Best Friends - by Malcolm Riordon DVM

 

2011 and 2010 Columns

 

December, 2011      Mind Reader in Your Home

 

Among sentient friends, most of us would include our dogs. What dog owner hasn't experienced their dog reading their mind, emotions, beliefs, or intentions? In fact, dogs are scientifically acknowledged as experts in reading us! In behavioral and cognitive studies, the ability of domestic dogs to respond to human social cues has been extensively documented.

 

November, 2011      Where Did I Go Wrong?

 

Earlier this year, Virbac Animal Health asked veterinarians to submit "The funniest question you've ever been asked by a client." Below are some of the replies from long suffering veterinarians:

 

October, 2011         How to Elicit a Dog Bite - or Not

 

A 2009 study by The Coalition for Living Safely with Dogs reviewed over 2,000 incidents in which dogs had bitten people. It made for some interesting reading and conclusions. Some of the key findings and informed speculations from that report are listed here.

 

September, 2011     Tapeworms — Tiny Evil Snakes?  . . . or just Easy Riders?

 

Often topping the list of suspected evil villains are intestinal parasites - worms.  Worms seem to be one of the most powerful motivators for pet owners to seek veterinary care. The wait and see approach is swept aside. But are worms really the tiny evil snakes of an agitated psyche?  No!

 

August, 2011           "Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea."

 

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea."

 

This quote by Robert A. Heinlein, and the two dozen quotes below, reflect how so many of us—in fascination and intrigue—have gazed upon felinity or pondered upon the ocean of feelings between humans and dogs. I have never grown weary of observing our pets, working with them, or of being a participant in the human/animal bond.

 

July, 2011               The Effect of Music on Dogs:  Entrainment

 

Have you ever wondered which music dogs would like, or if they are affected by the music we play? Perhaps dogs would gravitate toward country music? The nature of dogs seems to fall right in with Nashville's straight-forward basic emotions, simple belly pleasures, and the ensuing regrets.  Of course dogs don't really get much out of song lyrics, but it does indeed turn out that our dogs do respond to certain elements within music itself.

 

June, 2011               The Invisible Graffiti of the Feline Universe   Note:  duplicate of June, 2014 article  

 

Peer into the mysterious world of our domestic cats: the invisible ink of their scent graffiti marks our walls and furniture right beneath our noses.  When your cats rub against you, they are not just demonstrating affection (or soliciting food), they are also, in fact, tagging you.  

 

May, 2011               Kitten Tsunami Alert!

 

Well here they come.  Waves of kittens are headed our way.

 

April, 2011               A Check-Up From The Neck Up: 'Dog People' vs. 'Cat People'

 

Would you call yourself a "dog person" or a "cat person?"  Maybe you would say both . . . or neither? In any case, most of us harbor a suspicion that an exclusive preference for dogs or cats reflects some underlying personality difference in the people who would emphatically declare themselves to be either a dog person or a cat person.

 

March, 2011             Indestructible Myths

 

While a fraction of truth might be contained within this myth, both dogs and cats have a variety of reasons for eating grass - a common behavior unrelated to illness that does not even necessarily lead to vomiting. Grass eating can be due to hunger, curiosity, or pets may just like how grasses taste. Perhaps they are not feeling well and eating something to see if that helps (owners do this too), and certainly some pets have learned it works when they feel they need to vomit.

 

February, 2011         Profile of a Person Who Poisons Pets   Note:  duplicate of a March, 2013 article

 

Statistics overwhelmingly reveal that the person who poisons pets is most often a person in the pet's home—the owner or another household member!  Despite the best of intentions, it comes down to a lack of awareness. The pets' suffering, owner expense, and the cruel guilt of poisoning one's own pet is common yet avoidable.

 

January, 2011          Dogs—They Know     Note:  duplicate of a June, 2013 article

 

Many of the incredible, fascinating attributes and qualities of man's best friend are traced back in evolution as inherited from the ancestor of the domesticated dog, the gray wolf

 

December, 2010      'Till Death They Do Shed  Note:  duplicate of a November, 2013 article  

 

There is no dog, or breed of dog, that does not shed. You may have a Chinese Crested or a Mexican Hairless Chihuahua, but what little hair they all do have still goes through the universal hair cycle. Each hair has a phase of growing out to a certain length, a phase of remaining in place but no longer growing, and then finally each hair is shed from the skin

 

November, 2010      Pet Medical Insurance

 

Often heard in veterinary clinics - "They ought to have medical insurance for pets!"   They do! In fact, the first pet medical insurance company started up in 1980.

