping calls). Also, special thanks to Kim Green for helping to display the oral cavities. She is our Licensed Veterinary Technician and she does our dental cleanings and takes the oral x rays for our patients. She will also be the one calling you to tell you if we need to do extractions or additional work.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>One more post in this series, then it's on to another topic. I think there is an over/under poll going on as to how many days it will take me to finish off the series. I was really good for the first two.</div><div><br /></div><div>Keith Niesenbaum, VMd</div><div><a href="http://www.crawforddogandcathospital.com">www.CrawfordDogandCatHosptial.com</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Become a fan on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Garden-City-Park-NY/Crawford-Dog-and-Cat-Hospital/111423998884890?ref=ts&ajaxpipe=1&__a=13">Facebook</a>.</div><div>Follow on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/knvet</div><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div>Keith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-20421718811211713402010-06-14T19:03:00.007-04:002010-06-14T20:25:42.802-04:00Live long and prosper, #2<div style="text-align: left;">So this could be a first, but I'm actually blogging according to some <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">pre</span>-<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">arranged</span> schedule. Two weeks in a row, keeping to the topic of what you can do to help keep your pet healthy. Last week, I talked about regular vaccinations for your pets. I know everyone read and enjoyed it but in case you need to review, just check it out<a href="http://crawforddogandcathospital.blogspot.com/2010/06/live-long-and-prosper-first-installment.html"> here</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This week is a topic that is near and dear to my heart and one that will cost you nothing and save you a bundle in veterinary bills over your pet's life. I'm talking about nutrition and fitness, or more specifically, controlling your pet's weight. I<a href="http://crawforddogandcathospital.blogspot.com/2009/12/holiday-time-and-we-all-need-to-watch.html"> touched on this topic briefly in the past</a>, but obviously no one was listening to me because I keep seeing overweight pets. Well it's time to take the gloves off and get down and dirty. If you have an overweight pet then this is for you.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjumWpQa7QoflOkQnJim6q2QQK_FagHys7_9V-cjGMKozNgn-rNmCcWReXOIzHsoUyefNwfRD4zMmh7UAvS-k8MrW4Hi-S6okCiws5zgPOWQTs1CwJJYKXTXXkwm5xQ4RFSf72lAl5zoow/s1600/white-fat-cat.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 154px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjumWpQa7QoflOkQnJim6q2QQK_FagHys7_9V-cjGMKozNgn-rNmCcWReXOIzHsoUyefNwfRD4zMmh7UAvS-k8MrW4Hi-S6okCiws5zgPOWQTs1CwJJYKXTXXkwm5xQ4RFSf72lAl5zoow/s200/white-fat-cat.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482771588621002338" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;">This is a fat cat. It's not cute, (OK, maybe a little), it's fat. There are a whole slew of diseases that fat cats get more often than normal weight cats. First thing that comes to mind is diabetes. Yes diabetes as in your cat has a high blood sugar, will get severe complications and need insulin injections for the rest of it's life diabetes. Fat cats also are more prone to arthritis. Studies have shown that a large percentage of older cats have arthritic changes on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">radiographs</span>. These cats may suffer in silence. Once can only imagine how carrying around this extra weight will make things worse. Overweight cats also have a higher incidence of respiratory disease, heart disease, and certain tumors. If that's not gross enough, they also have a higher incidence of constipation. You haven't lived until you've had to sedate a cat to pull <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">obstipated</span> poop out of it's butt. <b>DO NOT LET YOUR CAT GET FAT!!! </b>Talk to your vet about appropriate diets, especially after spay or neuter surgery as this will alter your cat's metabolism, lowering their caloric needs. I'll not get into details here, but try to avoid high carbohydrate diets, and stick with a large proportion of canned food that is higher in protein and fat. Think Catkins (Atkins) diet, as I cross over some copyright law line and walk all over Dr. Atkins' name. If there is interest, we can look deeper into this topic in the future. Some blogger guru said that I should keep my posts at around 800 words and those who know me know how hard that is, so lets move on.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq1PN4nzQYscxcNsm6Nb3zAPzvBWogkQDr17CvGcchiWsFgmzVoP9xPFrKnPPl1_pjdZ7U_vpY3xEbAvnUb1DRK0qSw-GbmrI_OGUGDa8gKbumFqu0LIfr8vj16e7l9dhU1BGt6jbhDKc/s200/fat_dog_006.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 164px; height: 200px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482771774443247762" /></div><div>OK, dog owners, you didn't think I was going to let you off the hook did you? Dogs get fat too. Actually, it was a run of fat, crippled, could not get up off the floor, dogs that made me decide to write this whole series of articles. I actually had to put a 135 lb Golden retriever to sleep because it was so fat that it had <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_hypoventilation_syndrome"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Pickwickian</span> syndrome</a>. Follow the link, I didn't make it up and it is a great SAT vocabulary word for my younger readers. Fat dogs have degenerative joint disease, increased risk of torn <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">ACL</span> ligaments, hip <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">dysplasia</span>, heart disease, and a total lack of vitality. Is it worth giving into that begging at the dinner table? Just say no! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTr9-MQ0LU44gtkVuUoaYYxjfQnqQ6SewXUYmAa3_JJDm9dd1JsHNTaC18i8Klz4SpXjZDeezXVWm_g9q4gd9nUEouGjkEpWNaxRWROiDUA_8HrSWFsw1Xa9SYcdfVSEac1cRjsWNl1m0/s200/greyhound_h05.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 178px; height: 200px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482772218575658818" /></div><div><br /></div><div>Now I just got back from a <a href="http://ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/eagleman70.3">half I<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">ronman</span></a> triathlon this weekend. I don't just throw this out because I want you to know that I can complete the 70.3 miles, even in the brutal heat, (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, 13.1 mile run) but because I want you to know that I know what a battle this is (weight control that is). I spent a day getting passed by guys and gals that looked like this greyhound in the picture. We don't have to limit our pets diets until they look skeletal. A Labrador will never look like this guy, and the poor pugs will develop body image issues just looking at the photo. The point is, we all have an ideal body weight and we need to get there to stay healthy.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>So, what's a pet owner to do? Feed a <a href="http://www.thevetschoice.com/">healthy diet</a>. Feed to body condition, that is to say, if the amount you are feeding is leading to weight gain, cut it back. If your dog doesn't eat the food that you put down every time, in 3 seconds, but is maintaining weight, you do not have to top dress it with pan drippings (fat), or chicken breast, or hamburger, or anything. And exercise. This is tougher for cats than for dogs, but 20 minutes with a laser pointer every day will do wonders, if it doesn't make you crazy. And dogs need to walk, or run (breed dependent) every day, twice a day if possible. I go crazy when people tell me they exercise their dog every Saturday for 10 minutes if the weather is good. I look at them and realize that they are on the same type of exercise program. They should check with their doctors and veterianarians to make sure that they are starting out on a healthy, suitable program, then get off the couch people, and grab a leash, it's good for both of you. Take a spouse out with you and the dog, talk to each other meet your neighbors. (unless you live up at like 173rd street, then maybe you should leave your neighbors be and make sure you have a big dog and walk before dark.)</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Some dogs (not most cats) like to swim. Great exercise. But I have to say, if they learn to ride a bike and pass me at my next triathlon, I'll have to find another athletic activity. My ego can only take so much. I can take being passed by the old men and women, but the first time a dog takes me down at an I<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">ronman</span> event, I'm done.</div><div><br /></div><div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY4Xszqr6PKWbz8nmV5fJj9ZdPnaLFJiPsJNeR4r7mooYE4dmT3RyvGUpQQzkMqh9aREvCOG023TI6pmY4kgnGfAN30g2hqD6_wcR_jSiJOecWtMSxDngWL1pulPtfMWxxz64b4VcyNKU/s200/Labrador_Retriever_dive.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482772469373178898" /></div><div>So, now I'm out of ideas for the next three posts on what you can do to keep your pet healthy. Give me some ideas. If I have any hope of keeping to this schedule, it will be up to you. This idea came for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">crazyboutdogs</span> on twitter. Follow her at www.twitter.com/crazyboutdogs. Follow me at www.twitter.com/knvet and become a fan of our <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">facebook</span> page at<a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1423116302&v=wall&story_fbid=135629559784761#!/pages/Garden-City-Park-NY/Crawford-Dog-and-Cat-Hospital/111423998884890?ref=ts&ajaxpipe=1&__a=8"> Crawford Dog and Cat Hospital</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Keith <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Niesenbaum</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">VMD</span></div><div><a href="http://www.crawforddogandcathospital.com/">www.CrawfordDogandCatHopsital.com</a></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> <br /></div>Keith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-5141719421389164282010-06-08T20:44:00.005-04:002010-06-09T22:01:28.505-04:00Live long and prosper, the first installmentIt seems that I have been seeing so many sick pets in the office lately. OK, not so much serious illness, although there has been our share of that, but sort of chronic, debilitating things, mostly things that could have been prevented if a little care had been taken. So, rather than rant and rave as we all know I can, I decided to take a more constructive course and write a series of articles on things that you can do for your pets to help them live to their normal life span with a good quality of life. Some of these things will involve your veterinarian, some of them will be lifestyle changes for you at home. I figure on five articles and only have topics for the first two lined up. So this is your chance to leave me some suggestions for future posts.<div><br /></div><div>New pets are a new chance at a healthy pet so let's start with your new puppy or kitten. I think the the most important thing you can do is get them vaccinated. Now, before you get into an uproar about the evils of over vaccinating our pets and how vaccines are responsible for everything from allergies and autoimmune disease to global warming and vampires, I think you need to sit back down and continue reading.