All posts by Dr. Marty Becker

How to know if it’s time to say goodbye to a pet

This and That,

Knowing when to say goodbye to a beloved pet is the most difficult challenge we face as pet lovers. It never gets any easier and often leaves us questioning if there was anything else that could’ve been done or whether we waited too long.

There is no absolute rule for when to let an elderly or ill pet go. Your veterinarian can provide sympathy and medical advice. With advances in veterinary medicine opening up treatment options for everything from cancer to chronic pain, it’s hard to know when medical intervention is appropriate. Talk to your vet. Ask questions and make sure you understand what treatment entails.

The most important question to ask is: Will medical intervention will improve the quality of my pet’s life or just prolong it? When facing end-of-life issues, your pet needs to come first. Prolonging their life to avoid your grief isn’t doing right by your pet.

When it’s time to let your pet go, be comforted by the fact that ending a pet’s suffering is an act of love. Surround yourself with animal lovers who understand the grief you feel, and cherish the wonderful memories of your time with your pet.

 

Secondhand smoke harms people and pets

News, Pet Connection, Veterinary Medicine,

Everyone knows that secondhand smoke can be incredibly damaging to children and anyone who lives with smokers, but it’s important to remember that it affects pets too!

Q: My boyfriend smokes. I know that smoking around pets isn’t good for them, but he says that as long as he doesn’t smoke near them, there won’t be any harmful effect.

A: You are right to be concerned about the effects of secondhand smoke on your pets. There’s a direct link between pets living in a smoking environment and a higher risk of health problems. And your boyfriend is wrong to think that stepping outdoors or into another room is enough to offset the risk.

An ongoing study by the University of Glasgow found that while cats whose owners smoked away from them had a reduced amount of smoke taken into their body, the cats were not altogether protected from exposure. The same study found that a gene that acts as a marker of cell damage was higher in dogs living in smoking homes than those in nonsmoking homes.

Professor Clare Knottenbelt, professor of small animal medicine and oncology at the university’s Small Animal Hospital, says, “Our findings show that exposure to smoke in the home is having a direct impact on pets. It risks ongoing cell damage, increasing weight gain after castration and has previously been shown to increase the risk of certain cancers.”

Cats are especially at risk, possibly because they take in more smoke from grooming themselves. Veterinarian Victoria Smith, who is investigating the links between passive smoking and lymphoma, a cancer of the blood cells in cats, says, “Our work so far has shown that cats take in significant amounts of smoke, and even having outdoor access makes very little difference.”

For his own health and that of your pets, encourage your boyfriend to stop smoking. If he won’t, make a rule that he can’t smoke in or around your home.

All this and more in this week’s Pet Connection!

The causes of feline fur loss

Pet Connection

Shedding is one thing, but what happens if your cat stops looking like your furry best friend? Fur loss in cats can have many causes, and bare patches where you can see your cat’s skin are particularly concerning. Find out what to do if your kitty loses her fuzz!

Q: My cat seems to be losing a lot of hair. He even has a couple of bald patches. What is the problem?

A: It’s normal for cats to shed, of course. Hairs grow and then fall out on a regular basis, adorning our “fur-niture” (that’s why they call it that), floors and clothing. Sometimes cats spontaneously lose a lot of hair when they are nervous or afraid. Stress activates their arrector pili muscles, attached to the hair follicles, causing the cat to suddenly lose hairs that have been in the resting phase of the hair growth cycle. That’s a harmless condition, although it may leave your hands and clothing extra furry, but if your cat is starting to get bare patches, it’s time to see your veterinarian. Any time you can see skin, hair loss is not normal.

Cats can lose fur from scratching or chewing at themselves. Known as traumatic hair loss, it’s usually related to itchy skin caused by allergies or fleabites. Cats with traumatic hair loss are often allergic to substances in the environment, such as pollens or to ingredients in their diet.

Occasionally, cats can experience spontaneous hair loss from endocrine diseases such as Cushing’s or from certain forms of cancer, such as lymphoma or liver or pancreatic cancer.