 

October, 2010         No Round Pets!

 

The United States has the fattest pets in the world. This continues to emerge as the leading cause of preventable disease and death in dogs and cats.  Yet to even breathe to a pet owner that their pet is overweight, you will hit a wall of disbelief and denial, and - at the same time - an avalanche of excuses. The psychological and social pressure to ignore weight problems is daunting for the veterinarians who dare to intrude. It even seems that much of society looks at trim dogs and cats as if they are being starved.

 

September, 2010     Nepeta Cataria

 

Can your cat get Nepeta cataria from you? Yes—and the main symptom is you laughing at your cat.

 

August, 2010           The Dogs of Our Lives    Note:  duplicate of a January, 2014 article

 

"If you can look at a dog and not feel vicarious excitement and affection, you must be a cat."

 

The above quote by an unknown author. Those collected below look at the ocean of feelings between humans and dogs. I have never grown weary of seeing it, being around it, or of being a participant.

 

July, 2010                Returning the Feline Gaze    Note:  duplicate of a December, 2013 article

 

Returning the Feline Gaze - So many of us – in fascination and intrigue – have pondered the nature of felinity.  A score of observations and declarations appear below. Still, the mysteries of felinity remain elusive.

 

June, 2010              The War on Fleas: Intel / Strategies / Myths

 

This enemy can replenish itself with new, ever larger generations every three weeks during the war's warmer months. This enemy does not retreat in winter; their life style is to retrench and subsist. Their reproductive cycle (eggs to pupae to larvae to new adults) in cooler weather may slow to every three months. Therefore, year-round war efforts are far superior to putting off or limiting your offensive strikes, waiting until the enemy army has reestablished its seasonal peak strength, summer after summer.

 

May, 2010               "Let's Get the Kitty Declawed" - Or Not   Note:  duplicate of a September, 2013 article

 

Many requests to declaw a cat will fall by the wayside simply with the mention that declawing is not something that we as veterinarians do automatically or even routinely.

 

April, 2010               Tumor Hounds    Note:  duplicate of an April, 2014 article

 

In 1989 The Lancet medical journal published the findings of dermatologists that showed dogs could be trained to recognize malignant melanomas and basal cell carcinomas on the skin of human patients - even through the patient's clothing.  It had all begun when a patient told her doctor that the family dog seemed overly interested, even obsessed with a particular mole on her leg. This somehow had gotten her in to the doctor to have it checked. A malignant melanoma in its earliest stage was diagnosed and removed before it had spread. Both the dog's owner and her dermatologist credit the dog for quite likely saving her life with the early detection.  This turns out to be but an entry level observation in the medical field learning about dogs' ability to detect cancers.

 

March, 2010             Microchip Identification for Pets  

 

The goal of having your dog or cat microchipped is most commonly to identify them as belonging to you should they get lost or stolen. Of course, wearing a collar all the time and keeping the information on the tags current is still the obvious first line of protection. But those collars can come off, especially if your pet gets out on adventure. The use of microchip ID for pets has led to many happy success stories that simply were not previously possible. Let's go thru an example of the whole process as a way to understand how it all works.

 

February, 2010         Myths, Beliefs and Assumptions of Pet Owners:  Oral Traditions?

 

I have come to believe that the closely held beliefs of pet owners must be passed down by word of mouth from one generation to next without written form. Oral traditions? Whatever; these myths, beliefs, and assumptions are so well entrenched and widespread that veterinarians grapple with them, if not hourly, then daily, before lunch. Let's look at a few

 

January, 2010          Killer On The Roam: Canine and Feline Mouth Worms

 

Your dogs and cats - they have oral parasites. Yes, you should be freaking out about this. Yet for all their lives it has been this way. You are just now finding out, that's all. Most pet owners are not sufficiently aware of the silent, slow killers living in their pet's mouths. Even if they have heard of it, most owners do not realize what is happening, the price their best friend is paying, or even the pain that a pet has no option but to live with.

    

 

 

 

 

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