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm not talking about vaccinating with every vaccine on the market whether it is effective or not. I'm not talking about vaccinating every pet for diseases that they have no risk of ever being exposed to. You need to have a rational discussion with your veterinarian about your pet's anticipated lifestyle and the risk factors associated with this life style. It should be obvious (although I know it always isn't) that a dog that lives on the 53rd floor of a Manhattan high rise and never goes out, even to pee, does not need the same vaccines as the Field Trial Labrador that summers on Shelter Island and competes upstate on a regular basis. (for those of you not in New York you can substitute your own low risk and high risk locations). I'm not neglecting cats either, indoor cats do not need the same vaccines as those that go out. (shame on you if you let your cats go out) </div><div><br /></div><div>I have worked in areas where vaccination was not emphasized. I have seen cats die of Feline <a href="http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=1482&EVetID=3002444">Leukemia</a> or <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Calici</span> Virus infections. I have seen dogs die of <a href="http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=580&EVetID=3002444"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Parvo</span></a> and <a href="http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=1733&EVetID=3002444">Distemper</a>. These diseases are all preventable with adequate vaccinations. </div><div><br /></div><div> I hate when I see a new puppy or kitten and it has been vaccinated every week from the time it was 4 weeks old. This sort of over vaccination may well cause damage to the immune system and all sorts of problems for the pet in the future. We start our dogs and cats at around 6 weeks of age with core vaccines and vaccinate every 3 - 4 weeks until they are 16 weeks old. Other vaccines are added through the vaccine period according to each pet's risk factors. Do not vaccinate your pet according to some generic vaccine program. At our practice we tailor an individual program for each pet and your vet should do the same. Don't add a vaccine just because it is only a couple of bucks more and you think you are getting a good deal. Save that for the supermarket.</div><div><br /></div><div>Adult dogs are vaccinated periodically. Some vaccines need to be boosted yearly, some every three years. Some owners prefer to have antibody levels measured to see if pets need boosters at all and this blood test can be done for some of the vaccines on an annual basis.</div><div><br /></div><div>Vaccines are not always benign. The purpose of vaccination is to stimulate the immune system to fight disease. There can be adverse reactions ranging from tenderness at the injection site, to fever, to severe <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">anaphylactic</span> reactions. There is some evidence that some vaccines can cause tumors in cats in rare instances. Your veterinarian should be prepared to help you balance the risk versus the benefit for each vaccine that he or she is recommending.</div><div><br /></div><div>Once we have done all that we can to prevent possible fatal or seriously debilitating infectious diseases with a customized vaccination schedule we will move on to discuss things that you can do as your pet matures.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm still open to suggestions so leave a comment and let me know what you think. Those of you who don't agree with what I said in this post shouldn't be shy either, let me know what you think.</div><div><br /></div><div>The links in this post go to my web page, an excellent source for information written by board certified veterinarians. The search function is on the library page and is open to anyone to use as a source. Oh, it's free. Oh, I won't try to sell you anything. No ads, it is an informational web site. There is a particularly good photo of me on the staff page. (If I do say so myself).</div><div><br /></div><div>A special shout out to a friend on twitter that recommended this topic. You should follow by <a href="http://twitter.com/AAHAHelpingPets">clicking on this link to the twitter page.</a></div><div><br /></div><div>You should also become a fan of ours on Face Book. Crawford Dog and Cat Hospital. Here, I'll make it easy, just click on this <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Garden-City-Park-NY/Crawford-Dog-and-Cat-Hospital/111423998884890?ref=ts&ajaxpipe=1&__a=8">link.</a> We have started a weekly give away and we post it on our website. This week's goes until Thursday (tomorrow) so check it out asap and stop by to pick up your prize if you are in the area.</div><div><br /></div><div>Keith <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Niesenbaum</span></div><div><a href="http://www.crawforddogandcathospital.com/">www.CrawfordDogandCatHospital.com</a></div><div><a href="http://www.TheVetsChoice.com">www.TheVetsChoice.com</a></div><div><br /></div>Keith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-36656788502938324432010-05-20T21:01:00.012-04:002010-05-27T21:12:31.176-04:00The Garden is Beautiful, but it can also be treacherous;.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4HTxaL8kBe9txfzg1Zk3KBOhrdrR4jxpsWWDNo6K6rohUszxfx_gIVE4i_SR05SmeYWxOrvd0vhuC2VhWkxJZ_5gFLLFKABHfwFAmR41mhmc7Nu9iMVZHCJmpmFE917HzfBbx19fSFHI/s1600/pi+rash.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 58px; height: 58px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4HTxaL8kBe9txfzg1Zk3KBOhrdrR4jxpsWWDNo6K6rohUszxfx_gIVE4i_SR05SmeYWxOrvd0vhuC2VhWkxJZ_5gFLLFKABHfwFAmR41mhmc7Nu9iMVZHCJmpmFE917HzfBbx19fSFHI/s200/pi+rash.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473525774440037234" /></a>I know garden season is in full swing. when I start to see rashes like this on my wife. (No this is not her, just a photo that I got elsewhere.) What would cause her otherwise normal skin to erupt in lines and patches of itchy blisters causing her extreme discomfort and misery?<div><br /></div><div>Well, if you spend much time outdoors in our area, then you will recognize the culprit right here. <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">That's</span> right, we all know leaflets three, let it be ... <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Poison</span> Ivy.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeI0-k069mYNa_kCWGnLOENeIdpq1VaF296LbpIU1Bclt9oKE5qiLkLcZ4BQFjffPbSVG4xuYrcSKKBnkeQxvfGpDEFer9z2YEFzN9Y5ar3_iIlsrNmPTttEKovvfrRwerveScTxuJ2Uw/s1600/piplant.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeI0-k069mYNa_kCWGnLOENeIdpq1VaF296LbpIU1Bclt9oKE5qiLkLcZ4BQFjffPbSVG4xuYrcSKKBnkeQxvfGpDEFer9z2YEFzN9Y5ar3_iIlsrNmPTttEKovvfrRwerveScTxuJ2Uw/s200/piplant.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473525648130085058" /></a>Now, she is an avid gardener, and in her defense, she not only knows the rhyme, but knows what the plant looks like, most of the time. In fact, we are so defensive about poison ivy at our home that we probably have no pants with three leaves in any of our gardens. But, as cautious as she may be, it seems that every year, it sneaks up on her and she ends up with a nasty case requiring topical treatment with steroids, administered by ours truly, just so she can get through the work week.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Hey", you say. "Sorry bout your wife, but this is supposed to be a pet blog". Right you are, just using a topical reminder to segue into today's topic. By the way, most dogs don't get rashes from poison ivy. (some do, it's not unheard of). They can gallivant in the woods and get the oils on their coat. Then when they snuggle up to you , the oils rub off and pesto, you have the rash. Remember, the rash is not contagious, it is spread by the oil. The best product I have found for getting the oil off <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;">before you get the rash </span>is <a href="http://www.teclabsinc.com/products.cfm?id=1F5604C8-9D05-4675-56129F6D83DF2417"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Tecnu</span></a>. Check it out.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5LQbYoY-zhTu_1_WXaei4IXn33G57tiX-1MhUrpV3QBPlQNx8uj_5EsR2Ph4Klh0z-VRI7q_5c9daokJ2faFVfr8i-TTyJya5kFBAY5nXh84m5ycPf58OeeYJMc_CsM26idfymzkn2wQ/s1600/Hyacinth15.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 158px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5LQbYoY-zhTu_1_WXaei4IXn33G57tiX-1MhUrpV3QBPlQNx8uj_5EsR2Ph4Klh0z-VRI7q_5c9daokJ2faFVfr8i-TTyJya5kFBAY5nXh84m5ycPf58OeeYJMc_CsM26idfymzkn2wQ/s200/Hyacinth15.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473525327060941474" /></a>OK, so poison ivy is not a big problem, you might ask, "what are some common flowering garden plants that can cause a problem for my pets?"</div><div><br /></div><div>Hyacinths are beautiful and smell great. The flowers and greens of tulips and hyacinths are not generally toxic, but their bulbs contain alkaloids and/or allergenic <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">lactones</span>. If you are sensitive, and my wife is, wear gloves when planting the bulbs. Once you get them in the ground all should be well.<br /><div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div> Daffodils contain the toxic alkaloid, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">lycorine</span>. Ingestion can cause severe vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and potential respiratory distress in dogs or cats. I hope that you will recognize them as the pretty yellow flowers that come up in the spring. I had a photo, but somehow it got deleted and since this blog post is not about a week later than I <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">wanted</span> it to be, I'm not going to try to figure out how to get it back up.</div></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX9mWEO4_5Sv_GgVZmjHI0VoKAsePJ4ceZ7EGf2g3jOesF02oT3M8QyA4nwcB6mlaTBjt3HAagpQI5Dln1_d-wh2IpV0OQ6bUOStvxPdxZL-QkW3dxvcbZONUdbrnLA5PUQsuacpcBIm0/s1600/daffodil.jpg"></a><div><br /></div><div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Here's a photo of a common plant that I actually had a client call me about last week. OK, by now it was probably 2 weeks ago. Calla lilies and Peace Lilies are actually not that toxic. Ingestion of the plant or flowers will cause GI Upset. You know, the medical <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">euphemism</span> for vomiting and diarrhea. The cat in my practice that instigated my mentioning these plants was vomiting a couple of times a week, after eating some of the lily leaves in the house.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDm7OrPz7VsoAR7CsgRjEXQKEDWXybE-YbvNyIGOhSAZIVln_wTIhVDu_jG1XryUm7LzRhxLCR96LGcVp_kQWtbwIu2cWleo7wVJBU2mo_ByJr7ehsQ2gZ-wJGPPhOY5W9naaFT_puddE/s1600/peace.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDm7OrPz7VsoAR7CsgRjEXQKEDWXybE-YbvNyIGOhSAZIVln_wTIhVDu_jG1XryUm7LzRhxLCR96LGcVp_kQWtbwIu2cWleo7wVJBU2mo_ByJr7ehsQ2gZ-wJGPPhOY5W9naaFT_puddE/s200/peace.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473525085220691618" /></a><br /></div><div>Oh, look. I found the photo of the daffodils. Here they are on the left below.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhv8G2VsGeNiJttnKAp-zKfKHsfay0bdo0v09YVeRgxlGd3rho3uesVZMvn1oivM5Qe6qdWJtNfgVN5_kOM5YEgsd_JHh-EPuammmJd6S4-aT84vER7WoJWoh8AOxyz6aONGfsK7Jdfos/s1600/day+lilly.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhv8G2VsGeNiJttnKAp-zKfKHsfay0bdo0v09YVeRgxlGd3rho3uesVZMvn1oivM5Qe6qdWJtNfgVN5_kOM5YEgsd_JHh-EPuammmJd6S4-aT84vER7WoJWoh8AOxyz6aONGfsK7Jdfos/s200/day+lilly.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473524929128188930" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgroVp1BEnjkBUlIxsqf4CG_qhFuKLHc6Ci2QESlRpzND81F-uUYE_UOUpwPaRDL_hZXKl0sUmsSZf2RJPTL0356WHs59GgVto_H6k5rCIKagXFQIwctyF-VrivxJ3WT_FfAGK1Wb2mBJQ/s1600/easter-lily_7094.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgroVp1BEnjkBUlIxsqf4CG_qhFuKLHc6Ci2QESlRpzND81F-uUYE_UOUpwPaRDL_hZXKl0sUmsSZf2RJPTL0356WHs59GgVto_H6k5rCIKagXFQIwctyF-VrivxJ3WT_FfAGK1Wb2mBJQ/s200/easter-lily_7094.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473524820306043138" /></a>Don't confuse the relatively harmless Peace Lilies or the Daffodils with the seriously dangerous true lilies. The Easter Lily above and to the right, Asian Lilies, and Day Lilies are potentially deadly. All parts, leaves, bulbs, flowers, even pollen can cause severe, life threatening acute renal failure in dogs and cats if ingested. I would advise not planting these in gardens or having them in the house if you have pets that are likely to be exposed to them. My former associate almost lost a cat to lily toxins. Fortunately, she is an excellent and tenacious clinician and the kitty pulled through.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7pRTPMm_w-Nog_hg05o192FVXviWAKIaChMI95pQS3F-qOsBJ3LTPXMpTBT_AMBnMWEESzoJpQBi7hRTHajcWZV89I4Z56gQDq_Z35Fs5Prlv6bp3PTUDkhh9h5ssepd4_Oc48kKovzU/s1600/asian.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7pRTPMm_w-Nog_hg05o192FVXviWAKIaChMI95pQS3F-qOsBJ3LTPXMpTBT_AMBnMWEESzoJpQBi7hRTHajcWZV89I4Z56gQDq_Z35Fs5Prlv6bp3PTUDkhh9h5ssepd4_Oc48kKovzU/s200/asian.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473524626471460962" /></a><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Like the <a href="http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.wildlifepatrol.com/snake/images/venomous_snake.