One need not read MyPetsDoctor.com long to learn that we are strong advocates of preventive care.
In that vein, check in Monday, June 15, for an Article entitled Physical Examination For Pet Owners. There you will learn how to perform a basic examination of your pet to be able to know if problems arise between regular preventive care visits.
Prevention of untold pain and suffering could be the outcome.
Take the pet I saw at the end of our day today. When the staff took the pet’s history to determine whether there were any physical problems for me to evaluate during today’s examination, the pet owner had no complaints.
As I always start my examination with eyes, ears, nose and throat, it didn’t take long to find a problem. I lifted the left ear and the smell nearly knocked me off my examination stool. A thorough look at the ear canal and eardrum with the otoscope confirmed the source of the odor. The right ear was in equally-bad condition.
We next performed Cytology, a microscopic test on the ear discharge, and determined that the problem was being caused by bacterial infection. Medication was dispensed with instructions for cleaning and treatment and this pooch will soon be feeling much better.
Still, one has to wonder how long the problem has already existed and how many weeks or months of pain and suffering could have been avoided.
Armed with simple examination instructions pet lovers the world over will be able to catch such problems early and prevent prolonged and unnecessary discomfort.
See you tomorrow, Dr. Randolph.
