Category: Wellness

97 Your pet might need a teeth cleaning – Jan 31, 2019

February is National Pet Dental Health Month, again.

In the great tradition of Jeff Foxworthy, let’s play …… “Your pet might need a teeth cleaning”
1. If your dog’s mouth smells worse than his butt…
2. If you smell your dog before you see him…
3. If your dog pants in your face and your eyes water…
4. If you have to feed canned food because she can’t eat kibble anymore….
5. If his pillow is wet in the morning from drool…
6. If the edges of the sofa are stained with blood from her rubbing her mouth on it…
7. If she flinches when you pet her face…
8. And last – If you have to chew your pets food for him…

Actually, these are examples of oral and gum disease gone WAY past needing a “just a cleaning. “

Let us help BEFORE it gets that bad.

February is National Pet Dental Health Month. Here at Garden Ridge Animal Hospital, we offer 15% off dental cleaning procedures during February. All animals will have pre-anesthetic bloodwork, be fully anesthetized, monitored, and on fluids during the ~30-45 minute procedure. The entire mouth will be fully examined, probed, cleaned, polished & fluoride treatment applied. If we find problems like teeth that need extractions or oral masses, you will get a phone call with a plan. It is a “day” anesthetic procedure, and they don’t stay overnight. We don’t perform dental radiographs, but if they are indicated, we will refer your pet to the local veterinary board certified dentist.

Test Yourself!
How much do you know about your pet’s dental health? Take this quiz to find out.

For more information:
https://www.avma.org/public/PetCare/Pages/Pet-Dental-Care.aspx
Periodontal youtube video by AVMA

86 NATIONAL CLEAN OUT YOUR REFRIGERATOR DAY

I chose to highlight this chore because having old, expired,  and questionable food in the refrigerator is a health hazard for humans and pets. The timing is perfect just before the holidays. I plan to tackle mine on this day. But I will be very strict on getting the discarded food immediately into the outdoor trash so no dog can scavenge and get sick.

This article is directly from the National Day Calendar website.
National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day is observed annually on November 15. Get together a soap and hot water filled bucket, disinfectant, a sponge and a garbage bag, and you are ready for the day!
The timing is perfect for this day as Thanksgiving is coming soon. We will need room for all of the upcoming leftovers. This job may be dreaded by many, but it is an important task none the less. Due to our hectic and busy lifestyles, the cleaning of the refrigerator gets neglected, hence the creation of National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day. There may be a surprise or two found at the back of the shelves. Things are often pushed back as new food is put in the front and gets forgotten.
HOW TO OBSERVE
Some suggestions for your refrigeration cleaning are:
• Empty each shelf.
• Completely wipe down the inside of the refrigerator.
• Wash drawers and underneath the drawers.
• Throw away all expired food.
• Throw away any moldy food.
• Get rid of anything that you do not use.
• Vacuum condenser coils.
• Vacuum out under the refrigerator.
• Restock shelves and drawers with good food.
• Enjoy your nice, clean, organized refrigerator.

NATIONAL CLEAN OUT YOUR REFRIGERATOR DAY – November 15

84 Things we have found in last month’s Wellness Bloodwork Special

We have been running our annual Wellness Bloodwork Special for the 31 days of October, and we have uncovered some interesting findings in “normal” dogs and cats.

Hypothyroidism in a dog– The thyroid gland controls the metabolic rate, so low thyroid can look just like a dog getting older. They slow down and gain weight. The coat can become dull, sparse, and slow to regrow after a haircut. They seem to get more frequent infections, like skin, ear & urinary tract. Treatment is a daily tablet, and the symptoms go away. It’s like magic. Definitely improves the quality of life for the pet and the owner.

Hyperthyroidism in a cat– This high thyroid disease is common in old cats, and is the opposite of the dog low thyroid. The cats are very active, losing weight despite a great appetite, and often vocalize. They have high heart rates, and all the revving up of the metabolism isn’t good. Treatment varies from daily tablets, referral for radioactive iodine (cure!), or a special diet that is super low in iodine.

Early kidney disease– many dogs develop kidney failure as the kidneys slowly degenerate with age. Until now we only had BUN and creatinine as tests, and they only become elevated when the kidney function is less than25-30% of normal. The new SDMA test can detect much earlier function loss, so we can make good choices to manage those kidneys. There are no magic pills to regenerate kidneys though, and kidney transplants are out for most dogs. So early detection is the best we have right now.

