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The new site has been up for a week, and I hope many of you have had a chance to take a look around. I welcome any feedback and suggestions you might have to improve the site or subjects, questions or cases you’d like to see discussed. For those of you who haven’t been to the new site, I thought I’d point out some of the new and exciting features.
Probably the most exciting new component for me is the Podcast section of the site. Currently we have three audio podcasts available. Our plan for the audio podcasts is to initially have two new podcasts available each month. The centerpiece of these shows will be the interviews, which will be in an alternating format. One episode each month will feature a veterinary/canine health topic and the second episode will be someone from the dog or hunting industry. As often as possible we will also be conducting product giveaways in conjunction with theses podcasts.
With this month’s shows we feature an interview with tick-borne disease expert, Dr. Matt Eberts. This is the first in a two-part interview with Dr. Eberts. In part one we discussed Lyme disease and anaplasmosis, particularly the diseases and the diagnosis of each. In part two we will look in-depth at the treatment and prevention of both. With these interviews Merial has graciously donated boxes of Frontline to be given away with each episode. With the first episode we will be giving away three boxes to our listeners.
Our other episode this month features an interview with Bryan Griggs from Mud River Dog Products. The folks at Mud River have an incredible line of products for our working dogs. We discuss the interesting history of the company and its current product line. Bryan graciously donated a number of products to be given away next month.
There are a number of ways to download or subscribe to the podcasts, including through the iTunes store. For more information on the podcasts visit the Audio Podcast Page.
Some of the other exciting new features include:
- Case of the Month - this will replace the case of the week we had here on the blog. Instead of taking a quick look at a subject from the week, we will have a lengthy discussion on a particular issue. The first feature will be a summary of the numerous migrating plant awns that I featured here on the blog. I will still feature occasional cases on the blog, but for in-depth discussion they will now be on the website.
- Product Reviews - the product reviews are somewhat self-explanatory. My goal with these is to give you some good equipment recommendations on stuff I use. I’m rough on gear and like stuff I can really use, and my hope is to be able to give you some real experiences with the stuff I take a look at.
- Book Reviews - again somewhat self-explanatory and many of the current ones have been taken from past newsletter issues. We are now an Amazon associate, and so when appropriate, you can access the books for purchase directly from our site.
- Photo Gallery - we struggled on how we would bring this over from the old site. Our current plan is to only feature pictures that we feel exhibit our best work on the photography front. This has been an area of great growth and interest for me over the last few years and instead of sharing all of our images we’ll just bring you our best.
- Ask the Vet - New and improved with more categories to make searching for old subjects and questions much easier. More frequent posting updates. We will be adding at least a question a week, which will be teased on the hompage and answered on the Ask the Vet page. Each month the old questions will be placed in the archive.
- Still to Come - Once we get the kinks (sound issues, features, etc.) worked out for the audio podcasts we are going to be stepping into the arena of video podcasts. These will be short features on subjects that are best illustrated with visual aids. In addition we are in the process of reworking the newsletter to bring a format that fits with the features of the new site.
Thank you very much for hanging in there through the change, we hope you find the new site worth the wait.
Sincerely,
The Gundogdoc
Because of our struggles with the loss of Emma, I promised Chrissy that we would be a two-dog household for quite a while. Anyone who knows me knows that promise was destined to be broken, because truth be told, we are just a dog household…no qualifying numbers needed.
I have always been fascinated with spaniels. It probably started years ago when Dave Carty frequently had articles in Gun Dog that featured his hunts with his springer. Most fascinating to me were the waterfowl hunts and how this upland dog could truly do it all. I have had the pleasure of hunting over some fine springers and am fortunate to count among my friends the folks at PineShadows in Brainerd, one of the best springer kennels in the country. Unfortunately I also have had the displeasure of seeing a number of surly examples of the breed in practice. In addition, the ear and skin problems just left me thinking the breed was not for me. Enter the Field-Bred English Cocker Spaniel. The more I researched the cockers, the more I felt this breed may be the perfect fit and compliment to my two setters. While definitely not a goose dog, the cockers too are a do-it-all breed just in a smaller, sometimes more entertaining package.
This spring I attended a cocker field trial and was sold. Thoughout the years I have attended countless dog events and this was the first that I could have left with any of the dogs and been completely happy. Prior to the trial the wheels had been set in motion to find a breeder and my efforts were doubled after the trial.
Chrissy and I made a trip to North Dakota to visit Glencoe Kennels and knew we had found the breeders we would be getting our next dog from. Unfortunately they had only one litter planned and a few people on their waiting list. Thinking it wasn’t meant to be I was put on the list of another very good breeder in the upper Midwest. As fate would have it, on our 10th wedding anniversary, I received an email that the pups at Glencoe had been born and that there was a little female for us. I was excited and nervous beyond belief.
Two long months passed before I was able to travel north to retrieve the little bundle. I took a few days off to spend some time observing Paul’s training methods. It was an unbelievable couple of days, and Paul and his methods will certainly be something we revisit on the site in the not-to-distant future. I had a great weekend and immediately fell in love with the little white female pup we’d eventually bring home.
