Author: Mike Fietz

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Not-so-happy endings: The messy frustration of happy tail

A dog who wags his injured tail can damage tissue and create a difficult medical decision for pet owners.

“There’s blood on the ceiling,” says my frazzled client as her retriever thumps his massive tail against the wall in joyful appreciation of nothing in particular. The metronomic sound is only slightly muffled by a makeshift bandage cobbled together from a T-shirt and some masking tape. Spots of blood are soaked through the material and I can only imagine what her house looks like right now.

I don’t know of any official name for this phenomenon, but veterinarians often call it “happy tail,” a description that is simultaneously accurate and ironic. It can happen after any tail injury. Perhaps a bite wound, or maybe the tail got snagged on some thorns. Dogs—typically of a larger breed with a long, powerful tail—just can’t stop wagging it into things. It would heal if given the chance, but with every enthusiastic thwack, the situation worsens. The tail can become raw, swollen, and infected, and blood gets flung all over.

I’m often asked why dogs keep wagging their tail against things when it must hurt, and I honestly don’t know. I assume it’s like our inability to keep a straight face when something is funny. Some emotions are powerful enough to hijack our physical behavior, and dogs are intrinsically happy beings. They aren’t going to stop wagging, so we need to find a way to make it less traumatic.

This requires a padded bandage to protect wounds while they heal and to provide some shock absorption. These bandages can be a challenge to keep in place, and dogs often need to wear a “cone of shame” to keep them from chewing them off again. Depending on the extent of the damage, the bandages may need to be replaced frequently for a few weeks while everything heals up. For that reason, this approach works best when cases are caught early and can heal faster.

In some cases, the injuries are too great to heal properly. Other times, the tail heals well, but the dog keeps developing the condition again. In these instances, the best option may be to surgically remove enough of the tail to eliminate the damaged tissue and minimize the potential for recurrence.

This can be an emotionally challenging decision for owners to make, and understandably so. Tails are so expressive and endearing; they can almost seem like a physical manifestation of a dog’s personality. It is only after a great deal of consideration (and perhaps a few weekends of grisly house cleaning) that many people become comfortable with this outcome.

In my experience, these dogs are back to wagging their newly shortened tails as soon as they wake up from the procedure. And that shouldn’t be a surprise. Nothing ever stopped them from wagging before.

Dr. Mike Fietz is a small animal veterinarian at Georgetown Veterinary Hospital.  He received his veterinary degree from Cornell University in 2003 and has lived in Charlottesville since.

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Doo it right: Diagnostic tests for your pets at home

setter retriever dog isolated on a white background with its pawn on his nose

While many diagnostic tests require that a patient be physically present, it is not uncommon for a veterinarian to ask pet owners to collect samples like urine or stool at home. While the request seems simple enough, we often forget that people don’t necessarily know how to go about it or what we really do with the sample once we have it.

Urine is essentially finely filtered blood, making it informative about a variety of medical problems. It should be clean and sterile in a normal animal. Blood cells and bacteria might alert us to a lower urinary tract infection. Microscopic crystals could raise suspicion of larger bladder stones. Sugar makes us worry about diabetes. Poorly concentrated urine could suggest kidney disease or hormonal disorders. But these results can easily be thrown off by sample contamination, making proper collection important.

Urine should always be collected in a clean, dry container and promptly sealed. Usually that means some kind of glass or plastic food container, but if the test is planned in advance, your vet may be able to provide a sterile cup so you don’t have to ruin your kitchen supplies. More is always better, but, in most cases, a tablespoon or so should be enough to run the test. Remember, the longer it sits, the more it can affect the results. Cells break down, bacteria multiply, and crystals can form. Urine should be submitted as soon as possible after collection and refrigerated if it will be more than a few hours.

Actually collecting the sample can be tricky. Because urine is so sensitive to contamination, it generally shouldn’t be sucked or squeegeed off the floor, nor can it be sopped up with a towel and wrung out. And yellow snow is not going to work. It needs to be a clean catch.

