Pet Economics 101 Demystifying the cost of spays and neuters in veterinary practice

Spays and neuters can be really inexpensive. Call up your local shelter and ask. I’ve seen them go for nothing in some municipalities (as in $0) and seldom for more than a hundred bucks. $30-$50 seems about average for my part of the US (South Florida).

But “alterations” (spay or ovariohysterectomy for females and neuter or castration for boys) can also be darn pricey when they're not heavily...

April 30th, 2008 23 Comments

Vetcetera On moving and relocating outdoor and feral cats: A quick and dirty how-to guide

For some reason, my email inbox gets more play on the issue of moving outdoor and feral cats than just about anything else (except those pesky deals on Viagra, which I definitely do not need and am utterly confused as to why this kind of spam gets addressed to me).

People perhaps view me as someone who would actually know more about moving and relocating felines than the average Joe. And...

April 30th, 2008 5 Comments

Pet Patients Infantilization in pet keeping…and its unintended consequences for animal health

Yes, it’s true. We modern humans are a confused lot. Though most of us adore our pets and reward them with familiar integration, some of us get a little freaky about how we do this. Along with the so called “pets-as-children” phenomenon comes its unwelcome extreme: infantilization.

In case you’re not sure what I mean by this, the above photo should say it all. If you’re still fuzzy, here’s the...

April 29th, 2008 26 Comments

Vet School 101 The limp is suddenly gone….it’s veterinary magic!

Something amazing often happens to a limp at the first sign of an impending vet visit. Fluffy and Fido are suddenly “healed.” If not upon recognition of the carrier or when hoisted into the car, then magically…after beholding the sights, smells and sounds of their veterinarian’s establishment.

It invariably infuriates my clients. “I tell you, she’s been limping all weekend!” The frustration...

April 28th, 2008 14 Comments

Vet Stress CSI Miami: Everyday veterinary forensics in practice

It happens everywhere, not just in Miami. Every day, veterinarians are asked to be arbiters of disputes between family members, spouses, neighbors, puppy park dwellers and other veterinarians’ theoretical malfeasance.

The words “law,” “legal,” “police,” and “evidence” are bandied about, making us extra-cautious about everything that enters the medical record—how we say it and in what detail...

April 28th, 2008 2 Comments

Vet News Florida’s at it again! Banning books, breeds and now…balls

Florida’s the new Oklahoma…or Tennessee…though neither Bible Belt state has actually come out and banned the fake bull testicles that swing grotesquely from truck tow-hitches and (dangerously) from the back of low-riding drag racers.

Thanks to Dolittler BFF Gina Spadafori at PetConnection (who somehow remembers even the most vulgar of my past posts) comes the news that Florida State lawmakers...

April 27th, 2008 10 Comments

Pet Patients Chronic pain and adverse behavior in one big, black monster kitty

Mordecai had been getting fouler tempered over the years. It had become a family joke to quip that no one should approach him barehanded while he’s sleeping. And absolutely no one is to scratch him anywhere except behind his ears and under his chin—which he still loves. 

This big black behemoth of a cat had never been so ornery. Before the age of ten he’d been the sweetest-natured of beasts,...

April 27th, 2008 14 Comments

Pet Patients Sign-overs of pets in veterinary hospital settings: Most vets now just say NO!

Every vet hospital has plenty opportunity to turn its unused cages into Adoption Central. I mean, why not give back to the community by using surplus space, material and staff time to place as many pets as possible?

It’s a goodwill gesture that makes staff happy, gives your clients cause to know how much you really care about animals and puts a huge smile on your face when your matchmaking...

April 26th, 2008 23 Comments

Vet News Foreclosing on pets along with our homes…this sad trend’s got legs

Toss ‘n runs haven’t been very common at our place since the late seventies and early eighties. The early nineties saw a spike. And it’s been a slow trickle ever since…until now.

There’s nothing worse than seeing a box with kittens on the doorstep or a dog tied up by the back door when you come in to work in the morning. Mostly they’re young and rehomable and we can handle the extras. But if...

