Neutering your dog

Source: http://www.peanuts.com/characters/

This week Snoopy was brought to the clinic to be neutered. In itself, that should have been simple enough. But Snoopy had only one testicle and his owners had heard all sorts of scary stories regarding this condition.

True to character Snoopy can be only a Beagle… and I say this because Snoopy is the name of the cute Beagle from the comic Peanuts strip. Most of us have imprinted in our mind the image of Snoopy lying face-up atop his kennel next to his friends Woodstock and Charlie Brown.

There is nothing to dislike about Beagles. This medium-sized dog was bred in England many years ago from a selection of hound dogs. Apart from looking good and being highly intelligent, Beagles are usually gentle and very sociable. Our Snoopy was no different.

One of the most common defects male dogs can be born with is a condition where one or both testicles are not in place in the scrotal sac or scrotum. This condition is known as cryptorchidism, which comes from the Greek word kryptos, meaning hidden, and orchis meaning testicle.

As cryptorchidism is known to be also affected by genetics, it is classified as a genetic birth defect. It is for this reason that cryptorchid dogs are not eligible for dog shows and should not be used for breeding purposes.

During the development of male sexual organs in the foetal stage, the cells which will form testicular tissue originate from deep within the abdomen and descend through the inguinal canal, which is in the inner thigh or groin area, and along a path from there into the scrotum.

In many different breeds of male dogs, it could be the case that one or both testicles do not descend all the way to the scrotum and may stop at some point along the path of descent.  This is known as a retained testicle and it is always a good idea to have your new puppy checked by your vet as soon as possible to verify whether the testicles are in place. Most puppies would have their testicles dropped by the time they are due for their first vaccination at six to eight weeks.

Medically, it is important to be aware that a retained testicle has a tendency to turn into a tumour later in life. Therefore, whenever possible and whenever it can be located, the retained testicle should be removed.  This is not always easy, as a testicle which has not dropped into the scrotum does not grow to its regular size, thus making it more difficult to find. One should also consider that if the retained testicle is in the abdominal cavity, it is debatable whether surgical exploration is an option due to the difficulty in locating such testicles. However, with the help of improved imaging using ultrasound, surgical success can be better forecast.

Cryptorchidism also occurs in other animals, including cats. I have come across tomcats that have retained their aggressive and urinating behaviour even though the owners were convinced that the cat was neutered, only to find upon examination that a retained testicle was still present in the inguinal area.

Snoopy was lucky. His owners chose to get advice from a veterinarian, after which they then opted for castration of the dropped testes since the dog was not intended for breeding.  While under general anaesthetic, we did manage to locate the retained testicle deep under the skin in the inguinal area and it was removed, thus preventing a potential tumour later on. Snoopy can now live a very normal life and his owners have one (or two) less things to worry about.

Dr. Martin Debattista
Veterinary Surgeon

thisweekwiththevet@gmail.com

Take heart!

Last week Monty came in for a health check. Monty is an eight-year-old male Pomeranian, fawn-coloured, extremely well-loved and well-kept. Monty looks only half his age and, as with most Pomeranians, stands very proudly and enjoys plenty of self-esteem.

Pomeranians originate in Germany and are descended from the German Spitz which looks like a larger version of this toy-breed dog.  The name of this breed derives from the word Pomerania, a historical region on the south shore of the Baltic Sea stretching between eastern Germany and Poland, where it was originally bred. Pomeranians are popular in Malta, with some fine examples of this breed.

 

Monty has been a heart patient for the past two years. He was brought in late one evening heaving and gasping for breath. I found it was suffering from an acute case of congestive heart failure.  Dogs do not often suffer acute heart attacks as we understand them in humans. This is partly due to the fact that they do not develop the arterial changes that occur in the human heart.  There are also some vascular differences in the canine heart, which make it more difficult to have the classic heart attack caused by an interruption of the blood supply to any one part of the heart muscle.  What is common in dogs and, in particular, with small and medium breeds such as Pomeranians, poodles and King Charles Spaniels, is a condition called congestive heart failure (CHF).