If you have a male dog that lifts his leg, it may be simple enough to intercept the stream with the container. Female dogs often squat low enough that your container may not even fit in the limited ground clearance, in which case it may be better to use the container’s lid. But if all else fails, you can always have veterinary staff collect it for you. We’ve all gotten pretty good at it, but make sure your dog doesn’t pee on the way in.

Cats are another story entirely, since they pee when and where they want. You might be able to get them to urinate in an empty litter box—they even sell non-absorbent plastic litter pellets for this purpose—but the box needs to be extremely clean. Because it is so difficult, most cat urine is ultimately collected at the vet, often by obtaining it directly from the bladder with a needle. I promise it’s not as bad as it sounds.

That brings us to poop. A stool sample is likely to be recommended in any pet with gastrointestinal symptoms, like diarrhea or vomiting, and is primarily intended to screen for parasites. In simplest terms, this is done by mixing the stool up with sugar water and seeing if any parasite eggs float to the top, a process which smells as great as it sounds.

Happily, stool samples are much more forgiving and can be used in almost any condition. Stool is not inherently clean or sterile. It contains so much extra junk that contamination isn’t a huge problem. If some grass or a bit of cat litter is mixed up in the sample, it won’t matter. But some parasites are less resilient than others, and samples should still be reasonably clean and fresh.

Poop can be submitted in pretty much any container—any old plastic bag will do fine. While small samples can be run, larger samples give us a better shot at finding something. If it’s really loose you might need to work a bit to scoop it up. I know it’s gross, but just think about what we have to do with it later.

Dr. Mike Fietz is a small animal veterinarian at Georgetown Veterinary Hospital. He received his veterinary degree from Cornell University in 2003, and has lived in Charlottesville since.

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Training days: Prepare now to ease pets out of quarantine

Dogs are getting lots of attention as owners dote on them during the stay-at-home order, but it’s important to give them some alone time to ease the transition back to a regular routine, says local veterinarian Dr. Mike Fietz. File photo

The coronavirus pandemic can be a frightening time. In this constant state of isolated vigilance, we worry about the health, safety, and prosperity of ourselves and others. But as the weeks drag into months, it is human nature to find silver linings. You may be honing your skills in the kitchen or learning a new instrument. Perhaps you’re finally indulging a neglected hobby. Or maybe you’ve decided this is the perfect time to adopt a pet.

And why not? You’re stuck at home with nothing but time, and it feels like the kids may never go to school again. Everyone will be there all day and every day to help with feeding and chores and potty training. This won’t just be a puppy. It’s going to be a super puppy—the best-trained dog in history.

You’re not alone. I’ve seen a clear uptick in new dogs and cats over the last month. And that’s great! There is no shortage of homeless animals out there, and I’m not going to argue with more of them finding their rightful place in loving families. But this adoption boom may have some unintended consequences.

Even just picking a pet can be more fraught than it was before. There are always people looking to leverage a crisis, and that means watching out for irresponsible breeders and puppy mills who know that demand might currently exceed supply. This can be a tough one. It’s not always immediately obvious who is acting in good faith. But it is wise to stick with shelters and rescues with a clear physical presence and an established record of good work.

With that hurdle cleared, new challenges await. It may be hard to believe right now, but one day this awful situation is going to end. The kids will stop learning math over Zoom, and the adults will return to their daily commute. After months of everybody being home, that’s going to mean an explosion of lonely and confused pets. Separation anxiety is no picnic, and I fear I’m going to be seeing a lot of it in 2021 (or maybe 2022…the jury’s still out).

Okay, this applies more to dogs than to cats. I can’t remember the last time I met a cat with separation anxiety, so if you adopted a kitten, you’re probably safe. But dogs are pack animals, and even under the best of circumstances, they need to be taught how to be alone. Otherwise it means a lot of noise, property damage, and vet bills when they swallow half the living room carpet because they thought you were gone forever.

