Subscriber Archive
Dr. Nichol visits Animal Humane New Mexico with some advice on how to pick the greatest kitten for your life.
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Avoid the Mess: Set your Cats Up for Success The scent of urine in all the wrong places is a drag on everybody’s wellbeing – your cats’ and yours too. They need easy access to clean litter pans because they really hate stepping around in a stinky soggy mess, holding their little noses to get it over with as fast as possible.
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Always on the lookout for new and better treatments, I follow the research. At the recent conference of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine in Philadelphia I listened as experts presented their findings on CBD. The biologically active components of the hemp plant, cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabidiolic acid (CBDA) are fascinating. Rather than THC, the ingredient in marijuana that’s used for human pain and the recreational buzz, CBD and CBDA are extracted from certain strains of hemp. For dogs with arthritic pain it’s been added to medications like carprofen with some benefit. Research in rats has found that CBDA inhibits vomiting and may reduce inflammation and anxiety. There are currently two pilot studies using a mixture of CBD and CBDA “showing a 30–40% reduction in seizure incidence” in dogs whose epilepsy was not adequately controlled with other medications. There is also clinical evidence supporting the use of CBD/CBDA to…
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Question: I am perplexed as to what type of aggression “Barley” has. He has tried to bite both my husband and I when we tried to lead him by the collar. After researching collar anxiety, I thought it was this. He responds well to positive reinforcement but if my husband or son shout at him he barks back forcefully. I have felt that he is a bit of a bully and we have to stand our ground. Dr. Nichol: Ah, my esteemed colleague Dr. Google. Take it from your local veterinary behaviorist (me): There is no research supporting the concept of collar anxiety. There is, however, fear-related aggression. Like all dogs, Barley understands that he earns resources by his behavior of the moment. If you consistently praise him when he is good, give him a treat, or pet him, he will happily work for you. What gets rewarded gets repeated.…
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“Homer” flummoxed his people by refusing to eat. Rather than chowing down like most dogs he was skittish and anxious about protecting his dinner from Axel and Gryphon, the other two dogs in his home. He looked behind him and watched them. Sometimes Homer picked up pieces of food carried it for long periods, putting it down and picking it up. The recent addition of mulch to the yard resulted in food being squirreled away. Sometimes Homer would hoard it among blankets in his pet parents’ bed. This nervous pupster needed a structure. I instructed his people to put his food bowl on the floor of a quiet room with no other pets present, leave him alone, and close the door. He could have as much time as he needed during these twice daily feeding opportunities. Nobody was allowed to check up on him and ask him how he was…
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Last in a series Most of us would rather file our knuckles with a cheese grater than face surgery but “Chase,” the full-body itching Old English sheepdog, was running out of options. I infused her chronically infected anal glands and irrigated her ears one more time during her next follow-up, all the while managing her allergies with at-home medication. Anatomy evolves to promote survival of a species but that doesn’t make it friendly to modern medicine. Dogs’ ears have a long vertical canal that makes an “L” shape with the horizontal portion. With lots of damage to all that tubing, from scratching and head shaking, Chase harbored a dark, warm, moist environment that defied a cure. We could have continued our relentless flushing and medicating but we’d be running in place for the rest of her life. Her unhappy anal glands had a similar prognosis. She needed a better future.…
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There will be a whole lot of scared pets this weekend. It’s hard enough if they tremble and hide but some panic and escape the yard in search of safety from the bombardment. We can make a big difference for these panicked pupsters.
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Fourth in a series It was time to address Chase’s rear. Beyond her side scratching, paw licking, and head rubbing, she was a serious scooter on her painful derriere. I sedated the big girl, thoroughly irrigated her ears, and manually emptied her two angry, pus-filled anal glands. Consider yourself and your pets fortunate if you’ve never heard of anal glands. Standard equipment on all dogs and cats, these two cesspools of bacteria live beneath the skin at the 4 o’clock and 8 o’clock positions relative to the anus. I know how gross this is; I hope you’re not trying to enjoy breakfast as you digest this information. Anal glands serve no useful purpose in our pets although for skunks, their very distant relatives, the revolting fluid produced inside them serves as a defensive weapon. I irrigated Chase’s anal glands and infused them with an antibiotic/antiinflammatory ointment. We sent her home…
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Wild animals don’t make good pets nor do they belong in display enclosures. But these relaxed creatures have work they enjoy – and they have space to move and interact. Elephants are smart, fascinating, and deserve our respect.
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