SFVS News: Dr. Sophia Yin on Oven-Phobic Dog

SFVS’s Sophia Yin, DVM, recently answered a San Francisco Chronicle reader’s question in the paper’s Ask the Vet column.

The question: Why is my dog afraid of my oven? As soon as I turn it on, he bolts from the house and hides in the backyard. The oven, which is 20 years old, doesn’t make any obvious sound unless it’s emitting something only a dog could hear. What could explain his irrational fear?

For the answer, read: Why is my dog afraid of the oven?

SFVS News: Holistic Vet David Fong Pictured in Christian Science Monitor

In the August 2 edition of the Christian Science Monitor magazine, there’s a feature article titled “It’s a dog’s life.” The article summarizes that that life “… it’s not half bad. Even in a recession, Americans bow to the slobbering, shedding, fiercely loyal king of pets.” Accompanying the piece is a set of wonderful photographs, of dogs truly enjoying their lives, and the things that come along with doting pet parents (think: beach trips, doggy day care, specialty treats – you get the idea).

SFVS’s own David Fong, DVM, along with his friend Fisher, are featured in the set of photos. (Fisher seems to be quite happy with those acupuncture needles!)

Dr. Fong + Fisher

Photo:

David Fong (r.) chief of the holistic department at the San Francisco Veterinary Specialists, administers acupuncture to Fisher, a Boston terrier.

Tony Avelar/The Christian Science Monitor

SFVS News: Lori Drourr, DVM, Receives Board Certification From ACVIM in Cardiology, First in SF

We’re thrilled to pass along the latest news from SFVS: Lori Drourr, DVM, has received Board certification from the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) in cardiology, effective July 2009. She is the only ACVIM-certified cardiologist in San Francisco and one of only 19 in the state of California. SFVS now has a total of five ACVIM Board-certified doctors in its Internal Medicine department, providing care seven days a week.

Dr. Drourr joined SFVS’s staff in February 2009, and she sees patients at the hospital on Mondays and Tuesdays. For a telephone consultation or to make a client appointment, please call (415) 401-9200.

Following are just a few of the services available through SFVS’s cardiology care program:

• Echocardiogram – including 2 dimensional, pulse and continuous wave doppler
• Digital radiography
• Electrocardiography
• 24-hour ambulatory electrocardiography (holter monitoring)
• OFA Heart Registry Certification
• Emergency and non-emergency case management and treatment

For more on health health and dogs, see: Heart Health Going to the Dogs

Headlines: Summer Health Tips for Dogs

From heat stroke to foxtails to swimmer’s tail (swimmer’s tail?), summertime fun with your pup comes with its own set of health hazards. Sophia Yin, DVM, MS, animal behaviorist at SFVS, offered a veterinarian’s view of summertime for The Bark. Some excerpts:

Re: heat stroke:

Dogs can’t tolerate heat as well as humans because their primary way to dissipate heat is by panting, whereas humans can sweat. So they have a small surface area for dissipating heat. Plus, some dogs are not very smart about knowing how much they can tolerate. They may keep playing fetch even though they are nearly ready to faint from the heat. Other dogs are smarter and take that ball you’ve just tossed for them and lie down in the shade.

If your dog does give indicators of fatigue in the heat, listen to what they have to say. Let them rest if they want to lie down. If you’re walking or running them, if they slow down in the heat, don’t try to coax them faster. Owners should take dogs out during cooler times of day if the dog has problems tolerating the heat. They should also watch how the dogs pant. If they are panting with the commissures (sides) of the mouth wide open, they need a rest. If their panting doesn’t go down in five minutes, they are too hot. You can also use a garden sprayer and fill it with water and mist your dog with water if they are outside in warm weather with you.

Re: foxtails:

Foxtails are dangerous because these sticky grass awns burrow into fur and skin, and then don’t come out. Wherever they stick, due to their architecture, they only travel one way. They frequently get into the ear canal, where they cause pain and lead to infections and can potentially work their way into the middle ear. Dogs frequently inhale them and then sneeze violently for a day. Once they get past the portion of the nasal cavity, the dog no longer sneezes but the foxtail and continue moving up. It can work its way to the junction where nasal cavity and oral cavity come together and then be swallowed and from there may puncture the gastrointestinal tract or may just be pooped out.