It is vitally important that these dogs be given time to themselves every single day. This can be hard when there just isn’t much to do outside the house and even the usual chores like grocery shopping are being carefully scheduled. Start slow and give them some time alone in their crates while you go to a different room. Gradually introduce more time and distance. Take out the trash. Do some yard work. Go for a quick walk, then start making them longer. I know it feels criminal to waste a chance to take the dog along for a stroll, but you can all go out later that day. Dogs, especially puppies, need to practice getting along without you. Even if you’ve had your dog for years already, it’s important to be mindful of these changes in the routine. It’s great that four-mile hikes have become a daily event, but that won’t be true forever.

This may be an ideal time to adopt a pet, and animals can keep you grounded when the world seems out of control. But as we inch toward restoring global normalcy, make sure to start transitioning pets back to local normalcy, too.

Dr. Mike Fietz is a small animal veterinarian at Georgetown Veterinary Hospital. He received his veterinary degree from Cornell University in 2003 and has lived in Charlottesville since.

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Safe at home: Pets can be a comfort during the coronavirus

While pets often deal with their own strain of coronavirus, there’s no indication at this time that household pets spread the virus that causes COVID-19 to people, writes Dr. Mike Fietz. Getty Images

As we continue practicing social distancing and self-isolation in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, many of us are at home and spending a lot more time with our pets. They can be a tremendous comfort in a time like this; I have yet to find an antidote as soothing as my dog’s peaceful obliviousness to world events.

Amidst all this, it’s natural for pet owners to wonder if they have anything to worry about. Thankfully, the short answer is no. At this time, there is no evidence that dogs, cats, or other household pets spread the virus that causes COVID-19 to people. The long answer is more confusing.

Dogs can already be afflicted with their own varieties of coronavirus, most of which cause a brief bout of diarrhea. But if your dog has ever been diagnosed with “kennel cough,” there’s a chance it was infected with one of the respiratory strains instead. Regardless, the symptoms are usually mild and temporary.

Cats, especially those from shelter environments, are widely infected with their own coronavirus. Much like the canine version, some diarrhea is the most common symptom. But the usually mild nature of the feline coronavirus masks a frightening side. For reasons that aren’t completely understood, it can sometimes transform into a variant that causes a fatal disease called feline infectious peritonitis. These cases are relatively uncommon compared to the large numbers of cats carrying the virus, but they’re tragic all the same.

While pets have their own coronaviruses, it is unclear whether they can be infected with the specific virus that causes COVID-19 in humans. A very small number of dogs and cats (now including a tiger at the Bronx Zoo) have tested positive for the virus, and there is some preliminary evidence that cats can transmit it to one another. But it’s still early days, and the implications remain unclear. Even if they can be infected, it is unknown whether they can readily pass it to people. Despite the global scale of the pandemic, there have so far been no known instances of people catching this virus from household pets, and that is very encouraging.

At this point, you may find yourself with questions. If COVID-19 hopped over from bats, as is currently suspected, could the feline and canine coronaviruses do the same? Or could our pets become vulnerable to this pandemic? The answer is that there isn’t much to worry about in the short term, but that nothing is set in stone. Viruses change over time, and a virus that is well-adapted to one species could eventually happen upon the right mutations in the right genes to allow it to finally make the leap to another. These events are rare and represent legitimate evolutionary milestones. But as we are all currently learning, rare things happen.

This is important from an epidemiological perspective, but there is no practical day-to-day response for pet owners to take. Living in constant fear of specific illnesses becoming zoonotic–transmissible between species–isn’t productive. It is more important to prevent and control zoonotic diseases that already exist. Keeping pets routinely dewormed and properly vaccinated against infections like rabies and leptospirosis will keep you and your family safer than worrying about the staggeringly unlikely odds of becoming the next patient zero.

While animals remain an unlikely route of transmission for COVID-19, it remains wise to regard pets with the same social-distancing rules we are currently practicing with each other. Dogs shouldn’t be greeting each other during walks as they normally might. The risk is low, but at the very least it draws their respective people too close together. And cats should be kept indoors to be certain they haven’t encountered any people, or less likely cats, that may have been infected.

