E-Vet Clinic - Dog Health Care

Study after study has shown that the full moon does NOT have strange effects and it certainly can not and does not effect your dogs health. However is it the same as giving kids sugar? Every mom will tell you that their kids act more wild and hyperactive when given sugar, but every study shows that giving sugar makes no difference in the behavior of children. So which is true the study or the mothers experience?

Now how about dog health and the lunar cycle? Does the full moon affect your dogs health or behavior for that matter? Experience from veterinarians who all say that yeah they are a little busier around the full moon, but the studies have disproven that saying emergency hospitals are not any busier during the full moon. That is until now…

Here is a story - Why Your Dog Gets Loopy During the Lunar Cycle telling us that Colorado State University has completed an 11 year study with 12,000 animals saying that business “significantly picked up” at the Veterinary Medical Centre around the time of the full moon.

So what do you think, does the lunar cycle, specifically the full moon, affect your dog’s behavior and/or your dog’s health?

Well the first e-Vet Clinic Weekly newsletter went out this evening.

What you did not get one? You are not signed up for the newsletter??? Well then you better get signed up…

Every Friday or maybe Saturday morning, I will be sending out a newsletter. It will have of course an article on dog health and one on horse health, along with other good “stuff” - like contests, personal information about me, offerings for newsletter members, special resources. I treat my newsletter members like my closest friends. If you take the time to give out your email address to me, if you want to know what I have to say and you really like what I have to say so much that you are willing to sign up for my newsletter, then you are my friend. So just sign up in the form above.

OK this is not about Meme (my Border Collie) or even Ollie (my old guy) but rather the website - The Life of My Dog

The Life of My Dog is the brainchild of Kate and David Marshall and I have to say it is a great concept. They sell a memoir book about your dog…that’s right YOUR dog! It is basically a journal that has 140 questions for you to answer and by the time you are finished you have written your dogs biography.

In their own words -

This journal features 140 prompts to guide you through the telling of your dog’s story. The prompts help jog your memory and help the stories flow. You can answer with as much or as little detail as you want.

The five main sections of the journal cover the entire time you knew your dog, from first bringing your dog home to the final farewell and everything in between. It is up to you to decide where one section leaves off and the next one begins.

Also check out their new venture into video…http://thelifeofmydog.com/funny-dog-videos/ It appears as if they are going to have funny videos of dogs. You just have to love the first one - how could you not it is a Border Collie!

Check them out at The Life of My Dog

Three of the most common injuries in a performance dog are Cranial Cruciate Rupture (blown knee), Supraspinatus/Infraspinatus Strains (shoulder muscle strain), and the Psoas group muscle strain. As an animal chiropractor I see a lot of Psoas muscle injuries; lets talk about how to prevent this from occurring.

First the psoas muscle group are deep stomach muscles attaching at the pelvis and the femur (hind leg) and running to the underside of the lumbar spine. It is unable to be palpated because it is deep…meaning you can not feel it, because it is under so much other muscle. The dog contracts this muscle group to bring its hind legs underneath itself to push off while running. The muscle arches the lower back, tips the pelvis, and brings the hind legs forward, like contracting a spring, winding it up for an explosive release. It is used extensively in jumping and running.

Many times a dog will have a roached lower back. It looks like the dogs spine is protruding upward right after the rib cage. In severe cases in which the muscle is strained the dog is crouched underneath itself and has a difficult time extending the hind leg backward. An injury to this muscle can put the dog out of commission for several months. Most of the time it is more of a chronic injury and what is seen is the roached back and a decreased ability to jump. In agility dogs it may mean the dog refuses jumps or knocks bars.

So how do we prevent this muscle strain. Two ways as with any muscle you need to strengthen it and also make it more flexible. So here are some techniques to strengthen and stretch this muscle group -

Strengthening & Stretching Exercises -

- the begging position is an excellent way to strengthen this muscle. It is an isometric exercise that forces the dog to use its lower back and stomach muscles as stabilizers. Teach your dog to get into the begging position, you know the one in which the dog starts out in the sit position then brings its front paws up and close to its chest while it straightens its back to sit in an upward position. Hold this pose for 10 seconds and then increase it up to a maximum of a minute. This will really strengthen the psoas group.

