Meet Ginger - She is a 12 year old terrier mix who just can’t seem to catch a break! In early 2010, she was diagnosed with Addison’s disease. Being overweight, in 2011 arthritis also started causing her a problem. Ginger came to see us because she was very stiff and couldn’t even use stairs anymore. Her arthritis was managed on tramadol for a few months, but it was no longer enough and she was very sore. Dr. Russell and Ginger’s owner decided to try Adequan - an injectable cartilage component that helps with joint lubrication. The Adequan has made such an impact with her that her owner is going to be starting their other senior dog on it as well! We are so happy to see Ginger running around like a puppy again!
Pet of the Month - Princess!
(Princess at 18.3 lbs and then 14.8!)
Meet Princess! - Princess was an inheritance to a wonderful family. In her prior home, food was associated with love, causing her to gain a lot of weight. By the time she was in her new home, she was so overweight that she could not groom herself and matted up. At her weight, she was also at risk for diabetes, cardiovascular problems and other health issues. Reducing her amount of dry food didn’t seem to make much of an impact, so Dr. Cronin suggested that the owner’s gradually eliminate carbohydrates (dry food) and transition her to canned food only. That’s when the weight loss began!
Of course, every pet is different. You should consult with your Healthy Paws Veterinarian before deciding what type of diet is best for your cat or dog and just like humans, slow and steady weight loss is the best way to go.
Meet Our Pet Of The Month - Tess!
Meet Tess!—This sweet little girl was surrendered to Maki Rescue with her 5 one week old kittens. Although Tess was friendly and purring, she was very thin and not eating.
Upon palpation, it was noticed that she had an unusual painful mass in her abdomen. Since Tess recently had kittens, we knew she was not spayed. Initially we suspected she may have an early pyometra (an abscessed, pus-filled infected uterus). A pyometra is common among unspayed female cats and dogs. This condition is very serious so we had to move fast. We ran blood work and took abdominal radiographs, but the results were not consistent with a pyometra. We then suspected an intestinal mass or possible foreign boy and recommended exploratory surgery.
Once we were in her abdomen, we found Tess’s problem– she had an intestinal intussusception—a serious disorder in which part of the intestine slides into another part of the intestine, creating a telescope affect. Once formed, the intestine gets stuck, swells, and then causes a life threatening blockage, preventing food or fluid from passing through. If not fixed, the patient will eventually die.
In surgery, we removed the affected section of gut and sutured the healthy ends together. We also found the cause of the problem– several live wiggling roundworms! Tess was also spayed she couldn’t have more kittens. She stayed overnight for intra-venous fluids, pain medication and antibiotics and looked great the next morning. She was hungry, ate eagerly and was ready to be reunited with her kittens!
Tess is currently in a foster home and returning to a healthy weight. Her kittens are now 8 weeks old and ready to find new homes along with Tess. Although she is very happy where she is, she would love to soon find her forever home!
If you are interested in adopting Tess, please contact Maki Rescue in Grafton. (617) 571-3401
Pet of the Month - Mako!
Meet Mako. This little Labrador puppy is 5 months old. He first came in because his owner noticed that he just wasn’t acting like himself. His symptoms included:
· Reluctance to use stairs or jump
· Licking his lips (a sign of nausea)
· Fever of 103.7 (a normal canine temperature is between 99.5 and 102.5)
Since Mako is a lab puppy we initially suspected he ate something he shouldn’t have. On exam, he had a tense abdomen but there were no specifically painful areas that we could find. Then we took x-rays and couldn’t find an obvious foreign body or GI obstruction. His blood work was fairly normal except a mildly elevated white blood cell count. His Lyme disease test was negative. We gave him plenty of fluids and sent him home with pain medication & antibiotics in case of infection.
When we called to check on Mako the following day, he was only slightly improved but the next day he was back to not wanting to play or move around much. We rechecked him the following day and again 2 days later– finding a low grade fever, general soreness but otherwise fairly normal examination. On a third recheck about 5 days after the initial visit, we found Mako was suddenly very painful with neck movement. The combination of the acute neck pain, fever and a high white cell count made us then suspect meningitis.