It is understandable that people crave more certain answers in a time of uncertainty, but it is the nature of science–especially emerging science–to avoid absolutes. There’s always “no current evidence to suggest” something, and “no known reason” to worry. This can sound like hedging, but it is born of a rational humility. The implicit acknowledgment of its own limits is why science is ultimately trustworthy.

And right now, science needs some time to figure out this mess. In the meantime, at least it seems safe to cuddle up with your own pets. They’re happy to have you home.

Dr. Mike Fietz is a small animal veterinarian at Georgetown Veterinary Hospital.  He received his veterinary degree from Cornell University in 2003 and has lived in Charlottesville since.

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The vision thing: What do cats and dogs actually see?

Cats’ sleek and gorgeous eyes seem built for precision, but the precious pets are close to legally blind, with vision somewhere around 20/150! Photo: Getty Images

Centuries of domestic breeding have resulted in cats and dogs that come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. If you have a favorite breed, there’s a good chance that you like it to some degree because of the way it looks. But what do our pets see when they look back at us? In truth, they see better than us using multifocal contact lenses.

Let’s clear up the most common misconception first. Dogs do not see in black and white. They do, however, see a different color spectrum. This is because their retinas—the light-detecting membranes at the back of the eyes—are built differently. Human retinas have three types of light-sensitive cells called cones, each of which is tuned to a single color: red, blue, or green. Dogs have only red and blue cones, which makes their vision similar to that of a person with red-green color blindness.

Like humans, cats have three types of cones, but they still don’t see color all that well. This is because cats and dogs have another problem with color vision: Regardless of which cones they have, they don’t have very many of them. Instead, their retinas are packed with a different kind of light-sensing cells, called rods, that don’t detect color at all. Rods are better suited to seeing in dim light than they are to parsing the hues of rainbow. People have fewer rods than cones, so while we get to see the daytime world in bright color, we are fated to stub our toes searching for the toilet at night.

But all those rods aren’t the only reason why cats and dogs can see so well in the dark. You’ve likely noticed your pets’ eyes glow bright green at night. This is courtesy of the tapetum lucidum, a reflective layer behind the retina. Any light that slips through the retina bounces off this secondary layer for another pass through the animal’s retina, effectively doubling its sensitivity.

There’s more to vision than color and brightness, however. Compared to people, dogs and cats have limited visual acuity. Dogs have roughly the equivalent of 20/75 vision, meaning they need to be 20 feet away from something to see it as well as a normal person could at 75 feet. And you may be surprised to hear that cats fare even worse! Those sleek and gorgeous eyes seem built for precision, but cats are close to legally blind with vision somewhere around 20/150!

Making matters worse, dogs and cats have trouble adjusting their vision to different distances. This is because their lenses can’t adjust shape as readily as ours can. If you’re over 40, you’re familiar with what happens when your lenses start to become inflexible. It gets harder and harder to focus on anything close to your face. Welcome to life as a dog.

The short of it is that cats and dogs see better at night than we do, but those adaptations come at the cost of clarity. But poor vision doesn’t slow them down any. They don’t need to drive cars or read the fine print. And what they lack in eyesight, they make up with magnificently superior senses of smell and hearing. Even animals that lose their vision due to degenerative diseases do incredible job of navigating their homes, because their vision was never that great to begin with.

Dr. Mike Fietz is a small animal veterinarian at Georgetown Veterinary Hospital. He moved to Charlottesville in 2003, the same year he received his veterinary degree from Cornell University.

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Oh, snap: Addressing ligament injuries in dogs

The best way to prevent degenerative disease is to make sure your dog maintains a healthy weight and engages in routine low-impact exercise like walking and swimming. Photo: Getty Images

Nine times out of 10, you know this injury the moment you see it: A large-breed dog hobbles in on three legs, with one hind paw dangling just above the ground. It could be a fractured leg or a dislocated hip, but if I were playing the odds, I’d bet it’s a ruptured cranial cruciate ligament.

