Posts in Category: Healthy Pets

Green cleaning products are gaining popularity, but owners should know that even environmentally friendly products may pose threats to pet health. “People expose their animals without even realizing the risk,” said Karl Jandrey, an emergency and critical care veterinarian at the University of California, Davis’ Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. Veterinarian Camille DeClementi, a senior toxicologist with the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center, said any product with a warning for children isn’t appropriate for pets and recommended keeping animals away from any cleaning activity. San Jose Mercury News (Calif.) (free registration)/The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES—As the time nears for spring cleaning and companies offer more environmentally friendly alternatives to toxic cleaners, veterinarians say pet owners should keep in mind that what’s green to a human can be dangerous—even deadly—to animals.

“People expose their animals without even realizing the risk,” said Dr. Karl Jandrey, who works in the emergency and critical care units at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at the University of California, Davis. “That’s the most common thing that happens when you come to our emergency room—the clients put their pets at risk because they were unaware of how significant the damage could be.”

Most household cleaners are safe if used as directed on labels, but pet owners who make their own cleansers using natural ingredients don’t have the warnings or instructions that come with commercial products.

Cats, for example, can get stomachaches from essential oils added for orange, lemon or peppermint scents in cleaners, said Dr. Camille DeClementi, a senior toxicologist at the Animal Poison Control Center run by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Urbana, Ill.

Most commercial green products are safe for animals, DeClementi said, but owners should still exercise the same precautions as with chemical alternatives, such as keeping pets away from an area being cleaned, not using sprays directly on a pet and making sure that dogs don’t chew on the

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If a product says “Keep out of reach of children,” keep it away from pets too, DeClementi said.

Caroline Golon, an Ohio mother of two children under 5 and owner of two Persian cats, said she became concerned about cleaning products before her children were born, when she noticed how often the cats jumped between floors and counters. The Columbus resident uses only unscented green products or vinegar and water to clean, a water-only steam mop on floors and washes the cats’ dishes and litter boxes with hot water and green dish soap.

“There are varying degrees of green, and there are a lot of mainstream brands now that have a green version. You have to do a little research to see what you like best,” said Golon, a pet blogger.

The “green” label on products can be misleading because it still can be dangerous, Jandrey added. “Some still have their own toxicities. In general, they probably are a little less toxic, but not free of toxic potential. They just have a need for a larger dose to cause the same kind of symptoms,” he said.

He cited antifreeze as an example. The pet-friendly version of antifreeze, propylene glycol, is “still an antifreeze product. It’s still intoxicating to patients, our dogs and cats. It’s just not as intoxicating as ethylene glycol.”

It takes more of the propylene glycol to be as deadly as the ethylene glycol, “but it is still intoxicating though it might say pet-friendly in the ads or on the bottle,” Jandrey said.

Labels can’t always account for every reaction, Jandrey said. “Each intoxicating product has different concentrations and each dog or cat, each species, has a different sensitivity to that product. So what might be intoxicating to a dog is really, really intoxicating to a cat because cats might be more sensitive,” he said.

Nancy Guberti, a New York City nutritionist and healthy lifestyle coach for the past 15 years, said some products will say green when they are not.

“Natural means nothing. The consumer has to be educated. It’s all about awareness,” she said.

Extra care also should be taken when cleaning around a pet’s area, such as its toys or bedding, the experts say. Don’t use fabric softener sheets that contain cationic detergents because they will give your pet—especially cats—stomach distress, DeClementi said, referring to a type of chemical soap that kills bacteria.

Such detergents and soaps, normally associated with helping to get clothes clean and fresh-smelling, can have chemicals that can sicken humans and pets alike.

Guberti switched to green cleaners out of necessity when her youngest son developed a liver disorder and many allergies. Guberti said the whole family became green—even their family’s 6-year-old Shih Tzu, Flower, because her son can’t hold Flower “if she is full of toxic chemicals or perfumes.”

She recalled how she took the dog to a groomer for the first time, and Flower came out covered in perfume. Guberti washed her again at home, and now she brings her own bottles to the groomer.

“I have a bottle of shampoo and a bottle of conditioner with her name on it. I always remind them: ‘No perfumes whatsoever,'” Guberti said.