If you can imagine the heart to be made up of two pumps lying side by side, one on the left and the other on the right – stuck together and contracting simultaneously – you can get a clear picture of how this organ works.  The job of the right pump is to circulate blood towards the lung, while that of the left is to pump blood to the rest of the body.

Each pump is made up of an upper blood-receiving chamber called the atrium, and a lower chamber called the ventricle, from which blood is pumped out of the heart. These upper and lower chambers are connected by one-way valves.  The top-left chamber receives blood from the lungs, blood goes down into the bottom-left chamber and is pumped towards the whole body. The top-right chamber receives blood from all over the body and pushes it back through the one-way valve into the bottom-right chamber, where it is sent back out to the lungs for oxygenation, thus completing the cycle. CHF happens when this blood flow is impaired.

It is more of a symptom than a disease. With CHF, the heart is not pumping efficiently. Therefore, the patient experiences a reduction in circulation with a backlog of blood flow.  It is the left pump which is most commonly affected, and although there can be other reasons, it is usually the one-way valve on this side which is not doing its job well enough by allowing blood to flow back into the top-left chamber, causing a backlog of blood in the lungs when the bottom-left chamber contracts. This is known as left-sided CHF.

The common symptoms of left-sided CHF are, in fact, mainly due to this accumlation of extra blood in the lungs that causes liquid and catarrh to accumulate in the airways, which in turn causes coughing.  Typically, the dog would still be eating and exhibiting playfulness, as there is no infection or temperature present. Coughing usually occurs when the dog gets excited and results because air is trying to get to areas of the lung which are congested with liquid that your dog is trying to clear out.
Another situation typical of left-sided CHF usually occurs a few hours into the night when the dog is sleeping; this happens due to the slow and undisturbed accumulation of liquid in the airways.
In Monty’s case, so much liquid had accumulated in the lung that he had difficulty breathing. The dog was literally drowning in his own water and suffering from an acute attack of left-sided CHF. Although it is the most common, CHF is not the only heart condition dogs suffer from.

Other conditions are dilated cardiomyopathy, which is an enlarged, weak and irregular heart that occasionally occurs in larger breeds, as well as congenital heart defects of various types, which can occur in puppies.

Heart problems also occur in cats, though not as frequently. The main symptom to look out for is intolerance to exercise, such as if your cat breathes with its mouth wide open after what should be a regular run.  At a later stage, it could suffer listlessness and loss of condition. It would be up to your veterinarian to diagnose a heart condition, so such observations should not be ignored.

Luckily, there are many new and established drugs which are effective for Monty’s condition. Having been lucky enough to pull through on that evening, Monty is now leading a relatively normal life.

Successful treatment of heart conditions depends on cooperation between yourself and your vet, relying on your observations at home together with your vet’s findings and diagnosis.  This will contribute to diagnosing the best available treatment for your pet to be able to continue leading a comfortable life.

Dr. Martin Debattista
Veterinary Surgeon

thisweekwiththevet@gmail.com

Vets on call

Last week I felt truly, and briefly, chuffed.  I was out on a house call and, as I approached my destination, I could see an enormous, long-haired ginger cat lying behind the glass-fronted door.

At the time, I didn’t think much of it except that this must be the house; that must be the cat I was due to examine; and there it was waiting for me. As the owner came to the front door, the cat got up and sauntered down the corridor, its belly leisurely swaying from side to side.  To my surprise, the owner told me that her cat had never before waited so calmly at the front door…for anyone!

House calls are of great benefit to pet owners when planned well in advance. They are also sometimes very necessary. Advance appointments that work out well are those where the vet needs to see the pet’s environment, for example, to verify that all is well with a dog that has just given natural birth.

In such situations, your vet would be looking at both mother and pups, as well as the whelping box and environment. I will never forget the case of the German Shepherd that lost half its litter within two days of giving birth at the height of summer, just because the owner thought that, it being August, there was no need to provide insulated bedding for the puppies; or the case of the Dalmatian expected to have a successful litter whelping outside in a wooden cupboard during a freezing cold January. 