Early heart disease– the cardiopet- Pro BNP test measures stretching in heart muscle associated with heart disease. If this test is elevated, we look more closely at the heart and try to catch problems before they become symptoms like coughing and shortness of breath. With early medications, we can definitely increase the life expectancy and quality of life for dogs with congestive heart disease.

Leukemia-We had one healthy dog that we found white blood cell cancer in the blood. It really floored me.

Urinary tract infection– This dog had no symptoms despite a lot of bacteria and white blood cells in urine. Another had asymptomatic crystals.

Intestinal parasite check– one asymptomatic Giardia.

What we didn’t find this year– any Heartworm positives. I truly expected to find these.
No diabetics. YEAH!
No chronic infections with high WBC (only the leukemia boy).
No unexplained liver disease. I usually pick up 2-3 of these in October.

These are the reasons we do wellness bloodwork  (and urine & fecal checks). Just like people, we can find stuff early so we can make educated choices to improve the quality and quantity of days of our pets lives.

82 Vet News across the nation this week.

There was a lot of interesting pet related news articles this week that I wanted to share.

1.Texas A&M emergency veterinary team helping out in flood zone
The Texas A&M Veterinary Emergency Team was deployed to Junction, Texas, to provide veterinary care for search-and-rescue dogs working in a flood. “Our goal is always to keep them safe, see problems before they happen and to be there in case of a severe injury happens,” said veterinarian Wesley Bissett, a professor at Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences.
KBTX-TV (Bryan-College Station, Texas)

2. You tube how to brush dog teeth– 5 min long
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB3GIAgrTPE&feature=youtu.be?utm_source=smartbrief&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=smartbrief-article

3. Why do Siberian Huskies have blue eyes? It’s in the genes.
http://www.aaha.org/blog/NewStat/post/2018/10/08/437784/My-what-blue-eyes-you-have-and-now-we-know-why.aspx

4. Which nutrional websites to trust? Here are some guidelines. http://www.tuftscatnip.com/issues/26_10/feature/Which-Nutrition-Websites-to-Trust-986-1.html?ET=tuftscatnip:e2853:2127383a:&st=email&s=p_WeeklyUpdate100118

5.  Bees went silent during last year’s  total solar eclipse
Citizen-scientists placed microphones in flower patches at 11 locations in the path of the 2017 solar eclipse and found that bees behaved normally as the light grew dim and the air cooled, but they abruptly stopped buzzing during totality. The study was published in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America.https://www.sciencenews.org/article/what-bees-did-during-great-american-eclipse

6. 3D-printed model improves veterinary surgery planning
Veterinarians at VCA Great Lakes Veterinary Specialists in Ohio worked with engineers at Case Western Reserve University on a 3D-printed model to prepare for surgery to mend a puppy’s severely fractured foreleg. Veterinary surgeon Andy Law said the model enabled him to correct the pup’s bone deformities with a minimum of cuts.
WEWS-TV (Cleveland) (10/10)

7. Distemper outbreak compels La. animal shelter to take action
An animal shelter in St. Landry Parish, La., had to euthanize some dogs, temporarily halt intakes and adoptions, and thoroughly disinfect the facility due to an outbreak of canine distemper. The outbreak might lead parish officials to pass new vaccination requirements, parish President Bill Fontenot said.
KADN-TV (Lafayette, La.)

81 Wellness Bloodwork Specials

It’s that time of year again when our laboratory gives us some great deals on wellness bloodwork that we pass on to you.
We have been busy drawing blood, collecting urine and feces already. So far, we have already picked up early problems in dogs and cats like hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, early kidney disease (SDMA), and several with some elevated heart muscle stretching tests (cardiopet pro BNP).

We have custom packages for dogs and cats, young and old, that are quite a discount than the rest of the year. I am getting my own dog’s wellness bloodwork today! If there is something going on inside, I want to know early so I can make diet and/or life style changes so Sarge is around for many more years.

It’s easy to set up an appointment to get Fluffy or Fido’s blood samples taken. We love it when you collect the urine and poop from home. We get the results in 1-2 days, depending on the types of tests performed. And we don’t make you come in to talk about the findings! You will be a call from the veterinarian, Dr Henricks or Dr Pena, who will actually explain the results. (of course, you are always welcome to come in…)

For more information, check out BLOG  #28, from October of last year for more details.