Tag: Pets

Categories
Culture

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.

Categories
Culture

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.

Categories
Living

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.

Categories
Knife & Fork Uncategorized

Perfect pairing: Wine and dogs—what’s not to love?

When the editorial team at Knife & Fork, the quarterly food-and-drink magazine published by C-VILLE Weekly, saw this exuberant photograph of Finnigan—the Australian labradoodle at Veritas Vineyards & Winery—we knew we had our cover dog. Photo: Zack Wasjgras
Finnigan among the vines at Veritas. Photo: Zack Wasjgras

On July 1, 2018, Virginia House Bill 286 went into effect, officially allowing dogs to enter winery tasting rooms. The occasion was met with no discernible reaction from one constituency: the dogs that live at wineries. • Those lucky animals need not engage in any “get your laws off my fur” protest. As vineyard owners and winemakers will tell you, the resident dog pretty much does whatever he or she wishes. • Whether they’re mascots, greeters, or guardians that chase away other animals, like geese or even pigs, canines at some vineyards can gain a certain level of celebrity. “People call and ask, ‘Is Fig in the tasting room today?’” Paul Summers, owner of Knight’s Gambit Vineyard, says of the popular hound. “They don’t ask about hours or whether we have a band playing on the porch—they only want to know about Fig.” • We’re tail-wagging happy to introduce you to Fig and a few other four-legged drinking buddies right here. Editor’s note: In the print edition of Knife & Fork, we misidentified cover dog Finnigan as Emma, an extremely similar looking pup from Muse Vineyards (see below).

Fig, a 3-year-old hound mix rescue, is evidently tired after a day of greeting tasting-room visitors at Knight’s Gambit Vineyard. Photo: Zack Wajsgras

Fig

Owner, winery: Paul Summers, Knight’s Gambit Vineyard

Gender, breed: female, hound mix

Age: 3

Origin: Charlottesville/Albemarle SPCA

Attributes: Sweet, affable

Duties: “When the tasting room is open, she mingles,” Summers says. “Otherwise, she’s out hunting something or other.”

Memorable moment: “None really stands out. She’s just so all-around friendly—that’s her greatest characteristic.”

Birdie the blue heeler, winemaker Ben Jordan’s dog, leads her human down a row of vines at Early Mountain Vineyards. Photo: Zack Wajsgras

Birdie

Owner, winery: Ben Jordan, Early Mountain Vineyards

Gender, breed: female, blue heeler (Australian cattle dog)

Age: 5

Origin: Harrisonburg breeder

Attributes: Big personality, high energy, always “on”

Duties: “She hangs out at the winery, not down near the tasting room. She thinks it’s her job to watch over me, so she follows me everywhere, out to the vineyards, you name it.”

Memorable moment: “We had a big event for the Virginia Winemaking Board. There were buyers in from around the country. We were all sitting down, eating—lamb cooked on a spit. I got a tap on my shoulder, looked up, and Birdie was standing on the [carving] table, licking up the drippings. It made quite the picture—I had it framed.”

Ti Rey the Welsh Corgi has pretty good hops for a 7-year-old. His first name is a French term of endearment, and “Rey” is an abbreviation of Dee (left) and Roe Allison’s vineyard name, Reynard Florence. Photo: Zack Wajsgras

Ti Rey

Owners, winery: Dee and Roe Allison, Reynard Florence Vineyard

Gender, breed: male, Corgi

Age: 7

Origin: Dalarno Welsh Corgis, Culpeper

Attributes: Gentle, unflappable, confident

Duties: “He’s our official greeter,” Dee Allison says. “When people arrive for a tasting, he knows before we do, goes straight to the door, and herds them in.”

Memorable moment: “He picks out certain people he likes, lays down beside them, and puts his head on their foot—right there at the tasting bar,” she says.
Abbey, an 11-year-old golden retriever, sometimes has a tough time keeping up with her younger sister, Shelby, a 7-year-old German shepherd border collie mix. Photo: Zack Wasjgras

Abbey and Shelby

Owners, winery: Jason and Laura Lavallee, Wisdom Oak Winery

Gender, breed: both female; golden retriever (Abbey), German shepherd/border collie mix (Shelby)

Ages: Abbey, 11, Shelby, 9

Origin: Abbey, Augusta Dog Adoptions, Waynesboro; Shelby, a farmer in Pennsylvania

Attributes: “Abbey’s mellow and reserved,” Laura Lavallee says. “Shelby’s outgoing and rough-and-tumble, a tomboy dog.”

