Friday, December 23, 2011

Don’t Let Your Vet Murder Your New Puppy!

In my last post, I promised to further alienate certain members of the veterinary community.  It is unfortunate that I should need to do so but there is absolutely nothing more heartbreaking than to see a puppy that has been literally snatched from the jaws of death, treated and rehabilitated leave out of here, perfectly healthy, on its way to its new home and family only to be needlessly  euthanized, generally within hours of its arrival, by an ignorant and/or incompetent and/or prejudiced medical practitioner.  What follows is the text of part of an informational pack that my dad tries to send with all young pups:
Don’t let your vet murder this puppy!

Your new puppy has recently has one of a three-part series of standard vaccinations called DHLPP. These are commonly called “puppy shots” and are necessary for all dogs. One of the afflictions addressed in this series is canine Parvovirus and, like many vaccines, the DHLPP will shed virus particles.  The intended purpose of the vaccine is to expose the subject to a weakened form of the live virus in order to encourage the formation of antibodies, as those antibodies (whose presence will, in the future, diminish but not vanish entirely) will help to protect your pet in the future. This shed virus will cause a false positive reading if this pup is tested for Parvo because the test determines the presence (or absence) of shed Parvo virus..
Occasionally, a puppy will exhibit gastric distress following a 1000+-mile trip such as the one yours just endured. Additionally, here in the south, worms (round worms, hook worms, tape worms, whip worms and more) are ever-present and multiply at a phenomenal rate. Both conditions will cause diarrhea and often, diarrhea with blood and/or mucus. Your puppy has been aggressively treated for worms but it is not unusual for infestation to occur. Prior to coming to you, he/she did not exactly have a wonderful life; the conditions from which some of these pets have been rescued would shock and disgust you. We have done our best to ensure his health but he is still recovering from a state of mistreatment and neglect (including a chronic lack of medical care).
That being said, if your pup becomes ill and you bring it to your vet (highly recommended), the doctor must be aware of the potential for a false positive on the Parvo test. If your vet is not aware of this, you need to find a competent one that is. Too often, vets are aware of the false positive potential but will not mention it to you because they harbor a good bit of prejudice, fear and sometimes-outright paranoia when it comes to dealing with rescue dogs, particularly southern rescue dogs dogs. Once again, I would go looking for a new vet, one who does not let his opinion or prejudice overrule the science in which he/she was trained. Parvo is almost always pronounced as a death sentence, it is not. In parts of the country where it is prevalent, it is a fact of life but one that can be reckoned with. Aggressive treatment will often produce survival rates of 90% or better. The great majority of dogs that die from Parvo die from dehydration secondary to diarrhea. Often, survival is achieved by merely treating for diarrhea, hydrating with either subcutaneous or iv fluids and usually the administration of antibiotics to fend off opportunistic infections such as pneumonia. Parasites, on the other hand, are much more easily treated and have a much better prognosis.
This puppy has been literally snatched from the jaws of death to come to you in what is to be the final and most important stage of its rehabilitation. Please do not let ignorance, prejudice, paranoia or apathy be the cause of its demise. If there is a problem, ask questions and get answers. Euthanasia need not be the first course of treatment. If you ask three vets and get three different answers (and that happens a lot), maybe you need to ask a lot more questions. One question you might want to ask yourself is “What if it were me?” Would you be willing to accept one man’s pronouncement as gospel or would you question it?
We have worked hard to make sure your puppy has a good chance of having a life worth living. He/she has endured much both mentally and physically. Please don’t let this life be ended callously and needlessly. Please give him a chance. We did.
