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09/25/08
New Podcast Added
Filed under: General, diseases, Site Updates
Posted by: The Gundogdoc @ 6:10 am

We have added the second installment to the Tick-Borne Disease
Interview. In this episode we will discuss the treatment and prevention
of Lyme Disease and Anaplasmosis. In addition we will have our regular
features, and Merial has once again donated Frontline for three lucky
listeners. To visit the Audio Podcast homepage, CLICK HERE.

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07/18/08
Case of the Week—Migrating Foreign Bodies
Filed under: General, Canine Health, diseases
Posted by: The Gundogdoc @ 6:05 am

The dog in these pictures is not a sporting dog; however, the condition I treated him for is by far one I absolutely dread in sporting dogs. This year’s combination of a cold wet spring and a humid summer have combined to produce one of the worst crops of foxtails I have ever seen in the five years that I’ve lived in South Dakota. While plants and seeds appear harmless and often provide cover for the very birds that we pursue, they can also harbor deadly consequences for our dogs.

For those of you who have followed the site you may remember Maggie’s near death experience with a migrating Canada Rye awn (very similar to a foxtail), take a look at my BLOG entry HERE for a recap. In addition the English Springer Spaniel Field Trial Club has devoted an entire page, committee and task force to dealing with this problem of migrating grass awn foreign bodies, see their page HERE. This is a very serious condition that, depending on the location of the seed, can be expensive to treat (several thousand dollars) or, a much worse outcome, is a very likely death for some dogs.

Tuesday I had an appointment on the schedule that was listed as a “check ears.” Since summer is a time when we see a lot of ear and skin problems, I didn’t give too much thought to the case prior to walking in the room. After talking with the owner it sounded like the dog had been outside and all of a sudden started having problems with the right ear. On exam the left ear looked completely normal; however, when I shifted to the right all was not right. While the ear did not look like an infected ear, the dog would go absolutely crazy with me just attempting to look at the ear. At this point I strongly suggested we sedate the dog to take a look.

After sedating the dog, the external portions of the ear still did not look too irritated after I was able to lift the ear flap:



Upon deeper exam I could only see what looked to be “odd” hairs that were protruding from the ear drum. I inserted an alligator forceps through the scope to remove the out-of-place hairs. A terrible sound imminated as the object came back through the ear drum. As I got the material out I was in shock to find a migrating seed awn that had penetrated the ear drum:



I had to go back in and remove several other pieces of the seed. It was the only awn present on the dog after a thorough exam, but had it been left to migrate any further could have had devastating effects.

Ironically the morning of this incident found Maggie aggressively licking at a rear foot. Upon closer exam she had an area that appeared to be a ruptured abscess between two toes, very likely the result of a seed awn migration. On Sunday we had trained in an area loaded with foxtails. I had healed the dogs around the area and closely examined them after the training session, but sometimes with even the best defenses these plant awns can sneak through.

The moral of the story: Check your dogs after each time in the field and attempt to avoid cover with these types of plants. If your dog should experience an unexplained swelling or infection that your veterinarian cannot explain please bring up the possibility of a migrating foreign body as it just might change your friends life.

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07/04/08
Case of the Week—Maggots
Filed under: General, Canine Health, diseases, Injuries
Posted by: The Gundogdoc @ 6:21 pm

WARNING: THE ENTRY BELOW CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES THAT SOME MAY FIND DISTURBING

We deal with a number of unpleasant situations in the veterinary field. Thankfully I have a strong stomach and very few things still gross me out. One of the big exceptions is maggots. No matter how many times you experience them, it is something I can never get used to. I had initially planned on discussing fly bites with this week’s Case of the Week, and particularly the nasty skin infections they can cause around the ear tips of dogs. Then this springer walked into the practice, and I had to discuss one of the most terrible summertime issue we see…maggots.

I’d like to be able to tell you that we only see maggots very rarely, but unfortunately it seems to be a yearly occurrence. The most common site of maggot infestation is around the rectum and down into the groin. Often it will occur after a bout with loose stools that become matted in the fur and attract flies, which then result in maggots. The other common precursor to maggots is a wound that goes untreated or is rather large. In this particular case I am about to illustrate the dog had a tumor on its foot that had become infected, which in turn attracted the flies.

This is one of the situations that is extremely frustrating to me as a dog lover. I realize that not everyone can keep their dogs indoors; however, I still think we have a responsibility as  pet owners to check on them to make sure situations like this don’t occur. Maggots do not infect an area overnight. Often the area of infection has been going on for a while in order for it to get to the level of maggot involvement. To be quite honest I feel the same way about severe fly bites on the ears; there are plenty of products available to help repel flies, and while you might get caught off guard with the first episode of fly bite it is something that should be dealt with immediately to prevent further discomfort. As pet owners we have a responsibility to treat and protect the animals in our care.

