Diabetes is Manageable with Early Detection

Marty and Laura discuss the challenges of diabetes in pets, how to prevent, diagnose and manage the disease.

“Dogs that develop multiple episodes of pancreatitis, which is inflammation of the pancreas, they will oftentimes then become diabetic because there’s so much scarring of the pancreas from the pancreatitis,” Marty said.

“If you have a dog that’s diabetic, they’re going on insulin or you’re not going to be able to keep them going,” Marty added. “So you have to make a hard decision in a day or two. You can’t wait a couple of weeks to make this decision. If your dog has high glucose and they’re diabetic, you need to decide sooner rather than later, yes, I’m willing to give insulin injections. Yes, it only comes as an injectable form. Yes, you will have to give two injections a day. And yes, there will be ongoing expenses for monitoring the dog and keeping them on insulin. You have to buy the syringes, you have to buy the insulin, and that’s just life.

“Now, I can teach almost anybody to give an injection. Even if they think they can’t. Most of the time, we want to do it when the cat or the dog is eating for two reasons. One is we want to make sure that they’re eating before you give the insulin. Because if they’re not eating and you give insulin, their glucose drops too low. That’s bad. And secondly, you can give them something to do to distract them while you’re giving the injection. And the needle is itty bitty, teeny weenie. It’s not hard to use. It’s easy to administer.

“Whatever you do with a diabetic patient, exercise and food wise, has to happen every single day. And if they are typically on the twice a day insulin, which most dogs need to get good control, they need to have insulin at 12 hour intervals.

“I don’t care if it’s six in the morning and 6:00 at night. Or noon and midnight, but it can’t go one day 6:00 at night and the next day midnight. So whatever you do for your schedule has to be the same. And that’s the hard part about managing a diabetic patient is some of us have schedules that we can really control.

“We have two oral medications that have come to market in the last couple of years for cats with diabetes. And this is like a huge breakthrough because it only has to be given once a day.

The Marty & Laura Show is produced by Pure Dog Talk Inc., with sound design and editing by Premium Audio Services.

Heart Healthy Ideas for Pets

Marty and Laura share heart healthy ideas for our pets from weight management to fitness to genetics.

“We can’t really talk about prevention without talking about genetics,” Marty said, “because from the very inception of a puppy, we can control their genetics to a certain extent. There are DNA tests. And there are phenotype tests that we can do for cardiac disease.

“I think it’s really important if you’re buying a dog from a breed that tends to have cardiac disease, that we start off with the foundation of do the very best you can to select a dog that is less likely to develop cardiac disease than others in its breed category.

“There’s a really fabulous website called the Cardiac Education Group. It is absolutely spectacular. It’s written for veterinarians, by veterinarians, but there’s a whole section in there for pet owners. So if you have a dog that’s been diagnosed or a cat that’s been diagnosed with cardiac disease, you want to go to the cardiac education group and then find the little menu and Scroll down and click on the For Pet Owners.

“Many puppies under 12 weeks of age will have what’s called a functional murmur. We can hear it. It doesn’t sound very loud. It sounds like it’s probably innocent. And many of them will go away as the dogs get older.

“Most veterinary cardiologists won’t echo a dog or cat until they’re at least 12 to 16 weeks old for two reasons. One is it’s hard to see anything on the echo when they’re that little. And two is because so many of them go away on their own that we don’t worry about it.

“Now, the one thing I tell a lot of people is that puppies have a physiological murmur because all puppies are anemic. All kittens are anemic. You are born with a certain number of red blood cells and when your body grows faster than your bone marrow can keep up with, you are anemic.”

The Marty & Laura Show is produced by Pure Dog Talk Inc., with sound design and editing by Premium Audio Services.

ITCH! Ear Mites Cause Scratching and Permanent Damage

Marty and Laura tackle the big itch of ear mites, how to prevent, diagnose and treat them in your cats (and even dogs.)

“There are hundreds of mites in these cats ears, so it’s no question that they are intensely itchy,” Marty said, while Laura opined the image was the stuff of nightmares.

“When we see an ear infection in a cat,” Marty said, “it’s ear mites or somehow related to ear mites. And in a dog it may start as ear mites, especially if it’s a young dog. But almost always the ear mites on a dog go yuck. I’m not living here, it’s not where I want to be.

“You’re going to know they have mites because they’re scratching all the time and they get discharge that looks like coffee grounds in there. It’s not blood, but it can look like blood. But the cats can be so intensely itchy, pyritic, that they will literally scratch the back of their ear raw.

