Medical

Symptoms to Watch For
These are signs that your dog is not feeling well and you need to call your vet:

• Continual Diarrhea
• Continual Vomiting
• Not Eating or Drinking Water and a Lack of interest in food
• Lethargic – Reduction or Change in their level of activity or play
• Sudden changes in behavior
• Loss of Color in their Gums
• Abnormal Discharge
• Difficulty urinating or defecating
• Lumps
• Marked weight loss or gain
• Hair loss
• Foul Breath
• Excessive scratching or licking
• Swollen or painful abdomen

Ongoing Medical Care
It is advised that you schedule an annual exam to have your dog’s heart, weight, skin, teeth and fecal checked. Medical care will be based on the age, as well as the physical and mental condition of your dog. Your vet should prescribe a flea and tick preventative that should be given once a month all year round, as well as a heartworm preventative that will also be given once a month all year round. Your vet will put your dog on a vaccination schedule for Bordatella, Distemper, and Rabies as well.

Spaying and Neutering
Spaying and neutering, often called sterilization, involves removing the reproductive organs so that the animal cannot reproduce. It is the best way to reduce the pet overpopulation problem – it stops the animals from having unwanted litters. Spaying and neutering also reduces your pet’s cancer risk, saves on vet bills because sterilized pets are healthier, eliminates messy and annoying heat cycles, greatly reduces urine spraying and marking, stops pets from roaming, increases your pet’s loyalty, protects children from dog bites because neutering reduces aggression, and lengthens your pet’s life because sterilized pets live longer.

Microchip
The microchip is a tiny chip, only about the size of a grain of rice, encapsulated within a biocompatible material that is injected through a hypodermic needle under the animal’s skin. The microchip is inserted between the shoulder blades near the base of the neck, where a thin layer of protein anchors the chip in. It never needs to be replaced, and will remain active for the entire lifetime of the pet. The chip has no battery and emits no signal; it simply has a unique identification code. A quick wave of a microchip reader sends a radio signal to the chip and reads the identification number assigned to your pet. This process is similar to how a bar code on an item is read at the check-out counter.Once an animal is microchipped, it’s important to note that guardians need to send a registration form into the National Registry that will add their information to the microchip identification. Without this information form, the microchip identification will remain assigned to the original location where the microchip was implanted. Microchipping insures that your companion animal will have a permanent, positive identification that cannot be altered or removed.

Summertime Tips
Always make sure you have plenty of water and shade for your dog when he is outside. Unlike humans who sweat to cool themselves off, dogs cool off by panting. Prolonged panting can indicate a serious problem, such as heat stroke. If your pet exhibits signs, cool him down immediately with cold towels and ice and transport him to the nearest veterinarian’s office.

If you are running errands in the summer, do not bring your dog with you. If you absolutely must take your pet along, do not leave him unattended in parked vehicles. Even with the windows open, temperatures can reach over 65 degrees in just a few minutes. Your pet can overheat and suffer from heat exhaustion in a matter of minutes.

Weekly grooming of your pet is also extremely important during the summer months. Brushing and grooming removes loose hair and keeps your pet more comfortable. A heat wave haircut (very short or shaved) is a good choice.

Wintertime Tips
No matter what the temperature, wind-chill can threaten a pet’s life. A dog is happiest and healthiest when kept indoors and taken outdoors for exercise. Don’t leave dogs outdoors when the temperature drops. When walking in the winter, short-coated dogs may feel more comfortable wearing a sweater.

Tail Docking and Ear Cropping
Tail docking today is the amputation of a dog’s tail at varying lengths to suit the recommendations of a breed standard. Docking involves the amputation of the puppy’s tail either with scissors, a knife or with a rubber band. The cut goes through many highly sensitive nerves in the tissues including skin, cartilage, and bone. This procedure is usually performed without any anesthetic at between three to five days of age. Tails have many useful functions and are important for balance and body language among other things. Dogs have evolved into their current shape over many thousands of years. If a tail were not useful to a dog, natural selection would have eliminated it long ago.

