I'm a Vet ask me anything

[Tropicana1]

Love my job - go ahead, ask me anything!

@purpleme12 @Thisnamechanger
Deciding when is the right time to put an animal to sleep is always hard and usually owner led. We tend to base it on quality of life, so if a chronic debilitating condition is worsening leading to poor quality of life, if a painful condition is no longer responding to pain medication or has got worse, if an animal is suffering or in pain and there is no effective treatment that is going to improve quality of life then these are all times to consider euthanasia as the best option. We should always be thinking about their lives in terms of quality, and as they are unable to tell us if they are suffering or in pain we need to really advocate for them and think about their day to day needs and if they're being met.
When it is time the exact procedure will vary depending on where you go. I don't tend to sedate unless a pet is distressed, agitated, or gets upset when we start handling him or her. Some people choose to always sedate first. The actual injection itself is essentially an overdose of an anaesthetic agent, it works very quickly and stops the heart and the respiratory system. Sometimes after the heart has stopped there is some reflex muscle movement or tremors, often with the muscle relaxation they will go to the toilet, and their eyes don't close. Usually they have passed away by the time the injection has finished being given, and it is a peaceful and quiet process.
You can always talk to your vet and discuss when is the right time for euthanasia without having to make a decision that day, and they will be able to discuss any specific concerns or worries you might have regarding the process before the time arises.

@ItsInTheSpoon @nespressowoo thank you ❤️ always so lovely to hear people appreciating their vets!

@pearldeodorant and I have complete admiration for you and no idea how you're a doctor! I have SUCH a weak stomach for human illnesses 😂

Fantastic thread!
I've a saluki, it's mad for eating grass. Any harm from this potentially. Should it be discouraged? It's like saluki crack! Thank you.

@MissConductUS 😻😻 they are both beautiful!!

DCat currently under vet for being attacked. Wearing the cone of shame and struggling with it. Having to remove it so she will toilet and eat/drink. How long would you advise she keeps it on after staples are removed? Big bites on top of leg toward armpit. 3 staples in total. TIA

@Bubblysqueak a lot of practices do have that as their set policy, although many places are now offering before the first season spays. The pros and cons have to be weighed up on an individual basis as evidence suggests that if a bitch shows any signs of urinary incontinence then spaying before the first season can actually make that worse.

Could my 10 year old cat been saved.. he had a tumour on his liver. Didn't find out till the night the put him down, told me at around 6pm and he was gone for 6.30. Even though we had weeks of appointments and kept being fobbed off. Just wondering if operation was an option?

What were your Finals like? DS is string to point of breaking after third exam - final one tomorrow and vivas next week! Please tell me that everyone feels like this - I can't believe the pressure on him atm

How do you feel about owners who pamper their pets? I have a shihtzhu and she is a pampered princess. She hates strangers and always snaps at vets.
We're also "first" time dog owners and when she's off colour we take her to vet.

Tropicana1 Thank you, yes, both were blessed with great looks. That was not a great picture of Autumn since she was on her back. This one shows both of their markings better.

I've had to reschedule his echo cardiogram for early June and am a bit on edge that we might not get a normal finding. If he has early stage HCM are there effective medications?

@Tropicana1 - we have a lab-pointer cross who has had joint problems in the past (ruptured cruciates in both knees, had surgery, then had a patellar subluxation and further surgery). She is getting on, and our vet reckons she probably has arthritis and is in some discomfort.

We’ve tried gabapentin, but that makes her too spaced out, and I was wondering if there are other options for painkillers that our vet could prescribe, that she could take long term. She has also had a gastric ulcer caused by one of the painkillers she was on, when she dislocated her kneecap.

Sorry - posted too soon - I meant to say thank you for any information you could give me - and I do understand we should go back to our vet asap - I will be making an appointment tomorrow.

Thank you.

Disappointed that you have ignored my questions op.

How do you feel avout people who put aninals down for reasons other than dog ill health?

MIL may have to go in to a home soon, she has a roughly 10 year old JRT. The dog has previously stayed with us for various hospital stays but we wouldn't be able to keep her. She has bitten all of our children and us. She dislikes people and dogs so unsure if she'd be able to be rehomed.

I few people have advised it may be kinder to bave her put down?

How do guinea pigs know which poo to eat and which to leave? ewww.

I would have loved to be a vet. Would never have got the grades. Did dentistry instead !!

My moggy is naturally skinny. More so as she ages (now 9). She’s very picky and won’t eat in public. I leave her with biscuits ad-lib 24/7 and canned food at night. The food is rubbish: whiskas and go cat. She won’t eat anything else. I tried letting her go hungry till she was forced to eat the better stuff from the vet, but gave in after 2 days of her eating nothing. What do you suggest?

