E-Vet Clinic - Dog Health Care

It is no secret that your vet bills are increasing. Dog health care costs are on the rise. Some of the reason is a shift in focus of veterinary medicine.

It used to be, go into your vet once a year for “shots” and heartworm prevention and one time in your pets life a spay or neuter. Now there has been a shift. We have discovered that annual vaccinations are no longer necessary and in fact may be harmful to your dogs health - Is your vet still overvaccinating your dog? Vaccinations were very profitable as they could be purchased for a small amount and sold for a great profit. The profit helped pay for all the other treatments and management of an animal hospital. In fact many times a veterinary clinics gross income consisted of 33% vaccination income. Veterinarians were more on a product based business by selling products and medications vs a service based business like they should have been. Now the shift is going to a service based business which means more services are going to be offered and the prices for those services are no longer going to be given away. The days of the $40 spay are almost over. A veterinarian actually loses money by giving away a $40 spay because it costs more than $40 to actual perform the procedure. Some vets are still providing a cheap cost spay for a couple of reasons one to help control the pet population and two in hopes that that client will return for other business.

So what does going to a service based business mean for your pet? Well actually it is a win-win situation, it means better health care for your dog by providing the most current diagnostic and treatment protocols. As vets are trying to make up for lost income from vaccinations they are actually offering services that can really improve the health of your dog. The objective of better diagnostics is to find disease early on when it actually is not causing symptoms. This makes it easier to treat, prolongs the life of your dog, and avoids really expensive treatments by avoiding having to bring in a really sick dog.

So there are a couple of the reasons why your dog’s health care costs are rising. Another perspective on the rising costs of vet care can be found in this article - Vet care becoming doggone expensive  which discusses what can be done about dog health care costs rising by incorporating a pet insurance plan to help defray the higher costs of veterinary care. One thing that I would recommend is checking out pet insurance companies as they are not all the same. At this point in time I am actually leaning away from VPI the largest pet insurance company and looking to promote Embrace Pet Insurance

I’ll give my final decision and reasons in a future post. I will be meeting with a rep from VPI very soon and I will also do some more conversing with Laura Bennett or Alex Krooglik from Embrace so I will have a good handle on pet insurance before I write that post.

It appears that ticks are going to be a serious problem this year. They are already present in this area of the country (Midwest- Chicagoland) I was actually shocked to see a dog come into my clinic with three ticks on it already. I also went to a clients house to work on her horses and her dog had a tick on it.

Frontline seems to be the best “medicine” for the prevention of a tick infestation and more importantly to prevent the spread of Lyme disease as a tick will need to feed on a dog for a minimum of 24 hours before passing on Lyme disease. However for those of you more open to alternatives and do not want to be “poisoning” your dog with chemicals that last in the lipid layer of its skin for 40 days. I have two blog posts that you NEED to read…

Dogs and ticks! - You’ll find pictures of ticks, information on how to protect your dog from ticks and how to recognize symptoms of tick disease in dogs. With tick education and awareness, you can help keep your best friend happy and healthy. …

Keep Fleas and Ticks Away Naturally with Homemade Dog Biscuits - Lyme disease is possible, though uncommon, out here, and with four pets I simply cannot risk a flea outbreak. I’ve been doing some research and come up with what will hopefully be a natural remedy! It turns out that nutritional yeast …

Osteosarcoma is a very common cancer in large breed dogs. It is a bone cancer in which the tumor produces a hard solid mass on the bone usually in a leg. The most common symptom is limping or sometimes a fracture occurs. Once the tumor is seen and diagnosed with no treatment a dog will usually only live 1 to 2 months as the majority of the time the cancer is malignant and rapidly spreads to the lymph tissue and to the lungs.

Treatment would consist of radiographs of the chest to determine if the cancer has spread and if not then amputation of the affected leg and then chemotherapy. This will usually gain several more months for the dog and in a few cases a couple of years.

However there are some cases in which no treatment can be done. Take Hanna here…

Hanna is a Newfoundland with mild hip dysplasia. She had a bone tumor growing on her right shoulder.  Amputation was out of the question due to her hip dysplasia. She is a very large dog with a lot of weight taking the front leg off would cause her to put more weight on her hind legs which were also damaged. She would not have been able to walk after only a couple of weeks. So the owner decide to just provide Hanna pain relief and treat her holistically using the raw food diet. Hannas heart was very big and her will to live was remarkable because she beat all odds and lived with her cancer for over 10 months. In fact this picture was taken in February, and she was living with her cancer at that time and obviously living quite well notice her weight was good, her hair coat was decent, and her attitude was excellent.

Although she is gone now, Hanna will still be one of the most memorable stories I have had in veterinary medicine. Each month I went to do chiropractic treatments I was expecting not to see her and every time there she was waiting for me.  I will miss her!