To explain a little better how this all works, when you take a pet to the vet to screen for Parvo (and an unbelievable number of vets have already jumped to the conclusion that because the dog came from a rescue and/ or the south, then it has Parvo) they generally employ what is referred to as an ELISA test (Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay) to test for the presence of Parvo virus.  This is usually a good screening test but it has it’s limitations, first and foremost of which is that it cannot differentiate from virus shed by the vaccine (most modern vaccines use live, attenuated virus) and virus shed by the actually malady.  Given the fact that you’re dealing with a puppy that has ,more than likely, recently had one of the 3 part DHLPP series (and the fact that the puppy has a medical record stating that it has), there is a 100% chance that it will test positive on the Elisa (generally for about 2 weeks following the last administration of the DHLPP).  The test is picking up on the presence of virus shed from the vaccine itself.  It is usually at this point that the tearful owner is informed that the puppy must be put down based on this incomplete diagnosis.  For the sake of accuracy here, the Elisa has a few other quirks such as false positives and false negatives, that is why it is used as a screening test..  Usually all that is necessary to confirm a positive Elisa is to do a white blood cell count, a simple and inexpensive procedure.  Parvo attacks the bone marrow and destroys the white blood cell count so if you have a pup that screens positive and whose white blood cell count has tanked, there’s about a 97% certainty that the pup actually has Parvo.  Further testing, such as biopsies are usually contraindicated due to the invasiveness of the procedure and the minimal chances of the pup surviving the procedure.  If your vet tells you he/she must kill your dog for you because of a positive Elisa test, he/she is in the wrong business!  Mostly, it doesn’t seem to be ignorance that causes them to do this but prejudice that causes them to blithely ignore the science they were (hopefully) taught when they obtained their degree.  In my mind, that’s even worse than ignorance.
Okay, let’s say that your pup has tested positive on the Elisa and also has a severely diminished white blood cell count.  We can safely make the assumption here that it does actually have Parvo (dogs can actually contract Parvo from the vaccine itself, not to mention that the vaccines are not always effective depending on the mother’s titre level which varies from dog to dog and even litter to litter).  Like I said in my last post, euthanasia will certainly knock out that nasty old Parvo but most dogs can be saved short of killing them and we have a flock of them here to prove it.  I’d also said earlier that Parvo is much trickier to deal with given its propensity for spreading to the environment and thus other dogs.  Unless you’re trained in the use of universal precautions, have appropriate facilities for treatment and are knowledgeable as to limiting  fomite transmission, we wouldn’t recommend home treatment.  A competent vet, however, has all of this.  There’s a real good chance that your puppy can be saved and go on to lead a normal, healthy life.  If your vet is unwilling to even discuss treatment options, walk away! Go find yourself a vet that actually cares about saving pets.  As a worst case scenario, and not one we recommend, we know of several Parvo pups that have been saved at home with nothing more than Pepto Bismol and Gatorade administered orally.
My dad always puts it this way.  If you went to the doc and he told you that you have cancer, go lay down and wait to die,  Is that what you’d do?  Wouldn’t you, before the day was even out, contact other doctors and even cancer specialists to see what, if any, other options existed?  Go online and do a bit of research yourself that might, hopefully, help to save your life?  Of course you would!  Why do less for that furry little bundle of joy that’s just waiting for the chance to be your best friend in the world?
I’ve included a couple of good links for anyone interested in getting more detail on this subject.  I wouldn’t want you to take my word for it on something so serious and I don’t want you thinking that this is just one dog’s opinion, this is Science, not conjecture.


