FALL/WINTER 2009
Everyone loves the holidays, including our pets! But while there are sugar plums dancing in our heads, there's plenty of trouble for our canine and feline friends to get into. Here are a few things to watch out for this holiday season-
Chocolate Toxicity
Just because it tastes good doesn't mean it's good for our dogs! Chocolate and other caffeine-containing goodies contain an enzyme called theobromine that has the potential to be lethal to dogs. One-quarter ounce of baking chocolate or 2 ounces of milk chocolate per kilogram of body weight is enough to be lethal to your pet! If your pet does get into baking, please call your veterinarian immediately! Vomiting and diarrhea are often the first signs reported of any toxin ingestion, but this might not happen until 24 hours AFTER they've eaten the dose- by this time, treatment can become much more complicated and your pet may have lasting effects.
Electrocution
They sparkle and twinkle- oh-so-tempting to eat! Cats and dogs LOVE to chew on christmas tree lights, and when they're plugged in it just takes one bite to electrocute! The most important thing to know- if your pet is being electrocuted, DO NOT TOUCH THE PET YOURSELF! Electricity can flow through your pet and affect you too! Unplug the electrical cord, or shut off the house electricity safely first.
Electrocution can cause severe tissue damage (like a thermal or heat burn can) and can also lead to serious internal complications. Immediate veterinary care is needed! Do NOT fail to take your pet to a veterinarian, even if he or she seems perfectly normal after being separated from the source of the electricity. Abnormal electrical avtivity of the heart or build-up of fluid in the lungs can be fatal even hours after the shock.
Foreign Bodies
All those shiny packages and ribbons under the tree...just waiting to be chewed! Cats and dogs love presents as much as we do, but ingesting that gift or that ribbon could have life-threatening consequences for your cat or dog.
Large objects that have not been chewed can still be swallowed and then get stuck half way through! When something gets stuck in a cat or dog's intestine, it prevents the normal passage of food through the gastrointestinal tract, causing a "traffic jam" back up inside your pet. One of the first signs of a foreign body is vomiting, sometimes with abdominal pain. Long linear foreign bodies like ribbons can be even worse! These can get stuck under a cat's tongue while playing, and if swallowed can create a "see-saw" motion that can actually cut through intestines! X-rays are often used to diagnose a foreign body, sometimes with a special contrast liquid that your pet may have to swallow to follow it's progress through the gastrointestinal tract. If a foreign body is diagnosed, the best treatment is often to surgically remove it.
Pancreatitis
This is a fairly common disease of both cats and dogs, and usually occurs after a pet has ingested a large, rich meal- one good reason to leave your pet out of Christmas dinner! The pancreas is the organ that usually produces the enzymes that help break down and digest food. When a big, rich meal is ingested, the pancreas gets overworked and then becomes inflammed. It then over-produces digestive enzymes and actually starts to digest itself! As you can imagine, this is quite a painful disease! The first signs of pancreatitis are usually vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. If you think your pet may be affected, seek veterinary attention as soon as possible. Pancreatitis is usually diagnosed with bloodwork, and treatment may require several days of hospitalization.
And a few other tid-bits-
*Christmas Tree Preservative-
If you have a live tree, you may have it standing in water with added preservative; at a perfect level for your cat to drink! Cats that are exposed to these preservatives may develop mild gastroinestinal signs (vomiting and diarrhea), but bacterial or fungal contamination of the liquid may cause more severe illness.
*Pointsettas-
The toxicity of pointsettas is generally overrated. Large quantities must be ingested to cause any signs of toxicity. Most cats and dogs experience mild vomiting that resolves with little or no treatment.
*Liquid Potpourri-
Exposure of cats to some types of liquid potpourris can result in severe skin, eye or mouth damage! Many of these products are corrosive and may also cause neurological signs (coma, seizures, weakness or twitching) as well as a host of metobolic problems if ingested. If your cat comes in contact with or drinks liquid potpourri, seek veterinary care right away!
Have A Safe and Happy Holiday, from all the Staff at Mill Creek Animal Hospital!
References:
http://vin.com , The 5 minute Veterinary Consult,
Canine + Feline 2nd edition- Tilley and Smith
Hospital Gossip
Lindsey has been on maternity leave and it has come to our attention that she will not be returning to our clinic as she and her family have moved to Tofield. She was one of the "original" team members and we are so sad to see that she will not be coming back. It has been a real pleasure working with her. We wish her well in all of her endeavors.