Many of you know that as far as pet insurance is concerned I have been recommending VPI; however, I have found some interesting tidbits from a couple of clients and some internet research, as well as a Twitter connection from Laura Bennett, CEO of Embrace Pet Insurance and fellow blogger, that has definitely changed my opinion of the company and my recommendation.

I am going to give you a couple of links that helped me in my search for a better insurance policy for your dogs…

Pet Insurance Review - http://www.petinsurancereview.com

Invisible Voices - http://invisiblevoices.wordpress.com/pet-insurance-post-series-research-and-links/

You really need to read this information before you buy pet insurance and even if you have pet insurance if you are not with the right company I would suggest you read this and switch ASAP. I feel that Embrace Pet Insurance and Pet Plan US are the best plans to have. Embrace may have the edge right now for two reasons - 1. Pet Plan US is only available in 40 states and 2. Embrace is run by a person not afraid to be out in public and give away information i.e. Laura Bennett is a blogger. Check out her blog here –> Embrace Pet Insurance Blog

There is probably other differences between the two companies but I’ll have to do some more research to find out what that is. Oh and the Embrace blog is a real blog, it is not just hype about their product/service. It is well written and has very good information on a variety of subjects, not just pet insurance. Check it out and while you are there get with the right pet insurance. I am considering applying for their affiliate program because I think I am going to be promoting Embrace all over the place.

In the meantime I am going to have to ask Laura how I can be listed on the AllTop pets blog list, but maybe this blog doesn’t have what it takes yet! Stay tuned you haven’t read the best in dog health blogs yet, because I have not yet reached my peak!

On Saturday the clinic was very busy. We had our scheduled appointments along with two emergencies. Those two emergencies were limping dogs, which ended up being anterior cruciate ligament ruptures or cranial cruciate ligament ruptures.

The first dog I had seen before with the same limp unfortunately now it had gotten worse. My initial visit with the dog, a 100 lb Bullmastiff, he was still using the leg but had a noticeable limp on the right hind. Palpation and flexion showed minor discomfort in the knee. Attempts to exhibit a drawer sign on the dog were met with a relatively painful but stable joint. This suggested to me a partial tear or strain of one of the cruciate ligaments in the knee. So we sent the dog to physical therapy. However today the poor thing was only toe touching his leg and barely using it. Repeating the tests showed more discomfort in the knee as well as a cranial drawer sign. I sent the dog to an orthopedic surgeon for repair, the same orthopedic surgeon that had fixed the left hind knee a couple of years ago.

The second dog, a collie mix about 40 lbs, came in not using the leg at all, completely holding the leg up. Attempts to palpate the leg were rather difficult as the dog decided to lunge at me every time I even came close to the knee. Palpation of the quadricep muscles were also met with snarling and snapping. So we sedated the dog, upon sedation and examination of the knee a complete drawer sign was noted. This means the dog has a complete tear of the cranial cruciate ligament allowing the tibia to slide back and forth along the femur. Very painful! This dog was also sent to an orthopedic surgeon for cranial cruciate ligament repair.

So what is the anterior or cranial cruciate ligament anyway?

Here is a picture of the normal knee of a dog taken from Hills Veterinary Atlas. Click on it for a larger view. You are looking at the knee from the front. Do you see on the inside of the knee how there are two ligaments. these ligaments cross. For the Anterior or Cranial Cruciate ligament the top part of the ligament attaches to the femur at the back of the knee and the bottom part of the ligament attaches to the tibia at the front part of the knee. the caudal or posterior cruciate ligament does the opposite so it criss crosses with the anterior ligament. This allows the knee to be able to bend however prevents it from sliding back and forth stabilizing the joint. When one of these ligaments tears or ruptures the knee becomes unstable and is allowed to slide back and forth. This will set up some major inflammation and if left untreated will cause some major degeneration and arthritic changes in the knee. A partial tear can be medically managed for a few months allowing the ligament to heal. Treatments such as underwater treadmill therapy (Underwater Treadmill info) , passive range of motion exercises, electrostimulation, chiropractic, acupuncture and eventually quadricep muscle building exercises all play a role in helping heal a partial tear. Little dogs meaning under 30 lbs can sometimes even with a complete tear be managed comfortably with this type of treatment. However, dogs over 50 lbs or dogs with a very active lifestyle more than likely will require surgery to repair a complete tear.

Here is some more info on Cranial Cruciate Ligament Tears…

TPLO Surgery - Repairing Your Dogs Bum Knee
Big dogs have knee problems, too
Anatomy of the Cranial Cruciate Ligament
Surgical Repair Options for Cranial Cruciate Ligament Repair
Canine Cruciate Injuries in Dogs
Some Common Human Injuries Also Common In Dogs

Here’s an update on the Lhasa with the Congestive Heart Failure - He is doing Great!

