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Tuesday, 13 August 2013

The Day The Heart Stood Still: Timber's Story

Posted on 14:00 by Unknown
by  Krista Magnifico, DVM

Last time I introduced you all to Ruger. I told you about the long difficult road it was to finally get him a diagnosis, and then the incredible struggle it was once we got it.

In the end, Ruger died of malignant lymphoma two months after his first sign of illness. 


His story was agonizing to watch and heart breaking for his parents. Through it we became friends and allies in a war against the disease in Ruger's body. He was an "incredibly sweet loveable dog, and he can't ever be replaced."

I wished them well, told them to call me anytime, and that they were great parents who had a dog that loved them.

A few weeks later I was elated to see Ruger's dad in the waiting room with a rambunctious bouncing curly locked Golden Retriever puppy. 

I was so happy to meet that little boy they named Timber. Timber's dad was all smiles as we smothered that puppy in kisses and compliments. I asked how his wife was doing? He said he had surprised her with the puppy and she was feeling better now that he was in the house.

They were healing and moving on. But they did have lots of questions about whether Timber was a normal puppy. 

They just didn't remember Ruger being so energetic when he was Timber's age. I told them that "all puppies are different, and that he did seem a bit more energetic than the average Golden." Secretly, I thought that he was just what they needed. The busie Timber kept them, the less time they would have to mourn. But it was apparent to everyone that they loved this pup to pieces.

At Timber's first visit he was 8 weeks old. 

We started him on his first set of puppy vaccines, flea & tick preventative, ran a fecal to check for intestinal worms, and started him on heartworm prevention. We also spent a great deal of time going over our puppy instructions. These help owners understand what we do, what we recommend you do at home, feeding guidelines, and lots of helpful hints.

I saw Timber every three weeks from 8 weeks to 17 weeks old. He grew into a beautiful bouncy adolescent. He was one of the few puppies who was always happy to come in and visit us. Which is quite a big compliment when you are getting multiple vaccines at each visit.

For his last puppy visit, at 17 weeks, I spoke to Timber's dad about what the recommendations for Timber's next few months would be.

I gave Timber his last puppy examination and then vaccinated him for his last puppy distemper combination shot, and his last Lyme disease vaccination. I then asked the technician to bring Timber back to the treatment area so he could have his blood taken for his pre-op neuter check.

Timber was in the back with the technician for about 5 minutes. While they were in the back I stayed in the exam room because I wanted to ask him for his permission to write about Ruger in this blog. He said that it would be fine. Timber was brought back into the exam room as we were talking about the magnificent dog Ruger was.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Timber squat and urinate on the floor.

I thought that this was odd, he never seemed scared or nervous around any of us before.

Then within 10 seconds his back end went limp and he sort of fell/fainted. 

Timber's dad said, "Oh, he must be tired?" But my gut knew better. I lept to the floor, put my hand around his heart, and looked at his gums. His gums were pink, but I'll be damned I couldn't feel a heartbeat. Without any word to his dad I picked up his lifeless 30 pound body and ran through a packed reception/waiting area.

I looked like a t.v. show, and I was wishing that this was one. 

I placed Timber on the surgery table, and got my stethoscope on his heart immediately. Nothing. His gums were now purple. I started CPR and swearing. How could I possibly face these owners? God, the devastation of losing Timber would be too much for them. I was thinking all of this and barking orders at my petrified staff.

Within 1 minute we had 2 i.v. catheters in. I had him intubated, and I was shoving massive amounts of life saving heart-starting drugs in his veins. 

Yes, a flashback of Pulp Fiction ran through my head. I never stopped the chest compressions and his color very quickly became pink again. Within 3 minutes he had fluids, a drug to increase his heart rate (atropine, see Pulp Fiction) and oxygen. Within 1 minute I felt his heart flutter under my fingers gripping his chest. I was determined and desperately pleading to coax him back to consciousness.

I was continuing his CPR and then his heart stopped again. 

I gave a HUGE dose of atropine in his i.v. catheter. It was my last hope and I was losing all hope. Within 30 seconds his heart regained life and started beating fast and furious. Ok, I did get really nervous here. His heart went from zero to 200 beats per minute. But he was alive! Oh! I could breathe again. Within a minute or two he was conscious.

I took a deep breath and walked back to the exam room. 

