Did you know that dog vaccination guarantees protection against disease? Well that is at least what the pharmaceutical companies’ marketing departments would like you to believe and it certainly is working on some people. Faith left a comment on my blog about this very topic and then I went to her blog and discovered some misinformation that needs to be corrected.

Here is an excerpt from her blog Dog Health Information about dog vaccination -

Dog vaccination guarantee protection from diseases and your pet can develop strong immunity thus making vaccination a vital factor of your dog health care. Nevertheless, engaging your pets to ‘annual vaccinations’ needs to be consulted from veterinarians. It is important that you know what and how often to give your dog a vaccination, for his total safety.

I totally agree with her about consulting with your veterinarian about what to give and how often as long as they are giving you the most current recommendations and information on the subject -
Is your vet STILL overvaccinating your dog? : The 2006 canine vaccination guidelines

But do vaccines actually guarantee protection? The simple answer is ‘no’. Vaccines do not guarantee protection against disease. A quick look at the research shows that vaccines protect anywhere from 85% to 95% of the time, which of course is good but it is definitely not a guarantee. Even being properly vaccinated your dog may still become infected by the diseases they are vaccinated for, it is not complete protection. It is the best protection available especially against diseases such as Distemper, Hepatitis and Parvo, but it is not a guarantee.

I am not suggesting that you forgo vaccinating your puppy because it does not guarantee protection but just be aware of the actual facts that vaccines are very powerful immune system stimulants but they do not offer 100% protection of the diseases. Because of this it is important to protect your dog in other ways, such as proper nutrition, exercise, and annual exams and blood tests from your veterinarian to supplement a proper vaccination protocol for your dog.  Basically focus on all the other aspects of dog health to help protect your dog the best way possible.

One of the biggest contributors to poor dog health is obesity. About 35 to 40% of dogs are overweight and almost 25% are obese and just as in people this really increase health problems such as joint issues, diabetes, liver disease, and other health issues.

Well one creative veterinary clinic, New River Animal Hospital in West Virginia, is starting a Biggest Loser Pet Contest, similar to that of the TV Show the Biggest Loser. The contest will last three months and first prize is a basket full of items worth $200. Here is the new article on the contest - Biggest Loser Pet Contest to begin Monday

This might be a good idea for our own clinic and it certainly is a good idea if your own dog has a weight problem. Set up your own Biggest Loser Contest with your own dog. It will help immensely (pun intended). Lets give you a few tips to help you get started -

Simple - less food more exercise. Basically eat less calories and burn more…sound familar. Now how to do this -

• Stop with the treats. Your dog does not need treats, especially if it is overweight. I repeat your dog will love you even if you do not give it a snack every time it goes potty outside.
• Take your dog for a walk. It is best to take multiple short walks a day vs one long walk.
• Play with your dog - chasing a ball or a toy is good exercise for your dog.
• Do not feed crappy diet dog food - unless you want your dog to be bloated and have a large amount of gas do not feed the “fit and trim” dry dog foods. It is important to maintain high quality dog food and just feed less of it. The rest of your dogs health depends on it.
• Weigh your dog twice a week to determine your progress.

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!

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

Yesterday I discussed the conventional diagnostics and treatment of chronic ear infections in your dog. Well of course you may have been all through that before and the ear infection still comes back. Do you know what that means? It means the underlying cause of the disease has not been found. It means that the ear infection is a secondary problem not the primary problem. It means that your dog has not been completely diagnosed yet. It means something else is wrong with your dog not just ear infections. So what could this be?

It is a problem with the immune system. This is the primary cause. The immune system is either hypersensitive or hyposensitive. You may know it as two other diseases - allergies or hypothyroidism. The most common for chronic ear infections, however,n is allergies and more specifically food allergies. It is what your dog is eating that is causing the problem with the ears. OK I know that is hard for you to imagine but let me explain. However first lets examine the thyroid issue.

Is your dog overweight no matter how little you feed? Is the dog lazy, lies around a lot, tends to sleep more than you would think? Tends to want to sleep on cold surfaces? Has fat deposits? Has skin problems or chronic ear infections? Your dog may be hypothyroid. A blood test will need to be taken by your veterinarian to determine if your dog does in deed have hypothyroidism. If it does then it is an explanation for the chronic ear infections and if the underlying hypothyroidism is not treated then your dog will continue to have ear infections.

Now back to allergies - If your dog is allergic to his food one of the consequences is that the ears will become inflammed. This in turn will close down the ear canal by the swelling of the internal structures. It will also tend to produce more fluid and ear wax. This produces an environment suitable for bacteria and yeast to proliferate and grow. So what occurs is that you treat the infection but because you continue to feed the dog the same food the inflammation, fluid accumulation and wax buildup continues so the ear infection never goes away or it comes back.

Here are the steps to take to help clear up the allergies and prevent the ear infection from returning….

1. Limit the amount of vaccines your dog is receiving.Annual vaccination is not necessary and can in fact be detrimental to your dogs health. For example in this case your dogs immune system is hypersensitive thats what allergies are a hypersensitive immune system. A vaccine is a substance that stimulates the immune system. It makes no sense to stimulate something that is already overstimulated and hypersensitive??? It has been proven that the core vaccines of Distemper, Parvo, and Hepatitis last many years and are not necessary to be giving every year year after year. Your dog will be much happier and healthier without receiving annual revaccination.

