Month: May 2019

113 Bacteria, Fungus, and Yeast, Oh My

We are entering the moist warm season where little tiny microorganisms love to grow, especially after all this rain. Most of think of these little beasties, like bacteria, fungus, and yeast, as bad actors because they cause disease. But if we take a larger look at them, these little guys can be our friends and allies.

Bacteria are one celled organisms, responsible for plague, strep throat, staph infections, but also normal gut flora, fermentation( turning wine into vinegar), milk to yogurt or cheese, and lacto-fermentation ( preserving cabbage as sauerkraut and kimchi). They are used to manufacture insulin!
Yeast are one celled organisms, responsible for athlete’s foot, swimmer’s ear, thrush, but they also are the magic ingredient to convert sugar to alcohol in beer, wine and cider, or make bread “rise” with CO2.

Fungus are chains of single celled organisms that can cause ringworm, other fungal dermatitis, and even some systemic fungal diseases like histoplasmosis, blastomycosis, cryptococcosis, and coccidioidomycosis (Valley Fever). But the good one create culinary and medicinal mushroom (the fruiting body of the colony) like shiitake, button, oyster, and psilocybin (magic mushrooms). They also help recycle dead plant material in the forest and create rich soil for more plants to grow in.

These tiny creatures do more than cause disease. We don’t want to kill them all with strong antibiotics, antifungals, or disinfectants unless we have too. I love harnessing them in my kitchen for sourdough bread, sauerkraut, wine and mead!

112 All Good Things …

No, I am not retiring. But I am sad that two of my favorite TV shows are over and finished. I am of course referring to Game of Thrones and Big Bang Theory. I was really rooting for more dragons, but at least I got the reunion between Jon Snow and Ghost, the dire wolf.

I especially liked the ending for Big Bang Theory. Nerds need love too, and friends to help them be their best versions of themselves. Girls can be geeks too. Vets in general are pretty nerdy. We actually have a higher suicide rate than many other professionals.

We are also saying goodbye to one of our staff, Kayla. She got married recently and will be moving to be with her husband in the Navy. We wish her well, and hope she finds another animal hospital with which to share her talents. We lost 2 staff women to relationships last summer. Something must be in the water.

I also have three grass fed steers ready to graduate to the freezer. Most people get ½ a cow ( ~300# of meat), or split it with another close family member. See Blog 100 for more info about the meat.

The last ending is my son’s college days. He graduated last week from University of Texas at Dallas with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He was my home schooled child, and this achievement is very sweet for me too. I am so proud of him. Yes, the Aggie in me had trouble writing those checks to the University of Texas system. So I am no longer a single mother with 2 school aged kids, but happily remarried wife now for 14 years with 2 adult, college graduated, married children, and one grandchild.

“All Good Things” was also the title of the final episode of Star Trek/ Next Generation, which coincidentally was aired on May 23, 1994, exactly 25 years ago today!  I can’t wait to see the new Picard Series.

Life is good.

111 CBD for Pets

Hardly a day goes by when a client doesn’t ask me about CBD products. Many companies are marketing CBD oil for pets, mostly dogs, to manage pain, arthritis, seizures, and anxiety. Clients want their pets not to hurt, nor seize, and not to get high. So What’s Up with CBD?

CBD is short for Cannabidiol, one of several cannabinoid compounds naturally produced to the Cannabis plant. CBD isn’t THC (the one that is psychotropic), and does have many medicinal properties that we are trying to figure out. Unfortunately, we have only recently discovered the naturally occurring endocannabinoid receptor in our body, just like we have natural opioid receptor that react to derivatives of opium, another plant based compound.

Legally, cannabis is tricky too. The FDA has classified it as Controlled Schedule I, the most dangerous category, which has stifled legitimate testing for decades. The climate is changing, and it is now legal to grow industrial hemp in several states. Hemp by legal definition produces less than 0.3mg THC, but it looks identical to the marijuana plants that do make THC. So Hemp makes CBD in different amounts and wonderful other compounds, called terpenes, which are the aromatic essential oils which also have effects on living systems.

