Posts in Category: Dogs

Seasoned pet partner teams Carole and Don Melvin had what they called a “very unusual experience” at CHOC (Children’t Hospital of Orange County). There were several people in a room on the PICU floor so Carole asked the nurse whether she should go in or not. As it turned out the girl in the room, about 12 years old, had passed away just a few minutes before and, yes, the family did want Carole to come in with Missy (the dog on the right). Carole spent about 45 minutes in the room with Missy comforting the girl’s siblings, a couple of the girl’s friends, and several of the family.  One of the girl’s friends was laying on the bed with the girl so Carole placed Missy between them and Missy gave them every ounce of love within her.  Then some of the family took turns holding Missy. Occasionally Carole and I are a little weary  the morning we’re scheduled to go to CHOC and think it would be nice to take the morning off. In the 7 years we’ve been at CHOC we can never anticipate what circumstances we’ll face on any given day but when anything near like this happens, we know why we go.  As long as our girls are able to go and our health holds up, we’ll be there for the kids and their family.

Article  by  ROCHELLE OLSON , Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune

Routine fecal sample evaluation is an important means of protecting the health of pets and their owners, according to veterinarian Sandy Willis. Several intestinal parasites present zoonotic risks and can be detected on a fecal flotation, a method in which parasite eggs can be separated from fecal material and identified using a microscope based on size and morphological features, Dr. Willis says. This blog post details how the samples are evaluated, what organisms are detected and how to best collect and store a sample until it is tested.

Question: Vets typically want to test a stool sample from our pets during an annual exam. It can be a smelly and messy collection, and many pet owners ignore the request. How valuable a diagnostic tool is poop?

Answer: The importance of a routine fecal examination and deworming has grown in recent years.

A fecal exam is very helpful in health and disease. It will identify most gastrointestinal parasites in a healthy pet and those that may be causing disease in a sick pet with a variety of signs, including diarrhea, vomiting, poor skin and hair coat, weight loss, etc.

Most pets acquire parasite infections from the environment because parasite eggs often can exist for long periods of time in the soil and grass. Fecal examinations in healthy pets will identify asymptomatic shedders, allowing us to treat them, eliminate shedding, serving to reduce overall contamination and exposure of other pets to infection.

Furthermore, restricting access of children to contaminated areas, such as sandboxes, pet-walk areas and other high-traffic areas, is important.

An important zoonotic parasite is the raccoon roundworm Baylisascaris. Raccoons defecate in areas called latrines, and surrounded soil can be contaminated with Baylisascaris eggs.

People should discourage raccoons from their yards but not feeding raccoons or other animals around their homes, carefully removing any raccoon fecal material, and not allowing children to play in areas where raccoons have been.

Question: What can a fecal sample tell you about a dog’s health?

Answer: Fecal examination will identify internal parasites, such as worms, coccidia including giardia, and sometimes larvae such as lung worms.

In puppies, parasite infections often come from the mother, so the health of the puppy and bitch can be assessed by a fecal examination.

But the exams do not identify all infections, and, thus, routine deworming is important even if fecal tests are negative.

This is particularly important in the puppy and in recently infected older dogs. In these dogs, worms are present in the intestines but they are not yet shedding eggs, resulting in a negative fecal examination.

Our common antiparasiticals have become so much more advanced in recent years.

They are safer, easier to administer and kill and prevent more infections. However, the fecal examination remains important to make sure we are treating the dog or cat with the most appropriate antiparasitical.

Clients should seek advice from their veterinarian on which dewormers are best. There are many out there, some less effective than others, and the veterinarian’s advice can save costs by making sure the right one is selected from the beginning. We also have to be careful with cats and make sure they receive dewormers appropriate for the feline.

Question: What can’t a fecal sample tell you?

Answer: There are other causes of diarrhea, including pancreatic insufficiency, small intestinal disease, hormonal problems, even cancer. Routine fecal examination will not diagnose these.

