My Pet's Doctor Blog | MyPetsDoctor.com - Part 2

Who Will Care For Your Pets If You Can’t?

December 22, 2009

What would you want to happen to your pets if you were physically or mentally unable to care for them?
That very situation presented itself today when a longtime client was hospitalized and not expected to recover.
Fortunately, his sister will be able to care for the three cats in her home. They will continue to be [...]

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Glaucoma In Dogs and Cats

December 21, 2009

Glaucoma in dogs and cats results from a variety of abnormal conditions of their eyes which cause a rise in the pressure of the fluids within the globe.
Normal intraocular pressure (IOP), the pressure of fluids inside the eye, is controlled by a delicate balance between fluid production and fluid removal. Specifically this fluid is aqueous [...]

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Calibrate Your Pet’s Automatic Feeder

December 21, 2009

Does your pet eat from an automatic feeder?
Our Martha does, and I’d previously discussed a problem with it getting out of adjustment and “shorting” her twice-daily meals.
Frankly, I misinterpreted the initial signs: licking Pearl’s Prescription Diet t/d, sitting by the feeder for long periods before each scheduled feeding, and, eventually, weight loss.
Fearing the worst, I [...]

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Cat Urinary Tract Problems

December 18, 2009

Anny writes to us from the Bay Area of California with a question about her kitty, who got an injection of Convenia, the long-acting antibiotic. In her post she describes some circumstances that every cat owner needs to know how to deal with.
Hi, Dr. Randolph,
My cat, Money, is about 4½ years old. A few weeks ago, after [...]

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Avoid Puppy Mills, Adopt From A Shelter

December 17, 2009

One of the ways we can prevent the sadness we wrote about yesterday in Tila’s story is to stop supporting puppy mills and unscrupulous, indiscriminate breeders.
Today I saw Rocky, a two-year-old, mixed breed small dog who is going to make his new family’s life very happy. He came from our local humane shelter and beat [...]

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Sometimes Loving Pets Brings Sadness

December 16, 2009

Why, oh, why does there have to be so much sadness in the world?
There is a flea market a couple of hours from where I practice that churns out sadness like your car churns out carbon monoxide.
Puppy and kitten mill operators come from all around to hawk their wares and the unsuspecting in the crowd [...]

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Capstar For Flea Control

December 15, 2009

Today let’s talk about Capstar, a wonderful medication and a tool in the never-ending battle against fleas.
Capstar, nitenpyram, is an amazing little tablet marketed by Novartis Animal Health that is safe in dogs and cats. Give one pill and it begins killing fleas within twenty minutes, and will continue to kill fleas for 24 hours, [...]

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Dog And Cat Biopsy

December 14, 2009

Biopsy.
It’s a scary word, isn’t it?
But it doesn’t have to be, because a biopsy can just as easily bring good news as bad.
First, let’s define biopsy: “The removal and examination of tissue, cells or fluid from the living body.”
So, though we may usually think of a biopsy in terms of taking all or part of [...]

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How Much Would You Pay For A Dog?

December 12, 2009

How much would you pay for a dog?
Here, in the richest country in the world, several million dogs and cats are euthanized each year because there are not enough homes for all of them.
That number grows every day, mostly because people won’t have their pets spayed and neutered.
How many times have our clients said to [...]

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At The Laboratory With My Pet’s Doctor: Bacterial Culture and Sensitivity

December 11, 2009

Here we are back in the laboratory with your pet’s doctor. Today we’ll be discussing the test called bacterial culture and sensitivity.As the name implies, it’s a two-part test: The culture part of the test tells you that something is going to be grown. In fact, laboratory technicians will take the specimen the doctor sends [...]

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San Juan: Great Excuse To Board Your Pet

December 10, 2009

Ahhhh, the good life.
After I wrote of my current bout with the flu, a client sent me an email.
Seems he was really concerned.
Seems he could feel my pain.
Almost.
He probably could have felt my pain if he had been at home, here in Long Beach, but, instead, he was in San Juan, Puerto Rico! He just [...]

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Pets Should Drink From Bowls

December 9, 2009

What started out as “cute” might actually be a bad habit.
Take pets drinking from a faucet. It’s really cute to see a little kitten tilt his head to drink. It’s cute the way he comes meowing to the faucet every time you pass a sink.
Did you ever think it would be your cat who made [...]

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When Your Pet’s Doctor Is Sick

December 8, 2009

What does a solo practitioner do for patient care when he is out of the office, sick?
I’ve often heard the question asked, “How do you know the difference between a cold and the flu?” I’ve often heard the answer, “If you have the flu, you’ll know it! You will feel like you have to die [...]

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At The Laboratory With My Pet’s Doctor: Urinalysis

December 7, 2009

In an ongoing series, MyPetsDoctor.com has informed you about laboratory tests your pet is likely to have performed as routine screening tests, as preoperative tests, and as tests designed to diagnose illness.
Today we’re going to look at tests commonly performed on urine.
The most basic is urinalysis, which is performed in two parts. First, let’s start with [...]

