Pixie Pop-tart: How She Became Part of RVT Lisa's Family

It was three days after Christmas 2013 when we first saw her.  She was less than a year old and not quite 5-1/2 lbs., and had been living in a car eating poptarts to survive just the day before.  A Good Samaritan took her home and unfortunately had unwittingly left some rat bait under their couch, not having had any pets before.  Within a short time, the little orange tabby kitten was very weak and pale.  Turns out, the rat bait toxin she had been exposed to contained an anticoagulant that prevents blood from clotting.*  This leads to internal bleeding which can, and does, result in death.  Little Pixie was not the intended target, but now that she had eaten it (most animals find it very tasty), the clock was ticking.  She had to be administered Vitamin K to counteract the effects of the toxin.  In addition, the doctor induced vomiting to remove any unabsorbed anticoagulant, and administered some activated charcoal to help bind any remaining toxin in her stomach. 

It took her several weeks to recover from her anemia from the blood loss.  Even three months later, her clotting times were still prolonged, and she had to take additional Vitamin K before she could be spayed.  Most rat bait toxins are extremely dangerous for our pets.  Some newer rodenticides, as they are called, carry other toxins which do not have an antidote, and can cause liver or kidney failure.  Bottom line, the health and financial costs are high, and these products should not be used around pets.  If they must be used, be sure the pets cannot reach the bait, and that it is enclosed in a bait box to limit its spread beyond where you have placed it. 

In Pixie’s case, her Good Samaritans were not prepared for the cost of her treatment and surrendered her care to us.  We nursed her back to health and Lisa became attached to her sweet personality and took over responsibility for her.  Now she is a seasoned member of Lisa’s household, but we still enjoy her visits now and then! 

 

*Anticoagulant rodenticides include: Havoc, Liqui-Tox II, Final Blox, D-Con, Contrac Blox, Enforcer, and Tomcat.  

When Your Golden Retriever Starts To Look Like A Sharpei…

Summer is a great time for picnics, pool parties, pretty flowers, and .. bees!  Wasps, hornets, bees, are out in force in warmer weather, and dogs are often curious enough to get a little too close.  If your dog reacts to bee stings, you will likely notice swelling around the eyes and muzzle, and possibly hives over the entire body.  The medical term for generalized raised welts or hives is urticaria.  

If the welts are increasing and an oral dose of diphenhydramine (generic for Benadryl), at approximately 1 mg/lb. body weight, doesn’t cause the process to reverse within 10 minutes, I would suggest you bring your pet to a veterinary hospital.  Once there, your pet will likely receive a diphenhydramine injection and a steroid injection to arrest the reaction and that will usually reverse the process more quickly. 

The risk is that if left unchecked, a pet’s airway could become obstructed and this would be life threatening.  Or less dangerous but still problematic, the pet could become uncontrollably itchy and uncomfortable.  That is what happened to Zoe the other day at 5pm.  Luckily her owners live close enough to rush her in, and within 15 minutes after her shots, as she waited in the waiting area, you could see her swelling subside.  We looked for a stinger, which you can sometimes find near the area of greatest swelling, but did not find it.  

Zoe will need to take an antihistamine regularly for a few days.  We suggested 50 mg diphenhydramine every 8 hours for the first day, then every 12 hours for 48 hours.  Some pets have stronger reactions and need to be treated longer, and at times with more than just an antihistamine.  Each case is different.  If you notice your pet’s face looks swollen, you may not be imagining it.  Enjoy the summer and keep an antihistamine on hand just in case!

 

Lapcats Paint & Sip Fundraiser Event: Painting Our Beloved Pets!

On May 3rd, 2014, several Hatton Vet staff members, with their some family, attended the Paint & Sip Fundraiser for the Lapcats Rescue Organization.  The event was held at the new Sacramento County Animal Shelter on Bradshaw Road and lasted for about 4 hours.  Creative animal lovers attended the Saturday afternoon painting workshop that was lead by artist and instructor Aimee Rebmann of Creative Juices Events.


Before attending the event, attendees submit a photograph image of their pet (or any animal) so that they can print a black and white copy of it on canvas.  Attendees also bring a full page, full color print of the picture they submitted to use a reference while painting.

Aimee instructs the group on techniques and demonstrates how to do backgrounds like grass, and painting the eyes and fur.  Over the next few hours, Aimee and other instructors would come around and help or give advice to painters.

Dr. Ku painted Dillon, their rambunctious Coon-Hound. Her husband, John, created a very artistic painting of their Koi from their outdoor pond. 

Vet Assistant, Danielle, and her husband, Bobby, painted their crazy-but-loving girl, Vega, a Shepard mix.