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blogs.siliconindia.com/Jyotionnet/Poisonous_Snakes-bid-F941ap7D98822857.html&h=768&w=1024&sz=72&tbnid=HMrB4b6W9Z6XIM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpoisonous%2Bsnakes&hl=en&usg=__boI2HjZ">coral snake</a>, these flowers are pretty to look at but very deadly. Just as an aside, remember, red on black friend of jack, red on yellow kills a fellow. If you know what this refers to, please leave a comment and let me know that you are out there. There are no photos of snakes or other venomous critters this post, but if you guys want, we can do that some time in the future. Not a big problem here on Long Island, but I bet the crew in the south and south west would have another story to tell.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Finally, most fertilizers will be toxic to pets as well. Keep dogs and cats off of the lawn after chemicals have been applied. Check with your gardener or read the label yourself. A good general rule is to stay off for 48 hours after the stuff has been watered into the grass. Better yet, have an organic lawn or garden.</div><div><br /></div><div>If your pet has been exposed to something and you're not sure if it is toxic, call your veterinarian. (Gosh, I bet veterinarians hate when I write things like that and they get all sorts of calls, but it is what I am here for for my clients). If you're not my client, call the Pet Poison Helpline at 800-213-6680 or online at www.petpoisonhelpline.com.</div><div><br /></div><div>I would like to shout out to www.PetDocsOnCall.com for more helpful pet care tips. They gave me the Pet Poison <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Hotline</span> number and the idea for this blog post. OK, them and my wife's poison ivy.</div><div><br /></div><div>Keith <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Niesenbaum</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">VMD</span></div><div><a href="http://www.crawforddogandcathospital.com/">www.CrawfordDogandCatHospital.com</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Get a taste of our practice by becoming a <a href="ttp://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Garden-City-Park-NY/Crawford-Dog-and-Cat-Hospital/111423998884890?ref=ts&ajaxpipe=1&__a=9">Facebook fan at Crawford Dog and Cat Hospital</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div></div>Keith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-38246493693081066382010-04-27T15:03:00.009-04:002010-04-27T15:50:09.492-04:00Bacterial Alphabet SoupThere has been a fair amount in the press recently about antibiotic resistant super bacteria that are going to end the world. TV, print, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Internet</span>, all talking about <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">MRSA</span>, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">MRSI</span>, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">MRSP</span>, and even the dreaded flesh eating bacteria, I think that I will skip the horrid flesh eating bacteria for now, as it is mostly a human disease problem and the pictures would be far to gruesome for this blog. If you have a genuine interest or just want to see gross pictures, you can follow the link <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necrotizing_fasciitis">here.</a><br /><br />Let's start with <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">MRSA</span>. I'll translate, first from <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">alphabet</span> to <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">medicalese</span>, to <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">English</span>. French translation will require a different author. The <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">initials</span> stand for <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">Methecillin</span> Resistant Staph. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">Aureus. Staph. Aureus is a round (cocci) bacteria commonly found on the skin. While we used to think that all of these potentially disease causing cocci were Staph aureus, it turns out that this is a pathogen of people and other species have there own species of Staph. Here is group of Staph as seen under the microscope, a Staph meeting as it were.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDTHPvomdQDo-J0wuyGdmj_M-ZSHaLPakUNx1sPqqbZerhKw3p05o4Q9XVHVbSol6AvbCvQgOIElsKPTvAnC54EaLsREfzKVc2j2wEt3NdIAES1aQPpYRl5xdDedjwDsQoxMJbiFIXRhI/s1600/250px-MRSA7820%5B1%5D.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 136px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464895995402546402" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDTHPvomdQDo-J0wuyGdmj_M-ZSHaLPakUNx1sPqqbZerhKw3p05o4Q9XVHVbSol6AvbCvQgOIElsKPTvAnC54EaLsREfzKVc2j2wEt3NdIAES1aQPpYRl5xdDedjwDsQoxMJbiFIXRhI/s200/250px-MRSA7820%5B1%5D.jpg" /></a> The M is for methecillan, an antibiotic and the R is for resistant. MRSA is resistant to, that is not killed by methecillin or any penicillin type antibiotic. The problem is that many of these bacteria also develope multi drug resistance, that is that many antibiotics will not affect them. As you can see this can cause a big problem. <br /><br />MRSA has become a huge source of complications in human hospitals as this is a place were there are alot of sick people, and bacteria, and antibioitics to stimulate resistance. (We can talk about how bacteria become resistant in another post if anyone comments and is interested)<br /><br />Dogs can get colonized by MRSA. They get it from their owners and it might not ever cause a problem. However, if they should have some weakening in their immune system, allowing these bugs to get a foothold, then we can have a problem. At our practice, we have seen several cases of MRSA recently. In each case we were able to trace the source of infection back to an owner that had been treated in some sort of health care facitlity.<br /><br />What about the other intitials you ask? Well, as I alluded to earlier, other species of animals have there own staph bacteria. In dogs they were reclassified as Staph. intermedious (SI) and most recently, Staph. pseudintermedious. Here is a picture of staph, closer up. Can you tell what species it is? No one can just by looking. Special tests are needed.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv1tDo3J2UzuPEASKMhP5Tk1GoZFTojksdktIdI1XZAnuCiaOlSl1ilezNSpI6nBaEwxqdZJCcCP0IvlbYCHO93ON4roauWK2AALr5iY-sDe4I1h7Qw-aWGB9WcrfQSt4CpEF4v_Ssg5k/s1600/270px-MRSA_SEM_9994_lores%5B1%5D.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 143px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464895932075232994" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv1tDo3J2UzuPEASKMhP5Tk1GoZFTojksdktIdI1XZAnuCiaOlSl1ilezNSpI6nBaEwxqdZJCcCP0IvlbYCHO93ON4roauWK2AALr5iY-sDe4I1h7Qw-aWGB9WcrfQSt4CpEF4v_Ssg5k/s200/270px-MRSA_SEM_9994_lores%5B1%5D.jpg" /></a> In fact, you can't tell if this is a resistant staph or just a plain old staph just by looking at a photo micrograph. Sensitivity to antibiotics is determined by doing cultures and sensitivities in the clinical path lab. We have seen an increase in the number of MRSP infections in our practice over the last few months. I'm not sure if that is because more of our staph infections are resistant to methecillin, or if we are just more aware and doing more cultures. These animal staphs can colonize people and cause diseae if the opportunity arises.<br /><br />Now, were do we see most of these resistant staph infections in our animal patients? The number one location is in the ear. That is why your veterinarian should not just look at an ear like this and send you home with anti biotics.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw19z9VM9Ekp59vjin3YoZhMlkHuW1zOb3Pukl0birv-XwO_EyjDKVIgwvfS6EMjO3sXei4BVgv79BK4RXid2QvSiTLWIk6-Z9VFIvwglxBAjH3sRmmb2ibHo4goQ_VzEt55es5FvyHOk/s1600/Chronic_allergic_otitis_dog%5B1%5D.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464895856765027938" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw19z9VM9Ekp59vjin3YoZhMlkHuW1zOb3Pukl0birv-XwO_EyjDKVIgwvfS6EMjO3sXei4BVgv79BK4RXid2QvSiTLWIk6-Z9VFIvwglxBAjH3sRmmb2ibHo4goQ_VzEt55es5FvyHOk/s200/Chronic_allergic_otitis_dog%5B1%5D.jpg" /></a> Or even worse, just take a phone call from you and dispense antibiotics without a thorough examination. We do a cytology exam on all ear infections. (look under the micrscope to see if there are bacteria present). If there are bacteria, we do a culture and sensitivity so that we can prescribe the best medication to cure the infection. Then we set up a maintenence program to prevent future infections. The indescriminant use of antibiotics is one cause of the increased incidence of resistant infections. You need to wash your hands after treating infections so that you don't pick up these bacteria and have them growing in you waiting to cause disease.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrkdbdu5Y5FOGjTdGI1x140f0hMtZe10Mxek4-mKt38-o8aw_mR-4xhSdS2HiYMDZSGL6Xj9CratTJWyN_9_ofeAIMOZjO5RJKGupvWqUUk9z8igc_jYhNMI7FkakXm8cJJeQUhVJlEnM/s1600/staphinfect2%5B1%5D.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 144px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464895694728050162" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrkdbdu5Y5FOGjTdGI1x140f0hMtZe10Mxek4-mKt38-o8aw_mR-4xhSdS2HiYMDZSGL6Xj9CratTJWyN_9_ofeAIMOZjO5RJKGupvWqUUk9z8igc_jYhNMI7FkakXm8cJJeQUhVJlEnM/s200/staphinfect2%5B1%5D.jpg" /></a><br /><br />Here is the other very common location for bacterial infection, the skin. People often mistake this type of lesion as ringworm (another topic for another day) but this is a classic presentation for a staph infection in a dog. These also need to be treated with appropriate antibiotics, both topical and systemic.</div><div> </div><div>Now what can we do to prevent the spread of bacterial diseases from patient to care giver, owner to pet, and pet to owner?<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn3oc-ja-BMssGQDt6iLSeIChuagBXrjpHan5bzFopGN9GEVUI8cQux1kPkAtbr4swLUmMB084FMrY6uLDxqwXfQ4HXwzfGLHGLKmvCZHi9xVCednVKqPMxCw9LDt36bpsMsE8mq-pM1U/s1600/160px-One_the_the_UK_National_Health_Service_Clean_Your_Hands_campaign_alcohol-based_hand_rub%5B1%5D.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 54px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464895590165714178" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn3oc-ja-BMssGQDt6iLSeIChuagBXrjpHan5bzFopGN9GEVUI8cQux1kPkAtbr4swLUmMB084FMrY6uLDxqwXfQ4HXwzfGLHGLKmvCZHi9xVCednVKqPMxCw9LDt36bpsMsE8mq-pM1U/s200/160px-One_the_the_UK_National_Health_Service_Clean_Your_Hands_campaign_alcohol-based_hand_rub%5B1%5D.jpg" /></a><br />WASH YOUR HANDS!! Do it frequently and do it well. Use antibacterial soap. Use the hand sanitizer stations that popped up during the swine flu scare. These will kill bacteria as well as flu viruses. <br /><br /><br />Keith Niesenbaum, VMD</div><div><a href="http://www.crawforddogandcathospital.com/">www.CrawfordDogandCatHospital.com</a></div><div> </div><div>Become a Facebook Fan of Crawford Dog and Cat Hospital for breaking news and information.<br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTRYFj-wWzZ8hRlTwcXOd9BnkYc0UfOhZbrXzbJR5ugDMI4UvHkUqxfKMJr_W6gCFusr5mAulAN6IL87VgfpV-Fr1VTUN_0YGachNUUKAtFvBy3jSmHA5c3wPZPPGIg9Aa3uqzy13Z2Y0/s1600/270px-MRSA_SEM_9994_lores%5B1%5D.jpg"></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkZHfg-g7GA-Cd4bOmkj-Vn9ySpE9m67GBAW3s7R-FJF14jYHY6xPgwyxfNaTCToqwFlwKqx6n-2RLIS4KLGUOGkgeCVVIA8_ylmgIVgC7zUsPHeHEA55RhNLOG834cozaXJkJizEzleQ/s1600/250px-MRSA7820%5B1%5D.jpg"></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ4c4P6Ceg0D1uO8xIvO-Djk_MYVI5GqAsSYcVV_OwVwUA22QJIxM72jtxcpS0tKFE6KWi83edOv4lCBbqqMf8WJZLBzVgvJklPUKysbXMS7zVRf_dGvRvqImjANO3hZvIYFyeGPTvrmw/s1600/270px-MRSA_SEM_9994_lores%5B1%5D.jpg"></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Keith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-19140395090367669462010-04-12T13:02:00.007-04:002010-04-12T13:59:32.139-04:00Spring is here and the smell of what? is in the air?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL0RrzmbCLkI2DX7181-rsH5cQE3J86WzVSRuW85oFWmGhTzjLR83Aw9FcsNh3KkxmrWX5H4imwzjoeFbMekXqvFBbbPkU24-Cw7jDTjMMhvyraeq40-bLfxH6siwmIrjcLt_NIqH7J9o/s1600/hershey's.gif"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 115px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 75px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459298114125115186" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL0RrzmbCLkI2DX7181-rsH5cQE3J86WzVSRuW85oFWmGhTzjLR83Aw9FcsNh3KkxmrWX5H4imwzjoeFbMekXqvFBbbPkU24-Cw7jDTjMMhvyraeq40-bLfxH6siwmIrjcLt_NIqH7J9o/s200/hershey's.gif" /></a> So the weather has turned warm and I was finally out for one of those long bike rides that I have been promising myself for the past month or so. My first long course triathlon is rapidly approaching and it is time to get some hours in the saddle as it were. We were out on the North Shore tooling around the hills of the Gold Coast and dodging landscaper's trucks who were also out taking advantage of the nice weather to tend to their chores, when I was taken back to a childhood memory by a familiar smell. Now the overwhelming odor was chocolate, but that could easily have come from the melted Reese Peanut Butter cups that I use to <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">refuel</span> myself on these long rides, but there was a <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">subtle</span> difference. This was a more earthy smell. Now I remember.