Leonita
Baltimore, MD

Routine stomach tacking (technically known as gastropexy) is recommended by some vets for young members of certain breeds of dogs. The purpose of this surgery is to prevent a syndrome called bloat.

Bloat is one of the most terrible things that can happen to a dog. The stomach becomes twisted inside the abdomen, and then hyper-extends with gas. Blood flow through the body is compromised. The dog suffers intense agony. Without emergency surgery almost all bloated dogs die within 12 hours. Large numbers of affected animals die even with surgery. The surgery (and several days of ICU care that must occur during recovery) is phenomenally expensive. The recovery from surgery is long and painful.

Any dog, regardless of breed, age, or gender can suffer from bloat at any time. However, the syndrome is most common in deep chested breeds of dogs such as Great Danes, Standard Poodles and Labrador Retrievers. Bloat is most common in older dogs. Females suffer from the syndrome more often than males. Dogs suffer bloat most often at night, and the syndrome tends to occur with increased frequency in dogs who have visited groomers, boarding facilities, or, egad, veterinarians earlier in the day.

Make no mistake: bloat is just about the worst thing that can happen to a dog. Stomach tacking does reduce (but not completely eliminate) the possibility of bloat.

This brings up a question that has caused a great deal of debate among veterinarians: should young healthy members of high risk breeds such as Great Danes and Standard Poodles undergo stomach tacking in order to prevent the syndrome?

No consensus has been reached on the matter. However, most vets I know (myself included) would vote no. Putting a dog through a major surgery in order to prevent a problem that may never happen is probably not in the dog’s best interest. Bloat is horrible, but thankfully it is not very common.

However, I should point out that there is plenty of room for argument on this matter. Plenty of reasonable, thoughtful vets may disagree with my position.

Ideally I would perform stomach tacking only on dogs who were certain to bloat in the future and not perform the procedure on those who wouldn’t. Of course, if I could predict the future in that way I wouldn’t waste my time performing surgeries. I’d pick a few stocks and lotto numbers and retire in luxury.

Leonita, I would not recommend tacking your dog’s stomach. But I think you should visit a few more vets and get third, fourth, and fifth opinions on the matter. Neither my word, nor the word of your original vet should be taken as absolute.

Photo: This X-ray is very bad news. It shows bloat. By Joel Mills.

Friday was Cody’s second birthday and on that night the family threw him a birthday party. Twenty-five people attended. Many of them were children. All of them brought gifts for Cody. Most of the gifts were edible.

During the party Cody received and immediately devoured several rawhides, pig’s ears, and sundry other dog treats. He also took the opportunity to hoover up any human food that was dropped during the party. His owner mentioned that one partygoer accidentally dropped an entire hamburger on the floor. Cody wolfed it down as the crowd sang Happy Birthday.

As the owner recounted this story I thought to myself that this massive amount of dietary indiscretion sounded like a good way for a dog to contract pancreatitis. Pancreatitis is a life-threatening inflammation of an organ (the pancreas) that is involved in the digestion of food. I began to get worried about Cody.

The owner’s story continued. The party ended uneventfully and everyone went to bed. The next morning (Saturday) Cody woke up feeling awful. He could barely move. He had no appetite (which, the owner assured me, was most extraordinary for Cody).

The owner was not very worried initially. But by Sunday afternoon Cody’s condition still had not improved. He refused to eat, and he still was extremely lethargic. He therefore wound up in my office.

When I examined Cody I was troubled. He was very lethargic. His abdomen was bloated and painful. He was extremely dehydrated. I recommended hospitalization and tests to rule out a serious problem such as pancreatitis or a foreign object (such as an undigested fragment of food) in his intestines.

Cody seemed to feel better after he was re-hydrated. And I was happy to see his test results. He tested negative for pancreatitis and other serious metabolic disturbances. His X-rays were not consistent with a foreign object in his intestinal tract.

However, the X-rays did show a very large amount of food in Cody’s stomach. This was most extraordinary in a dog who hadn’t eaten for two days. And it led to a diagnosis in the case–the best possible diagnosis considering the circumstances. Cody appeared to be suffering from a resolving case of glutton’s remorse (term coined by my friend Reading Maley).

Canine glutton’s remorse occurs when a dog overeats in the extreme. The stomach becomes massively and painfully distended, and the dog feels markedly ill for several days as the food slowly passes out of the stomach and through the intestines. The condition is painful and rarely triggers a life-threatening condition called bloat. However, most young dogs make it through episodes of glutton’s remorse unscathed. In my experience the condition is most common in Labs and Beagles (remember that Cody is a Lab/Beagle cross).