A quick comparative anatomy lesson is in order. Just like people, our pets have knee joints in their hind limbs (and only in their hind limbs). The human knee is partly held together by a pair of criss-crossing ligaments called the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments (ACL and PCL). The same is true in dogs, except the nomenclature is different. Instead of a knee, we call it a stifle. And instead of anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments, we say cranial and caudal.

Regardless of what you call it, if a dog injures a cranial cruciate ligament it has the same problem as a human with a torn ACL: The joint simply isn’t being held together anymore. Sometimes this injury is purely the result of trauma. Just as people can rupture an ACL while skiing or turning too quickly on a basketball court, dogs can blow the ligament by just running around in the yard. But that’s not how it usually happens.

Far more often, a pre-existing joint disease contributes to a dogs’ cruciate ligament injury. While my patients may suffer sudden lameness after exercise, the groundwork for that injury was almost always laid down in advance. Degenerative joint disease is common in the stifle, and that constant inflammation weakens the cruciate ligament. With hindsight, many owners recall their dogs showing intermittent lameness in the prior weeks and months. It improved after a few days of rest, but with each round of exertion, the ligament weakened until finally giving out.

This brings good news and bad news. First, the good: Preventing degenerative disease can reduce the risk of cruciate injuries later on. The single best way to do this is to make sure dogs maintain a healthy weight and engage in routine low-impact exercise like walking and swimming.

The bad news is that degenerative joint disease results from a convergence of environmental and genetic causes, many of which are not well understood. Although weight is a factor, it is not the most important one. Some dogs just seem destined to have bad joints. So while you might be able to reduce the injury’s odds, you can’t eliminate them.

Once a dog has been diagnosed with a cruciate injury, options can be frustratingly limited. Smaller dogs can sometimes recover with time and rest, but the joint often remains unstable and prone to re-injury. Larger dogs very rarely respond well to conservative efforts, and the majority of dogs with cruciate injuries cannot recover without surgical repair. And worse, since the underlying causes affect ligaments on both sides, an injury to one is very likely to eventually injure the other one. Delaying treatment can multiply their troubles since overuse of the opposite leg steadily increases the odds of both legs being affected.

While the prospect of knee surgery can be emotionally and financially stressful, I’m at least happy to say that the results are broadly excellent. Orthopedic surgery is increasingly the province of highly-trained specialists, and nearly all of these dogs eventually return to a happy and active life. That doesn’t make the news of a cruciate injury any more welcome, but it hopefully makes it a little less daunting.

Dr. Mike Fietz is a small animal veterinarian at Georgetown Veterinary Hospital. He has lived in Charlottesville since 2003, the same year he received his veterinary degree from Cornell University.

 

One of these beauties could be yours (clockwise from top left): Ringo, Sailor, Benny, Sugar Foot

Take me home!

Visit the CASPCA to meet your new best friend.

Hey there, I’m Ringo Star. And here’s everything you need to know about me: I’m sweet, a great cuddler, love my toys, and am quiet, well-mannered, and good on a leash.

I’m Sailor Mewn, and I’m always on the lookout for another toy to play with—or someone’s lap to climb into.
I enjoy cuddles and kids, but prefer to be an only cat.

Benny the Boxer here. Some of my finest qualities include my knowledge of “sit” and “shake;” excellent manners; and I’m irresistible to children, who adore me.

My name’s Sugar Foot, and if we connect, I will love you—and your entire human family—forever. Other cats? Not so much. But I do have a couple feline BFFs at the CASPCA.

CASPCA, 3355 Berkmar Dr. 973-5959, caspca.org, noon-6pm daily

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Cat pause: If your pet has a terminal virus, don’t panic

Routine testing for feline viruses is a good idea if your cat is sick or spends a lot of time outdoors. Photo: Getty Images/Sonsedska

Animals have a remarkable knack for stealing our hearts, and it doesn’t take long to develop a deep emotional bond with a new pet. This makes it all the more distressing to find out that a seemingly healthy young cat is harboring an incurable and potentially fatal illness. It is unfair but unfortunately common with the feline immunodeficiency virus and feline leukemia virus.

