Rappie

Not sure. Further study for the Membership (of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists - it's like a general practitioner level recognition of advanced skills, not a board specialty) allows use of the title 'Veterinary Behaviourist. I get a great deal of use out of the study that I've done, but I would need to broaden it and knuckle down to sit the exams for Membership in June 2010. I'm not sure I have the time or inclination right now and I would only barely be eligible to do them anyway in terms of time since graduation. I've spent the last 3.5 years doing 50-60 hour weeks (not including all the catch up etc at home), I'm not sure whether I can do intense self directed study at the same time. I'm leaning towards the Masters in Small Animal Practice instead - thats 'advanced' general practice with the additional benefit of having interest and knowledge in behaviour.

Interesting. At this point I haven't pursued it further, mainly because I don't know what I want to do when I grow up, not because of any issues with the admin staff Nice to know that there is a little leniency for pushing and shoving :D I was considering the Delta course, then cramming for a Membership but I just don't know. Currently leaning towards a Masters instead. Just dunno

Well I think if you have a list of matching dot points you have a much better chance than if you only have 'assumed knowledge' as I do.

Not directly related to the NDTF course, but I was enquiring about the Delta Cert IV course earlier in the year. I asked about RPL for that course (having a BVSc and a post grad certificate in Behavioural Medicine). I couldn't get any RPL (even for first aid and animal care) because I'd not done any equivalent modules at TAFE like the vet nursing Cert IV.

If he's still very painful tonight then I would get a vet check up tonight. Cortisone is a potent anti-inflammatory but it has no analgesic effects. I would not recommend giving aspirin (a NSAID) concurrently with a steroid - this is contraindicated and even a short acting steroid injection would have a wash out period of 2-3 days. If he's in constant he needs a vet visit tonight and adequate pain relief (which would likely be an opiod). Otherwise an early visit tomorrow morning.

WP - I haven't had to use Suprelorin and Propalin concurrently, but I would hope that there was some synergystic effect where in combination the Propalin dose might be lower. They have completely different modes of action so there is no overlap between them, but Proplain alone may not be sufficient for urinary incontinence caused by oestrogen deficiency. Pity we can't get them to do pelvic floor exercises

At a basic level I'd start 'nothing in life is free' and try to keep things simple. Dogs with anxiety do much better if they have a stable environment with clear guidelines about how they are supposed to behave. If he has true OCD then it's more difficult - it can be very difficult to treat real OCD without medication, but medication alone will make very little difference. As Staff'n'Toller alluded, any medication should be weaned down before stopping. Try to find some way to reward him - ask him to do something 'worthwhile' that is not compatible with doing something naughty, and then reward that instead of saying 'no'. If he happens to be being quiet and well behaved tell him he's awesome (quietly, without disturbing him) - don't have to pat or treat. If he's starting to nip and go nutty then I would keep it a 'hands off' exercise. If he's jumping up, ignore it, ask him to sit if you think he's got a chance of listening to you then reward if he gets it right. If there is no chance of him paying attention then remove himself or yourself from the situation, put him outside or in a different room and try again in a few minutes. If he's making it a game then even 'negative' attention like pushing him off will be worth it for him. He can have as much attention as he wants but he has to ask for it first. Routine will help too, set time and place to eat, sitting before meals, safe sleeping spot etc etc. With the tail chasing, it's important to redirect and reward - anything aversive can increase anxiety levels and contribute to stereotypic behaviours

I haven't personally used this treatment on any of my patients, but one of our nurses has had one put in her dog with good effect. I would expect it to take up to 2 weeks before starting to see any effects from the implant. It's not one of the registered uses for Suprelorin but its certainly mentioned in the literature from Peptech and I beleive they are working on a registration claim for female urinary incontinence.

The most common dental diet are Hills t/d and Royal Canin Dental. The Eukanuba range have a plaque reduction system on all of their food. I'm currently feeding of of my dogs t/d and the other RC Dental. Why you ask? I bought the RC Dental first thinking the larger kibble would encourage chewing. It did for one dog, the other just took an extra 2 seconds to inhale all his food. So I bought t/d - the standard size kibble. Should point out that my other dog is 5.5kg. It took one meal of t/d for me to decide he could go back to their normal food - it IS possible to swallow t/d whole :rolleyes: For the 4.5kg dog that is eating t/d (breakfast takes a full 5 minutes now) - it has made a difference even after 1 week. I think Greenies do a good job if you have dogs that take the time to chew. They should be a no-go for dogs that don't chew, even with the reformulation that took place. I have previously fed rawhide chews (Enzadent) with good effect but am currently having trouble tracking down any that will last a reasonable amount of time. I would always be careful with any of the cheaper rawhide treats (the bones / shoes / sticks) as they don't seem to break down easily and there can be considerable variations in their processing (good article recently in Urban Animal). Depending on the dog also, the nylon bones may also be suitable. Both of my dogs, although small are pretty intense chewers. The durable Nylabones have been well received and lasted a long time without being too hard - the gummy bones get destroyed easily. I have no issues with bones as long as they are appropriate - to me that either means fully edible (chicken necks, frames, brisket, lamb flaps etc) or a big raw meaty bone. The caution with the raw meaty bone is that I feel they should be taken away from the dogs when there are no meaty bits left - the ripping and tearing is the beneficial part of the process. Really getting in an chomping on just the bone is a recipe for fractured molars, especially when the bones are cut in half. I do occasionally feed my dogs bones, but I live in an apartment and have two small dogs that are highly possessive of anything resembling food so bones require close supervision with separation (one inside, one outside). I think daily home dental care is also probably under-appreciated for dog that don't eat bone. I see lots of foul mouths that have never really had any help. We brush our teeth and still get them cleaned at the dentist. That's not to say that every dog needs it but it can make a considerable difference in those dogs that for whatever reason can't / wont engage in other activities that would keep their teeth clean. It works best if you can start with a set of pearly white though - it's sometimes very difficult to get tartar to shift without a GA and clean (it can be done but is not always possible).