 
http://bakerinstitute.vet.cornell.edu/animalhealth/page.php?id=1089

 http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_diagnosis_of_parvovirus.htmll

This second link doesn't seem to work when you click on it but if you go to marvistavet.com and go to their "Vaccine Mezzanine" and look under diseases, you'll find the articles on Parvo.  While you're there, there's a lot of good info available on their site as a whole.  Generally, we prefer the Baker Institute (part of Cornell University) as they seem to be the ultimate authority that everyone else references.  There is also a lot of other good information besides this on the web.  The point is, before you make a bad decision, or allow one to be made for you, delve into the facts of the matter and make an educated decision.  Do you have any idea how hard it is for us to tell an already devastated caller that their puppy was killed needlessly?  We worked hard to save that puppy and you found the love in your heart to take him in, don't let someone's ignorance and/or predjudice sabotage that.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Sodium Pentobarbital the One Shot Cure-All

What would you do if your kid came home from day-care or school with lice?  Among the various options available to you at that point, probably “mercy-killing” would not rate very high would it?  How about a really bad, contagious stomach flu?  Take them to the doctor and pull them from school for a week or so until it subsides or would you use mercy-killing as a first line of treatment here also?
I’m being flippant here for a reason.  Too often, I mean WAY too often, when it comes to our animal companions, euthanasia is the treatment of choice.  Well, there’s absolutely no doubt that an overdose of Pentobarbital will eradicate even the most stubborn case of mange (which is caused by mites) or eliminate Parvo (essentially a stomach flu) symptoms but, speaking strictly as a dog, that’s not what I’d choose for myself were I asked.
For the record, I have to say that, given that pets can’t rationalize intense pain or suffering to the extent humans do or see it as a sometimes transient thing with a light at the end of the tunnel and better days ahead, mercy killing can sometimes be the most humane option.  The key word here is sometimes.  Primarily, GARD pulls from several Georgia county Animal Controls’ “death row” and you always find a good number of dogs who wound up there due to having mange or some other skin condition.  If a dog poops funny just once, it’s deemed to have Parvo and, of course, we all know that the landfill is the only known cure for that right?  The basic problem here is that people (even many vets) equate mange with leprosy and Parvo with the plague, that is, incurable, contagious, deadly diseases.  Sure, they’re no picnic but aren’t you glad y’all didn’t take that approach with Polio or Tuberculosis years ago?
There are several varieties of mange, all of them caused by various mites.  These mites are everywhere.  You probably have some on you right now.  Seriously!  Dad’s got a little half-growed girl that sleeps on his cheek.  She came in here ‘cause she was going to be euthanized because of mange.  She’s the sweetest little thing, thinks I’m her Mama.  We’re treating her for mange and, in the meanwhile, dad still finds the need to shave regularly, if you get my meaning.  I just hate to think that this adorable little puppy was going to die at the hands of a vet (and vets are usually the first ones to play the paranoia card) because she had mites.  For the sake of accuracy here, there are some rare, very rare, instances where a dog’s immune system is so compromised that some of your nastier varieties of mange will hang on forever or keep recurring.  This can cause such quality-of-life issues that euthanasia can sometimes be the kinder option but, like I say, this is very rare.  On the other hand, most can be cured forever (without the Pentobarb cure-all) with readily-available and relatively inexpensive treatments and go on to lead healthy, happy lives.  We see it all the time.  You can get any of these treatments from your vet or order most of them online cheaper.  If we can get this little girl from off my dad’s cheek for long enough, she’ll get a good home and make someone an adorable companion, enriching their life for years to come.  This, to me, seems much preferable to the landfill.
Now Parvo’s a little trickier because it’s so virulent and great care must be taken to keep from spreading it but, in reality, it’s nothing more than a really bad stomach virus.  The reason it kills so many puppies is because it attacks immature, rapidly growing cells but it is treatable.  Most dogs that die from Parvo die from dehydration and many a puppy has been saved by nothing more than subcutaneous fluids (or even Gatorade by mouth), Pepto Bismol and antibiotics to fight off the secondary, opportunistic diseases like pneumonia.  Our Lil was one of the worst Parvo cases ever, technically way beyond saving, but you’d look at her now and never know it, she’s healthy as a horse and my second-in-command.  She’s such a little sweetheart, our family wouldn’t be the same without her and I’m so glad my folks cared enough about her to not just write her off and bury her.
When and if your pet develops a medical condition, before you condemn your friend to death, ask questions.  Get a second opinion, or a third.  Vets are not all the same and some are actually more prone to try to save the dog rather than kill it.  I don’t mean to be excessively hard on vets here, we have a good working relationship with several (ones that are all for keeping the dog alive) but most vets tend to look at the world from the perspective of their sanitized stainless steel and ceramic examination room rather than the real world in which we all live.  All too often we find a person or entire family devastated after having their beloved pet put down at the vet’s suggestion (or sometimes insistence) only to learn later that it could have been saved and had been killed needlessly.  This experience usually  comes with a ten-fold revisitation of the devastation.  Be aware that there is a huge prejudice against rescue dogs within the veterinary community and, due to this, many are too quick to reach for the needle with the cure-all.  We’ve seen hundreds and hundreds of dogs rehabilitated to go on to to be cherished as a valued member of the family and just don’t believe that all this killing can be in anyone’s best interest.
Be sure to watch for my next couple of posts where I will further alienate certain members of the Veterinary community.  My next post is entitled “Don’t let the vet murder your new puppy!” and is a must-read for anyone who has, or is getting a very young puppy.  It could well save your puppy’s life.