Other very good reasons for house calls would be when pet owners need several pets to be seen to during the same appointment; or else to carry out routine vaccinations on a large number of dogs or cats.  Depending on circumstances, you might ask your vet to do a house call to check out long-standing skin conditions or unexpected growths such as lumps beneath the skin, bearing in mind that diagnosis necessitates further tests or surgery, which would be best carried out within the ambience of a fully-equipped veterinary clinic.

On the other hand, for the benefit of your pet, it is important to appreciate that in the case of acute situations and emergencies, clinic visits will produce far better results. The situation is best discussed with your vet, who will guide you according to the case at hand.  If your vet advises you that it is necessary to take your pet to the clinic, it is important to take heed of this advice.  Such cases include, but are by no means limited to, sudden vomiting or loss of weight, acute diarrhoea or anorexia, as well as suspected cases of intoxication or poisoning, or trauma and injury, which may need immediate medical attention that goes beyond what may be offered during a simple house call.  X-rays, blood tests, ultrasound or surgical intervention may be necessary to come to a particular diagnosis or resolve a particular medical condition.

Car sickness in dogs is quite common. So if this puts you off taking your dog to the veterinary clinic, discuss the problem with your vet. There are a number of mild medications that would resolve this inconvenience, the benefit of which is that this medication can also be used for other reasons of car travel with your dog, such as walks in the countryside.

It is important that if you’ve arranged for your vet to visit your cat, make sure that it is already confined when the house call happens. Some cats are shy of vets on house calls and Ginger, I soon found out, was no different.  With the owner and myself trying to cajole Muffin to come out from underneath the bed, I made a mental note to self that my next topic would be about house calls. Muffin never did venture out from under the bed during this particular house call.

The purpose of the visit was to administer Muffin's first cat-flu vaccination…which we successfully achieved on the next well-planned house call.

Dr. Martin Debattista
Veterinary Surgeon

thisweekwiththevet@gmail.com

Healthy and Happy

Last week, during a moment of distress, a young client made a heartfelt plea. I could tell she was really worried about Kitty who was in a very bad way.  Between one explanation and another about what had happened to her cat, she said: “Please save her! I really love her and I’m not used to having a cat that lived for so long.” 

This time round, I can lay no claim to Kitty’s longevity, as it was the first time that I was seeing this patient. Kitty is a 14-year-old white and ginger, female cat that was brought to the clinic extremely thin and dehydrated.  The case proved to be complicated, with kidney failure playing a strong role in the situation. Though each recovery stage was not certain, she’s slowly improving. They don’t all come easy.

It’s very touching when you see 18-year-olds come in with their sick pet of about the same age and you realise that they literally grew up together and that your client does not know life without their pet.  Possibly due to better awareness, preventative medicine, improved veterinary treatment and standard of living, the life expectancy of our pets has become longer. It is always satisfying to see cats that are approaching 20 years, and just as satisfying to see dogs of 16 years or older; such as one of my old patients Bully, a Doberman that lived to the ripe old age of 17, when the average age for this breed is 12.

I’m sure that every owner wishes that their pet lives the longest possible good-quality life. Loving your pet plays a big role in extending their life, but it is not enough. The preventive care and medicine you can and should provide favours this happening.  From feeding pets the best-quality food, to ensuring the best possible veterinary treatment when problems arise, as well as following your veterinarian’s advice with regard to preventive medicine, the important thing is to adhere to best practices from a pet’s young age. This gives them the best possible start in life.

It’s particularly important that any medication you administer to your pet is prescribed preferably by the veterinary surgeon you trust and who is familiar with the history of your dog or cat.  Any routine advice given to you by your vet with regard to feeding regimes, vaccinations, internal or external parasite treatment, skin, ear or teeth care will always be intended to give your pet a good and healthy long life.

