vet surgeon

So. There are many different types of rat poison, but a common style is one that prevents the body from being able to form blood clots by removing vitamin K from circulation in the body. We get little micro damage to our blood vessel walls all the time, and our ability to clot keeps our blood where it belongs. With these poisons, they can’t make those clots and they begin to spontaneously bleed and eventually bleed out. If you catch it early enough, you can give vitamin k supplements to help counteract it but often you discover the problem when the animal either starts developing petichia (tiny bruises that show up very well on the gums and belly) or when they start bleeding out into their chest or abdomen.  

So corset kitten has a condition called lordosis. His spine dips down severely into his chest cavity. This is a problem because his spine is squishing his heart against his sternum. Untreated, this is deadly in the majority of cases before the cat reaches a year of age.

The corset is compressing his ribs on the sides to try to deepen his chest. Because while the spine dipped, the ribs didn’t really follow and instead are shaped a little like the ‘golden arches’ at the spine and flare out wide instead of down. By compressing his ribs a bit, it’s pushing his sternum down, giving his heart more room. By keeping him corseted for several months, we hope to force the ribs to permanently take on this position as he grows and it should allow him to live.

Yes, it’s bad. If it’s that hot all the time, they should be walked real early in the morning or well into the evening. Or just... not at all. But obviously that’s not feasible on a permanent basis.

They’re very prone to heat stroke, even if that’s the normal temperature every day. They can get a little more used to it than dogs that life in colder climates, but not much. Not enough to stop them getting heat stroke. They can also still burn their pads on the road and pavement.

Here are some infographics about it.

One of the biggest, and scariest, blunder people make is getting a pet without being able to correctly identify it especially when it comes to Turtles & Tortoises 🐢

The number of times we have heard the horrifying tale of a tortoise that died due to drowning because it was mistaken for a turtle… sighs

So today, on #WorldSeaTurtleDay, we are sharing this lovely picture we got on WhatsApp to help everyone understand the difference 🙂

Do not forget to share this with and help save some lives.

My first, most prominent bit of advice: Get a second kitten! It will save your fingers, toes, sleep, and probably sanity (whatever sanity any of us have left)

Second- Start building up your cat-tree army. Cat trees of all shapes, sizes and textures to provide enrichment. Collect boxes. Boxes are fun toys.  Start clicker training, because tricks are fun and cool ways to interact with people that don’t involve biting them!

Third- be patient. Kittens are idiots. They’re wonderful, smart, creative, canny, uncanny, destructive bastard beings... and then they’ll do something that makes you wonder if they honestly have more than one brain cell free floating in their fluffy little skulls.

The man in charge of public health at the time openly encouraged people to attend the victory parades. Other public health officials pleaded for people not to attend

The first wave killed 3-5 million. The second killed 20-50 million.

One aspect to the increased deaths during the second wave was people becoming infected at the same time. This led to a surge on hospitals hitting at the same time. Not only did those with the virus die before they could be treated, but non-infected emergencies were unable to be treated. This led to exponential death rates.

When the second wave hit, places like San Francisco refused to wear masks in public. They also stopped social distancing. San Francisco ended up with one of the highest fatality rates in the US.

Articles like this are what cause panic amongst the general public. Despite throwing in statements about how panicked owners are killing their pets out of fear of the virus spreading from animals, they still thought this headline was appropriate.

This is the dog that tested “weak positive” to the virus, starting the idea that pets could potentially act as a fomite (a physical vector for a disease to be carried around and spread) for COVID-19. The dog was non-symptomatic. The owner, however, was tested positive. It is thought that the dog likely picked up contaminants from the environment in the home, hence the weak positive.

This article repeatedly subtly insinuates that the virus killed the dog... despite multiple medical bodies stating over and over that there is no evidence that cats and dogs can catch this strain of corona virus.

The dog was 17 and likely had other co-morbidities. It’s infinitely more likely that one of those caused it to pass away, than COVID-19.

