Dogtor

Don't give up.

[vetdiary]

https://youtu.be/lCDR5o6AWSU

Hey, Vet friends!

Are you freaking out on how to study your subjects in Vet school?

Here's a short video for all the vetmed students out there. Don't forget to subscribe, like, and leave a comment. 💕

[vetdiary]

"Pet Lovers"

It breaks my heart when I read about pet owners TREATING their own pet when it gets sick. They treat them as their own child but they don't bring it to the Vet because of financial problem or they think vets are deceiving them.

I've just read a post from a "pet lover" on how she treated her dog with a Parvovirus dss. She learned to insert the IV catheter by watching on YouTube and searched for alternative medicine, like using turmeric powder. As a Veterinarian, I am offended. If I would have known before that Google and YouTube could help me to treat our pets, I wouldn't studied for more than 6 fvckng years!! Smh.

Please bring your pet to the Vet.

[thepowerwithin]

Discovering yourself isn’t a race. Don’t rush it. Relax, breathe, and enjoy the process.

[securityunit-ese]

Recognising silent acute pain in animals - assorted species grimace scales:

Development of the Horse Grimace Scale (HGS) as a Pain Assessment Tool in Horses Undergoing Routine Castration 

The composition and initial evaluation of a grimace scale in ferrets after surgical implantation of a telemetry probe 

The Assessment of Facial Expressions in Piglets Undergoing Tail Docking and Castration: Toward the Development of the Piglet Grimace Scale 

The Sheep Grimace Scale as an indicator of post-operative distress and pain in laboratory sheep and the  Coding and quantification of a facial expression for pain in lambs 

Mouse -  How to be a pain management advocate for exotic and zoo animals (full text available - includes additional species)

The Rat Grimace Scale: A partially automated method for quantifying pain in the laboratory rat via facial expressions 

Evaluation of EMLA Cream for Preventing Pain during Tattooing of Rabbits: Changes in Physiological, Behavioural and Facial Expression Responses 

Pain evaluation in dairy cattle 

Pain is subtle - we cannot depend on vocalisations or extreme abnormal behaviour to determine if an animal is on pain - animals can cover up pain while going about their daily life. Grimace scales have been found to be reliable indicators of pain (full text available)

Unfortunately, I could not find a clear visual grimace scale for dogs, cats or birds :(  

Which is a shame, because perhaps I could have recognised my own dog’s discomfort for the acute pain it was sooner:

(left: dog in pain. See eyes, tension, cheeks, whiskers, ears compared to the multiple species grimace charts above. right: tired but not in pain dog)

Perhaps my new books that arrived today might have some on dogs at least. There’s this visual blog post of a stressed dog at the vet - stress in the absence of a trigger looks very much like pain.

Here is a small comparative cats, with the link going into more detail. Not a scale but better than nothing:

Bonus round - you can get free A3 posters on recognising pain for Rabbits, Mice and Rats from the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research. My rabbit specialist vet has the rabbit one!

[theexoticvet-deactivated2022070]

Grimace scales are great tools but be aware that even veterinarians can have trouble with them. Vets who were untrained in using the scales gave completely different scores to animals while those with training consistently gave the same pain score.

Other signs of pain in animals that may be easier for owners to recognize:

Limping

Decreased appetite

Sleeping more

Avoiding contact

Urinating/defecating in the house or out of the litter box

Not jumping onto furniture anymore

Changes in demeanor

An easy to use clinical acute pain scale is the CSU scale for cats and dogs.

[nowscience-blog]

Shark skin under a microscope - shark skin is not made up of traditional fish scales. Rather, they have minature teeth similar to shark teeth in general that interlock. These scales are called “dermal scales”. Recent hydrodynamic research has show how these scales actually bristle like fur and push the water down the shark more efficiently and with less drag.

[vetdiary]

Wow!!

[astressedvetstudent]

causes of coughing cats

[thepowerwithin]

Sometimes the problem isn’t so much finding the time for yourself, but allowing for there to be time for yourself. It’s in believing that you deserve the time. Acknowledging that you, too, deserve to be happy.

Nicole Addison @thepowerwithin

[biomedicool]

Enzymes - clinical chemistry

ALP: 

Present in liver, bone, intestine, kidney, neutrophils and placenta. 

80% originates from bone. 

If GGT up, ALP from liver. 

If GGT normal, ALP from bones. 

ALP rises with obstruction to the biliary tract. 

ALT: 

Most present in the liver, but also found in other tissues. 

Very high levels suggest, viral hepatitis, diabetes, congestive heart failure, liver damage, bile duct problems, infectious mononucleosis or myopathy.

AST: 

Present in liver, heart, skeletal muscle, kidneys, pancreas, lungs, leukocytes and erythrocytes. 

Increased levels may indicate haemolytic anaemia, rhabdomyolysis, increased leucocyte count etc

Distinction in source can be made via CK and Troponin. 

AST<ALT = hepatic injury

AST>ALT = hepatocyte necrosis - poor prognosis (AST is found in the mitochondria, not spilled out until severe destruction) - CONSIDER MUSCLE SOURCE

AST:ALT Ratio: 

Greater than 2 = Hepatitis.

Less than 2= cholestatic disorder.

