#veterina

Zmrdůvstání = porod

Anonymous said to @ask-drferox: Is there a reliable way to measure a pets intelligence? I’ve seen a lot of tests online to see how smart your cat or dog is, but they seem kinda sketchy. How can I tell if my cat is a genius or a dummy?

In veterinary medicine ‘dummy’ often refers to a very specific syndrome where a neonate had too little oxygen around the time of birth, and are neurologically/cognitively impaired to the point where they cannot suckle from their mother. A newborn mammal really only has one job - drink the milk - and if it can’t do that it’s termed a ‘dummy’. If you can get them through the first week or so, and they’re not having seizures, they often end up fairly typical adults.

Measuring intelligence in general is a controversial topic, and it’s complex enough in humans, let alone non-human species.

As a general rule, you would want to know whether they can problem solve within their environment, how trainable they are, and whether they have a good memory. (Note: trainability is not dependent on intelligence alone. It also requires a willingness to please). You can look at things like word recall and counting, but they’re very human ways of viewing intelligence.

The main problem with many of the online Pet IQ tests is that they don’t apply well for dogs that are very chill, or just not food motivated. If you’ve taught your dog to only eat from the bowl after you’ve said ‘Okay’ then it’s not going to know what you want it to do when you hide a treat under a towel.

Cats are often less trainable than dogs, as many are less willing to please or we just don’t express our wishes to them well enough. But they learn the rules in a different way.

So rather than the towel and bucket tests that I see go around, consider instead:

Has your pet learned your routine?

Has your pet learned The Rules?

Has your pet learned which people will break the rules, or in which circumstances the rules cal  be broken?

Does your pet try to cheat or negotiate the rules?

For example, Wonka learned the following rules:

Open hand signal means a treat is offered.

Open hand signal means person wants him to approach them.

Open hand signal is used to call him back inside from the secure courtyard.

When this happens, he gets a treat.

Wonka can ask to be let out.

Wonka can ask to be let back in.

Wonka expects a treat for being let back inside.

He learned rules, and then extrapolated them to see if he could get what he wanted.

(He also learned that humans control the water in the shower, so now he also expects us to turn off the rain when he wants, so not all of his conclusions are correct)

These behaviors demonstrate:

Perception of the environment (can’t problem solve it if you’re not aware of it)

Imagination of a different scenario

Piecing together separate rules to problem solve

Implementing the experiment.

I had my new grad vet (who is not really a new grad any more, she is a big, tough, grown up vet but still likes to pretend there are training wheels on the bike) listen to me talking on the phone the other day. I had a particularly irate client, who in our view was irrational, who I had to handle on the phone. And while it ended reasonably, there are tricks and phrases I’ve picked up from watching other clinicians, and I urge vetlings to watch other vets and learn their techniques for dealing with irate clients.

Identify the Problem

The first thing to do when dealing with any upset or angry client is to identify the problem, and keep in mind people don’t always tell you up front what their issue actually is. Money, or anxiety over money, is a common concern. Others might be more worried about giving tablets, or where the pet can stay while they’re away, or any number of things. If you can identify the problem, and offer possible solutions, that might soothe the client’s worries and let you do your job.

Most people lashing out are not fundamental buttburgers. Mostly they are afraid of something. If you can soothe the fear, you’re doing well.

Do not out-wait a cat with renal disease trying to make it eat the ‘perfect’ food. Reduced appetite and weight loss are some of the symptoms of kidney failure, we need to try to prevent that weight loss as much as possible.

Some things to try:

Switching brands and flavors, even if switching back every other day. The variety seems to help keep the food interesting.

Warming up to body temperature, +/- addition of warm water. Some of the dry foods are intended to be soaked in warm water for this purpose, but can be fed dry if the cat is a creature of habit and insists on having the cronch.

Increasing the fat content. Fat is tasty, and isn’t going to aggravate those kidneys (used with caution if the cat has a history of pancreatitis or diabetes)

Increasing fat and carbohydrate content. Both of these things will not aggravate the kidneys. How do you increase fat and carbs in a meal? It’s basically gravy.

Anonymous said to @ask-drferox:   Is there any benefit to desexing at kitten at 5-7 months of age rather than early? I know it might be a bit of a contested topic, but is there actually much evidence for either side? (What's prompted me to ask this is that my 5mo kitten, while he's booked in for castration next month, is showing sexual aggression towards my in-law's desexed female that we're babysitting. We're managing, but I can't help but think this week would be easier if he didn't have nuts 😅)

There isn’t currently any strong evidence to suggest cats benefit from a later desexing age. There is a claim that male kittens castrated too early will be more at risk of urethral blockage (a blocked penis) but retrospective studies through the RSPCA, where they routinely desex them at 8 weeks of age, didn’t suggest this, so I suspect it’s more of an old wives tale. Certainly a sedentary lifestyle predisposes them though.

They usually pluck feathers, but the sausage grinder idea is viable. That’s the principle in making pellet food for parrots or commercial feed. It’s all mixed in, they can’t pick it out.

This is perfectly fine for plant foods, but you’re right in that there would be some gut contamination in doing this with a whole prey item, so you might choose to use an eviscerated prey item and add back in some of the offal.