To diagnose meningitis, we would need to collect a sample of cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF) from around the spinal cord. So we sedated Mako and performed a CSF tap using a special long spinal needle. We obtained 3ml of cloudy cerebral spinal fluid. Microscopically, we were able to see large numbers of white blood cells in the fluid which indicated that Mako did have some form of meningitis. The next day we had the official results from the pathologist: probable steroid responsive meningitis. Normal fluid has less than 3-5 cells/ul, but Mako’s had over 4635 cells and the protein level should be less than 35 and Mako’s was 164.
We started Mako’s treatment immediately. He was put on high dose steroids to stop the ongoing spinal inflammation and medications to protect against GI ulcers. We crossed our fingers hoping he would quickly respond to therapy. Within 24 hours of starting the steroids, Mako’s owner sent us the most rewarding email—that he had returned to his normal puppy self! He was running around and jumping, acting like a Labrador puppy since his first dose of steroids. Nothing can describe the relief the entire HPVC team felt when we heard Mako was doing well. It was be a long course of treatment for Mako– he will be continued on a tapering course of prednisone for more than 6 months. So far, he is 2 months into treatment and is doing very well.
Pet of the Month - Cooper!
Meet Cooper…a sweet, 4 year old Lab mix who came in for a respira-tory problem. He had been suddenly coughing and gagging after being seen outside eating some grass. Once in the office, the coughing and gagging had stopped, but he was repeatedly swallow-ing as if he had some irritation or possi-bly a blade of grass in his throat– other-wise his exam was normal. We suspect-ed that he probably ate something that irritated him. We decided to send him home for monitoring overnight, feed a small bland diet and check back with us in the morning.
The next morning we received a call from Cooper’s owners. He had vomited 12 times throughout the night. We advised that Cooper come back in for X-rays of his belly and IV fluids. With all the vomiting, he was bound to be dehydrated. We ran some blood work to see what else was going on and make sure he had not ingested a toxin. Luckily, his lab results were pretty nor-mal except for mild dehydration and elevated pancreatic enzymes. But his x-rays showed a hugely distended stomach packed with material that should have been vomited up. When he continued to vomit in the hospital, we called up his owners to recommend an exploratory surgery. Good thing the owners said go ahead…. we removed nearly 2 pounds of packed grass from a small incision in his stomach. Thankfully, he did great under anesthesia with stable blood pres-sure, blood oxygen levels (pulse ox), and vitals– being constantly monitored by technician Melissa. He recovered smoothly from surgery and never looked back. Apparently, he really was eating grass. The end result? Approxi-mately 2 pounds of fermented grass. Who needs a lawn mower when you can have a Cooper?
Patient of the month!