The nursing staff administered an enema to Cody in order to help keep everything moving through his system. I expect him to make a complete recovery. And I imagine that he never again will party as hard as he did on Friday night.

Photo: Feed me. Please. By Mzelle Laure.

Randy
San Diego, CA

I am reminded of a joke I once heard. A young child asks his mother why she has grey hairs. The mother replies that every time the child causes her stress, one of her hairs turns grey. The child ponders this for a moment. He then asks, “why is Grandma’s hair all grey?”

In fact, grey hairs occur when the pigment producing cells in the hair follicle cease to function. This can happen at any age. It is not a sign of poor health or premature aging. Grey hairs do not indicate that an animal will have a shorter-than-average life.

Grey hairs are correlated with old age, but they can develop in youth as well. My pal Buster, whose life appears to be stress-free, grew his first grey hair when he was less than two. Thankfully, this does not mean that he has a decreased life expectancy.

Plenty of young people have learned through experience that grey hairs are a fact of life. A trip to the hair care aisle in Walgreens will give you some idea of how many people are dyeing their greys.

Your dog’s greys are not a sign of bad health. Nor will they damage her self esteem. Lucky her.

Diane
Rehoboth, Delaware

Commercial puppy foods often have more calories, protein, and vitamins than adult formulas. The proportions of nutrients in puppy formulas also may differ from those in regular formulas. The added nutrients and altered proportions are designed to promote healthy growth.

Paradoxically, large breed puppy formulas are designed to slow growth slightly (although not affect final adult size)–this helps to prevent symptoms of hip dysplasia later in life.

It is my opinion that many companies use puppy formulas mostly for marketing purposes. Plenty of evidence shows that most adult formulas also can provide ample nutrition for the growth of puppies. Although puppy formulas may be tailored for young dogs, many dog foods are appropriate for multiple life stages.

I generally recommend that large breed puppies (such as Labrador Retrievers) stay on large breed puppy food until they are 12 – 18 months old. I recommend this because of the hip dysplasia-reducing effects of these diets.

However, that benefit may be marginal. Most puppies can in fact do fine eating regular high quality dog food.

I have said many, many times on this blog that in my opinion there is no one “right” food for any dog, cat, or human. We can thrive by eating almost any food that is adequately nutritious. This is true for puppies as well as adult dogs.

It turns out that this common-sense observation has merit.

Two types of dogs are at special risk from neck lead use. The first group consists of Pugs, Boston Terriers, Bulldogs, and other individuals with snubbed noses (so-called brachycephalic individuals). Due to the conformation of their noses, sinuses and other airways these dogs have trouble breathing even under ideal circumstances. A tight collar around the neck can dramatically exacerbate their respiratory issues. I recommend that all snub-nosed dogs be walked using a harness.

The other group of dogs that is at high risk of injury from neck collars is made up of larger dogs that pull hard on walks. Labrador Retrievers are over-represented in this group.

At a recent lecture at the Pacific Veterinary Conference, a leading expert on neck and throat surgery in dogs (the same individual who admonished the attendees never to perform elective debarking surgeries) discussed his concern that chronic injury to the neck could damage a nerve that runs to the voice box. This, in turn, can lead to a life-threatening syndrome called laryngeal paralysis. His recommendation: use a harness.

Of course, all breeds of dogs can still wear appropriately sized collars to hold their identification tags. And it is crucial that the person walking the dog be able to physically control the animal at all times.

But I would be happy never to see another dog pulling so hard on his collar that he can’t breathe.

Photo: Buster models his harness. Forget about that other guy.

I was driving on Fulton Street in San Francisco. Fulton is a busy street. It is adjacent to Golden Gate Park.

A Yellow Lab and its owner were walking toward the park on a cross street. I noticed that the dog was not on a leash. I thought to myself that the dog must have very good recall to stay obediently with the owner so close to the park.

It turns out that the dog did not have good recall. The excitement of a trip to the park evidently overcame him, and he decided to run ahead. He ran right into and across Fulton Street. The owner was left behind yelling and gesticulating frantically.

Fortunately the dog made is safely across the street and into the park. Both dog and owner got lucky.

Hopefully next time that dog is walked near a busy street the owner will keep him on a leash. But I worry about the dog’s future. The person who should be looking out for him doesn’t appear to have an ounce of common sense.

Photo: The Conservatory of Flowers, near the scene of the incident. By Markus Laber.

Lori
Milford MI

Jaw quivering is a form of trembling. Usually it is harmless.

Jaw quivering is especially common in older dogs (and people). In these individuals it usually is progressive but it almost never compromises quality of life.

Four-month-old puppies generally do not suffer from progressive jaw trembling. The shaking is more likely a transient issue that occurs as the puppy’s nervous system matures.