Ear cropping refers to the practice of reshaping a dog’s ears by surgically removing the pinna, or “floppy part” of the ear. Generally, one-half of the ear is removed. Ears are cropped when a puppy is between nine and twelve weeks old. Once the pinna is removed, the veterinarian then tapes the ears in an erect position to a splint or bracket. Post-operative pain medication is rarely provided, though the ears have blood flow and are comprised of cartilage and nerves. A series of follow-up visits are conducted during which the ears are handled, stretched along the edges, and re-taped.

 Parvo
 Parvo is a virus that attacks the lining of the digestive system. It causes dogs and puppies to not be able to absorb nutrients or liquids. Puppies are especially prone to it because they have an immature immune system. Symptoms usually begin with a high fever, lethargy, depression, and loss of appetite. Secondary symptoms appear as severe gastrointestinal distress, such as vomiting and bloody diarrhea. In many cases, dehydration, shock, and death follow.

Distemper
Canine distemper is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus (paramyxovirus) which attacks the respiratory, gastrointestinal, and nervous systems of dogs. It often crops up in seemingly healthy pets without any warning. Distemper often mimics benign problems, like the common cold. Many cases progress to the point where they are no longer treatable before the owner even realizes what’s happened. Although dogs are the most commonly affected, Canine Distemper is also seen in foxes, ferrets, mink and many other carnivores. These infected animals are often the cause of the spread of this disease to domesticated dogs. Owners can detect distemper by a couple of signs. First, yellowish-green or green discharge from the eyes and nose is a classic indication. It’s often accompanied by sneezing and general lethargy. While dog diseases can manifest differently from animal to animal, another hallmark of distemper is shaking or twitching. This happens because the disease attacks the canine neurological system and makes muscles fire continuously. Unfortunately, by this stage, it’s rarely treatable and the humane step is euthanasia.

Rabies
Rabies is a preventable viral disease of mammals most often transmitted through the bite of a rabid animal. Rabies primarily attacks the nervous system and causes an encephalitis. The virus is transmitted in saliva from the bite of an infected animal. The incubation period prior to clinical signs is extremely variable, but is usually two-to-eight weeks. The virus will begin shedding in saliva a short time before clinical signs develop, usually less than 10 days.

There are three phases to the course of the disease: prodromal, furious, and paralytic. Death occurs three to-seven days from the onset of signs. The prodomal stage lasts two-to-three days. The signs can include behavioral changes, fever, slow eye reflexes, and chewing at the bite site. The furious stage lasts two-to-four days. During this stage, signs of erratic behavior may include irritability, restlessness, barking, aggression, vicious attacks on inanimate objects, and unexplained roaming. Disorientation and seizures may also develop. The paralytic stage lasts two-to-four days, during which signs of paralysis develop, usually beginning in the limb that was bitten. Paralysis of the throat and face cause a change in the bark, drooling with typical foaming at the mouth, and a dropped jaw. These signs are followed by depression, coma, and death from respiratory paralysis. Once clinical signs develop, there is no treatment.

All dogs and cats should be vaccinated against rabies according to local rules and regulations.

Parasites
Parasitic worms are very common in dogs and puppies. In most cases, worm detection is easy and treatment is effective. However, ignoring possible symptoms and necessary treatments can lead to serious illnesses and sometimes even the death of your dog, as well as the possible transmission of a worm infection to you. The most common worms to dogs in the United States are the roundworm, tapeworm, whipworm, and hookworm – which live primarily in the dog’s intestine and the heartworm, which lives within the heart and in the blood vessels leading from the heart to the lungs. The roundworm is the most common, and puppies are often born with an infection. In the mother dog, the resting round- worm larvae are activated by hormones during pregnancy, and the larvae then cross the placenta to infect the unborn puppies. Less commonly, the larvae are carried in the mother’s milk into the newborn puppies. Heartworm disease is a serious yet preventable disease spread by mosquitoes. A female mosquito ingests heartworm larvae from an infected dog while obtaining a blood meal. The larvae further develop inside the mosquito, and then the mosquito injects more mature larvae into another susceptible dog. This dog becomes infected with heartworm disease.