Dash has elbow dysplasia. :( Poor guy. We discussed surgery as a possible option or physical therapy and medical management. I think we are going to do medical management first and see how that goes. We got Deramaxx (12.5mg/day) and Flexadin and some information for management. Overall not fabulous but definitely a manageable condition.

Sam x-rays

So our hospital (and many many others) are now not letting clients into the practice due to COVID19 and lockdown in the UK. This means non essential travel and physical distancing measures are strictly in place with police patrols.

So that means clients must not enter the building at all... Even for euthanasias. Which means they have to say goodbye to their friend at home and in the car, and then we have to take them inside.

We know this is awful, we’ve all said we couldn’t even think about it if that’s how we’d have to euthanase one of our own pets. But it’s way above our heads and those are the rules that have been set 😣 No one is okay with it but times are strange and awful at the moment.

But, and there have been atleast 10+ euthanasias in the last week, what it does mean is that someone gets to be designated cuddler and lots of other free vets/nurses become distracters or head rubbers or chin scratchers because it’s the least we can do.

I had a labrador on my lap on Thursday and another nurse fed him the biggest bowl of food (because even when critically ill, this lab still was a lab at heart and food was the best thing in the world!) whilst the vet gave the injection.

Every place I’ve worked, if we hear that a pet is being put to sleep without an owner present, there is ALWAYS someone who volunteers to be mum/dad in those moments, to give all the cuddles and love and food (sometimes our lunch, sometimes the cheese from the fridge) and to make sure that pet knows they are loved. Even if it’s horribly sad for us too.

So I’m not sure what the point of this post was but maybe just to say that if this has to happen with your pet, and you can’t be there, they are not alone, and we try our best to make them comfortable and happy in those last moments.

(I’m sure everyone on birblr knows all about FDB, but I wrote this up for one of my vet med school assignments and thought I’d share since I haven’t posted in a while because of finals!)

Feather destructive behaviour, also known as “feather-plucking” or “feather-picking”, is a common problem in which captive parrots chew on, damage, and/or pull out their own feathers. Affected areas usually include the neck and breast regions, but can involve feathers on any body part that the parrot can reach with its beak. If left unchecked, parrots may also progress to mutilating their skin. This compromises the ability of a parrot to regulate their body temperature, which can lead to skin infections or other severe secondary problems.

Feather destructive behaviour is generally caused by medical or behavioural factors. Medical causes are most often related to skin and feather health, but can include other physical illnesses related to an inappropriate diet, poisoning, or infection. To rule out any of these causes, veterinarians perform comprehensive physical examinations and laboratory diagnostics to test the parrot’s blood and droppings. If the results of the exam and testing are unable to suggest a clear medical cause, then behavioural causes must be considered. With behavioural causes, stress often lies at the root of feather destructive behaviour, and can be caused by boredom, sleep deprivation, sexual frustration, or anything else in the environment that the parrot perceives to be persistently distressing.

Boredom, or a lack of physical and mental stimulation, can be attributed to a lack in number or variety of appropriate toys that encourage natural parrot behaviours. It is ideal to provide multiple toys within the cage and to rotate them on a weekly basis to ensure that a parrot stays interested and does not get tired of them. Alternatively, removing a toy that the parrot is especially attached to can also be stressful. Toys that encourage foraging behaviour (i.e., hiding pellets or treats) allow the parrot to work for its food and keep it occupied for longer periods. Foraging decreases the chances that a parrot will spend its spare time biting and chewing at its feathers. Owners can even opt to slowly switch from feeding their parrot all of its daily food in a bowl to hiding it inside foraging toys. Another form of mental stimulation for parrots includes training. Parrots are very intelligent and can be taught many different “tricks” and behaviours. Training sessions are another opportunity for a parrot to keep itself busy and figure out alternative ways of obtaining food.