I tried as calmly as I could to explain what had just happened. I brought Timber's dad in the back to sit with Timber so I could keep monitoring him. I begged them to stay another hour, until we closed because I was so afraid I would lose him.

Within 30 minutes that puppy was up and jumping around like nothing had ever happened.

I went home that night feeling as if I had just lived through one of the most scary, nail biting, near death experiences of my career.

Timber is doing great. 

Although it has been too long since I ran that pre-op blood work. I bet they are afraid to come back and tempt fate again. I better call them.

***

Krista Magnifico, DVM owns a small animal hospital in northern Maryland, where she practices everyday. She wants to make quality veterinary care available to everyone, everywhere at any time; trying to save the world 1 wet nose @ a time.  Her blog is a diary of he day-to-day life & the animals and people she meets. 

Dr. Krista is also the founder of pawbly.com, free pet advice and assistance.

To contact her, you may leave a comment on her blog, email her or catch her on Twitter or Facebook.

Articles by Dr. Magnifico:
Don't Make This Mistake: Ruby's Death To Heat Stroke 
Parvo: Cora's Story 
Jake's Laryngeal Paralysis
The Tip Of The Iceberg: The Unexpected Dental Dilemma
The Ear Ache That Wasn't Going Away: Tottsie's Story
Cody's Eyelid Tumor
The Dog's Body Knows There Is Something Wrong Before The Labs Do: Ruger's Mysterious Illness 
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Sunday, 11 August 2013

Adoption Monday: Jenny, Rottweiler: Erin, ON

Posted on 22:55 by Unknown
Jenny is a friendly three-year-old Rottweiler who has captured the hearts of staff and volunteers at the shelter. 


Jenny knows basic commands and is good with other dogs. 

She is best suited to families with children over the age of 15. Jenny will be a wonderful addition and loyal companion to her new family.

Jenny is house trained and up-to-date with routine shots.

***

Upper Credit Humane Society helps hundreds of animals each year find loving homes. 

The original name of the Upper Credit Humane Society (UCHS) was the Erin and Hillsburgh and District Humane Society (EHDHS). The EHDHS was founded as a Branch of the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Ontario SPCA) in 1991. The original founders of the Society were Robert and Anne Burr, who, with a group of concerned local citizens, began holding meetings in an Erin church basement. During the first year, the EHDHS concerned itself primarily with the welfare of local wildlife and investigating reports of cruelty to animals.

As more volunteers offered to help, the Society was able to take on more responsibilities. An office with a dedicated phone line was set up in the home of one of the volunteers. Volunteers provided foster homes for dogs and cats. A large foster home for dogs was set up on a farm following a cruelty case involving more than one hundred dogs that had to be removed from their owner. More than a dozen cats were fostered in a playhouse in the back yard of another volunteer. As the number of animals cared for by the Society increased, so did the amount of fund-raising required to support the work.

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Anemia And Blood Transfusion

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Saturday, 10 August 2013

Human-Dog Problem Tree - PART THIRTEEN

Posted on 14:00 by Unknown
by Dino Dogan

The Leadership Factor

If you’ve read the Human-Dog Problem Tree series, you might have noticed that my focus is on figuring out WHY aren’t humans following certain instructions we know we ought to follow. One such instruction is the focus on being a pack leader to your dog.

While the word “leader” has a different meaning to different people, my focus will be on being a leader to one’s own self. After all, if we can’t be a leader to ourselves, what chance do we have being a leader to a dog or a group of people.

Certain people simply do not see themselves as leaders of anything or anyone. This is dangerous. We should all endeavor to be leaders; leaders of ourselves, leaders of our community, leaders of our profession, leaders of the universe.

The word “leader” in this context is defined as follows.

Leader; a facilitator of positive experience.

These internal leadership principles are way beyond the scope of this post, and I hope to explore them with you at a later time, but for now, my immediate goal is to convince you to BE a leader and show you what happens when you don’t heed the call to leadership.

To that end, I will re-tell an old story of a man who was decidedly a follower. Perhaps by seeing the way followers fair through the eyes of time, it will help us see the value of taking control of ourselves.

David and Uriah


Most are familiar with the story of David and Goliath. Few are familiar with the story of David and Uriah.

Uriah the Hittite was, by all accounts, the kind of guy most would admire. He was strong, brave, loyal to a fault, committed, dedicated, a family man, a warrior and a long time soldier in King David’s army.