There are several well-constructed completed University run therapeutic drug trials with CBD for dogs with specific diseases, and many more on going. Eventually, we want to know the ideal dose of CBD (and other terpenes) for different disease conditions, which form is best absorbed (oral chews, sublingual tinctures, or even topical), how often to give, can it be given with other medicines (like for arthritis & seizures dogs that are already on meds), side effects, and most importantly—-Which product is the “best”?

I have just completed a six hour online course to learn more about this new category of medicine, and I don’t have the answers, but I am learning what questions to ask at least.

If you are looking at a pet CBD product, ask for the Certificate of Analysis. It should come from an independent lab, show all the different cannabinoid compounds, but especially CBD, and THC. Ideally, it would include terpenes. And it should be recent and on this specific batch or lot, not something done 18 months ago. “Organic” is also preferred due to less pesticide residues. Look for grown in America, not overseas. Keep a log of your pet’s response and dose. If it is helping, keep using it and try to use the same product next time, knowing that CBD is derived from a plant, and each batch could be slightly different. Just like wine, a bottle of Cabernet this year will be different than one last year, even from the same vineyard, even on the same vines. The wines may have the same alcohol content, but may taste slightly different. For CBD and terpenes, those variations could make all the difference in the medical response.

Stay tuned for more CBD updates as they occur.

For more information and terminology: https://www.veterinarycannabis.org/guidelines-for-pet-parents.html
https://www.fda.gov/news-events/public-health-focus/fda-regulation-cannabis-and-cannabis-derived-products-questions-and-answers#approved
veterinarynews.dvm360.com/cornell-takes-lead-cannabidiol-research
https://www.akcpetinsurance.com/blog/cbd-oil-for-dogs
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2018.00165/full
https://www.leafly.com/news/cannabis-101/terpenes-the-flavors-of-cannabis-aromatherapy
https://www.leafly.com/news/cannabis-101/understanding-cannabis-testing

110 Mother’s Day Gifts

So last week my sweet little 7 month old puppies brought me the sweetest gift: half a rat. They had been playing at our ranch in East Texas, and FINALLY caught a rat (or large mouse), and were fighting over the back half. I assume they ate the front half. When I told them to “drop it”, they did so and were so proud. I gave them each a big treat for killing a rodent. Rodent extermination is their chief terrier job description.

We have to remember that our four legged children do some genetically hardwired traits to do certain things. Labradors retrieve. Shelties herd. Pointers point birds. Huskies pull. Greyhounds run. Cats will catch mice & birds and even small snakes. It is a beautiful thing to see God’s creatures do what there were designed to do.

But if your cat brings you a ‘”gift” of a snake or your terrier “gifts” you with half a rat, you should praise them, reward them, THEN throw it away.

109 Twenty nine year Anniversary in 2019!

Yes, we really opened our doors April 30, 1990. My daughter was 2 then, and I had a different husband. I now have a one year granddaughter, and I am celebrating Fourteen years with my husband, Dan. My son is set to graduate from UT Dallas this month and was married last summer. Life if good!

New things during the last twelve months:

SIGN: We got at new sign around New Years! It actually fits the old frame, but with the new logo and new LED lights so it looks great at night.

FACES: We have some new faces: Larissa is the head nurse that started last summer. She already had 10 years of experience in other practices and we call her the “cat whisperer”. Kayla up front started about this time last year.

PUPPIES: I got my 2 terrier pups (Chuck and Sally) in November, and they are now 7 months old. They have been my refresher course on puppyhood and training, and a lesson in patience every day.

ONLINE PHARMACY:  I reevaluated several, but ultimately decided to stick with VetSource

PET INSURANCE: We added Petplan by AAHA to our previous recommendation of Pet Best

REMINDER: Soon we will offer an online portal so you can get custom reminders: postcard, email or texts

CONTINUING EDUCATION class on Canniboids:  I just finished an online vet CE class on medicial canniboids for pets and am blown away by the potentials. There aren’t any medicines to prescribe yet, but I am on a learning curve for this new class of medicine.