The “veterinary geriatric workup” has been replaced by “age-appropriate laboratory testing.” Why? The more laboratory tests veterinarians perform, the more we learn. Thirty years ago pets had laboratory testing only when they were sick. Then pets began to have laboratory tests before anesthesia, until the benefit was observed to be so great that every anesthetic [...]
Fine needle aspirate (FNA) is a procedure akin to biopsy. It is a form of cytology. It is a relatively non-invasive, nearly painless way to have a look into a mass in an effort to determine the character of the mass. Notice that we said “in an effort.” FNA is not foolproof. There are several [...]
Psychogenic polydipsia(PP) is a syndrome resulting in a patient drinking inappropriately large amounts of fluid. In the case of dogs and cats their fluid intake is usually limited to water. Poly is a Latin prefix meaning “many.” Dipsia is a Latin verb meaning “to drink.” Therefore, the polydipsic patient drinks often, or in large quantities, resulting [...]
Catherine writes: “I am a veterinarian’s assistant. We recently lost a cat who had Cuterebra. It went up the nasal passage to the brain. I’ve never seen a cat howl and act like that. It was horrible. The cat died before we actually knew what the diagnosis was. Since it/they went up the nasal passage [...]
An abscess is defined as a localized collection of pus in a cavity formed by the disintegration of tissues (credit: Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary). The pocket is typically filled with pus. The most common abscess veterinarians care for is from cat bite wounds, but abscesses can occur in any species. Furthermore, cat bite abscesses commonly occur in [...]
Gorilla Glue is dangerous to dogs in its uncured state. It still has not been established why a dogs are attracted to it. Cats, as one might guess, have better sense. Some readers may not be familiar with Gorilla Glue. It is categorized as a polyurethane adhesive. An excellent technical description is available by clicking [...]
Pets need preventive care. Just like people. No one would think of having a human baby and not taking it to a doctor, yet we get calls at our hospital all the time that start with, “My dog is “x” years old and has never seen a veterinarian because he’s never been sick.” One wants [...]
Bilirubin is a bile pigment. It is mainly derived from breakdown of hemoglobin in red blood cells (RBCs). Hemoglobin is the molecule in RBCs that carries oxygen. Bilirubin normally circulates in the blood attached to a molecule of the protein albumin. There, it exists in two forms: conjugated (direct) and unconjugated (indirect). Bilirubin dicluguronide, the [...]
Jeanna Giese is the first person known to survive clinical rabies infection without standard treatment. In 2004, while attending church, a bat fell to the floor. Jeanna, age 15, picked it up, carried it outdoors and released it. In the process she was bitten on the left index finger. The bite was cleaned with hydrogen [...]
Cutaneous lymphoma is another round cell tumor of dogs. While lymphoma is a common cancer in dogs, the cutaneous form is actually quite rare, accounting for only about five percent of all canine lymphoma cases. Two forms of canine cutaneous lymphoma exist: epitheliotropic and nonepitheliotropic. In humans the epitheliotropic form is also called mycosis fungoides [...]
Plasmacytoma is an uncommon tumor of dogs. There are two forms, medullary and extramedullary according to whether the growth is in the bone marrow or not, respectively. Today we will be discussing extramedullary plasmacytoma. This is a continuation of our series on round cell tumors which began with canine histiocytoma, followed by canine transmissible venereal [...]
Continuing our series on canine round cell tumors, today we will discuss Transmissible Venereal Tumor (TVT). As the name implies, this cancer affects the reproductive tracts of male and female dogs. As rarely occurs in cancer, TVT can be “given” to another dog by contact, thus the word “transmissible” in its name. TVTs are typically [...]
Histiocytoma is the term given to a type of benign growth of young dogs. Histiocytomas are in a category of tumors called “round cell tumors.” Round cell tumors can range from benign to highly malignant and include mast cell tumors, plasmacytomas, transmissible venereal tumors and lymphoma. One of the helpful features of round cell tumors [...]
May I sound off for a moment? Periodically I get comments and e-mails on MyPetsDoctor.com suggesting that this or that medication be removed from the market by the FDA, usually because “it killed my dog (or cat).” These comments are bothersome for a number of reasons. Never, in my experience, are the claims backed up [...]
Feline Infectious Peritonitis, FIP, is a disease of cats causing a variety of illnesses. FIP is caused by a Coronavirus, so-called because under an electron microscope it looks like a crown or “corona.” There are a variety of coronaviruses that can infect cats and they range widely in virulence. At one end of the spectrum [...]
Canine mastitis is an infrequent clinical presentation for veterinarians. Most cases present during the time of milk production after puppies’ birth. Cases may also occur when pseudopregnancy occurs in dogs. Of special interest to our patient today is the fact that Great Danes are overrepresented in cases of canine mammary duct ectasia. Some researchers believe that [...]
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