The heartworm larvae migrate in the dog’s body from the area of the mosquito bite and eventually enter the dog’s blood. Adult heartworms develop in the right side of the heart and major lung blood vessels, causing damage to these vessels and obstructing normal blood flow. Over 250 adult worms may develop in a dog’s heart and vessels. Direct infection from dog to dog does not occur. The heartworm larvae must develop inside the mosquito to reach their infective stage.

Intestinal parasites are also transmitted to your pets by other animals contaminating the soil. The infected animal will defecate the worm or the eggs. These eggs will then develop into a microscopic larvae. The larvae will then attach itself to your pet’s paws and migrate through the body, eventually ending up in the intestine of your pet. Tape worm is transmitted by the ingestion of fleas or the ingestion of infected rodents. Treatment for parasites is extremely important because worms can be transmitted to people. These include certain species of tapeworms, roundworms, and hookworms. The same larvae infecting your pet can migrate into a person and cause either a skin infection or in some cases an internal infection to the liver. In many cases, a dog owner will note the signs of worm infection, or it will be detected during a regular checkup when your veterinarian does a microscopic exam of your dog’s stool sample. Heartworm detection requires a blood test. Your veterinarian can easily make a specific diagnosis and begin effective worm treatments that usually cause little discomfort to your dog.

Hip Dysplasia
Canine Hip Dysplasia (CHD) is a congenital disease that mainly affects large breed dogs. The word “dysplasia” means improper growth. Hip dysplasia can be described as a faulty or abnormal development of the hip. In CHD, the hip becomes loose and wobbly, eventually leading to a form of arthritis which is commonly referred to Degenerative Joint Disease (DJD). The degree of lameness that occurs is usually dependent upon the extent of arthritic changes in the hip joint. Environmental conditions, such as exercise and weight, contribute to the disease and bring out symptoms. Typical signs of CHD are less activity, problems with stairs, less jumping, trouble rising, or laying down, painful reactions to the extension of the rear legs, and a faint popping sound coming from the hip. Treatment for CHD can be as mild as recommending rest, or as severe as surgery, depending on the severity of the dysplasia, amount of DJD, the age of the dog, the size of the dog, and many other factors.

Kennel Cough (aka Canine Cough)
Kennel Cough is usually caused by several infectious agents working together to damage and irritate the lining of the dog’s trachea and upper bronchii. The damage to the tracheal lining is fairly superficial, but exposes nerve endings that become irritated simply by the passage of air over the damaged tracheal lining. Once the organisms are eliminated the tracheal lining will heal rapidly.The most common organisms associated with Canine Cough are the bacteria called Bordetella bronchiseptica and two viruses called Parainfluenza virus and Adenovirus and even an organism called Mycoplasma.

Kennel Cough in dogs will stimulate a coarse, dry, hacking cough about three to seven days after the dog is initially infected. It sounds as if the dog needs to “clear it’s throat” and the cough will be triggered by any extra activity or exercise. Many dogs that acquire Kennel Cough will cough every few minutes, all day long. Their general state of health and alertness will be unaffected, they usually have no rise in temperature, and do not lose their appetite. The signs of Canine Cough usually will last from 7 to 21 days and can be very annoying for the dog and the dog’s owners. Life threatening cases of Kennel Cough are extremely rare and a vast majority of dogs that acquire the infection will recover on their own with no medication. Cough suppressants and occasionally antibiotics are the usual treatment selections.

The causative organisms can be present in the expired air of an infected dog, much the same way that human “colds” are transmitted. The airborne organisms will be carried in the air in microscopically tiny water vapor or dust particles. The airborne organisms, if inhaled by a susceptible dog, can attach to the lining of the trachea and upper airway passages, find a warm, moist surface on which to reside and replicate, and eventually damage the cells they infect. The reason this disease seems so common, and is even named “Kennel” cough, is that wherever there are numbers of dogs confined together in an enclosed environment such as a kennel, animal shelter, or indoor dog show, the disease is much more likely to be spread.

Vaccinating with just the commercial Kennel Cough vaccine alone (contains only the Bordetella agent) may not be fully protective because of the other infectious agents that are involved with producing the disease. Some of the other agents such as Parainfluenza and Adenovirus are part of the routine vaccinations generally given yearly to dogs. It is important to keep your dog up to date on all vaccinations to prevent Kennel Cough.