Michigan Road Animal Hospital

Archive for the ‘Library’ Category

From MARY FULLER, DVM at Healthypet.com

What is Feline Urine Marking?
Feline urine marking is a behavior in which cats mark a location with urine to notify other cats of their territory. It often occurs near doors and windows as a way to communicate to neighborhood tomcats wandering through the yard. Although this is a normal behavior in cats, most owners consider it unacceptable when it occurs in the house. Any cat can exhibit marking behaviors, but it tends to occur in male cats that have not been neutered.

Although hormones may be behind urine marking, stress and anxiety also are causes. Any changes in the household, such as the addition of other pets, workers in the house or a recent vacation by the owner, may compel the cat to reassert its territory.

What are the Signs of Urine Marking?
A cat that is urine-marking typically stands upright with its tail erect and sprays a small amount of liquid on walls and other vertical surfaces. This is different than a cat that is simply urinating outside the box and not attempting to mark its territory. In those cases, the cat will squat and eliminate urine on a horizontal surface. Occasionally, a marking cat may spray on horizontal surfaces, such as bedding or laundry.

How is Urine Marking Diagnosed?
Your veterinarian will probably want to check a urine sample to make sure that your cat doesn’t have a medical reason for urinating outside the litter box. If the urinary tract is inflamed, infected or irritated by urinary crystals, there are treatments that can relieve the signs and encourage the cat to return to the litter box. Some other medical conditions, such as bladder stones, diabetes and kidney disease, can cause a cat to urinate outside the litter box. Your veterinarian may recommend additional tests, such as blood work and X-rays, to investigate these and other possibilities.

There may be other reasons why your cat is eliminating outside the litter box. Cats are fastidious creatures and may avoid the box if it is not clean enough, if they don’t like the scent or texture of the litter, or if the box is located near a high-traffic area in the house. Again, in these cases, the cat is usually urinating on horizontal surfaces rather than on vertical surfaces.

Once other causes of inappropriate elimination are ruled out, a diagnosis of feline urine marking may be made.

Please click here to learn continue to the full article.

From healthypet.com

KAREN TODD-JENKINS, VMD

Itching can make pets absolutely miserable, but it is actually a sign of an underlying problem. For example, if the pet has an allergy, exposure to the allergen causes a series of events to happen within the animal’s body. Part of this series causes certain cells in the pet’s skin to release chemicals called histamines. When released into the skin, histamines are very irritating and lead to itching. (Histamines are also involved in allergic reactions in people.) Medications that target histamines are called antihistamines. However, histamines are only part of the story.

In pets, allergic reactions also cause the release of several other chemicals that contribute to irritation, inflammation and itching, but antihistamines can’t counteract the effects of all of these other agents. Scratching makes the skin susceptible to bacteria and fungal organisms, which also release chemicals that irritate nerve endings in the skin and cause itching. If an itchy pet doesn’t respond to an antihistamine, it may be because histamines are not playing a large role in the itching that the pet is experiencing.

Less commonly, some animals chew or lick themselves excessively as a compulsive behavior, usually as the result of stress. These kinds of behaviors are caused by the brain and are called psychogenic behaviors.

All of these factors are important when considering therapy for itching. Some pets with allergies can do fairly well just on antihistamines, but most other pets need other interventions to help control the problem.

What to Watch For
The clinical signs associated with itching can be mild or very severe:

• Licking
• Biting
• Scratching
• Rubbing
• Twitching the skin

Some pets may seem generally agitated, stop suddenly while walking to turn around and scratch, or whine as they are scratching. Scratching can quickly lead to skin damage, bleeding, hair loss, scabs, and secondary skin infections with bacteria or fungal organisms.

How is the Cause of Itching Diagnosed?
Itching is a response to another condition, so identifying the cause is as important as treating the itch. Your veterinarian will likely begin the process with a complete medical history and physical examination of your pet. Your veterinarian may also recommend diagnostic testing that can include:

• Combing your pet to look for fleas
• Taking samples of hair and skin cells to look for mites and other skin parasites
• Culture testing to identify bacteria or fungal organisms
• Allergy testing
• Blood work to look for underlying medical issues that can affect the skin

If the problem has been chronic or recurring, your veterinarian will likely ask about what therapies have been tried in the past and if they were successful. This history can provide critical information about the nature of the underlying problem.

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Have you been thinking about getting a pet…either for yourself or someone else? And how do you know which breed is best for you & your family?  Should you adopt at the local Humane Society?  Check out these links to the American Animal Hospital Associations Healthypet.com website with some answers on these topics and more!