Re: swimmer’s tail:

Swimmer’s tail is inflammation of the tail muscles and can be related to swimming. It’s most common in pointing dogs and other dogs that swim a lot, although my Australian Cattledog (now deceased) once got it after a fun day of swimming. His tail, which normally waved high like a flag, just drooped like a wet noodle. Radiographs revealed no fractures. A neurologic exam revealed slight pain near the base of the tail, and that he did have sensation in the tail. The tail was back to normal after a day of no swimming. When I see swimmer’s tail, I describe it to people as “he pulled his tail muscle.”

Read the full article: Summer Health Tips // A quick check up with Sophia Yin, DVM, MS

SFVS News: SFVS’s Jill Fortuna, DVM on a Feral Cat’s Skin Problems

Jill Fortuna, DVM

Jill Fortuna, DVM, an intern at SFVS, answered a reader’s question in this week’s Ask the Vet column in the San Francisco Chronicle.

The question: A feral cat that comes around our house vanished for several weeks, then returned with missing hair on part of her tail. Three weeks later, more hair was missing and this time there were sores. She’s quite skittish, so we can’t touch her, apply Frontline or cage her for a trip to the vet. What can we do?

What do you think they should do? See Dr. Fortuna’s answer: How to help feral cat with sores, missing hair

SFVS News: Suzanne Alexander Named July Staff Member of the Month

suzanne (modeling one of the new blue CSR shirts!)

Congratulations to Suzanne Alexander, SFVS’s July Staff Member of the Month! You’ll see Suzanne at the hospital’s front desk, helping clients and their pets to check in, check out and everything in between. Congratulations, Suzanne! Below she answers a few questions:

What is your job at SFVS?
I am a CSR (Client Service Representative).

How long have you been working at the hospital?
It has been about one full year.

What’s your favorite part of being a CSR? The most challenging?
My favorite part of being a CSR is that I get to work with great people and really feel like part of a team. I love meeting pet owners and seeing the bond that people share with their pets. The most challenging part of the job is trying to stay on top of everything during busy times. I think the CSRs do a great job at this though.

Any advice that you wish all pet guardians would follow?
Please keep your dog on a leash, off leash is just too risky in this city.

What do you enjoy doing away from SFVS?
I am a full time student at SFSU majoring in Sociology. I also love going to restaurants and movies.

Do you have any pets of your own?
Sadly no. We cannot have dogs in our apartment and my boyfriend is severely allergic to cats. My parents have 2 cats and 2 Pekingnese dogs and I love them like they are my own!

Did You Know? The 10 Most Common Surgeries at SFVS

The surgery department at San Francisco Veterinary Specialists ran the numbers and compiled a listing of the 10 most common surgeries performed at the specialty hospital, as of June 2009.

Clicking on the name of a procedure below will link to corresponding educational material, including background conditions, procedure overviews and photos, on the American College of Veterinary Surgeons (ACVS) website.

1. TPLO – Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (For Cranial Cruciate Ligament (CCL) Rupture)
2. Extracapsular Suture (For Cranial Cruciate Ligament (CCL) Rupture)
3. Gastrotomy or Enterotomy for Foreign Body Removal
4. Fractures (Plates, Screws, ESF Placement)
5. Patella Luxation (Knee Cap) Repairs
6. Splenectomy (Spleen Removal)
7. Gastropexy (Surgery to Prevent Bloat)
8. Liver Shunts
9. Laminectomy/Fenestrations/Ventral Slots (For Disc Disease)
10. Anal Sacculectomy or Perianal Mass Removal

(Note that this list is probably quite different than that of a general veterinarian’s office. SFVS is a multi-specialty referral hospital; general vets often refer their patients to us for particular procedures. For example, you won’t see spays or neuters on this SFVS list. List updated June 2009.)