Golon, who uses a maid service once a month, said she had the same problem when they brought their own products when they first started cleaning the house.

“I hadn’t thought about it but the smell was so overpowering, it really bothered me. I can just imagine what it was doing to the cats with their sensitivity to scents,” she said.

David Alvarez has a real love for his minpins.  He got his first dog Coco about four years ago and loved her personality so much that he didn’t hesitate when his cousin called offering to give him another one.  She had two little, active girls and having an active minpin in the house just wasn’t a good fit for her.  So, last summer David brought home his second minpin and promptly named her Kiki.

Sure enough, Kiki has a spectacular personality of her own.  Quiet during the day when she and Coco are home alone, Kiki becomes energetic and up for anything when David arrives home.  As soon as Kiki sees the leash, she goes bonkers with anticipation for the walk to come.  Usually David takes his two dogs for a long walk down to a cove near where he lives and lets them run around.  The favorite part of his day is seeing Coco and Kiki tearing off after each other.

About a week after David brought Kiki home, Kiki began vomiting and stopped eating and drinking.  Concerned, David brought her to his vet at Santa Margarita Animal Care to see if they could discover what was wrong with her.  Dr. Amy Parker was the attending veterinarian on this case and remembers it well.

When I felt her belly, I could feel a little mass effect in her abdomen associated with her GI track,” recalls Dr. Parker. “David had told me that she had torn apart a peepee pad and we worried that perhaps she had eaten some of that.  We wanted to do x-rays, at which point David informed us that he was financially constrained and probably wouldn’t be able to afford much.  Since Kiki was just a four month old puppy, we wanted to find a way to work with her and David, so we went ahead and ordered the x-rays which ended up indicating that she had a foreign contaminant in her body.”

The cost of the surgery was far beyond anything David could afford on his own. Although he just started working at the time he first got Coco, David’s finances were still in a bind.  David didn’t know what to do and couldn’t bear the thought of letting Kiki go.

“I told Dr. Parker I didn’t have any money, says David.  “When they told me that they would help me and that there were some foundations that might be able to help, too, I just couldn’t believe it.  They asked me to fill out paperwork, which I did right away, and I worked out a plan with them to get Kiki the help she needed”.

Between Santa Margarita Animal Care, the Angel Fund, and David, enough funds were collected to enable the surgery that Kiki so desperately needed.  Thankfully, the operation was a success and Kiki is back to running around the cove with David and Coco.

“We were very grateful to be able to help David,” says Dr. Parker.  “We just couldn’t euthanize this four month old baby, and this owner is working and trying to make a great life with his pets.  We wanted to help him in any way possible and we’re thankful the Angel Fund was part of that.”

David echoes the feeling of gratitude and has a message for Santa Margarita Animal Care and the Angel Fund. “I want to say thank you for helping me keep my pet around.”  He says, “She’s my companion, and it means the world to me that there are people out there who are actually willing to help other people with their difficult situations.”

More than half of cats are overweight, says the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, and the number of portly felines is up 90% from 2007, according to a report from Banfield Pet Hospital. Obesity can lead to health problems for cats, such as diabetes and arthritis, but the condition is preventable. This article lists some ways to help keep cats fit and trim, including regular veterinary exams, exercise and appropriate diet. ChicagoNow.com/Steve Dale’s Pet World blog

Loads of Americans have developed spare tires around their middles, and so have many of our pets. Cats are particularly portly; about 55 percent of tabbies are tubby, says the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention. Some suggest this is a conservative number.

According to the Banfield Pet Hospital 2012 State of Pet Health Report, there’s been a whopping 90 percent rise in overweight and obese cats since 2007. Yet, nearly 70 percent of cat owners say their purring pal is purr-fectly svelte. Cats don’t become hefty overnight, so some owners just can’t tell; without visiting a veterinarian, they have no idea what their pet weights. Other owners have a skewed idea of what cats should look like, thinking tubby is cute. Still other owners are simply in denial.

In any case, the rise of portly cats has become epidemic, and the impact is undeniable. Diabetes and arthritis have never been so prevalent in cats. In fact, behavior problems — which can lead to euthanasia — may be more common in overweight cats. For example, weight gain may contribute to arthritis, so it hurts kitty to step into the litter box or walk up/down the stairs leading to the box. Some pudgy cats can barely fit into a litter box. As a result, some have accidents and are relinquished to shelters or simply left outdoors to fend for themselves.