If the medication is responsible, then yes, you should see an improvement in non-specific signs like vomiting and diarrhoea within 24 hours.

I can't comment on whether it is the cause in your case - however - vomiting is not an uncommon side effect reported for cephalexin (Rilexine). I will break out in hives if I take it or any of its direct relatives

Is this calcification of the intervertebral disc, or a bony bridge between two vertebrae (called spondylosis). Neither in uncommon, but the difficulty sometimes with spinal problems is knowing where the physical things we see on xrays are the cause of the clinical. An MRI or myelogram is needed to actually see what is happening with the spinal cord.

If the dog is stable on a chicken based food, then it's unlikely to be an allergy to that. A sudden diet change can induce a bout of colitis, even if the new food is reasonably benign. Similarly, foods that require more 'work' from the gut to be digested can upset things as well. I can't say I know how long the protein chain length of kangaroo meat is, but this can be a factor also in whether or not a dog will react. It's how the hypoallergenic diets with hydrolysed protein work - if you break down the protein chains into tiny bits, the body just considers it as "protein" not "chicken" or "beef" etc. Large chain proteins wont fit through the intercellular gaps in the normal gut, but they will fit through the larger gaps in an inflamed one and potentially aggravate the situation. The tricky part of gastrointestinal problems like this is that there is often not just one factor involved but several. This is where taking biopsies and getting a histopath diagnosis can sort things out - the body can have 'inappropriate' immune responses even to things in the gut. Without further investigation, it seems like it would be better to stay on a diet that works. The other tricky thing is defining 'stress' - it can be behavioural stress (anxiety), environmental stress, stress from the disease itself - which in turn depresses immune responses. Although it's a contributing factor I wouldn't say it's the main cause of colitis. It might affect conditions based on a physiological abnormality like eosinophilic enteritis by making them worse, but they are not caused by stress, and not neccessarily fixed with diet.

Stress and anxiety are not the only causes of colitis, food intolerances can also be a factor. Sometimes also the problem may not specifically be food, but while the intestinal tract is inflamed and 'leaky' the body can react to things that it would not normally react to - so feeding a low residue or hypoallergenic diet is often part of treatment even if it's not strictly a food allergy. Additionally, colitis is a symptom as well as a diagnosis - the name is not specific to a cause, it simply means that the colon is inflamed. Also, inflammatory bowel disease is distinct from irritable bowel syndrome. IBD (as opposed to IBS) is something that is diagnosed after taking biopsies from the intestine and getting a histopathological diagnosis.

Exactly! A general anaesthetic is a neccessity for thorough dental assessment and treatment. Ultrasonic cleaning results in a lot of free water, bacteria and frequently chunks of debris. Under a general anaesthetic, the patient has an endotracheal tube in place, with the cuff inflated to protect the airway. The back of the mouth / throat is packed with swabs to prevent any water or debris from heading that way. With ultrasonic scaling we are able to clean the subgingival area (under the gumline) without causing damage to the tooth or soft tissue, the same as with people. Each tooth surface is cleaned including on the tongue side, in all the grooves and between the teeth. It at some point involves opening the jaw fully to inspect the teeth, probe any pockets under the gumline and access the very back teeth. All of this is incredibly difficult to do in a concious dog and IMHO unsafe to do in one that is only sedated. Sure, you might be able to do some handscaling of the outer surfaces and crack tartar off but this does not deal with the issue of plaque and bacteria under the gum line and may really only make a cosmetic difference. At home dental treatments like brushing should, ideally, be performed daily and if not that often, at least 2-3 times per week. There are lots of things that can help, such as appropriate bones, dental foods, brushing, mouth rinses etc but they will all work better with a 'blank canvas' of fresh clean teeth as it is difficult to use any of them to remove tartar.

Is that using hand scaling or ultrasonic scaling?