This is a picture of the dog’s foot, and while the infection is nasty the result isn’t  immediately obvious:

Upon closer exam things do not look so good:

Every white speck in the above photo is a maggot inside this dog’s body.

Now, before I get asked the question how I could let this dog continue to suffer while I snapped pictures, I will say the dog was not suffering. Unfortunately he had been put to sleep because of this tumor, and the maggots were discovered after. I was so disgusted that this had happened. I felt that he wouldn’t have suffered in vain if at least one dog owner prevents this from happening to their outdoor dog as a result of this post.

While summer is typically too hot for much dog training and we are just starting to think about hunting seasons a mere two months away, please, please, please don’t forget about your hunting buddy out in that kennel.

3 comments
06/23/08
Monday’s Ask The Vet
Filed under: General, Canine Health, Ask the Vet, diseases
Posted by: The Gundogdoc @ 12:00 pm

Q.) I have a two-year old weimaraner that I recently noticed had a lump. We had it removed and it showed to be a Grade II Mast Cell tumor. She was staged to see if the cancer had spread and all came back clear. I was planning to breed her but now that this has happened I do not know if I can. Is it still possible to breed her?

A.)  It is still possible to breed her, but the real discussion and thought process you will have to undertake is should you breed her. The short answer, if she was my dog, would be that I wouldn’t recommend it. While some breeds of dogs have a higher tendency towards developing Mast Cell Tumors, off the top of my head, I can’t recall any genetic studies showing it has the possiblity of being an inherited trait. With that being said, I would not take the risk of passing on these genes and would not recommend breeding this dog. Two is very young to already be developing tumors, and I would at least wonder if there will be other health surprises down the road. I don’t say that intending to alarm you, or to have you sitting around waiting for the next dose of bad news. A vast majority of Mast Cell Tumors (MCT) are removed, never to be heard from again. But there are obviously some abnormalities with this particular dog that by the age of two have already manifested as cancer. There are three grades of MCTs, Grade I being the least severe and Grade III being the worst. The fact hers was a Grade II, rather than I would also concern me some.

A couple of years ago I went through a Grade III MCT with my setter Maggie (see article). While many of these tumors are very treatable, and potentially curative with removal, any type of cancer is an abnormality that likely has a component in the dog’s genes, and I wouldn’t risk passing that trait on.

My soapbox stance on breeding is that there are only two reasons to breed a dog:  1.) You have a dog that when bred to a chosen mate has the potential to better the breed, OR, 2.) You have a dog that epitomizes your chosen breed and you want to perpetuate those genetics. I realize the second point is open to interpretation; however, I think if viewed with the rose-colored glasses off and with a critical eye towards what you are looking to accomplish, you can at least attempt to make that decision objectively.

2 comments
06/13/08
Case of the Week–Hip Dysplasia
Filed under: Canine Health, diseases, Case of the Week
Posted by: The Gundogdoc @ 6:54 am

I cringe at the thought of guaranteed hips, or health guarantees in general. It isn’t that I’m against doing all you can to assure you are producing the best dogs possible, its just that there are no guarantees with living things. I realize in today’s world a breeder of high-quality, high-priced dogs almost has to have a health guarantee. With that being said I’m not a big fan of them. Too often owners take them to mean there is an absolute guarantee their dog will not develop the “guaranteed” against health conditions. Also too often those same owners haven’t read the fine print of the guarantee that may discuss returning the dog, euthanasia, replacement value, etc. The unfortunate reality of health guarantees is that by the time a problem has developed or been identified you are no longer dealing with a guarantee on a piece of paper, but rather a living thing to which I hope you now have an emotional attachment. This makes sorting out the details of the terms of a guarantee a very delicate and often anger-provoking situation.

I don’t have all the answers to how to deal with this situation, but if I was a breeder, I would jump through every health clearance hoop (i.e. OFA, PennHIP, CERF, genetic testing, etc.) to show potential puppy buyers that I am doing everything in my power to produce for them a very healthy puppy. They could take that information and make an informed purchase decision, but in the end they would be making a contract with the dog they purchased…for good or bad.

That lengthy introduction brings us to a young, sweetheart of a little labrador I saw earlier this week. Despite her breeder and owner’s best efforts, her preliminary OFA films had come back with dysplasia of the left hip. I was seeing her for a second opinion and a retake of the films.

She was a petite and well-muscled little dog. We sedated her to get the best possible view of her hips. She was not sedated for the first go around and so we hoped the sedation would allow for a truer picture of her hips.

I zoomed in on the hips so that you can take a look at what they looked like:

In the above picture her left hip is on your right and is the problem hip. In the image below I have illustrated the differences in the two hips and the problem locations with the left hip joint. The red arrows show a lack of contact on the left side with the “socket” of the ball and socket joint, the right hip (your left) shows a more normal hip joint. The brown line is placed over the reminents of a growth plate (it is a faintly distinguishable white line in the above image). The yellow line is drawn from the two points of coverage of the socket and in a good hip the “yellow” line should intersect the brown with >50% of the brown line on the side of the dog’s body. As you can see the right hip (your left) has very good coverage, where the left hip (your right) has very poor.

