Walk with Your Dog

Time of resolutions is here. Personally, I prefer to avoid falling into this trap, I think that the only thing New Year's resolutions are good for is to give you something to feel bad about later.

But if you are the New Year's resolution type, and sometimes you even succeed in keeping them, here is a New Year's resolution suggestion for you. Walk with your dog.I know it sounds obvious. But how often do you take your dog for a walk?

Walking with your dog is as good as putting money in the bank. It will keep both you and your dog healthier and happier, and it will strengthen your bond with your dog.

I'm sure you have heard the saying: " A tired dog is a good dog". People run into behavioral problems with their dogs all the time. Many of these could be easily avoided by providing their dog with enough exercise, mental stimulation and quality time with their owner.

A lot of people believe that you shouldn't have a dog (particularly larger breeds) unless you own a house with a big yard. If you live in an apartment, no dogs for you. What I am seeing though is, if anything, it is the other way around.

I think that dogs living in an apartment are often happier than the 'house with a big yard' dogs. Here is why. If you live in an apartment, you have no choice. You have to at least take your dog around the block to go potty. More often than not, for dogs with big yards, the yard is it. They get put into the yard to go potty and to entertain and exercise themselves. This might work if there is more than one dog—they will play together and have a good time. But what is a single dog to do? Your dog doesn't want to be alone in the yard, he wants to go somewhere and do something. With you.

Walks mean the world to dogs. We often spend a day at a friend's farm. Our dogs are with us all day, having a great space to roam and investigate. But even then, they still cannot wait for their walk. We take them at the beginning and at the end of the day. And even though they have been outside all day, the walks are still exciting and important to them. It is just different from just hanging out and playing.

Even the  friend's dog, who lives there and gets to use the property all the time, gets so excited to tag along. It is special time for him. It's a 'pack thing'.

Walking with your dog might help your dog to keep out of trouble, and it will make your bond stronger. Jasmine taught me this very early on. We walk our dogs every day, no matter what. Our dogs don't get themselves into trouble, because they are content. They calmly hang around the house, awaiting their next walk time.

May you and your dog have the very best year ever!

Jana

Stem Cells for Dogs? Oh yeah, baby.

Stem cells are one of the current hot topics. There is a lot of excitement around it, as well as controversy. My friend recently had a baby and she is having stem cells from her baby's cord banked. How cool is that?

But did you know that stem cell regenerative therapy is available for dogs? Vet-Stem, California based regenerative veterinary medicine company, has been making this possible for a few years now. First used to treat horses, it has been available to treat dogs since 2005.

The beauty of the Vet-Stem technology is that the patient's very own stem cells are used, extracted from their own fat tissue. No controversy, no implant rejection.

How does this work? It does involve a minor surgery. A Vet-Stem certified vet will extract a small amount of fat tissue from your dog's shoulder area, which is then shipped to Vet-Stem, where they extract the stem cells from it. They send ready-to-use syringe(s) back to the vet who then injects the cells into the areas needing treatment. Extra stem cells can be banked for future use, and now Vet-Stem can even grow additional doses from the banked cells.

So what is the big deal about stem cells?

The best way to understand that is by understanding what stem cells are and what they do.

Think of stem cells as 'blank' cells. These blank cells can multiply, and they can become any kind of cell as needed, such as blood cells, muscle cells and so on. That is their function. As the name stem cells might suggest, all cells in the body stem from these 'blanks'.

Here is a beautiful little presentation illustrating the process.
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/tech/stemcells/scintro/

In an adult body their job is cell renewal and maintenance. Stem cell therapy is based on the same mechanism the body uses to repair itself. It is providing the extra help where body's own capacity is not enough. Did you know that even a simple paper cut could not heal without stem cells? Stem cell therapy simply supplies reinforcements where body's natural resources are not enough.

This therapy can bring amazing results in treating number of conditions.

What I find exciting about this treatment is that it is actually meant to treat, as opposed to managing or masking symptoms. It addresses the root of the problem. And you are not putting anything in the body that doesn't belong there.