Duties: Abbey mostly hangs out with visitors on the patio, but she also looks to Shelby for direction and will follow her around. “Shelby’s the hunter—chasing away birds and deer,” says Lavallee.

Memorable moment: “Four pigs got loose from the farm next door and decided to visit,” she says. “‘Next door’ in this case means a half-mile away. Shelby spent a good 25 minutes herding them. It was a lot of work, but she got them back home.”

Finnigan the Australian labradoodle is at home among the aging tanks and barrels—and everywhere else, for that matter—at Veritas Vineyard & Winery. Photo: Zack Wasjgras

Finnigan

Owner, winery: Emily Pelton, winemaker/Veritas Vineyards & Winery

Gender, breed: Male, Australian labradoodle

Age: 3

Origin: “We got Finn from a wonderful breeder in Suffolk, Virginia,” Pelton says. “A close friend had the same breed, and we fell in love with his kindness and spirit.”

Attributes: “Finn is a very compassionate and sensitive dog. He is full of energy and loves to snuggle.”

Duties: “Finn is in charge of lifting everyone’s spirits,” Pelton says. “He does that with his happy, constantly wagging tail and lots of love for everyone.”

Memorable moment: “Finn dressed up in a men’s suit for Halloween and seemed so proud and proper. It was hilarious!”

Muse Vineyards’ tasting room ambassador and wildlife manager, Emma, is a rare water-dog breed, the Barbet, which appears in French scripts as early as the 16th century. The American Kennel Club officially recognized the breed in 2020. An estimated 500 Barbets live in the United States. Photo: Zack Wasjgras

Emma

Winery: Robert Muse and Sally Cowal, Muse VineyardsVeritas Vineyards & Winery/winemaker and owner, Emily Pelton

Gender/breed: Female, Barbet

Age: 6

Origin: American Barbet, Indianapolis

Attributes: Sweet, gentle, and calm—but also an instinctive hunter

Duties: “Her main preoccupation is keeping various and sundry mammals from invading the vineyards,” Cowal relates via email. “These have included raccoons, deer, groundhogs, possums, squirrels, and rabbits. She also greets tasting room visitors, both human and canines, with enthusiasm!”

Memorable moment: “Her most outrageous, wildest act,” Cowal writes, “was killing a fawn and then dragging the poor thing around in front of startled visitors!”

Categories
Living

Nailed it: Managing your pet’s claw injuries

In many cases, it’s so loose that it can be pulled off. This sounds much worse than it really is. One quick motion and it’s gone, leaving the dog much more comfortable without it rankling. Robin Felder will go to market next year with three types of “varietal gin” and brandies made with apples, blood peaches, and Burford pears. He says the pears are difficult to grow because they’re susceptible to disease and pest damage, so he’s been fine-tuning planting and maintenance: “If you don’t get the farming right, you’re not going to get the brandy right.”

The poor dog hobbles in with her front paw dangling off the ground, swaddled in a sock drenched in blood. It was all the owner could do to contain the mess before jumping in the car. I’m not completely sure what I’ll find under there, but I’m relieved when it turns out to be a broken claw.

It’s astonishing how much blood can pour out of these things, but it does eventually stop. If the dog is lucky, the claw is completely gone. Perhaps it got stuck between planks on a deck or wedged between rocks on a hike. Wherever it is, it’s not part of the dog anymore. The injury was painful, for sure, but it won’t need much more than a bandage to keep any bleeding at bay and some time to let it heal. In almost every case, the claw grows back normally in a few weeks.

A decision needs to be made, however, if the claw is still hanging around. Often, it’s twisted in an odd direction, causing pain as it gets bumped and jostled with every step. In many cases, it’s so loose that it can be pulled off. This sounds much worse than it really is. One quick motion and it’s gone, leaving the dog much more comfortable without it rankling.

Other times, however, it’s just too firmly attached to do such a thing humanely. This often happens when the claw splits lengthwise. In these instances, the best we can do is trim the nail as far back as possible without causing additional injury. The goal is to cut away the damaged part of the nail and leave only what’s still intact. But if the nail is fully split, we have to wait until it grows out enough that a new, healthy part of the claw has emerged. (Sometimes waiting allows the problem to solve itself, because the broken nail falls off naturally to make way for fresh growth.) Whether we do the trimming right away or later, our hope is that it can be done with little or no pain for the patient. But in some cases—thankfully, a small percentage—anesthesia might be warranted to allow us to really get in there and clean it up.