April 26th, 2008 8 Comments

Vet P.O.V. On DNA Day, Cinnamon and Tasha and the Florida Legislature

Fifty-five years ago the now-ubiquitous double-helixed DNA molecule made its debut on the world stage. In 2003, a group of US scientists and educators declared April 25th National DNA Day by way of commemorating Watson and Crick’s discovery of the molecule and simultaneously uncorking the champagne after the success of the Human Genome Project.

We who love our pets and follow science should...

April 25th, 2008 5 Comments

Vet News ProMeris reactions and their emerging urban legend status

Have you received the emails? I have. They warn of severe reactions to ProMeris, a new flea and tick killer made by Fort Dodge. Disorientation, salivation, vomiting, difficulty walking…all have been reported by a handful of users of the product, which contains amitraz and metaflumizone.

Their testimonials have made the rounds on the Internet lately, frightening me and many others away from...

April 24th, 2008 46 Comments

Vet P.O.V. TeleVets beats Teletubbies any day of the week for this veterinarian

OK so it’s a silly post title. But it’s true. I can’t stand those smarmy Teletubbies. That’s why their UK compatriots at TeleVets beat ‘em hands down. It's not just the smarm factor, though. I'm also gratified to see someone outside the US get into the veterinary website biz on a bigger scale than…well…a lowly blog's.

Founded by two upstart British veterinarians looking to leverage their...

April 23rd, 2008 3 Comments

Vet P.O.V. Bagging the tagging: Pet license hell in my municipality

I don’t know how it is where you live but in my county in Florida (Miami-Dade), licensing your dog is a bureaucratic nightmare that makes my work far more stressful than it has to be. Here's their policy.

In the wake of annual licensing hassles my staff and I have been treated to a number of time-sucking, blood pressure-boosting stressors we could have lived without, courtesy of our incensed...

April 23rd, 2008 15 Comments

Vetcetera Your pet’s carbon pawprint…11 tips on how to minimize it

Today is Earth Day and it’s a great time to consider the impact of our household pets on the planet and what we humans can do to reduce their “carbon pawprints.”

Yes, it’s true. Households with pets have larger carbon footprints than others. Pet loving homes tend to consume more foods, generate more waste and utilize energy at higher rates. Nonetheless, there are a number of steps pet owners...

April 22nd, 2008 17 Comments

Vet School 101 What’s YOUR take? Perceptions on free-roaming cats in one JAVMA study

Cats may get the raw end of the deal when it comes to how much their owners are willing to pay for their medical expenses relative to dogs. And they may have fewer bucks thrown in their direction when it comes to research.

Despite the stats, we still love our cats like mad. Dogs may win out for now in terms of dollars but there’s no reason for that condition to persist. In fact, demographic

April 22nd, 2008 16 Comments

Vet News Vets spill: The Internet’s great…but not so much for clients

A new survey shows that veterinarians love their online access. But they don’t necessarily want to talk to YOU when they log in. And they often don’t like your surfing habits, either.

Results of the so-called Digital Clinic Study commissioned by the AVMA and AAHA  were released in February at the Western Veterinary Conference. The goal was to find out if vets are online and if so, what they’re...

April 21st, 2008 18 Comments

Pet Patients Hairballs from hell: What to do when Fluffy hurls ‘em

Yeah, they’re disgusting. Nothing beats a pile of twisted, slimy fur for its gross-out factor. But we get used to it, don’t we? Picking up the chunks with Bounty quicker-picker-uppers by the bagload. Getting treated to early morning wake-up calls by the sweet strains of “gaaaaak.”

Geez!—will it never end?

Not as long as there’s fur on Fluffy’s back will it ever cease, it seems. And that’s a...

April 21st, 2008 18 Comments

Vet P.O.V. Keeping monkeys as pets: The AVMA just says no!

Increasingly, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) is taking stands on animal welfare issues and I, for one, am gratified to see our professional organization acting in ways I believe are consistent with our larger mission as animal health professionals.