Bacterial causes of diarrhea are rare in small animals. A fecal culture, looking for unusual bacteria in the stool, is needed to diagnose a bacterial diarrhea. Parvovirus diarrhea is not diagnosed on a routine fecal examination, but there is another fecal test for this viral diarrhea.

Question: What specifically are you looking for in fecal tests?

Answer: We are looking for worms, small, moving organisms such as tritrichomonas and eggs of common gastrointestinal parasites.

Question: Is one stool sample usually enough?

Answer: Generally, yes. Sometimes we prefer to check multiple fecal samples because shedding may be intermittent, which can be the case with a giardia infection. In a patient with diarrhea, we may end up treating for gastrointestinal parasites even though a fecal sample is negative because a negative result does not absolutely rule out all parasites.

Question: What kinds of common issues are typically found?

Answer: The worm eggs: roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, coccidian, shown right, including giardia in small animals. Stomach worms, tapeworms, some whipworms and hookworms are seen in large animals.

These must be distinguished from common contaminants in stool, including environmental yeasts and fungi, pollen and other plant material, grain mites and parasites of other species (such as rodents, amphibians, large animals and horses) that are acquired from eating the species (i.e. frogs) or their stool (sheep and cattle).

Parasites from other species are just passing through, cause no disease in the dog and cat and do not require treatment.

Question: What are some of the more unusual diseases detected?

Answer: We can occasionally find organisms that are not related to the gastrointestinal tract, such as skin parasites like demodex and sarcoptes. These are mites that are usually picked up in skin scrapings made of the skin, placed on a slide and examined under a microscope. Sometimes the itching dog or cat will ingest these mites, they will pass unchanged through the gastrointestinal tract, and we will find them in the stool. Pretty cool.

We have occasionally seen a huge load of worm eggs from a species other than the one being sampled, such as deer worm eggs seen in the feces of a dog that routinely ingests deer poop!

We occasionally also see eggs that might cause significant disease in a sheep, goat or llama — in the stool of a dog. It is not necessary to treat the dog for the parasite, because these worms are generally species specific and only cause a problem in the natural host, but it is important to contact the owner of the pasture and have them do a routine deworming of their livestock.

Question: What is the worst thing it can reveal?

Answer: Sometimes we see such large infestations of parasites that the patient must be really ill. Overwhelming gastrointestinal parasitism can cause severe illness and death, particularly in young and immunocompromised patients.

In the Pacific Northwest, we also see a disease called salmon poisoning, shown right. Salmon poisoning occurs in domestic and wild dogs from northern California and Washington. This disease can be fatal if not identified and treated.

It is caused by a small microscopic organism called a rickettsia. Clinical signs include fever, not eating, weight loss, vomiting and diarrhea, which can sometimes be bloody. Signs are severe and dogs can become very ill, needing immediate veterinary care.

The interesting aspect of salmon poisoning is this: the rickettsia, called Rickettsia helminthoeca, is carried within a trematode or fluke. The fluke requires two other life-forms, the snail Oxytrema spp., which is only found in fresh and brackish stream waters in our coastal areas, and salmonid fish (salmon), certain nonsalmonid fish (such as trout) and the Pacific giant salamander. The dog becomes infected by eating or sometimes even licking, a fish or salamander. We diagnose the infection by finding the fluke eggs in a stool sample. It is rare to find the rickettsia agents themselves.

Salmon poisoning only occurs from the ingestion of raw fish. Cooked fish do not present a problem. Thus owners should really discourage their dogs from eating any raw fish.

This disease is not seen in cats.

Question: Which diseases, parasites, etc., can only be detected in an analysis of poop?
Answer: We can only detect the presence of gastrointestinal parasites, such as worms, trichomonads, coccidia, etc., by a fecal examination. There are no blood tests for these organisms.

Question: Are there any situations in which diseases/problems can be caught early by examining poop, before more serious symptoms develop?

Answer: We can occasionally detect fecal parasites before we see signs of disease such as diarrhea, blood in the stool, weight loss, poor skin and hair coat and condition, etc.

