Veterinary Care with care and common sense

Love in the time of cholera...

2009-04-13T20:01:00.002-04:00

In this time of economic crisis, we've all had to make tough decisions in our daily lives. Unfortunately, this has resulted in a decline of veterinary care for our pets. The number of pets taken to animal shelters have risen at an alarming rate. In some instances, people who move out of their homes, leave their pets behind to fend for themselves. Preventative care for our pets is the most important part of their health care. By providing this basic care, we prolong their lives dramatically and protect ourselves from diseases that are zoonotic (spread from animal to human). A common situation I have been noticing recently is that owners are trying to save money on their veterinary expenses by declining some preventative services like stool parasite checks, heartworm exams and some vaccinations. It is important to remember that many of our pets intestinal parasites are zoonotic, children being particularly susceptible to these infections. Some of the diseases we vaccinate against, like Leptospirosis, are also zoonotic. Another issue is heartworm preventative and testing. If not done, heartworm disease is all but guaranteed, and treating this is much more expensive than preventing it. My point is simple, don't sacrifice your pet's preventative care. The risks are just not worth it. We have the responsibility to provide our pets with a healthy and safe standard of living.

Dog Dental Cleaning without anesthesia: Don't Believe it!

2008-09-05T13:29:00.002-04:00

This week I got quite the interesting email. The email was from a Florida/California company promoting professional dental cleanings without the need for anesthesia. Of course, this sounds very attractive to many people who have a great fear of putting their pet under anesthesia. This group claims to have a patented method of properly restraining dogs that allows them to do the procedure properly.

Do you remember the last time you went to the dentist? How did it feel? When the human dentist is performing an oral examination and cleaning, it can feel uncomfortable, even painful at times! We know how to handle these feelings at these moments, but our pets don't, they just feel the discomfort and pain. The truth is that the veterinary oral exam and dental cleaning that is done professionally by trained veterinarians is going to be painful. Do you realize that a large majority of dogs and cats have significant oral disease. Broken teeth, gum infections, exposed roots are among the possible conditions present. How are they going to convince me that this procedure does not require anesthesia? Professionally administered anesthetic protocols are 99% safe, and it is the ONLY way to perform a dental cleaning and oral exam in your beloved pet.

If you are curious about these claims, you can visit http://petdentalservices.com/ To see the American Veterinary Dental College position on the matter, visit http://www.avdc.org/position-statements.html#cadswa

The cost of taking your pet to the vet.

2008-05-21T10:24:00.002-04:00

As reported by DVM News Magazine this month, local newscasts have targeted veterinarians to do their i-reports, with hidden cameras and other tactics. The goal is to sensationalize the rising costs of veterinary care and to question the integrity of the veterinarians involved in the report. I understand how this can be intriguing, because many people do feel that the cost of veterinary care has risen dramatically in the last few years.

The cost of veterinary care has risen dramatically. This is basically due to the changing status of pets as family in our society. Pet owners now demand a much higher standard of care, and that comes with a price. This has turned veterinarians to invest in high tech equipment (ultrasound, digital xrays, and Laser ) that is as expensive as the human equipment, but only being able to charge a fraction of what the same service in human medicine would cost. In addition, the cost of retaining good quality health care team members has risen. Keeping a stable and competent staff is required to be able to offer the quality of animal care expected by pet owners. Veterinarians offering a lesser standard of care have to worry about legal liabilities that weren't a consideration in the past.

Not everybody is willing to pay for the high level of care offered by veterinarians today, but the largest percentage is. The bar has been raised in what the animal standard of care is, and we can't go back. The pet's owner cost of veterinary care has gone up as a result. An so has the cost of providing that care.

The Importance of the Yearly Heartworm Test

2008-05-15T13:23:00.000-04:00

I get asked by my clients many times, why do we need to do the heartworm exam every year?. Some people may actually believe that this is some sort of scheme for us to make money running unnecessary tests. Well, this is no scheme and the annual heartworm test is really necessary. Here's an example. Recently one of our long term patients came to visit us for the annual preventative exam, parasite checks and indicated vaccines. This dedicated client had given heartworm preventative monthly for 10 years, and for 10 years the heartworm exam came back negative. This year though, the test came back positive. This dog has heartworm disease, a life threathening condition. Thanks to yearly testing, we caught it early and we'll begin treatment as soon as possible and hopefully everything will go well. Moral of the story: yearly heartworm exams are REALLY IMPORTANT!

Final Note: Heartworm preventatives are 99% effective in preventing heartworm disease and they are guaranteed by the manufacturer. The manufacturer would have payed for the heartworm treatment for this dog, but the owner bought the preventative in an online pharmacy, thus voiding any guarantee made by the pharmaceutical company. The costs incurred in treating heartworm disease will range from $600 to $800. I will talk about this on my next blog.

Opinion Veterinaria, English Edition

2008-05-15T11:15:00.000-04:00

Opinionveterinaria.com has been live for over a year now. I've had a number of requests to take my blog in dual language. I hope you will enjoy my opinions, education and analysis. I don't blog often, but I make sure I touch on the important aspects of veterinary care. I do like to cover controversial issues and areas where not all veterinarians agree on. Hey, it's a good way to get traffic on the site. :) See you in the blogsphere.