<br /><br />When I was but a lad, back in the day, my Pop-pop worked in some capacity for the <a href="http://www.supreme-mfg.com/">EB Evans </a>Company. The company is still in <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">existence</span> (a quick google search will confirm this but that is really tangential to where I am going with this story.) I remember that his company made Ice Cream toppings. You know, Butterscotch, Hot Fudge, maraschino cherries. Sidebar here, don't eat an entire bottle of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">maraschino</span> cherries, I seem to recall that it will make you puke. Anyway, attempt at self induced cherry <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">poisoning</span> aside, my Pop-pop would bring us all sorts of great stuff to pile onto our ice cream, or dump into our milk. Although I'm sure this didn't help my weight issues growing up, it was a wonderful thing for a <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">pre-</span>teen boy to have access to. Tastes aside, smell is a stronger memory trigger and I remember that he also gave my dad huge burlap bags of old cocoa hulls to use as garden mulch. Back in the early '60s, this was novel. The company perceived this as a waste product and my dad thought it was the best gardening product ever. As a kid, I thought it was wonderful that the entire yard smelled like a <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">gigantic</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">chocolate</span> bar, only more earthy like a truffle soaked <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">chocolate</span> bar. <br /><br />Now, 50 years later, cocoa mulch is very popular. I guess that as more people have figured out that this is a good mulch and the companies that probably paid to have the stuff hauled away, or at least turned their backs when employees gave their grandsons early childhood spring time memories are selling it by the ton. Add in the new popularity of truffles, the earthy <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">chocolaty</span> smell of this mulch was everywhere this weekend.<br /><br />But, if you've been reading some of my earlier posts, you know that there is often a flip side to these sorts of things. While I was content to lay out on the lawn and smell the chocolate, dogs are not quite so content. As with some other items, such as carpet, they eat this stuff. Maybe they think it really is truffle soaked chocolate (<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">mmmmmm</span>) or maybe they are less <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">discerning</span> and just acting like, well dogs. The thing is, chocolate mulch has two problems. One is it's chocolate and we <a href="http://crawforddogandcathospital.blogspot.com/2009/12/chocolate-is-for-easter-bunnies.html">talked about that a while ago</a>. There is enough chocolate in the stuff to cause all the problems we mentioned with eating the real stuff. The second problem is it's mulch, not <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">meant</span> to eat and can cause all sorts of intestinal blockage requiring human intervention to remove the garden supply.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_hyphenhyphenC9WrKvHf9OERkYFMtZmmM_oJVGuaRpmCDYlZjdPSSxg814O8je5z30wOXq62c6JnJe9zbz5YFo1Ivfg7qhNNSnXxRtN6d9_x-jMY4Ri0oWjT0Z6l0yz6Vrg7uefXXWfyC4V__NRFY/s1600/Rottiesurg.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459298018002657906" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_hyphenhyphenC9WrKvHf9OERkYFMtZmmM_oJVGuaRpmCDYlZjdPSSxg814O8je5z30wOXq62c6JnJe9zbz5YFo1Ivfg7qhNNSnXxRtN6d9_x-jMY4Ri0oWjT0Z6l0yz6Vrg7uefXXWfyC4V__NRFY/s200/Rottiesurg.jpg" /></a> Here we are, a young <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Rottweiler</span>, on the table with a belly full of something. The hands belong to the talented and patient Dr. Spar who is removing all sorts of goodies from the insides of this silly beast, via an opening that didn't exist until a few moments before the picture was taken. The suspect foreign body was carpeting. I don't know if the dog had read the <a href="http://crawforddogandcathospital.blogspot.com/2010/03/beverage-of-choice.html">last post </a>and thought it was an instructional manual or if he came up with the idea on his own, but the owner was pretty sure that carpet was the offending material as some of it was passing out the rectum for several days. Well, we all get to be wrong sometimes and this was the owner's time. <br /><br />The thing is that this pup isn't particular at all. He didn't even care about the flavoring, he just wanted to eat plant material.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1vRTSu69LCP9_JsBeVKb68FOMwkJuA9qyT7A-DH5skJLEabibsw0Z-XeNuyiZyxw-GkWTdXIqDwXInEKfFQmYjyBLNI0YcIuaQ6Jq798LXf0ZAfDku6FzUz31wTOp4Q-XrZ4obzA1vwk/s1600/Rottie2.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459297925083855170" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1vRTSu69LCP9_JsBeVKb68FOMwkJuA9qyT7A-DH5skJLEabibsw0Z-XeNuyiZyxw-GkWTdXIqDwXInEKfFQmYjyBLNI0YcIuaQ6Jq798LXf0ZAfDku6FzUz31wTOp4Q-XrZ4obzA1vwk/s200/Rottie2.jpg" /></a><br /><br />This is just a small sampling of the leaves that were removed from his stomach. If my <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">botany</span> serves me well, they were mostly oak leaves. Can't tell you what type, mostly <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">slimy</span> oak leaves from spending the better part of the week inside the dark confines of a dog.</div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div>The thing is, we really need to watch what our pets get into. If this had been the cocoa laced mulch, this dog would have had all the signs of chocolate toxicity in addition to the physical obstruction of the non edible plant material. Happy ending tho, leaves out, dog home, and I will ride on the North Shore again this weekend searching out the smells of my childhood.</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Keith <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" class="blsp-spelling-error">Niesenbaum</span>, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" class="blsp-spelling-error">VMD</span></div><div><a href="http://www.crawforddogandcathospital.com/">www.CrawfordDogandCatHospital.com</a></div><div> </div><div>and for healthier snack options.</div><div><a href="http://www.thevetschoice.com/">www.TheVetsChoice.com</a><br /></div><div></div>Keith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-42866348429179593492010-03-23T11:33:00.004-04:002010-03-23T21:05:56.872-04:00Beverage of Choice?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizaxhXAsCNx5kal4tbEj_bHH44ngdNigD1crc0DPWBhDFd-ZOxyBpkJbvFnqOE4VLpQwqSEakuO6N5vp1yEmNPLr3qD8i3sGEpbGIimvO-t4uYUOgYyZSXAn2mDYmKJ8MGbgmZ_GBD6NE/s1600-h/carpet+dog.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451996255924061826" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 285px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 235px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizaxhXAsCNx5kal4tbEj_bHH44ngdNigD1crc0DPWBhDFd-ZOxyBpkJbvFnqOE4VLpQwqSEakuO6N5vp1yEmNPLr3qD8i3sGEpbGIimvO-t4uYUOgYyZSXAn2mDYmKJ8MGbgmZ_GBD6NE/s200/carpet+dog.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">gastro</span> 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.<br /><br />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 <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">poisoning</span> from bacterial toxins in the garbage. Remember, garbage is spoiled food. It is ... well garbage. The same bacteria such as salmonella, e <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">coli</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">campylobacter</span>, 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.<br /><br />And just like our children, keep them away from house hold products that might be dangerous.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIMwaNZof4qA6RTrjzccylj3gus06Cx6taJpGK_tL5U-g_CED63F7YD2Y30T_-IfAxT_vSclTZBZYEk2umH4_94BILvwydefVSWJEfa_nxkqHnoJ2eeJIwEnW8d-JTLAxjsmVa4q_OaGA/s1600-h/LG_alpc%5B1%5D.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451853155485338658" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 224px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIMwaNZof4qA6RTrjzccylj3gus06Cx6taJpGK_tL5U-g_CED63F7YD2Y30T_-IfAxT_vSclTZBZYEk2umH4_94BILvwydefVSWJEfa_nxkqHnoJ2eeJIwEnW8d-JTLAxjsmVa4q_OaGA/s200/LG_alpc%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />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 <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">products</span>. 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 <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">poison</span> 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 <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Internet</span> sources and had started therapy.</div><div> </div><div>The biggest problem that these detergents cause in cats is physical trauma to the oral cavity. Ulcers, tissue <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">damaging</span>, even complete soughing of the tongue. This cat had some much mucous it inhaled some into it's lungs. (sorry to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">radiographs</span> to post this time). A bath, some steroids, some respiratory <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">nebulization</span> 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.</div><div> </div><div>So please, be careful out there.</div><div> </div><div>Keith <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Niesenbaum</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">VMD</span></div><div><a href="http://www.thevetschoice.com/">www.TheVetsChoice.com</a></div><div><a href="http://www.crawforddogandcathospital.com/">www.CrawfordDogandCatHospital.com</a></div><div> </div><div>Become a fan of Crawford Dog and Cat Hospital / Black Forest Kennels on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Facebook</span><br /></div><div></div>Keith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-54518299422280118472010-03-19T12:15:00.010-04:002010-03-19T12:50:43.595-04:00Spring is in the air and Fleas are in your yard, and on your dog, and on your cat, and in your home ...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB7zf8JPibJNtN6XXOJOZnHNt_I0AhX2KBierfYovIgvLZE89on_ZSaR5nV15wUUd0JDDpjOSmBGHPoZiHrk632LsnAGUP-APu34V0RL1TR0GUI2ONaIX1mwMhbo2vsWDcXixAyYVHC30/s1600-h/flea.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5450380850957514002" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 199px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB7zf8JPibJNtN6XXOJOZnHNt_I0AhX2KBierfYovIgvLZE89on_ZSaR5nV15wUUd0JDDpjOSmBGHPoZiHrk632LsnAGUP-APu34V0RL1TR0GUI2ONaIX1mwMhbo2vsWDcXixAyYVHC30/s200/flea.gif" border="0" /></a> 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<br />Egypt. (OK, sorry, but passover is on my mind).<br /><br />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).<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEppc_oo3myKQOy_dA72_YKQ1ylfp9x1wtNAlQbdreir9GG_rjChfQjB82enZFEaJa0DjJKYRhQnpcmuVb5HHXOxSi_XJh4rNPueQDEYE0wfPks_JyTot6mBgaG3Wgh6PA-sYM_rU6fwA/s1600-h/fleas.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5450380780584140306" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 166px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEppc_oo3myKQOy_dA72_YKQ1ylfp9x1wtNAlQbdreir9GG_rjChfQjB82enZFEaJa0DjJKYRhQnpcmuVb5HHXOxSi_XJh4rNPueQDEYE0wfPks_JyTot6mBgaG3Wgh6PA-sYM_rU6fwA/s200/fleas.bmp" border="0" /></a> EWWWWWW !<br /><br /><div align="left">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.</div><br /><div align="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqEVU2kiRFTWYcLtK_108lRE48ypJyyTlMlAG78jYp3S2nEAKL2i-RrvZL_a1Y1KkchxSP8KWIHYWs10n-wBX23Ko7whYRbr_hHOFoXHUU2GgUUEHjongl3O9p2sF8krFyPPVD3TbtKCA/s1600-h/ticks.