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Pet Care

Celebrating National Veterinarian Technician Week

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This week you can celebrate the wonderful people who do the important work at veterinary offices all over the country. November 17-23 is National Veterinarian Technician Week.

The American Veterinarian Medical Association (AVMA) recognizes the value of these staff members on their website, offering thanks for all they do. AVMA says that Vet Techs are “critical to the day-to-day function of veterinary practices, and play vital roles in preserving animal health and welfare.”

The National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America (NAVTA) focuses this year’s event on self care. The theme is appropriate considering that Vet Techs “have worked incredibly hard over the past 18 months, handling a workload and stress level never seen before.  It is critically important that NAVTA emphasize the importance of self-care and a healthy work-life balance.”

Understandably, with the number of pandemic pets adopted, it is no surprise that the volume of work for the pet healthcare industry has been overwhelming.

The poster for this year emphasizes who Vet Techs are “when the stethoscope comes off”. They highlight the many activities your Vet Tech might be engaged in when not in an exam room, lab, or office setting. You can find out more by going to their website at https://www.navta.net/page/nat_vet_tech . 

According to the Vet Tech Colleges website, Vet Techs are highly trained professionals deserving of recognition and gratitude. “Compared to human medicine, a Vet Tech can serve as a laboratory technician, a respiratory therapist, a dietician, a nurse, a radiation tech, an anesthesiologist, and a physical therapist in a single role.” 

If you are looking for gift ideas for your favorite Vet Tech, Vet Tech Colleges offers some options to consider at https://www.vettechcolleges.com/blog/vet-tech-appreciation-week. 

Thanks to all of our Vet Tech friends!

How Do I Know If My Pet Is In Pain?

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I think about pet pain a lot. My dog, Ginger, is 11 years old now and beginning to turn from a vibrant red to a heavy dose of white fur. And she’s struggled with lameness.

September is Pain Awareness Month for both pets and people. But, unlike those of us training for fall marathons who can articulate where our bodies hurt, pets cannot.

Signs

“According to the North American Veterinary Community (NAVC), more than 45 million household pets suffer from chronic or acute pain.”

Signs that you should look for according to International Veterinary Academy of Pain Management (IVAPM) include the following list of most common signs of pain:

  • Decreased activity – Take notice if your animal is not playing as much as usual
  • Not going up or down stairs – This could be an early sign of osteoarthritis
  • Reluctance to jump onto surfaces – This especially applies to cats
  • Difficulty standing after laying down – This is a sign of osteoarthritis
  • Decreased appetite – This can signal mouth pain
  • Over grooming or licking a particular area – This can be a sign of referred pain

What To Do

Fortunately, there are a number of options available to pet parents. Ginger was able to get some physical therapy, massage, and laser treatments. That, combined with some relatively inexpensive medications, have returned her to a level of activity that is satisfying to see.

While her veterinarians were all good doctors, the resources available to do the therapy and laser treatments came as a result of a conversation with a behaviorist trainer. Her bloodwork never identified acute health concerns. It was only after doing a few expensive X-rays that some early spinal issues were spotted.

You may have to investigate resources for your pet if they are showing signs of pain. Fortunately, as the pet care industry has expanded, so have the number of options. Your vet may be able to offer suggestions for quality treatment options if their practice doesn’t provide them.

You are your pet’s best advocate, so keep an eye on them and have any signs of possible chronic pain looked into. You’ll both feel better.

Take Your Cat To The Vet Day

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According to PetMD, a recent study showed that more than half of the cats in the US had not been seen by a veterinarian in the past year for a wellness exam.

While I do not parent a cat, I know many people who do have cats. And they all indicate that getting their cat to the vet’s office is one of their biggest challenges. From the disappearing cat act when the carrier appears, to the fight to get them into the carrier and car, and the subsequent fight to get them out of the carrier at the vet’s office, it goes on and on. 

The woes of transport lead many cat parents to simply avoid the annual visit to the vet for a checkup. Many cite undo stress as the reason they opt to avoid the ordeal. According to PetMD, cats have a unique survival tactic that results in them attempting to hide symptoms of an illness until they simply can no longer do so. 