What does it treat?

Presently, in dogs, it is mainly used to treat osteoarthritis and orthopedic soft tissue injuries. I also came across articles where it has been successfully used for hip dysplasia patients, and other conditions. Stem cell therapy seems to have awesome potential and ongoing research is being done. Talk to a certified vet in your area about treatment options for your dog.

Do I have to go California to get it done?

No, there are a number of veterinarians throughout the country who are certified to perform this treatment. You can find a certified vet near you here http://www.vet-stem.com/locatevet/smallanimal.php

Does it work?

There are many testimonials to that it does. While it doesn't seem to work the same way for every dog, and long term effect isn't yet known, there seems to be a number of excited owners and dogs showing great improvements. We are among them.

Jasmine is one of the first dogs in Ontario benefiting from the stem cell treatment. It all started with a partial ACL tear on her left knee. Originally we wanted to try stem cell therapy as an alternative to a surgery. In the meantime, though, she tore the ACL completely and it was no longer an option.  However, since we were already excited about the treatment, we decided to do a combination of a traditional surgery with the stem cell therapy to assist recovery and help with her arthritis.

It was the first time our vet got a chance to try this (finding a vet who has already done it isn't very easy, it is still rather new). The first month after the procedure he seemed rather skeptical and disappointed. But then he began getting more and more excited as Jasmine started making great progress.

While in the past year Jasmine had to deal with a number of health issues, underwent 6 surgeries, and number of treatments, today she is in great shape, very happy, full of P and V, and enjoying her life.

I think that stem cell therapy is definitely something to keep in mind as possible alternative to drugs or surgery. It is good be aware of all available options before choosing one that you are comfortable with.

Here is a great stem cell therapy diary: http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/care/stemcelltherapy.htm
(Note: Jasmine didn't have any fluid build-up issues at her fat tissue collection site)

Is it expensive?

I believe that the expense is relative. You could spend around $100/month on NSAIDs alone. Physical therapy, pain medications, they are all expensive when you add them up. So I'd say, in the long run – not really. And this therapy is meant to heal, not to manage.


Further reading:


http://www.vet-stem.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell
http://ezinearticles.com/?Veterinary-Stem-Cell-Therapy-in-Dogs---New-Uses-For-Old-Fat&id=3424817
http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/diseasesandconditions/a/Vet_stem_4.htm

Related articles:

In The Beginning There Was Fat: From Vanity To Revolutionary Therapy
Interview with Dr. Robert J. Harman, D.V.M., M.P.V.M. - CEO and founder of Vet-Stem
Digging Deeper: The Science Behind Adipose Derived Stem Cell Therapy
Jasmine is Vet-Stem's poster child! 
Zeus Gets Stem Cell Treatment 
Jasmine Is Headed For Her Next Stem Cell Treatment 
Jasmine's Stem Cells Are In 
Running With The Wind: Trago's Elbow Dysplasia Surgery And Stem Cell Treatment

Of course there is plenty more information available for you to ponder.

Jana

A Word on Training

Notice I didn't use the word Dog in the title. There is a reason for that.

When you get a dog, I can guarantee you that one of you is going to get trained. You might want to make sure it will be your dog. Of course that is just a suggestion.

It happened to me before I could say dog. We got Jasmine as a puppy. Before I knew it, I was the perfectly trained owner(?). I don't even have to be 'told' what I should do any more. I sit there trying to come up with ways to please her. I am past the point of no return—I have been brainwashed. I didn't even notice when and how it happened. Mind you, it is working for us. We are both happy. Jasmine does listen when she's asked to do something (mostly), but I think it is just in order to keep me in the right disposition to serve her :-)

However, I believe that it's a much better idea to have it the other way around.

You might think that having a number of training sessions with your dog, teaching it commands and tricks, is all you need to prevent being run by your dog. Think again.

Yes, dogs will learn the things you're teaching them. Dogs love learning. Dogs are great learners. Dogs are exceptionally great learners. So besides the desired commands, they might also learn, that the only time it really makes any sense to respond to you is when you're equipped with treats/rewards.