Monday, December 5, 2011

A Couple of Good Videos

My dad and I are both real big on communication, that’s what really makes our relationship exceptional.  To illustrate my point, imagine, if you will, your relationship with your spouse, kids, siblings or friends with little or no meaningful communication.  What would be the point right?  As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, what makes my life with humans special is that I can communicate with them and I don’t mean the basic “sit”, “stay”, “fetch” stuff either.  I can communicate thoughts and feelings as well and get a response from my humans.  Heck, after almost 6 years, we’ve got it goin’ on and I can get my point across to dad with just a look most times and he understands that I’m bored, jealous, nervous or angry.  Okay, to be honest here, I guess most anyone within earshot knows when I’m angr but  I guess the best place to start here is recognizing that we have thoughts and feelings.

At the drop of a hat, Dad will engage visitors to the shelter (or sometimes random strangers, for that matter) in conversations about communication with their animal companions.  I always hear him say the same thing, that he feels like a lot of people miss out on the best part of the relationship with their pet because they don’t give us credit for how smart we really are, we just express ourselves a little differently, and they never really get beyond the command and obey routine.  Boy, I’m sure glad my life isn’t like that, booooooring!  Think about the reason why you humans all communicate with such great intricacy among yourselves, ‘cause y’all have thoughts and feelings to share right?  You’re communicating with another intelligent being.  Well your dog is a lot smarter than you think, it just takes a little more sensitivity to tune into our method of communicating.

Okay, so I probably wouldn’t outscore you on an IQ test but then they are a bit biased to be relevant specifically to the human experience.  I remember some years before my time when researchers were doing extensive intelligence testing on Chimpanzees and the chimp scored wrong on the question;  What would you use when it’s raining?  A: A loaf of bread. B. An umbrella. C. A potato. D. A tree.  The chimp chose tree and got it wrong because a human would obviously use an umbrella.  Of course, tree was exactly the right response for a chimp.  My point is that often folks fail to pick up on how smart we really are because our thoughts are not those of humans but when you take the effort to look into it, there’s actually quite a lot going on inside our little doggy heads.  And lately, researchers have been doing quite a lot of looking into it and even those that set our to disprove the notion of dogs possessing anything beyond the mentality of a dumb beast are shaking their heads in wonderment. The following video link: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/secret-life-dog/  highlights some of this research and some of it will amaze you.  Some of it like the “left shift gaze” surprised even me and I’m a dog.  This is really just the tip of the iceberg, serious research is still pretty much in its early stages.  Anyway, the video is free, commercial-free and devoid of canned laughter, enjoy!

Before I launch into the second video, I feel obligated to provide a warning.  Kids, please get your mom and/or dad to help you to decide whether or not to continue with the last part of this post.  The language in this next video is fairly graphic but, in reality, probably no worse than what you hear in school every day.  The subject matter and content, however, is the stuff nightmares are made of.  What’s really disturbing is that it’s not made up.  Most of it was filmed under cover and was really happening when it was filmed and, I’m sure, is still happening now.  If you do intend to watch it, I would highly recommend watching with your parents, they can help you to process the emotion that it, undoubtedly, will generate.  It would also be beneficial to watch it with your dog as well.  She won’t make it any easier to digest but she hates being left out.  I’m a dog, I know these things.

By way of a preface, this film is all about how humans, as a species, treat animals, both pet and beast, the world over.  Every day.  Now dad gets really aggravated when people call him a “bunny hugger” or animal rights (as opposed to welfare) activist.  I thought he set out his thoughts and those of the other founders quite explicitly in the “Philosophy and Vision” statement on our website, differentiating between wild animals, domestic beasts and pets.  He’s been a hunter and fisherman all of his life and although he’s never been one to treat animals cruelly or take a life callously, he’s not willing to extend voting rights to sheep and crocodiles either.  Anyway, he said he initially thought this video was going to turn out to be one of those PETA type affairs because it seemed to start out in that manner but said to give it a few minutes and see it through to the end.  It is painful to watch, all the more so because it’s real and uncut and this stuff happens everyday everywhere.  Watching it won’t relegate you immediately to the bunny hugger camp but I guarantee it will provoke some serious thought and introspection on your part, enough to make it worth the pain of watching, I promise.  Here’s the link: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/earthlings/ Kids, remember to do what I asked you to do first please.

                                                       Yours Drooly

                                                Cocopaw