Newsletter

Newsletter

The Standard of Care

Sometimes you might wonder why we do what we do. Why does my pet need this test, or that examination. Do we just make up the rules or set the policies we live by?

The answer to this question is called The Standard of Care, or loosely translated, the rules which we doctors must follow when we practice our art.

The standard is set several ways. The state veterinary board sets the basic rules of practice. These often include laws of record keeping, what is required in records, sanitation standards, drugs dispensing rules including labeling requirements, and animal housing standards. Mostly the “what to do” rules of practice.

The how to do part of the standard comes mostly from the latest medical textbooks and journals, where the foremost experts in veterinary medicine publish diagnostic and treatment standards based on research, experience, and yes, even from trial and error.

So what does all this mean to you? For starters, is gives us the guidelines under which certain medications may be used, even if not FDA approved for that use. For instance, there are many drugs we use that, although they were never made or “approved” for a certain use, we can and do legally and safely use them because “experts” say we can.

Another question we are often asked is why a pet needs certain exams and testing every so often while they are being treated for a given disease. Once again, we base our recommendations on what the “experts” advise as appropriate for given situations.

This method of practice, following the “Standard” insures you that we are providing the most up-to-date diagnostics and treatments available, and it keeps us out of legal trouble as long as we stay in the bounds of commonly accepted methods.

I hope all this hasn’t been too much of a bore, but almost weekly, a client will question why we do what we do. Rest assured, our motives are always to provide the highest quality of care and abide by the legal requirements the state puts forth upon us.

We hope that we can provide you and your pet the level of care both of you deserve and expect every time you visit us.

Max the Cat

Last year I told you about the little dog that wasn’t supposed to walk again. He is still doing fine a year later. It is the hundreds of cases like this that make most days worth working in this profession.

Sometimes, however, we must deal with the sadder side of the business; helping put injured or ill pets out of their misery. Unfortunately, a task I must do many times in a given year. Sometimes, I am sure, I look past the real feelings of loss and sadness one goes through when a member of the family is “put to sleep”.

This year, the time came that I had to perform this service for one of my own.

His name was Max the Cat, and he had been a member of the family for the last 10 years. A year ago he developed diabetes, a fairly common disease of older cats. We started him on insulin and a special diet, and soon he seemed to be doing much better.

Then, around Christmas, things started to change for Max. First, he started vomiting, then stopped eating and drinking and then he wound up in my hospital. He was ketoacidotic, a severe complication of diabetes.

Despite the fluids and the insulin, his liver began to fail, and by New Year’s Eve, it was painfully apparent that treatment was probably not going to work.

On new years day, my family gathered to say goodbye to Max, and with a simple injection he passed into a long sleep. We put him next to my mother-in-law’s cat in our back yard. Even now, it is hard to believe he is gone.

He was a family favorite. A gentle cat with a funny squeaky meow, he liked to “nurse” on blankets, he purred a mean, loud purr.

We still expect him to be lying on the bed waiting for my wife to talk to him. Life went on; a lot of other things happened, and even now, as I sort through many other issues, I am just starting to feel the void left by his passing.

Most importantly, loosing one of my own reminded me of how hard it can be when you loose one of yours.

Cancer in Pets

Cancer and Smoking

I think most of us have come to accept the fact that smoking is hazardous to both the health of the smoker and to the heath of the non-smoker who may be inhaling the second-hand smoke. Did you ever wonder about how pets respond to second-hand smoke?

A recent study by researchers at Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine and Amherst College in Boston found that cats who lived with smokers for 3-5 years have a 300-500% increase in the number of oral and intestinal cancers than cats who lived with non-smokers!

The link to oral and intestinal cancers in cats is likely due to the fact that the smoke settles out on the fur and is then swallowed, and not from inhalation of the smoke.

These are quite striking results and clearly show the link between smoking and some cancers in animals. While we at the Glendale Animal Hospital cannot conduct such a study, we do see more and more pets suffering chronic bronchitis linked to second-hand smoke.

Now you have three good reasons to quit the habit; for your own health, for the health of those who love you, and for the health of those four-legged friends who also love you.