We are what we eat, and the same applies to our pets. Irrespective of whether we feed our pet home-made or commercial food, we should make sure this is of good quality and well-adapted to the type and age of our pet.  Much of the feeding habits our pets develop depend on how we bring them up as puppies or kittens. Quantity, quality and feeding times are important factors in this respect.

A beneficial thing to learn early on is how to recognise the body condition of your pet. This would make it easier for you to know whether you should increase or decrease the quantity of food you are feeding.  One important thing is to get kittens used to wet food from an early age so that they are not dry-food dependent, which is such a common cause of urinary problems in tomcats. Older pets need a different diet, which is based on a lower protein level to safeguard against kidney disease - our pets’ greatest enemy during old age.

Having learnt how to look at your pet to be able to keep their weight in check, it is also important to note unexplained changes. Apart from the obvious symptoms of vomiting or changes to feeding or pooing habits, you should also take note of water intake and any unexplained weight gain or loss, as these may be an early symptom of some underlying medical condition. Any changes should be reported to your vet without delay.  Your vet will also advise you on the number of medical check-ups your pet should get; normally a minimum of once every six months or more frequently, depending on age and current medical condition.

During these visits, you may be given advice based on urine analyses or blood tests, again depending on the age and condition of your pet. You will be advised as to which vaccinations are necessary for your dog according to its lifestyle and environment; similarly for your cat, depending on whether it is house-bound or comes in direct contact with strays.  Make sure you get advice on worming treatment and tick, flea and sandfly prevention during these visits – it’s all too easyto underestimate the serious consequences of these parasites and insects.

Spaying is the single most effective way you can prevent a whole range of problems in both dogs and cats, so it deserves special mention. In females, this operation often prevents mammary tumours and pyometra (infection of the uterus) occurring later in life, while in males, it prevents prostate and testicular problems as well as reducing aggression.  Again, the decision whether and when to perform this operation should be discussed in detail with your vet to make sure you are neutering your pet at the right time and for the right reasons, as well as to make sure your pet is in good health to undertake suchan operation.

If finances are a problem because you are living on a pension or receiving some form of social benefit, or perhaps you own a large number of dogs, as is usually the case in the farming community, you can obtain help directly from your veterinary surgeon in collaboration with the Dogs Trust Foundation. Together, they subsidise the neutering of dogs and cats for people who qualify, according to financial criteria.  (information correct as at time of writing).

I’m looking forward to examining Kitty during her next visit. I hope she will overcome her present crisis and live on for another good number of years.

Dr. Martin Debattista
Veterinary Surgeon

thisweekwiththevet@gmail.com

The heat is on!

Last week I was asked a couple of pertinent questions about mating. Now I know that we’re in the middle of the ‘silly season’ but I can assure you that although this first question may come across as funny to some, it is nevertheless a topic that troubles some pet owners and so deserves discussion. The question that I was asked relates to mixed blood in the litter.

 

Q: My two-year-old pure breed female Labrador was previously mated by a German Pointer and they had a cross-breed litter. If I now have my Labrador mated by a pure breed Labrador, will the puppies be pure or could they have Pointer blood?

A: Firstly, let me state from the outset that there is no way that any male genes from a previous mating can be retained within the female dog and transposed to a subsequent mating. So, to answer this question, there will be no Pointer blood from the mating of the first litter tainting the next litter, and all the puppies of the second litter will be pure if mating is done with another pure Labrador.
However, this very much depends on how careful pet owners are with their female dog when she is on heat.

Bitches usually have a number of puppies in their litter, but if a bitch has mated more than once during the same heat and one or more of those matings happened with other breeds, then the resulting litter could very well include a mix of pure breed and cross-breed puppies .

For example, if this client had her bitch mated with another pure Labrador and then, accidentally or intentionally, permitted a mating with a Doberman, half the puppies could be pure Labradors and half could be Labrador Doberman crosses all in the same litter. This takes us to another common misconception (excuse the pun) where the visible cycle manifested in the bitch is called a ‘period’ instead of a ‘heat’.