But safeguarding animal health and welfare doesn’t stop with household pets like dogs and cats, of course. One area in which...

April 20th, 2008 51 Comments

Vetcetera Dr. Nick Trout: Veterinary surgeon and now… memoirist extraordinaire

I’ve been clicking away at this keyboard for over two years. I’ve written almost a thousand posts on the ups, downs and sideways of veterinary medicine and life as a vet (901 with this entry). And I’ve yet to be offered a book deal. So it goes, woe is me and all that…

Then here comes this vet surgeon from out of nowhere and writes a memoir about being a vet surgeon at Angell Memorial in...

April 20th, 2008 8 Comments

Vet Stress One thing this veterinary hospital didn’t learn in kindergarten

Yeah, I know this story will sound petty but it’s been burning a hole in my soul for the past couple of days so bear with me as I exorcise this demon here.

Some of you will remember an old post where I profiled a local hospital (nameless, of course) refusing to divulge the information of its former veterinarians after a falling out. Clients were upset after making appointments without being...

April 19th, 2008 17 Comments

Vet School 101 Five veterinary home remedies that kill

For your reading pleasure (and with the hopes of averting catastrophe, I’ve compiled a short list of home remedies best not undertaken. Feel free to contribute your own ideas on what works (and what might be unsafe) in your comments below.

1-Milk and oil for toad intoxication and seizures.

This may be a typically Miami home remedy but it’s not without a national presence. New York, California...

April 19th, 2008 27 Comments

Vet News Toxic pets! Dogs and cat sentinels prove there's toxic chemical exposure in our environment

New research indicates that pets are increasingly found to harbor toxic chemicals. It seems it’s not just your tuna-fish sandwich anymore; it’s Fluffy and Fido, too.

The Environmental Working Group studied pets for the first time in its attempt to come to grips with the widespread nature of toxic chemicals in our midst. Everything from Teflon to flame retardants and mercury were found in pets...

April 18th, 2008 2 Comments

Vet Stress Post-surgical rest and recovery for veterinary patients…what’s so hard about that?

Last week I stopped by the specialist’s hospital to drop off some X-rays. In the parking lot I spied a yellow lab with a shaved knee as he jumped sky-high into the seat of an F-350.

“Was that your patient?” I asked when I noticed one of the surgeons shaking his head wistfully nearby. “Sure is—but I wish he wasn’t.”

There’s nothing more frustrating than doing your best work only to find that...

April 17th, 2008 12 Comments

Vetcetera Vets dish: Ten white lies we tell clients all the time

A quick survey of my favorite veterinarians revealed the following white lies we vets are guilty of:

1-She’s not fat, she’s just Rubenesque (as in, morbidly obese).

2-You might want to cut down on his food just a tad (as in, he’s morbidly obese).

3-She’s not stinky, she smells just like a spring breeze (…and like a Golden retriever after a summer downpour so next time don’t do me the favor of...

April 17th, 2008 13 Comments

Vet P.O.V. On the cruelty of shock art like Vargas'—one vet’s unabashed condemnation

Guillermo Habacuc Vargas. That’s the name of the Costa Rican artist whose work you may have heard talk of for its incredible depiction of a dying dog in a gallery setting—and for the allegedly posthumous photographs of the stray dog (Natividad) that also became part of the work.

If you’re one of the two million-plus people who has signed a petition to limit this artist’s inclusion in the...

April 16th, 2008 14 Comments

Vet School 101 Pet blood’s back-story and your potential donations...

Though blood banks and transfusion medicine for animals seem a wonderful and necessary adjunct to our advances in veterinary care, the back-story behind the products and who gets to use them isn’t always as rosy as the prospect of high end care their presence in the marketplace represents.

Getting blood from dogs? It’s not too tough. But sourcing healthy dogs with the ability to donate...

April 16th, 2008 19 Comments

Vet School 101 Bloody hell! Transfusion medicine and the veterinary critical care crisis

There’s yet another crisis in the veterinary marketplace and it has nothing to do with the pet food safety issue or the veterinary service shortage I blogged on last month. This one’s more immediate and palpable, impacting perhaps thousands of pets every day in the US.