In addition — and more importantly — some parasites are zoonotic, meaning they can cause an aberrant infection in man, such as roundworms and certain hookworms. Thus we do want to make sure our pets are parasite free by performing routine fecal examinations and deworming.

In salmon poisoning, if we find the fluke eggs on a routine fecal examination, we will generally treat to prevent the disease with a tetracycline antibiotic.

Question: Vets usually want the samples to be “fresh.” Why?

Answer: Even the finding of one egg can be diagnostic, thus we want the samples to be fresh. With time, samples and eggs dry out and disintegrate.

Also, fecal samples in the environment can quickly become contaminated with fly eggs, free living larva or worms from the soil, and other contaminants that can be confused with real parasites.

Question: What is the best way to collect a sample? What do you suggest it be scooped up with?

Answer: The sample can be scooped up with anything clean and submitted in a special fecal vial provided by the veterinarian, a clean dry cup of any type with a lid, or even a plastic bag. The key is to not gather up too much of the environmental contamination, such as leaves and dirt and little box clay.

We usually only need one to six grams of a sample, thus the owner does not need to provide a huge amount. When there is diarrhea, the sample size should be larger. With firm stool, we need less.

Question: What is the best sanitary way to keep a sample if you can’t get to the vet immediately?

Answer: Keep the sample in a container with a lid, or in a bag that is closed. I would keep it in a cool place.

As pets defecate at least one to two times a day, samples should be collected on the day they are submitted or the day before so they shouldn’t need to be kept for long periods of time.

Question: How is a fecal sample prepared for review?

Answer: Fecal samples are analyzed either at veterinary diagnostic laboratories or within the practice. The basic technique of the fecal procedure is to first identify any large parasites within the sample.

We may take a small sample, mix it slightly with water and do a direct examination under the microscope for any moving parasites. Then, another small sample is prepared for a fecal flotation. A flotation technique uses a solution (can be sugar solution, zinc sulfate, sodium nitrate, etc) and either passive ( the sample sits on the counter for a given length of time) or active (centrifugation of the sample) flotation to separate parasite eggs from debris in the sample and allow them to be identified under a microscope by egg size and morphology.

Question: How much does an analysis usually cost?

Answer: This varies depending on the technique and whether the fecal sample in done in the veterinary clinic or sent out to a veterinary diagnostic laboratory. Costs can vary from roughly $25 to $45. Clients are urged not to shop tests based on cost alone  because the cheapest fecal test may not be run the complete way with centrifugation. Also, a clinic is not going to simply run a fecal test without a physical examination, an interpretation of the results and appropriate therapy.

Dr. Sandy Willis

Mars Petcare U.S. has voluntarily recalled three Pedigree weight management canned dog food products due to possible contamination with blue plastic fragments that inadvertently entered the food during production. This article lists the involved UPC numbers. Owners can return already purchased food for a full refund.

The recall, however is not related to the rash of pet food recalls issued since April 2012 because of Salmonella contamination.

Mars Petcare US, who oversees several popular brands including Royal Canin, Whiskas, Cesar, Nutro, Sheba and Greenies, issued the recall for a different reason: Three varieties of the Pedigree Weight Management canned dog food products may pose a potential choking risk.

The affected product may contain small pieces of blue plastic, which entered the food during the production process. The source of the plastic has been identified and the issue resolved.

The canned food was distributed to retail customers throughout the United States. Mars Petcare US is working with all of its distributors and retail customers to ensure that the recalled products are no longer sold, nor available for purchase.