Uriah was a member of David’s “mighty men” brigade. A kind of personal guard consisting of 38 men entrusted with carrying out orders and actions of the outmost importance. In fact, Uriah and David were so close that Uriah’s quarters were near David’s king-quarters.

Something interesting happened in king’s quarters while Uriah was carrying out those actions of the outmost importance in the battlefield.

Mei, Bernardino - David and Bathsheba. Image Wikimedia Commons

David spotted and took a liking to Bathsheba, who, as it turns out, was Uriah’s wife.

David and Bathsheba copulated which resulted in Bathsheba pregnancy. No matter, David always had a plan.

In an attempt to cover-up the adultery and pregnancy David had sent for Uriah to come back and “be” with his wife, hoping they would lay down together which would in effect be convincing enough that Uriah was the father of Bathsheba’s child.

Uriah decided to stay true to the code of honor shared by the mighty men who abstain from sex before battle. Out of solidarity with his fellow soldiers, Uriah refused to lay down with his wife and instead chose to guard David’s quarters until further orders were issued.

Realizing that his plan is not going to work, David hatched another one.

David decided to send Uriah back to the battlefield with a sealed letter carrying orders for Joab, a long time commander of David’s troops. Unbeknownst to Uriah, letter had instructed Joab to put Uriah in the line of fire and order other men to retreat effectively leaving Uriah in enemy’s hands. Joab carried out the orders without question and a great man was dead as a result.


Back to Now

I don’t mean to get all biblical on your ass, but I hope this story convinces you to become a leader. First to yourself, then to your dog, then to your family, community and the rest of the universe.

The leadership principles that we practice while “leading” ourselves, are the same leadership principles that we practice when leading our dog, are the same leadership principles we practice when leading humans.

***

Dino Dogan is a blogger, writer, biker, dog trainer, singer/songwriter, Martial Artist. Dino is now busy with his DIY Blogger Net blog. He is also behind the great social media tool, Triberr. Hopefully one day he'll return to dog blogging. Meanwhile, you can connect with Dino on Twitter or Facebook.

Related articles:
Human-Dog Problem Tree - PART ONE
Human-Dog Problem Tree - PART TWO
Human-Dog Problem Tree - PART THREE
Human-Dog Problem Tree - PART FOUR 
Human-Dog Problem Tree - PART FIVE 
Human-Dog Problem Tree - PART SIX 
Human-Dog Problem Tree - PART SEVEN
Human Dog Problem Tree - PART EIGHT
Human Dog Problem Tree - PART NINE
Human Dog Problem Tree - PART TEN 
Human Dog Problem Tree - PART ELEVEN
Human Dog Problem Tree - PART TWELVE
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Friday, 9 August 2013

Veterinary Highlights: Analysis Of Dog Hair Reveals Hormonal Imbalance

Posted on 14:00 by Unknown
Cushing's disease (hyperadrenocorticism) is a common endocrinological disorder in dogs.

It is estimated that one to two dogs our of a thousand/per year will get it.


The symptoms are often written off as signs of normal aging and the diagnosis is complicated.

Recent research at the Institute of Medical Biochemistry at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna has shown that glucocorticoids accumulate in the animals’ hair and that analysis of a dog’s hair can provide quick and reliable preliminary diagnosis.

The beauty with hair testing is that, unlike blood, it shows long-term levels.

I'm sure that any dog would rather have a bit of fur clipped then being stuck with needles.

The scientists compared the levels of cortisol, corticosterone and cortisone in the hair of twelve dogs with hyperadrenocorticism and ten healthy dogs. All three hormones were found at far higher levels in the hair of dogs with Cushing's diseases compared to control group. The difference in cortisol levels was particularly pronounced.

Measuring cortisol in hair is much easier and less painful for the dogs than other tests and it seems to have real promise as a new rapid and non-invasive diagnostic test for Cushing's.

Sign me up, please.

***

Source article:
The hair of the dog

Further reading:
Cushing's Disease 
Confusion with Cushing's Disease
What Exactly is Cushing's Disease

Related articles:
Medical Jargon Explained: Hypo- versus Hyperadrenocorticism
Viva Has Cushing's
Living With A Cushing's Dog: Viva's Story
Suki Doesn't Have A Tumor And She Doesn't Have Cushing's: Suki's Story
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Thursday, 8 August 2013

Symptoms To Watch For In Your Dog: Excessive Head Shaking

Posted on 14:00 by Unknown
by Jana Rade

You might have noticed that when talking about symptoms, sometimes a qualifying word is included, such as excessive panting, excessive drinking, excessive head shaking. That is because these are normal behaviors and whether or not there is a problem is a question of degree.