Have you ever stopped to wonder what would happen should your Fluffy get hit by a car and require a transfusion? No, me...

April 15th, 2008 18 Comments

Vet News Big black dogs strike fear into potential adopters’ hearts

The Associated Press offered us a story last Friday on the sad state of affairs when it comes to big black dog love. Apparently there’s something about these guys—or about us—that makes humans more likely to cringe when they see one headed their way during a sidewalk stroll.

What’s more alarming than just basic big black dog angst is that adoption rates at shelters are supposedly lower for...

April 14th, 2008 39 Comments

Pet Patients The Slentrol challenge: How four obese dogs lost big weight last month

You may think four dogs is not a very big sample size. Nonetheless, my experience has to count for something. Last month I put four middle-aged, morbidly obese dogs on a strict diet, explaining that if they didn’t lose a significant amount of weight (5 lbs for all 75 to 115-pounders in the group) we’d be forced to give 23 Comments

Vet School 101 Through a Dog’s Ear: Music therapy goes to the dogs

You heard right. It’s music arranged for dogs and orchestrated to ease their stress. It’s being employed specifically in veterinary settings where barking dogs, discomfort and pain are the rule. Psychoacoustic researchers and holistic veterinary practitioners swear by it.

An interesting collaboration between a sound researcher Joshua Leeds, a veterinary neurologist Susan Wagner DVM (no...

April 13th, 2008 14 Comments

Pet Economics 101 Diversion: No walk in the park for the veterinary industry (and what that means for your vet costs)

“Diversion” is a fun term we in the retail industry use to describe the re-selling of products purchased by one legitimate retailer to another, illegitimate retailer.

Often, it’s illegal. And almost always, it’s unethical. Some vets play this product-swapping game to make an extra buck. And other vets bristle—sometimes Halloween cat-style—when they do. (Read the Veterinary Practice News cover

April 13th, 2008 10 Comments

Vetcetera Animal-human age comparisons…and fourth-grade trick questions

A couple of days ago I took off a couple hours off mid-day to give my son’s math and science class a talk on veterinarianism and animal care. I dragged along a tech, my Sophie and little Tulip, who is no longer so little. (At forty-five pounds, she’s more than doubled her weight since she first came to me six weeks ago.)

The small class of thirteen gifted-program fourth-graders was so full of...

April 12th, 2008 3 Comments

Vetcetera Biting reviews: Online veterinarian ratings and you

In last month’s issue of Veterinary Economics there’s an article by Mark Opperman, CVPM on the power of online veterinarian ratings to either boost or bite into our bottom lines. Apparently, service-review sites like InsiderPages, CitySearch and ReadyVetGo can really make a difference to our potential Web-surfing clientele.

Vets are urged to Google their hospitals to learn more about what...

April 12th, 2008 23 Comments

Vet News Animal chiropractics and what that means for chiropractors, vets and pets

Chiropractors offer a unique brand of medicine to millions of people suffering primarily musculoskeletal disorders. For the past twenty years, chiropractors across the US have actively sought to make their knowledge available to pets, too. 

Chiropractors have been practicing their trade on animals—unofficially—since their profession’s inception. It seems that the benefits of this branch of...

April 11th, 2008 8 Comments

Vet P.O.V. Oops!…They did it again: Footage of animal cruelty among US military personnel surfaces

Inexplicably, YouTube generation military personnel just can’t seem to get it right. Why’s it so hard to understand that what makes it onto film has a way of staying there? As the Abu Ghraib defendants learned the hard way, it also has a way of coming back to haunt you.

What now? Footage of a puppy being launched off a cliff into the desert by Marines in Iraq has made the rounds on YouTube. It...

