Monday, May 30, 2016
Brush Those Teeth!
Dental disease is rampant in dogs and cats. Bad breath, a painful mouth, loose teeth, abscesses, and cavities are something we see everyday, but can avoided if we just take the time. This video shows how to brush her pet's teeth. We can help you if you need further help.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Cytauxzoonosis in Cats
Cytauxzoonosis in cats is a big problems for those of us in Missouri. ALL outdoor cats (yes, even those that go out on the deck for a few minutes) are exposed to the ticks that carry the parasite. It is very hard to successfully treat and we have had several cats this year die from the disease. Protect your cats with a good flea/tick preventive and best of all, keep your cats indoors!
Dr Hackworth
Parasitic Infection of the Blood Vessels in Cats | petMD
Cytauxzoonosis is a parasitic infection of the blood vessels of the cat's lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys, and brain. The protozoan parasite Cytauxzoon felis can also infect bone marrow and the developmental stages of red blood cells, thereby causing anemia. An uncommon disease, cytauxzoonosis typically affects feral and domestic cats in the south-central and southeastern United States.
Symptoms associated with cytauxzoonosis are usually severe, including:
The parasite is transmitted from the bite of an infected ixodid tick, which are known to roam in areas shared by reservoir hosts like the bobcat and Florida panther.
You will need to give a thorough history of your cat’s health to your veterinarian, including the onset and nature of the symptoms. He or she will then perform a complete physical examination as well as a complete blood count, biochemistry profile, urinalysis, and electrolyte panel.
The bloodwork will typically reflect changes due to severe anemia caused by a combination of red cell membrane destruction (hemolysis) and hemorrhaging. In addition, the blood smear may reveal the erythrocytic form of the parasite, which is one to two micrometres in diameter, inside the red blood cells.
Splenic and bone marrow aspirate, meanwhile, are best used to identify to demonstrate the extraerythrocytic form of the parasite.
Cats with cytauxzoonosis should be immediately hospitalized and given supportive therapy, which often includes blood transfusions.
Unfortunately, most infected cats die within two weeks after showing initial signs of the illness. Moreover, cytauxzoonosis is not contagious to humans, but can be transmitted to other cats by blood or tissue inoculation.
Dr Hackworth
Parasitic Infection of the Blood Vessels in Cats | petMD
Parasitic Infection of the Blood Vessels in Cats
Cytauxzoonosis in Cats
Cytauxzoonosis is a parasitic infection of the blood vessels of the cat's lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys, and brain. The protozoan parasite Cytauxzoon felis can also infect bone marrow and the developmental stages of red blood cells, thereby causing anemia. An uncommon disease, cytauxzoonosis typically affects feral and domestic cats in the south-central and southeastern United States.
Symptoms and Types
Symptoms associated with cytauxzoonosis are usually severe, including:
- High fever
- Dehydration
- Pale gums
- Depression
- Loss of appetite (anorexia)
- Yellowish skin (jaundice)
- Enlarged abdomen due to splenomegaly and hepatomegaly
Causes
The parasite is transmitted from the bite of an infected ixodid tick, which are known to roam in areas shared by reservoir hosts like the bobcat and Florida panther.
Diagnosis
You will need to give a thorough history of your cat’s health to your veterinarian, including the onset and nature of the symptoms. He or she will then perform a complete physical examination as well as a complete blood count, biochemistry profile, urinalysis, and electrolyte panel.
The bloodwork will typically reflect changes due to severe anemia caused by a combination of red cell membrane destruction (hemolysis) and hemorrhaging. In addition, the blood smear may reveal the erythrocytic form of the parasite, which is one to two micrometres in diameter, inside the red blood cells.
Splenic and bone marrow aspirate, meanwhile, are best used to identify to demonstrate the extraerythrocytic form of the parasite.
Treatment
Cats with cytauxzoonosis should be immediately hospitalized and given supportive therapy, which often includes blood transfusions.
Living and Management
Unfortunately, most infected cats die within two weeks after showing initial signs of the illness. Moreover, cytauxzoonosis is not contagious to humans, but can be transmitted to other cats by blood or tissue inoculation.
Sunday, May 15, 2016
| I had Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever a few years ago and felt like I had the flu for 3-4 solid months. We see dogs with RMSF here in Missouri so I sympathize with them. Dr. Lundgren did a good job informing us with this article | |
Authored by: Becky Lundgren, DVM
|
Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) is caused by Rickettsia rickettsii. This intracellular parasite is transmitted to dogs through the bite of an infected tick. The ticks that can transmit RMSF are the Rocky Mountain wood tick, the American dog tick, and the brown dog tick.