“I don’t understand why, but it leaves a residual problem. I can look at a cat’s ear and look at the owner and say, did she have ear mites when she was a kitten? And they go, ohh, yeah…

“As soon as you bring a new kitten into the house, you want to keep them isolated. So put them in a separate room, a few garages warm enough. You can do that, or you can put them in a bathroom or laundry room or somewhere. Even a dog crate is at least some kind of seclusion until you get your first appointment with your veterinary clinic to test the kitten for leukemia and FIV to make sure that they’re not exposing your cat.

“We want to check for mites. So very quickly we’re going to want to get those kittens in and get them treated, dewormed, put on Revolution, or other flea and tick products.”

The Marty & Laura Show is produced by Pure Dog Talk Inc., with sound design and editing by Premium Audio Services.

OUCH! Cruciate Ligament Rupture Prevention and Repair

Marty and Laura tackle the painful topic of cruciate ligament ruptures in dogs. They talk causes, prevention, treatment and new research that’s giving hope to eradicating the painful condition specifically in Labrador Retrievers.

“Statistically, five to 10% of Labradors will end up with a cruciate tear,” Marty said, “although there’s a lot of variables in that. Certain breeds like greyhounds and corgis, they don’t tear cruciates. Sometimes it’s the age of spaying or neutering, sometimes there’s definitely differences within the line of dogs. So there’s a lot of variables.

“If your dog is 3-legged lame (in the rear) and it’s persistent, you should seek veterinary care. But you don’t have to go in on emergency over a weekend or at night. Now, if it’s a dangling fracture, you need to go in,” Marty noted, but a cruciate tear is not an emergency.

“You can have a flat out tear, you can have a fray, you can have a partial tear. Eventually a fray or a partial tear is going to turn into a full tear. And so you can see these degradations, these changes inside the cruciate ligament that we don’t still fully understand or need to understand better, and we will, but at this point we don’t really have a great understanding of some of these dynamics because there are so many differences.

“Spaying and neutering definitely has a relationship in a lot of large breed dogs with the severity and the likelihood of which they’re going to develop cruciate disease. So we know if we spay or neuter dogs before skeletal maturity, which is somewhere between 15 and 18 months depending on the breed, we’re going to increase their risk of torn cruciate. In Labradors that increases by 20%.”

https://puredogtalk.com/captivate-tag/cruciate-ligaments/

The Marty & Laura Show is produced by Pure Dog Talk Inc., with sound design and editing by Premium Audio Services.

Why is My Dog Peeing So Much? Critical Kidney Care Info

Marty and Laura tackle a huge subject with kidney diseases, symptoms and treatments. From diabetes to poison to communicable diseases, kidney health is critical to your pet.

“A lot of people take kidneys for granted,” Marty says, “because they heard you can donate a kidney, so you must not really need to have two kidneys. You really do need the reserve of an extra kidney in case something goes wrong with one or both. Just like almost all of our organs, they’re duplicated, so we should have two and they should both work effectively. So we need to take good care of our kidneys and that of our dogs.

“The most common (symptoms) are changes in water consumption and changes in urination. Now, other things that frequently cause that are going to be diabetes, which happens in dogs and cats, Cushing’s disease, which happens in dogs, which is an adrenal gland dysfunction, and other things like pyometra, high calcium that can be related to different forms of cancer. So there can be other things that we’re looking for.

“But we’re going to start looking at kidneys, diabetes and Cushings disease in the dog most commonly. And so you’re basically going to go in, tell the vet that your dog is drinking too much, urinating too much. We’re going to get blood work and urinalysis as our basic starting point. But that’s not the only place we’re going to go. We’re going to start with those two things because if the dog is still able to concentrate their urine, well then that tells us something different than if the dog’s urine was really dilute and the BUN and creatinine start to go up.”

The Marty & Laura Show is produced by Pure Dog Talk Inc., with sound design and editing by Premium Audio Services.

ALLLLL the Best Toys for Your Pets + Cat Food

Marty and Laura drop their recs for all the best toys for your pets, from cat trees to “indestructible” dog chews. Plus, Marty delivers a round up on cat food and why cats eat what they do.

“There’s some nuances to cat food that are different than dog food. Cats apparently like things that are pointy and sharp in their mouths. Apparently cats like to eat little mice that have little sharp body parts, and so they like these little sharp kind of kibbles, so a lot of the foods are pointy or sharp or not necessarily just a round kibble.

“Cats are obligate carnivores. So dogs can be an herbivore or a carnivore. Dogs can get by on a no meat diet. For those of you who are having cats out there that want to be vegan, cats cannot live a vegan lifestyle. Certain amino acids that they have to get from meat.

“To effectively scratch, a cat needs to fully extend its front legs and its back legs. So however long your cat is from its tippy toes fully standing to its other tippy toes is at least how tall the cat tree has to be. The other thing about cat trees is that they need to be really hefty. Because when your cat comes running across the room and hits the cat tree, if it falls over, that’s the last time the cat’s ever going to go on the cat tree. If you ever thought you were going to keep your curtains in your furniture safe for the cat, you just blew it.