That means skipping those annual visits may result in a missed opportunity to address a treatable disease until it is too late to head off the worst. 

Symptoms and Signs

Since cats are creatures of habits, some signs that you should signal an immediate trip to the vet might be needed include:

  • Hiding
  • Change in eating or appetite
  • New litter box habits
  • Chang in sleeping location 

Strategies

There are some ways to minimize stress in those trips to the veterinarian with your cat. First, don’t get the carrier out until you are leaving for the vet’s office. Pulling it out too soon can result in a game of hide and seek you probably don’t want to play.

Second, you can build a positive association with the carrier in the months leading up to the visit. Or, consider a mild sedative prescribed by your vet to take the edge off your cat’s anxiety. If all of that fails, see if your vet would make a house call (there are still some that practice on site visits).

Let National Take Your Cat to the Vet Day be a motivator to get your feline seen for a wellness exam.

National Immunization Awareness Month

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Behind the Acronyms of Dog Vaccines

August is National Immunization Awareness Month. Vaccines are given to your pets to prevent them from having a fatal, or near fatal, response to specific diseases that are highly contagious, dangerous, or both, according to Dr. Kate Creevy at Texas A&M University.

Some vaccines, like rabies shots, are required by law and others are recommended. What each pet needs is a conversation best had between your veterinarian and you.

After all, if your pet is never going to spend time at a boarding facility, you might not need to get a bordetella (or kennel cough) vaccination. Or, if your pet goes to a groomer who requires a canine influenza vaccine for all clients, you might need to get that to patronize their facility.

Core Vaccines

According to Fetch by WebMD, there are core vaccines that all pets should receive and non-core vaccines that are situational, depending on your individual circumstances.

Core vaccines include the following for both cats and dogs, except where noted:

  • rabies
  • distemper
  • parvovirus
  • hepatitis (dogs)

Cats additionally require: 

  • herpesvirus
  • calicivirus
  • panleukopenia

Lifestyle Considerations

In my personal experience, I have made specific choices based on the lifestyle my dog leads. Ginger makes trips to the country several times a year. She has a not-so-desired tendency to slurp water from puddles that could contain contaminants from wildlife. Therefore, I opted to protect her by getting a Leptospirosis vaccine. Because she does not attend daycare or congregate with other dogs, we typically pass on canine influenza. However, an outbreak in the city we live in changed our minds a few years back. We now take it periodically based on her anticipated time around other dogs (which is infrequent).

Each situation and pet is different. We encourage you to research and talk to your pet health care provider to determine what works best.

Avoiding the Summer of Separation Anxiety

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As we watch vaccination rates increase and society slowly tiptoe towards one another again, one thing those of us with pets will be attempting to avoid is separation anxiety. 

My dog, like most people, has a routine. And she likes to keep things in the rut in which she has grown accustomed. Just like humans, pets need to acclimate to new routines in order to mitigate the most severe reactions of separation anxiety that could occur.

As summer nears, people and pets may find themselves struggling to readjust. Just as you would prepare your children for bedtime hours in the days leading up to the end of summer vacation, you should consider how to manage your pet.

What to Consider

If your pet has grown used to having you home all day long and you immediately disappear as you begin to work outside the home again or go on vacation, your pet may demonstrate separation anxiety. It could be as simple as an involuntary urination in the house or as destructive as chewing drywall or breaking through windows or doors.

The best way to avoid any extreme reaction is to transition your pet back to your typical routine. Floofins & Co. can assist you by helping you get your pet out the door and back to a normal midday walk with our pet care specialist. We can also help you build up extended periods of your absence to reacclimatize them to potential travel periods.

What You Can D0

If you have a new puppy, you want to build times into your schedule where you leave them alone. Also, you want to get them used to a dog walker during the day. Exposing them to different schedules and people, with safe social distancing, will help to prevent separation anxiety.

We want to help you get out and be in the world again while making sure your floofin has had the time to remember what those periods away from home will feel like.

Hopefully, you can avoid any behavior issues from separation anxiety by taking steps now to get your pet readjusted slowly to different routines. Contact us to find out how to schedule your pet on walks with us and ask about any special accommodations you may have. Stay safe, transition slowly, and avoid separation anxiety.