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5450380690512591938" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 132px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqEVU2kiRFTWYcLtK_108lRE48ypJyyTlMlAG78jYp3S2nEAKL2i-RrvZL_a1Y1KkchxSP8KWIHYWs10n-wBX23Ko7whYRbr_hHOFoXHUU2GgUUEHjongl3O9p2sF8krFyPPVD3TbtKCA/s200/ticks.jpg" border="0" /></a>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.</div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left">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 <a href="http://forums.petdocsoncall.com/showthread.php?2097-EPA-Will-Increase-Restrictions-on-Flea-tick-products&p=5824#post5824">EPA report </a>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.</div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left">Now come on, this is <a href="http://www.crawforddogandcathospital.com/site/view/102357_Doctors.pml;jsessionid=1pcu4qft4k2dj">Dr. Keith </a>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. </div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left">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 <a href="http://www.petsneedfood.com/">an on-line source</a>. 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.</div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left">Keith Niesenbaum</div><div align="left"><a href="http://www.crawforddogandcathospital.com/">www.CrawfordDogandCatHospital.com</a></div><div align="left"><a href="http://www.thevetschoice.com/">www.TheVetsChoice.com</a><br /><br />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.<br /></div><div align="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjrbElBrqnIRNha_r8shCAIYb9Dyo-yGalzwbiNLVloUVQXKW5_ykbKmKq2lh0c6NU9zGjgbBrE3FYrLlRTR32A_DBG4YkymMoyUT15ysXy4MX0MX76aVJNSQ2-wF5Detx_8BWEDKiksM/s1600-h/fleas.bmp"></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoOF4WTIkOfPTBFavbsLnrHcXZDmGLGZS4mLth-RgqCbgRhFMhiWke235Fb9rYe4TcVwsvteCjTwwWD1v7IWnICMLA8tM-NlJtsM2x5bdQwIFBJ3rDBxgMLJO0HcgTbjQg05QL75hWOt8/s1600-h/flea.gif"></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /></div></div>Keith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-64255654773036471432010-03-15T12:39:00.005-04:002010-03-15T13:22:48.751-04:00A needle in a Haystack.I've decided <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">that</span> I can't continue to keep some things to myself. No I'm not talking about another rant as in some previous posts. (<a href="http://crawforddogandcathospital.blogspot.com/2009/08/yet-anoter-pet-peeve.html">see 8/25/09</a>). 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 <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Carcass</span> of Thanksgiving '92. although the turkey story is one of my wife's all time favorites, I'll leave that for another time. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Noooo</span>, I'm talking about totally inedible, possibly toxic, straight up dangerous, will kill your pet meals.<br /><br /><br /><br />Now, sometimes we get lucky, like the kitty whose <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">radiograph</span> is below.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRsiW_LkX8o3Z90K_TnjuKozAsbAgvEPQxj8bPiFPatD8P_ipEF2qZ3xWRAuAKg4xFEsPbr8x_Yy7lPd_WUmAG7Vu7mMtuGhedqvKzmYZ8CsLb60coeabDabE9zSQZNMvadVN09iJQhQM/s1600-h/needle.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448902545321022322" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRsiW_LkX8o3Z90K_TnjuKozAsbAgvEPQxj8bPiFPatD8P_ipEF2qZ3xWRAuAKg4xFEsPbr8x_Yy7lPd_WUmAG7Vu7mMtuGhedqvKzmYZ8CsLb60coeabDabE9zSQZNMvadVN09iJQhQM/s200/needle.jpg" /></a><br />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 <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">zoop</span>, it was gone.<br /><br /><br /><br />The <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">radiograph</span> 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 <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">Whitestone</span> that are doing a great job caring for their colonies). More on trap, neuter and release programs at a later date.<br /><br /><div></div><br /><div>Of course, the full stomach posed a <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">dilemma</span>. 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 <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">jerker</span> just to see if you're paying attention.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>We <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">anaesthetised</span> the cat and I made a large (really large) incision so I could <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">exteriorize</span> the stomach. I didn't include any bloody <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">intraoperative</span> 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. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Quick</span> 2 layer repair and kitty was home in a day, looking for more mischief to get into.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>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 <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">anchovy</span> waiting to meet it's maker. The rest, as they say is history. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>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.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Keith <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" class="blsp-spelling-error">Niesenbaum</span>, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" class="blsp-spelling-error">VMD</span></div><br /><div><a href="http://www.thevetschoice.com/">http://www.thevetschoice.com/</a></div><br /><div><a href="http://www.crawforddogandcathospital.com/">http://www.crawforddogandcathospital.com/</a> </div>Keith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-37010162694682179402010-03-09T17:56:00.008-05:002010-03-09T18:44:24.467-05:00Welcome to our blog<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMN1T-_GrRATMgb2HSPpzTfenzSWziCJ0OPnu-rM8K2DPLnSnbCCM1vP-yIU8Qoq9VktqpAxFvFyV08XP3fOdTAllOVnlzoCqtjPZf2siRpY20ZeL5qRyzjpXyD7Y2Bo0TCBPqPmX-wps/s1600-h/CD&C.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 188px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446772902470204370" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMN1T-_GrRATMgb2HSPpzTfenzSWziCJ0OPnu-rM8K2DPLnSnbCCM1vP-yIU8Qoq9VktqpAxFvFyV08XP3fOdTAllOVnlzoCqtjPZf2siRpY20ZeL5qRyzjpXyD7Y2Bo0TCBPqPmX-wps/s200/CD&C.jpg" /></a><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>So, with the passage of time, we have developed several on <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">line</span> 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 <a href="http://www.crawforddogandcathospital.com/">http://www.crawforddogandcathospital.com/</a> but not everyone knew about that.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2-brDeQC3ZWrcW0DiuaXssW0c735jzCmj-ldEE4SMuq_lzfRBlfsqqk5xwfx4HafHa2pSpAZHVbQgrLVC7N1pgxzmNO4hQeY5_ULjFiBEZ1iZI7imOjUWAOuMjX6lPijLrKeqsRtK0Rc/s1600-h/BFK.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 191px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446772435552149026" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2-brDeQC3ZWrcW0DiuaXssW0c735jzCmj-ldEE4SMuq_lzfRBlfsqqk5xwfx4HafHa2pSpAZHVbQgrLVC7N1pgxzmNO4hQeY5_ULjFiBEZ1iZI7imOjUWAOuMjX6lPijLrKeqsRtK0Rc/s200/BFK.jpg" /></a>I tried to do it with our <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Garden-City-Park-NY/Crawford-Dog-and-Cat-HospitalBlack-Forest-Kennels/152532094124?ref=ts">facebook fan page </a>, 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).</div><div></div><div>You can follow me on twitter, <a href="http://www.twitter.com/knvet">www.twitter.com/knvet</a>. 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)</div><div></div><div>I have a rather extensive network of business contacts on Linkedin. Check that out at <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/keith-niesenbaum/4/617/a0a">http://www.linkedin.com/pub/keith-niesenbaum/4/617/a0a</a>. </div><div></div><div>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 <a href="http://www.thevetschoice.com/">http://www.thevetschoice.com/</a> 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)</div><div></div><div>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 <a href="http://www.petsneedfood.com/">http://www.petsneedfood.com/</a>. (you'll recognize the logo, I just got tired of posting the same picture on the blog time and time again.</div><div></div><div>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.<br /><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6VB3BeoLLUPUgYwU7o7Dl5afPIYNR7LNZyTkhmpSzeoWdri0W6uJU0DKvM9KqHV3ttIFMyr4TVZRD02WZrhUnN3EKpFns7a6VOUokaZwQJVpJ6Xjw9zWEIwQ6c2EL2Z99SQiDBo1hG10/s1600-h/CD&C.jpg"></a><br /><br /><br /></div></div>Keith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-24029460369606149402010-03-04T13:51:00.003-05:002010-03-04T14:03:48.434-05:00Come Fly with FifiSpring 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.<br /><br />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 <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/health/research/23risk.html">NY Times</a> 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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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).<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Stay safe and have a great travel season.<br /><br />Keith Niesenbaum, VMD<br /> Check out our Face Book Fan Page, Crawford Dog and Cat Hospital/Black Forest Kennels.Keith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-10908361197702897472009-12-22T15:14:00.006-05:002009-12-22T15:33:21.419-05:00Chocolate is for Easter BunniesWe usually think of chocolate overdose in dogs as a problem around Easter or even Valentines Day. I have to tell you that today was our first chocolate ingestion of the Christmas season. In this case, a 40 pound dog ate an 8 oz bag of Hershey's Kisses. Now I like chocolate as much as the next guy, possibly even more than the next guy, but at least I pause to unwrap them before I scarf down the entire bag.<br /><br /><p>Sometimes we eat chocolate plain. Sometimes we eat it baked into cakes, mixed into ice cream, etc. The first problem with these sweets is the fat. A sudden high fat meal (such as the above bag of Kisses) can create a lethal metabolic disease in pets called pancreatitis. Vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain are just the beginning of this disaster. Remember, in the case of pancreatitis, it is the fat that causes the problem more than the chocolate itself. </p><p>The fat and sugar in the chocolate can create an unpleasant but temporary upset stomach. This is what happens in most chocolate ingestion cases. This was certainly the case in our patient today. The amount of chocolate that he ate was not enough to cause serious neurologic signs<br /></p><p>Chocolate can be, however, directly toxic because of the theobromine. The more chocolate liquor there is in a product, the more theobromine is present. This makes baking chocolate the worst for pets, followed by semisweet and dark chocolate, followed by milk chocolate, followed by chocolate flavored cakes or cookies. Theobromine causes: </p><ul><li>Vomiting </li><li>Diarrhea </li><li>Hyperactivity </li><li>Tremors </li><li>Seizures </li><li>Racing heart rhythm progressing to abnormal rhythms </li><li>Death in severe cases </li></ul><p>Toxic doses of theobromine are 9 mg per pound of dog for mild signs, up to 18 mg per pound of dog for severe signs. Milk chocolate contains 44 mg / ounce of theobromine while semisweet chocolate contains 150 mg per ounce, and baking chocolate contains 390 mg per ounce.