Rarely, a quivering jaw may be a sign of poisoning or a serious neurological disorder. However, I’ll bet that your son’s puppy is simply going through a phase. I don’t think you should worry too much about this matter.

Many people therefore purchase innocuous looking boxes of snail and slug bait. The boxes contain seemingly innocent granules containing an ingredient called metaldehyde. The granules can be placed in gardens to keep them snail- and slug-free.

But those granules are far from innocent. The other day at the emergency hospital a client brought a box of snail bait for me to evaluate. She also brought her Labrador Retriever, who was suffering from massive seizures after consuming a small portion of the box’s contents.

The side panel of the box contained a warning, about a third of the way down, in print that was almost too small to read: “May cause fatal reactions if consumed by dogs.”

May?!! If I had my way, boxes of snail bait containing metaldehyde would be imprinted with a giant skull and crossbones. The warning would be printed in bold all caps, would take up half of the box, and would read something like this:

THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS METALDEHYDE, A POTENT NERVE POISON. DOGS THAT CONSUME THIS PRODUCT WILL DIE HORRIFIC DEATHS UNLESS THEY RECEIVE RAPID VETERINARY ATTENTION. THIS PRODUCT IS FORMULATED TO BE PALATABLE TO DOGS.

The client who brought the dog and the snail bait to the emergency hospital had purchased the product not knowing that it could be toxic to her dog. She felt horribly guilty that her beloved pet, after six hours of intensive treatment, still was at risk of death.

But it wasn’t her fault. Nobody could be expected to find and read the measly warning printed on that box.

When I was a child, my father would put saucers of beer in the garden. Slugs and snails crawled in and drowned (after, I assume, getting too drunk to navigate their way out). The strawberries thrived, and no non-molluscs were harmed.

But if push came to shove, I’d let the snails have their way with my garden before I’d ever think about purchasing snail bait made with metaldehyde.

Photo credit: macrophile. Photo license: CC.

NSAIDs are commonly prescribed for arthritis, postoperative pain, and syndromes caused by inflammation. Rimadyl, Deramaxx, and Previcoxx are commonly used NSAIDs.

All NSAIDs are metabolized by the liver and excreted by the kidneys. Therefore, all NSAIDs can exacerbate or cause liver or kidney problems. Also, all NSAIDs have the potential to cause upset stomach and gastrointestinal ulcers.

To be sure, pets can suffer from severe adverse reactions to NSAIDs that may be fatal. Every drug in the class has the potential to cause these events.

Veterinarians have a duty to discuss side effects and adverse events before prescribing NSAIDs. Pets who receive NSAIDs should undergo regular testing of liver and kidney function. Pet owners should make informed decisions about NSAIDs.

If you google any NSAID, you will find web pages detailing heartbreaking experiences of pet loss after NSAID use. People very reasonably want to share this information after suffering a tragedy, so that others might avoid the same fate.

But this leads to a skewed perception on the internet. In fact, the vast majority of pets who receive NSAIDs do not suffer any adverse reactions or side effects. NSAIDs have helped millions of pets.

In fact, NSAIDs often save pets’ lives. A patient I saw yesterday drove this point home to me. He was a 13 year old Labrador who had received Previcox for years to treat arthritis. The owner ran out of the medication, and he did not receive it for three days. The dog was miserable. He could not stand or walk. The owner told me that he thought he “was going to lose” his dog.

A few hours after receiving Previcox, the dog was up, walking, and acting like himself. Previcox saved the dog’s life.

If you google Previcox you won’t see stories like this. People who have good experiences with NSAIDs aren’t motivated to create web pages. But don’t forget the message of the story: NSAIDs aren’t always bad.

Linda
Spokane WA

My advice is the same regardless of whether your client is in denial or actually wants you to be afraid of her dogs. Get a new client.

The person you describe is irresponsible at best, and evil at worst. It is incumbent upon dog owners to train and socialize their dogs properly. It’s one thing for a dog to growl at an intruder or prowler. But threatening a person who has been invited into the house never is acceptable.

Perhaps the dogs will not attack you. But perhaps they will. Do you want to be the guinea pig in this experiment?

Furthermore, you are entitled both morally and legally to a workplace that is safe and free from intimidation. Your client’s house hardly fits the bill.

I do not recommend that you try to befriend the dog or socialize it on your own. Based on your description, this could be dangerous. Training and socializing the German Shepherd is the responsibility of the owner. She has failed her dog in this regard.

Your best bet is to walk away from this situation. There are plenty of responsible dog owners in this world. Perhaps one of them needs a housekeeper.

Photo: Mocha’s snarl is just for show.