Nursing homes are increasingly adopting pets or allowing residents to have their own animals live with them, in part because it brings in business. “More and more, we have families indicating up front that [allowing pets] is a must-have criteria,” said Tami Cummings, senior vice president of A Place for Mom, the largest senior living placement company in the U.S., which reports that 40% of people ask about residences’ pet policies when calling for information. Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)

Hospitals across the country use pet therapy programs to enrich patients’ lives, but increasingly, they are allowing patients’ own pets to visit during prolonged hospital stays. “Often there are people who are not doing well, and don’t respond to staff and people, but for some reason make an effort to speak when animals come around,” said veterinarian Lisa Portnoy, animal program director for the NIH Clinical Center. ABC News (6/22)

By DR. SHEILA REDDY, ABC News Medical Unit

Madison Fleaks had been in Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston for over six months waiting for a heart transplant. She was born with a congenital heart condition.

Not yet two years old, she may have forgotten much of her life at home.  But she still remembered her two dogs; their photograph sat framed next to her hospital bed.

“If you said anything about the dogs, she would point and want to kiss the picture,” said her mother, Tabitha Fleaks. Madison has been in and out of hospitals, she said, enduring multiple surgeries.

“She has been sick her whole life. All she knows is me, her dad, and the two dogs.”

So when her dog Kodiak showed up in her hospital room one day, Madison was thrilled.

“It was amazing,” Fleaks said. “She just lit up. She literally screamed when he walked into the door.”

Texas Children’s is not the only institution to allow some patients to have visitors of the canine variety. ABC News reached out to hospitals around the country and found that many have pet therapy programs, in which a trained owner-volunteer will bring a dog to the hospital for patients to enjoy. These programs have been said to help patients with their mood, pain, and comfort levels.

Courtesy P. Steffek/Texas Children’s Hospital

Madison Fleaks at the hospital with her mother, Tabitha Fleaks, and her beloved dog, Kodiak.

A growing number of these hospitals have taken their pet therapy programs even farther, allowing patients to have visits from their own pets.

“When there is a patient in the hospital that will be here for a significant amount of time, we think it is important for them to have their entire family here,” said Jamie Snow, Assistant Director of Child Life and Social Work at Texas Children’s Hospital. “And some people consider their pets family members.”

The program started at Texas Children’s four years ago, when administrators were approached by an organization called PAWS (Pets Are Wonderful Support) Houston, a non-profit organization the helps to sustain the relationships between pet owners and their pets during a prolonged hospitalization.

Here’s how it works: a social worker or child life specialist, hearing that a patient has a pet at home, speaks to doctors who can approve a visit. Then PAWS is contacted. They ensure that the pet is vaccinated and has a bath before the visit. A PAWS volunteer will meet the pet and family members at the entrance of the hospital where they perform a “behavior check” to make sure the pet’s temperament is good for a hospital environment. They then take the pet to the patient’s room.

“We have never had any bad events from an animal visit,” said Tricia Lewis, a nursing director at the Methodist Hospital System in Houston, Texas, who worked with PAWS to pioneer the personal pet visitation policy at her hospital over a decade ago. “No bites, no infections.”

From the Oakland, CA Tribune

In an effort to help K-9 officers injured in the line of duty as quickly as possible, several police officers in California attended a one-day canine first-aid training session orchestrated by the Police & Working K-9 Foundation and Pet Food Express. Several veterinarians donated their time and expertise to help train the police officers.

Learning to find a pulse and perform chest compressions on their four-legged partners is not exactly standard police training, but it was important to the police officers and sheriff’s deputies who practiced those skills Tuesday.

The voluntary training gave K-9 handlers from the Oakland Police Department, the Redwood City Police Department, the Dos Palos Police Department and other Northern California public safety agencies the chance to learn emergency medical techniques that could save the lives of the dogs that serve with them.

“The (officers) are going to be first responders, really,” said Geri Schmutz, a volunteer with the Police & Working K-9 Foundation who volunteered her dogs to take part in the training. “Anything that happens to the officers can happen to (the dogs).”

Just like their law enforcement officer partners, K-9s have been shot at and exposed to narcotics on the job. It’s unlikely that paramedics or other first responders would be able to help with canine trauma since their training and priority is helping humans, Schmutz said.

The training, held in Oakland by the foundation and Pet Food Express, helped officers learn what to do in the few critical minutes after an animal is hurt, time that could decide whether they live or die.

