Why a dog or a cat shows gagging?

Posted on September 12, 2016 by John

Definition: Gagging means sudden and consequent of  contraction of pharyngeal muscles which lead to special sound and movement of  pharynx but different from coughing.

Reasons:

1- Brachycephalic breeds like Pug dogs or Persian cats because of anatomy of pharynx.

2- Obstruction of esophagus with a large mass or piece of food

3-Entering of  a foreign body or a particle of food to trachea ( Gagging with coughing)

4-Any lesion or inflammation of pharyngeal area

5-Allergic reaction

6- After surgical procedure because of tracheal tube ( gagging with coughing )

Diagnosis:

On the basis of physical examination your vet chooses one or all of these procedure:

blood test, radiography, ultrasound and endoscopy

Treatment:

On the basis of diagnosis medical or surgical treatment can be used by your vet.

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Anesthetic procedure which is used for dogs or cats

Posted on July 8, 2016 by John

For major surgeries like spay or neutering deep anesthesia is necessary not only for preventing from  pain in patients but also for doing surgery easily.Anesthesia has three steps:

1-Using pre-medication: It means your veterinarian injects some special medications to calm your pet to prepare for the second step.

2-Induction: After putting the intravenous fluid via intravenous catheter, one or a complex of medications is injected to the vein to make anesthesia for a short period.In this period veterinarians have enough time to locate tracheal tube in to the trachea.

3-Maintenance: to continue anesthesia, tracheal tube is connected to the anesthetic machine which is injected oxygen and anesthetic gas to respiratory system due to tracheal tube.

After the third stage pets are in safe situation to do surgery.There are some items which are used to control anesthetic level like blood oxygen, anesthetic gas, intravenous fluid .

 

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How can skin diseases of dogs or cats be prevented?

Posted on June 11, 2016 by John

There are so many reasons for skin problems in dogs and cats from biting by insects to hormonal imbalances.However if you pay attention to these items the chance of skin diseases can be low.

1- Diet ; try to use high quality food to prevent from deficiency of nutrients like fatty acids and minerals

2-If your pet has allergy to food use hypoallergenic food

3-Use medications to prevent from biting by insects like flea, tick and mites

4-Try to brush hair of your pet every day

5-Bathing: once a month is enough, by so many washing you make opportunity for harmful bacteria on the skin

6-Using high quality shampoo or hypoallergenic shampoo for your pet

7-Availability of irritating materials like acidic or basic solutions is dangerous and contacting with skin can lead to skin problem

8-Prevent from trauma to your pet’s skin by having safe environment

9-Prevent from stress for your pets especially cats

10-Use private tools  when your pet is referred for grooming

11-If your dog or cat has only one testicle on the scrotum, neutering surgery to remove both  testicles is necessary

12-Finally refer your pet to a vet as soon as possible with the first sign of skin problem

 

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Why my dog or cat shows vomiting?

Posted on March 10, 2016 by John

Vomiting is a relax that causes moving materials from stomach to the mouth via esophagus.Esophagus has peristaltic movement that sends foods from moth to stomach.In vomiting with anti-peristaltic movement of esophagus foods and liquid were returned to the mouth cavity. Control center of vomiting is in the brain and with depressing this center  vomiting can be prevented and with stimulation of it vomiting can be induced.Although vomiting can be occurred as a strong reflex of stomach to its material event when this center has been blocked with some medications.

Causes: vomiting can be done by inhalation or injection some chemicals or medications or eating some materials or even food.Theses materials can be chemicals like a poison or foreign body like a piece of plastic.In addition esophagus, liver, kidney and endocrine diseases, gastric or duodenum ulcer, gastrointestinal obstruction and some cancers cause vomiting.

To diagnose the reason of vomiting most often blood test, radiography and ultrasound from abdomen are necessary.

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How long does it take when a toxic material ( poison) which is eaten affects a pet?

Posted on January 7, 2016 by John

Poison: every materiel which has a potential to affect physiological activity of an organ of a pet’s body can be a poison.
Poisonous materials can be absorbed via digestion: chocklate , inhalation :carbon monoxide, skin : arsenic, injection: overdose medications.This brief article is about indigestion of a poison.
Generally people assume chemical materials as toxic substance however this is a mistake and every materials such as medications and even  food materials can be toxic. For example humans can use chocolate or grape without any problem but for in dogs they cause poisoning.
If a pet eats unusual material which can affects it’s health, it is better to refer it to a veterinary hospital to induce emesis-vomiting- as soon as possible. In general it takes about two hours for a toxic material to pass stomach and enters the small intestine. In small intestine materials are absorbed. When a poison is in the stomach emesis is useful.
The speed of exit from stomach for liquids is more than solid materials. Therefor liquid poisons need immediate attention.
It is necessary to say that emesis is not a general rule for every eaten poison.For some poisons emesis not only useful but also is harmful like bleach.
Generally a dog or a cat has less than two hours to get rid of a toxic substance by emesis. After that because of poisoning your vet should use protocol of fighting with clinical signs of this problem and in this situation the chance of treatment depends on the toxic substances.