FIV sounds like HIV, which is apt and can give you a decent sense of what the virus does. It is often referred to as feline AIDS, but just as with the human infection, this term only properly applies to the syndrome that occurs in the later stages. Until that happens, infected cats may show little or no evidence of the illness. But their immune systems are generally compromised by the virus, leaving them vulnerable to other infectious diseases and parasites. After a positive diagnosis, cats should receive frequent checkups to detect and treat secondary illnesses.

Cats with FeLV may also have suppressed immunity, but the virus ultimately gets its name from its ability to cause cancer in its victims. The virus replicates by inserting its DNA into the animal’s host cells, and the genetic mutation can cause infected white blood cells to lose control of their own replication, resulting in leukemia or lymphoma.

Both FIV and FeLV require close contact (such as mutual grooming) or biting to transmit, and they’re fragile outside their hosts. (Don’t worry, the viruses are not transferable to humans.) Infected cats should be kept indoors not only to avoid challenging their weakened immune systems, but also to prevent the infection of other cats.

Most veterinary clinics can test for these viruses with a simple in-house kit, but testing often falls by the wayside once cats have tested negative as kittens. This is potentially dangerous, especially in cats demonstrating chronic or recurring illness. False negatives are possible depending on the exact stage of infection, and it is important not to be complacent just because a cat tested negative years ago. While routine testing may not be warranted for healthy indoor cats, it can be valuable for those who are sick or spend a lot of time outdoors, where they might get into a scuffle.

Both viruses have vaccines, but their use is not cut and dried. The FIV vaccine can be wise in certain at-risk patients, but it comes with a big hitch in that it interferes with all common means of testing. Cats that have been vaccinated for FIV will test positive for infection. But since the vaccine is only about 80 percent effective, this makes for potential confusion if a pet develops worrisome symptoms after getting a dose.

It is far easier to recommend the FeLV vaccine for patients with a higher risk. Although the vaccine is also not perfectly effective, it does not interfere with testing, so we don’t lose clarity down the line. It only has an upside.

If you find yourself confronted with either diagnosis, it’s important to take a breath. The news is undeniably unfortunate: Neither virus is curable, and infected cats are likely to require more veterinary care to screen for trouble and to fend off secondary illnesses. But a pet owner should not let concern spiral into despair: Infected cats often experience many years without any symptoms at all, even into old age.

One of the joys of having pets is the perspective they bring. Even when their own health is endangered, they take life one day at a time and remind us to do the same. And in this case, there may well be a lot of good days to come.

Dr. Mike Fietz is a small-animal veterinarian at Georgetown Veterinary Hospital. He received his veterinary degree from Cornell University in 2003, the same year he moved to Charlottesville.

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Bitter Pills: How to Medicate your Pet Without Losing a Finger

If you've been given a course of oral medication for your pet, don't hesitate to request a demonstration from your vet on how to administer it. Source: Getty Images

And how often does he need to take this?” asks my client, with a flicker of hope crossing her face. I dim it with my answer of twice a day. “Forever?” she implores. I nod, and the wish that had been in her expression is replaced by dejection. Her cat has a thyroid condition and always will. I feel a bit guilty as she heads out the door, as if I’ve sentenced her to a lifetime of scheduled battles with a loved one.

Even simple disorders can become a source of angst when owners have trouble medicating their pets. It’s easy to write “one tablet twice a day” on a prescription label, but translating those directions into reality can be another story.

Honestly, this doesn’t happen too often with dogs. They tend to be a happy and hungry bunch, and it’s no big task to hide a pill inside a treat, like some peanut butter or a piece of cheese. But cats are notoriously discerning and may pick the food from around the pill, making a soggy mess of their medication. There may simply be no choice but to administer it directly.