- Have the dog stand, kneel behind your dog. Take your left arm and support underneath your dogs belly, be sure he/she is comfortable with this. It may take a couple of times just doing this before you actually stretch your dog. Now with your right hand grab the dogs right knee (in some larger dogs you may have to stabilize the knee with your left hand from underneath the belly and with your right hand grab just below the knee closer to the dogs hock), gently pull the leg straight back, keeping the leg straight at all times. This will stretch the quadriceps and also tip the pelvis forward stretching the psoas group and some of the other stomach muscles. Hold for 10 to 15 seconds and then relax. Switch legs, support with your right hand and use your left to stretch the left hind leg straight back. Repeat each leg 3 times. Go only as far as your dog will allow, up to the point of tension, dogs with injured psoas muscles, hip dysplasia, or bad knees will not be able to extend completely backward, just go to tension.

Another way of stretching this muscle is to have your dog lay on its left side, then while sitting behind your dog supporting its back by applying a little pressure to the spine with your left hand/arm, gently grab the right knee with your right hand and pull the leg straight backward. Hold for 10 to 15 seconds, then release for 10 seconds, then repeat. Repeat this three times with this leg and then flip the dog to its other side and do the other leg.

A more advanced technique using what is called dynamic stretching - stretches and strengthens the muscle at the same time. Your dog has to be fit in order to do this and without injury.

- This entails having your dog stand on its hind legs while placing its front paws on you. To start with you can have your dog stretch as far out as it can with its hind legs. Do this by starting to slowly walk away from your dog while keeping it front paws on you. Eventually work yourself up to where you move far enough that your dog has to move its hind legs to keep his front paws on you - basically you are dancing with your dog. BE sure that the dogs hind legs are stretched out. Then the last step is to actually move away from your dog but instead of the dog dropping to the ground with its front paws he remains standing alone without your support and walks towards you on its hind legs. This will need to be done by coaxing with a treat and lots of time training. Some dogs do it naturally, others take more time. It is definitely an advanced techinique; however it both strengthens the stomach and back muscles as well as the leg muscles and stretches the psoas group out at the same time. An excellent exercise to prevent that roached back or strained psoas group.

In order to prevent a very common performance dog injury you need to strengthen and stretch your dog. Do these exercises at least every other day if not once a day to have a healthy happy dog.

I received an email from a client asking about Previcox that their traditional veterinarian prescribed their dog. She wanted to know if the drug really was safe or is it going to affect the dogs health negatively.

Here is what I wrote to her…

Previcox is just another Non Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory (NSAID) with all the same side effects of other NSAIDS like Rimadyl, Etogesic, etc. It can be used for a short duration but should not be used for long periods of time. Also when changing anti-inflammatory medications you should really wait 2 days before giving the new one. Here is the information sheet from the FDA which really should be handed out to every dog owner when anti-inflammatories are prescribed to their dog.

www.fda.gov/cvm/Documents/N141230cis.pdf

If a dog has arthritis and needs to be on an anti-inflammatory such as this, because
the alternatives are not keeping the dog comfortable, then the dog needs to have blood tests at least every 6 months if not every 3 months to be sure no damage is occurring to the liver, kidneys, red blood cells, etc. The dog should also be monitored closely for loss of appetite, weight loss, vomiting, and a just not feeling right attitude.

With all this said supposedly Previcox is less likely to produce the horrible side effects seen from the other NSAIDs, but in case you are wondering here are a couple of website cases, unfortunately anecdotal and possibly made up, but they are more and more of them that could be researched to determine their truth.

www.all-creatures.org/aip/nl-20061212-warn.html
www.k911.biz/Petsafety/DeathByPrevicox_RowdysLastVacation.htm

Here are traditional veterinarians opinions of the drug…
www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/ivapm/professionals/members/qow/previcox42006.htm

Notice that all these vets do and ask for blood work prior to putting the dog on the drug. Does that tell you something?

What it tells me is that yes this and other NSAIDs can and do affect the dogs health negatively. They are a God send when the dog can not walk and all other alternatives have been explored. They are also very useful in an emergency situation or right after surgical procedures. Using them correctly, they are wonderful drugs and very good for your dogs health. However, when used for a long term, meaning over one week, they can be very detrimental to your dogs health and many times the risks far out weigh the benefit. So these drugs need to be used responsibly and only if your dog needs them. There are many other alternatives such as Traumeel, Dog Gone Pain, Wobenzyme and especially acupuncture have fantastic results and your dog will be much healthier with these alternatives if needed for a long term duration. If the alternatives are not successful then you can resort to the NSAIDs and eventually you will have to resort to the heavy duty pain relievers such as the opioid Tramadol. That becomes an ethical question and quality of life question which we will not get into at this time.

