A veterinary blog for pet lovers, vet voyeurs and the medically curious...
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Vet School 101 Dog fights: inter-dog violence wreaks havoc in otherwise loving homesIf you’ve never experienced a dog fight, consider yourself lucky. For loving owners of two or more pets, a serious row is grounds for a nervous breakdown. Imagine two dogs you adore tumbling violently over one another as they make horrible sounds you’ve never heard before—from a dog or from anything else, really. Saliva and fur is flying and—in the worst of cases—blood, too. What’s a parent to... February 28th, 2007 14 CommentsPet Patients Veterinary hospice care in practice: one case of bladder cancerAltogether too often, the diagnosis of cancer in pets comes complete with death sentence attached: The vet makes the case, presents the histopathology report or the X-rays, then exits stage left. Or the client exit stage right. Either way, the pet (unless immediately euthanized) is left standing in the middle with no hope of anything except the possibility of eventual euthanasia—at some future... February 27th, 2007 3 CommentsVetcetera The bilingual vet will see you now (or, El veterinario bilingue ahora le atenderá)Miami is a funny place to be a service professional. Whether you’re a doc, accountant, bank teller or hotel clerk, you’d best speak some Spanish. While you’re at it, Portuguese and Creole wouldn’t hurt either. On South Beach? French, German and Italian would be a boon for your career, too. It’s not hard to speak the basics, but to really build a practice by providing stellar customer service,... February 26th, 2007 5 CommentsVet Stress The glamour of this veterinarian’s day job (not!)Once upon a time (when I worked on South Beach) I might have been able to say that being a veterinarian was somewhat glamorous (as it seems too many people believe). TV news stations filmed me for occasional segments on tasty topics like skin disease in the summer and gastrointestinal upset at Christmastime. Once, I had Miami’s most famous family in entertainment film me as I delivered ten... February 25th, 2007 8 CommentsVetcetera Screw the Microchip…I want my pet to get an implantable GPS!I’ve often thought that when a product I want doesn’t exist it’s because something really important stands between my imagination and reality. I assume this much is true when it comes to implantable GPS trackers in pets. They must be too big. Or too unpredictable. Or too something. Because they can’t be too expensive. I mean, how many others, like me, fear the physical loss of a pet more than... February 24th, 2007 40 CommentsVet P.O.V. When love is not enough to save your pet…what next?In my first job out of vet school I worked nights, alone, at a small regional emergency clinic on the Pennsylvania-Delaware line. But I wasn’t exactly all alone—I had two techs with me at all times. They were far more experienced in the ways of medicine and the world than I, newbie vet that I was. After the first economic euthanasia (euthanized strictly due to lack of funds) I remember... February 23rd, 2007 17 CommentsVetcetera She’s crafty (or, Even veterinarians get the blues)I’m afraid that after a long, hard day one of my favorite escapes is among the most mundane known to man: needlework. It’s almost embarrassing to mention, especially now that absolutely everyone has taken up my long-time habit of knitting. So as a way to expand from the commonplace act of knitting, I’ve ventured into that vast craft universe beyond—a veritable no man’s land of arcane tools... February 22nd, 2007 9 CommentsVet School 101 Aromatherapy in pets: the emerging science of pet scent therapyIt seems there’s no middle ground in the debate between believers and non-believers when it comes to natural care for pets. People seem either innately credulous of its merits or downright dour as to its dubious worth. As with the issue of “raw” versus “no raw,” both camps have historically drawn a deep line in the sand and regarded any crossovers with suspicion. But new research into the... February 21st, 2007 7 CommentsPet Patients Uncommitted clients make for half-a---- careSorry for the mild profanity but nothing makes me crazier than clients who can’t figure out whether or not they want their pet to live…to receive treatment…or even to go to the vet in the first place. I have a beautiful little calico in hospital who used to be a beautiful big calico about three or four weeks ago. 