GGT: 

Found in both hepatocytes and biliary epithelial cells. 

Sensitive for hepatobiliary disease. 

5 times increase = good marker of alcohol abuse.

GST (Gluthathione S-transferase):

 Isoenzymes of GST are involved in the detoxification and conjugation of several electrophilic compounds with glutathione. 

Found to be a very good marker of acute hepatocellular damage with a half life of 90min. Not widely used.

CK: 

Found in heart, brain, skeletal muscle and other tissue. 

Released when muscle damage. 

Causes range from exercise injury to hormonal disorders.

LDH: 

Found in muscles, liver, heart, pancreas, kidneys, brain and blood cells. 

Used to used to diagnose and monitor heart attacks. 

Five types of isoenzymes can help determine location of damage. 

LDH-1 - heart, red cells, kidney, germ cells. 

LDH-2 - heart, red blood cells, kidney (lesser amounts than LDH-1).

LDH-3 - lungs and other tissues. 

LDH-4 - white blood cells, lymph nodes; muscle, liver (smaller amounts than LDH-5).

LDH-5 - liver, muscle.

Troponin: 

Highly specific marker for myocardial infarction or muscle cell death. 

Also used to diagnose other conditions which relate to cardiac muscle injury.

Lipase: 

Found in blood, gastric juices, pancreatic secretions, intestinal juices and adipose tissues.

Hydrolyses triglycerides  

Acute pancreatitis, pancreatic neoplasia, pancreatic abscesses, and pancreatic duct obstruction can result in high levels of lipase and usually are 2 to 3 times the upper limit of normal.

Amylase: 

Is made by the pancreas and by the glands in and around the mouth/throat. 

Catalyses hydrolysis of starch 

High amylase may indicate the presence of a condition affecting the pancreas. 

In acute pancreatitis the levels are 4-6 times normal and remains high until treated. 

Chronic pancreatitis, levels will be high but will decrease until problem is solved.

Acid phosphatase: 

Prostate cancer - raised in 80% of cases presenting with metastases. 

[fumblebeefae]

Ever Wondered How Emperor Penguins Survive in Temperatures of −40°C ? 

Their feathers are densely packed, and have in fact the highest contour feather density of any bird, allowing them to maintain a constant body temperature of 38°C in freezing waters. 

Depsite previous reports that filoplumes and plumules aka.downy feathers, are absent in penguins, new research has found the presence of both feathers in the penguin’s plumage. It was assumed before this that afterfeathers were the sole insulation component in the penguin’s plumage. 

These downy feathers are about four times denser than the afterfeathers of the bird and play a key role in the insulation of penguins.

‘Hidden keys to survival: the type, density, pattern and functional role of emperor penguin body feathers’. Williams C, Hagelin J, Kooyman G. Proceedings of the Royal Society B.  21 October 2015. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.2033 

[vetdiary]

DVM 2018

I am now officially a licensed veterinarian! Thank you Lord for this great news. 

[mushmom-deactivated20170623]

Do not put your bunny on it’s back.

It may seem ‘‘relaxed’‘ or ‘‘sleeping’‘, but this is incredibly unhealthy.

They are  in a state of tonic immobility and are not relaxed, hypnotized, or insensitive to pain.

Scientists believe that this is a defense mechanism brought on when a rabbit has already been ‘caught’ by a predator. If the rabbit appears dead, the predator may release its grip momentarily and allows the rabbit to escape. Research has shown that rabbits in this state show an increased heart and respiratory rate with elevated plasma corticosterone levels, indicative of fear-induced stress.

The stress caused by this position can be fatal if rabbits are already suffering from respiratory and cardiovascular disease, and the sudden transition to from passive and active escape can be unpredictable and instantaneous which can result in significant injury to the rabbit. Sudden noise or painful stimuli can interrupt the trance and there is considerable variation in individual susceptibility to the technique

Your rabbit will display the following behaviors if it is tranced:

Closed eyes

Shallow fast breathing

Relaxed limbs

It’s honestly sickening to see people buying bunnies for their cuteness and softness, but not educating themselves on how to actually take care of it. If you keep trancing your bunny on purpose or bathing it, you deserve to have your pets taken away from you.

[mushmom-deactivated20170623]

Reblogging because Easter is coming and there are always people who blindly buy a bunny for their kids on Easter without educating themselves on how to take care of it. This is just another example on what NOT to do.

[becausedragonage]

Same thing with chickens. It’s not cute. they aren’t relaxed. Stop doing this to rabbits and chickens. 

[allvet]

[vetdiary]

Day 1

[californiiaqueen-deactivated202]

Chief complaint: Dog ate sugarless gum. (For those of you that don’t know, sugarless gum contains xylitol which is toxic to canines.) So we induced vomiting and what came up? The gym, 3 socks, 2 headbands, a thong, and about 5 baby wipes. HOW DO THEY DO THAT

[thepowerwithin]

Success does not come without several failures along the way. Take them lightly, and use them to propel you forwards

@thepowerwithin (via thepowerwithin)

[vetdiary]

Physically, emotionally, and mentally tired. 😔 Vet is killing me right now.

[helpfulhintsforrvns]

Based on the UK vaccination recommendations.