Posts in Category: Medical Issues

A study comparing canine and human B-cell lymphoma found molecular similarities between the cancers, allowing researchers to better understand the origins of the disease in both species. Researchers are optimistic that studies and clinical trials in dogs will yield treatment avenues for humans, too. “Dogs are good models to study, because it will also be possible to study shared risk factors, in the environment, for example, that might predispose both humans and dogs to get lymphoma. Our knowledge helps dogs and humans with lymphoma,” said study author and physician Kristy Richards. ScienceDaily (6/25)

June 25, 2013 — Humans and their pet dogs are close, so close that they both develop a type of cancer called diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. In humans it’s the most common lymphoma subtype while in dogs, it’s one of the most common cancers in veterinary oncology.

Veterinarian Jeff Kahler explains that dogs often exhibit skin irritation in response to inhaled allergens, and owners must develop a plan with their veterinarian to get symptoms under control. Testing for most, but not all, allergens often aids in the development of a treatment plan, Dr. Kahler writes. Different therapies including desensitizing injections and anti-inflammatory medication, as well as additional testing for secondary infections, may be part of the plan, but without treatment, Dr. Kahler says, the allergies are likely to get worse. The Sacramento Bee (Calif.)/The Modesto Bee (Calif.) (6/26)

By JEFF KAHLER, D.V.M.
The Modesto Bee

Bogie licks and chews at his feet to the point that they are now red and swollen. Pauline says her dog has been treated with various antibiotics and corticosteroids, but as the dosage of cortisone pills decreases, the incessant licking increases. Pauline has been told Bogie has allergies, and I would have to agree.

Inhaled allergens in humans commonly cause eye irritation. In dogs, these types of allergies can cause itchy skin. So can contact allergies.

Allergies usually worsen with time as the response to them gets more and more intense, because the immune system is hyper-reacting to something in the environment. Over time, that response becomes more exaggerated.

The self-trauma stemming from the allergic response can exacerbate the inflammation and can lead to bacterial infections or a yeast infection.

Bogie needs to be tested for inhaled allergies specific to his geographic area – California’s Central Valley. This can be done through blood or skin testing. Unfortunately, it is not possible to test for every possible allergen, so a definitive diagnosis may still elude us even with the testing. This, however, is not common.

He needs cultures for bacteria and skin swabs for microscopic examination before a treatment plan can be formulated. Once the results are in from the cultures, treatment can start. I would also start anti-inflammatory treatment to try and bring Bogie some much-needed relief. The medications used for these therapies will be determined by his veterinarian.

When the allergy testing results are in, the next step is to determine if allergy injections are necessary. This therapy can usually be done at home and can have excellent results in desensitizing Bogie to whatever is causing the irritation. Not all patients respond well to desensitization, and these patients will likely have to be medicated when the symptoms warrant.

There are other possible allergic conditions that might be causing Bogie’s condition. He may need to have a diet assessment, for example, to determine if a diet allergy is suspected.

Obviously, cases like Bogie’s are complex and there is no single therapy. One thing is certain: Bogie is miserable and needs to visit his veterinarian for a treatment that results in relief.

(Jeff Kahler is a veterinarian in Modesto, Calif. Questions can be submitted to Your Pet in care of LifeStyles, The Modesto Bee, P.O. Box 5256, Modesto CA 95352.)

Dozens of dogs in the Massachusetts counties of Berkshire and Worcester have been diagnosed with parvovirus, and a number have died. All the affected animals had never received or were behind on vaccines, officials said. There’s no cure for parvo, and staying current on vaccines is the best way to prevent the illness, says North Adams, Mass., veterinarian Rebecca Mattson. Parvo is spread by ingesting fecal material, and it is easily picked up, Dr. Mattson says, noting dogs may ingest the pathogen simply by cleaning their feet after walking on contaminated pavement. North Adams Transcript (Mass.) (6/19)

Rebecca Mattson, a veterinarian at Greylock Animal Hospital in North Adams, said the practice has seen two dogs affected by outbreak of Canine Parvovirus.