April 10th, 2008 21 Comments

Vet Stress 7 unhealthy habits of veterinarians

1-Eating lunch too close to the fecal-screen counter (blech!)…

2-Taking the client at her word (“She doesn’t bite!”)…

3-Not wearing gloves while flushing out ears or examining a potential abscess (so much for a dinner date appetite)…

4-Investigating a possible ringworm lesion barehanded then getting distracted and suffering three circular lesions to your ankle (presumably after scratching the...

April 10th, 2008 11 Comments

Vet P.O.V. Pet "guardianship" vs. ownership: Ft. Lauderdale tries it again

This issue keeps raising itself like a mummy from the same darn tomb in that awful movie you’ve likely seen thirty times over. I thought they killed it the last time, you mutter as you gnaw away at your microwave popcorn. How many times can this one really come back to life?

The issue is seemingly intractable. This time the City of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida is considering legislation to change...

April 9th, 2008 14 Comments

Daily Vet My dumb dogs and the possible emergence of a new breed of canine intelligence

Omigod my dogs are dumb! I love them to pieces and we share an amazing bond but there’s no doubt about it: My dogs do not offer me much intelligent company—not compared to the likes of a Border collie or pit bull. A member of this latter breed was the smartest dog I ever had, bar none.

But these Frenchies of mine? They wouldn’t survive a day out in the wild at their mental pace.

It’s not just...

April 9th, 2008 22 Comments

Vet School 101 Happy belated April Fool's! Just don't mention the word "Greenies"

Like a good vet, I spent much of Sunday reading my scientific veterinary journals. True, I love the fluff bits and typically devour these first. If cartoons were included I’d likely read these, too, before moving on to the stiff bits of scientific rigor we’re expected to consume on a regular basis if we’re to be “all that we can be,” as it were.

Though I typically read it first, this past issue...

April 8th, 2008 15 Comments

Vet P.O.V. Microchips in veterinary medicine…and in shelters…and in breeders’ hands

Here’s a hot button that took up almost thirty minutes of a ninety-minute South Florida Veterinary Medical Association (SFVMA) board meeting last night: Microchipping. Whether ‘tis nobler in the hands of the veterinarian than the shelter worker’s, breeder’s, average owner’s, etc…

A consensus was not reached unanimously. Some felt it was the veterinarian’s duty, responsibility and privilege to...

April 8th, 2008 18 Comments

Vetcetera My sponsor is here! Give it up for Dolittler’s first foray into the world of professional blogging!

OK so it’s not exactly the most modest statement I’ve ever made but I’ll say it anyway:  I’m so proud of Dolittler! Lookie here, right under my logo is a beautiful banner belonging to perhaps the most intelligent sponsor in the pet world: Good News for Pets!

It's a milestone for sure and the culmination of lots of stresful legwork for this vet, as those of you reading Dolittler for a while will...

April 7th, 2008 8 Comments

Vetcetera Charitable veterinary giving via Internet and Dolittler’s conundrum

Here’s a post where I ask you, my dear readers, to please help me out on an issue that’s been dogging me these past couple of weeks.

Remember Dusty, the sweet, sickly, tick-ridden  Ehrlichia girl of a Virtual Vet Hospital post? One of you, yet again proving your individual and collective wonderfulness as readers, offered to contribute financially to her care. Given that her owner is unable to...

April 7th, 2008 11 Comments

Vet P.O.V. Follow-up appointments and veterinary client responsibility...to their pets

Last week’s post on fat dogs and legal remedies occasioned a comment on the hypocrisy involved in prosecuting owners for negligence and cruelty when prosecuting veterinarians for similar lapses happens so infrequently.

I’d argue both scenarios are as rare as your average male calico cat. (For the record, that's about one in 3,000.)

OK so my stats may be a little fuzzy here, but given that vets...

April 7th, 2008 26 Comments

Vet Stress Refusing euthanasia: A vet’s prerogative?

Discussing euthanasia is stressful for any veterinarian. Having to refuse it can be doubly so.

It’s an uncomfortable position many vets find themselves in for a variety of reasons.