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Why a male dog has blood spots in the urine (pee) after neutering ( castration ) surgery?

Posted on December 5, 2015 by John

This is not a permanent problem after neutering.In large breeds and those who have surgery after puberty possibility of bleeding with urination ( hematuria) specially at the end of urination as blood spots is more.Also bruising, skin color changing ( redness) around the skin incision and superficial skin inflammation of the scrotum can be seen.
Reason : in large breeds like Labrador dogs and adult dogs vascular tissues of testicles are very congested.In this surgery these vascular tissues are blocked by surgeon.Therefore blood pressure in the blocked arteries and ducts are increased which lead to edema of the skin of the scrotum and sometimes a little bit bleeding in ductus deferens .
If your dog  shows these signs after castration, refer him to your vet to manage it.

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Why does a neutered ( fixed) dog show erection?

Posted on October 19, 2015 by John

  Anatomy of penis in dogs is different from humans.Penis of a dog doesn’t have glans ( tip of the penis with sensitive tissue) instead of that it has bulbus glandis at base of penis shaft.Penis in dogs has a long narrow bone: Os penis.Therefore dogs don’t need erection for intercourse like human.
Instinctively male dogs have affinity for opposite sex.Even after fixation sometimes they show affinity for female dogs with behavior like erection with hump.It takes time to forget this feeling.This duration depends on when your dog is neutered ( fixed). Earlier neutering decreases this duration.
Recommended age for fixation in male dogs is 6 months old.

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Why is a cancer ( tumor ) shaped in pets?

Posted on October 3, 2015 by John

Cancer ( tumor ) means a mass of abnormal cells in body.If this mass can send a cell to other parts of body to involve them , it is malignant-bad- tumor like lymphoma and if it is vise versa, it is benign-good- tumor like lipoma.
Most cells have ability to regenerate themselves and this is natural phenomenon which is occurred every day .During the cell division sometimes some cells are abnormal and  immune system as quality control section recognizes them and this action leads to  cell suicide: Apoptosis.
Sometimes immune system can’t do it’s duty properly and one of abnormal cells-cancer cell- continues its life and by division it makes a mass of  cancerous cells.

On the basis of the cell’s origin, tumor  is named.

There are so many reasons which lead to tumor  like: genetic, viral infection such as leukemia in cats, radiation, hormonal imbalance, food, water , air pollution, trauma, and rarely some  medications.

 

 

 

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What is the procedure which is used to diagnose a disease by a veterinarian?

Posted on September 18, 2015 by John

There is a standard and scientific  method to diagnose a pet’s disease which includes respectively:

1- Taking history: includes questions that your vet asks them from you like your pets  food, age, sex, spay or neuter and symptoms that you have seen .Therefor wrong  answers can be led to wrong diagnosis.

2-Examination: watching, palpation, physical exam and laboratory tests and special techniques      

 In watching your vet watches your pet’s body from head to tail to diagnose any obvious   change for example limping when it walks.

Palpation helps to vets to recognize any reaction to pain or recognize any macroscopic  abnormality especially when it is covered by hair.

 In physical exam a vet  exams body systems with a stethoscope like respiratory  or cardiovascular system and with a thermometer he or she measures the body temperature.  

To exam oral cavity or female genital system sedation is necessary.                         

3-Differential diagnosis: after above procedure there is a list of diseases which  can be involved. Sometimes diagnosis in this step will be finished and your vet on the basis of his or her knowledge , findings and experiences can diagnose your pet’s disease.Therefore it doesn’t need to go further.

4- Most often to approach an accurate diagnosis using laboratory tests like blood test or special  techniques such as radiography, biopsy,endoscopy are necessary.

 Although this is  standard approaching to diagnose a disease, sometimes your vet has to use   trial method to treat an unknown disease because laboratory tests and techniques can’t help  or the owner can’t afford the expense of techniques.

   

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Why is pre-surgical blood test recommended by vets before surgery?

Posted on September 1, 2015 by John

Every surgery or dentistry for pets needs anesthesia.To do anesthesia some medications like Hydromorphone, Acepromazine, Ketamine and Diazepam are used and to maintain anesthesia, anesthetic gas like Isoflurane is necessary.Every medication has to be metabolized by liver and kidneys to ged rid of them.Therefore normal  function of liver and kidneys are vital to sent them out via urination and defecation.

On the other hand anesthesia causes low blood pressure and this phenomenon can make problem for pets with kidney disease.

In addition every surgical approach needs incision and this causes bleeding.Needless to say having normal coagulation pattern is vital to prevent from bleeding during surgery.

By doing pre-surgical blood test your vet can judge that surgery for  your pet is safe or not.If not,how to change it to safe surgery like treatment of kidney or liver disease or using special medications which are safe for your pets.

 

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