 


Vet Tech, Judy, painted her mom's dog, Shadow, an adorable Cocker-Poodle.  Judy's daughter, Akemi, painted their cute-but-troublemaker calico kitty, Kuzu.

It was a wonderful experience and everyone had a great time painting pictures of their beloved pets!  If you are interested in attending the next Paint & Sip Fundraiser event, please contact Leslie at lapcats@ymail.com

 

To see more pictures from this event, click the links below:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.724804874236609.1073741852.127058230677946&type=1

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.724804874236609.1073741852.127058230677946&type=1

My Dog Farted…and She Scared Herself!

Co-written by Dr. Gloria Ku and vet assistant, Danielle

“My dog, Vega, has had a lot of challenges since my husband and I have taken her in off the street.  From social anxiety to diarrhea problems in her early years, patience and care has been the key to getting her to where she is today.  When she was young, her dry food diet changed several times until we found one with the highest fiber content to help stop her loose stools.  Dr. Ku has been there every step of the way with her sensitive stomach problems.  Vega is now almost 10 years old.  Earlier this year, my husband started noticing that she is farting more often.  When she does, if she is awake, she looks at her hind end in surprise and then runs out of the room.  At first, we thought she just didn’t want to smell her own stench.  However, it’s now at the point where if she releases gas while she’s asleep, she wakes up startled and runs away in fright!  Not only is her gas causing her to leave the room, but us too!!  Eventually, we were tired of gagging on her almost silent and deadly gas, and sad that Vega was scared of herself.  I approached Dr. Ku shortly afterwards and asked her, ‘Like people, when we get older, do dogs fart more often too?’  Dr. Ku laughed, and then told me…”

~Danielle, Vet Assistant

Dogs, and people, and most animals, naturally have gas related to digestive gas producing bacteria in their intestinal tract.  Sometimes, these gas producing bacteria overgrow or dominate more than they should due to the foods we eat.   The type of fiber found in different diets, or certain ingredients, may lead to an excessive amount of these types of bacteria in the gut, and the end result can be malodorous, or excessive (or both!) gas production. 

For Vega, we decided to first try her on a probiotic.  This is an abundance of “good” bacteria that we “feed the gut” in the form of a chewable dog treat called Prostora, or a capsule called Proviable.  There is also a powder known as Fortiflora.  These three products are similar, but again, the delivery system (chewable, capsule, or powder) can also affect how well some animals retain the good bacteria.  The idea is to flood the gut with enough “good” bacteria to out compete the “bad” (gas producing) bacteria.  She tried them all, and while they helped some, none were enough alone to control her gas.

Next we decided to experiment with her diet.  For years, Vega had been on an over the counter good quality lamb and rice diet.  Sometimes lamb based diets can be a little fattier, or the pet can have difficulty with that type of fat digestion.  We first tried an easy to digest prescription diet well tolerated by most dogs, but this did not seem to help either.  With this diet the main source of fiber was beet pulp, and thinking that this might be hard for her to digest, we then tried another brand of enteric diet (easy to digest).  After fully weaning to this diet for the past three weeks, Vega has not had any more noticeable, malodorous or frightening farts!  And now she and Danielle sleep well through the night 😉.

For better or worse, we are all made differently, and even at different stages of our lives, our ability to digest foods, our “gut flora,” and our need for fiber, can change.  This means things can change, but we can also learn to listen to the changes (literally!), and make the necessary adjustments.  Although it may be a bit tedious to do the trial and error approach, sometimes there is no other way to discover what works best for each individual.  And luckily we have lots of choices.  Bon appetit!   -Dr. Gloria Ku

 

Thank You, Dr. Ku!

National Pet Week 2014 CUTEST PET PICTURE CONTEST

A BIG THANK YOU to everyone that participated in this year's Facebook Cutest Pet Picture Contest!  It was a lot of fun seeing all the adorable pictures that were submitted!!  The winners will be contacted via Facebook message.

Congratulations to our winners!!!

FIRST PLACE:

B. Sander--57 Votes!

SECOND PLACE:

G. Riede--18 Votes!!

THIRD PLACE:

J. Chobanich--17 Votes!!

AND AGAIN, THANK YOU TO ALL THE OTHER PARTICIPANTS AND THEIR ADORABLE FURRY FRIENDS!!!

C. Franklin

C. Webb

C. Wenger

D. Aragon

A. Chan

J. Beam

 P. Le

T. Lester

 C. Condos

 K. Auch

M. Jones

P. Lindell

S. Cabelera

 H. Bar

 S. Mariano

G. Hinz

J. Worley-Pearson

 J. Reptiles

R. Posmanter

K. Orth

 S. Swinney

 B. Griffin

D. Audette

P. Shotswell

A. Ngo

B. Berzin