With dogs you just place the pill at the back of the tongue, shut their trap, and wait a moment. The technique is similar for cats, but is often accompanied by hissing, squirming, and the brandishing of sharp teeth and claws. In these cases, a pill popper (also called a pill gun, a name I don’t much care for) can be useful. It’s a simple plastic tube with a rubber grabber at one end and a plunger at the other, and despite its energetic name, it gently deposits the pill. It takes some practice to get the hang of it, but it’s worth the effort. If the cat bites down, at least it’s not your fingers getting impaled.

Some medications are also available in liquid form. There’s no harm in trying that approach, but liquids can present complications of their own. If pets don’t like the taste, they can end up drooling half of it out, creating uncertainty about proper dosage.

It may also be worth looking into the services of a compounding pharmacy. It will cost a bit more, but they can wrangle medication into different forms and flavors that may be more palatable. Some tablets are designed to dissolve almost instantly, eliminating the pet’s ability to spit them out again. And some drugs are even available in topical forms. The hyperthyroid cat I mentioned might be happy to know that his medication can be made into a paste administered with a gentle smear inside the flap of his ear. In some cases, alternative dosing methods may reduce a drug’s efficacy. But that may still be a fair improvement over missing every other dose.

If you’ve been given a course of oral medication for your pet, don’t hesitate to request a demonstration from your vet on how to administer it. There’s a technique to pilling animals, and it’s easier to perform than to describe. Seeing it in person can be a great help. Above everything, though, it’s important to have faith in yourself and your pet, because you may be pleasantly surprised.

When my own cat developed a need for daily medication, I dreaded the prospect. Would she hate me for shoving pills into her mouth? But she took them with surprising cheer, and would walk away purring and expecting breakfast. Honestly, she made me feel bad for ever doubting her. I can’t promise it will always be that easy, but if it isn’t, it’s good to know you have options.

Dr. Mike Fietz is a small animal veterinarian at Georgetown Veterinary Hospital. He has lived in Charlottesville since 2003, the same year he received his veterinary degree from Cornell University.

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Grains of truth: Are fad diets harming pets?

The recent increase of a life-threatening heart condition among dogs—and the suspicion that it may be related to grain-free diets—has led pet owners to question what to feed their animals.

Pet owners face a perplexing variety of food choices for their animals. From national staples to obscure boutique brands, there are dozens of options, each trying to earn your loyalty. Pet diets, like those of humans, are subject to trends and fads with little nutritional basis. In recent years, the burgeoning market of grain-free foods has been particularly baffling. Their bags proudly declare the absence of ingredients like corn, rice, and wheat. Repeatedly faced with that messaging, it’s easy to see how consumers would come to believe these grains were worth avoiding.

For most dogs there is absolutely no benefit to eating a grain-free diet. There are exceptions for specific allergies, but dogs can develop allergies to nearly anything they eat, so it’s senseless that grains have been uniquely targeted. Simply put, it’s a fad perpetuated by savvy marketing. That kind of misdirection and manipulation annoys me—keeping pets healthy is my job, after all—but I’ve generally regarded these diets as harmless even if they were unnecessary.

Unfortunately, this may no longer be true. In recent years, a pattern of heart disease associated with these diets has emerged. Specifically, dogs are developing a life-threatening condition called dilated cardiomyopathy, where the chambers of the heart stretch out and lose their ability to contract effectively. The ailment is not necessarily rare in dogs, particularly among large and giant breeds, but the increased prevalence of DCM in dogs not historically prone to it prompted the FDA to investigate. It later issued a statement saying no definite link between grain-free diets and DCM has been found, but that the inquiry would continue.

It is unclear how these diets might be causing DCM, and it sadly isn’t limited to grain-free fare. Boutique brands whose offerings contain unusual or exotic ingredients (lentils, chickpeas, and certain meats, vegetables, and fruits) have been implicated. It is currently unknown whether these foods may be nutritionally deficient, incorporate some toxic ingredient, or are demonstrating another mechanism entirely.