Dogs don't just learn during the time dedicated to their training. They learn every hour, ever minute of every day. So what are they learning during the time when you are not training?

Dogs learn by trial and error. They will try doing something to see what happens. If they like the result of the particular action, they'll file that association for future use. If they are not so pleased with the result, they will try something else next time.

If your dog brings a toy, drops it into your lap and you start playing, he will do that every time he wants you to play. It's so cute, so you give in time after time. Congratulations. You've just learned your first trick. See how easy that was? Good boy.

If your dog barks at you for attention and gets it, you added another trick to your arsenal.

So what do you do to make sure you're the trainer and not the trainee? Understand how dogs learn and that they learn all the time, not just when you want them to. Be careful how you respond to their training attempts.

You can get used to it. I have learned from my mistakes and it actually is me who is training our second dog, J.D., and not the other way around (so far).

Happy training!
Jana

Book Review: Tail Talk

Tail Talk: Understanding the Secret Language of Dogs 
by Sophie Collins
Foreword by Dr. Karen L. Overall

If you want to get a quick visual crash course on dog body language, this is a book for you. This little book is filled with beautiful photographs illustrating all aspects of the dog vocabulary.

The dogs are being photographed in actual social situations. This book is the next best thing to watching dogs interact in real life. Unlike real life though, this comes with 'closed captions'.

This book is really great. I just wish, that since they already went through all the trouble of capturing all these different scenarios, they would have also produced a video version.

Jana

Know Your Dog's Enemies Part I: Bloat

I think the way I would rate severity of health emergencies is by two criteria:

1. How likely is it to kill my dog
   
2. How fast it might kill my dog

Going by these criteria, bloat is right up there on top of the list. It kills readily and it kills fast. And yet not many people know about it or understand this risk.

My friend's neighbor's dog is gone. Healthy young Rottweiler, one day he's there and the next day he's not.



I would urge you to learn about this health risk, particularly if you have a deep-chested breed. Know what can cause bloat and know the symptoms. Take preventive measures when feeding, watering and exercising your dog.

Bloat in dogs is very different from what we commonly refer to as bloat in humans. It is a very dangerous, life-threatening condition.

Simplified, excessive amounts of food, water, gas, or other substances in the stomach,  expand it way beyond its normal size. This on its own is very painful. The worst part about bloat, however, is that a distended stomach, or one that has been stretched in the past, will often twist from its normal position. This restricts the stomach's blood supply and also obstructs the exit for the contents, which are now trapped with no way out. This triggers a chain of events that can lead to death within hours.

When a dog’s stomach becomes distended and twists on its axis, the condition is known as Gastric Dilatation and Volvulus (GDV) in veterinary circles.

Main symptoms of bloat are

• distended (swollen, enlarged) abdomen
• retching (attempts to vomit but nothing coming out)
  
• excessive salivating
• other signs of pain and distress
  

There is plenty of good information about bloat in dogs out there. Here are some good resources.

http://largedogbreedz.com/your-large-dogs-health/dog-health-conditions/dog-bloat-treatment/prevention.html
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=672
http://www.globalspan.net/bloat.htm
http://www.canismajor.com/dog/bloat.html
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+1571&aid=402 

Please check out the above links, they have good detailed information on risk factors, preventative measures, and treatment.

Know your dog's enemies, know bloat.

Jana

Dog Community

Sometimes you really want to talk about your problems and experiences with other owners.  This is a great dog community at http://forum.dog.com/default.aspx

Lots of topics including health and behavior issues, lots of great people who will offer advice or support and good vibes. When you feel lonely with your problem, want some advice or encouraging words, check it out.

Jana

Talk To Me About ACL Injuries

I truly hope that you will never have to find out what the acronym ACL means. But if your dog develops sudden lameness in a hind leg, and particularly if he is a large breed, you might hear your vet say these letters...

Image from Dog Health Handbook

So what does an ACL injury mean, besides not being good news? 