The officers received hands-on training to learn how to apply splints and bandages to live dogs and practiced CPR on dummy dogs with the help of volunteer veterinarians.

“When I was a handler, there was nothing like this, and we wanted to change that,” said LeCouve, who is a Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputy. Without the emergency training, many critically injured dogs have to wait until they are able to see a vet.

As a deputy, LeCouve wants to be able to save the dogs’ lives, but he also wants to protect a valuable crime-fighting asset.

“They’re a community resource,” he said.

An untrained K-9 can cost as much as $10,000, and most police departments have at least three people to train it. After paying the initial cost and at least three salaries, little money is left over to pay for dog emergencies, LeCouve said.

“Why wouldn’t you want to protect that investment?” LeCouve asked.

The nonprofit foundation also donates bulletproof vests for the animals and heat alarms for police cars that transport K-9s so the dogs don’t get overheated.

The 50 officers receiving training Tuesday were given the animal equivalent of first aid kits so that they did not have to enter the field unprepared.

The enrollment for the one-day course was smaller than the normal 70 handlers, according to the foundation, but there was a waiting list for an upcoming session in Sacramento.

For many that signed up, the care for the dogs extend beyond protecting police property.

“These dogs are like family, and for some, it’s their children,” LeCouve said.

Copyright 2012 Contra Costa Times. All rights reserved.

Here’s the link to this article including visual aid videos:
https://www.dogheirs.com/dogheirs/posts/201-cpr-for-dogs-cardiopulmonary-resuscitation

Do you know what to do if your dog stops breathing? Knowing a few emergency procedures if your dog is choking, or having difficulty breathing, could save your dog’s life because you may not have time to get to a vet.
If your dog has a foreign object stuck in his throat, it is important to try and dislodge it before performing CPR. Read our article: Heimlich Maneuver for dogs.
Canine CPR
CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) preserves brain function until proper blood circulation and breathing can be restored.

The signs that indicate the need for CPR include unconsciousness, lack of arousal, lack of physical movement, or eye blinking. These symptoms can occur from drowning, choking, electrical shock, or a number of other situations.
The following information has been updated with latest recommended guidelines outlined by the first evidence-based research on how best to resuscitate dogs and cats in cardiac arrest published in June 2012 by the Reassessment Campaign on Veterinary Resuscitation (RECOVER). The study recommends a few updates to current manual CPR practices on dogs:

• Perform 100-120 chest compressions per minute
• Perform a compression to mouth-to-snout ventilation      ratio of 30 compressions followed by 2 breaths
• Recommendations on how best to perform cardiac massage      / chest compressions on different chest types and sizes of dogs (see      diagrams below).

The key to canine CPR is remembering the ABCs:

Airway,
Breathing, and
Cardiac compression.
To perform the three techniques, follow these steps.

