You gotta love your vet, part two

by winecountrydog Tilin Corgi, with Mum

After last month's piece "You gotta LOVE your veterinarian," mywoofself and Mum got comments and questions.

'Ere are three topics wot Mum (aka winecountrydogma) talks about:

1. SIT, STAY! BE YOUR PET'S ADVOCATE. -- People ask me if I would "just drop off a pet at the vet and come back later." My answer is "It depends on the circumstances. I rarely leave a pet. I stay. And I usually watch."

Of course it makes a difference to have an established relationship with a good vet -- "love your vet"! I know and trust my primary vet, and my dogs love her, plus she's an excellent cat doctor, and her staff are conscientious. When one of my pets has to stay there, it's usually fine with me.

In general, aside from times when an ill pet should not be moved, I would not leave a pet at a clinic unless

• an IV drip is needed and I can't easily do it at home;
• the animal is in surgery, or in pre- or post-op;
• some type of mandatory quarantine is required;
• the animal is recovering from anesthesia or resting after a procedure;
• skilled nursing care or consistent prolonged observation in a hospital setting is required.

Regarding nursing care/overnight care services, caveat emptor. I will not (ever again!) leave a sick animal for so-called nursing care at a vet clinic I'm not completely familiar with.

You know it would be unusual, and unwise, for a parent just to drop off a human child at a medical clinic or hospital and then simply leave. Similarly, it's not the best practice to drop your pet off at the pet doc. The safest practice is to stay with the pet during the exam or minor procedure. In your absence, have a trustworthy stand-in advocate (with a signed permission form from you) stay there for your pet.

A pet owner/pet-patient advocate should always be there if the vet is new to the pet, or if the illness is serious, "challenging," or "mysterious." This includes possible pet poisoning cases. It's important to be there not only to answer the vet's questions and to get to know the vet, but also to observe the vet's approach and make sure you're comfortable with it. 

Should a pet owner/guardian stay to watch everything? It's a good idea to watch physical exams and minor procedures, including blood draws, shots, and ultrasound exams. Watching what our vets do teaches us things that make us better carers and medical advocates for our pets. And when we take our pets for yearly or semi-annual wellness exams, we get an opportunity to learn even more about their health needs.

Should you stay to watch surgery? Maybe. I'm the kind of person who likes to watch everything. Some vets don't mind if (calm) clients watch surgeries. I've watched a spay surgery and other procedures. However, I'd think twice about watching a major or traumatic surgery on any of my loved ones, animal or human, because it can take a big emotional toll, sapping energy better reserved for post-op patient care.

Whenever I stay in the exam room with my dog or cat, I'm there to be helpful, not to get in the way of the vet and staff. I'm there to answer questions the vet has about my pet as best as I can. I'm there to calm my pet, and to guide vet and staff past pet idiosyncracies -- for example, to distract my nervous pet; to let staff know that my pet can't stand on a metal exam table; or to muzzle my sweet but nippy dog when he's had enough. Moreover, I'm there as my pet's advocate -- to be a good observer, question asker, and decision-maker.

Sometimes I'll help hold my pet during an exam or minor procedure. At other times this offer is refused. (It can be a clinic liability if a client is injured on the premises.) One time I had to help hold one of my rescued cats on his first vet visit. Poor guy. He was such a sweet Maine Coon, but he surprised everyone by being exceptionally strong as well as "freaked out." It took myself and three vet staff members to get him into a restraint bag and keep him positioned for a blood draw.

I always leave the exam room when x-rays are being taken or when the room is too crowded for optimal execution of an urgent procedure.

I do not leave if I "get the feeling" that I need to be there. It's my client prerogative to stay with my pet during an exam or minor procedure, and a good vet recognizes why a good client feels this way. I usually sense when my trusted vets need me to step back, and they know that they can tell me when they need me to step back without worrying about hurting my feelings. 

Again, I'm not there to get in the vet's way. I'm there to be the best healthcare decision-maker I can be for my beloved dog or cat.

If you've never thought about staying and watching, or about getting more involved in understanding your pet's healthcare needs, I hope you'll give this some thought. Every pet needs his/her guardian to be a good medical advocate. 

As veterinarian Nancy Kay explains in Speaking for Spot, her book about helping your dog live a "happy, healthy, longer life" . . .