ACL is short for anterior cruciate ligament. Sometimes it's also referred to as CCL, which stands for cranial cruciate ligament. Same thing.

So what is it? The ACL is one of two little ligaments that cross each other inside the knee and hold the large bones that form  the joint in place.
Ruptured Anterior (Cranial) Cruciate Ligament

If the ACL ruptures, the tibia/shinbone can slide forward and away from its normal orientation with the femur/thighbone.. That causes pain, joint instability and in the long term it leads to arthritis. If your dog has injured his ACL, he will be hesitant to bear weight on the affected leg or he may not put that foot down at all.

The tear can be full or partial. A complete rupture causes the most joint instability but even a partial tear means that the ligament cannot function properly.

ACL ruptures can happen as an acute or sudden injury. This is actually the better of the two scenarios. It means that some dramatic trauma to the joint has caused an otherwise normal ACL to tear. The upside is that only one leg is likely to be affected.

More often though, the rupture is a result of chronic weakening of the ligaments, where they become more and more frail until they finally let go. If this is the case, sadly, sooner or later the other ligament will often fail as well. There are number of reasons why this happens. Among others, there seems to be a connection between hypothyroidism and ACL failure.

Cruciate Ligament Injury in Dogs

So now that it has happened, what do you do? You have to do something. The thing about ligaments is that they don't heal very well. It is possible for knee with a mild, partially ruptured ACL to heal with rest and physical therapy, but more severe injuries are unlikely to repair themselves on their own. The longer the knee is unstable, the more severe is the arthritis that will develop, and now you have two problems instead of just one. So it is best to deal with is as soon as possible.

First, get a good diagnosis, ideally from an orthopedic surgeon, to make sure you know what you're dealing with. Then you have choices to make among several different treatment options.

Some people take a minimalists approach. The knee CAN stabilize on its own with very controlled exercise only, by the means of scar tissue forming around the joint and stabilizing it that way. I have seen posts by people who have done this successfully. But seriously, how well do you think you can control every movement your dog makes?

When Jasmine injured her ACL, we did a lot of research, looked into all the options and considered this one as well. But we didn't feel convinced that the odds of this being successful were that great.

Your decision should depend on your dog’s age, size, overall health and activity level.

Stifle Braces

If your dog is quite old or cannot undergo surgery, then your best choice might be a knee brace. There are number of products out there and I encourage you to check them all out. There are unilateral and bilateral brace products available. Look at all of them before picking the one that will work best for your dog.

During our research, the product I liked the best and would have gone with if we didn't decide on surgery is OrthoPets brace http://www.orthopets.com/ACLStifleDevice.htm. The guy who runs the place used to make braces for athletes and has it really figured out. In my opinion this is a superior product.

For more information about non-surgical options please read  ACL Injuries in Dogs: Non-Surgical Alternatives?

Surgery

If your dog is still young and is otherwise healthy, surgery might be the best option. We've been through this with Jasmine twice. It is heartbreaking, but I do believe it's the best thing to do.

Which surgery to chose is a different question all together. In the past, surgeons often attempted  to reconstruct the ligament. But that didn't seem very successful. Just as the once damaged ligament cannot heal, it seems it cannot really be replaced either. So that leaves us with joint stabilization surgeries.http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=1975

TPLO (Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy) and TTA (Tibial Tuberosity Advancement)

Presently the most popular and most commonly used modern surgeries are TPLO and TTA, the TPLO being more common. Both TPLO and TTA stabilize the stifle by altering the joint anatomy.

Which one is better - the answer will depend mainly on who you ask. The best way to make the optimal decision would be to talk to a surgeon who is certified and has experience with both and get a recommendation best suited for your dog.

Most often though you'll run into a surgeon who does and believes in one of them. In any case, make sure that whichever surgery you pick, you have a surgeon who is comfortable doing it and has the experience and skill needed to do it well.