It’s an established fact that cats are subject to DCM if their diets lack the amino acid taurine. Some dog breeds (like golden retrievers) show a similar tendency, and the initial suspicion was that their diets might be taurine deficient. If so, supplementation would have been a simple fix. But it is now clear this isn’t the case. The condition is being observed in many breeds, and testing has shown that their taurine levels are fine. So, we have a better sense of what the problem isn’t, but not what it is.

All of this has led to a great deal of confusion among pet owners and veterinarians alike, but the current consensus is that dogs should be fed a well-established, nationally recognizable brand unless there is a clear medical reason not to do so. So far, these foods haven’t been associated with DCM and are presumed safe.

I know how tin-eared this advice can sound, and I can see the skepticism on my clients’ faces when I offer it. They deliberately avoided large corporate brands and made their choices intending to offer their pets the best food, only to learn they may have accomplished the opposite. I hope that ongoing research will provide more nuance, but right now there are too many gaps in our knowledge, and sticking to mainstream brands is the only recommendation I can make for my patients in good conscience.

I find many pet owners are concerned about the prospect of returning to a diet that includes grains. Amidst all the confusion, the only consolation I can offer is that regardless of what any label suggests, there was never anything wrong with grains to begin with.

Dr. Mike Fietz is a small-animal veterinarian at Georgetown Veterinary Hospital. He has lived in Charlottesville since 2003, the same year he received his veterinary degree from Cornell University.

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Thoroughly Vetted: The strange journey of the roundworm

Word to the wise pet owner: Do not kiss your dog.

It’s a rare week that I don’t see at least one dog or cat with Toxocara, commonly referred to as roundworm. It’s especially common in puppies and kittens who have multiple chances to be infected before adoption. They can catch roundworm from their mother while still in the womb, and then again through her milk. But if they dodge those chances, they can still pick it up the old fashioned way—by eating it.

Since roundworm makes its home in the intestine, it makes sense that pets might contract it by swallowing it. Eggs can be found in contaminated soil, deposited there by the stool of other cats and dogs, where it takes about a month to become infectious. Pets with a penchant for hunting can also catch roundworm directly from eating an infected prey animal, such as a mouse. Either way, you’d think that once those little critters are down the hatch, they could just grow up and get on with it.

But roundworms are all about the path of most resistance. Once they find themselves inside a suitable host, those young larvae are like tourists: They want to see the sights. The worms tunnel right through the wall of the intestine and wander pretty much anywhere they like, but they most often set up camp in the liver. They can hang out there for quite a while, but eventually they burrow all the way up into the lungs where they cause enough irritation to trigger coughing. The worms are hacked up and swallowed again, landing right back in the intestine where they started.

They took the long way around, but only now is it possible for them to grow into full-sized worms. And they really are impressive specimens. They can be several inches long, and are most often described as looking like spaghetti when pet owners find them vomited on the kitchen floor. If this happens, owners are likely to be both grossed out and distraught, but at least the diagnosis is obvious. Otherwise, veterinarians find roundworm by using a microscope to identify eggs in the patient’s poop.

Dogs and cats are each infected by their own species of Toxocara, both of which can be hazardous to humans. Once inside a person, the larvae try a similar trick of wandering through the body. But since they are programmed for non-human innards, they don’t really know how to get around. They can cause all sorts of problems as they roam, but blindness is perhaps the most gruesome. For some reason, the little creeps gravitate toward human eyeballs.

If that doesn’t underscore the importance of controlling parasites in household pets, I don’t know what would. Thankfully, roundworm is easy to treat and prevent. A variety of dewormers are safe and effective in managing the infection once identified, and monthly heartworm preventive medications also keep the parasite in check. If you’ve recently adopted a puppy or kitten, it’s especially important to get a stool sample evaluated and to complete a regular course of dewormer.

Intestinal parasites aren’t the most glamorous part of owning pets, but it’s not enough for some worms to merely be disgusting. Roundworms go out of their way to be weird, too. It’s best not to give them the chance.

Dr. Mike Fietz is a small animal veterinarian at Georgetown Veterinary Hospital.  He received his veterinary degree from Cornell University in 2003 and has lived in Charlottesville since.