Vet Times

Tag: canine

  • Aggression as an unusual presenting sign of hypothyroidism

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    I’ve not long come across a case of a middle-aged dog that had suddenly become unaccustomedly grumpy and started snapping at its poor owners. This was uncharacteristic, as it had no previous history of behavioural problems. There were no other obvious clinical signs – perhaps it had become lazy of late, but there was nothing to put your…

  • Inducing vomiting in dogs

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    In our practice, the preferred way to induce vomiting after ingestion of poisons (most commonly raisins, chocolate and rat poison) is subcutaneous apomorphine. If a strong acid or alkali has been ingested, this is contraindicated. This also seems to occur most commonly out of hours for some strange reason. We give 30μg/kg SC and wait for the desired effect,…

  • The cases that stay with you

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    We are deep into a busy term of teaching and have veterinary care assistant students in centre, as well as nursing diploma and nursing degree groups. We are also supporting students in practice and ensuring nursing progress log (NPL) completion. It’s so important in teaching to relate theoretical and practical elements to cases. We can use standard cases…

  • The uncaring profession?

    The uncaring profession?

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    Outside my professional life I am a member of a dog walking group. However, as Hollie can’t actually walk that far, we usually meet fellow members and join in for about 20 minutes before retiring to a cafe to await their return. It’s a nice, mixed bunch, and we use social media to keep everyone…

  • What’s causing the recurrent pyoderma and pruritus?

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    Given my interest in dermatology a lot of itchy canine and feline individuals are passed in my direction. They often have a history of recurrent microbial skin infections either in the form of Staphylococcal pyoderma or Malassezia dermatitis, which is treated as and when it occurs. I’m often surprised to find these individuals are not receiving routine parasite…

  • When is a lipoma not a lipoma?

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    We recently had a case where a freely mobile, soft mass on the ventral abdomen, which had been present for a number of years, had started to get larger. We carried out a fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy, and I fully expected this to confirm the presence of a lipoma (a benign fatty tumour common in dogs).…

  • Don’t do food trials in summer

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    I now try to avoid running food trials in mid-summer. Certainly on first presentation, with no previous history of allergic dermatitis, I tend to treat accordingly and wait to see what happens later in the year as vegetation dies back. Food allergic dermatitis does not have a seasonal basis, so if the signs resolve or exacerbate over…

  • Immunotherapy in atopic dogs is a valuable tool

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    My colleagues and I use immunotherapy on a fair number of dogs to treat atopic dermatitis. Research tells us it can be a valuable tool in some dogs, but at the same time up to a third of dogs respond poorly. We are lucky in our practice as anecdotally we find the majority of dogs…

  • “Hot water, soap and a towel please”

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    This line always makes me think of the James Herriot books – and I recently thought of this when I had a poor cavalier King Charles that presented with a colon impacted with numerous shards of cooked lamb bones. The poor chap was in quite a bit of discomfort and was straining without any production.…

  • Clinical EMS 101

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    At vet school, you learn some basic clinical skills and are taught how to conduct a general clinical examination to prepare you for EMS placements in veterinary surgeries. What they don’t prepare you for is making a complete idiot out of yourself. Before my first clinical placement I told the vets I would be working…