Rappie

I don't think there is any harm doing bloods and a thyoid panel however true hypothyroidism would be very unusual. The pattern of hairloss does resemble endocrine alopecia but in pups generally we see this associated with lack of growth hormone / pituitary dwarfism. What colour is the skin surrounding the red and white hairs? I would consider the possibility of a follicular dysplasia issue in this pup given the young age at which clinical signs are present.

What Corvus said much more eloquently than I ^^^^^^^ (I have 'manflu', a serious case of brain fog and difficulty stringing a sentence together.....)

Demodex mange is usually easy to find on scrape but often requires repeat attempts and multiple scrapings should be taken each time. It is not usually itchy alone but there can be itchiness associated with secondary skin infections Sarcoptes mites are notoriously difficult to find on scrapes and if they appear on the diagnostic list at all then I would recommend treating with Revolution or Advocate on suspicion. It is intensely itchy often around ears and elbows. The pattern of hair loss and hyperpigmentation is unusual, particularly the degree to which is extends up behind the elbows and I would suggest further investigation.

We associate their body language with guilt, but the emotion of guilt is complex and not likely to be what dogs are thinking. They will demonstrate anything and everything in their repertoire of submissive behaviours in order to appease you. It's not so much a case of "OMG I'm sooooooooooo sorry", as them knowing that the situation you have found them in will not get positive reactions out of you. If dogs get scolded after the fact, for weeing inside, then they learn that their presence in the same room as a urine puddle will mean you are unhappy. They don't associate it with the fact that THEY made the urine puddle or did something bad, but A + B + C = unhappy owner. They pick up on negative cues from you and will do whatever they can to reduce the impact on them.

I think reduced frequency of vaccination is a better option where there is evidence that protection is still conferred. It is hard for us as a profession in some cases as with some products, adopting a 3 year protocol involves off label use of the vaccination which, despite evidence of prolonged effects of vaccination still leaves us open should anything untoward happen. There is one pharmaceutical company that has explicitly advised me that they will never re-label any of their products for more than 12 month intervals - that can make it quite difficult. Our practice has adopted a 3 yearly protocol using a 3 year duration of immunity C3 and annual kennel cough vaccination for dogs. We still maintain annual vaccination for cats as our recommendation for all situations we take into account the individual patient's needs and have recently changed our protocol to distinguish between indoor and outdoor cats in an effort to increase protection for at risk cats (FIV and FeLV vaccinations) but reduce the vaccinations for entirely indoor cats. We have had no issues introducing the new protocols. For those animals that have been diagnosed with immune mediated diseases, we cancel all vaccination reminders and schedule annual titre tests. For those test I've done, the results have been adequate which suggests that most animals are 'probably' ok but without testing everyone we just don't know.

We have a pound pup in hospital with parvo now. We're in western Sydney and in April we were seeing a number of cases, which is very unusual for this area (last year we saw 3 or 4 cases in the year, this April was 6 or 7 per week). All the cases were either unvaccinated, or puppies who were only old enough to have had one vaccination, mostly owned by people who either didn't bother with vaccinations despite advice, or couldn't afford to do them. Most of the people I see who have actually heard of the 3 year protcol follow the 'rules' quite strictly. Aside from the general population of DOL, I'm not sure that the message is really getting out that widely. I freely discuss vaccination and heartworm protocols with owners but find that very few of them are aware that there are new protocols at all.

My experience is that with teeth that need to be extracted due to dental disease, if due attention is paid to pain relief in the immediate post operative period, they actually feel better after the surgery I think owners often under-estimate the effect that chronic dental pain has on their pet as so many tell me after a major dental that their dog (or cat) is so much happier than they have been for ages, or they will now actually eat dry food or bones etc. Last year our vet team undertook some training with a veterinary dentist, I think one of the most sobering things she pointed out (which is quite obvious, but this really put it in perspective) that once a dog stops eating because of tooth pain, it means they would rather die than eat. I see a lot of really feral, festy mouths in otherwise very bright dogs with good appetite where the owners can't appreciate that there is a problem.

Depends on the size of the wound. Small wounds that don't require much additional treatment generally get bathed in a chlorhexidine solution. I use plain saline for those that require extensive flushing as it is less irritant to tissue. If you are making your own salty water, then aim for 9g of salt per litre (which is a bit less than 1/2 tsp per metric cup, or just less than 2 tsp per litre - it should taste no more salty than tears!).

I have seen one like that in one of the clinics I've worked at previously. It was not made of the 'crystal' plastic though - you might be able to ask your vet to order something similar through their wholesaler.

Differences in efficacy and bioavailability I suppose. The drugs are metabolised differently in dogs and cats compared to humans. Doxepin has antihistamine effect as well it's other effect on brain chemistry - hence why it might be used in dogs who either have anxiety issues AND a skin complaint (as some antihistamines cannot be used with drugs like Clomicalm) or whose skin issues have a basis in anxiety such as acral lick granulomas with an OCD component.

Doxepin is used for psychogenic dermatoses, it's not used much for other behavioural issues.

Amitriptyline is a tricyclic anti-depressant (TCA), it is used in veterinary medicine to treat anxiety based behavioural disorders and the occasionally some medical condition and chronic pain. Newer drugs like fluoxetine and clomipramine (Reconcile / Prozac and Clomicalm) tend to be used more frequently for behavioural management

What is PCV, please? It's the measurement of packed cell volume. A very small sample of blood is spun in a centrifuge and then the amount of red blood cells is measured. It is expressed as a percentage and represents the portion of blood that is made of red cells - normal is 35% - 55% in dogs. A dog with chronic bleeding should have it checked occasionally to monitor them for anaemia. we also check it routinely in dogs prior to surgery and it is part of most routine blood work.