'Round about that time she decided to consume many small pieces of cellophane... February 20th, 2007 8 CommentsVet Stress When great techs leave…this vet ponders the mysteries of the animal hospital businessTwo weeks from today my favorite veterinary technician will begin her new life—in an oral surgeon’s office as a medical assistant. Her starting salary will be 25% higher than her current pay (after eight years on the job) and her workload and hours will be considerably reduced. You might think I’d be feeling a little resentful or somehow betrayed, but I have so far limited my negative emotions... February 19th, 2007 7 CommentsVet Stress Veterinary clients from hell: Two case studiesGod as my witness, I will never have clients like this again: Case #1: She arrived late for her appointment. She complained about the subsequent wait. She and her gentleman friend stank to high heaven of foul body odor. Her carrier stank. Her cat stank. Her cat was feverish and thin. She refused all diagnostics and treatment. She demanded, instead, that I give her cat “the other doctor’s” special... February 18th, 2007 4 CommentsVetcetera Aesthetics in veterinary medicineYou may think me a midge strange for suggesting it, but veterinary medicine’s charms comprise more than cerebral challenges and emotional highs; vet medicine is also beautiful…as in, aesthetically pleasing to a high degree. From a breathtaking birds-eye view through a microscope’s lens... ...to the snaking rivers of barium in an X-rayed abdomen, my job is—at times—nothing short of visually... February 17th, 2007 5 CommentsVet P.O.V. Here she is…Miss…Westminster?I have a confession: As a child I surreptitiously consumed the Miss America pageant every year. Although my mother deemed it unfit television viewing material for anyone with a conscience and/or half a brain, I was irresistibly drawn to the spectacle (like moths to a flame…). Somehow I’ve managed to avoid anorexia and bulimia but the damage has been done: I read Vogue. The Westminster Kennel... February 16th, 2007 17 CommentsVet P.O.V. Mandatory FeLV and FIV testing for feral cat colonies?I spay and neuter cats for free. Well, actually, for less than free. We charge an amount that used to cover our supply costs ten or more years ago. Now that it’s 2007, the hospital probably pays out at least $25 in supplies on every spay and maybe $10 on every neuter. We do this exclusively for an organization called The Cat Network. They trap, neuter, spay and rabies-vaccinate cats in feral... February 15th, 2007 27 CommentsVet P.O.V. Drug sales in veterinary medicine (Part 2: The vet pharmacy)One of the basic tenets of the small animal veterinary profession as a business is that product sales make for a big slice of its revenue pie. This is not how it was twenty-five years ago when I was coming up in the ranks (as a junior vet assistant). The biggest issue in product sales back then was whether or not to carry Filaribits (remember them?). The trend towards greater adoption of a... February 14th, 2007 8 CommentsVet P.O.V. Drug sales in veterinary medicine (Part 1: The dinner date)Tonight after work I’ll be heading off to Ruth’s Chris steakhouse to enjoy some of the finest steaks money can buy. No, it’s not an early Valentine’s dinner; it’s a drug company sponsored teaching seminar on the merits of its fine products. It’s sort of sad that the only way drug companies (anyone, really) can manage to get a bunch of vets into one room is to offer free food. In Miami it goes... February 13th, 2007 7 CommentsPet Patients It’s an emergency! But whatever you do, don’t anesthetize her!If anyone “gets” anesthephobia, I do. I don’t like my dog to enter into a controlled form of unconsciousness any more than you do. It’s somehow very stressful at a very raw, animal level: it’s unnatural and bizarre, if you think about it for too long. But faced with two alternatives: my dog will suffer forty minutes of avoidable pain or my dog will receive fifteen minutes of anesthesia, I’d... February 12th, 2007 5 CommentsVet Stress On the importance of annual visits and the philosophy of diseaseWhat happens when a perfectly healthy pet shows up for his annual exam and you find something bad…really bad. I’m not talking about the severe periodontal disease eating away at a cat’s skull—I can fix that. And I’m not referring to the dreaded osteoarthritic knee—I can find somebody to fix that, too. The really bad things I found this week on basic exams include one giant cat kidney, a... February 11th, 2007 9 CommentsVetcetera Help! My puppy is lost in the woods and I feel like such an idiotOK so you knew it wasn’t going to take very long for me to start writing about my new puppy. It's been a week now and things are going about as well as can be expected—considering that he’s only five months old. Sure, he chews on the heels of my shoes (increasingly surreptitiously), he wakes me up for a