Over the past ten years, potential adverse side effects of vaccinations in cats have centered on vaccine - induced sarcomas - malignant tumors that can potentially develop as the bodies reaction to a vaccination. While these tumors are rare (1 in 10,000), if it is your cat that has a problem, statistics do not matter much.

Merial has recently developed a new way to deliver their feline leukemia vaccine (the primary concern in tumor formation). They have created a Vet-Jet™ - an instrument that delivers an intradermal dispersement of a small dose of vaccine. This technology makes vaccination much safer, minimizing the need for concern about a potentially severe side effect.

The population of cats who receive the feline leukemia vaccine still needs to be carefully selected. For those cats who need the vaccine, the Vet-Jet™ should be used instead of conventional injection techniques.

Most drug companies develop drugs with the idea that they will be used and dispensed by professionals who understand how they work and can prescribe them appropriately for their clients. Many drugs, however, become OTC, (over the counter) meaning that they are sold almost anywhere. This happens for a variety of reasons, sometimes because a company loses their patent on a drug, and OTC gives them a broader marketing base to better compete.

Recently, Frontline®, a merial product which has no equivalent, has started showing up illegally on store shelves. Merial can do surprisingly little to fight this, and has even warned veterinarians that they are close to going OTC with the product anyway. 

Is this good or bad? Personally, I feel that, in general, when a product goes OTC, something is lost. Products are prone to being misused, and always misunderstood. Animals can be treated improperly, and while Frontline® is very safe, other OTC products have caused wide spread problems with toxicities, antibiotic resistance, and antibiotic food residues.

Be cautious with all OTC medical products. Cost savings are frequently only perceived, and uninstructed use of a product is rarely beneficial.

Emergency service is interesting. We see a little bit of everything while on emergency duty. There are “right now” emergencies that must be seen immediately. Then there are emergencies that can wait and be seen when convenient. Finally, there are the emergencies that never were.

One such case of the latter occurred years ago when a client called to report that their cat had a broken jaw, was bleeding, and was in distress. I had them bring the cat in immediately, only to find out that it was an all indoor cat with absolutely no history of trauma.

But sure enough, before me was a cat in distress. His jaws were wide open, he flailed his head from side to side, and a prominent bright red streak ran down one side of his jaw.

On closer exam, I noticed that the cat was wearing a bright red woven nylon collar. A loop of nylon was caught around one of the teeth on the lower jaw, essentially anchoring the jaw in a down ward position. It was obvious that in the process of grooming himself, a tooth inadvertently snagged a loose loop of nylon on the collar, which entangled the lower jaw. The bright red thread strung across the jaw actually looked like a streak of blood.

I quickly grabbed a pair of scissors and snipped the nylon thread. In a split second, the previously distressed cat was relaxed, calm, and sat there grooming his paws. The owners looked on in utter amazement at the instant transformation in their cat.

I explained what had happened and sent them home. I didn’t have the heart to charge them for the emergency, but they did buy a fake leather collar for $2.60.

Summer Heat Stress
 

Heat stress is a very real problem during the summer months. Heat stress is, at best, very serious, and can even be fatal. Heat stress usually occurs when animals are confined to a hot place (ex. - a car) for too long of time, or exercised too vigorously during warm weather.

Surprisingly, we see little heat stress during the very hot, humid weather. At these times, people seem aware of the danger the weather poses. When we often see problems is during more moderate weather when we feel comfortable, but our pets become too active, or are not provided with an environments that is cool enough.

Prompt action is needed when your pet over heats. If your pet is panting excessively, and show mental dullness and unresponsiveness, get it to a veterinarian quickly. Best of all, avoid these situations by avoiding the conditions that can put your pet in danger.

Owner Compliance

As a clinic, we often look at broad pictures when it comes to pet health care. We frequently pick an important area in health care and ask, what is our owner compliance on our recommendations for a pet? This gives us an overview of how well our clients are at taking our recommendations.

For the most part, we fit right in with national averages. Owner compliance ranks, at best, with any given health care item, at no more than 50%. Many areas are significantly lower.

This has many implications, the primary one being that many pets are not receiving adequate health care. This means that there is a huge population of pets susceptible to heartworm disease, there is a huge population of pets suffering from dental disease, sub-clinical diseases are rampant, etc.

Our philosophy at Wolf River Vet Clinic is that we do not want to be pushy, and recommend veterinary care that is not needed. We recommend what we feel is essential for each and every individual pet. We promote the level of care that we want for our pets.

THE REST IS UP TO THE OWNER!

The CBC (complete blood count) is a diagnostic tool that is essential in aiding in the diagnosis of many disease conditions. The CBC is also a useful tool in any routine blood screening since it can give important information about the status of an animals internal health.

Typically, a CBC is laborious and time consuming to perform. Recently, however, the Wolf River Vet Clinic has purchased an Abaxis HM-II - a machine that can perform a CBC in a matter of minutes. This has increased our diagnostic capabilities greatly.

It is no exaggeration to say that the HM-II has already saved lives, giving us essential information that guided our treatments. We are happy to have this piece of equipment “on staff”.

“The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them. That is the essence of inhumanity” George Bernard Shaw

“We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals” Immanuel Kant

“By ethical conduct toward all creatures, we enter into a spiritual relationship with the universe.”
Albert Schweitzer