<br /></p><table id="Table1" width="652" border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="107"><tbody><tr height="44"><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);" colspan="14" align="middle"><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size:medium;"><br />Number of OUNCES of CHOCOLATE a Pet Would Need to Ingest for TOXICITY<br /><span style="font-weight: normal;font-size:xx-small;" > </span></span></b></p></td></tr><tr height="40"><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 255, 204);" width="132"><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size:medium;">Weight of Pet<br />in Pounds</span></b></p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 255, 204);" width="39"><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size:medium;">5</span></b></p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 255, 204);" width="38"><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size:medium;">10</span></b></p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 255, 204);" width="38"><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size:medium;">15</span></b></p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 255, 204);" width="37"><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size:medium;">20</span></b></p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 255, 204);" width="39"><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size:medium;">25</span></b></p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 255, 204);" width="38"><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size:medium;">30</span></b></p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 255, 204);" width="37"><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size:medium;">40</span></b></p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 255, 204);" width="35"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 255, 204);" width="40"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 255, 204);" width="38"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 255, 204);" width="36"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 255, 204);" width="35"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 255, 204);" width="37"><br /></td></tr><tr height="12"><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><p> </p><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><p> </p><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><p> </p><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><p> </p><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><p> </p><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><p> </p><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><p> </p><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><p> </p><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><br /></td></tr><tr height="38"><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Milk Chocolate</b><br />(ounces)</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"><p style="text-align: center;">2</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"><p style="text-align: center;">4</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"><p style="text-align: center;">6</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"><p style="text-align: center;">8.2</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"><p style="text-align: center;">10.2</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"><p style="text-align: center;">12.3</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"><p style="text-align: center;">16.4</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"><br /></td></tr><tr height="38"><td style="background-color: rgb(153, 255, 255);"><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Dark Chocolate</b><br />(ounces)</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(153, 255, 255);"><p style="text-align: center;">0.7</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(153, 255, 255);"><p style="text-align: center;">1.4</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(153, 255, 255);"><p style="text-align: center;">2.1</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(153, 255, 255);"><p style="text-align: center;">2.8</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(153, 255, 255);"><p style="text-align: center;">3.5</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(153, 255, 255);"><p style="text-align: center;">4.2</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(153, 255, 255);"><p style="text-align: center;">5.5</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(153, 255, 255);"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(153, 255, 255);"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(153, 255, 255);"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(153, 255, 255);"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(153, 255, 255);"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(153, 255, 255);"><br /></td></tr><tr height="38"><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 51);"><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Baking Chocolate</b><br />(ounces)</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 51);"><p style="text-align: center;">0.23</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 51);"><p style="text-align: center;">0.5</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 51);"><p style="text-align: center;">0.7</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 51);"><p style="text-align: center;">0.9</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 51);"><p style="text-align: center;">1.2</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 51);"><p style="text-align: center;">1.4</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 51);"><p style="text-align: center;">1.9</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 51);"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 51);"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 51);"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 51);"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 51);"><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 51);"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><table style="width: 415px; height: 214px;" id="Table1" border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr height="38"></tr><tr height="40"><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 255, 204);" width="35"><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size:medium;">50</span></b></p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 255, 204);" width="40"><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size:medium;">60</span></b></p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 255, 204);" width="38"><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size:medium;">70</span></b></p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 255, 204);" width="36"><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size:medium;">80</span></b></p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 255, 204);" width="35"><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size:medium;">90</span></b></p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 255, 204);" width="37"><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size:medium;">100</span></b></p></td></tr><tr height="12"><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><p> </p><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><p> </p><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><p> </p><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><p> </p><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><p> </p><br /></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><p> </p><br /></td></tr><tr height="38"><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"><p style="text-align: center;">20.5</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"><p style="text-align: center;">24.5</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"><p style="text-align: center;">28.6</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"><p style="text-align: center;">32.7</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"><p style="text-align: center;">36.8</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"><p style="text-align: center;">41</p></td></tr><tr height="38"><td style="background-color: rgb(153, 255, 255);"><p style="text-align: center;">6.9</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(153, 255, 255);"><p style="text-align: center;">8.3</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(153, 255, 255);"><p style="text-align: center;">9.7</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(153, 255, 255);"><p style="text-align: center;">11</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(153, 255, 255);"><p style="text-align: center;">12.5</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(153, 255, 255);"><p style="text-align: center;">13.8</p></td></tr><tr height="38"><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 51);"><p style="text-align: center;">2.3</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 51);"><p style="text-align: center;">2.8</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 51);"><p style="text-align: center;">3.2</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 51);"><p style="text-align: center;">3.7</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 51);"><p style="text-align: center;">4.1</p></td><td style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 51);"><p style="text-align: center;">4.6</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /></p><p>(I appologize for the screwed up graphics, but my technical ability is less than medical talents)<br /></p><p>As you can see, smaller dogs are at a greater risk of toxicity because of their size. It is much more likely that a small dog will get their paws on a few ounces of chocolate than a big dog will find a pound of the stuff lying around.<br /></p><p>GI upset can occur at much lower doses.<br /></p><p>It takes nearly 4 days for the effects of chocolate to work its way out of a dog’s system. If the chocolate was only just eaten, it is possible to induce vomiting; otherwise, hospitalization and support are needed until the chocolate has worked its way out of the system. </p><p>So, while you are curled up on the couch drinking your hot cocoa this winter, make sure to keep the candy out of your pet's reach.<br /></p><p>Have a safe and happy holiday season</p><p>Keith Niesenbaum<br /></p><p>www.PetsNeedFood.com</p><p>www.TheVetsChoice.com<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><b><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-size:xx-small;"></span></span></b>Keith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-89151905105584590042009-12-07T12:00:00.009-05:002009-12-07T12:26:08.002-05:00Holiday Time and We all Need to Watch our WaistsSo the holidays are upon us and not a moment too soon for those of us that love to gorge on the mounds of baked goods that arrive at the office, interspersed with gooey chocolates and the occasional fruit basket. Unfortunately for the staff as well as our patients, too much of a good thing is ... well, too much. While we are watching the scales (well I am watching the scales) trying not to undo all of the good that I did training last year, our patients are not always so vigilant.<br /><br />First up was the post Thanksgiving turkey toxicity rush. You know, all the dogs ( and some cats) that were able to con their owners with plaintiff looks and whines, into forking over way too much in the way of table food. These guys and gals were in all week after the holiday with vomiting, diarrhea, and the occasional more serious case of pancreatits. I must say, quite the mess.<br /><br />It's not that I'm against treats in moderation, but pets that are eating a particular diet should not get rich treats from the table. Owners don't seem to realize that their pets don't know what is best for them and will eat whatever we put into their bowls or toss them from the tables. Don't do it! You know who you are.<br /><br />This is also the time of year that we try to emphasize weight loss to our clients for thier pets. It is difficlut to get them out to exercise because it is getting colder and the streets can be slick. However, this is the time it is the most necessary. Since I know that you all aren't going to listen to my about not feeding treats (Oh, I know it is always the spouse/kids/parent/in law), you must work on the other side of the equation, that is calories burned. Get out for a walk with your dog twice a day. Start with 15 or 20 minutes and build from there. If it is cold and your dog seem chilled, get a sweater or a coat for your pet.<br /><br />Cut out the treats, or at least cut back. Try a low calorie, but high quality diet and feed according to the label. Here is a good place to <a href="http://www.TheVetsChoice.com">start</a> as the site has a weight loss diet and some low fat treats. Or ask your veterinarian for specific dietary recommendations.<br /><br />Remember, weight put on now is tougher to take off than weight never gained. I guess I will never have a career in platitude writing.<br /><br />Stay halthy and have a happy holiday season.Keith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-47921258807085031712009-09-08T15:52:00.004-04:002009-09-16T09:09:41.668-04:00With Every Season ....OK, although Labor Day weekend is not technically the end of summer and autumn is still a bit away, we all think of it as the time to pack away our white pants and leashes, and pull out our more earthy toned garb.