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Sara Gets A New Catherine

December 5, 2009

Cute, cute, cute!
After Catherine’s osteosarcoma diagnosis and subsequent passing, her “sister,” Sara, went into a deep funk.
Most dogs and cats snap out of their depression quickly when a disruption such as loss of a roommate occurs, but Sara’s unhappiness seemed to linger and linger.
Another of our clients had adopted Hoagee from a Golden Retriever rescue [...]

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At The Laboratory With My Pet’s Doctor, Chemistry Profile II

December 4, 2009

In our ongoing series about how and why your pet’s doctor chooses laboratory tests, and what the results mean, we continue our look at the Chemistry Profile.
Glucose. Everybody knows glucose. It’s also known as blood sugar. Problems can occur when it’s too high or too low. Rarely is low glucose, hypoglycemia, a problem in adult [...]

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Pets Must Not Ride In The Front Seats Of Cars

December 3, 2009

Pets must not ride in the front seats of cars.
The principle is the same as children not riding in front seats. Let’s look at the reasons.

When airbags deploy properly in an automobile crash they can save lives and minimize injury. “Deploy properly” means:
AIRBAGS

Driver or passenger will be the proper distance from the airbag. The minimum [...]

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Cat Urinary Bladder Inflammation

December 2, 2009

I have long been fascinated by a syndrome that occurs in cats that has no logical explanation I can come up with: Why do cats with blood in the urine deposit that abnormal sample on white surfaces where the contrast will show the blood?
Suppose you’re a person who is deaf and are unable to write. [...]

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Update On Sam The Westie

December 1, 2009

Poor Sam.
Sam, the West Highland Terrier whose progress many of you have followed (STORY ONE) (STORY TWO), had a setback today. We scheduled a Medical Progress Examination to evaluate the current state of his skin problems and itchiness. As his Dad and I spoke, Sam stood on the floor and scratched first one part of [...]

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At The Laboratory With My Pet’s Doctor, Chemistry Profile I

November 30, 2009

In the last edition of “At The Laboratory With My Pet’s Doctor”, we studied the details of the Complete Blood Count. Today, and tomorrow, we will look at a battery of tests called the “Chemistry Profile“.
In the Complete Blood Count, we were examining physical bodies, tiny little cells that circulate in the bloodstream. With the Chemistry [...]

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At The Laboratory With My Pet’s Doctor, Complete Blood Count CBC

November 27, 2009

Your pet’s doctor finds many reasons to perform laboratory tests for your pet. Sometimes tests are run as a “baseline”, a set of tests by which to measure future performance of the body. That way, if your pet ever becomes ill, he can say, “When he was “x” years of age, “normal” for him was [...]

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Happy Thanksgiving From MyPetsDoctor.com

November 26, 2009

May God’s many blessings be upon you and your loved ones on Thanksgiving Day. He blesses us so greatly, and we have so much to be thankful for. Please travel safely, wear your seat belts, don’t drink and drive, and exercise your pets on a leash at rest stops.
See you tomorrow, Dr. Randolph.

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Pets From Humane Shelters Need Followup Care

November 25, 2009

Smokey came from a humane shelter a little over a year ago and never got the medical care he needed. His family was under the mistaken impression that he was “finished.”
As a participant in a humane society program, he could have come to us to find out exactly what he needed. For free. We are [...]

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Microchips Must Be Registered

November 24, 2009

Microchips must be registered. Otherwise they are worthless bits of glass and metal.
We faced the sad situation today of good Samaritans who brought in a dog slightly injured by an automobile, but with no resources (or willingness?) to pay for his care.
We scanned him for a microchip and, voila!, he had one! We called for [...]

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Amy Rohde Discusses Brindle And Tristan

November 23, 2009

After Tristan Rohde found Brindle so very far from home, a saga unfolded that eventually culminated in a trip to Virginia to return Brindle to his original owner, thanks to a microchip.
After it was all over Amy Rohde, Tristan’s mother, sat down and gave us this collection of her thoughts on the journey from finding [...]

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Catherine’s Longtime Companion May Get A New Friend

November 22, 2009

We had the saddest office visit.
Catherine’s owner came into the clinic for the first time since Catherine had passed away. The poor thing cried all the way through the examination.
We were evaluating Sara for overall health and updating her vaccinations. Sara had never known life without Catherine in her entire six years. She first came [...]

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Urinary Incontinence In Dogs And Cats

November 20, 2009

Urinary incontinence is a common problem in dogs and a less common problem in cats.
Workup for urinary incontinence begins with a thorough physical examination followed by routine screening laboratory tests: Complete Blood Count (CBC), Chemistry Profile and chemical and microscopic urinalysis.
In the CBC we will be looking for anemia which might be driven by poor [...]

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Cat Dies From Swine Flu

November 19, 2009

Yesterday MyPetsDoctor.com reported the illness of multiple ferrets in the state of Oregon, confirmed to be caused by 2009 H1N1 (swine) influenza virus.
Today we hear from the same state that a cat has come down with swine flu, and succumbed. The confirmation test is still pending. Initial Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests were positive for [...]