One final comment about alternatives - you also have to be responsible when using these. These are not without their faults.. acupuncture can be time consuming and will require many trips to a qualified practitioner; wobenzyme can cause diarrhea in some dogs as it is an enzyme and also needs to be given without food. So you need to search out a qualified veterinarian or holistic practitioner recommended by a veterinarian to use the alternatives appropriately.

Is your dog being overvaccinated and your vet is not following the new guidelines? How many of you are still getting annual “shots” for your dog? Has your vet told you that there is a “new” protocol for vaccinating your dog? I say “new” loosely because the guidelines have been around for over 5 years now! That is beside the point, lets just go with the new guidelines given out by the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) last year in 2006.

First, a bit of information about the vaccination of your dog - many dog owners know about getting rabies for their dog and then “another shot” some people call it their distemper shot, others call it their parvo booster. Well to be honest the most common other vaccination given to your dog besides rabies is a 5 or a 6 in one shot. Meaning there are 5 or 6 different types of diseases your dog is being vaccinated for in one shot. The common acronym for this vaccine is DHLPP and sometimes added in there is a C. The letters each stand for a different disease – D=Distemper, H=Hepatitis (also known as Adenovirus), L=Leptospirosis, P=Parvo, P=Parainfluenza, and C=Corona. In future posts I am going to go through each of these diseases and tell you about the vaccine for the disease and its effectiveness – you will be surprised!

For the new guidelines lets take the three core vaccines, the three that your dog should be vaccinated for Distemper, Parvo and Hepatitis (Adenovirus). After your dog has been initially vaccinated for these three core diseases usually as a puppy and then a year later with a booster, your dog has prolonged immunity against those diseases. What do I mean by prolonged immunity, well the research shows, your dog is immune for 6 to 9 years!

That’s correct! The research done by reputable immunologists, such as Dr. Ronald Schultz, shows that after the initial puppy vaccination and a one year booster many dogs are protected for the majority of their life. Similar to humans isn’t it? But I digress; let’s get back to the new guidelines given out by AAHA. Their suggestion or guidelines after puppy vaccination and the yearly booster is that the three core vaccines, only need to be boostered every three years. So according to the guidelines, instead of annual revaccination, your dog really only needs to be revaccinated every three years.

In fact, did you know, annual vaccination of your dog can cause severe diseases. Overvaccination has been linked to cancer, allergies, and other auto-immune diseases such as Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia. More research needs to be done but many of the recent studies show these links exist. In fact, in cats, overvaccination has been proven to cause sarcomas, a very severe cancer.

So now the question becomes, if the vaccines have been shown to produce immunity that lasts quite a bit longer than what was originally thought and annual vaccination might be the cause of certain allergies and other immune system diseases including cancer, then why has my vet not told me about this? Why am I still being pestered to have annual vaccinations done? Why when I am late on my vaccines does the front desk make me feel like a bad dog owner? Unfortunately, the answer is money, if not money then it is pure ignorance on your vet’s part. Yes ignorance, as in not current in their education or just an unwillingness to change because the old way is the way things have always been done. Money is the other answer and no it is not because veterinarians are greedy, but rather in many veterinary offices, 33% of the annual income comes from vaccinations. This is a large percentage of income that with the new guidelines will be cut. Veterinarians are not prepared for that kind of an income cut. Many could go out of business. Many clinics do not have the management skills or their other services are not priced correctly to compensate for that kind of an income loss. So changing to the new vaccination guidelines although would benefit your animals health can be a tough business decision for the owner of the veterinary clinic. Just remember though you have a responsibility as a pet owner for the health and well being of your pet and less vaccinations IS better for your pet, regardless of the business problems that some clinics may have going to the new guidelines.

Be prepared for a change in the veterinary industry, services will be offered more frequently. Wellness panels, which entail annual blood tests for internal organ function (kidney, liver, pancreas, blood counts), will replace annual vaccination. Checking titers, a blood test to check the immune status of your dog against certain diseases, will be offered to ensure that your dog has the proper level of immunity for the vaccines that are no longer going to be given every year. In my opinion, this is a good move, it will force the veterinarians to provide the best health care and to become more innovative in the services they provide. Imagine yourself right now going to your doctor for a physical and check up and they do not take blood or make you pee in a cup (take a urine sample), that is unheard of in present times. The same will and is occurring in the veterinary industry. It will provide a much improved quality of medicine, a higher standard than already exists. All stemming from the fact that your dog does not need yearly vaccinations, in fact it is putting your dog at risk to be giving yearly vaccinations.

