Rappie

When you say she's had the problem her whole life, is that before desexing (if she is desexed))? The smell may be a result of a urinary tract infection, which can also cause them to drink more water. They are at increased risk is there is an anatomical factor causing the incontinence. If she's really always done it even since a very young dog then I would considering the possibility of something like an ectopic ureter. I think if she's only just started to smell bad it is time for a check up and urine test.

There (is usually) a decision making process before just putting a dog on medication for seizures. We need to know things like: - how frequent the seizures are - details of the seizures, how long, what happens when the dog is having a seizure - whether there are any other problems that could cause seizures - age, medical history, concurrent diseases If the seizures occur only occasionally, or less than once every 4-6 weeks then we may choose not to medicate at all. If the dog (or cat) is having only partial or focal seizures, rather than grand mal this can be a diagnostic clue. I generally recommend some basic blood work as part of the work up for seizures. 'Epilepsy' is a diagnosis of exclusion, which means (ideally) we rule out all the other other known causes of seizures before we give it that label - which can be difficult and expensive. However, things like low blood glucose, toxicities and liver disease , or inflammatory diseases (like GME) can all cause seizures and be recognised on blood tests. If we're intending to start long term medication that can have an effect on the liver, it's prudent to check liver values first. If it's a breed where a portosystemic shunt is recognised then further tests might be required. Basically the bloods are to see if there is a treatable condition that might be responsible for the seizures - not much use medicating with phenobarbitone etc if you're not treating the cause. Often there is no identifiable cause, but IMHO that doesn't mean you shouldn't look for one. I also do a neurological exam to see if there are other clues - even if they are subtle. Abnormalities can point to structural brain disease (tumours or swellings). The risk of a tumour causing seizures does increase with age, but it's not the only cause. If we suspect that pressure or inflammation from a tumour (as opposed to general brain swelling) is causing a seizure then steroids can be used to help. Edit to add: With respect to the original post, I do recommend regular monitoring for patients on long term medication. Generally at least every 6 months for a check up, and depending on the medication this will also include blood tests either to check liver / kidney function, electrolytes or white cell counts, or to test drug levels (such a thyroid and seizure meds).

Although we can get a good idea of whether a cruciate ligament injury is likely from a conscious exam, we can get more information from an examination under sedation or anaesthesia. When performing a cranial drawer test on some dogs with partial tears, we might get a strong reaction, or a mild reaction from the dog but often all we can tell is that "it hurts when we perform a cranial drawer test". A small partial tear can be painful, but might not mean immediate surgery is required. A full tear might not be very painful, but the dog might be very tense which will affect how much movement we can detect in the joint. The xrays are not for the cruciate ligament specifically but for other information like whether there are arthritic changes in the affected joint, measuring the angles of bones involved in the joint as well as getting an idea of the anatomy of the hips. All of these things affect decisions regarding surgery - whether a technique such as TTA or TPLO is more appropriate than a De Angelis procedure, whether there are concurrent problems like hip dysplasia or an issue with conformation (medial or lateral patella luxation) that causes instability in the joint and may also require surgical correction etc.

This is what Dusk thinks of the bath.... Edit: I know it's my avatar, but you really need to enlarge it for maximum effect, lol.

They did adjust the formula recently - I haven't had anyone report a difference, although the injection itself is a different colour. I have used all 3 formulations (Pentosan, Zydax and Cartrophen) and (completely subjectively) I find that more dogs have more rapid and positive response to the Zydax injections despite having the same active ingredient.

It seems like the correct dose, I think the invoice line probably reflects the way products are entered into it for stock control. Probably something like pack size = 50ml, price per unit etc, 1 unit = 1.0ml which contains 20mg. Then charged as fractions of 'units'. 25kg dog, dosed at 0.2mg/ml = 5mg 5mg from 20mg/ml = 0.25ml Clear as mud?

It's likely that his seizure is related to the low platelet count and small bleeds in the brain. They can also experience partial or focal seizures, I had one patient with Evan's syndrome (immune mediate thrombocytopaenia and haemolytic anaemia) who had an intermittent eyelid twitch initially. Both diseases are one that really need close and constant monitoring to check platelet counts etc.

An ultrasound will identify the extent of any structural defects. For a low grade murmur (which a grade 1 murmur is - we grade them out of 6) it is worth keeping in mind that in lots of cases the murmur will disappear as the puppy grows. We call these innocent murmurs and they generally don't require investigation or treatment. The difficulty is knowing which ones are which, as in most cases we just wait to see if they go away. For the more serious murmurs such as those caused by a PDA (patent ductus arteriosis) we would normally hear quite a loud murmur with a distinct sound.

Nobivac manufacture a vaccine with a registered 3 year duration of immunity (DOI), as do Fort Dodge (Durammune Adult C3). Our practice started using the 3 year protocol (with 3 yo DOI vaccines) almost 3 years ago, I think we have the 'anniversary' at the end of this year. We still vaccinate annual against parainfluenza and bordatella, and in our specific area we also vaccinate against leptospirosis and coronavirus - the decision to vaccinate against the last two is based on the fact that we have diagnosed 2-3 cases of leptospirosis in the last 5 years and in our immediate area there is a decent population of rats near creeks (and a certain % of those have been tested by the health dept to carry leptospirosis). It is NOT just to give everything we can. I inform every client of what we are vaccinating against at every appointment, plenty of opportunity to voice concerns and in some cases, elect not to give some components. We suspend vaccinations and titre test individuals with immune mediated diseases (or on request for any other animal). We haven't moved to a 3 year protocol for cats at this point (but debate it every time we have a vet meeting) but we have modified our protocol to reduce the vaccination components for 'low risk' cats and increase for 'at risk cats' (to include FIV / FeLV testing and vaccinations). I find that even when I am discussing the vaccinations, most owners just give me a blank look and say they are here for injections because they got a reminder and they want their dog to have a check up. That suggests to me that any practice could change their protocols and it probably wouldn't have a great impact on their turnover unless there is a lack of other good reasons for clients to go there! We work hard on good communication and we have this year been awarded as an AVA Practice of Excellence.