“I’m not sure for some dogs that there’s anything indestructible. There are lots of things labeled that way, but you never want to assume that and leave your dog alone with that indestructible toy until you’ve proven to yourself in the dog that it truly is indestructible.”

Recommendations:

https://www.purina.com/dogs/shop/dentalife-plus-immune-support-large-dog-chew

https://www.kongcompany.com/

https://jollypets.com/products/teaser-ball-dog-toy

https://mountainvalleyantlers.com/

The Marty & Laura Show is produced by Pure Dog Talk Inc., with sound design and editing by Premium Audio Services.

Love for Brachycephalic Breeds

Marty and Laura share the love for brachycephalic breeds with information about feeding, managing their environment, health testing and more.

Managing Feeding and Environment for Brachycephalic Dog Owners:

What are brachycephalic dogs?

Brachycephalic dogs are dogs with a short, wide skull. These include French Bulldogs, Pugs, English Bulldogs, Olde English Bulldogs, Boston Terriers, Shih tzus, Lhasa Apsos, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and the American Bully and American Bulldog breeds.

The very thing that makes us love them and makes them popular also puts them at risk for certain conditions including respiratory difficulties (loud breathing) and associated digestive and eating disorders.

With some understanding of these syndromes and techniques for feeding, offering water, exercise and managing their environment, you can minimize the health consequences and not only save yourself money, but you can help your dog live more comfortably and longer.

A short, widened muzzle and skull with more prominent eyes is an appealing look for dogs. It has been described by some as infantile – they may look like a human baby who never grows up. Many owners are attracted to this appearance. Additionally, these characteristics are not only cute, but these dogs also have personalities and activity levels that are appealing for pet owners. Many of these dogs are less active and more sedate. They are also frequently funny and entertaining to live with.

What is “BOAS”?

But there is a price to pay for some of the dogs who suffer from a more extreme form of this skull shape. This price has been defined as “Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome” or “BOAS” for short. To be clear, not all brachycephalic dogs have this syndrome. There are dogs in this breed group that are quiet, comfortable breathers.

The good news is that breeders of these dogs are working with OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals www.ofa.org) to breed dogs with the desirable appearance without the negative respiratory and GI signs. OFA has used a system developed by veterinarians at Cambridge in England called the “Respiratory Function Grading Scheme” or “RFGS”. In this application, “scheme” means a system or assessment, not something sneaky and underhanded – using the British utilization of the word.

This BOAS system is a method for veterinarians who are specially trained to assess the dog’s airway by listening to their breathing with a stethoscope positioned over the chest as well as on the throat, with the dog at rest and after 3 minutes of brisk walking. It also includes a visual inspection of the shape of the nostrils. The dog is then given a score of BOAS 0 to 3, by the attending veterinarian. This helps the owner and breeder of the dog to determine which dogs are good breeding candidates to help produce fewer BOAS affected puppies. You can locate a veterinarian or health clinic where there is BOAS testing available at www.ofa.org. At this time, there are only a handful of veterinarians trained to BOAS test but this number is likely to increase.

So what are the concerns about the brachycephalic dog’s health?

1.       Breathing

2.       Digestion – processing food and water.

Breathing concerns are the most obvious. Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome (BOAS) consists of a number of structural abnormalities when compared to “normal” dogs, dogs with more typical head and muzzle shape. Some are the very definition of a brachycephalic – which literally means short head and some are secondary to the effects of the shortened and widened head and muzzle. These alterations are:

A.      Elongated soft palate

B.      Relatively large tongue

C.     Stenotic nares = narrow nostrils

D.     Undersized nasal passages

E.       Malformed and aberrantly growing nasal conchae

F.       Tracheal hypoplasia = a trachea (windpipe) that is relatively narrow

G.     Acquired laryngeal complications including everted laryngeal saccules

H.     Symptoms of these airway narrowings include:

1. Intolerance to exercise and heat

2. Frequent disruptions to sleep – similar to human sleep apnea and snoring.

3. Syncope = fainting due to inadequate oxygen to the brain

These compromises of the airways lead to increased negative pressure and increased effort to breathe, causing the softer tissues of the airways to stretch out, become saggy and further make breathing difficult, in a vicious cycle.