I decided to illustrate this case for a number of reasons.

  1. Guaranteed hips aren’t always guaranteed hips.
  2. This dog was very well-muscled and extremely athletic. She had NO symptoms of hip dysplasia. It was a diagnosis made by an x-ray and may never actually cause the dog problem…though she will be at risk. It is this reason that hip dysplasia is NOT always a death sentence or career-ender AND it is also the reason that ALL dogs should be x-rayed regardless of their athletic ability. You won’t ever know the truth unless you look.
  3. Is this genetic and should she be bred? That’s a tough one since it is clearly confined to only one side. It is possible it was related to an injury the dog had early in life, this dog had suffered a very long fall during a crucial stage in development, it is possible as a result there was an injury to only the left hip.Are you willing to take that risk? I’ll be honest here in that I don’t know that answer and there are a number of factors that should be taken into account.
  4. A lot is made about bad x-rays making “good” hips bad, or clever x-rays making bad hips good. To a certain degree both statements may be true. Truly bad hips are never going to be made to look good and really great hips will never be made to look bad. It is the borderline good or borderline bad hips that can be affected by technique, positioning, etc. In the top picture the dog appears slightly slanted across the frame, but that has to do with her positioning in relation to the film and my crop of the picture not a rotation of the dog on the film. After multiple x-rays of the same dog by different veterinary clinics producing the same left hip problem it is fair to say this dog has an issue with just the left hip. 

 

2 comments
06/09/08
Monday’s Ask the Vet Question
Filed under: General, Canine Health, Ask the Vet, diseases
Posted by: The Gundogdoc @ 4:47 am

In an effort to keep the site fresh I have decided on an initial posting schedule for the gundogdoc.com BLOG. The schedule will be as follows:

With that schedule in mind here is a new Ask the Vet:

Q.) Every spring I take my dog in for a heartworm test and give him a little flavored treat every month. I’m not sure I understand this disease; could you give me a little more information on what exactly happens in heartworm disease?

 A.)  The most life-threatening group of parasites for dogs is the internal parasites and particularly heartworm disease. Heartworm disease is just as it sounds, worms that infect the chambers of the heart, and while this is the most common site for the worms to take up residence in the dog, they can also affect the liver and other organs.

 It is a disease that is transmitted by the mosquito, which means the length of the heartworm season varies across the country. The lifecycle of the heartworm passes back and forth between mosquitoes and infected animals. Adult heartworms release the juvenile stage, called microfilaria, into an infected animal’s bloodstream. The mosquito is then infected when it takes a blood meal from the infected animal, the microfilaria grow in the mosquito and are passed back to other animals. From this infected bite it will take the heartworm larvae about six months to mature to an adult worm in the infected animal. Most of the tests available screen for antibodies to the adult worm, which means that a dog infected this summer would not test positive for another six months. This is the reason that many veterinarians in the northern part of the country recommend yearly testing for dogs not on year-round preventative, with yearly, seasonal variations, the mosquito/heartworm season can vary slightly from year-to-year.

 Thankfully heartworm disease is easily preventable with numerous monthly prevention options. The most popular of these are topical and oral monthly preventatives, such as the “flavored treats” you mentioned . The preventatives kill the larvae stage and prevents the development of adult heartworms. It is important to note that it is not preventing the mosquito from biting your dog and transmitting heartworms, but rather it is killing off the transmitted juveniles from the mosquito. This is another reason the annual tests can be important, particularly if you start your preventative too late or quit it too early. Because of the varying lengths of the heartworm seasons, the use of these preventatives may range from six months, in a few of the northern states, to year round in other parts of the country. You will want to discuss with your veterinarian the right program for your dog. As a consumer it is important to note that there are a number of products that are advocated as mosquito repellants, and while they may prevent some mosquito bites, they are all considered totally ineffective for prevention of heartworm disease. In my own dogs I have switched from the seasonal use of heartworm preventatives to year round, mostly because they also act as a monthly deworming. In our part of the country there is no way for a dog to get heartworm during the middle of winter; however, intestinal parasites can still be an issue and nearly all of the heartworm preventatives also act as a once a month dewormer. Another benefit to the year round prevention is that your dog will not need to be tested as frequently.

 Heartworm disease is a treatable disease; however, it is often an expensive process for the owner and a painful one for the dog. Thankfully all but the most severe cases of infection can usually be treated successfully, but the potential complications are many and the recovery can range up to several months, depending on the severity of the disease. Most dogs are diagnosed with regular testing (frequency will be determined by your heartworm schedule) and treatment is administered prior to symptoms developing. It is for this reason that it is vitally important to regularly have your dog’s heartworm status checked and to stay vigilant with your heartworm preventive schedule.

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