"Gone are the days when you simply followed your vet's orders and asked few, if any, questions. The vet is now a member of your dog's health-care team, and you get to be the team captain! Your job description has evolved from receiving and following doctor's orders to processing and making decisions. . . . What are the chances that you'll never be called upon to act for your dog in a medical situation? Probably the same as winning the lottery."

As you can see by Tilin Corgi's expression (in above pic), it's important for us pet carers to acknowledge that "sooner or later," as Dr Kay says, almost every one of us will have to make difficult medical decisions. We might as well sit-stay, watch, and learn whenever we can.

2. AVOID VETS WHO UNDERCHARGE. -- It's great to find a vet whose fees are reasonable, meaning that the fees are within the range of the area's "going rate." But what about when a vet's fees are below the going rate? One of my veterinarians pointed out to me that "vets who undercharge are just as suspect as those that overcharge (maybe more so). Think about it -- would you trust your life to the cheapest surgeon in town? I wouldn't!"

Well, I wouldn't either! So it's good advice to avoid vets who undercharge.

I made the mistake a few years back of going to a "cheap" vet clinic for x-rays. What a nightmare. Blurry x-rays and misdiagnosis. I've recently learned that this "affordable" clinic, located in Santa Rosa, CA, is still in existence and has become notorious for its bad care.

What's a good way, then, to judge reasonable vet fees? Call around and ask different clinics what they charge for various services to get an idea of the going rate. Some clinics won't quote fees over the phone, so it's worthwhile to go around and talk with them in person.

If you live in NYC or other major urban area where the cost of doing business is high, you'll find that vet fees are typically high too. Maybe it's worth a drive to a suburban clinic for routine exams? Just a thought.

3. KEEP LOOKING TILL YOU FIND DR. WONDERFUL. -- "Where can I find a good vet?" As we said in the previous post, "everyone deserves a Doctor Wonderful."

If only it were possible to tell whether vets are good vets from finding out what they charge. If you're looking at fees for major surgery or extensive treatment, consider not only the fees for services but also the experience, educational credentials, and successful track record of the vet. This applies regardless of whether the vet uses allopathic (conventional) or non-conventional ("natural" or "traditional") modalities.

To find the vets in your area who are said to be the best at what they do, go beyond Yelp and other online ratings. Call area animal rescue organizations, breeders, groomers, and "upscale" pet supply stores to see which vets are their favorites.

If you're looking for a veterinary specialist, you'll find that searching online turns up board-certified vets (for example, in the U.S., internists listed on ACVIM, and ophthalmologists on ACVO) and vets with other types of practices, such as "holistic" vets listed on AHVMA. But also ask your regional veterinary teaching hospital and local vets for specialist recommendations and referrals.

Be sure to ask vets in your area whom they refer out to for special cases -- for example, for orthopedic surgery, oncology, Class IV laser therapy, herbal medicine, or acupuncture. Also ask local vets whom they'd recommend for allied healthcare services -- such as ortho rehab, swim therapy, or behavioral modification. In any case, try to get more than one name, even if some of the practitioners are a distance away.

Finally, as someone who researches health topics and makes my pets' food, I add this thought: When seeking good vet care, consider that many health conditions are prevented or helped by dietary change, either as the primary or adjunct treatment. In other words, there are few health conditions that are not improved with the right diet. "Food is medicine." . . . Sometimes, of course, it can be useful temporarily to use medical foods, and in cases such as prolonged anorexia, necessary to use parenteral nutrition; otherwise, the best diet is a fresh (organic) whole food diet. Unfortunately, not many vets are recommending foods other than commercial canned and kibble brands. So I'm always looking to add to my list of "Doctors Wonderful" those vets whose practice includes a focus on fresh whole food pet diets.

Let's all keep growing our lists of "Doctors Wonderful" and spreading the word about good vet care!

Egg-citing new year

by winecountrydog Tilin Corgi and Jackie Nippers

Looking furward to new year of walkies and fresh foods from farmers' markets and food co-ops!

Ourselves love neffurr-ending variety of fresh whole local and regional foods. Tis healthful diet. Furrmly based on certain principles. One principle for a meat eater is to have calcium source. If not, da meat, high in phosphorus -- includin' da steaks and other muscle and organ meats we dogs and cats luv to nom -- will leach calcium from bones and teeth of our pawsonal systems.