Health Benefits Of Pet Ownership

To Get A Pet Or Not? What Does It Take?

Choosing The Right Dog Or Cat

Dog Bites: Are There Dangerous Breeds?

When You’ve Found A New Pet

Pets for Senior Citizens

Canine Assistants

And Baby Makes . . . One Too Many?

Why Do Pets End Up In Shelters?

Showing Thanks For Our Pets

Yumm!!  Who can resist some sausage snacks on a cold winters day?  These are great as a training treat too.

Turkey Sausage Crumbles
Ingredients:
2 tsp virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, whole
1/4 pound sweet Italian turkey sausage

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F.

2. In a small skillet, heat the olive oil and saute the garlic over low heat. Remove the sausage casing and add the sausage meat to the skillet. Crumble and brown the sausage until crunchy. Remove the crumbles from the pan and drain on a paper towel.  Discard the garlic cloves (or keep them for your own dish!).

3. Sprinkle the crumbles onto parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake them for 15 minutes  until they are dry and firm to the touch.

4. Pack the crumbles in a resealable plastic bag lined with a paper towel. Store them in the refrigerator for up to one week.

From The Everything Cooking For Dogs cookbook, by Lisa Fortunato

Have a yummy recipe for your dog or cat you’d like to share?  E-mail your submission to indyvets@indyvets.com.

If you’ve brought your dog in to see us over the last year or so for his annual checkup & vaccinations you’ve probably learned a bit about this disease & the vaccination we have against it.  We have recently revised our vaccination protocol to include Leptospirosis for dogs.

So what is Leptospirosis anways? Leptospirosis  is a bacterial disease that can be found in most animals, including livestock (cattle, pigs, sheep) and wildlife (deer, raccoons, possums, skunks, rats and other rodents). The bacteria are passed via the urine into water sources, where they reside and reproduce. So Lepto can pretty much exist & be infectious whether you live in the city, in the suburbs, or in the country–it can strike anywhere. The bacteria can enter the bloodstream through cuts in the skin or through a mucous membrane like the eyes, mouth, or nose.  Exposure risk increases when we have lots of rain, and especially during flooding.  Lepto can be passed from dog to dog–and can make them very ill.

What about cats & humans? Cats seem to have a natural resistance to this disease…but not us.  Yes, people can get Leptospirosis & while the disease is rarely fatal in humans, it can cause severe illness.

Based on an increase in cases of Leptospriosis identified in our own patients, the life-threatening nature of the disease when it occurs, and the public health significance of the disease, we believe it is appropriate to recommend annual vaccination for leptospirosis in all dogs.  We can and plan on discussing this with our dog owners as they come in for annual examinations, but if you have a question before then, please don’t hesitate to contact either of our offices.  We can start the vaccination series at any time!

While it seems harmless at first, what we eat is not always what’s best-or even safe-for our pets to consume. In 2009, the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center took thousands of phone calls regarding pets ingesting and being poisoned by, “people” food.  Be wary of these foods, which are dangerous for your pet:

• Chocolate, coffee and caffeine
• Alcohol
• Avocados
• Macadamia nuts
• Grapes and raisins
• Yeast dough
• Raw/undercooked meat, eggs and bones
• Xylitol-a sweetener in many products like sugarless gum
• Onions, garlic and chives
• Milk
• Salt

If your pet gets into any of these foods, please call us immediately!

To find other foods that are, or may not be, harmful to your pet log on to www.ascpca.org.

Information provided by Merial, maker of Frontline Plus.

Do you have a pet who needs injections on a regular basis, or has just been diagnosed with a disease that requires regular injections?  Not only will we show you how at our office, but here is a handy video to help.  It’s really not that bad!

You’ve got questions…we’ve got answers!

Q: My dog is on heartworm preventative year round, so why does he need to have a heartworm test every year?

A: We consider the recommended annual test for heartworm as a monitoring test to oversee this important preventative program.  We know our clients are very good about giving the preventatives, but anyone can mistakenly forget or perhaps assume someone else in the family gave the medication.  We also know dogs have been known to “spit-up” or vomit the preventative tablet only for it to be discovered days later or possibly not at all.  Lastly, the manufacturer (Novartis) offers a 100% guarantee of their product against heartworm disease and intestinal parasites only if your dog has been on the correct dosage, every month, year-round, and has the blood test yearly.

Do you have a question for the Vet?  Blog or e-mail us your question today to indyvets@indyvets.com.

Ever wondered how to give a cat a pill?  Well here’s how you do it!