These changes then lead to:

1.       Secondary respiratory abnormalities

2.       Everted tonsils (yes dogs have tonsils too)

3.       Laryngeal and tracheal collapse

4.       Digestive tract lesions

5.       Hiatal hernia

6.       Gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) like heartburn in humans.

3.       The digestive symptoms in the brachycephalic dogs include

a.       Frequent vomiting and/or regurgitation. Vomiting is a process of forceful retching followed by vomiting food while regurgitation is more passive – food just plops out of the mouth.

b.       Ptyalism – excessive salivation

c.       Difficulty swallowing

d.       Swallowing too much air, leading to belching and bad gas

e.       Gastroesophageal reflux

f.          Pica – eating non-edible items

g.        Seeking positions that relieve pain or difficulty swallowing.

h.       Chronic enteropathy and/or protein-losing enteropathy.

What does this mean to my dog? If you have a brachycephalic dog or breed, you and your veterinary team are likely to become great friends. Foster a good relationship with a veterinary clinic who understands the needs of your dog and you. They can help you to get the most quality years from your beloved dog. At our clinic, we had an English Bulldog patient who lived to be 15 years old, but only because he had very attentive and devoted owners who were willing to meet all of his needs, from a respiratory, digestive, and orthopedic approach.

Consider purchasing pet health insurance as soon as you plan to get a puppy. Some companies will initiate coverage the day you bring your puppy home, eliminating the possibility of having pre-existing health conditions which will limit your coverage.

Given the right veterinary care and your devotion to your dog, you can do some simple and not-so-simple techniques for extending your dog’s life and saving yourself some money.

Most importantly, keeping your dog at an ideal body weight will impact their life expectancy.

How can I improve my dog’s quality of life?

1.       Purchase your puppy from a breeder who uses BOAS testing and does other OFA health screenings to reduce the likelihood of genetic disorders. Select your breeder carefully and wait patiently for the right puppy who has seen a veterinarian experienced in working with brachycephalic dogs.

2.       Monitor your dog’s body weight and body condition. Ask your vet at every visit about your dog’s weight. The weight they are at, at 8 months of age is typically a good guideline to maintain.

3.       Avoid neutering or spaying your dog young. Waiting until after skeletal maturity (after puberty or the 1st heat cycle) is recommended. It may be better to wait even longer. See https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2020.00388/full

4.       Feed an appropriate diet. Royal Canin makes a Bulldog diet. The kibble shape is better suited to the shorter faced dogs picking up their food. The formula is meant to reduce gas formation during digestion. Sometimes a canned food or protein specific diet is recommended. Follow the recommendations from your veterinarian.

5.       Keep your dog fit with appropriate exercise, based on ambient temperatures and humidity.

6.       Feed with a bulldog bowl. Do not use a puzzle feeder that is hard for the dog to get the food kibbles out of the feeder.

7.       Use a raised water system – this may be an elevated water dish, a Lixit drinking bottle, or just putting the dog bowl on a non-slip mat on the open door of your dishwasher. By elevating the bowl, they can swallow water and food more easily and are less messy too!

References:

1.       OFA: https://ofa.org/diseases/rfgs/ (29 currently certified) more coming

2.       RFGS: https://www.vet.cam.ac.uk/system/files/documents/FrenchbulldogandbulldoggradingschemeKC.pdf

3.   Nutritional Management of Digestive Disease in Brachycephalic Dogs, ACVIM 2023 Lafayette, IN, USA Kara M. Burns, MS, MEd, LVT, VTS (Nutrition)

The Marty & Laura Show is produced by Pure Dog Talk Inc., with sound design and editing by Premium Audio Services.

Bloat: Know the Early Warning Signs

Marty and Laura give you tips and tools to save your dog’s life in the case of bloat. Minutes count in this life-threatening condition, so knowing the early warning signs is critical.

Bloat, also known as gastric dilation and volvulus, is a condition that knows no boundaries. It occurs in large breed dogs primarily, but it can happen in smaller dogs as well. Gas becomes trapped in the stomach, causing it to “flip over,” cutting off blood supply to vital organs, all within just a few minutes.

o  Early warning signs of bloat:

·     Repeated attempts to vomit without producing any stomach contents

·     Pacing, unsettled, snapping at sides

·     Stomach becomes distended, looks and feels like a basketball

o  Action items:

·     Immediately call vet or emergency clinic and say you are on your way with a potential bloat.

·     Immediately load dog and drive to vet. This condition can kill a dog in less than an hour.

·     Keep GasX on hand if you have a large dog or a breed prone to bloat. Give to the dog immediately on suspicion of bloat. It will not harm the dog and may give you a few extra minutes.

o  What causes bloat?

·     Research is inconclusive. Anecdotally it is associated with large dogs with deep, narrow chests. Eating or drinking water too fast can be a trigger. Stress, anxiety, intense exercise immediately before or after meals have also been reported causes, but no data has been compiled that proves this. It is more common in older dogs.

Prevention

Consider having your veterinarian “tack” the dog’s stomach to prevent the condition later in life

The Marty & Laura Show is produced by Pure Dog Talk Inc., with sound design and editing by Premium Audio Services.