I'm afraid I wasn't paying close enough attention - not sure if they were single or double but pretty sure whatever it was was $18.

I also saw a big pile of them at my local Bunnings too, similar price range.

It could certainly be a local reaction to the vaccination. They do usually take about a week to appear, then another 1-2 weeks to resolve. If you have any concerns, just let your vet know and they should be able to confirm the injection site and note it down in your dogs record.

There is off street level parking level with the clinic and it is accessible for wheelchairs. Long appointments can be arranged easily, just need to let the reception staff know when the appointment is made. Insurance paperwork is not a problem either.

One of mine thrives on routine - she's a little shy but bursting with love and energy, the other is much better behaved when we have them all in place but he's Mr Independent. He likes to push the boundaries just to see what happens. Still have my work cut out for me convincing OH that the SAME thing has to happen regardless, lol. We don't have a set daily routines, but we have lots of mini routines that mostly seem to let the dogs know where we are up to. They cope pretty well with our "we're not doing anything of interest now" cues and they can entertain themselves. We're continually working on 'calm'. My little one, Dusk (the shy one), she gets conflicted easily but now she just sits and holds a foot up when she's confused. It's easy enough then to give her a direction. We've been moving house over the last 2 weeks, and have been fully in the new house for just over a week but they've been settling in really well. The routine for eating is the same, their beds are the same, they have a dog door for outside just the same. They do have some new rules like not being near the door when we leave (used to be in a unit, now the front door opens on to our driveway) and sometimes you have to stay in, sometimes you have to stay out. We have been leaving the roller shutters open when we go out (so we can spy on them). Mostly when we come back they are sound asleep on our bed. So much for getting up to mischief in the backyard.....

We do, but not all the time. Liquid barium is very useful to determine obstructions but it can cause complications if you then have to go to remove something as it can cause inflammation around the surgery site if any leaks out. The BIPS (little balls containing barium) monitor passage through the gut and will stop at an obstruction, but do not tell us things that liquid barium can like whether stomach walls are thickened or whether there are defects etc. I would always consider a foreign body in any young dog with persistent vomiting. It might not always be the reason, but it's always on my list ;)

Whether I did anything different would depend on whether she was a sick dog with kidney disease or not. Dogs that are 'well' and have kidney disease are the ones that I would be happy starting on conservative treatment and monitoring which is what has been happening so far. A sick dog with recently discovered kidney disease might go on IV fluids to try to lower the urea and creatinine. In the meantime, I do recommend feeding a prescription renal diet - however, it is much more important that a dog (or cat) eats regardless of the food. It is worth perservering to find one that they like, or pursuing home cooked but none of the options are useful if they refuse them! Although kidney diets have restricted protein levels, it is important that the protein is of high 'quality' (biological value) so that the body can use it as much as possible to maintain muscle mass etc but there is not so much that the kidneys struggle to deal with it. I like to measure blood pressure as part of my regular monitoring and also keep track of any protein in the urine. Persistent increases in either of these would suggest we should consider medication. If protein is in the urine, then I would run further tests on the urine to quantify it. If there is any indication of infection in the urine, then I would culture it (or treat on suspicion). If the phosphate levels increase, then we add phosphate binders but initially I would see how you go on the kidney diet - they are phosphorus restricted and that can sometimes be enough to get things back in normal range. It's hard to get too excited about the low blood glucose without knowing more about the samples. If we don't send blood in a specific tube to the lab and they measure it from one of the other routine tubes it will often read erroneously low. If it was a true reading then I would monitor that too.

The BUN is listed as 'urea' in your results. The USG is the urine specific gravity, or the concentration of the urine. In kidney failure this is lower than normal. It is not necessary to collect blood every time a urine sample is done, it is just helpful is at some point we can compare the urine and blood results collected at the same time (or within a few hours of each other). The reason for doing this is that the urea and creatinine can go up for reasons that are not kidney disease. If we had these two numbers elevated with very concentrated urine, then the kidneys are still working ok. If we have the urea and creatinine elevated with a low concentration we are more likely to have kidney disease. It's one of those things that is nice to do, but is not always possible However, regular monitoring as you are doing is just as important.

Or to treat uveitis or glaucoma as a result of the changed lens.

Whether or not medication is required would depend on the grade of kidney disease - based on serial blood pressure measurements and measurement of the BUN and creatinine. I'd also ensure a urinalysis was done, a culture and sensitivity is unlikely to add new information but an in house dipstick and USG is something that I would do along with the bloods (ideally collected at the same time).

I generally advise water up until the time you take them to the vet in the morning.

An elevation in all of the liver enzymes suggests that there is a problem with the liver itself. An elevation of ALP alone may be caused by non-liver issues such as chronic inflammation, steroid administration etc. The fact that all the liver enzymes are high tells us that there is both damage to the cells of the liver and some change to bile flow out of it. The degree of elevation does not directly reflect the severity of disease - you can have high numbers from an acute process, you can have low numbers because there is an extensive problem and very little normal liver left. It is hard to speculate. If the bile acids are normal it means that the liver is functional. If the liver is functional with high liver enzymes, then an ultrasound is the next step to assess the appearance of the liver itself. If for some reason an ultrasound is not possible, then often we will treat for a medical problem and reassess the values after a few weeks. We often use antibiotics and antioxidant type medications like Denosyl in conjunction with a liver diet. If there are neurological signs as well as a liver problem then there is an additional medication used as well. Edit to add: I just saw your question about time frames - that would really depend what is causing the problem. If it responds to treatment then it might resolve, or at least be manageable for a good period of time (several month to years). It's very hard to give a time frame, often we have to just take it a day at a time.