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Ferrets Infected With H1N1 Swine Flu

November 18, 2009

We knew from the beginning that ferrets would be susceptible to swine flu. H1N1, as it’s known officially, is a very flexible influenza strain that has adapted itself to quite a number of species. MyPetsDoctor.com reported recently the case of an swine-flu-infected cat in Iowa.
In October a ferret in Oregon was diagnosed with swine flu, and [...]

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Obstipation: Chronic Constipation In Dogs And Cats

November 17, 2009

Obstipation, or chronic constipation in pets, is a condition mostly affecting cats, that causes stool to stay in the colon for an excessively long time, resulting in removal of too much moisture from the stool and a hard cake that will not pass.
Several predisposing factors may be in play for patients to suffer from this [...]

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Dog And Cat Heartworm Disease

November 17, 2009

Heartworm University (HU) is a function of the American Heartworm Society, based in Wilmington, Delaware. It is a new feature of the Society and its program was presented six times in calendar 2009.
As a member and director of the Louisiana Academy of Veterinary Practice I was fortunate to be able to attend HU this week [...]

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Dog And Cat Trivia On What Pet Owners Spend

November 14, 2009

Some interesting trivia on what pet owners spend:
Ø In 2009 they will spend $45.4 Billion on pets
Ø Will spend $22 Billion on veterinary pet care and medicines
Ø Will spend $17.4 Billion on pet food
Ø More families have a pet at home than a dad
See you Monday, Dr. Randolph.

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Dog And Cat Lens Luxation

November 13, 2009

Anterior and posterior lens luxation are conditions that can range from non-event to major surgery.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

What is it? Let’s break it down. Anterior means front or forward, from the Latin root meaning before, and in this case refers to the frontmost chamber of the eye. It’s no surprise that it’s called the anterior chamber.
Posterior [...]

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Stray Cats Will Eat ANYthing!

November 12, 2009

Anne writes from McDonald, PA: “I recently adopted a kitten, Benjamin, who is now seven months old. Ben is a wonderful cat. He is very playful, very loving and very curious. The funny thing is, Ben will eat anything I put in front of him or anything we happen to leave out on the counter. [...]

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You Will Come Around To Loving Cats

November 11, 2009

I was passing the time away between classes at the Mississippi Veterinary Medical Association (MVMA) meeting in Jackson a few years ago when I heard a common declaration from a patron in the lounge:
“Ohhhhh! I just hate cats!”
I wasn’t shocked because I’ve heard it so many times. I wasn’t always a cat lover myself, so [...]

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Convenia Passes Another Test

November 10, 2009

Convenia passes another test.
Bayou recently came to us with an embarrassing problem: BO. Body Odor. He, well, stank.
Bayou had a bacterial infection of the skin called pyoderma. It is a common problem, usually secondary with a primary underlying cause of allergy or some other immune system dysfunction.
Demodicosis is also a common primary cause of pyoderma.
Bayou had [...]

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Dog And Cat Proptosed Globes

November 10, 2009

Proptosed globe may be the second scariest condition of pets after seizures.
Prominent-eyed dogs such as Pugs and Pekinese are prone to this condition, in which the eyeball itself pops out of the eye socket, usually as a result of trauma.
Proptosis is a Greek word meaning “fall forward.” Globe is a term ophthalmologists and general practitioners [...]

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We Want Lucky To Be An Indoor Cat

November 7, 2009

Lucky is, indeed, a lucky cat.
Not only was he rescued from the life of a stray cat, he found his way into a family of real cat lovers.
Gene, Joye, Vince and Ryan share their comfortable and spacious home with four cats. Now, Gene’s parents have adopted Lucky and the “kids” are helping with trips to [...]

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Keeping Pet Travel Safe And Healthy

November 6, 2009

“Don’t leave home without it,” the ad says.
Americans like to apply that same saying to their pets.
Travel down any highway, byway or side street and you won’t get far before you see an automobile with a pet in it.
On a recent trip to see our children and grandchildren in Louisville, KY, my wife stated adamantly [...]

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When Heartworm Tests Don’t Agree

November 5, 2009

Bennie is a case of a dog with heartworm tests that can’t agree with each other.
Bennie’s owner was shocked and amazed a few weeks ago when he got a diagnosis of a positive heartworm test from his regular veterinarian. Bennie had gotten his heartworm preventive on schedule every month, as was using the heartworm preventive [...]

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About the Doctor

Dr. James W. Randolph is a small animal veterinarian in Long Beach, MS. A 1980 graduate of Auburn University’s College of Veterinary Medicine his special interests are Dermatology and Internal Medicine. In his spare time he enjoys weekly teaching a Sunday School Class at a nearby nursing home, singing in the choir in his Baptist church, furniture making and other woodworking and bass fishing. He is married to the talented artist Brenda Randolph, and they enjoy visiting their children and grandchildren whenever possible. They are allowed to share their home with sweet poodle, Pearl and grouchy black cat, Martha.