three AM pee-pee break every night, he still occasionally poops on the floor, his one bout of... February 10th, 2007 2 CommentsVet Stress The barking gets in your head (or, Why I love cats)If you’ve ever worked or otherwise spent inordinate amounts of time at a pet shelter, vet hospital, boarding facility or grooming parlor, you may well know what I’m talking about when you read this. After a full day of just one indefatigable barker and I’m usually ready to crawl under the sheets and enjoy a soundless night’s sleep. It’s no secret I love my dogs for their resounding... February 9th, 2007 6 CommentsVetcetera The fecal rod is your friend…really (or, How vets can make even the grossest things tolerable)Have you ever wondered who invented the fecal rod? This common implement, though benign in its intentions, is employed by vets the world around in the act of pseudo-sadistic stool collection. In case you have no idea what I’m talking about (we should all be so lucky), the fecal rod is that double-ended instrument of torture designed to efficiently and comfortably (not!) extract manageable... February 8th, 2007 5 CommentsVet P.O.V. Pet healthcare dreams and HMO nightmaresOK so my healthcare is in the hands of an HMO. All of us at my hospital (save the two owners) are offered this dubious benefit. Actually, I’m thankful; I might not have found affordable insurance for myself otherwise. But this healthcare plan truly adds stress to my life. Furthermore, it gives rise to murderous dreams involving [very stupid] claimspeople sitting in Aetna-blue damasked cubicles... February 7th, 2007 9 CommentsVet P.O.V. Death be not pricey: The high cost of pet euthanasia and cremationIt’s kind of a weird subject, I know, but death—the actual series of injections and subsequent cremation—can be pretty pricey. You might wonder why that might be considering the low cost of generic injections. And how hard is it, exactly, to burn a body to an ashy vestige of its former self? You may well wonder what possessed me to write on this morbidly touchy subject. A: Yesterday one of my... February 6th, 2007 33 CommentsVetcetera New pets for vets (and their needy tendencies)Do you remember the first day you brought your pet home? Is it etched in your memory along with other intense experiences like your first day of school, your college graduation or the minute you met your soulmate? If you’re like me, each new pet’s first time in my arms swims in memory along with the best moments I’ve ever had. All this may sound corny but you know exactly what I mean. Even... February 5th, 2007 14 CommentsVet Stress Metacam nightmares and responsible drug manufacturer responses to adverse reactionsLast week I wrote a frustrated, Vet Stress post on Fido-the-dog (When pet therapies go wrong). The entry detailed Fido’s stressful family and the implication that Fido’s Metacam therapy was responsible for his gastrointestinal undoing. We’ve come a long way since last week’s semi-confrontational moments. Although she’s relaxed a whole lot, his primary owner still manages to stress me out with... February 4th, 2007 34 CommentsVet School 101 Scoot, twirl, stink and bite: the dreaded anal gland and its unsightly expressionAh…the anal gland. The vestigial harbinger of allergic ailment, the overly-manipulated emitter of stinkiness. We all dread its disease—pet owners and veterinarians in equal measure. No one likes dealing in their unsightly and malodorous expression. In case you’ve never had the pleasure of handling an anal gland, let me properly inform you. In this post I will distinguish between the pervasive... February 3rd, 2007 29 CommentsVet School 101 Pet allergies to foods (Part 2: Therapeutic considerations and frustrations)How many times have you heard…”my dog is allergic to [add foodstuff here]” or “I’d never feed my cat anything with [random carbohydrate source]—it’s highly allergenic,” or even, “once I switched to raw the allergies disappeared.” After detailing the basic steps we take to determine what a pet might be allergic to, I expect you now to have some appreciation for the complexity of the issue in the... February 2nd, 2007 13 CommentsVet School 101 Pet allergies to foods (Part 1: An allergy overview)By popular request, the issue of food allergies will be today’s topic. I’ve been putting off posting on the subject because any submission with the word “food” [even incidentally] mentioned predisposes my personal email in-box to reach “full” status prematurely and incites a plethora of unhappy comments below the post. But, for you, dear readers, I will bravely swim the shark infested waters... February 1st, 2007 5 Comments |
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