Rats. There must be so much information about them from their use in labs. They’re more robust that hamsters and less bitey. Why are there so few vets who are interested in them? There is no one local to me with anything more than basic knowledge. Apparently they have very specific metabolic traits, and need huge doses of some medication relative to their size.

1st question, my vet sends me reminders to vaccinate my dog yearly. Does she need vaccinating yearly? (You’ve already explained the lepto, which I do.)

2nd question. Can you test for leptospirosis? My cocker spaniel died in 2016, aged 6. She had an infection which attacked her liver, and she died 3 weeks later. It’s the single most devastating thing that has happened to our family, and we’re still scarred by it (as pathetic as that might sound to some people). Anyway, all the vet said was that he suspected it was weil's disease, but never confirmed or even discussed anything further. Just confirmed that tests showed catastrophic damage to her liver. We still think we were kind of left to just take her home and see how she went, then she died at home. Would tests have shown it to be lepto and he was just not great at communication, or is it not possible to test for?

Sorry that was long and morbid. Still feel guilty years later that we couldn’t keep her safe.

Hi! My Patterdale terrier (a little tasmanian devil) has chronic spinal pain, we think. She ruptured a disc at 4 which was operated on by the famous Irish vet, and she seemed fine for years although she was always cranky.

But chronic pain (IVDD) was the diagnosis of the 6th behaviourist I'd called upon for advice on her reactivity, a clinical vet behaviourist at Bristol University (Langham?) - they said her predatory aggression and explosive temper was caused by being in permanent pain, and that she she should go on a pain management program.

So she started on long term gabapentin and tramadol 4 years ago. Since then we've introduced amitriptyline and stopped the tramadol (I prefer to be able to fall back on it on her bad days); and we've experimented with a ketamine based one which I forget the name of, and most recently Pardale-V. Unfortunately she is unable to take the usual anti-inflammatories, they make her very poorly.

But she's almost 12, and seems permanently morose and grumpy. I can't tell if the meds are really helping her. She has tremors from nerve damage, some days worse than others, and although she doesn't have any serious deficits she is definitely weak in her hind legs and has poor proprioception at times. The muscles over her spine are rigid, I try to massage them and use heat packs but she just goes for me. She can only go for 20 mins walk a day, otherwise she loses coordination, falls over her feet and gets very tired. But she does enjoy her walks and it's one of the times she seems happy - she does still instigate a game every evening, although her preferred game is to attack us all and bark her head off.

I think a grouchy temperament is common in these working terriers (she did work, before her accident), but she isn't a waggy, happy dog. She shakes and looks pained, ferociously and obsessively licks her feet, and snarls if you touch her hind legs or feet.

She recently had another course of steroids when the pain was bad, and in those 3 weeks her body was soft and relaxed, she wagged her tail more and she seemed brighter, and less snappy about her back end.

But the vet says there is "no indication that she should stay on steroids for the long term".

I know it's not ideal, but she's 12 - I'd rather she had one more year in less pain on steroids, which might trigger organ failure, than 3 more years with functioning organs but suffering in pain? When do we know she's had enough? I'll be heartbroken when she goes of course (I'll be THAT client sobbing), but I hate the idea of her suffering unnecessarily.

Our vet is brilliant, but I'm sure he gets sick of me.

Do your clients get crushes on you? Everyone I know seems to love their vet!!

Why do some vets not neuter Male kittens until 20/21 weeks when some will neuter at 16 weeks? Is there any reason to wait?

Thanks.

hi,

My male pug has not been 'done'. He's 6 - is it too late and will it make his fat and less playful?

thanks

Mine too but there are probably too many to answer all

Hi @Tropicana1 thank you for this thread. I have a two year old Siberian cat who has recently started over-grooming. She has made sparse patches all over her belly and the inside of one of her thighs, and has two little grazes where she has irritated the skin so much. I took her to the vet a couple of days ago, and he said the most likely cause, as we keep on top of her flea treatments, is an allergy to tree pollen. He gave her an antihistamine injection and said we need to keep an eye on it and see how it goes. But I forgot to ask him how quickly it should take effect if it works, and she is still bothering at those areas. I’ve tried spraying cold chamomile tea on the sparse bits in the hope that it will soothe the itching, but she just licked it off. Should I take her back to the vet, or do we need to give the antihistamine longer to start working?

I had a 19 year old cat that had been on thyroid treatment for at least five years. (Hyperthyroidism). She was starting to have other health issues (thickening of heart etc) is we were ready to lose her but all of a sudden she started being unable to absorb food - didn't matter how much she ate (and we offered food whenever she wanted it) she just lost weight. In the end we had to have her euthanised (only three weeks ago).

I've read this is common in elderly cats - I didn't want to put her through the investigation so we don't know specifically why it happened but what is the likely reason for this happening? (I know you can't be specific without a PM which we also didn't want but just want an idea). Thanks.