Top Veterinary Articles of the Week: Borborygmi, Fear-Free Vet Visits and more ...

Ask a Vet: What Causes Loud Stomach Noises in Dogs?
Dr. Eric Barchas/dogster

"Borborygmi, or stomach noises, are generally harmless in dogs, unless accompanied by poor appetite, lethargy, vomiting, or diarrhea."
With Jasmine, stomach noises always meant her IBD was acting up. She'd refuse food and her stomach would make all kinds of noise. Sometimes she'd seek to eat grass, sometimes she'd vomit bile. Usually, after a good long walk her belly settled and she got hungry for treats once again. Cookie had that couple of times and it too was a result of stomach upset.

We always wondered whether it was just a result of the belly being empty. Hunger is certainly one of the reasons for this. Unfortunately for Jasmine, she wasn't actually hungry, she didn't want to eat. Once her belly felt a bit better and she ate something, the noise would go away.

dog borborygmi

Anything that can cause GI upset can cause borborygmi. The seriousness depends on what is really going on, from simple dietary indiscretion to foreign bodies.


The Biggest Mistake Pet Owners Make at the End
Dr. Jessica Vogelsang/Huffington Post

The too biggest dilemmas with euthanasia is doing it too early and doing it too late. As it seems, the latter is more common. One of my vet friends confessed that her biggest regret has been waiting too long with her own dogs.

When is it too early and when is it too late? Will you know when it's time?

Dr. V. would urge everybody to strike these words permanently from the veterinary dialogue. Yes, there is such a thing as the look when your dog tells you it's time. But it doesn't always happen. When it doesn't happen, then what? And if your dog is really suffering, should you really wait for them to be as far as giving up?

When we had to make this decision, we used two criteria - suffering/loss of quality of life weighed against prognosis. After her drug-induced hyperthermia Jasmine was in horrible shape. She was suffering. We had doubts whether we should allow things to go on. However, the prognosis we got was good. We were told she should fully recover. We pushed through and she did indeed fully recover.

Her last days were different She was suffering and the prognosis was not there. Short of a miracle, there was nothing to hope for. Even if she survived the acute crisis, she was still contending with a number of serious problems. As terrible of a decision as it was, setting her free was the loving thing to do.
"... I counsel owners that we don't need to wait until every moment of a pet's waking hours are miserable before making the decision to euthanize."
I tend to agree. Why let the dog suffer if there is no good prognosis? Why let them suffer until they really cannot go on any more? Why not allow them to leave their ailing body before things get THAT far? As it seems, most people regret waiting too long, rather than making the decision too soon.


5 ways to get started with Fear-Free veterinary practice
Dr. Jessica Vogelsang/petMD

fear-free vet visits

With exception of Roxy, all our guys love(d) going to the vet. Our Fergus vet was awesome with handling them and our new vet here is fantastic too. She works within her patients' comfort zone.

I can't even imagine what it must be like to have a dog petrified at the vet. And yet, many of them are. And it's even worse with cats.

This article is intended for veterinarians, but some of the awesome suggestion apply to us, owners, as well and the for the rest we should be looking for these things being put in practice with our vets.

A good vet appointment begins at home. If there is only one article you're going to read this week, let it be this one.

The article includes great videos showing some of these ideas in action.

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