Yay Whitey! Do you know if he's going to have his platelet count checked again soon?

K9Angel has been posting some updates on the thread in the rescue forum

The 'traditional' recommendation for the pentosan / cartrophen injections has been to complete then initial course, then give single injections at an arbitrary interval (3, 6 or however many months). The new information we have is that repeating the whole course is likely to be of greater benefit for long term management of joint problems (so full course once every 6-12 months).

We're on our 3rd year of using a 3 year protocol. We rarely give the annual C3, mainly only if someone declines the 3 yearly one. The annual is $5 cheaper than the 3 yearly, our 'alternate year' vaccinations are about $18 cheaper than the first year of the 3 year protocol. We haven't had an issue with introducing it at all, I suspect in some cases that the practices who do experience a downturn are not offering great service, just vaccinations.

As far as I am aware Robert McDowell does not have the title 'Dr', no matter his other experience. All Natural Vet is staffed by veterinarians and other qualified complementary medicine practitioners.

Are both the pupils the same size? Squinting might just be due to the eye being a bit sore or uncomfortable if there has been irritation. However, squinting to protect the eye from light or if the dog is head-shy, can mean that the eye itself is painful and that is a much more serious problem.

I wouldn't be willing to make any call of kidney disease on that creatinine value without seeing urine results first. Normal greyhounds frequently have higher than 'average' creatinine levels without having associated kidney disease. Unless her urine results show reduced concentrating ability, it would not be exciting me yet. Even if her urine tests did show a low reading, I'd want to see more than one result.

Off the top of my head, Hills w/d is an appropriate food. I recently dealt with a case where a pet was diagnosed with 'kidney' disease elsewhere (it does not have kidney disease), and put on k/d, then subsequently developed pancreatitis due the high fat content - I think either w/d or z/d were the foods recommended by the Hills technical team for concurrent diseases. With kidney disease, the dietary protein must be of high quality more and in moderate quantities, rather than needing to be severely restricted. Certainly don't want too much protein, but it is equally important that they aren't restricted to eating a small amount of poor quality protein.

Rappie - got some rough idea of what initial radiographs would cost? It will vary depending on the practice and location, but I would expect between $300 and $500. It would require a general anaesthetic.

I agree. Under the eye is the most common location for a tooth root abscess to burst - usually related to the fourth upper premolar. It's not uncommon to see these bilaterally in small dogs due to peridontal disease or fractures of the tooth or enamel. They often do not respond completely to medical treatment and require the offending tooth to be removed. For any disease of the sinuses, radiographs would be the initial step and might be follow by more specialised imaging, rhinoscopy or cultures.

It is generally uncommon. It could be a reaction to the premedication drugs, the anaesthetic induction agent or any other medications given in the perioperative period. Previously when I have used Aquafol (a specific preparation of propofol) we did occasionally see dogs come out in generalised wheals which settled fairly quickly after an antihistamine injection. Recently I saw the first case I have treated of an dog that seemingly reacted to Alfaxan which is considered to be one of the safest anaesthetic injections. It involved facial swelling, the dog has also had an antibiotic injection during the procedure but the timing of the reaction seemed to be more closely related to the Alfaxan.

Drugz iz gud, mmmkay.

I can't help with recommendations in SA, but having a patella luxation can certainly contribute to joint instability which may lead to cruciate ligament tears. The best assessment for cruciate stability is done under GA, it's certainly possible to detect both partial and full tears in dogs while they are concious but the joints are often painful as well. The degree of lameness does not always dictate the severity of the injury, I've examined several dogs recently that appeared normal and a cruciate rupture was an incidental finding. In dogs under 10kg there can be enough scarring and thickening around the joint to provide some stability but surgical repair is recommended for dogs over 10kg.

Depending on how brave you are, how much you want to keep the lens and how much money you want to spend on it .... my OH has bought several lenses off ebay that have ended up having fungus in them and he's carefully dismantled them, cleaned them and put them back together. I'm no real help with lenses, a) because we have Pentax gear and b) because I haven't really used any enough to really know what I'm doing We have a 77mm f1.8 which is absolutely beautiful for portraits, but that doesn't help you on a field trip. When we went to New Caledonia, OH and I took 3 lenses between us. I had a 40mm f2.8 which, although it had some limitations performed admirably for both landscapes and almost but not quite macro. OH has since bought me a 35mm macro (1:1) Like I said, this probably doesn't help you, but the prime lenses are the ones we use most often.

I would now give the Revolution time to work if it's going to. The Revolution will cover your fleas and heartworm but has no activity at all against ticks. It is safe to use in conjunction with Advantix - however if you're only apply this monthly then I would just wait until you finish your course of Revolution. A skin scrape for sarcoptes is something that should always be done, but a negative result does not rule it out. Dermatologists get very, very excited if they ever see live mites. If there's even a hint that they could be the problem I would do a treatment trial anyway.

Once you have the results of the blood tests, a biopsy might be indicated as the next step. If your pup is on Advocate normally, you can use the Revolution instead but you would just need to give an intestinal worming tablet as it does not cover that. There is no great issues with using both, but I would leave at least 2 weeks between them.