Some cancers are associated with obesity, and a lack of mental and physical exercise may heighten the probability of cognitive dysfunction (dementia) in older cats. Obese cats also have difficulty grooming themselves.

So, why are there so many tubby tabbies today? There are several explanations:

1. Spay/neuter: More cats than  ver are being spayed or neutered (about 90 percent), which is good. However, there’s a consequence to these procedures, which is seldom discussed. Cats who’ve been “fixed” do experience a drop in energy needs, yet tend to be hungrier. As a result, they have a tendency to beg for table food, or even cat food, often “training” their people to give it to them. This eventually becomes a vicious cycle: The cats pack on pounds as their metabolism slows, making exercise less likely, further boosting weight gain.

2. Free feeding: Leaving food out 24/7 in multi-cat homes makes it impossible for owners to keep track of which cat has eaten what. Cats do train us very well as their automatic food dispensers.

3. Indoors only: Studies show outdoor cats spend about 17 percent of their time traveling/hunting. Indoor-only cats are safer, but do spend far more time catnapping.

So, what to do? Exercise isn’t only important for dogs and people. Use an interactive toy to engage your kitty. Hide food treats in puzzle balls and toys around the house when you’re not home so your little lion can “hunt.” Enrich your cat’s environment by providing toys and lots of places to climb and scratch. Note: Toys can be as simple as an empty box or plastic cap from a milk bottle.

Some indoor cats enjoy walking outside on a leash and harness. “Catios” are the cat’s meow — a trend in New York City and elsewhere whereby patios and porches are enclosed, keeping felines in and potential predators out. Learn more about enriching your pet’s environment in a free handout from the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine,  Dr. Tony Buffington’s Indoor Pet Initiative.

For spayed/neutered cats yet to win the battle of the bulge, there’s good news. The new Spayed/Neutered cat food from Royal Canin provides a unique blend of appetite-curbing fibers, and the donut-shaped kibble slows down cats’ eating, (There’s a Spayed/Neutered diet available for kittens to senior cats, all age groups.)

Remember that a year in a cat’s life is equivalent to about four or six human years. Make sure your pet sees a veterinarian at least once a year for preventive care, which includes being weighed. Owners are often unaware their cat has become plump. Veterinarians are the best source of advice on weight loss. Beware: Crash diets may cause fatty liver disease, which can be fatal.

Diabetes can be difficult for pet owners to recognize (another reason for veterinary visits). Diabetic cats do require insulin, such as ProZinc, specifically created for cats. It turns out that with exercise and a high protein/low carbohydrate diet, weight loss may follow, and some cats then go into remission.

Through diet and scheduled feedings, even spayed/neutered cats may not be so determined to eat. And for those who are already rotund, veterinarians can create a plan to enhance your cat’s quality of life, and maybe even extend the pet’s life.

Veterinarian Anna O’Brien explains the causes and treatment of two common equine eye emergencies: corneal ulcers and eyelid lacerations. Items commonly found in the barn are often the culprit behind these traumatic injuries, Dr. O’Brien writes, but timely and appropriate veterinary care is usually enough to treat them effectively.

Unlike cattle, sheep, and goats, where the majority of eye issues are infectious, the majority of equine eye problems I see are trauma-related and result in corneal ulcerations.
It is my scientific opinion that horse eyes seem predisposed to getting poked out. This is most likely due to their anatomical location, which is namely right on the corners of the head, sticking out like headlights on an old VW Bug. Sharp objects apparently roam the Earth searching for horse eyes.