Most broken nails are chance happenings and don’t indicate a larger problem. But

if a dog seems unusually prone, then preventive measures are in order. Many times, it’s simply a matter of keeping the nails trimmed shorter to prevent them from snagging on anything. Brittle nails may result from a conditions that can be treated with dietary supplements, such as zinc and omega-3 fatty acids. Less commonly, chronic medical problems like infections or auto-immune diseases can leave nails weak and brittle. If this is the case, long-term treatments may be necessary; they’re too varied to address briefly, so be sure to talk through options with your veterinarian.

While most broken nails are simple enough, it’s worth checking with your veterinarian when one happens. Apart from ruling out these kinds of underlying problems, most dogs benefit from at least some pain medication for a few days while the inflammation calms down. But it’s likely to be a simple visit, and your dog should have all four feet—I mean, paws—back in service soon enough.

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

 

Bucky, Buddy Boy, Ringo Star, and Luke (clockwise from top left), and many more furry friends await at the CASPCA.

Take me home!

Visit the CASPCA to meet your new best friend

My name’s Bucky, and these are a few of my favorite things: the great outdoors, all the smells, other dogs, and best of all, people (as long as they scratch my ears).

Buddy Boy here. On weekdays we can hang out, eat pizza (pepperoni’s my fave), and watch TV. And come the weekend, let’s hit the park, because “energy” is my middle name.

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 Luke, and I may be shy, but I’m very friendly and excellent on a leash. I also adore other dogs, so I’d prefer a home with a brother or sister—or two!

Charlottesville Albemarle SPCA, noon-6pm daily, 3355 Berkmar Dr., 973-5959, caspca.org

Categories
Living

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

Categories
Living

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.

Categories
Living

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.

Categories
Living

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.

Categories
Living

Uncovered: The confusing world of pet insurance

In this installation of his column, Dr. Mike Fietz counsels on pet insurance.

For all the joy that animals bring into our lives, the stress of having a sick or injured pet can take a toll. Worrying about a pet’s welfare can be taxing enough, but the financial burden of diagnostics and treatment can add another layer of strain. Pet insurance can help dull the blow of unexpected illness, but it isn’t right for everybody.

Pet insurance doesn’t necessarily result in cost savings for the policy holder, nor is it specifically intended to. If a pet stays fairly healthy throughout its lifetime, an insurance plan may wind up costing more than the care it covers. If that same pet requires an emergency surgery or a long hospital stay, the math may turn out more favorably. But that’s just the nature of insurance. The point is to spend a predictable and manageable amount of money to hedge against the unexpected. As with human medical insurance, the healthy subsidize the sick.

There are differences, however. For better or worse, human medical insurance is tightly woven into the fabric of health care. You flash your card and pay a small copay, and the remaining negotiations happen behind the scenes. With pet insurance, you still have to pay for the entire visit up front. After that, you file your claim and hopefully get reimbursed. It works out in the end, but the process can create a window of financial strain while things process.

Instead of paying monthly premiums to an insurance provider, another option is to contribute the equivalent amount to a personal fund—sort of a homegrown health savings account for your pet. This keeps the money more flexible and immediately available but comes with an obvious catch. If a medical emergency arises before enough money has accumulated, you may be left short.

If you decide that pet insurance is the way to go, it remains vital to do research into plans and options because it is pretty much the Wild West. Some plans only cover accidents and illnesses and leave you on your own for routine preventive care like check-ups and vaccines. Others may exclude certain conditions or treatments like behavioral problems or dental care. It is likewise important to consider what illnesses might be common in your pet’s breed to ensure that you select a plan that covers them.

And while you’re considering all that, keep in mind that the clock is ticking. Pet insurance doesn’t cover pre-existing conditions, so once problems start cropping up, you’re on the hook for them. To get full coverage, you’ll need to commit while your pet is still healthy.

Pet insurance remains relatively uncommon, and only a small number of my clients use it. But I have certainly seen cases where they were glad they did. When a cat suddenly finds herself with a urethral obstruction from bladder stones, or an otherwise healthy retriever blows out his knee at the dog park, insurance can prevent a medical emergency from becoming a financial one. I just wish it was all simpler.

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.