1. Lay the dog on a flat      surface and extend      the head back to create an airway. (Current practices recommend      laying the dog on his/her right side (heart facing up), however      the  latest recommended guidelines state that either the      left or right lateral recumbency are acceptable.)
2. Open the jaws to check for      obstructions, and if any exist and are not easily removed, try to dislodge      the object. See our article Heimlich      Maneuever for dogs for details on how to dislodge a dog’s blocked      airway safely.
3. Cup your hands around      the muzzle      of the dog’s mouth so that only the nostrils are clear. Blow air into the      nostrils with five or six quick breaths, again, depending on the size of      the dog. Small dogs and puppies and require short and shallow breaths.      Larger dogs need longer and deeper breaths. Continue the quick breaths at      a rate of one breath every three seconds or 20 breaths per minute.
4. Check for a heartbeat by using your finger on      the inside of the thigh, just above the knee. If you don’t feel a pulse,      put your hand over the dog’s chest cavity where the elbow touches the      middle of the chest. If you still don’t find a pulse, have one person      continue breathing into the nostrils (mouth to snout), while another gives      chest compressions / cardiac massage. If you are alone, do the compression      and mouth-to-snout ventilation yourself.
5. Give the dog chest      compressions (cardiac massage) by placing both hands palms down on the chest cavity of      the dog. For most dogs, chest compressions can be performed on the widest      part of the chest while the dog is lying on his side.
• For dogs with       keel-shaped chests (i.e. deep, narrow chests) in breeds such as       greyhounds push down closer to the dog’s armpit, directly over the heart.
• For dogs with       barrel-chested dogs like English bulldogs lay the dog on its back and       compress on the sternum (directly over the heart), like people.
• For smaller dogs (and       cats) chest-compressions scan be done with one hand wrapped around the       sternum, encircling the heart or two-handed on the ribs.
• For large dogs, place       your hands on top of each other. For small dogs or puppies, place one       hand or thumb on the chest.
6. Use the heel of your      hand(s)      to push down for 30 quick compressions followed by 2 breaths of air      (ventilation) and then check to see if consciousness has been restored. If      consciousness has not been restored, continue the compressions in cycles      of 100 to 120 chest compressions per minute (the same rhythm administered      for people).
7. Perform CPR in 2-minute      cycles checking      to see if breathing and consciousness has been restored.

Ideally, CPR is performed while on route to emergency veterinarian care. If this is not possible, contact a veterinarian once the dog has started breathing.
The following diagrams illustrates how to perform chest compressions on dogs with different chest types. Click on an image to see a larger version. Figure (A) illustrates the technique for most dogs. You can apply chest compressions to the widest part of the chest while the dog lies on its side. Figure (B) illustrates the technique for barrel-chested dogs. Figure (C) illustrates the technique for barrel-chested dogs.

For small dogs and cats chest compressions can be administered two ways. Click on the images to see a larger version. Figure (A) illustrates wrapping one hand around the sternum while supporting the back. Figure (B) illustrates two-handed compression.

Below are a couple of videos on administering CPR on dogs. The first is instructional, while the second is a recorded incident of CPR used for an emergency situation.
Note: The instructional video below recommends a compression to ventilation ratio of 15 compressions followed by 1 breath. The June 2012 study recommends a compression to ventilation ratio of 30 compressions followed by 2 breaths.

Here’s the link to this article including visual aid videos:

https://www.dogheirs.com/dogheirs/posts/201-cpr-for-dogs-cardiopulmonary-resuscitation

When an older female dog uncharacteristically urinates in the house, veterinarian Linda Janowitz writes that several potential causes should be considered, including kidney disease, diabetes, a urinary tract infection and urinary incontinence — a weakening of the bladder sphincter caused by a lack of estrogen in older spayed dogs. A veterinarian can determine the cause and treatment after examining the dog, Dr. Janowitz notes.

Several possibilities could explain your dog’s behavior. She could have a urinary tract infection, which can make her urinate more often, and she may not be able to hold it until she gets outside. That would be the best-case scenario as it is usually easy to treat with antibiotics.

Other conditions can also be an issue with an elderly dog. I would want to rule out diabetes and kidney disease. With both of these conditions, you would probably see her drinking more water and urinating more in general.

Last, but perhaps most importantly, your dog may have hormonal incontinence. In spayed female dogs, especially as they age, the lack of estrogen can cause the urinary sphincter to become weak. Often these dogs will leak urine in their beds. A combination of factors may be contributing to your dog’s behavior.

You could also be right about the cold weather. It could be the only reason for her behavior or a contributing factor. I would recommend first scheduling a visit with your veterinarian for blood work and a urinalysis to rule out many conditions that cause increased urination.

If your dog’s problem doesn’t have a medical cause, try using puppy pads placed in convenient locations on colder days. It might help if you try to associate a word command with urinating, so she knows what you expect when you go outside. When she does urinate, use the word and praise her. You could also reward her with a treat when she urinates outside.

Linda Janowitz, DVM, is the director of veterinary medicine with the Peninsula Humane Society and SPCA.