Dogs will shake their heads in response to any irritation, such as pain, an itch, a tickle or a bug bite.

If your dog is shaking their head persistently, you need to pay attention and look for a cause.

On our summer walks, JD will shake his head quite often, to fend off bugs. Deer flies in particular seem to like him. I think they know they can drive him nuts. Jasmine was much less concerned about them, she was a bush dog at heart. It was me who was following her around and chasing them off. She didn't seem to care.

The other day, on the way from the farm, JD kept shaking his head.

This was cause for concern and we were going to check his ears when we got home. He kept shaking and shaking ... and then we saw an ant waltz out of his ear. There was our culprit. The shaking stopped.

When an especially mean stray tick got on Jasmine's ear, her instinct was to shake her head. 

(Stray tick because it was one of the only two we ever found at the ranch.)

The bite was painful for Jasmine though, so every time she started to shake her head she'd cry a little, stop and hold her head down, tilted towards the affected ear.

This immediately alerted us to a problem and we found and removed the invader.

When your dog starts shaking their head like that, examine the ears, eyes, head, neck and skin carefully. Pay particularly close attention to the ears.

Some culprits are obvious and easy to deal with. Some require attention of your veterinarian.

A common cause of head shaking is otitis, inflammation of the ear canal. Grass awns, ear mites and other things might be at play but, allergies are also very common causes of ear inflammation.

An inflamed ear makes a great playground for bacteria or yeast. Infection often follows.

If there is redness, swelling, discharge or bad odor to the ears, it's time to see your veterinarian. If pain is involved, see your veterinarian right away. If you have a reason to suspect a foxtail, also don't delay. Those nasty little things can travel throughout your dog's body and cause serious damage.

Some breeds are also susceptible to ear vasculitis, which is inflammation of the blood vessels in the ear flap.

This condition typically comes with thickening of the ear margins, which eventually ulcerate and crust over.

Dogs with balance issues, be it from trauma, stroke, inner ear infection or vestibular syndrome, might shake their heads in an attempt to relieve their symptoms.

Not only is excessive head shaking a symptom of a problem, it can actually be a cause for one as well.

Sometimes a dog can shake their head so much that it will cause the blood vessels in the ear flap to rupture, resulting in a hematoma.

This will look like a swelling of the ear flap. It really is a pocket of blood and it will cause your dog to shake their head even more. Ear hematomas require veterinary attention if they are to heal without permanent disfigurement.

All this refers to voluntary head shaking.

This is what we typically picture as a head shake. There are such  things as involuntary head tremors, which are another story all together.

***

Further reading:
Head shaking - an ear of an issue!
Why Does My Dog . . . Shake His Head All of the Time?
My Dog is Shaking His Head


Related articles:
Symptoms: Recognition, Acknowledgement And Denial
Symptoms To Watch For In Your Dog: Excessive Panting
Symptoms To Watch For In Your Dog: Excessive Drinking
Symptoms To Watch For In Your Dog: Bad Odor 
Symptoms to Watch For In Your Dog: Excessive Drooling  
What Can Your Dog's Gums And Tongue Tell You? 
Symptoms To Watch For In Your Dog: Coughing
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Wednesday, 7 August 2013

Wordless Wednesday: Das Boot

Posted on 14:00 by Unknown








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Blog Archive

  • ▼  2013 (223)
    • ▼  August (13)
      • The Day The Heart Stood Still: Timber's Story
      • Adoption Monday: Jenny, Rottweiler: Erin, ON
      • Anemia And Blood Transfusion
      • Human-Dog Problem Tree - PART THIRTEEN
      • Veterinary Highlights: Analysis Of Dog Hair Reveal...
      • Symptoms To Watch For In Your Dog: Excessive Head ...
      • Wordless Wednesday: Das Boot
      • The Dog's Body Knows There Is Something Wrong Befo...
      • Adoption Monday: Brynn, Retriever Mix: Deerfield, NH
      • The Wackiest Thing I Ever Did For My Dog
      • Today, Jasmine Would Have Been Ten Years Old
      • Veterinary Highlights: Change In Heartworm Guideli...
      • Primer On Lymphoma
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