“There’s no treatment, there’s no cure,” she said. “There’s only supportive care and prevention.”

On Friday, the state Department of Agricultural Resources’ Division of Animal Health announced that dozens of dogs in Berkshire and Worcester counties have been affected by the virus, and several have died or had to be euthanized due to severe illness. According to the release, all of the dogs effected by the outbreak had never been vaccinated or were behind on their shots.

“In general, Parvo tends to be a puppy virus,” Mattson said. “But with this particular strain, they have seen it in a couple of adult dogs who were behind on their vaccines.”

A dog infected with Parvovirus will show gastrointestinal symptoms including diarrhea, vomiting, and loss of appetite, Mattson said. A major reason Parvovirus is so devastating, she explained, is that it attacks rapidly dividing cells in the body.

“That includes the lining of the intestine, certain parts of the developing brain, and bone marrow,” she said. “It can also suppress the immune system, which it why it can be so fatal.”

The virus

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is spread by the ingestion of fecal material, which Mattson said isn’t as hard as people realize — dogs clean their feet by licking them, she said, and can easily ingest contaminated material.

In addition, the virus, which is spread dog-to-dog, is resilient, she said.

“You have to bleach it or use specific cleaners,” she said. “One of the outbreak areas is next to the [Ashuwillticook] Rail Train. Pavement is not automatically safe unless it’s been bleached.”

The best way to protect their pets is through vaccination, Mattson said. In addition, a test is available to see if a dog is carrying the virus, she said.

Puppies can begin receiving the three shots needed as early as six to eight weeks, Mattson said. Adult dogs should get a booster shot annually, she said. Those with young dogs who are in the process of being vaccinated should avoid high-dog traffic areas, she added.

Lindsay Cermak, a veterinarian at North County Veterinary Hospital, said the practice hasn’t seen any dogs affected yet.

“If your dog is acting sick in any way, you should see your vet as soon as possible,” she said.

Cermak said her practice is planning on being more vigilant in testing for Parvovirus, including in older dogs.

“If anyone is worried, don’t hesitate to have them tested. The sooner you start treatment, the better they do,” she said.

To reach Edward Damon, email
edamon@thetranscript.com.

Substances Poisonous to your Pet

Q, a yearling Rocky Mounted Saddle Horse in Washington state, recovered from proliferative enteropathy, a rare infection caused by the bacterium Lawsonia intracellularis. Veterinarian Chantal Rothschild suspected the rare infection after blood tests showed extremely low protein levels, a key indicator of the infection, which often leaves the animal unable to absorb dietary protein. Dr. Rothschild initiated treatment before receiving test results, saying, “If we’d waited, we might not have been able to save him.” Q’s treatment and recovery earned the case recognition from the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. The Horse (6/14)

Trainer Julie Blacklow thought Q’s quiet demeanor and willing attitude had to do with her team’s excellent training skills at Rosebud River Ranch in Snoqualmie, Wash. In reality, the yearling Rocky Mounted Saddle Horse gelding was critically sick with proliferative enteropathy, a diseased caused by the bacterium Lawsonia intracellularis and something Blacklow, a veteran horsewoman, had never heard of.

She’s not alone.

The American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) is trying to change that by making owners more aware of L. intracellularis in horses. At the 2013 ACVIM Forum in Seattle, the organization introduced Q as part of its “Animal Survivor” program, which highlights animals that—thanks to advances in veterinary internal medicine—have lived through severe disease.

Q’s survival story started when he spiked a temperature of 104°F (99-101°F is normal). He also became lethargic and stopped eating, a sign to Blacklow that something was very wrong with the young horse. After an inconclusive initial exam by a general practitioner, Blacklow sought a specialist’s second opinion. She contacted Chantal Rothschild, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, of Northwest Equine Veterinary Associates in Maple Valley, Wash.