Our fave vet sez, "All meats are higher in phosphorus than calcium, but organ meats are proportionately higher in phosphorus than muscle meats. Unless raw bones are part of a meat meal, you need to adjust the calcium-to-phosphorus ratio by adding a calcium source."

Da lack of calcium and other minerals is one reason that pawpular "cooked chicken and rice" is not good doggie diet. Lacking bone minerals. Pawleeze take calcium supplement at least. 

One of pawrimary sources of calcium in our diet is eggshell. Ourselves can digest whole pieces of shell from fresh local cage-free eggs. Some of you get ground eggshell with meals? We doo know many staff use instructions in good book by veterinarian Dr Pitcairn, saying to wash, dry, and grind eggshell.

Our staff (aka Mum) sez, "I don't want to add the task of grinding eggshells to my kitchen routine. I make my companions' meals every day, and I'd lose my mind if I didn't keep pet food preparation fast and simple. But I would turn to grinding eggshells if one of my animals lost the ability to digest fresh shell pieces."

Furtunately ourwoofselves and our Meezer kitty doo have super strong digestion. We love nomming eggshell pieces. Meezer will leap onto kitchen counter and nick eggshells if Mum not looking. BOL

Our furriend Palette Corgi gets to eat whole egg! Howl egg-citing! Wot a wonderfur game herself gets to play, bitin' on shell and lickin' out da insides and rollin' da egg around on plastic mat. 

Palette sez "Here is me eating whole egg. See? I love egg and I eat egg shell too! Nom,nom,nom..."

Palette Corgi is one of few furriends we know who doo eat amazing variety of fresh foods.

In olden day, before mid-20th century 'splosion of processed pet food industry, dogs and cats did eat almost all parts of prey animals, cooked or raw, and also nommed scraps of humans' foods. Palette Corgi is lucky to have staff (herself's name is Yassy) who does know about diffurrent foods. Palette noms some foods that most modern dogs neffurr even get to sniff: fur example, chicken feet and tripe. Nommy!

Our staff is not so thrilled about tripe. BOL

Tripe or no tripe, Mum is longtime health researcher who did learn how to promote good health and strong digestion. You might notice Mum is always watching us ... seeing not only wot goes in but also wot comes out other end. BOL

Impawtant: Doo not assume that you can digest whole eggshell or big shell pieces. If your digestive system is used to handling only processed foods (kibbled or canned), you will likely need to build up digestive vigor first, before nomming da big shell pieces. 

Enjoy your new year. Hope your life is filled with walkies and fresh foods from your local and regional humane farmers.

Paw-note: Dr Pitcairn's book, Natural Health for Dogs and Cats, is 'stremely useful for dog and cat owners. Howlever Mum, who is furry knowledgeable about complementary and "natural" medicine, does not follow Dr Pitcairn into homeopathy. ... To each her own modalities eh.

Calcium caveat from winecountrydogma for dog and cat owners:
A fresh whole food diet for dogs or cats includes several ways to provide calcium and other minerals with meals. However, there are risks involved with excessive calcium supplementation, particularly for puppies and young dogs, and especially for growing large-breed and giant-breed dogs and pregnant bitches, and also for dogs or cats with certain health conditions. Regardless of the type of diet you feed, homemade or commercial, please don't simply add a daily calcium supplement without first determining a safe level of calcium intake for that dog or cat. Ask your veterinarian to help you calculate the amount of calcium you can give, and how to provide it in a good calcium-to-phosphorus ratio.

Valentine's Day gift of health

by winecountrydog Tilin Corgi

As some of you doo know, my ancient woofself was suddenly poorly in early February 2012. Acutely poorly.

Myself could read what Mum was thinking when -- for the furst time in my long life -- I stopped eating: She feared mywoofself was so ill that I was not long for this world.

An investigative drama of grrreat pawportions took pawlace. Mum did many health researches, notes, cajoling of mywoofself, talks with vets, and veterinary tests. ... Tests on myself, they were, not on Mum. BOL

Poorly tho myself was, I did retain commonsense. I withdrew from food for a few days but pawtook of water from my bowl. I barked often at Mum to open the door, as I did feel urges to doo activities of the gastrointestinal kind. Furtunately there were no violent activities within my dogbody. There were, howlever, moments of expression from the nearer and farrther ends.

Ani Meezer was worrying about mywoofself. She did sleep next to me at night and give extra cuddles.

Long story shortened, tests and investigations revealed nothing.