“Hilti”, a beautiful 2 year old staffordshire terrier (with a knack for eating things she shouldn’t), came into us on May 10th. She had been boarded at a kennel the week before from Thursday until Monday. The kennel reported that Hilti had started vomiting on Friday and not wanting to eat. Everyone assumed it was due to her being in a kennel and being stressed. When the owner returned home and picked up Hilti from the kennel and she was still vomiting and not acting right she brought her to her vet. Based on her symptoms and history of eating things they decided to do xrays. Sure enough on xray there was a thin line of some sort of foreign material in her stomach. They recommended an abdomenal exploratory but were unable to do the surgery. They gave her subcutaneous (under the skin) fluids to rehydrate her and temporarily make her feel better since she really hadn’t been eating or drinking and recommend she find a place that would be able to preform the surgery sooner than later. She called us here on Tuesday afternoon and we were able to assess her and look at the xrays. Hilti seemed stable during her exam and we decided the best way to go about things was to have her come in first thing in the morning to do the surgery. This way we would be able to watch her throughout the day in case of any complications which can be fairly common with a surgery like this. She agreed and we got to work bright and early on Wednesday morning. As soon as the doctors got into her abdomen it was very obvious that her intestines were plicated (bunched up). This is a common sign that there is a string or continuous object that is stuck higher up (most likely in the stomach). Part of the string has been passed into the intestines and the intestines are trying to move it through but aren’t able to. All the movement of the intestines bunches them up like an accordion. A particular complication from this condition is that the constant movement of the intestines trying to push the object through causes a sawing motion against the string. After being sawed at for a long enough period of time it can cause a perforation of the intestines. This was the case with Hilti. The doctors had to remove a section of her intestines and put them back together again. This puts her at an even higher risk for complications because of the contents leaking from her intestines into her abdomen. Extra precautions are taken, such as flushing the abdomen extremely well and some heavy duty antibiotics. After the intestines were emptied of all foreign material and meticulously sewn up and checked for any leaks it was time to move on to the stomach. It was originally thought based on xray that there was only material in the stomach. This was probably Hilit’s saving grace. It was not noticeable on xray that her intestines had bunched and if there had been nothing obvious in the stomach she may have been medically managed initially which could have been too late for her. Once in the stomach the doctors revealized how much stuff Hilti had eaten. She apparently had been stock piling for awhile and it finally just reached a point where nothing could move. A huge wad of debris had to be pulled out. The doctors had to make there original incision even larger because it was bound so tightly and there was so much of it. The concoction consisted of a shredded rope toy (from 3 weeks prior), silly bands, the top of a glad container and some various other shredded plastic pieces. She clearly had been working hard at her collection! Hilti’s abdomen was flushed out well one last time and closed up. Her first night she was a bit “off.” Her owner brought her back to us because she was concerned and since she was not eating she wasn’t able to give her the medications she needed. By the time she got here Hilti had perked up a lot! She was looking for food and bouncing around. I showed her owner how to give the medications with out food. We were going to keep her for the day to monitor her but everyone agreed after seeing how well she looked that she would do okay at home with the owner closely monitoring her. Hilti has been doing great ever since with no complications! This is a particularly great story because not every surgery goes this well. It’s very difficult to own a dog that tends to eat things that they shouldn’t (especially when you have kids that leave things around). It’s impossible to watch them all the time and this owner did a particularly good job at trying to “dog proof” the house. I know she will try even harder now and hopefully Hilti will manage to pass and other objects she eats in the future. There are not many options available for owners who have dogs that eat things other than crating or at last resort a basket muzzle. It’s very important that owners who have dogs or cats know the signs of an obstruction and bring their pets in at first sign of a problem. Your knowledge and observation can be what saves them.
Meet Renny, a 10 year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel with cute buggy eyes and a sweet temperment. Renny came in because he started acutely vomiting white foam and didn’t really want to eat anything. He was also noticably hunched which in most cases is a sign that a dog has a painful stomach. Two of the most common causes of these symptoms is an obstruction caused by eating a foreign object and pancreatitis. A foreign body can be anything a pet eats that is not food- such as balls, toys, socks, underware, jewelry, rocks, you name it, we are sure some dog had eaten it. Many foreign bodies can pass and exit in the stool, but occasionally, they get stuck, cause a blockage, and surgery is required to remove the offending object. Pancreatitis is a condition where there is acute inflammation of the pancreas. Many different things can trigger a pancreatitis flare up such as trauma, metabolic disorders, or medications, though the number one cause of pancreatitis is diet. If an animal gets a food that is high in fat it often triggers a flare up (think summer BBQ with hot dogs, burgers, and begging dogs). Renny had not had any food out of his ordinary though.