<br /><br />This September is the first time in a while that I don't have any races on the fall schedule so I took the opportunity to take a leisurely run across the George Washington Bridge to NJ and back. Too late for it to be really hot. One week to early to see the ships sail up the Hudson. Still not foliage change. Seems like I blew it, except that it was really cool. I would have taken pictures but alas and alack, no camera, no blackberry, just me, nature, some bike riders and about a thousand cars, hanging out above the river. The view was great, you'll just have to take my word for it. Cookie, bless her heart, stayed back in Washington Heights with her sister. Didn't think her little legs were up to the trip, although she would have been game for at least part of the journey.<br /><br />Next weekend, it's off to the Catskills. Yes it is still too early to see the leaves change color, and no, there is still no race on my <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">calender</span>. However, it is the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">inaugural</span> weekend of <a href="http://www.canineclubgetaway.com/">Canine Club Getaway. </a> A weekend vacation for people and their dogs. I'm going to be the camp doctor and my wife is coming along for moral support. It should be interesting at the very least. I'm giving a lecture on canine first aid and running a fitness evaluation clinic. We will also be doing a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">microchip</span> clinic and screening for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Heartworm</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Ehrlichia</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Anaplasma</span>, and Lyme disease. These are all insect borne diseases that we see hear on long Island.<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Heartworm</span> is spread my mosquitoes. I don't need to tell you what the wet spring meant for mosquito populations in our neck of the woods. Heck, they are bigger than some of the dogs I saw in the office today.<br /><br />The others are tick borne, also a pest that seems to have enjoyed a growth explosion, exploiting what ever weather change it is that they like.<br /><br />Anyway, I will be micro blogging on twitter all weekend with plenty of photos. Follow me at <a href="www.twitter.com/knvet">www.twitter.com/knvet </a>for up to the minute details. Next week, I'll post a detailed synopsis of what went on, complete with 8 x 10 color photographs with descriptions of each on.<br /><br />Keith <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Nisenbaum</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">VMD</span><br />www.CrawfordDogandCatHospital.com<br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">wwwTheVetsChoice</span>.comKeith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-80016542573905676712009-08-25T12:38:00.003-04:002009-08-25T12:55:56.595-04:00Yet anoter Pet PeeveIt seems that summer is more stressful here at Crawford Dog and Cat Hospital than other times of the year. Or, perhaps, I've just learned that venting on line in writing is better than committing violent felonies against random people in the name of maintaining my own sanity and there has been no real increase in incidents.<br /><br />The latest button pushing is the dumping of cats and kittens by my back door. Now this infuriates me for several reasons. <br /><br /><ol><li>People dump these kittens in boxes with inadequate ventilation in all kinds of weather in the back of the parking lot assuming that we will find them before the elements cause them irreversible harm. <span style="font-style: italic;">(so far the idiots are right about this one.)</span></li><li>People dump these kittens (oh and lets not exclude the adult cats as well) assuming that I won't just put them to sleep or send them off to the shelter where they will put them to sleep. <span style="font-style: italic;">(Don't tell anyone, but they are right about this one as well. The exception is sick animals which are humanely put down)</span></li><li>I spent hundreds of dollars for video surveillance cameras and a sign pointing out that there is a system in place, only to have these morons circumvent the system or keep their cars out of the field of recording so I can't get their licence plate number and call the cops and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the federal law that they are violating. I would also publish their names and photos in the local papers so that they could be humiliated.</li><li>The final infuriation, the straw that breaks the camels back, the proverbial whatever it is that pushes me over my limit, is that I am accumulating cats again. <br /></li></ol>So, here I am. Defeated by the irresponsible, reckless, potential animal abusers. Outsmarted by those that I choose to assume are idiotic, morons (much dumber than a regular moron) that dump their responsibilities on my doorstep and leave all of their pet related problems for me to solve. And now dear readers, and I know you are out there because you all told me you are, I need your help. <a href="http://www.crawforddogandcathospital.com/site/view/140170_Foradoption.pml;jsessionid=4cjsneb2nir82">Look at these faces</a>. They are attached to cats and kittens that need a home. They are growing up and their cuteness window is closing. <br /><br />If you know anyone that wants a kitten, FELV and FIV negative, parasite free, and current on vaccines, have them give me a holler. I'm on Long Island and these guys are ready to go. I would keep them myself, but I've done that before and I have 5 of my own living in the hospital already. Call the office at 516 746 1566 or check us out on the web by following the link above.<br /><br />Keith Niesenbaum, VMD<br />www.TheVetsChoice.comKeith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-10913263425865622042009-08-18T15:05:00.003-04:002009-08-18T15:32:31.480-04:00The Scientific Method<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicAIetX6cUK1WlyYjGpnbmTd09dxzj22AOwRupBXbXkxyKHhrvudhS0nP9FBAWNyMmkALbjP9R9XIJYitUQ6vPbbMxleazcoB1pLRqFaO8elG25Sy4bD7BNhP70RZ35YjNRA6yN8HDD00/s1600-h/hotvan.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371382109773811762" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicAIetX6cUK1WlyYjGpnbmTd09dxzj22AOwRupBXbXkxyKHhrvudhS0nP9FBAWNyMmkALbjP9R9XIJYitUQ6vPbbMxleazcoB1pLRqFaO8elG25Sy4bD7BNhP70RZ35YjNRA6yN8HDD00/s200/hotvan.jpg" /></a> Summer is finally here and we all have heard <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">about</span> the evils of leaving a pet in the car, even with the window's open a slit to keep it cool inside. Gosh, it's supposed to get hot enough to fry an egg in there. Now, if you've been following me on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/knvet">twitter</a>, you know that I have been trying to figure out how <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">to get</span> multiple pictures in a single post. Well this little experiment is dedicated to the scientific method and multiple posts in the search of truth.<br /><br />It is 90 degrees here in Nassau county and the humidity is <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">somewhere</span> near 90%. My car is white, as you can see above and the rear windows are covered. Take my word for it (I could only post a limited number of pictures), it was around 80 in the car with the AC on. I parked the car and put this thermometer on the dash. This reading was at 1:51 today, 10 minutes after I got out of the car.<a href="http://www.twitter.com/knvet"><br /></a><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgJeWPg6o3rifCpyiKRQUEs9lgvdfH01mNdVeWrq57Q29hwuPqhbIJQdW9I41MoQW8ZpaRcp9xqzQ4q57JHCemu1Tu4ESppYgxAyePpZKPvAzk7xv5Ad_Q6P3MCwMxi1pOtoaMUA90mZ4/s1600-h/151.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371382104428141122" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgJeWPg6o3rifCpyiKRQUEs9lgvdfH01mNdVeWrq57Q29hwuPqhbIJQdW9I41MoQW8ZpaRcp9xqzQ4q57JHCemu1Tu4ESppYgxAyePpZKPvAzk7xv5Ad_Q6P3MCwMxi1pOtoaMUA90mZ4/s200/151.jpg" /></a> Now, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">you're</span> going to say, "yea, but that's the dashboard. What about the seat" Once again, due to photo limitations, you will have to take my word for it. The shady seat was only 100 degrees. The sunny seat was about 110. Both pretty hot, I would think. But remember, my car is white and the windows are covered. So lets move to the next car in the parking lot.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfW43mqmSWjSCs6WFD7WZMVC0_hA4e1L23JtHStlUPYSPux0MXFPwqp4Q6Eyl6U4kqi_GwsbY8Jh20p4ZIgG8s_T8QlsD3vxTB-nYXp1u3W7-MK1CQcfkuuxDBfrobDMFcmOJ6PSkGCCA/s1600-h/blk_car.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371382094637589138" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfW43mqmSWjSCs6WFD7WZMVC0_hA4e1L23JtHStlUPYSPux0MXFPwqp4Q6Eyl6U4kqi_GwsbY8Jh20p4ZIgG8s_T8QlsD3vxTB-nYXp1u3W7-MK1CQcfkuuxDBfrobDMFcmOJ6PSkGCCA/s200/blk_car.jpg" /></a><br />This little black beauty has been sitting in the lot all day. Windows are up and as you can see the temperature on the seat is maxed out at 120. Could be higher, don't know, didn't want to break my brand new thermometer. I know that I will have other uses for it and I don't want to cook it the first time that I play with it.<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFYFEr2QYCQe77GTajyPrEKNKd_v0quYHo_wE5_RR76trAvDrofCovQgywIjnySJYYU0o70qgzOCCitt3VS2WCZAg1gdY-3BWdEP29AHqU8iiXY9fJMP8D3M7sk-4GcKP9oaMGHKGwZlI/s1600-h/blkseat.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371382089432265042" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFYFEr2QYCQe77GTajyPrEKNKd_v0quYHo_wE5_RR76trAvDrofCovQgywIjnySJYYU0o70qgzOCCitt3VS2WCZAg1gdY-3BWdEP29AHqU8iiXY9fJMP8D3M7sk-4GcKP9oaMGHKGwZlI/s200/blkseat.jpg" /></a> So 120, probably won't cook an egg. The car's owner wouldn't let me try. Some silliness about ruining the cloth seats with yolk. Still, way too hot for a dog. A simple experiment showing how hot it can <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">quickly</span> get in a car. Of course we don't know how long a dog would actually last in this environment, but something in my professional oath probably prohibits me from putting my dog into the car to find out, no matter how much she keeps my up snoring at night. <br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYxAeH92F1YfFnkCMg7IngyAUxW7doSVjfVD6AK1soCzoafaHHavEnfV87dnTUq6FuRAL6HDD57rfTmEb7Sc4FObOmP3Bw1uRSiPWlTcMT8HiE0Zol8HvSTFcYVQF8XpiJCqmmQNKw63U/s1600-h/dog.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371382087401537538" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYxAeH92F1YfFnkCMg7IngyAUxW7doSVjfVD6AK1soCzoafaHHavEnfV87dnTUq6FuRAL6HDD57rfTmEb7Sc4FObOmP3Bw1uRSiPWlTcMT8HiE0Zol8HvSTFcYVQF8XpiJCqmmQNKw63U/s200/dog.jpg" /></a><br /><br />So, as you can see, no live animals were harmed during this experiment. Don't leave your pets, or kids in the car unattended. We haven't seen any cases of heat stroke and lets keep it that way.<br /><br /><div>Keith <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Niesenbaum</span>, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">VMD</span></div><div>www.TheVetsChoice.com</div></div></div></div></div>Keith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-1658197685787969082009-08-14T12:10:00.004-04:002009-08-14T12:40:37.665-04:00Julie, Julia, and NiesenbaumI saw the movies <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjvJHsJD8ic">Julie and Julia</a> last weekend at it was a momentous <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">occasion</span> for several reasons. First off, I saw a movie in the theaters rather than from the preferred location which is via <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Netflix</span> in the comfort of my own bed. The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Netflix</span>/bed option has several distinct advantages over the theater. I can start and stop the movie as needed, I can snack on my choice of foods without taking out a mortgage to pay for them, the floor is not sticky, and of course, I am in my bed, with my wife and there are no strangers to interact with. Now, <a href="http://www.movies101.org/">movie purists</a> would argue that I am not getting the full movie experience as the film maker intended, but that would be way to big of a digression for my animal blog.<br /><br />So why am I writing about this movie at all? Well the truth is, I identify with it on so many levels that I wanted to share.<br /><br />First, I am old enough to remember The French Chef television show, not just the <a href="http://www.hulu.com/watch/3523/saturday-night-live-the-french-chef">Dan <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Akroyd</span></a> version, but the real show. Prior to Top Chef, Iron Chef, and the rest of the crop of current TV cooking shows, I was reared on Julia and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Kerr">Graham</a>, both of whom entertained me as they worked their way, imperfectly through complex recipes that I could make at home if I purchased their books and was older than 10. I loved/love cooking shows as I love cooking and eating. Hence I liked the film.