Of course, this use of terminology originates from the manifest cycle in women; however, the difference between a ‘period’ and a ‘heat’ could not be more contrasting.  The heat in bitches corresponds to the ovulation part of their cycle, that is, when the egg is leaving the ovary, and it signifies the the most fertile part of the female cycle. In contrast, the period in women corresponds to a cleaning out of the uterus and is the least fertile time of the female cycle. So, coming back to the canine species, another very relevant question that I was asked a couple of days ago relates to the timing of dog mating.

Q: I would like to mate my Cocker Spaniel and I was told that the best day for this is the 11th and 12th day of her heat. Is this correct?

A: The quick answer is ‘not quite’. We have established that the heat in bitches corresponds to the fertile part of the cycle; this fertility peaks at approximately 48 hours after the bleeding stops. As the bleeding very often lasts nine days, this means that the best time for mating would be the 11th and 12th day.

But it doesn’t always happen like that. Sometimes you encounter a bitch whose bleeding time is shorter than nine days; you may find another whose bleeding time is longer. You might find a female dog where you are not quite sure what is happening as the bleeding starts and stops erratically. So how would you handle such a situation?

It is very important to know that the female bitch will accept the male dog only when she is at the peak of her fertility; this is very important as I have heard many stories of situations where the bitch would not accept the male and the owner tried time and again to force the mating at a particular time that was unsuitable for the bitch.

The best way to go about it is to start counting from when the bleeding stops. You would normally take the female to the male every second day after the bleeding has stopped, and the day following a successful mating. Remember to keep a record of the date as this will come in very handy when you take your bitch to your vet for its check-up.

You should do this at about four weeks from mating for a pregnancy diagnosis, which is done by palpation, ultrasound, and/or a specific blood test, and to begin the management of your bitch’s pregnancy in preparation for a successful whelping and litter.

Dr. Martin Debattista
Veterinary Surgeon

thisweekwiththevet@gmail.com

What is FLUTD?

This week, it was truly amazing to witness Ginger pulling through after having endured a terribly painful urine tract obstruction.  So many male cats die because of this ailment and it is frustrating to think that so many deaths could be avoided.

Ginger was brought in semi-collapsed and barely moving and when I started examining him, I was very much in the dark as to what to expect because he had been temporarily living away from home so his owners were unable to provide first-hand information as to how he had got to this state.
Until, that is, I felt the tell-tale sign, an oversized and full bladder. Ginger was suffering from a urine tract obstruction; put simply, he couldn’t pee at all.

Anyone with cats who have experienced this problem, and I know that there are many, will understand how painful this condition can be.  Sadly, many of you also know that in some cases the condition becomes so serious that it cannot be resolved and the cat dies or needs to be put down.

The usual first symptom that something is not quite right is when your cat starts visiting the litter tray more often than usual, or when they spend more time in the litter tray than normal.  It occurs because they are having difficulty urinating and keep trying to relieve themselves. In such cases, the sooner you take your cat to your vet, the better the chances of survival.

Urine tract obstruction forms part of a condition known as feline lower urinary tract disease, better known as FLUTD. Most cases of obstruction are due to inflammation of the bladder and tract, urethra plugs and bladder stones which, in the case of cats, often come in the form of fine sticky sand that causes obstruction of the water ways. 

FLUTD can also be present in female cats since it occurs mostly in cats that do not drink enough water for the amount of dry food they eat.  Cats which are not good drinkers and eat mostly or wholly dry foods are the ones that are most at risk of FLUTD.

It is not necessary to give dry food to cats; in fact, dry food is more of a convenience for us than it is for the cat’s benefit. It is always a good idea to get kittens used to eating wet or canned food.
If dry cat food needs to be given, it is important that this be of a good quality and fed as a minor portion of your cat’s daily intake.

If your cat has a history of FLUTD, or if they are poor drinkers, then dry food is best avoided for the sake of your cat’s health. Always make sure your cat has a fresh supply of drinking water. There are also special water fountains available for cats that prefer running water.