In the United States, RMSF is most common in the southern Atlantic states, western central states, and areas of the mid-Atlantic and southern New England coastal states. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only about 1 to 3 percent of the tick population carries R. rickettsii, even in those geographic areas.
In the United States, RMSF is most common in the southern Atlantic states, western central states, and areas of the mid-Atlantic and southern New England coastal states. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only about 1 to 3 percent of the tick population carries R. rickettsii, even in those geographic areas.
An infected tick has to feed on an animal for 5 to 20 hours before the organism activates and becomes infective to a susceptible animal. Transmission of the Rickettsia can then occur due to the bite or from exposure to the parasite while handling the tick.
Clinical Signs
Clinical signs will show up 2 to 14 days after the bite occurred. The parasite creates an inflammation of the body's small blood vessels, which results in damage to all the organs of the body.
Common signs include fever, lethargy, inappetence, pain, eye/nose discharge, nosebleed, cough, enlarged lymph nodes, lameness, skin necrosis/sloughing, hemorrhage, and peripheral swelling. Petechial hemorrhages (tiny hemorrhages in the skin) will occur in about 20% of affected dogs. Up to one third of the infected dogs will have central nervous system signs (lack of voluntary coordination of muscle movements, weakness, balance problems, cranial nerve abnormalities, seizures, stupor, spinal pain, etc.). Any organ in the body may be affected and the clinical signs may be mild or severe enough to result in death.
Diagnosis
Diagnostic tests for RMSF include blood tests looking for severely low platelet count, plus coagulation profiles, blood chemical analysis, and serology. (Paired titers, from blood samples taken 14 to 21 days apart, are often needed, but a single high titer in dogs that have clinical signs is consistent with an active infection.) Response to antibiotic therapy is suggestive, but not diagnostic.
Treatment/Management
Specific treatment relies on the use of appropriate antibiotics. Response to the antibiotics usually is seen within 24 to 48 hours, although advanced cases may not respond at all to treatment. The most common antibiotics used are tetracycline, doxycycline, and minocycline. Chloramphenicol is usually reserved for pregnant bitches or young puppies. Fluoroquinolones, such as enrofloxacin, have shown efficacy, but their use is generally restricted to older animals. Side effects to any of the antibiotics may be seen. Your veterinarian will choose the antibiotic that best suits your pet's age, pregnancy status, etc.
Blood transfusions to treat anemia and other supportive therapies may be needed.
Prevention
Limit your dog's exposure to ticks and to tick-infested areas, especially from March through October.
Inspect your dogs closely for ticks. If you can remove a tick within a couple of hours after attachment, the organism will not have had time to modify and become infective. Wear gloves when removing ticks, as the infective organism can get into your body through abrasions, cuts, etc.
Use tick control products to prevent tick attachment and/or to kill attached ticks.
By VIN Community Contributors
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=3574
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Why cats lick us
My cat Patience licks me constantly, especially at night. I thought others might enjoy this article.
Dr. Hackworth
Why Cats Lick People: It's Not just a Matter of Taste
February 16, 2016 (published)
Laura Hedden, editor of VIN This Week
As kids we thought it was pretty funny and weird and I've always wondered why he did it. Was there some reason that he found those particular bits of flesh irresistible or was he just weird?
One answer might have been that he thought we tasted pretty good. When your body breaks down proteins from the foods you eat, ammonia and urea are produced, which are later in your sweat. Sweat also contains sugar and salts, such as sodium, chloride, and potassium. When your sweat evaporates, it can leave sweet or salty residue on your skin that animals can smell and/or taste. Maybe to Spider we were all just giant, walking, talking kitty treats.
Some cats do find our natural human ‘flavor’ to be pretty tasty, but things we put on our bodies also make us more appetizing to our feline friends. We usually attribute bizarre appetites to dogs since they’ve been known to eat stuff like kitty poop, shoes, rocks and other gross stuff, but sometimes cats also find the most unusual things to be delectable. If your cat seems attracted to licking areas where you apply lotions, cosmetics, or topical medications, it’s a good idea to check with your veterinarian to make sure they won't harm him. Some medicinal creams and topical hormones have been found to cause major illness and even death in pets.
“There definitely is a risk for cats licking transdermal creams that are now increasingly commonplace in human medicine,” says Michele Gaspar, DVM, DABVP, MA, feline internal medicine specialist and consultant for the Veterinary Information Network (VIN). It’s important to understand that cats differ from dogs in their responses to hormonal transdermals. This article from the VIN News Service explains more.