One of the most common culprits is, unfairly, the very food they eat. Long wiry pieces of hay shooting out of the trough or hay net are almost always in the “Usual Suspect” lineup when we play the game, “Who Poked Out My Horse’s Eye?”
As with cattle and small ruminants with inflamed and infected eyes, horses with corneal ulcerations exhibit similar signs. Horse owners will observe a forcefully closed eye, excessive tearing, with perhaps some head shyness or avoidance of light, depending on the disposition of the horse. As hours pass, the cornea may become cloudy, and white or yellowish discharge instead of tears may weep from the eye.
The beginning of any emergency equine exam starts with sedation and a nerve block of the upper eyelid to allow me to open the eye wide. Then, if I suspect trauma and corneal damage, I’ll apply a special stain to the eye. This stain will glow neon green if the delicate tissue underneath the outer layer of the cornea is exposed due to ulceration. Sometimes the area of ulceration is literally the size of a needlepoint. But no matter what the size, ulceration is ulceration and requires treatment.
Most mild corneal ulcerations can be treated with topical antibiotic ointment and some pain medication. Others are more complicated. If the ulcer is large, healthy epithelial tissue sometimes has difficulty adhering to the cornea, and healing is non-productive. If this is the case, we sometimes have to scrape the eye to remove the old tissue, giving the new tissue something to adhere to.
Other times, the ulceration has allowed bacteria inside the eye, setting up what is called a stromal abscess. These can be very difficult to treat, requiring intensely frequent applications of multiple types of medications. At the very worst, an ulcer can be deep enough to rupture the eye. This is why eye issues are always an emergency, since you can never be sure at first exactly how deep the problem really is.
Eyelid lacerations are another extremely common equine eye problem. Like the ubiquitous hay stalk waiting to cause a corneal ulcer, another common barn object is frequently the cause of dangling eyelids: the hooks at the ends of water bucket handles. These curved metal pieces on the sides of hanging buckets just seem to jump out at horse eyes and grab on to upper eyelids for dear life, resulting in a gruesome find for the owner the next morning.
Luckily, eyelid lacerations usually look much worse than they really are. They bleed a lot and swell a lot, making the horse look like he’s been in a bar fight involving brass knuckles and a switchblade. However, after sedation and nerve blocks and a little careful stitching with very fine suture material and a teeny tiny needle, the horse usually comes out of it looking much better. The only challenge is not letting the horse rub his head once the stitches become itchy a few days later.
Sometimes with an eyelid laceration, the owner will ask why I don’t just trim off the lacerated portion rather than sew it back on. The answer is that horse’s eyes are so big, they need all the lid they can get. Eyelids are the best protection the eyeball has against the pokey world and even a small missing portion can sometimes result in chronic eye irritation.
Although we’ve covered the traumatic cases of equine eye emergencies, we haven’t even touched on things like cancer of the eye and a weird thing only horses get called “moon blindness.” Shall we say, stay tuned?

While there are lifestyle changes that can help alleviate arthritic pain in pets, such as soft beds, glucosamine supplements, proper exercise and weight management, veterinarian Marty Becker suggests owners get educated about the medications available to help treat chronic pain in pets. Veterinarians can provide medications that are safe and effective and tailored for each pet’s needs. The Sacramento Bee (Calif.) (free registration)

There are things you can do to treat your dog’s arthritis without using a prescription pain medication from your veterinarian, such as providing soft beds (warmed in the winter), glucosamine supplements and regular moderate exercise, and getting your pet down to a proper weight. But if these measures are not enough, you need to discuss effective prescription pain control with your veterinarian.

I know a little something about chronic pain, thanks to a chronic neurological condition, and I can tell you it’s a miserable way to spend a life. And yet so many pets are in such misery because their owners have “heard” that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are deadly.

While no medication, however helpful, is without the potential for side effects (including very serious ones), the NSAIDs available from your veterinarian have high marks for safety as long as precautionary protocols are followed, including diagnostic tests to spot possible problems with internal organs.

Discuss all your options and all the precautions, and work with your veterinarian to ease your pet’s suffering while minimizing the potential for side effects. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has an excellent free publication on NSAIDs (tinyurl.com/petpainmeds), and I encourage you to download it.

– Dr. Marty Becker

It takes more than a love of cats to care for them properly, according to veterinarian Lorie Huston. Prospective owners should think through the decision to add a cat to the family, and be prepared for a lifelong commitment to the animal’s care and health, Dr. Huston notes. Such a commitment includes meeting the cat’s basic needs but also providing enrichment, veterinary care and including the pet in planning for an emergency. PetMD.com

February is National Pet Dental Health Month, but pets’ oral health should be a year-round priority because dental disease can lead to systemic problems involving the liver, kidneys and heart, writes veterinarian Karen Dye. Fear of anesthesia is not a reason to forgo veterinary dental cleanings, Dr. Dye notes, because thorough lab tests before the procedure, appropriate anesthetic choices and monitoring during anesthesia all tailored to a specific breed and animal help ensure a pet’s safety. The Culpeper Star-Exponent (Va.)