So if your veterinarian is still requesting annual vaccinations, ask why. Be informed, make the right decisions, choose to protect the health of your dog by learning what your veterinarian is giving to your dog and why – specifically why, not just because he is the vet and it is to better the health of your dog. Ask questions, be dangerous!

For more information on the 2006 Canine Vaccination Guidelines check out www.aahanet.org/PublicDocuments/VaccineGuidelines06Revised.pdf

That title is correct federal health experts in Atlanta today are expected to announce that the Canine Rabies Virus has been eliminated from the United States and Canada. There has not been a case of Canine Rabies in 2 years. Heres a link to a news story about it -
Canine rabies wiped out, experts say

So does that mean you should not have to vaccinate your dog for rabies anymore?

Unfortunately no. There are other strains of rabies virus that your dog can still contract with skunks, raccoons and bats being the top carriers of the disease. However I do hope that it will cause some looking into how often we should vaccinate our dogs for rabies. There is on going studies right now with Dr. Ron Schultz at the University of Wisonsin - Madison to determine the actual length of immunity that a rabies vaccine has for a dog. At this point the intial results appear likely that your dog will be immune for 5 to 7 years after receiving a rabies vaccine. For more information check out this site - Rabies Challenge Fund

Surgery in my dog? What should I do Femoral Head Osteotomy (FHO) or Total Hip Replacement (THR)?? This is the question from an email I received concerning a little dog with Legg Calve Perthes disease - a degenerative disease that affects the head of the femur, the long bone in the leg that attaches to the pelvis by the hip joint.

The owner has tried an alternative route to hope to avoid surgery. After 10 weeks of treatment another radiograph was taken to determine if the treatment was helping or not. The symptoms were improved and the little dog was using the leg however with a lowered range of motion and he was bunny hopping. On top of that the radiograph showed a bit more degereration of the femur. Surgery is going to be the only option at this point to help this little one year old pup live a somewhat normal pain free life. SO what type of surgery would I recommend.

The FHO is a Femoral Head Osteotomy and in hip dysplasia for a large dog it is considered a salvage procedure. Meaning it is not the surgery of choice there are better surgeries for the dog, especially when they weigh over 30 pounds which most dogs with hip dysplasia are double that weight or more. The procedure is simple it just removes the head of the femur or the attachment to the hip. They just saw it off. A new joint is formed by just the muscles of the hind legs, which in the case of hip dysplasia they usually are atrophied (much smaller). It is similar to how the shoulder blade is normally attached to the dogs body, by muscle alone, there is no physical joint there. For a little dog the problem is minimized just by the limited force of weight and biomechanics on the little dog. So an FHO is not as much of a problem if your dog is the correct weight for its size and is under 30 pounds. However it still may have some biomechanic issues as the leg will effectively be a little shorter and he range of motion may be a little restricted depending on the amount of scar tissue formed and how the muscles reattach to the pelvic girdle.

A Total Hip Replacement is just that it removes the entire hip area and replaces it with synethetic material. It usually takes a longer time to recover from this surgery as it is much more involved; however I have seen dogs bounce back very quickly after this surgery just as fast as some FHO’s, some walking on it the same day. Since it is a more complicated procedure it requires the expertise of an orthopedic surgeon. The results are usually very good. The leg is put back together the way it was intended just with a fake joint, which improves the biomechanics of the dog after the surgery. The major problems with this surgery are cost and recovery time in some dogs. It is the better choice.

For the dog from the email, it is a little 1 year old 10 pound dog, either surgery will work in this case. If the owners have the money and the availability of an orthopedic surgeon the choice would be the Total Hip Replacement; however because the dog is so small an FHO would not be that much of a compromise.

For an even more indepth look at the total hip replacement suregery check this site out - www.gcvs.com/surgery/total_hip.htm

As you can see I have changed the name of the Blog.

It was a very, very, difficult decision, but I needed to change the title for better branding and easier search engine discovery.

There are more changes coming all for the better of this blog.

Please stay tuned we have a different name but a better blog soon coming.