Rothschild performed ultrasounds of Q’s chest and abdomen looking for the source of the infection causing his fever. Then the gelding’s blood work came back with extremely low protein levels. This is a telltale clinical sign of proliferative enteropathy, a spreading infection of the intestine most common in foals two to seven months old that renders the animal unable to absorb protein from the diet. Edema (swelling) had also developed around the horse’s jaw and down into his chest.

L. interacellularis is common in pigs, and certain wild animals are thought to carry it, Rothschild said, adding that the disease is believed to be contracted when horses ingest bacteria from infected animal feces. Rothschild had treated equine cases during her time practicing in Texas and at Washington State University on the eastern edge of the state. “But I’d never seen a case in the Seattle area,” she said.

After examining Q, Rothschild recommended treating him for proliferative enteropathy immediately rather than waiting for test results confirming L. interacellularis infection. “It would take too long to get a positive test back, so I asked the owners to trust me,” Rothschild said. “If we’d waited we might not have been able to save him.”

Q responded within three days and started acting less like the calm horse Blacklow knew and more like an energetic youngster. “He was trying to bite us, and we couldn’t catch him,” Blacklow said about Q’s reversal. “I called Dr. Rothschild and told her.”

“I was like, ‘Yay! That’s what we want!’” Rothschild said.

Q’s intensive treatment continued for six weeks, multiple times per day, and required dedication from the farm’s workers and the horse’s patience. Q was an excellent patient, Blacklow reported, and has since made what she considers a full recovery.

“Sometimes you have patients that really want to live, and Q was one of those,” Rothschild said. “He helped us help him.”

In addition to Q, the ACVIM named four dogs with diseases ranging from cancer to neurologic conditions as Animal Survivors. For more information visit www.WeAreAnimalSurvivors.org.

Cancer is the foremost killer of older dogs and cats, but pets stricken with the disease are gaining new options from clinical trials for new treatments that hold promise for helping animals and people. A team of physicians and veterinarians has launched the National Veterinary Cancer Registry to help pet owners find trials that might offer their animals more time while helping advance science. Cats and dogs are often afflicted with many of the same types of cancers as people, including lymphoma, leukemia and bone cancer.

U.S. News & World Report/HealthDay News (6/14)

By Barbara Bronson Gray
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, June 13 (HealthDay News) — If you hear that a friend’s beloved family member has joined a clinical trial for cancer treatment, don’t assume the patient is human.

Cancer is the leading cause of death in older dogs and cats, and clinical trials offer hope that effective medications will be developed — for humans and their four-legged friends, cancer experts say.

The new National Veterinary Cancer Registry, launched last month by a national team of animal and human cancer doctors, will point pet owners toward clinical trials that might benefit their beloved companions and speed up the development of life-saving therapies for humans.

“We will be able to decrease the cost and beat the time involved in drug discovery,” said the registry’s founder, Dr. Theresa Fossum, a professor of surgery at Texas A&M University’s college of veterinary medicine.

Because many similar diseases affect people and their animals, veterinarians and physicians say a lot can be learned from studying how treatments work in cats and dogs.

The drug-assessment process could be accelerated by a simple fact: dogs age many times faster than humans, and their cancers progress more rapidly too. Also, many canine and feline cancers — including sarcoma; non-Hodgkin lymphoma; leukemia; mesothelioma; and bone, ovarian, kidney, uterine and oral cancers — are virtually the same cancers humans have.

Experts not involved with the registry said the concept of the database looks promising.

“These clinical trials would be more real-world than a lab experiment,” said Dr. Peter Rabinowitz, associate professor of medicine at Yale School of Medicine and head of the Yale Human Animal Medicine Project, which studies clinical connections between human and animal medicine.

Dogs often are an interesting model for better understanding environmentally induced cancers, Rabinowitz said. “Asbestos causes cancer in humans 35 years [after exposure], but if you’re a dog, you get it in four to five years, so we can see how the cancers develop more naturally,” he said.

Fossum said she has always been bothered by the slow and cumbersome way drugs are tested. “If it’s a cancer drug, they’re going to put a human tumor in a mouse … but it’s not very predictive of how drugs will work in people,” she said.