Cats also lick as a form of bonding. Mother cats begin bathing their kittens as soon as they’re born, licking away the placenta, blood, and other fluids. They also use licking to help stimulate their babies to urinate and defecate on their own. (Aren’t you feeling lucky to be a human and not a mother cat right about now?) Kittens learn to groom themselves by watching mama kitty and often practice grooming each other, so it’s not surprising that cats would try to bond with their humans in the same way. One of my son’s cats (I passed the crazy cat person gene on to him) rarely passes up an opportunity to lick his hair and scalp. A co-worker of mine says her cat loves to lick her fingers and the top of her foot.
“I believe that when cats ‘groom’ their humans, it's a type of bonding and probably means that the kitty considers us very special,” says Gaspar. “So, when my Emmy ‘grooms’ me (usually at 2 a.m.), there's a part of me that thinks she might consider me a ‘hot mess’ and another part of me that is happy that she thinks of me as her BFF!”
As any cat owner knows, cat tongues are covered with tiny barbs, called papillae, that help them comb dirt and debris from their fur when grooming and also help them to strip the flesh from the bones of their prey. Since they lack thumbs and therefore can’t hold a hairbrush, this is a convenient feature from your cat’s point of view, but, if your kitty likes to spend lots of quality time ‘bonding’ with you, it may start to feel like it’s your flesh that’s being stripped. If you prefer to keep all your flesh on your bones, you can learn the signs that your cat is about to start slowly devouring you like a lollipop and redirect her attention with a toy.
If your cat isn’t much of a licker and suddenly develops an affinity for the taste of your skin or hair, or begins licking and grooming herself excessively, it’s a good idea to get her checked out by your veterinarian; there are some disorders that could be to blame for the change in behavior.
With all that I now know about why cats like to lick humans, I guess it's equally possible that Spider was motivated by what, to him, were yummy flavors on our skin, or that he could have been seeking the same comfortable, secure feeling that he remembered from nursing on his mother, all the while letting us know he felt like part of our family and that he trusted us.
Or, maybe a little bit of both.
Or, maybe he was just weird.
http://www.vin.com/vetzinsight/default.aspx?pid=756&catId=5861&Id=7215707
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Monday, January 6, 2014
Cat Scratch Disease
Cat Scratch Disease — What It Means to You and Your Cat
You’ve probably heard of the disease. It’s known as cat scratch disease, or sometimes cat scratch fever. The disease gets a fair amount of media attention and cats are often blamed as the culprit for the infection. However, there’s much more to the story.
What Is Cat Scratch Disease?
Cat scratch disease is more likely to pose a threat to you than it is to your cat. In people, cat scratch disease usually starts with a swelling (known as a papule) at the site of infection/contamination. The local lymph node may swell and become somewhat painful. Flu-like symptoms may develop. In most cases though, the infection will resolve without incident.
Immunosuppressed people can suffer much more serious effects from cat scratch disease, however. In these people, the infection may invade the body leading to a number of potential syndromes, including encephalitis, heart valve infection, and other conditions.
The disease is caused by a bacteria known as Bartonella henselae, which is carried by fleas.
How Do People Get Cat Scratch Disease?
People become infected with the organism when a cat scratch is inoculated with infected flea dirt. If your cat's claws become contaminated with flea dirt, you may be exposed to the disease if your cat subsequently scratches you. Bite wounds can also be contaminated and cause cat scratch disease. However, the common denominator is the flea. Without fleas, there is no contamination of any wound with flea dirt and no infection.
What If My Cat Is Infected with Bartonella henselae? Will He Get Sick?
The vast majority of infected cats remain asymptomatic. You may never even know that your cat has become infected. There has been a link made between a condition of the mouth known as stomatitis and infection with Bartonella henselae. However, the significance of this link is not known and it may not be significant.
Most infected cats never require any treatment for disease. Treatment of infected cats does not reduce the potential for disease spread to people.
How Can I Protect Myself and My Family from Cat Scratch Disease?
The best form of prevention is flea control. Because fleas are required for the disease to spread, keeping your cat free of fleas is essential to protecting yourself and your family.
Avoiding scratches and bites by learning to play safely with your cat can help as well. Learn to recognize the changes in your cat’s body language that indicate that your cat is becoming aggravated and likely to attempt to scratch or bite. Never play with your cat with your bare hand. Use a toy or suitable substitute to avoid accidental scratches.
In addition, cats younger than one year are more likely to be infected. If someone in your family is immunocompromised, you may want to consider adopting a more mature cat to reduce the potential for disease. Healthy adults with strong immune systems are rarely at risk though.
Now you know the truth about cat scratch disease. Though cats are often involved in its spread to infected people, the cat is not solely responsible. Fleas play at least an equally important role in the spread.
Dr. Lorie Huston
Thursday, November 28, 2013
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