Practice Preventive and Protective Medicine

A few points that everyone should follow:

1. If you have a dog less than 2 years of age, get him vaccinated against parvovirus. Most cases of parvovirus are preventable, and can cost upward to $2000 to treat, whether your dog survives or not (and many don’t).

2. See your veterinarian at least once a year for a physical and lab tests. Diagnostic tests can help spot problems before they develop, and they become important as your pet ages. If you have a set of several years’ worth of normal lab tests, you will also have a baseline “normal” to refer to if problem arise.

3. Pay attention to your pet’s weight, eating and drinking habits. Just a few extra pounds can rob your dog of years of good life! Conversely, unexplained weight loss can be a symptom of something bad brewing. If your pet starts drinking more water or urinating more, this can be a sign of several conditions, such as diabetes, particularly in middle-aged cats.

4. Us a a leash, keep cats indoors and dogs fenced in. Keep tight control on your dog at all times (even the best trained dogs they can dash into traffic when seeing their sworn archenemy – the squirrel). And an indoor cat is far more likely to live late into his teens than an outdoor cat.

5. Pet-proof your home. Dogs and cats explore everything and assume the world is edible unless proven otherwise. Keeping medications and poisons where pets can’t reach them is a cheap and easy way to make sure we never get acquainted.

A little bit of planning, a little bit of luck and a little bit preparation.

Pet First Aid Kits

If you have pets, you should have a pet first aid kit.

  • Pet ID information
  • Leash
  • Muzzle
  • Roller gauze
  • 2×2, 4×4 sterile gauze pads
  • 1″ adhesive tape roll
  • Elastic bandage roll
  • Two triangular bandages
  • Cotton swabs
  • Tongue depressor
  • Tweezers
  • Triple antibiotic ointment
  • Saline solution
  • Latex or Rubber gloves
  • Large irrigation syringe
  • Medicine dropper
  • Pepto-Bismal
  • Benadryl tablet
  • Cold pack
  • Space blanket
  • Pet CPR barrier
  • Purel hand cleaner
  • Toilet paper tube or paper towel tube (some type of splinting material)
  • Activated charcoal
  • Hydrogen Peroxide
  • First aid booket
  • Pet Carrier (If you need to got to the vet)

Pet Sitting Adventures

Greg had done a consultation on a client who we were going to be doing the following month. The client had an emergency and called and wanted to know if we could come in for one visit. OK!

I hadn’t met the animals and while we were walking into the house, Greg looks puzzle. ” I ask what is wrong?” He tells me they have 2 large dogs and was wondering why they didn’t greet us nor bark.

“Greg, let me see your notes” Ok, no special instructions. They have 2 dogs and 2 cats. I see the cats, good. Let’s call the dogs names, maybe they are asleep?

No dogs – Lets go room to room, check the closets, go outside; NO DOGS. I’m getting nervous.

This went on for 5 minutes. “Greg where are the dogs? This is not good. Call the owners.” Greg called and was told to go to the office; “we have been all over the house, so where is the office”. “In the garage, there is another door”. Hey doggies. “WOOF WOOF”

We still laugh to this day about not knowing where the dogs were. Lesson learned, we always ask lots of questions and take lots of notes.