Q:  I know February is National Pet Dental Health Month, but I am worried about the risk of anesthesia.

A:  Anesthesia always involves some risk, but there are many precautions that can make anesthesia as safe as possible.  The risks of dental disease usually outweigh the risks of anesthesia.  Bacteria from dental disease can affect the whole body including the heart, liver and kidneys.

At my practice, we use only uses the safest, most modern anesthetic medications for any procedure.  Most of these drugs are used every day in human hospitals.  Your pet will benefit from the advanced safety of modern anesthesia.  State of the art computerized monitoring equipment is also used to keep every patient as safe as possible.  Your pet’s heart rate, EKG, respiration, blood oxygen saturation, and core body temperature will be constantly monitored during the procedure using the latest VetSpecs PC-VSM3 multi-parameter digital anesthetic monitor.

Tracheal intubation during general anesthesia maintains adequate ventilation.  The simple act of placing a tracheal tube will ensure your pet receives enough oxygen throughout the procedure, a key component in anesthesia safety.

Intravenous fluid therapy will help protect your pet’s kidneys from damage during anesthesia.  Healthy kidneys are vital to a long, happy life.  No human hospital would ever perform general anesthesia without IV fluids, yet many veterinary hospitals skip this important step.  The IV catheter placed to administer fluids can also be life-saving.  If minor abnormalities occur during the procedure, appropriate medications can be rapidly administered intravenously when a catheter is present.  With early detection from a computerized monitor, and speedy treatment through a catheter, our medical team can often keep small problems from turning into larger ones.

To protect against dangerously low body temperature, we use a high tech water circulating heating pad system.  This system will not burn the patient.  When we say as safe as possible, we mean it.

From the moment your pet is anesthetized until after he or she wakes up, a highly educated member of our medical team is by his or her side.  No anesthetized patient is ever left alone, not even for a second.  Our professional staff regularly attends continuing education courses on the newest, safest anesthetic techniques.  We will be there to hold your pet’s paw.

We use breed-specific profiling as well.  Certain breeds carry specific predispositions that should be addressed prior to anesthesia.  Examples include clotting disorders in Dobermans, heart murmurs in Maine Coon cats, and drug sensitivities in Greyhounds.  Brachycephalic breeds (bulldogs, pugs, Boston terriers, Pekingese) can have brachycephalic syndrome with increased respiratory effort with the potential for upper airway obstruction.  We avoid excessive sedation with brachycephalic breeds, administering pre-medications at half-dose.  We also pre-oxygenate brachycephalic breeds and use short-acting induction agents.  Appropriate sized tracheal tubes are selected and extubation does not occur until your pet is sitting up, vigorous, bright and alert.  Sighthounds (greyhounds, whippets, Borzoi, Salukis) have delayed metabolism, lower body fat percentage and are at risk for hypothermia.  These risks are kept very low since we use high tech monitoring equipment and warm water circulating heating pads.  Herding breeds (collies, shelties, Australian shepherds and border collies) can have a mutation resulting in accumulation of certain drugs in the cerebral spinal fluid, followed by excessive sedation and respiratory depression.  For these patients, we reduce certain medications by 25% and monitor carefully.

In conclusion, it is important to keep your pet healthy and dental health is a critical component of overall health and well being.  Modern protocols, like the ones at Clevengers Corner Veterinary Care, minimize anesthetic risk and maximize the benefit of a clean, healthy mouth.

Dr. Dye practices companion animal medicine and surgery at Clevengers Corner Veterinary Care.  She and Dr. Watts can be reached at (540)428-1000 or through ClevengersCorner.com.