<br /><br />Second, much like the second main character in this movie, I am blogging. This is an exercise that sometimes feels quite unappreciated. Sort of an unrequited labor of love. You see, until recently, I felt that I was ruminating (cow reference appropriate as I continue to eat and become more bovine as time goes on) only for myself. A sort of therapy, an exercise for me and unseen by anyone. Or so I thought.<br /><br />You guys are reading this. Yeah!!! Not only are people commenting on the blog (please keep them coming) but people who follow me on twitter are letting me know that they are reading as well. Unlike Julie, I'm not getting 80 comments a day, but in all fairness, she is probably a better writer than me anyway.<br /><br />Everyone have a great weekend.<br /><br />Keith <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Niesenbaum</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">VMD</span><br />www.TheVetsChoice.com<br />www.PetsNeedFood.comKeith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-35999113914986499852009-08-12T20:17:00.003-04:002009-08-12T20:30:33.057-04:00That's What I'm Talking AboutNot that I want to gloat, but I would like to follow up on my last post about following recommendations of people that may not know what they are talking about.<br /><br />I saw a dog last week as a second opinion. It was one of those <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">cases</span> where the first opinion wasn't wrong, the people just had a sick dog and wanted someone else to have a look at it. As a matter of fact, while I was having a look at it the first opinion veterinarian called the owner on their cell phone and actually suggested that they do a test that turned out to be the absolute correct test to do, but I jump ahead.<br /><br />These nice people own a nice dog that went to their regular veterinarian because it wasn't feeling well. Turns out it wasn't feeling well because it was in liver failure. The vet diagnosed this and told them the dog had hepatitis (inflammation of the liver) Their friends said that if this dog is so sick you need to take him to see <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Niesenbaum</span> (bless their souls). I examined the dog, and the blood tests the other vet had done, and looked at the x rays the other vet had taken. I also noticed a large bruise on the dog's chest. I <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">suggested</span> that we repeat the blood tests since things seemed to be getting worse. I added a clotting profile and a <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">leptospirosis</span> titer. (<a href="http://crawforddogandcathospital.blogspot.com/2009/08/veterinary-rant.html">Link to previous </a>post that I mentioned) First vet called and suggested we do a <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">lepto</span> titer (see above line). The blood count showed almost no platelets. An ultrasound showed mild to moderate liver disease and the rest of the clotting profile and the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">lepto</span> titer were pending.<br /><br />I started treating for the low platelet count (<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">thrombocytopenia</span>) and put the dog on antibiotics that would cover the possibility of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">leptospirosis</span>. The dog <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">stabilized</span> and there was no more bruising. Guess what?? The <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">lepto</span> titer came back today and it was positive.<br /><br />So all you pet owners that live in areas where your veterinarian tells you that there is a risk of catching <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">leptospirosis</span> VACCINATE YOUR DOGS! This dog almost died. It is not out of the woods yet. It exposed the staff at the previous vet hospital as well as my staff, and the family that owns this pet to a potentially dangerous disease.<br /><br />Boo <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">hoo</span>, if it had been vaccinated it might, I mean might, have had a reaction. Most likely not and if it did, most likely very mild. It would have saved the owners thousands of dollars between the two hospitalizations. It would have kept dozens of people from getting exposed to a <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-error">zoonotic</span> disease. It would have prevented me from ranting about this topic twice in a week.<br /><br />Keith <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-error">Niesenbaum</span>, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" class="blsp-spelling-error">VMD</span><br /><a href="http://www.thevetschoice.com/">http://www.thevetschoice.com/</a><br />www.CrawfordDogandCatHospital.comKeith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-2686054398529672892009-08-10T12:57:00.006-04:002009-08-10T13:20:28.660-04:00A Veterinary RantUp until now, I have tried to keep my posts educational, non-opinionated, and free of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">controversy</span>. But... all good things must come to an end. I need to ventilate about one of my pet peeves, breeders that think they are veterinarians.<br /><br />Now, when I started practicing, I was more easily intimidated by breeders. I mean, they would say things like my breed can't do X, or my breed needs Y. They would tell the people that they sold to puppies to that they had been breeding all their lives and veterinarians don't really know anything about (fill in the blank for the breed). I was a baby vet, never mind that I had been in school for longer than most of these breeders had been in business, but it can be difficult to convince a new pet owner that the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">wizened</span> old breeder that sold them Fluffy the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">maltipoodoodle</span> has had no medical training and is talking out of a hole other than their mouths. So for years I would just nod and let it drop.<br /><br />Now there is a new axe to grind. I have been practicing medicine for 25 years, the last 21 as a small animal veterinarian on Long Island and I know what I am talking about most of the time. If not, I refer to a specialist that will cover the rest of the time. My <a href="http://www.crawforddogandcathospital.com/site/view/102357_Doctors.pml">Ivy League </a>education and years of experience should count for something.<br /><br />That is why I am starting to loose it <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">every time</span> a new puppy owner comes in and tells me that their breeder said the dog can't have a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">leptospirosis</span> vaccine or it will explode or something. I know that historically, this vaccine has caused more reactions than other vaccines. But hey, every vaccine that I ever got caused at least some reaction. Ever had a painless <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">tetanus</span> shot? Also, in our area, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">leptospirosis</span> is a real problem, made worse by the wet summer that we have had. We have had several cases of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">lepto</span> this year. I know dogs that have died of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">leptospirosis</span>. Oh yeah, Mr. and Mrs. Breeder, it is contagious to people as well. So let's not vaccinate these dogs and let them bring a disease into the homes of these nice people that you sold this puppy to and make everyone sick. You know I only recommend these vaccines to make money anyway, or so I've been told.<br /><br />So people, pick a veterinarian you trust and follow his or her recommendations. Get your information from a reliable source that has done some research, or read some research, or at least knows what they are talking about. Don't just take my word for it, here is what the <a href="http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=1745&EVetID=3002444">CDC</a> says about <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">leptospirosis</span>. They have some idea of what they are talking about, unless you think they are part of the greater government conspiracy to <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">over vaccinate</span> your dog. Your veterinarian is also a good source of information. They spent at least 8 years in school learning to take care of your pet and untold hours of continuing education since graduation honing their knowledge. The years that they have spent <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">practicing</span> have not been for naught, they actually have learned something over the years. If you don't trust your <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">veterinarian</span> and think that he or she is an idiot because the breeder told you so, find a different veterinarian, or a different breeder, or you will get what you <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">deserve</span> in the end. <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Unfortunately</span>, your pet may be the one to suffer along the way.<br /><br />Keith <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Niesenbuam</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">VMD</span><br /><a href="http://www.thevetschoice.com/">http://www.thevetschoice.com/</a>Keith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5761970667778561038.post-966397576103183322009-08-06T14:00:00.002-04:002009-08-06T14:12:35.843-04:00Cookie Week Three<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY9LvxGg1JU0PL6_soYeIgQG_Rzob2G2iZQzfLILQPZlF8vgqEMZWYaNDUec37Qsm39JJHD3SkoEXoNxAdpxGkX5ebwwox_jLR_m5FlKlukqK90zfuHFnv7TJnHu6u3jVAYinTWalqx_8/s1600-h/cookie2%5B1%5D.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366915097813900866" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY9LvxGg1JU0PL6_soYeIgQG_Rzob2G2iZQzfLILQPZlF8vgqEMZWYaNDUec37Qsm39JJHD3SkoEXoNxAdpxGkX5ebwwox_jLR_m5FlKlukqK90zfuHFnv7TJnHu6u3jVAYinTWalqx_8/s400/cookie2%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>So the little <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Shih</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Tzu</span> that could is still kicking. It seems that the medication that we started her on, along with my obsessing, regular ultrasounds to evaluate her heart (by more than one veterinarian) and a cardiology consult have saved the day.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>OK, maybe she is just stable and all the fussing isn't really doing anything other than make me feel better. She did have a follow up ultrasound with the Doc that helped me with the initial diagnosis. Dr. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Leleonnec</span> was kind enough to let me rush my beast down to his house on a Friday evening so that we could get the echo cardiogram. He even ruined the finish on his dinning room table with the alcohol that he used for the echo. (oops). We repeated that study last week and the disease hadn't progressed. I am trying to be good and remember to give her her medication every night. So far, success.<br /><br />I also had Dr. George Kramer, a local cardiologist, have a look at her. He <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">agreed</span> with the echo diagnosis but thought that the condition was more chronic than I had first thought. To be fair, Dr. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Leleonnec</span> said the same thing. It appears that this is just a case of the murmur sounding much worse than the disease. He seemed to feel that exercise restriction and medication is not needed at this time. I think I'll keep her on the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">benazepril</span> and not run her ragged fetching the stuffed duck. However, if she continues to keep me up at night with her <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">bizarre</span> sounds and snoring I'm going to feed her a bunch of salt and push her into failure I swear.</div><div> </div><div>I'll keep you all posted.</div><div> </div><div>Keith <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Niesenbaum</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">VMD</span></div><div>www.TheVetsChoice.Com</div>Keith Niesenbaum, VMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02470907702915607819noreply@blogger.com0