Then, after tests to see if the drugs might be toxic in humans, the drugs are evaluated in human clinical trials, which take more than a decade to conduct. “So the drugs that are coming out now were starting [to be evaluated] 12 years ago,” she said.

Testing the drugs in pets speeds up the process, allowing researchers to determine if a medication works before taking it to human clinical trials, Fossum said. With a pet owner’s informed consent, “we can try a new drug that seems promising a lot sooner,” she said.

The concept of a cancer database for dogs and cats could expand to include other diseases, such as diabetes. About 800,000 dogs have type 1 diabetes in the United States, Fossum said. Other conditions that a veterinary registry could serve include endocrine, neurological and cardiac issues.

About 6 million dogs and 6 million cats in the United States receive a cancer diagnosis each year, according to the Animal Cancer Foundation, in Norwalk, Conn. If your dog or cat is one of them, you can register your pet with the National Veterinary Cancer Registry.

The registry was created by a consortium of animal and human cancer doctors, including specialists from the Baylor Healthcare System in Texas, the Texas Veterinary Oncology Group and the CARE Foundation, a Florida-based animal rescue and wildlife education organization.

Because the registry is new, it may take some time before effective clinical trial matchmaking can occur between animals and drug developers, Fossum said.

More information

Learn more about the connection between animal and human health from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

University of Sydney veterinarian Vanessa Barrs began investigating in 2006 after three cats presented with unusual infections that spread from the nasal cavity to create growths in the eye socket. After six years of research, Dr. Barrs and an international team of experts identified the fungus as Aspergillus felis, a newly identified species with the power to cause dangerous respiratory infections in people as well as cats. The pathogen may be confused with the more easily treated Aspergillus fumigatus, Dr. Barrs said. PhysOrg.com (6/18)

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Jun 1, 2013 By: Timothy M. Fan, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (internal medicine, oncology) VETERINARY MEDICINE

Q. I’ve heard about studies linking neutered dogs with an increased cancer risk. Should I take this into consideration before performing routine spays and castrations?

Dr. Timothy M. Fan

A. The epidemiologic findings in a recent study provide indirect and foundational evidence for the participation of gonadal status in susceptibility to or protection from various categorical causes of death in companion dogs.¹ Based on the retrospective analysis of a very large cohort of female and male dogs, which were either gonadally sterilized (neutered) or intact, the findings of the study indicate that gonadal sterilization not only significantly impacts when companion dogs might die, but also provides novel information pertaining to why individuals die.

The study’s specifics

Specifically, gonadal sterilization significantly increased life expectancy in both male and female dogs by 13.8% and 26.8%, respectively, in comparison to sexually intact individuals. Importantly, the study findings identified a substantial effect of gonadal sterilization on the cause of death, with sterilization of dogs being significantly protective for fatality associated with various categorical pathologic processes including infectious, traumatic, vascular, and degenerative disease processes.

In contrast, sterilized dogs were significantly more likely to experience fatality associated with select neoplastic and immune-mediated processes. The identified association between increased fatalities of sterilized dogs from either neoplastic or immune-mediated diseases has the potential to direct future hypothesis-driven experiments that specifically address the participatory roles of chronic gonadal hormone exposure on tumorigenesis and immune surveillance.

In the context of cancer, sterilized dogs had a significantly increased risk of death, independent of age, associated with transitional cell carcinoma, osteosarcoma, lymphoma, and mast cell tumors; however, the increased death risk from cancer was not preserved across all tumor histologies, as sterilization status did not significantly influence the incidence of mortality in dogs with other common cancers such as prostate carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma.

More research needed

Based on these initial epidemiologic study observations, prospective investigations addressing the putative and mechanistic roles of chronic gonadal hormone exposure and specific cancer-related death risks are well-justified. However, at this point before additional hypothesis-driven experiments can be conducted, it would be premature and imprudent to recommend the avoidance of elective gonadal sterilization because of concerns of increased death risk from cancer in companion dogs. Future rigorous and definitive cause-and-effect scientific studies are required before changes in sterilization practices should be considered.

