February is Dental Month!!

Come into CVC in the month of February and get your pet a FREE Dental Screening! Visit our homepage and download/print our dental brochure (look under clinic forms tab) to see what level your pets oral health scores. We do our best to determine the degree of dental disease with this oral examination, however we may not know the extent of periodontal and tooth root disease until we probe these pockets under general sedation. Chances are if you pet is over 3 years of age, and you do not provide them weekly oral care prevention (brushing, oral treats etc...) they will most likely benefit from a professional dental cleaning.

Dental Disease Prevention

Dental disease can be prevented by routine dental cleanings and home care of your pets teeth. Watch this video to observe a dental cleaning on a dog using ultrasonic scaling technique. The tartar being removed is about 80-90% bacteria...YUCK! This accounts for the smelly breath and most importantly getting rid of it below and above the gumline allows the teeth and bone to stay connected. If the gums get sick from the bacteria, they lose their attachment to the teeth. Then oral health declines. The bacteria in the mouth doesn't stay there, unfortunately it can transfer into their blood and go to important organs like the liver, kidneys and heart. It is proven that pets that have healthy mouths and teeth live longer, and this makes sense!!! As soon as your pet gets a professional cleaning, it is vital to maintain their oral health like you would yourselves and brush, use oral treats and/or mouth rinses weekly if not daily. See our website front page (clinic forms) to download our dental brochure (pdf) for more tips on dental care and pet dental association approved products.

Cranial Cruciate Tear - Canine

Cranial Cruciate Tear is a common injury in the dog. In the veterinary world however, it is sometimes referred to as a "syndrome". There are several predisposing factors leading to a cruciate (ACL) tear...tibial slope, obesity, inflammation and the physics of the cranial tibial thrust that finally results in a tear. There have been many types of surgical repair methods attempted (and in development) over the last several years. There is still some controversy with impressions of success and recovery times, even with the newest methods such as TPLO, TTA, and Lateral Suture Technique. The most common technique in general practice is the Lateral Suture Technique. All surgical techniques have potential complications, some more severe than others.

The meniscus tear can also be a problem that occurs at the same time or after the ACL tear has occurred. As the stifle joint moves out of position the meniscus (two "C" shaped cushions attached to the tibia inside the joint) become pinched and shearing forces can tear the edges. This tearing and "pinching" of the meniscus can cause inflammation and pain. If a tear is present at the time of surgery, it should be trimmed away. It is not advised to suture these tears to attempt to repair the tissue because they lack blood supply and do not heal well. Occasionally, a judgement call is made to perform a meniscal release where the meniscus on the medial caudal side (the back inside meniscus) is "released" by making an incision to allow it to move a little so that it will not tear later with regular use of the knee. Sometimes if a steady recovery suddenly becomes painful later, a new tear may have occurred resulting in a second surgery to remove the new tear.

Unfortunately, sometimes up to 50% of the dogs that suffer a tear in one stifle will have the other one tear within up to 1 year after the first surgery. Thus, requiring surgery to be performed on the other stifle.

Chocolate Toxicity

We always see chocolate toxicity this time of year, because a lot of chocolate gifts are placed under the Christmas tree where dogs sniff it out. You should always call the emergency vet on call to ask them what to do if your dog eats chocolate. We can calculate the toxic amount if we have the amount and type they ate and the weight of your dog. There are a lot of variables with chocolate ingestion in dogs. The level of toxicity depends upon how much they eat, how much the dog weighs and what type of chocolate they ate. Dark chocolate is the most toxic. The toxic ingredient in chocolate is Theobromine. Quantity is important...the more they eat the worse the symptoms can be. Symptoms include: vomiting and hyperactivity, difficulty walking...then elevated heart rate, seizures and possibly death. There is no specific antidote but if your dog recently ate the chocolate within the last 2 hours and if it is determined that a toxic level was ingested, inducing vomiting will be the first course of action. We must then monitor them for the progressive symptoms. If signs develop then medication and treatment will become more aggressive. The best way to prevent ingestion is to keep the chocolate out of reach, play it safe and hide the gift somewhere in a drawer or high on a shelf and put a note under the tree as a reminder instead.

Puppy Femur Fracture

This was a Transverse Fracture of the Proximal Femur in a 5 month old puppy. We performed surgery last week with a bone plate and five screws. Puppy bone is soft and sometimes difficult to repair with hardware because it can be difficult to get implants to hold tightly. We also had to avoid placing screws into the growth plates and the joint space to prevent problems with recovery and growth. Fortunately, with proper confinement and rest, puppy bone is still growing with osteoblast cells and should heal more quickly than older mature bone. The estimated healing time is 6 to 8 weeks and typically do not remove this type of implant unless we encounter problems.

Fortunately, we now have the use of a MyLab 50 ultrasound that gives us the capabilities of screening and helping diagnose disease in pets. This is an image we took of a polycystic kidney in a cat. Our ultrasound also has color flow capabilities and we also have the ability to send these images and films via telemedicine to a board certified radiologist for evaluation.

A 6 month old "Lab Puppy" was hit by a vehicle 3 months ago. She suffered a comminuted (multiple breaks) humerus fracture in the front leg. She had a lot of soft tissue swelling and bruising in the surrounding muscle layers.



















Three months after an external fixation device was placed with a central I.M. pin, and bone graft from her hip bone...her leg has healed and we removed the implants.

Her healing over three months was quick because the owners did a great job in home care and reporting any problems she had right away. Way to go!!