After a thorough exam, Dr. Russell determined that Renny was indeed very painful in his abdomen and severely dehydrated. She took x-rays of Renny’s belly and ran some bloodwork to try to figure out why Renny was so sick. After looking at the x-rays there was an area in the upper part of his abdomen that looked suspiciously like it could be foreign material but really couldn’t be confirmed. We also ran a full blood chemistry panel and blood cell count. His tests showed severe inflammation of the pancreas with sky high elevated pancreatic values indicating his pancreas was leaking and not happy. A snap CpL test also run in house (CpL stands for Canine pancreatic lipase immunoreactivity concentration) confirmed that Renny had a severe pancreatitis (life threatening in itself)…. but the x-rays looked suspicious too. Dr. Russell decided to start medical management for pancreatitis giving intravenious fluids and medications for nausea & pain. After a day hospitalized at Healthy Paws, Renny was much brighter and his back was no longer hunched. He did very well at home for a few days but then, sickness struck again. All his symptoms came back and he had to come back in. More x-rays were taken. This time there was a very obvious circle in his intestines (see pictures). Renny had in fact eaten something and it was trying to pass it’s way down his intestines, but causing severe pain and damage. The way it was turned in the previous x-ray made it very difficult to diagnose, but once it had moved a little it revealed itself without any doubt. Since it seemed to be moving, he was given an enema and more pain meds and fluids. The idea being if he could deficate the oject that would be the least invasive way to go about it. After taking one more x-ray (late in the day) the object hadn’t budged. The next day Renny went to surgery and Dr. Russell removed the object from his small intestine. It was very stuck and had we not taken him to surgery, he very likely could have ruptred the intestine and died. It looked like some sort of strange button (see picture). His owner didn’t know where it came from but was happy it was out. Renny’s story shows how medicine isn’t always straight forward. Often times there can be multiple problems that can make diagnosing very difficult. It also shows that just because your dog is older doesn’t mean they won’t eat something that they shouldn’t. If you ever notice your animal with any of the symptoms Renny had they should be seen sooner than later. Renny is now home and feeling 100% better!
Healthy Paws Pet of the Month: Skylar!
Skylar, an inarguably adorable 6 year old rat terrier came to us on February 22nd. She had been hit by a car by a friend of our receptionist (who felt terrible). Skylar was at Tufts in Grafton receiving top care but as we all know with top care comes top expenses. Her owners were heart broken and wanted to do everything they could for her but it was becoming too much. That’s when our receptionist suggested she come to Healthy Paws for her FHO (Femoral Head Ostectomy) surgery to relieve pain and allow healing of her femur/hip area. She had many other issues that we discovered during her exam. Her pelvis was broken (which should be able to heal on its own with rest), she had bruising and swelling all over her body and road rash that had scabbed over about 25% of her body. After the surgery for her leg was done the main focus became her skin. If we could get the scabbed layer to stay on long enough for her body to be able to make a new layer underneath everything should be ok. Of course in medicine things rarely go as planned and this was no exception. After about 1 week the scabs started coming up and exposing her to infection. She had to have a second surgery to remove all of the dead layers and leaving her with a large portion that had no skin left at all. Since then she has had many bandage changes and even 2 surgerys for skin grafts. She is doing a great job at healing. The skin is granulating in around the edges and also the skin grafts are taking nicely in many of the areas that were grafted. Everything is going very well and she is now able to go a few days between bandage changes (if she leaves them on). At the rate she is going we are hoping that in the next month or so she should be all healed up. Through all of these painful procedures even the nicest dogs tend to get “fed up.” Skylar has remained one of the sweetest patients we have ever had at healthy paws. Her ability to forgive is one to be desired by all.
Our First Blog Entry!
Hello friends, clients, and pets!
Welcome to the Healthy Paws blog, a place where we can share stories, pictures, and relevant pet information. Be sure to check back periodically for up-to-date and seasonal information on pet health, upcoming and past events, and Healthy Paws news. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook!
A few weeks ago on Saturday, October 30th, we held our second annual Halloween Party and Open House –and what a success! We would like to thank those of you came out with your pets and families. We had a fantastic time seeing the cute costumes and getting to know you and your pets! The festivities included a pet costume contest, cookie decorating, face painting, games, treats, and facility tours. Check out the photos of the winning costumed pups!
As the fall season is coming to a close, we will be keeping you informed on how to keep your pets safe and healthy during the cold winter months.
Happy November!
The Healthy Paws Team