Finally, after pawssage of days, Mum got a big happy Valentine's Day gift: Myself was bouncing back. Mum could just tell. Then offurr course of a few more days, I bounced back so strongly that Mum said I showed the Chi of a dog half my age.

To what can one attribute vigorous recovery of my 14-plus-year-old woofsterness? Nobuddy does know. Surely, without paw shadow of a doubt, it does make a pawsitive diffurrence that my daily diet is healthful.

By healthful I doo mean that we eat fresh whole seasonal foods -- humanely and organically produced in our U.S. Pacific region. Ourselves also have some nutritional supplements, judiciously chosen and rotated.

Humans round ere think it good that myself and my furthren no longer eat commercially processed food such as kibble or canned UFOs (Unidentified Food Objects). We doo know eating well does not guarantee well-being or longevity ... but not eating well furrly much assures that health pawblems will be more furrequent or harder to offurrcome.

Give a dog a bone ... a RAW bone!

by pawlitico (aka winecountrydog Jack)

Many humans know the old rhyme "knick-knack, paddy whack, give a dog a bone."

Dear dog and cat furriends, what too few humans know is that it should be a RAW bone.

We got to thinking about whether humans know not to feed cooked bones the day that dog-ma read a NYT article about a restaurant chef who wanted to donate leftover bones to animal shelters. Cooked bones! Howl.

Pawleeze doo not infurr that we're paw-cultists or mindless devotees of a pawticular food philosophy. We doo not follow any one school of thought, but we've studied the "original Raw Meaty Bones Diet" and the "BARF Diet," etc.

We doo of course subscribe to the logic of the "whole prey diet."

My furriends, consider our digestive systems. You know that we were built to eat raw, whole prey, and that a whole prey diet necessarily includes certain proportions of bones to certain proportions of muscle meat and organ meat.

The compawsition of any raw whole prey diet includes the raw bones of the prey animal. Historically, then, we derived irrepawlacable nutrients — not only calcium, but also other minerals and doglicious nutrients in bone marrow — from frequent consumption of bones.

Therefur, our eating of raw bones is not just fur dental health, which is the most-often cited reason.

Too bad more veterinarians are not actively recommending raw bones. Howl odd, since veterinarians have been warning pet guardians against cooked bones for years. According to one of our vets, who does insist upon raw bones, vets still see many dogs injured or ill from eating cooked bones.

The cooking process makes bones hard and brittle, not to mention indigestible. Eating cooked bones can give us splinters, broken teeth, indigestion, constipation, and even lethal lacerations and impactions of the gastrointestinal tract.

Pawleeze help paw out the word: Cooked bones from any source are a terrible thing for us dogs, and for cats!

The exception to the raw rule is bones that have been boiled long enough to turn soft. Howlever, if the bones are boiled to softness, most of the calcium has been leached out of them and some nutrients destroyed. This defeats most of the reason for eating bones in the first pawlace.

If you're unable to chew a whole raw bone, ask your human to buy ground whole prey, compawlete with bones (not bone meal!). In our area, we have a product called "raw chicken grind." Many meat companies will doo this custom grinding of whole raw chicken or other prey for you. Caveat: To avoid choking on pieces of bone left unground, ask human to consult experienced humans on safe grind specifications. Still, if unsure of the grind, have human run ground meat through sieve to check for unground bone pieces.

Raw bones should always be fresh, even if frozen, and juicy and chewable. Meaty raw bones are lovely. Some of the best are turkey or chicken neck or back bones (without the ribs) that have been skinned. Humans can freeze bones into u-shapes to make us chew them, i.e., to make it hard fur us to swallow them whole.

Paw-notes to humans:

• Doo not let worries about getting sick stop you from feeding raw bones. Freezing first will kill off the bacteria.
• Choose right size and cut of raw bones. Ideally, talk this over with your progressive veterinarian.
• Generally avoid raw pork and sheep bones because of the pawsibility of parasites.
• Beware of big raw beef bones that are sometimes hard enough to crack canine teeth.
• Beware of long bones like legs or ribs, which are more prone to splintering and/or getting stuck.
• Doo not leave us dogs or cats alone to eat raw bones that you've never fed us before.

We're always supervised when eating something new. Only when humans see that we're ok with a big raw marrow bone or turkey neck will they let us be. Even then, humans might keep an eye on us till we're done gnawing.

Bone appétit!