Vet Blog
02/08/10
 Hello, I have a 12-year-old orange tabby who has developed a small bump on his one hind leg. It was pink & looked like a pimple without a head. I checked it today & it is scabby & a bit bigger. I am just wondering if this is something I should worry about. I do plan to bring him to my vet but have never seen this on any cat I have owned before. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks for your time.
A
Canada
Based upon your description, the lump most likely is benign. Reactions to fleas, food, or environmental allergens can lead to scabby lumps like the one you describe. Cysts, benign tumors, and small areas of infections also may cause small pimple-like growths anywhere on the body.
However, you caught my attention by mentioning the mass is on a hind leg. Rabies and leukemia vaccines are administered in the rear legs, and these vaccines have been linked in rare instances to aggressive tumors called sarcomas. These so-called vaccine associated sarcomas usually appear as firm masses that develop under the skin. They generally do not cause redness or scabbing of the overlying skin. In other words, the lump on your cat’s leg does not sound like a sarcoma.
However, sarcomas are serious. I always recommend vet checkups for cats with masses in spots where vaccines are administered (the rear legs or in between the shoulders). Your cat is no exception. Your vet should be able to determine whether there is any cause for concern.
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02/06/10
My dogs were refusing to eat the Heartguard or throwing it up so i changed them to Revolution and everything seems great. what are your thoughts on this product? It’s very hard to get from our vets. Thanks.
Karen
Georgia
When Revolution was released ten or twelve years ago, it looked set to revolutionize (Heh! Get it?) parasite prevention in pets. It was billed as a once monthly topical preventative for heartworm, roundworm, and several other parasites.
But Revolution appears to suffer from being a jack of all trades and a master of none. Most dermatologists I know feel that it is of only middling effectiveness against fleas.
And more seriously, dogs’ skin appears to be relatively impervious to the active ingredient in Revolution. Many experts have questioned the efficacy of the product as a heartworm preventative in dogs. (Cats do appear to absorb the product, and therefore most experts believe that Revolution works well as a heartworm preventative in cats.)
When it comes to heartworm prevention, Revolution is probably better than nothing. But if your dog won’t take oral Heartgard or Interceptor, you may want to consider switching to Advantage Multi. It is a topical product that appears to be very effective against heartworm.
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02/04/10
Next up, more veterinary Q & A. But first I can’t resist linking to an article in New York Magazine.
Even in the suburbs, the dog’s unleashed, unfenced, carefree outdoor life is largely at an end. The dogs are in the house, even in the bed. (The doghouse is now mostly for husbands.) There are no rules to this evolving, increasingly intimate arrangement, and it can give rise to a kind of canine identity crisis. Outside of its country context, the dog plays an ever more human role. Which can make things very confusing. “We’ve seen a linear explosion in pet populations in Western countries over the past 40 years,” Serpell tells me, and notes a correlation with the depressing statistics in Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone. “People are living more isolated lives, are having fewer children, their marriages aren’t lasting. All these things sort of break down a social network and happen to exactly coincide with the growth in pet populations. I think that what’s happening is simply that we’re allowing animals to fill the gap in our lives.”
To learn about the ramifications this has on us–and our canine companions–read the whole article.
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02/03/10
 After yesterday’s somewhat depressing post, it’s time for an unqualified feel-good story today. The original article and several excellent photos can be seen if you click here.
Hawk stuck in car’s grille returned to the wild
DAVIS, CA- A hawk that was hit and stuck in a car’s front grille earlier this month has been nursed back to health and released into the wild.
The driver who hit the hawk, Brian Hanley, was given the honor of releasing the bird Wednesday morning.
The young red-tailed hawk was struck by Hanley’s car on a Yolo County road on Jan. 6, according to UC Davis environmental sciences spokeswoman Sylvia Wright.
When Hanley realized what happened, he immediately went to the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine with the hawk still in the grille of the car.
Once he arrived at the school he found John Madigan, who is a horse veterinarian and associate director of the university’s veterinary teaching hospital.
As it turns out, Hanley was lucky in finding Madigan. Wright says that Madigan is an authority on animal rescue and leads the school’s Veterinary Emergency Response Team.
Madigan was quickly able to gather staff from the Avian and Exotic Pet Service and two other veterinary teachers to help extract the bird’s head and talons from the car.
Wright said the team first removed the grille of the car and then safely rescued the hawk.
The hawk was found not to have any broken bones and only a chest injury that surgeons were able to repair the next day.
The bird, identified as a juvenile red-tailed hawk, could have been released earlier, but raptor center experts waited for the stormy weather to pass.
Photo: LTShears
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02/02/10
It’s well known that many people have abandoned their pets due to financial hardships imposed by the Great Recession. It’s also well known that, whether or not the recession is technically over and the gross domestic product is growing or shrinking, many folks are still suffering from hard times. So I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that pets are still being abandoned and shelters are still being overwhelmed.
From an article in the January 21, 2010 Economist.
As the number of job losses and foreclosures has mounted over the past two years, some people have chosen to surrender their animals, unable to afford pet food let alone veterinary care. Many have brought their dogs and cats to shelters. Some have been less kind, chaining them to fences or locking them inside their foreclosed homes. One kitten was even left in a mailbox in Boston.
Looking after these pets is becoming more challenging because many shelters rely on government money and have seen their funding cut. Animal Care and Control of New York City, for example, saw its grant fall by over $750,000 this fiscal year, around 7% of its operating budget. Fewer people are coming forward to make donations.
The article goes on to point out there are some silver linings on the clouds. As with many other times of hardship, resourceful people are working on clever ways to address the problem.
Some non-profits are trying to step in and encourage people not to abandon their furry friends at shelters in the first place. Pet-food banks, which give pet food to people in need, have sprung up across the country.
One non-profit organisation, Pilots ’N Paws, connects pilots to shelters with dogs that have not found homes. The pilots volunteer to fly them to other states, giving them a second chance at adoption.
The internet is playing its part. One organisation, ForeclosurePets.org, runs an online billboard that allows people facing foreclosure to find a home for their pet. Adopt-a-pet.com uses its website to help shelters advertise and send e-mail alerts when certain types of animals come in. By the end of 2009 8,500 animal shelters were using the site to post adoption listings for 140,000 pets, up from 6,800 shelters and 98,000 listings at the beginning of the year. Now all that is needed is 140,000 good homes.
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Hello, I have a 12-year-old orange tabby who has developed a small bump on his one hind leg. It was pink & looked like a pimple without a head. I checked it today & it is scabby & a bit bigger. I am just wondering if this is something I should worry about. I do plan to bring him to my vet but have never seen this on any cat I have owned before. Any advice would be appreciated.
You have questions. 