The most oft-mentioned scenario? A healthy animal is presented to the veterinarian. Euthanasia is requested for a vague reason, disapproved-of reason, or for no reason at all.

Under these circumstances we can all...

April 6th, 2008 23 Comments

Pet Patients Automatic cat feeders: A way to displace all that ‘feed-me’ kitty anxiety (and the fat, too)?

A couple of years ago my boyfriend and Dolittler consultant extraordinaire, Dr. Marc Wosar decided to experiment with his own cats when one of the two, sweet-faced Desdamona, began looking heftier by the month.

Something had to be done to stem the tide of fat that graced Desie’s ample mid-section. More so because she’d begun to favor her elbows in subtle ways, slowing down in her leaps and...

April 5th, 2008 36 Comments

Vetcetera Dirty Jobs: One veterinarian’s vote for her profession’s filth

There’s been a lot of horseplay in the media in recent years on the concept of truly disgusting professions. The mushroom farmer manure-slinger, zero-gravity vomit quicker-picker-upper and bed-pan disaster beneficiary, etc… The Discovery Channel even has a popular show called “Dirty Jobs” to highlight the visual aspects of these revolting trades.

Recently, NPR conducted a decidedly higher-brow...

April 4th, 2008 31 Comments

Vetcetera By the numbers: Dolittler’s top ten veterinary posts

After my post on blogging I received a nice bunch of emails from fellow pet bloggers urging me not to pull an Itchmo. Among these well-wishers, fellow pet industry geek Alex Krooglik of Embrace Pet Insurance offered me an analytical glimpse at why I shouldn’t give up:

Though I’m told most bloggers are mad about their stats, I confess to being somewhat oblivious of the traffic that makes its way...

April 4th, 2008 6 Comments

Vetcetera Kitty carriers and other feline tractability solutions

Hot on the heels of my rant on the potential horrors of retractable leashes comes this one on cat carriers.

Granted that cats are hard to catch when they mysteriously surmise it’s vet visit time. A lot of it has to do with the placement of the cat carrier after you’ve decided to hose it down or otherwise clean it up so your vet doesn’t think you’re a horrible owner and a slob to boot. Then...

April 3rd, 2008 31 Comments

Vet P.O.V. A veterinary rant on the plague of retractable leashes in our midst

A plague of retractable leashes is upon us! Though that statement comes perhaps ten years too late, I’m happy to offer you my take on this important subject here and now.

Call me a hater, but I HATE retractable leashes. Here’s why:

I’ve never found one that didn’t click and stick or unspool suddenly at the exact wrong time (like when a stray cat crosses your path and an oncoming car has to slam...

April 3rd, 2008 45 Comments

Vet School 101 Fomite: The one F-word you may be unfamiliar with

As in…”Sometimes I feel like a fomite.” OK, so that’s not quite right but it’s how I felt today after my early morning emergency tanked out two hours after his arrival. He’d succumbed presumably as the result of some mysterious infectious disease. “Tanked out”: as in… “Dead.”

A fomite is the F-word  we use to refer to inanimate objects that carry infectious diseases. Our shoes, for example,...

April 2nd, 2008 3 Comments

Vet Stress How could they not know? Cases of client cluelessness in veterinary medicine

Some clients are sweet as sugar…but clueless. Here’s a recent example: Owner on her way to a ballet recital with her daughter spies kitty in the driveway unable to rise. Pressed for time she scoops him up and encloses him in his top-clip cardboard kitty carrier. Arrives ten minutes later to drop him off with a complaint of: cannot walk.

Thus informed by the reception staff after the client’s...

April 2nd, 2008 16 Comments

Vet Stress Itchmo’s on indefinite hiatus…and other musings on pet blogging

I’m not sure it says anything but I will confess to receiving the news with some degree of alarm. Itchmo’s been blogging heavy since last year’s pet food recall. It earned itself a high profile among pet bloggers and devoted readers with scrupulous attention to the details of the news during those weeks of high anxiety.

And now it’s gone. Well, not completely. Its forums are still active and...

April 1st, 2008 13 Comments