Vancouver Vets about pet's anesthesia risks reduction.

Does your pet needs surgery? Today veterinary surgery in pets is a bit like in human beings. Whether your pet needs elective surgery like neuter or it is a life threatening, emergency condition at our Vancouver Animal Hospital vet surgeons perform complex operations with sophisticated anesthesia techniques. It’s our job to help your pet stay healthy and happy. That is why before administering any anesthetic medication it is important to run a combination of different tests to ensure safe anesthesia of your pet.

Reasons to test your pet before anesthesia.  Why testing is necessary.

• You deserve peace of mind. Testing can significantly reduce medical risk and ensure your pet’s health and safety.

• Pets can’t tell us when they don’t feel well. A healthy-appering pet may be hiding symptoms of a disease or ailment. For example, a pet can lose up to 75% of kidney function before sowing any visible signs of illness. Testing helps vet surgeons evaluate your pet’s health up front, so vets can avoid problems related to anesthesia.

• Testing can reduce risk and consequences. If...

Vancouver Vets : How to recognize first signs of disease in dogs in the early stages of illness.

People suffering from disease will recognize in themselves any changes from the normal state and report them as symptoms. In veterinary medicine the term clinical signs is used instead of symptoms, to indicate that what is being reported is based on observation of the patient by someone else (often the owner), and not on a direct report from the patient.

The dog owner recognized disease as a change in the dog’s normal state. The more skilled an owner is at recognizing the normal state, the more likely it is that changes from normal state will be detected early in the course of disease. Skills in recognizing the normal state are gained through experience and study. Opportunities for gaining such experience include living and working with dogs at home, and in specialized situations in the many activities wherein dogs and people work together. Many owners gain additional information about the normal state by reading books and articles dealing with dogs, through discussions with other dog owners, especially those who have special interests and experience with dogs, and through discussions with our Vancouver Vet Clinic veterinarian and members of the...

Vancouver Vets About Rats: Small Animals Amazing Facts.

Rats have a pretty bad reputation. Pilferer, gross, vermin, filthy – you name it, they have been called it! For many people, “companion” is certainly not the first word that comes to mind when they think about rats. However, when you take a closer look you may be very surprised finding that rats are amazing animals.

Rats have had a close relationship with people for a long time. Our towns and cities draw them in, providing a constant supply of food and plenty of shelter. So as we moved around the globe, rats followed – and multiplied. In fact, rats outnumber humans on almost every continent in the world.
Rats are really cool animals with some amazing abilities:

• Rat laughter. Rats make a “laughing” sound when they are happy, such as during play, at feeding time or when someone is tickling them.

• The world though whiskers. Whiskers may well be more important than sight for a rat. More sensitive than our fingertips, tats use their whiskers to create a detailed picture of the world around them. Their whiskers sweep back and forth, about seven times per second, brushing over the ground, objects, food and other rats. Each whisker can move by itself and in different directions. Rats can also extend their whiskers as far as two inches in front of their noses to “see” what’s in front of them.

• Rats are...

By Vancouver Vets :  Healthy Cat Series

Cats have the same five senses as people do but to very different degree. Some senses are much better developed than in people.

Sight

Cats have keen vision, they can see much more detail than Dogs. Concentrated in the center of the retina of the eye, a specific type of cell called a cone gives cats excellent visual acuity and binocular vision. This allows them to judge speed and distance very well, an ability that help them survive as hunters.
However, although the cone cells are also responsible for color vision, it is uncertain whether cats can see colors. Like dogs, cats also have a lot of the retinal cells called rods, which are good at collecting dim light. In fact, cats can see six time better In dim light than people, giving rise to the myth that cats can see in the dark.
Cats also have a reflective layer called the tapetum lucidum, which magnifies incoming light and lands characteristic blue or greenish glint to their eyes at night.
A unique feature of both canine and feline eyes is the nictitating membrane, which is also called the third eyelid. This additional eyelid is a whitish pink color and is found under the other eyelids in the inside corner (near the nose) of the eye. The third eyelid extends up when needed to protect the eyeball...

Vancouver Vets: Healthy Pets Series

People have associated with cats for thousands of years. Cats were first domesticated in Egypt between 1600 and 1500 BC. Even earlier, they were worshiped as gods; the Egyptian gods of fertility and war were given feline personalities. Feline images can also be found on early Greek and Roman vases, statues, and coins.

Wild cats (such as tigers, leopards, civets, and bobcats, for example) are among the best hunters in the animal kingdom. Domestic cats share these characteristics and are still valued “mousers” around barns, granaries, and warehouses. However, most cats in the United States and Canada are primarily pets that provide companionship, typically with few demands then are associated with dog ownership.

The population of pet cats in the United States and Canada has steadily increased since the early 1970s, rivaling and now exceeding the number of pet dogs.

Like dogs, cats look very different from people but share many of our body’s characteristics, such as a circulatory system, lungs, a digestive tract, a nervous system, and so on.

There are many different breeds of cats, including Abyssinian, Himalayan, Main Coon, Manx, Persian, Scottish Fold, and Siamese, to name a few. The Cat Fanciers’ Association, which is the world’s largest registry of pedigreed cats, recognizes about 40 distinct breeds.