TPLO (Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy)

It is easier to understand what this surgery does by translating it into English. The two bones meeting in the knee joint are the tibia (i.e., shinbone) and femur (i.e., thighbone). The tibial plateau is the top, relatively level surface of the shinbone, on which the thighbone sits within the knee joint. I say relatively level, because there is actually a slant to it. Without the support of an intact cruciate ligament there is nothing to prevent the thighbone from sliding out of place.

In a TPLO, the top portion of the shinbone is cut and rotated in order to change the slant of the tibial plateau which stabilizes the joint. The bone is secured in its new place by metal plates.

Because this surgery is done to a weight-bearing part of the bone, it often takes longer for the dog to bear weight on the leg. While I find it quite invasive, I do believe that it provides good stability when it's done well. I do feel that there is quite a bit of room for error, so make sure you pick a good, experienced surgeon.

Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy

TTA (Tibial Tuberosity Advancement)

Another way to increase the stability of the stifle joint is to modify the relationship between the slope of the top of the shinbone and the patellar tendon. The patellar tendon attaches the kneecap to the front part of the shinbone.

In a TTA, a wedge is cut in the the top of the shinbone and the piece of bone pushed forward. This also pulls the patellar tendon forward, which helps prevent abnormal movement within the knee.

The bone is secured in place by titanium implants and the open area is filled with a bone graft.

Because the surgery is done to a non-weight-bearing part of the bone, your dog will start bearing weight sooner. In comparison to a TPLO, a TTA does look somewhat less invasive to me, but, they both involve chopping and repositioning of bone. If done right and with nothing going wrong during the post-op period, both surgeries seem to be quite successful though. Their objective is to stabilize the knee in such a way so that the cruciate ligament isn't needed anymore. I recommend you look them up in detail to have a good idea how each of them is done and how they work.

Tibial Tuberosity Advancement (TTA): How TTA works

TTO (Triple Tibial Osteotomy)

This is a new technique that originated in New Zealand and it is presently available in New Zealand, Australia and England. It combines elements of both the TPLO and TTA and it actually looks quite cool. I describe it in more detail in my article Newest Surgery for Ruptured ACL in Dogs.

Extracapsular Repair

This is an older type of surgery, largely abandoned particularly for larger breeds. However this is the one we opted for. One of the reasons was that it is the least invasive. It involves drilling small holes in the bones and stabilizing the joint by use of surgical cord. The great vet we found has done quite a number of them on both small and large dogs with great success. There seems to be evidence that there is virtually no difference between TPLO and extracapsular repair 18 months post surgery.

For larger dogs our vet uses two sutures for better stability. Whether or not this could be an option for you depends largely on three things. Whether you have a great vet who you trust and know he has the necessary expertise, your dog's tibial plateau angle, and your ability to follow through with a strict post-op protocol, which is crucial for proper healing.

The stabilizing sutures are meant to hold the joint in place only long enough for fibrous/scar tissue to develop, and it is the scar tissue that stabilizes the knee at the end.

Jasmine had it done on both knees, three months apart and with great results.

TightRope

http://www.warrenanimalclinic.com/tightrope.html
http://dogkneeinjury.com/2009/tightrope-surgery-vs-extracapsular-or-traditional-repair/
The above links have good information on this relatively new technique. It does seem to be a good option. Our vet was a bit skeptical about this one. But it is also minimally invasive.

Summary

So you see there are choices. Each of them has its pro's and con's. My main points here are, know your options, and do your homework. Always. One cannot make a good decision without information. Understand all your options, discuss them with your veterinarian or surgeon and then make a decision.

Don't wait too long though, this is one of those problems that will not go away by being ignored,.delay will only cause additional problems down the line.

Jana

Related articles:

ACL Injuries in Dogs: Non-Surgical Alternatives?
ACL Injuries in Dogs and Stem Cell Regenerative Therapy
Newest Surgery For Ruptured ACL In Dogs
Preventing ACL Injuries In Dogs
ACL Injuries In Dogs: Xena's Story 
ACL Injury Conservative Management: Sandy's Story
Surviving The Post-Op: After Your Dog's ACL Surgery
Talk to Me About Arthritis
Don't Forget the Physical Therapy

It's Your Dog's Health

Taking a good care of our dogs is not an easy task. We face many responsibilities, and have to make decisions. What are we going to feed the dogs? How are we going to train them?