We are happy to announce the birth of Nathaniel to Dr. St-Julien in late April. Congratulations to the happy parents!
Amanda moved at the end of September to pursure her career in Calgary since her significant other was offered a position there. Good luck Amanda!
Heather married the love of her life in Mexico in the latter part of September. We extend our congratulations to her and Mike.
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Dr. Shannon has joined the team. She received her DVM from the Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph, ON in 2008 and was the recipient of the American Animal Hospital Association award for proficiency in small animal practice upon graduation.
She practiced in a small animal practice in Sarnia, ON before moving to Edmonton when her husband was posted to the Canadian military base just north of the city. She lives in north Edmonton with her husband Andrew, and their cat Goldberry. They hope to add a golden retriever to their family in the near future. When they moved to Edmonton she left her horse at home where she is enjoying semi-retirement with her parents.
Her special interest in veterinary medicine includes the human-animal bond and client education. She loves making new friends and helping pet owners with everything from a first puppy to a more senior pet and internal medicine cases. Outside of veterinary practice she enjoys dressage, playing with her pets and relaxing with a good book.
Welcome Dr. Luckham!
Fast Fact: Did you know that when your cat purrs it lowers it's blood pressure, and if you're cuddling with your cat it lowers your blood pressure!
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Clinic Hours & Holidays
*Monday to Friday 9am-6pm
*Saturday 9am-5:30pm
*Closed Sunday
*Closed Long Weekends
*Closed December 24, 2009- Jan.4th, 2010
*After hours Emergency:
436-5880 Southside
433-9505 Downtown
SENIOR'S HEALTH MONTH WINNER
Chinook Logue won a year of free veterinary services. Congratulations to Shelly and Chinook!
When you come in to see us. don't forget to enter our monthly draw for adults and for kids!
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Open House Invitation
Please join us in celebrating the holiday season with an open house wine and cheese.
We are wishing Maxine a happy retirement and would love to see you there.
You will recieve your invitation in the mail. If, for some reason, you don't recieve it just RSVP by email that you will be attending to:
maxine.the.cat@hotmail.com
Acromegaly- A not-so-common condition
Little Girl became one of our clinic cats in July, 2009. She presented with signs of a typical cat with diabetes, and we thought that she would need injectible insulin to manage her. She was constantly drinking and urinating, had a very high blood glucose and had large amounts of glucose in her urine- typical diabetic cat, right? Unfortunately for this little girl it ended up being a little more than typical.
We started her on insulin injections twice a day. We started at 1 unit twice a day, then 2 units twice a day, three units twice a day and up to 10 units twice a day! For a typical diabetic cat it is common to be able to manage them on 1 unit of insulin twice a day, so 10 units was a lot! It seemed that something else was going on with Little Girl.
After some research Dr. Van Boxtel came across a condition called Acromegaly. This is an uncommon condition of cats caused by a tumor on the anterior pituitary gland that secretes growth hormone (GH). This disease causes an overgrowth of bone, organs and soft tissue. One of the main clinical signs that acromegaly cats will present with is severe insulin resistant diabetes mellitus! Some acromegalic cats need to take anywhere from 30-130 units of insulin per day to control the concurrent diabetes. We tried to regulate Little Girl's blood glucose by increasing the amount of insulin she was getting. We had her dose up to 170 units per day and her blood glucose was not budging. Unfortunately we were not successful at regulating her blood glucose.
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Other signs of acromegaly include a change in physical appearance. Often times the owners do not notice the change because it happens so gradually. Cats with acromegaly will often have a lengthened jaw, large paws, rapid growth of nails, thickened skin, degenerative arthritis and enlargement of organs- especially the heart, liver and tongue. Unfortunately a progressed case can lead to heart murmurs, chronic renal failure and fluid accumulation in the lungs and chest cavity.
To find out for sure what was going on with Little Girl we sent out a blood sample all the way to Michigan State University to test her Insulin-like Growth Factor, and after a couple of weeks we had our answer. The normal level of this hormone should be between 12-92 nmol/L. Little Girl had a level of 609 nmol/L, which left us with the diagnosis of acromegaly.