In Focus @ SFVS: Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunts

When she was 7 months old, Olive, a Portuguese Water Dog, went into a coma during her spay surgery. She was transferred to an all-night veterinary hospital, where her guardian, Hannah, wondered what could have happened – why her healthy young dog of only a few months would go into a coma during a routine surgery like spaying. Olive’s blood work revealed a problem with her enzyme levels: Olive’s liver was not functioning properly. But, after receiving fluids and care from the hospital, Olive finally came out of her coma at 5 o’clock the next morning. Thrilled that Olive was conscious, Hannah took her home to the family to recuperate. A couple of weeks passed, and with Olive on antibiotics all seemed well. Then, Olive became very lethargic. She stopped eating her food and was constantly drinking water. Hannah noticed that she was growing, but not very quickly. Olive also had started bumping into things. After a trip to the veterinarian, Hannah learned that Olive’s enzyme levels were still off. This fact, followed by copious online research about Olive’s other behaviors, led Hannah to believe that Olive had an intrahepatic shunt.

What Is a Liver Shunt?

One of the liver’s primary functions is to remove toxins from the blood. A liver shunt is an abnormal blood vessel that allows blood to bypass the liver instead of passing through it. Shunts can either be within the liver (called intrahepatic) or outside the liver (extrahepatic). They can be congenital (present at birth) or acquired secondary to chronic liver disease.

Olive

In fetuses, a shunt is always present, so that the mother’s liver can do the work of cleaning the blood of toxins – as the fetus’s liver does not yet work. Usually the shunt closes soon after birth and the newborn’s liver takes over, filtering out toxins from the blood flow.

Sometimes, however, the shunt does not close properly, and a congenital shunt is formed, allowing unfiltered, contaminated blood to reach general circulation without being filtered through the liver. Toxins can build up in the bloodstream or kidneys. In addition, under normal circumstances, food is broken down or digested in the intestines and then absorbed into the portal bloodstream, which is carried through the liver. When a shunt is present, this flow is diverted; therefore, the pet lacks the necessary materials to help him grow and to give him a ready energy source.

While extrahepatic shunts are more commonly seen in small-breed dogs such as the Yorkshire Terrier, Havanese or Maltese Terrier, intrahepatic shunts occur more frequently in large-breed dogs. They are often reported in Labrador Retrievers, Irish Wolfhounds, Australian Shepherds, Australian Cattle Dogs, Samoyeds and Old English Sheepdogs. The incidence of shunts in the general dog population is 0.18 percent; it is a 36 times higher incidence in Yorkshire Terriers.

Clinical Signs

Shunts can be seen at any age, although congenital shunts are usually diagnosed before the pet is 1 or 2. Some common clinical signs of a shunt include the following:

• Intermittent anorexia
• Abnormal behavior after eating
• Neurologic dysfunction such as head-pressing, circling, pacing or unresponsiveness
• Episodes of apparent blindness
• Excessive salivation
• Pica (eating foreign material)
• Seizures
• Poor weight gain
• Small stature, stunted growth, poor muscle development
• Excessive sleeping, lethargy
• Excessive water consumption, excessive urination
• Straining to urinate due to bladder stone formation
• Poor recovery after surgery

Through her research, Hannah identified and reached out to specialists with expertise in shunts, and eventually connected with Margo Mehl, DVM, Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Surgeons.

SFVS News: Helen Power, DVM on Dogs and Allergies

image via Greyhounds Only, Inc.

The San Francisco Chronicle’s Ask the Vet column features SFVS dermatologist Helen Power today, answering a reader’s question about a greyhound with troubling red patches on her skin. The question:

The skin between and above my greyhound’s paw pads is red and now she has a red patch on her belly. Her vet prescribed Panalog (an ointment used to treat skin and ear infections or inflammation), but he didn’t make a diagnosis and the ointment hasn’t helped. These red patches are obviously bothering her because she’s licking the area. What could this be?

The answer: Allergy may be troubling dog

SFVS News: Sophia Yin, DVM on Dogs Afraid of the Car

In today’s Ask the Vet column, which runs every Wednesday and Saturday in the San Francisco Chronicle, SFVS animal behavior expert Sophia Yin, DVM, answers a reader’s question about a dog who has lost her love for car rides. The question:

Every morning, I take my two dogs for a drive in the car when I go to the coffee shop. They’ve always loved going, but all of a sudden, one of my dogs is afraid to get in the car. As soon as she sees me with the keys, she runs away. Nothing bad has happened in or near the car to hurt or frighten her, so I don’t understand this sudden fear. What could be causing this?

Read Dr. Yin’s answer: Getting rid of dog’s fear of the car