Timothy M. Fan, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (internal medicine, oncology)
Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine
College of Veterinary Medicine
University of Illinois
Urbana, Ill.

REFERENCE

1. Hoffman JM, Creevy KE, Promislow DE. Reproductive capability is associated with lifespan and cause of death in companion dogs. PLoS One 2013;8(4):e61082.

Pets with allergies are often extremely itchy and uncomfortable, sometimes causing harm with their excessive scratching, writes veterinarian Donna Solomon. Most commonly, dogs exhibit allergic symptoms through their skin, respiratory tract and gastrointestinal tract, according to Dr. Solomon. Coordinating diagnosis and care with a veterinarian is the best way to establish a plan that will fit each pet’s symptoms. The Huffington Post/The Blog (6/4)

We all scratch our head or rub our eyes once in a while and think nothing more about it. Most dogs and cats will occasionally lick their feet or rub their face against the carpet and it too, means absolutely nothing. There are some pets, however, that are consumed by this activity to the point that they traumatize their skin till its raw and inflamed. These pets are suffering and need a therapeutic plan of action to help control their itching.

Itchy pets may be suffering from parasites, like fleas and mites, food allergies, autoimmune diseases, skin infections, inhalant allergies or contact dermatitis. The exact etiology for a pet’s itchy behavior can be determined by a comprehensive physical examination by a veterinarian along with a good history provided by its pet owner. Regardless of the cause, the following discussion hopefully will be helpful to a pet owner and their itchy pet.

My response to six questions a pet owner may ask about their itchy pet:

1. What are the symptoms of an allergic pet? A classic allergy patient may have all or some of the following symptoms, which I am going to group into two broad, but not exclusive, categories: the respiratory allergy patient and the dermatological (skin) patient. Similar to people, the respiratory allergy pet may have red eyes, clear runny nose, dry cough and sneeze. The dermatological allergy patient may scratch its ears, rub its face, lick its paws and anus and scratch its sides and between its legs. For food allergy patients, it is rare for them to show just gastrointestinal signs like vomiting or diarrhea. They frequently show dermatological signs as well. Your allergy patient may do all of the above with varying severity or maybe just do one or two of these activities.
2. How do I know if my itchy pet has allergies? Your history plus a good physical examination by your veterinarian will help lead to the appropriate diagnosis. In addition, your veterinarian can collect a blood sample and send it to their laboratory to identify which allergens your pet is allergic to by measuring your pet’s antibody levels to specific allergens. Alternatively, a veterinary dermatologist can perform an Intradermal allergy test to identify which allergen your pet is allergic to. This test does require sedation, shaving your pet’s fur and multiple skin injections. I recommend allergy testing your itchy pet if you are going to proceed with a desensitization program. The desensitization program involves giving your pet “allergy shots” at home to decrease your pet’s immunological response to allergens in its natural environment. Desensitization helps 50-75 percent of the patients by reducing the severity of their allergic presentation. It does not cure them.If your veterinarian suspects food allergies, there is NO RELIABLE blood or skin test available to date to identify which ingredient your pet is allergic to. The only way to identify food allergies is by performing an eight to twelve week food trial where you feed your pet only one protein and one carbohydrate source during this trial period. If the pet’s itchy behavior diminishes during this food trial, the owner can then introduce one new ingredient each week to see how the pet responds. If the pet starts itching on the new ingredient, then the owner will avoid feeding it in its future. If the pet does not improve on this new diet, I’d recommend trying another protein source. Food trials can be time consuming to perform but can be really rewarding if successful.
3. Why does my pet have allergies? You may think of your pet’s skin, gastrointestinal or respiratory tract as a porous membrane that allows allergens to pass through. Your allergic pet is immunologically responding in an exaggerated manner to these intruding allergens. This exaggerated response may manifest itself by itching, sneezing, coughing or diarrhea.
4. Why does my pet only itch sometimes? Some itchy pets have seasonal allergies, which means it is only problematic at a specific time of the year. For instance, tree pollen is worse in the spring. Grass allergies during the spring and summer. Ragweed is usually problematic in the fall. Most allergy pets have multiple triggering allergens and may show their symptoms multiple times throughout the year.
5. Why does my pet itch all the time? Pets with food, dust and mold allergies may itch all year round. Unfortunately, some pets may initially present as seasonal allergy patients but as the years go by, may proceed to year round or non-seasonal itching.
6. What can I do to make my pet more comfortable?
   • Keep your pet’s hair short. Long hair can act like a dust mop and hold onto the environmental allergens.
   • Bathe your pet with hypoallergenic shampoo at least once or twice weekly. Use cool water. If your pet has a skin infection, make sure you’re using a shampoo that can help flush the hair follicles and remove the cellular debris. If your pet has a highly resistant staphylococcus skin infection, make sure your shampoo contains chlorohexidine. If your pet has a yeast infection, I recommend ketoconazole-based shampoos.
   • After bathing your pet apply a moisturizing conditioner on your pet. This helps rehydrate and calm the skin.
   • Spray a topical anti-inflammatory or immune modulating product on your pet’s skin. There are a number of pharmaceutical products that help strengthen your skin’s barrier to intruding allergens — just ask your veterinarian which one would best for your pet. One of my new favorite products is called Duoxo Seborrhea Microemulsion Spray. It’s extremely safe and you just mist it on your pet’s skin.
   • Give your pet an antihistamine. There are numerous antihistamines on the market. I believe that every antihistamine has a 50 percent potential to make your pet less itchy. For dogs, I like to use Zyrtec or Clariton. For cats, I like to use chlorphenaramine. Ask your veterinarian for a dosage for your pet.
   • If an antihistamine alone does not work, try a combination of antihistamine with a touch of a steroid, called Temaril P. This product enables you to give a steroid to your pet at a much lower dose than if you would give a steroid to your pet on its own. This product is available by prescription only and dispensed by your veterinarian.If your pet is severely itchy and uncomfortable, in some instances, I will prescribe immuno-modulating drugs, like oral steroids or modified cyclosporine. A steroid, like prednisolone, can be given orally once or twice a day and provides great quick relief to your allergy pet. I never recommend long-acting steroids, like Depomedrol, which can stay in your pet’s body up to one to two months. The potential negative side effects of long acting steroids (like liver and kidney disease and aggravating diabetes mellitus) are too high for me to risk. Modified Cyclosporine (Atopica) is a great drug to reduce your pet’s inflammatory response to allergens. It is a more expensive drug than prednisolone, but has less overall side effects for your pet. Cyclosporine may take a week or two to work but it is very effective. The most common side effects of cyclosporine are diarrhea and loss of appetite but I rarely see this in my allergy pets.
   • Don’t overlook a secondary skin or ear infection. If your pet has a skin or ear infection as a result of traumatizing its skin, you must treat with antibiotics or anti-fungal medication for an appropriate time period. Don’t stop your antibiotics prematurely. I recommend at least 2 to 3 weeks of antibiotics beyond the last appearance of a bacterial skin lesion. To help your pet’s skin recover from a skin infection, I frequently prescribe a topical spray, called Vetericyn VF, to speed up wound healing and kill bacteria. For fungal skin infections, I may continue the anti-fungal medication for at least 1 month after it’s disappearance. If you are not having success with your antibiotic, have your veterinarian do a bacterial culture and drug sensitivity test to make sure you are giving your pet the right medication. In addition, a skin biopsy may be indicated to confirm or dispute the diagnosis. For chronic re-occurring ear infections secondary to allergies, I have had great success with a new product called Easiotic. After the ear infection has resolved, I have the clients treat prophylactically ONCE weekly during their allergy season to decrease inflammation in the ear.
   • Make sure your veterinarian skin scrapes your dog for a mite infestation prior to placing it on medication, especially steroids. It is not uncommon in my young itchy pets to discover an underlying mite problem. The treatment for a mite problem (like sarcopte and demodex) is dramatically different than an itchy allergy patient.
   • Give your pet Fish Oil. Fish oil is a great source of Omega 3’s (eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid), which helps moisturize and decrease inflammation in the skin. This can be purchased at a veterinary clinic or drug store. Ask your veterinarian for your pet’s dose. I typically dose 20 mg /lb of body weight ONCE daily of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). If you dose correctly for EPA in most fish oil products, the docosahexanaenoic (DHA) dose will be correct. For instance a 40 lb dog would get 800 mg EPA per day. (On the bottle of your Fish Oil it should list how many mg of EPA are in each capsule and dose accordingly.) It takes up to six weeks to see the benefits of fish oil on your pet.
   • For my respiratory allergy patients I frequently prescribe an inhaler with a steroid, called Flovent, to help reduce their coughing. It’s really simple to use and takes only 15 to 30 seconds to administer once or twice a day. Since it takes around one week to see the benefits of Flovent, I will frequently prescribe an oral steroid to help them during the first week of therapy. Ask your veterinarian which product is best for your pet.
   • For red runny eyes I always recommend flushing the eyes with an over-the- counter saline eye irrigating solution two to three times per day to help flush the allergens out of their eyes. I especially recommend using this on your allergy pet after it has played outside. In addition, I frequently recommend using an eye lubricating solution, like Refresh, to help lubricate their eyes during their allergy season. Finally, in some patients that are only showing red eyes and not responding to the previously mentioned products, I will prescribe topical steroid ophthalmic drops to help with their burning red eyes.
   • For my outdoor allergy pets, I think it’s a good idea to wipe their feet when they enter the house with hypoallergenic children’s diaper wipes to reduce some of the outdoor allergens that they can tract into the house.
   • Don’t forget your flea and tick control. I’m shocked how many times I find fleas on my itchy pets. Buy it and use it!