The most familiar cats are the domestic shorthair and the domestic longhair, which...

What are Zoonoses

Zoonozes are infection diseases that can pass from dogs and cats to people. Many bacteria and viruses that infect pets can also cause disease in people. These bacteria or viruses can be passed on in a number of different ways. Contact with your pet itself is one way that disease is spread, but other ways include contact with urine, faces, or respiratory secretions of an infected animal, or contact with other items in the animal’s environment. Disease can also be spread through scratches or bites by an infected pet, or by insects (such as the Lyme-disease tick) that carry the infection from animal to human.

Many known zoonotic diseases are passed from wild animals to pets and then to people. Exposure to pets is steadily increasing as the number of cats and dogs increases in the U.S, Canada and other countries. That is why zoonozes present an ongoing public health concern.

The number of different types of animals kept as pets is also increasing. Exotic pets such as prairie dogs have become popular in many parts of the world. Such animals have brought diseases out of the wild and into human homes. For example, in 2003 on outbreak of monkeypox (a rare viral disease) occurred in people who were exposed to the virus by recently purchased prairie dogs. It was later determined that the prairie dogs likely were exposed to the virus when they came into contact with another exotic species, the Gambian rat, at...

Vancouver Vets: Healthy Dog Series

The aim of first-aid treatment of fractures should be to minimise further damage to the injured part, to make the dog as comfortable as possible and to control any associated haemorrhage. If the fracture involves the head or face it is essential that the dog's airway is kept unobstructed by removing any blood, mucus or other foreign material from the mouth and throat. Wounds may be covered with a clean dressing or cotton material. Immobilisation of the injured limb will do much to prevent further damage and reduce pain. If a Vancouver vets are not accessible it is best to support the fractured limb, holding it in as comfortable a position as possible.

Careless handling, or unskilled attempts at bandaging fractures which have little overlying muscle, may convert a closed fracture into an open one. However, a temporary splint, using a rolled-up newspaper, a piece of wood, or something similar, will provide good support, particularly when the fracture is below the elbow or hock until you are able to reach a Vancouver vet clinic. Dogs that are unable to stand may have neurological injuries and should be lifted on to a flat board or tray and moved very carefully.

TREATMENT OF FRACTURES

Unless there are life-threatening problems most veterinarians, including

Vancouver Animal Hospital
Healthy Dog Series

A lot of conditions requiring vet surgery are related to problems with the musculoskeletal system. 

 The musculoskeletal system support, protects, and moves the dog’s body. 

 The bones also store fats and minerals, and provide a site for red blood cell production.

 Signs of musculoskeletal problem include the following:

• Limping
• Pain
• Unusual gait
• Weakness
• Stiffness
• Swollen joints

Here we will describe in short some of the conditions when surgery for dogs may be the only way out.

Arthritis. Arthritis causes pain, lameness, and stiffness of the joints. It is not uncommon in old dogs. Large dogs are affected more often than small ones. Obesity aggravates the situation. Pain relievers, such as buffered aspirin, are often helpful. Moderate activity, soft bedding, and a warm, dry environment are recommended to sustain pliability in the joints.

Disk Disease. Normal disks act as shock-absorbing cushions between the vertebrae of the spine. When material...

Vancouver Animal Hospital: Dog Dental Care

Dog Dental Disease

Signs of dog dental problems :
The range of signs of dental disease varies greatly from dog to dog as each has a different response to discomfort and pain. Any of the following symptoms may indicate the presence of dental disease:

• Bad dog breath (halitosis)
• Drooling from the mouth (excess salivation)
• Facial swelling between the nose and the eye, below the eye, under the chin or along the lower jawbone
• Nasal discharge
• Conjunctivitis
• Difficulty with eating
• Chewing on one side
• Refusing biscuits but eating soft food
• Loosing food from the mouth whilst eating
• Refusing to play with chews or other toys
• Unwillingness to pick up or carry things
• Gradual change in nature quieter than normal, not interested in playing or going for walks
• Unable to settle
• More irritable than normal
• Dislike of being patted on the head

Thus the signs can be very varied and many of the changes are so insidious in onset and so non-specific tha they often go unnoticed. Hence it is very important for the dog’s teeth to be examined frequently by owners and at least once or twice a year at a veterinary hospital by a veterinary surgeon. In our Vancouver Animal Hospital

Vancouver Animal Hospital: Healthy Pets

At Alta Vista Animal Hospital, our Vancouver veterinary clinic we are committed to pets' health and well-being.  That is why we want to share our veterinary knowledge with the wide community of pet lovers with the opening of a series of blog posts "Healthy Pets". 

If you are a responsible pet owner who is willing to devote time and energy to keeping your pet healthy and content, keep visiting our blog to learn more about nutrition, grooming, and training of your beloved pet.  In our posts we will describe signs of a healthy pet.  Our goal is also to teach you how to recognize first signs of animal diseases. 

Although cats, dogs and other animals cannot come right out and announce how they feel, the pet owner can always tell something is not quite right by observing changes in pet's behavior or it's appearance.  From our posts you will learn what steps to take when something goes wrong with your pet,  in what situations you can perform first-aid procedures at home and when it is better  to see a veterinarian right away.