While most pets who fly the friendly skies arrive at their destination unscathed, there have been cases of injury and death in some, and this article provides some tips for owners to help ensure the safety of their animals during flight. Veterinarian Jay King suggests getting pets used to the crate they will fly in beforehand, and he says pets’ disposition and the weather should be taken into consideration before putting animals on a flight. The ASPCA recommends ensuring your animal is up to date on vaccinations and that the collar and crate are labeled appropriately. Freezing a dish of water ensures pets have water to drink when they’re ready for it. St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Along for the Ride blog

In November 2010, a French bulldog died sometime during a pair of Continental Airlines flights between St. Louis and Seattle.

During a necropsy of the 11/2-year-old dog at the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, a “small amount of shredded newspaper” was found partially obstructing the opening of the dog’s larynx. The dog’s death was determined to be unrelated to the airline’s handling of the pet.

The cursory account is one of dozens that airlines have filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation in recent years in response to federal reporting rules.

First, it should be noted that the overwhelming majority of pets and other animals that travel by air suffer no serious consequences. Continental shipped 6,725 animals in November 2010 with only one incident.

Still, there are enough reports of animal injuries and deaths to gain some insights into these worst cases. During 2012, for instance, 58 animals were lost, injured or died, during air transportation. In 2011, there were 46. In 2010, the number was 57.

Dr. Jay King of the Watson Road Veterinary Clinic said that “99.9 percent of the time, it is noneventful” to fly with your pet. But there are steps you can take to prevent harm from coming to your family pet during a flight.

If your pet is flying in a crate, take the time for the animal to become familiar with it beforehand.

Drive the pet around town to get accustomed to the notion of travel. Tranquilizers may help your dog or cat handle the stress of air travel, King said, but they can also affect an animal’s ability to regulate its body temperature.

In one case, records show, an English bulldog died after its owner administered a dose of Xanax before a flight in late December from Orlando, Fla., to Seattle.

Recognize that some pets — just like some pet owners — are not comfortable with air travel. They can suffer panic attacks or separation anxiety, King said.

“They are in a weird situation,” King said. “They are put in a cargo hold. Their ears pop. Sometimes they will really freak out.”

Take weather into account, he said. If it is too hot or too cold, the airline may not let your pet fly if the animal is going to be shipped in the cargo hold.

Many of the reports filed during the last three years involved dogs that injured themselves while trying to chew their way out of transport crates. After one Alaska Airlines flight touched down in Seattle last December, ramp workers noticed that a dog’s mouth was stuck on the metal wires of the kennel door, according to one report. Workers had to cut a few of the wires to free the dog’s mouth.

The owners told the airline the dog suffers from “extreme separation anxiety,” and that they would be taking it to a veterinarian to check for any injuries to its mouth.

Many of the mishaps involved international flights, which King said can amount to “a nightmare” because of the extra steps required.

In June 2011, an 8-month-old chinchilla that was originally loaded onto a Delta Air Lines flight at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport was discovered dead at its ultimate destination, Moscow.

Delta officials reported that the chinchilla was “in good condition” at JFK International Airport in New York before it was loaded onto the final flight to Moscow. Once it got there, however, the chinchilla was dead. During a necropsy, the doctor determined that “to the best of our knowledge, cause of death was due to a septic gastroenteritis or acute heart failure from stress,” the report showed.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals recommends against flying with your pet — unless it is going to fly with you in the cabin. If you must transport a pet as cargo on a commercial flight, here are some tips:

• Make sure all vaccinations are up to date and get a health certificate from your veterinarian within 10 days of the trip.
• Don’t forget to make sure your pet has a collar and an identification tag, and a microchip if possible. The collar should include information about your destination, in case the animal escapes.
• Choose a direct flight whenever possible.
• Pick a USDA-approved shipping crate, and write “live animal” in one-inch letters on the top and at least one side. Affix arrows to show the upright position of the crate.
• Freeze a small dish of water the night before the trip so it won’t spill while loading. It should be melted by the time your pet is thirsty. King says ice cubes work too.

Your pet is family, so take the extra time to ensure the flight ends happily.