Allergies in pets are not only frustrating for the pet but also for the owner. No one likes to be woken up in the middle of the night to hear their pet chewing on its feet or scratching its sides. Although this list of things to do for your itchy pet may seem daunting and time consuming, the rewards can be very dramatic and fulfilling to all involved. So, let’s begin today to help reduce your pet’s allergy symptoms by discussing my advice with your veterinarian. I hope you and your pet have an itch-free summer!

Plymouth, Mass., police offered a moving tribute to one of their fellow officers, a German shepherd named Kaiser, last week. Kaiser was euthanized after an increasingly difficult battle with kidney disease. Members of the department lined the walkway of the Court Street Animal Hospital, saluting Kaiser as he walked in one last time. His partner, Officer Jamie Lebretton, on the Plymouth Police Working Dog Foundation Facebook page: “I will never forget you or our accomplishments. You made me a better person, a better handler, and a better cop. Till we meet again Kai. I love you and will miss you daily.” WBZ-TV (Boston) (5/31), The Enterprise (Brockton, Mass.) (6/1)

PLYMOUTH (CBS) — Plymouth Police gathered Friday to say goodbye to their friend and K-9 partner German Shepherd Kaiser.

On Wednesday, the Plymouth Police Working Dog Foundation announced that Kaiser was suffering from kidney failure and would be laid to rest on Friday.

“Kaiser battled this disease with vigor and toughness like I have never seen before. Although, as of late, the disease has taken the upper hand forcing him out of his craft and ultimately out of this world,” Officer Jamie Lebretton wrote on the foundation’s Facebook page.

Shortly before noon, officers gathered outside the Court Street Animal Hospital to salute Kaiser one last time.

He was laid to rest in the Angel View Pet Cemetery in Middleboro.

Afterward, Lebretton posted the following to his friend and partner on Facebook:

“RIP my boy. I could not have asked for a better partner or friend. May you rest easy and wait for me at that sacred bridge. I will be there my friend. I will be there. I will never forget you or our accomplishments. You made me a better person, a better handler, and a better cop. Till we meet again kai. I love you and will miss you daily.”