Scratchings-and-Sniffings

Why Does My Dog Roll in that Smelly, Stinky Whatever?

Miles and Riley were up on Boston Hill yesterday with their respective human companions; Cheryl and Chris. Riley got in a little trouble.

Seems he found a ripe skunk carcass to roll in. Nice. Not only did he get the tantalizing odor of rotting flesh on his coat, he got the bonus eau de skunk as a complement. Really nice.

Miles refrained from the rolling action but, according to Chris, he was quite envious of Riley's find and new scent.

What's up with that? Seems like dog's are always finding and frolicking in some of the most objectionable stuff imaginable. At least to us. To them it's an entirely different experience.

Want to Save a little $ Dough?

I'm getting a lot of questions lately about how to save on veterinary care. Most everybody is feeling the pinch from the economic missteps of the last decade. Even though we are slowly getting our act together, if you are one of the many without a job, saving on most anything is a welcome idea.

I would not forgo annual exams, as I've stated in the past. Spotting problems early and staying current on vaccinations is less expensive in the long run than crossing your fingers. But, there are things you can do yourself that will save on pet health related expenses.

 

One area where most of us are remiss is in home dental care for both dogs and cats. As you may know dental disease is very common in pets and routine dental care for them is just as important as it is for us and our human kids.

Miles is Mellowing

We've had Miles under our roof for about a month now. When he first arrived he was skittish in general and fearful of strangers, especially strange men. I wrote about this and laid out a plan to address his socialization needs. I'm happy to report that over the last few weeks he's shown marked improvement on both fronts.

I had a chance to talk with noted behavior expert and friend Dr Debbie Horwitz while attending the North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando last week. We discussed Miles and she gave me some interesting advice.

 

In a previous post on the subject I mentioned how Miles reacted poorly to a visit by my buddy Phil. We were at a loss on how to react to Mile's behavior when Phil came in the door.

Feline Enrichment Basics

We talked earlier this week about the importance of a cat's home environment to their overall health. We discussed how either a chaotic environment or a barren environment can lead to chronic stress and how this might lead to disease in some cats.

A healthy cat needs a balance of stimulation and security to lead a healthy life, especially if they live indoors full time. While outdoor cats are at higher risk of infectious disease and injury, indoor cats in unhealthy environments are also at risk. So how do we make a cat's indoor world more appealing and interesting?

 

First we have to understand the unique personality and behavior patterns of the domestic feline.

Cat Owners are Zookeepers

That's right. You may have been unaware that you were running a zoo, but if you have a cat you are part cat lover and part zoo keeper.

This bit of information came to me in a talk at last week's North American Veterinary Conference and I must say it was quite a revelation. According to Dr. Tony Buffington of The Ohio State University and the mover and shaker behind the Indoor Cat Initiative, our house cats are basically solitary hunters of small prey. They tolerate us and in fact they are very dependent on us because we control their environment, or hunting grounds, as they would perceive it.

 

As you know, I'm and advocate of keeping cats indoors and I've written about that several times on the blog. I think indoor cats are less likely to get into trouble, are healthier in the long run and much less of a burden on wild bird and rodent populations. I still think that, but Dr. Buffington gave me a new perspective on this issue and it's something we should spend a good deal of time with on the blog.

What's the Best Treatment for your Hyperthyroid Cat?

The title to this post is kind of a loaded question and in some cases it depends on whether your vet is a surgeon or not. The lecturer I listened to today [last week at NAVC] was an internal medicine specialist and she had her point of view.

She said that at The Veterinary College at Purdue they don't do many thryroidectomies anymore. Her rationale was that most of the cases are bilateral, meaning both thyroid glands are affected 70% of the time and surgery to remove one gland is often followed later by surgery to remove the other.

She discussed a couple of medical options, too.

Tubby Tabbies

I attended an interesting talk on feline obesity this week. You might wonder what is new under the sun about weight loss? It's pretty much about limiting the calories in and encouraging more to get burned up. While that's still true, I did learn quite a bit of new information and I was exposed to a really nice web site on the subject. 

Petobesityprevention.com is loaded with pet weight loss information and helpful tools to make your quest for feline fitness more successful. I really liked the tips on feline exercise! 

 

So what did I learn? 

Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Cats

I sat through a really good presentation on Inflammatory Bowel Disease, or IBD, in cats today at the Feline Health Symposium sponsored by Purina at The North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando. The talk was given by Dr Debra Zoran from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Texas A&M.

The interesting part of the presentation was Dr Zoran's focus on the role gut micro flora, or the bacteria that normally reside in the intestine of the cat, play in the development and management of IBD.

For those of you that don't know, we, and our cats, have huge numbers of bacteria that reside in our intestinal tract. We tend to think that bacteria living in our gut would make us sick and in some cases that's true. But what most of us don't know is that we have huge numbers of bacteria living in our intestines right now and not only are they not making us sick, they are keeping us healthy most of the time.

A Flurry of Feline Fun From Florida

Next week is cat week here on the blog. Yvonne and I will be at the annual North American Veterinary Conference in sunny Orlando and we are planning to spend three whole days immersed in cat health. Of course we'll be sharing that information with you almost as it happens. I'll let Yvonne tell you what she plans to do but for me I'm focused on posting about some of the most common health issues affecting our feline companions.

On Monday morning, Purina is hosting a series of talks and I plan to report on Feline Inflammatory Bowel Disease and some new thinking on Feline Weight Loss. On Tuesday, Idexx, a company involved in diagnostic tests and laboratory analysis is hosting another all morning session on cat health. They have a particularly interesting line up of talks starting with Feline Hyperthyroidism and moving on to Renal Failure and Diabetes. We've talked about all those issues on the blog before and it will be interesting to hear the latest on these common health threats.

The Dreaded Hot Spot

One of the more frustrating skin problems in long haired dogs is know as acute moist dermatitis or more commonly; the ol Hot Spot. As the name implies this skin lesion is red, inflamed, denuded of hair and drives most dogs kind of crazy. My old German Shepherd Fritz, used to get one or two hot spots a year.

Hot spots are also frustrating because they can have a variety of causes and once you've determined the cause of one and treated that, you can get another from a different inciting factor.

 

Fleas, and flea allergy, are a common culprit. Atopy from inhaled allergens like pollen and food allergy can also set up the conditions for a hot spot. Ear infections and even impacted anal sacs can get the itch, lick cycle going too. I've even seen dogs with arthritis get hot spots because the start to lick and bite the skin over their painful hip joints.