Neutering dogs may impact the occurrence of disorders including hip dysplasia, cranial cruciate ligament tears, lymphosarcoma, mast cell tumors and hemangiosarcomas, according to a study led by veterinarian Benjamin Hart at the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine. Researchers evaluated the medical records of 759 golden retrievers, male and female, finding that early and late sterilization were associated with an increased occurrence of certain disorders. However, Dr. Hart noted that disease vulnerability may vary among breeds, and any connection between neutering and health conditions is likely multifaceted. PhysOrg.com

The study, which examined the health records of 759 golden retrievers, found a surprising doubling of hip dysplasia among male dogs neutered before one year of age. This and other results will be published today (Feb. 13) in the online scientific journal PLOS ONE. “The study results indicate that dog owners and service-dog trainers should carefully consider when to have their male or female dogs neutered,” said lead investigator Benjamin Hart, a distinguished professor emeritus in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. “It is important to remember, however, that because different dog breeds have different vulnerabilities to various diseases, the effects of early and late neutering also may vary from breed to breed,” he said. While results of the new study are revealing, Hart said the relationship between neutering and disease-risk remains a complex issue. For example, the increased incidence of joint diseases among early-neutered dogs is likely a combination of the effect of neutering on the young dog’s growth plates as well as the increase in weight on the joints that is commonly seen in neutered dogs. Dog owners in the United States are overwhelmingly choosing to neuter their dogs, in large part to prevent pet overpopulation or avoid unwanted behaviors. In the U.S., surgical neutering—known as spaying in females—is usually done when the dog is less than one year old. In Europe, however, neutering is generally avoided by owners and trainers and not promoted by animal health authorities, Hart said. During the past decade, some studies have indicated that neutering can have several adverse health effects for certain dog breeds. Those studies examined individual diseases using data drawn from one breed or pooled from several breeds. Against that backdrop, Hart and colleagues launched their study, using a single hospital database. The study was designed to examine the effects of neutering on the risks of several diseases in the same breed, distinguishing between males and females and between early or late neutering and non-neutering.                                        google_protectAndRun(“render_ads.js::google_render_ad”, google_handleError, google_render_ad);     The researchers chose to focus on the golden retriever because it is one of the most popular breeds in the U.S. and Europe and is vulnerable to various cancers and joint disorders. The breed also is favored for work as a service dog. The research team reviewed the records of female and male golden retrievers, ranging in age from 1 to 8 years, that had been examined at UC Davis’ William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital for two joint disorders and three cancers: hip dysplasia, cranial cruciate ligament tear, lymphosarcoma, hemangiosarcoma and mast cell tumor. The dogs were classified as intact (not neutered), neutered early (before 12 months age), or neutered late (at or after 12 months age). Joint disorders and cancers are of particular interest because neutering removes the male dog’s testes and the female’s ovaries, interrupting production of certain hormones that play key roles in important body processes such as closure of bone growth plates, and regulation of the estrous cycle in female dogs. The study revealed that, for all five diseases analyzed, the disease rates were significantly higher in both males and females that were neutered either early or late compared with intact (non-neutered) dogs. Specifically, early neutering was associated with an increase in the occurrence of hip dysplasia, cranial cruciate ligament tear and lymphosarcoma in males and of cranial cruciate ligament tear in females. Late neutering was associated with the subsequent occurrence of mast cell tumors and hemangiosarcoma in females. In most areas, the findings of this study were consistent with earlier studies, suggesting similar increases in disease risks. The new study, however, was the first to specifically report an increased risk of late neutering for mast cell tumors and hemangiosarcoma. Furthermore, the new study showed a surprising 100 percent increase, or doubling, of the incidence of hip dysplasia among early-neutered males. Earlier studies had reported a 17 percent increase among all neutered dogs compared to all non-neutered dogs, indicating the importance of the new study in making gender and age-of-neutering comparisons. More information: dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0055937Journal reference: PLoS ONE Provided by UC Davis
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2013-02-golden-neutering-affects-dog-health.html#jCp

Veterinarian Karen Dye explains two canine intestinal disorders: hemorrhagic gastroenteritis and inflammatory bowel disease. The symptoms of intestinal disease are nonspecific, but characteristics such as breed, as well as blood tests of metrics such as packed cell volume, help the veterinarian pinpoint the cause, Dr. Dye writes. The recommended treatment varies depending on the diagnosis but usually includes fluids, medications and dietary changes. The Culpeper Star-Exponent (Va.)

Ask Dr. Dye – Dr. Karen Dye The Daily Progress