Other factors often mentioned as predisposing FLUTD are cats that are neutered, overweight, middle-aged, that do not exercise much and have restricted litter trays. Stress can also play an important role in predisposing a cat to suffer from FLUTD. There are a number of options a veterinarian can opt for to treat this condition.

Dr. Martin Debattista
Veterinary Surgeon

thisweekwiththevet@gmail.com

Fleas, ticks, and sandflies

This week it’s difficult to find anything amusing to say about this topic...the reason being that it’s the season to protect cats against fleas, and dogs against fleas, ticks and sandflies.  

 

I vividly remember  the case of a client who could not get rid of the fleas from her small dog and, having time and again affirmed that that she does not feed stray cats in her garden, eventually told me that her neighbour does.

When planning the right form of protection for your pet, you need to keep in mind two criteria: firstly, fleas, ticks and sandflies need to be considered together and, secondly, you need to give your vet the whole picture.

Fleas are blood-sucking insects that drain blood from your dog or cat. If left uncontrolled, they multiply very quickly into the hundreds and on small-sized pets this can be life treatening.  Fleas also play an important part in the lifecycle of tapeworms, which are intestinal flat worms found in both dogs and cats.  Flea larvae ingest tapeworm eggs; when the infected flea is ingested by the dog or cat during grooming or nipping, the tapeworm then starts to develop inside the intestine.

Of course, the biggest problem with fleas is that they are the most common cause of itching allergies in dogs and cats.  A few important things to know about fleas is that they breed mostly at home, flea-eggs can last unhatched for a very long time just waiting for a new host (your pet) to come along.

 

Whatever treatment or preventive measures you consider this must also include all pets present in the household since fleas are highly successful insects that spread everywhere.  In this respect, a common misconception amongst cat-owners is that a cat that never leaves the house cannot get fleas.  Unfortunately, fleas are very resourceful insects and they will find a way to target even house-bound cats.

Ticks, on the other hand, tend to hitch a ride on dogs, which are their preferred target, when they are out of the house and, in particular, when they are out in the countryside.  Ticks can be present in alarmingly huge numbers and because they are larger than fleas they can be even more life-threatening as they suck a larger volume of blood from the host dog.  Monitoring for ticks, even the occasional one, is vital to the well-being of your dog because they can transmit the ‘tick disease’ called Ehrlichia.

Ehrlichiosis is, sadly, highly-present in Malta, and is caused by a type of bacteria called ‘rickettsia’ which infects the blood cells of the host dog.  Ehrlichia is an insidious disease: not only is it life-treatening, it can also go undetected for a long time and is not easy to get rid of.  The main symptoms to look out for are weightloss, anaemia, and nose bleeds. Unfortunately, there is no vaccine yet available against Ehrlichia, so the protection of dogs from ticks is an imperative for dog-owners.

One disease for which we now have a vaccine is the ‘sandfly disease’.  Sandflies are tiny mosquitoes that prefer areas with vegetation and coastal regions, and prevail during hot still summer evenings.  Sandflies transmit the dreaded Leishmanosis disease.  Even if you have vaccinated your dog with the newly-available Leishmania ‘Sandfly’ Vaccine, you still need to consider protecting your dog against sandflies since, as with most vaccines, this measure is not necessarily an absolute prevention.

 

The number of different products on the market intended to prevent fleas, ticks and sandflies is huge, and some are more effective than others.  The products range from a variety of sprays, spot-ons, tablets and injections, as well as natural repellants and other means of protection.  In deciding what preventive measures to take, you need to consider the number of cats and/or dogs in the house, as well as the type of property you live in.  The number of times your dog gets washed may be important since not all products are waterproof; in the case of cats, you’d need to consider whether they are allowed to roam outside and whether they have contact with other cats.

Before deciding on which products to purchase it would be a good idea to ask the advice of your vet as to which are best to use, and how they should be applied – both if you want to take preventative measures, as well as against full blown infestation.  It is important to give your vet the whole picture…remember the story of the client who did not feed stray cats.

 

Dr Martin Debattista

Veterinary Surgeon

thisweekwiththevet@gmail.com