A lack of social interaction, either with the parrot’s favourite human(s) or another bird, can also be a contributing factor in feather destructive behaviour. If a parrot must be left alone in its cage for hours at a time (i.e., while the owner is away at work), leaving the television or radio on at a quiet volume may help keep it stimulated and entertained. For parrots that are especially bonded to their owners, voice recordings or video clips may be helpful. Giving the parrot a view by putting its cage by a window may also provide some stimulation, as long as it is placed in a low-traffic area (salespeople knocking on doors, squirrels climbing onto windowsills, etc. can spook some birds). Other sources of stress include other pets, especially those that parrots may perceive as predator animals (i.e., cats and dogs), excessive noise, seasonal changes, sudden changes within the home, unwanted attention from strangers and/or children, and jealousy due to the owner giving more attention to a partner, family member, etc.

Sometimes, owners may sexually frustrate their parrots without realizing it. Mirrors are not an appropriate toy for birds, as some may not be able to understand that their reflection is not real and will try to obsessively court and mate with it, which can result in the bird becoming frustrated when the reflection does not reciprocate. Owners should also be mindful when petting or scratching their parrots, as doing so in certain spots can be sexually stimulating to a bird. In the wild, most parrots will groom or preen the head and neck feathers of their friends only – touching below the neck only occurs between mated pairs. A parrot with an owner who pets it on its back, belly, and wings will become confused, think that the owner wants to become its mate, and become sexually frustrated. This can result in feather destructive behaviour, and altered hormone levels can also predispose to illnesses and infections.

As a last resort, a veterinarian can prescribe behaviour-modifying drugs to try and reduce feather destructive behaviour. However, drug therapy will work best when combined with the behavioural and environmental modification plans described above. Drug therapy used alone is often not a cure. The same goes for devices such as collars, which can temporarily prevent a parrot from being able to reach its feathers with its beak. Although these collars will not get rid of the underlying cause, they can be helpful especially in severe cases in which parrots regularly damage their own skin. If feather destructive behaviour persists despite every treatment attempt, a parrot can live with having a collar on permanently, although the owner will then need to monitor closely to make sure that it is still able to move and eat normally.

Prognosis depends on how much time and effort the owner is able to commit to mitigating stress, how long the parrot has been engaging in feather destructive behaviour, and how severe the damage is. Sometimes, due to permanent damage to the feather follicles, feathers may never grow back even if the parrot stops picking its feathers. However, if the behaviour does not stop completely, even a minor decrease and some feather re-growth can be considered a success.

References:

Costa, P., Macchi, E., Tomassone, L., Ricceri, F., Bollo, E., Scaglione, F. E., Tarantola, M., De Marco, M., Prola, L., Bergero, D. and Schiavone, A. 2016. Feather picking in pet parrots: sensitive species, risk factor and ethological evidence. Italian Journal of Animal Science, 15(3): 473-480. Doi: 10.1080/1828051X.2016.1195711

Gaskins, L. A. and Hungerford, L. 2014. Nonmedical factors associated with feather picking in pet psittacine birds. Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery, 28(2): 109-117. Doi: 10.1647/2012/073r

Jenkins, J. 2001. Feather picking and self-mutilation in psittacine birds. Veterinary Clinics of North America: Exotic Animal Practice, 4(3): 651-667. Doi: 10.1016/S1094-9194(17)30029-4

Rubinstein, J. and Lightfoot, T. 2014. Feather loss and feather destructive behavior in pet birds. Veterinary Clinics of North America: Exotic Animal Practice, 17(1): 77-101. Doi: 10.1016/j.cvex.2013.10.002

Van Zeeland, Y. R. A. and Schoemaker, N.J. 2014. Plumage disorders in psittacine birds – part 2: feather damaging behaviour. European Journal of Companion Animal Practice, 24(2): 24-36.

The man in charge of public health at the time openly encouraged people to attend the victory parades. Other public health officials pleaded for people not to attend

The first wave killed 3-5 million. The second killed 20-50 million.

One aspect to the increased deaths during the second wave was people becoming infected at the same time. This led to a surge on hospitals hitting at the same time. Not only did those with the virus die before they could be treated, but non-infected emergencies were unable to be treated. This led to exponential death rates.

When the second wave hit, places like San Francisco refused to wear masks in public. They also stopped social distancing. San Francisco ended up with one of the highest fatality rates in the US.