The one shot of Lasix improved his condition immensely. No fluid in his lungs, his attitude was much improved actually fiestier than before. So he was given one more shot of Lasix and then we have him taking oral Lasix for the next two weeks along with a medication called Enacard. At that time we will be able to reevaluate and choose a course of action from there.

Yesterday a dog came into the clinic coughing and gasping for breath. The 9 year old Lhasa Apso had no history of being around other dogs and had not been in a kennel or dog class.

Physical exam revealed a temperature of 101.5 (normal) and a bluish tint to the mucus membranes. Listening to the lungs determined that they were full of fluid and an extremely loud heart murmur heard on the first beat (mitral valve insufficiency). Questioning the owner he said yes the dog has had a heart murmur since it was a puppy. The veterinarian that first heard it said it was so bad that he did not expect the dog to live for longer than two years. Well here he was 9 years later in my office with his heart finally failing in congestive heart failure.

I would have liked to taken radiographs however I could not sedate the dog and I did not want to stress the dog without sedation in either case the dog may die on the xray table. So we opted to take care of the fluid in the lungs by using furosemide (Lasix). Ideally this dog should be put in ICU with Oxygen and Lasix and digoxin or other heart contractility drug given every couple of hours until the breathing improved and the fluid reduced in the lungs, enough so that an EKG and radiographs or preferably an echocardiogram (ultrasound) can be used to further diagnose the extent of the heart condition. The owner of this dog was not willing to put the expense into his pet, looking at it as, he has had a great 9 years 7 more than expected and he did not want to put the dog through any heroics only to try and extend his life a few more months. He opted to try and see if the one lasix shot was going to be enough to get him through the night and he would bring him back in the morning for another shot and for oral medication to try and see if the minimum would allow him to continue his dogs life.

I did not go into the clinic today but I will find out tomorrow morning what happened with this little 9 year old dog with congestive heart failure.

So what happens how did this dog all of a sudden end up in this condition. In Mitral Valve insufficiency the valve between the top portion of the heart and the bottom part of the heart does not close all the way. So when the heart pumps it is unable to pump with enough force to get the blood out to the body, much of the blood escapes back into the upper chambers of the heart. What this does in the long run is that the heart has to work twice as hard to do its job, and in some cases 3 to 4 times as hard. This obviously wears the heart out to the point where it can no longer function appropriately. When the heart can not perform correctly blood begins to pool throughout the body. When blood pools the actual fluid can separate out and pools in different areas of the body in this case in the lungs making it impossible for the dog to breath and also increases the load on the heart even more!

Medications can be given to help with congestive heart failure or better yet improve the heart before congestive heart failure occurs by reducing the amount of fluid in the blood and others can be given to help the heart muscle improve its ability to contract. Other treatment or rather lifestyle changes can include adding Co-Q10 to the diet as well as adding other antioxidants to help the heart and the overall health and immune system of the dog.

I’ll post tomorrow good or bad on what happened with the Lhasa, stay tuned.

More Information on Congestive Heart Failure in Dogs…

When a Big Heart Is a Bad Thing

Congestive Heart Failure Common in Older Small Breeds Such as the …

Heart Failure in Dogs

I am not sure exactly how to take this story. My emotions and my intellect are conflicting on this one.

Lets start out with the story. A little minature pinscher named Fester, escaped from his owner and ran out onto the road. Fester was unfortunatley hit and killed by a man driving a Honda Civic. That man is suing the owners of Fester for the damage done to his car.

To quote my wife on this story - “Well I guess he has a right to sue as the dog was not on a leash, the inconsiderate butthead.”

This quote does explain well what I am thinking and feeling about this story. Yes the little dog was off the leash and yes he may have damaged the car, not sure how much damage a 13 pound min pin could actually cause, so the people should pay for the damages. However my heart tells me what kind of compassion does this man have that he just kills the family dog and wants $1,100 for damages to his car, time he had to take off from work, and court fees. What a nice guy?!?

He claims that pieces of the bumper flew up and stuck into the radiator which caused it to have to be replaced. Personally I would like to have some tests done because I do not believe his story. It is a 10 year old car in Minnesota! Can we say rusted out radiator and an opportunity to have someone else pay for the replacement? Pieces of the bumper flying off from hitting a 13 lb little dog - again I say prove it.

Anyway here is the story, tell me your opinion…

Driver kills dog, sues owners - Soon after a car struck and killed a dog just north of Cloquet, MN the driver added insult to the injury: He filed suit against the family for the damage done to his vehicle…