To diagnose the problem, your veterinarian will need to perform a physical exam. If the cause isn’t obvious — fleas, for instance — blood work and possibly a skin biopsy can help to pinpoint the problem. If your cat has an endocrine disease or allergies, your veterinarian can prescribe medication or a change in diet. These types of conditions usually respond well to treatment.

If medical causes are ruled out, seek the advice of a veterinary behaviorist. Your cat may have a compulsive disorder that’s causing him to pull out his fur.

All this and more in this week’s Pet Connection!

A good reason to be careful when feeding a blind dog!

This and That,

It was New Year’s Eve at Almost Heaven Ranch, and the house felt empty. It was still full of our dogs, but our children, along with their families and pets, had left. So Teresa and I tried to blunt the loneliness by cleaning up their rooms and the house. Part of that effort was cleaning out all of the holiday leftovers from the refrigerator.

We decided to help ring in the New Year for our pets by giving them skinless pieces of chicken breast, some green beans, and naan bread.

One of our dogs, Shakira, is a beloved Golden Retriever, 15-years-old, blind, and almost completely deaf. I’m always very careful when feeding Shakira, especially when it’s something that has an ambrosial smell and tantalizing taste, like chicken. I do so coming up from underneath her muzzle with the food in a cupped hand. All was going great, dogs were tail-wagging, slurping, excited, and I felt great giving them this special holiday feast. That’s when the shoe dropped. Actually, that’s when something dropped on my house slipper.

That something was a thick piece of naan bread, and it landed on my left foot, exactly like I was holding the edge of a Frisbee with the toe end of my slipper. Her eyesight may be gone and hearing fading, she still has a wicked sense of smell. Her head dropped straight down to the olfactory target, and she started wolfing down the naan. That would have been okay, but my foot was also in her mouth!

Shakira must have thought that naan was as tough as shoe leather, because she was really sinking her teeth in as she chomped the slipper sandwich so rapidly I couldn’t get my foot out. I yelled out as loud as I could, “GET YOUR TENNIS BALL!”, and she released my foot and took off trying to find her ball.

One of her canine teeth went right through the leather on the upper part of my shoe and my foot was throbbing, but nothing was broken. With tears in my eyes from about 6-out-of-10 pain, I went inside to tell Teresa what happened. She laughed and laughed, actually cried laughing.

Here’s the lesson: Be extra careful when feeding a blind dog that has a hearty appetite. And don’t expect sympathy from anyone when you aren’t.

Why you should check your cat for parasites

Pet Connection, Veterinary Medicine

Even indoor cats can be susceptible to parasites! You can bring in eggs from mud on your shoes. That’s why it’s important to check for parasites year-round.

Q: I just read that cat owners should deworm their cats monthly instead of annually. Why is that? I never see worms in my cat’s poop, and he gets a fecal exam every year with a deworming if he needs it.

A: I know it sounds like a lot, but veterinary parasitologists now recommend year-round parasite prevention for good reason. A recently published study in the Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association found that more than half the cats examined had tapeworms that weren’t evident through a fecal flotation test (how your veterinarian checks for the presence of intestinal parasites). Many of the cats also had roundworms. In most of the cases, the cats did not have evidence of worms in their feces or on fecal flotation. That means a lot of cats are carrying intestinal parasite loads that haven’t been identified.

It’s not unusual for cats to have a negative fecal exam for tapeworms or for your indoor cat to be exposed to roundworm or hookworm eggs brought into your home through mud, dirt or soil on your shoes. If your cat hunts and eats crickets, beetles or rodents, he can ingest roundworm eggs or larvae that way.

Ask your veterinarian about a parasite prevention program that’s appropriate for your cat’s lifestyle and health, as well as the types of parasites common in your area. He or she can recommend a broad-spectrum monthly preventive that’s safe for cats and effective against intestinal parasites, fleas and heartworms, which are a risk to cats as well as dogs. If that’s not a good option for you, have your adult cat dewormed two to four times a year as a preventive measure. During their first year, kittens should be screened at least four times for intestinal parasites. Dog owners, the same information applies to your pets.

All this and more in last week’s Pet Connection!