Then there is always the question of good health care for our dogs. One would think--you take your dog to the vet, do what they tell you and that is all there is to it. But unfortunately, not really.

One of very important steps to take is to choose the right veterinarian. As with anything else, not all veterinarians were created equal. We learned it the hard way, and our dog has suffered for a long time because of lack of expertise/dedication on our vet's part, and our naive approach.

Ever since she came to us Jasmine suffered with bad poop and diarrhea. We were at the vets at least once a month for a long time. After many stool samples and a number of antibiotic treatments we still had gotten nowhere. The conclusion was that she had sensitive digestive tract and that's just the way it is. She was put on veterinary diet food. We did feed it to her, though it wasn't making a difference.

Last year, after a knee injury, a TPLO surgery was suggested. Since we didn't like the idea of such invasive approach, we were researching other options. One option that we found quite hopeful was stem cell regenerative therapy. When we brought it up to our vet at the time, not only didn't he know anything about it, but he dismissed it without even considering it. So we went on a quest to find a vet who is certified to do this procedure and might have some experience with it.

It turned out that vets who have actually done this procedure were hard to come by--it is still quite new approach. However, we did find a vet within a reasonable distance who was certified for it and was willing to spend the time talking to me about our situation and the therapy. In fact, he spent 45 minutes with me on the phone.

So when we decided we were going to try to go this route, we booked a consultation with him. As we brought our girl in, he started looking at her shoulders, at her mouth--it was a knee injury consultation! But he's explaining how one thing would have been affected by another, and that he wants to fix the WHOLE dog. Wow, we were amazed.

Anyway, from there it has been a very long journey. But during that journey her bad poop got explained also. It turned out that she most likely was born with inherited food allergy, which over time resulted in quite a serious IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) condition, because it wasn't addressed. And yes, the diet food she was put on did contain some of the ingredients she was allergic to. Had this issue been addressed at the beginning, I believe that many of her other health problems could have been avoided.

And we did like our previous vet. We thought he was a good vet. Maybe he was, and maybe just good sometimes doesn't cut it. Our present vet isn't just good, he is amazing, and we are very thankful to have found him.

To close this post, here is the moral of the story:

1. Do not dismiss or accept your dog's symptoms. If something isn't right--it isn't right. It needs to be figured out and fixed.

2. Take the time to find the amazing vet for your dog. You and your dog deserve it.

Choosing the right veterinarian is one of the most important things you can do for your dog. Sadly, it is also one of the hardest.

Jana 

Related articles:

Where There Is Smoke, There Is Fire!
Does Your Vet Listen To You?
Help! My Dog Is Purple!
Veterinary Drive-Thru: Coming Soon To A Veterinary Hospital Near You!
A Praise To Our Dog House DVM
A Word On Pain

The FURminator

We have two Rottweilers. We don't really mind shedding, but we like to help our dogs to stay comfortable. We tried many different brushes and combs, but weren't really impressed with any of them.

Then I came across the FURminator website. I am quite skeptical when I see commercials, so I was sitting there trying to figure out how they could have faked it. Eventually I decided that they couldn't have faked it completely, and decided to try it.

I was extremely impressed. This product works! It pulls the old undercoat right out! We don't use anything else since we tried it. It is a bit expensive, but I believe it's definitely worth it.

One of my friends has a Lab and he not only had problems with shedding but his dog also hated being brushed. After he tried the FURminator,  it took care of the shedding but the dog now loves brushing and will even pester for more.

Our son has two cats. When he saw how the FURminator worked on our dogs, he tried it and is now successfully using it on his cats also.
 
So there you go, de-shedding tool - the FURminator :-)
http://www.furminatordog.com

Btw., if you know anybody who might be interested in other 30 or 40 different types of brushes and combs, please let me know. They are catching dust and taking up space here :-)

Jana