An amazing amount of time has transpired since my last post. Between the guilty ease of Facebook and friends who still use LiveJournal, this blog hasn't been a place that I've needed to use despite wanting to use it. In addition, my laptops bit the dust. Both were hand-me-downs from the boyfriend who needs systems to keep up with his demanding software updates. One keeled over from age and the other refuses to acknowledge that it was once able to run Windows 7 and now only wants to inhabit XP. I think I will give in and allow it XP and a slow, more dignified death than the last. I'm on the hunt for a new lapbeast.

Ice Cube, featured in the last picture post has grown into a lovely lady named Molly and was snapped up by one of the interns at work. Since then, I've also fostered two more sets of kittens, both sets finding lovely forever homes, pictures to come.

The backlog of cooking photos will also be dumped unceremoniously on the blog at some point.

Where do you draw the line?

The tuxedo kitten was roughly 5 months old, tremoring, teeth chattering, kitten paws jerking, and disquieting to see. Unfortunately, it's a common sight. Owners, hoping to save a few bucks dose their cats with OTC dog flea products and the pet ends up paying the ultimate price. With Sargeants, BioSpot, TopSpot, Haartz and other permethrin-based flea products, the story is the same.

These owners had dosed their dog and saved one drop for the cat, reasoning that the box only says it's not for cats due to the total tube amount. To be fair, two of the most common and safe veterinary flea products, Advantage (imidacloprid) and Frontline (fipronil) are able to be dosed out from the large dog tube. This information is causually tossed around on pet information sites, cost-saving pet boards, and also by word of mouth. As the information makes it's way into pet owner minds, the safer brandnames lose out to cheaper and more conveniant alternatives. We see the outcome at the e-clinic and it's heartbreaking.

The tremors caused by the flea product raised the kittens temp above 105F putting the kitten at risk of brain damage and DIC. Valium and injectable methocarbamol reduced the violence of the tremoring only slightly. Two more doses of methocarb hardly made a dent. This was a very serious case and the kitten needed hospitalization.

The good side, if that can be said, of permethrin toxicity is that it has a good outcome if it's caught early enough and treated agressively. Unfortunately. the populace that tends to buy discount, OTC flea products is not the populace that has funds to treat the results.

The owners kept stressing they applied only ONE drop, nothing more, but that's all that it takes for the poison to take effect. We bathed the cat after the first dose of muscle relaxant, but dermal absorbtion is rapid. Our goal is to reduce further exposure from additional product on the fur.

Unfortuantely for the kitten and the owners, the kitten was regarded as a "just a free barn cat" (their words) and thus not worthy of spending money for additional treatment. I'm reasonably sure the owners will never make this mistake again. Holding the little shivering body while it received the euthanasia solution is tough knowing how good the prognosis can be...as long as owners give it a chance.

Everyone has the line they draw in the sand when it comes to pet treatment. For some, any treatment is too much, for others, no amount is too much. We currently have a dog that came in a week or so ago as an HBC with a fractured thoracic vertebrae. It had no tone in it's hind end and limited deep pain. The dog was older, dependable, loyal, and running off-leash with it's owner. It took one second for something to catch it's attention across the road and off it dashed.

The owners made the tough decision to go to surgery. Today, I watched as the dog eagerly wagged it's tail as we lifted it into it's cart. It's starting to bear weight with assistance. It's also unbelieveably expensive treatment. We're talking about a new car type expense.

The contrast between the two cases is fascinating. Two preventable cases. Two poor choices by owners. The "easily" treatable case never gets a chance and the case which involved intense neurosurgery, expense, and guarded prognosis gets the go-ahead. The value of a life is assigned a price tag, a property value.

Where do you draw the line?

MRSA - Our own doing

My mother sent me a link to an article she read. The article discussed methods of transmission of various zoonotic diseases including MRSA. It mentioned cats as a common denominator in homes which have been identified to contain MRSA. The article goes on to make this statement:

"Before you banish your pet from the house or vow to keep them at arm's length, Dr. Becker points out that the goal is to get rid of the risk, not the pet. "If you lose the intimacy, you lose the healing power of pets," he says. Dr. Becker offers several solutions to minimize the risk of catching a disease from our pets. High-tech solutions include using an antimicobrial shampoo on our pets to combat MRSA..."

O.M.G.
Seriously?
How about also recommending you visit your vet for a dose of a beta-lactam?

Dear Dr. Marty Becker, please stop whoring yourself out to the pet owning population if you're going to continue to endorse the flippant use of antimicrobial products. This is partially what has gotten us into this MRSA mess in the first place.

Apple Galette

I used the recipe by Jen from Use Real Butter. I also used Martha's pate brisee which is my go-to pie crust recipe. I could make it in my sleep and it's reasonably foolproof, flaky, and buttery. I served this with some no sugar-added vanilla bean ice cream. I used the more sandy-texture topping and had more than needed so I made a second galette. The house smells absolutely fabulous.

Let's start with the good

Look at this little face. I believe he's about 6-ish days old in this photo. He came into my care when he was about 2 days old, his umbilical cord was still soggy and attached to his body. A good sam (GS) brought him into our clinic because he was left in the GS's garage when the queen moved the kittens. This kitten was ice-cold and barely moving. I spent the first 4 hours gently warming him to a point that his internal temp could handle KMR. I didn't think he'd survive but he made it through the first night demanding formula every 1.5 hours.

I know the world doesn't need more kittens. I really do know this and acknowledge it every time we have to euthanize part or a whole litter because of URIs or various medical issues. I hear the stories from the local shelters and no-kill facilities brimming full of kittens that few people want. I hear "everyone wants a kitten!" from those who have let their intact females out, coming back bulging with babies. The truth? Too many pets are euthanized. There aren't enough good homes that won't return them to the shelter as soon as they tire of the cat.
I had a hard time saying no to this little face, so he's getting a chance. His name is Ice Cube.

Welcome!

This is a new blog of yet another pre-veterinary hopeful attempting to gain entrance to a veterinary college. I hope to write about my experiences with vet school, my current clinic position, and culinary endeavors.