How can you not melt when you see a face like this:
From the first day, I knew she was going to be a smart one. I have loved working with the setters; however, I truly believe I am a multiple dog type guy. While I love the free-ranging spirit of the setters I also love working with a dog like you experience with the retrievers and spaniels. She has been a quick learner from the get-go:
And whle we have started some play training, at the end of the day she is still just a cute little puppy, tuckerd out from picking on the bigger dogs in the house:
I’m looking forward to bringing you the adventures of this new site and new pup. In days to come I’ll discuss the changes we’ve made to the site, the direction we are going and other opportunities. Right now though I have to get a little puppy outside…I really hate housetraining new pups.
For years we have promised a site relaunch with better content and services. We are still in the early stages of working out the headaches of the server transfer but the new site is live…and I believe all addresses are currently active. The blog may also survive but I won’t know until later this morning. If it makes the transfer it will also get a new look and feel. Once everything is in order I’ll take you on a tour.
Also, I realize the homepage has a new pup with no introduction. I will introduce you to Lily later today.
For now take the new site for a spin:
The site relaunch and server move is scheduled for tomorrow and the hosting company has informed us the blog will not be able to be transferred even though we are staying with the same company. My plan is to attempt to create it at the same site, and with the same feed but please stick with us for the next 48 hours as we will be entering into unknown territory during the transition.
I am incredibly excited about this change, if you are unable to access the blog through your current bookmarks please check back at the homepage as I will have links prominently available shortly after the site is launched.
Again, thank you for your patience.
The Gundogdoc
I apologize for the absence of posts over the last two weeks. We have been working overtime on the site redesign, and it appears we are near completion. If the server switch goes smoothly we should have the new site up sometime this weekend. As I mentioned previously there may be a 24-48 hour delay, with both sites being down during the transition. One issue we may encounter is the loss of the current blog when we switch. I am getting conflicting reports from my hosting company on that front. If you check back and the blog is gone please check the homepage Gundogdoc.com because it likely means the new site is up.
Just as a teaser, we will have three podcasts available on the new site, two of them will feature some very generous product giveaways. Thank you for sticking with us during this time, and I look forward to your feedback on the new site and what we can do to continually improve the services we offer.
Q.) Can liver enzyme levels become elevated because of food allergies?
A.) Liver enzymes are a tricky area of interpretation. There are a number of things that can influence them, and they must be interpreted in the context of symptoms, magnitude of increase, medications, age of the dog, etc. etc.
With a food sensitivity or allergy I would not expect to find elevated liver enzymes. Now, a food toxin is another matter. For instance, the toxins seen in some of the recent food recalls can and do affect the liver and cause elevations in liver enzymes.
My typical plan of attack with liver enzyme elevations is to evaluate the big picture to make my game plan for moving forward. If the dog presented because it is sick, I likely would pursue it aggressively right away. This can range from liver function testing (usually done with bile acid testing), x-rays, utrasound, and potentialy a biopsy. If the elevation was found on a pre-surgical profile or routine screening in an outwardly healthy dog with no other blood work changes, we may just wait a couple of weeks and repeat the values to see if there is a change. The key is interpreting the dog’s health as a big picture and not just as one symptom or one blood work value. Once you have the big picture in mind, you can proceed with a diagnostic plan.
The one footnote I will say is that sometimes liver enzymes can lead down a path of no answers and can be somewhat frustrating. We have several older dogs in the practice with slightly elevated enzymes that we have never been able to explain. The specialists will agree that there is a certain set of dogs with slightly elevated values that do not necessarily have a medical problem.
The site is still slow, but I’m going to try to make up for some lost time this week and stay current. If you’ve visited the main page you will notice we are switching servers and relaunching the site in the next two weeks. We may experience a 24-48 hour period of being offline; however, after that, the site should be up and completely revamped. Stay tuned for updates.
Monday I was greeted by a golden retriever with severe eye inflammation. He had been into the local emergency vet a few days prior and was treated for a corneal ulcer (think of it as road rash of the eye). The owners reported on Monday that they had progressively gotten worse and that the dog seemed very uncomfortable. In this first picture you can see how irritated and swollen the tissues of the eye are:
Upon closer exam I could see the edges of what appeared to be plant matter. First I’ll show you the closeup:
Initially I could just see the obvious plant material to the left of the eye in the picture. However, if you look closer, in the other corner of the eye you can see a small bit of plant material. In the following picture the black arrows illustrate where some of the plant material was located. Also, if you look at the yellow line and then come back to the picture above you can see the edge of the ulcer. Essentially the plant material was rubbing a portion of the cornea off the eye. If you’ve ever had an eyelash stuck in your eye you know how painful it can be, just imagine plant seeds:
In the end we removed four different seed bodies, only two of which we could see initially. Likely when the dog initially went into the emergency hospital the eye was too inflamed and swollen, and the seeds too deep, for the veterinarian to see the seeds. By the time I saw the dog they had begun to migrate out:
I rechecked the dog on Friday and the eye was much improved and the dog much more comfortable. The ulcer had completely healed, and I’m happy to report he was back to normal. I realize I have gone a little overboard with these foreign bodies the last few weeks, and I apologize. That being said I have NEVER seen a problem like this, and I am extremely fearful of what the hunting season may bring. Please be vigilant with monitoring your hunting buddy during training and the upcoming hunting season.