Our next step was to look into treatment for Little Girl. It has been shown that radiation therapy can often reduce the size of the tumor that is producing the growth hormone but unfortunately it is common for the tumor to re-grow after discontinuing radiation therapy. Some drugs that lower GH levels have been tried with mixed results and most cats treated this way fail to demonstrate a positive response. There is not a sure-fire method of dealing with this condition.
So what does this mean for Little Girl? Many cats with acromegaly do well for 1-2 years without treatment, but due to organ enlargement they eventually run into issues with their heart or kidneys. So far Little Girl has not demonstrated any problems and seems completely happy to lay about the clinic receiving attention and treats from the staff and clients.
Jen Koole, AHT
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Feline Diabetes
Cause: Feline Diabetes (Diabetes Mellitus) is caused by an inability of the pancreas to produce insulin. Without insulin, sugar can't enter the cells of the body. Feline diabetes typically occurs in older and obese cats. There is no breed of cat that is more likely than others to develop diabetes.
Symptoms:
-Drinking more water than usual (polydipsia)
-Urinating more frequently than usual (Polyuria)
-Is always hungry, but has lost weight despite eating more. (Glucose, an energy source is being lost.)
-Lethargic
-Poor haircoat
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Diagnosis:
The prevously listed symptoms are suggestive of Diabetes Mellitus, but they are also seen in other diseases. Your veterinarian will do an examination and some diagnostic testing to confirm the diagnosis- usually by doing some bloodwork to determine the glucose levels in your cats blood. They will also test the urine to see if there is glucose in the urine or a urinary tract infection. Diabetics are prone to bladder infections (as well as dental disease) and infections cause insulin resistance.
Long term complications of diabetes mellitus could be a weakness of the hind legs which can be caused by persistently high concentrations of glucose in the blood causing damage to nerves, resulting in weakness and muscle wasting. Another complication could be diabetic cataracts- which are usually seen more commonly in diabetic dogs than cats.
Diabetes can be managed successfully with insulin therapy and attention to diet and exercise. Effective diabetes treatment will restore the quality of life of pets with Diabetes Mellitus.
Jill Bourne
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Anal Glands-More than you ever wanted to know
The anal glands are 2 small pouches located on either side of the anus at approximately the 4:00 and 8:00 positions. The anal glands are present in both male and female dogs and cats. The glands are lined with sebaceous (sweat) glands that produce a strong, foul smelling secretion which acts as a territorial marker. Each anal gland has a small duct that opens just inside the anus and allows the gland to be emptied upon defecation.
One of the first signs of an anal gland issue is scooting (dragging the rear end across the ground). Some animals will lick the area excessively, and may act painful upon having bowel movements.
What are some common problems with anal glands?
Anal glands can become impacted- this is when the fluid inside the gland becomes too thick to be expressed normally. The anal glands can also become infected, which could lead to an abscess. The abscess may burst around the anus if left untreated, which can be quite painful.
Treatment:
If your pet seems to be uncomfortable around his/her hind end, or if you see redness or swelling around the anus please take them in for a veterinary exam. The veterinarian will generally try to gently express the material from the anal gland.
If the anal gland has already ruptured the area will need to be cleaned, and your veterinarian may recommend antibiotics, some pain medications and occasionally surgery.
For recurrent anal gland issues some owners will opt to have the anal glands removed. Please discuss this option thoroughly with your veterinarian to go over any risks/complications that may occur.
Erin Hartley, AHT
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When Kitty Is Not Hungry
Some cats can be finicky eaters, but it's important that they always receive high quality nutrition. A decrease in appetite is a tell-tale sign that your cat may have a problem. There are many medical reasons a cat will eat less, or not at all, and it's important to address the issue early on. Cats that do not eat for more than 2 days are prone to develop a potentially life-threatening condition called "fatty liver", otherwise known as Hepatic Lipadosis.
Cats that have a decreased food intake can store fat in their liver and if they stop eating their body will begin to digest the fat stores. They may begin vomiting. their skin and the whites of their eyes may take on a yellowish tinge, and they may become very depressed and lethargic.
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Cats with fatty liver syndrome can have a rapid deterioration of health and require immediate medical treatment and hospitalization. Cats who are overweight are especially prone to developing fatty liver syndrome. This disease is preventable with careful observation of your cat's eating patterns. If you notice a change in your cats diet please contact your veterinarian right away.
Heather Hanrahan, AHT
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