2. Dog food - your dog food will need to be of a higher quality protein than the normal dog. Actually I find it best to feed my dog who does not have allergies a higher quality protein. Dogs allergies tend to come from being allergic to protein sources and a lower quality protein is one that stimulates the immune system more than one that is easier to digest and clear through the digestive system easier. So this means avoid grains. Your dog food needs to be meat based. Look at the ingredients, is corn, wheat, rice, or oats high on the list of ingredients? Is it the first product? This is not an appropriate dog food. I prefer to feed an allergic dog a raw based diet or if you are not comfortable with feeding that type of diet or you need the convenience of a kibble diet then you need to purchase one that has a high quality protein and is grain free. There are many dog foods on the market that are duck and potato, venison and potato or just grain free.

3. Dog treats - when first starting out with the new diet I would recommend using the dog food as treats as well. Just take a handful of the new dog food and place it in a bag or in a jar and use them as treats your dog will not know the difference except in his immune system. After the immune system and allergies are under control then you can attempt to use something other than the dog food as treats. I would recommend a high quality freeze dried meat based product.

So the steps to fix your dogs chronic ear infections - 1. Proper diagnosis, 2. Proper treatment, 3. Diagnosis of underlying disease, 4. proper treatment of underlying disease. If you are able to do these steps then your chronic ear infections will be a thing of the past. Your dog and his health will appreciate it.

One of the most common “dis-eases” that I see as a dog veterinarian is ear infection. In fact, I see a lot of chronic ear infections. You know… the dog that has ear infection after infection after infection, maybe this is your dog? You start the medication and the ear clears up and as soon as the medicine is finished the ear infection comes back. Or maybe the ear infection never really clears up. Are you tired of cleaning the ears once a week with ear cleanser, putting drops in the dogs ears every day, your dog shaking his head constantly, or scratching his ears all the time? Well in this two part series I am going to take you through the steps necessary to finally “fix” this disease once and for all.

The first step is actually proper diagnosis and treatment —

1. The first step is physical examination of the infected ear. An otoscope is necessary to look inside the ear to examine the internal structures. Is the inside of the ear red and inflammed, is the ear canal closed over, is there a lot of fluid in the ear, is the ear drum still intact?

2. Your veterinarian needs to do an ear cytology. Which means he/she will take an ear swab, collect a sample of the infected ear, roll it onto a microscope slide and examine the “gunk”  under the microscope. This should be done without your dog on antibiotics and prior to cleaning the ear that day. This will provide information as to whether your dog has a bacterial infection or a yeast infection.

3. A culture and sensitivity must be performed if your dog has experienced multiple ear infections. The reason being is that yes we may know what bacteria it is by checking out the ear cytology however we would not know exactly what antibiotic would actually kill the bacteria. So any dog that has experienced multiple ear infections must have a proper diagnosis and treatment to clear up the infection properly.

After proper diagnosis and an appropriate antibiotic is found to treat the ear, then proper treatment must be applied. First oral antibiotics may be necessary especially in the case of a Staph infection, not just the topical antibiotics, ie ear drops. So with the culture and sensitivity the appropriate oral antibiotics are given (rememeber to use probiotics as well to help with the affect of the antibiotics on the intestinal bacteria) and will be needed every day for at least a week if not up to four weeks for some infections. Next be sure to have the ears cleaned very well, this will need to be done twice a week. Then everyday the ears will need to be swabbed out with a cotton ball and the appropriate antibiotic drops applied, this may need to be done twice daily. If there is a lot of fluid accumulation in the ears, then an astringent will need to applied every other day until the fluid accumulation has subsided. A typical astringent made for ears would be found in swimmers ear medication.

The above is the appropriate conventional diagnosis and treatment for ear infections. There are alternative treatments as well however the proper diagnostics need to be completed just as was stated above. Tomorrow I will go into how to prevent the ear infections from reoccurring, you may be surprised at what the actual underlying cause usually is for chronic ear infections. To give you a hint - it will be food for thought and will help your entire dogs health.

Remember when I wrote about one of my clients experiences with an underwater treadmill —> Underwater Treadmill

Well I ran across a news article discussing using the treadmill for weight loss in dogs and to improve the overall health of the dog by having a great exercise program. The article has video check it out here —> Plump pups become water dogs for health 

I can see many uses for this type of exercise - rehab for orthopedic injuries as well as weight loss in dogs.  It is a great tool.

I also posted this on my Twitter - I usually post quick things like this with a link to the article on my Twitter so be sure you are following my Twitter —> Dr_Dan_DVM

Lately there are dog toothpastes on the market that contain flouride. Is this for real? To be honest it is a marketing ploy, there is no need for flouride in toothpaste for dogs in fact it can be harmful if too much is applied.

Here is a good article found in the San Fransisco Chronical Online today - Ask the vet: Is fluoride OK for dogs

The statement from Dr. Larry Gilman in this article that you need to really remember is “Don’t forget that people rinse after brushing, but dogs just swallow the toothpaste. An overdose of fluoride can cause vomiting and at higher levels can lead to kidney damage.” Flouride is toxic to humans as well as dogs and you certainly would not want to give your dog kidney damage because you are trying to keep his teeth healthy.

Now he does make a mistatement in this article stating that dogs do not get cavities. Dogs have a high pH in their mouth which does prevent the demineralization that occurs in cavity formation, usually. However this changes when a dogs teeth are covered in plaque and the bacteria can create an acidic environment underneath the plaque. Also in chronically ill dogs the pH of their saliva is lowered allowing for the formation of dental caries/cavities.  Approximately 5 to 10% of dogs with dental issues have cavities.

Brushing your dogs teeth everyday will help prevent the formation of plaque and keep your dog healthy. Just do not use any flouride toothpaste it is just a gimmick to get you to buy their toothpaste. Dogs are not people, which is why they can chew raw bones to help with dental issues and we can not. The only problem I have with bones is that many dogs will break teeth on them, another dental issue. Stick with brushing them everyday for the best dental health for your dog, most dogs learn to enjoy it.