Both xrays and ultrasound are useful, it depends on what information you are trying to obtain. Ultrasound will show up structural abnormalities, such a defects in the heart wall or thickened valves as well make it possible to get measurements of blood flow and fractional shortening of the muscles etc. Thoracic radiographs are also important to get general information about the heart - is it enlarged? is there pulmonary oedema? are the airways affected? Ideally, one would do both. If ultrasound is not available, then we will often base our decision on whether to treat or not on thoracic radiographs. Although the radiographs wont tell us what the problem is (mitral valve dysplasia vs other causes of murmurs), they can tell us whether the heart is compensating well enough or not. Generally speaking, starting treatment prior to the onset of clinical signs associated with congestive heart failure does not alter the progression of the disease. The most common approach is monitor closely and treat once clinical signs of decompensation occur - such as coughing, reduced exercise tolerance etc. There is another school of thought that suggests treating early may delay on the onset of clinical signs, but there has been no agreement on whether this is the case. Obviously, this all depends on the individual dog - certainly to investigate the murmur itself and ultrasound would determine the cause and how it was affecting blood flow through the heart.

We haven't got it in yet. The Stemetil works centrally in the brain so does seem to help with motion sickness. We haven't had any info other than promo stuff on Cerenia yet, only what I've read about on VIN and picked up at conferences. Soon

If I need to medicate a dog for motion sickness, I generally use an anti-emetic such as Stemetil rather than ACP. It works centrally in the brain for motion sickness and has no sedating effects, I have also used it to 'treat' anxiety related car travel problems along with positive reinforcement techniques.

Sometimes the best way to get an answer on these cases is to biopsy the nose and get a histopathological diagnosis. There are a wide range of causes for the dry, cracked, knobbly noses. Some are 'simple' to treat, others not so much. Sometimes it can be 'just' nasal hyperkeratosis or a chronic deep infection of the tissue of the nasal planum but certainly also other causes such as immune mediated (discoid lupus and pemphigus), endocrine related (thyroid levels), even neurological (can occur secondary to KCS / dry eye). Treatments are equally varied and this is where it helps to have a diagnosis. Mucocutaneous pyoderma might only need antibiotics, a moisturiser product and omega oils supplementation while other causes will require steroids (either topical or systemic). Even for discoid lupus, where possible the recommendation is often to hold off on steroids and treat with tetracyclines and niacinamide. In this case the advantage of having a surgical biopsy would be the ability to have a good look up the nose, even take skull rads if an infection further into the nose was suspected. ETA: Without giving specific advice about this case, if you wish to avoid steroids, it might (depending on the case, which I have not seen) still be reasonable to try antibiotics with a topical steroid, or even vitamin E / vaseline etc to keep the nose surface moisturised. That would treat the chronic infection option, and not affect other causes (ie. they would still be present),

Have structural problems been ruled out with imaging (xrays, contrast studies, ultrasound etc)?

IMHA without an identifiable cause can have a poor prognosis, however in cats there is the possibility of it being an infectious cause (Haemobartonella). It's still a serious disease but it is treatable with antibiotics (and steroids). Edit: Sorry for very short reply, am at work. If you PM me I can respond in more detail tonight.

It's very hard isn't it I'm sure there will be other people in to talk about their experiences. I think something that is really important is that you have faith in your vet and that before going ahead, you feel like you've discussed everything you need to in order to feel comfortable going ahead or not. Don't feel strange about asking what is actually going to happen either, also mention the slow recovery from the last anaesthetic. Having preanaesthetic blood work is excellent, as is going on fluids. I say this a lot but I don't think it will hurt to say it again. Age alone isn't a (clinical) reason to not anaesthetise an animal. Certainly with increasing age comes an increased chance of other issues like kidney problems, or liver problems or heart problems but as they say, age isn't a disease. I try to get all the information I can before I go ahead with a GA that concerns me, so that I can preempt any problems and take steps to either avoid them or be ready to treat them. There's no guarantees with anything in life unfortunately, but older animals are anaesthetised frequently and with good practices, complications are uncommon. A good story? I had an old dog with a whopping heart murmur (on medication after decompensating a few months ago) that had a really foul mouth and loose teeth. Everyone knew the anaesthesia plan before we started and he had a nurse by his side from start to finish. Had blood work before anything else - all fine, IV cath in, sedation for chest xrays to check heart size and lungs etc, had oxygen to breath before a modified GA induction to limit cardiovascular effects, lots of local blocks to keep his GA light, lots of teeth extracted and good pain management. Also hooked up to pulse ox, a blood pressure monitor and on IV fluids. He was under GA for just over 2 hours and had most of his teeth extracted, woke up feeling perky and had some dinner within 2 hours of being awake .

Lots and lots of options The main choice is between topspots, tablets and pastes. Bayer makes a topspot wormer called Profender. It doesn't treat for fleas or any other parasites, but it is the only topspot product that will cover tapeworm and it goes up to 8kg. Revolution and Advocate do not cover tapeworm, so an additional tapeworming tablet is required every 3 months. As for tablets, there are many options. Make sure you pick an all wormer that includes tapeworm. I find a lot of people like Milbemax because the tablets are quite small (1/2 a tiny tablet for <4kg cat, 1 tablet for up to 8kg). I really only find the pastes useful for kittens, they usually don't have a full spectrum of activity.

It could certainly be a dietary issue, but I would rule out a medical problem first. Drop a faecal sample in to the vet - they can do a faecal flotation and rule in or out any intestinal parasites as a cause for the chronic diarrhoea. If that is negative and your vet doesn't feel that any further investigation is necessary then I would look into changing the diet.