Dr. Sam's Thoughts

BABIES, BABIES, BABIES!!!!

I guess life does come in cycles as some of the philosophers say!

As a child seems I always had a letter of kittens or a litter of puppies being born. Was rather cool watching those little miracles of mother nature. Matter of fact, at 10 years of age, I had one of the those “Moments”. You know, one of those life-shaping moment's that you never forget because they always stay with you back there somewhere in the subconscious and shape the course and mission of your life.

I had sleepily walked down to the barn one morning to feed the horses, went to take the top off of the food barrel (one of those 50 gal. Steel drums) and realized I had left the top off the night
before. This immediately shook me awake with fear, cause that usually meant a big ol'rat was in there eating my horse food, and there were really hard to get out of there. God forbid asking Daddy for help cause then I would have been in REAL trouble for leaving the top off.

I (was short enough that I had to tippy toe over the edge to peek in and see what was there. As I peeked over and jumped back (had one of them rats jump on my face before) I thought that was some funny looking kind of rat! Stuck my face back over for a better look and realized it was one of the barn cats, not a rat, and it had also had a really funky tail! Look number three revealed that the tail was a kitten who had just been born sometime that morning! Braver now, I scooted a stool over near the drum and leaned over into the drum for some really good looking! Seems there was another kitten with its head just outside of the birth canal, crying.
Funny thing was the mother was just lying there, looking back now I realize she was exhausted. God know how long she had been straining to have that baby. Now these barn cats are pretty much feral, we fed them but they never ate in front of you, and always scrambled to get away from you. You ever corner one and you were sure to get scratched or bitten.

Well now I certainly had a quandary, she needed help. If I tried to pick her up she would eat me for breakfast! If I called for Daddy, he would eat me for breakfast for having left the top off the food barrel! So I prayed, and then I reached down and gently tugged on the little wet head, momma cat started pushing and I pulled a little harder and PLOP I had just delivered my first animal into the world! That is God, the momma cat and I in that order. I placed the kitten by her head and she immediately began caring for her baby.

I decided the horses could eat later, we had more important things going on in that food barrel for now! She had two more all on her own as I watched. I placed a bowl of milk next to her head and she heartily drank. I left her alone and walked out of the barn and down to the pond. It has that moment that I realized I was going to help animals. Here was a perfectly wild cat who allowed me to help her, I had no clue what I was supposed to do, I just did it and it was enough.

So I know I could do what I did not know how to do, with animals anyway. So anytime from that day forward when folks asked me what I was gonna be when l grew up, l told them. I was gonna be a Vet. When my grandmother asked me why I did not want to be a "real- doctor" I told her God did not want me to. Much to her chagrin. And when my step-mother asked me why I did not want to be a rich-dentist, I recall wondering who ever wanted to be anything to be rich? Oh, the wondrous blissful ignorance of being young and honest, honest to a fault, that one still follows me too! Still today I lose many clients from being honest, and that is still okay today too!

So how did I title this BLOG "BABIES" Cause one of my little Chihuahua females had puppies yesterday, two by natural birth and one by a complicated Cesarean Section, and for a awhile
yesterday and off and on today, I was that 10 year old again! Watching them babies struggle to eat, watching Gigi (the mother) nuzzling, and licking and protecting those babies. Just watching
the glory of nature at work, watching the force that has led my life since the age often years old. It fascinated me then and it still fascinates me today, every day.

I have the most fantastic job anybody could ever have. And I am not a real doctor and I ain't rich, and I don't care. I've got BABIES! And you know I cannot wait to see the look on my 2 yr. Old granddaughter's face tomorrow when she sees Gigi's babies. You see, my granddaughter renamed Gigi, her name used to be Gracie, but my granddaughter has already started work, renaming things, wonder what her job is gonna be?

By Sam Vaughn, DVM

THE FOREIGN BODY FLU!!!

Well what is foreign body flu season anyway? It is much more common for our pets to ingest foreign bodies over the Holidays. Foreign bodies ae anything our pet eats that does not belong in the stomach and intestines. Sometimes they cause little if not problems (very small ones) to those that cause severe abdominal cramps, vomiting and diarrhea. The latter are usually very large, or of the wrong consistency for the intestine to pass on into the bowel movement.

Our first one this season was about two weeks before Christmas, a kitty cat who decided he would help mom trim the tree. Seems she left a box of ribbons, bows and ornaments open near the tree overnight. Next morning kitty was vomiting. This particular owner is one of the best and she brought in kitty the next morning. Radiographs (x-rays) revealed nothing but an excess of gas in the stomach. This owner was SURE kitty had eaten the twelve inch piece of green ribbon and we opted to go straight to surgery. The owner was absolutely correct; I could feel the ribbon through the stomach wall once the belly was opened for surgery. A small incision into the stomach allowed me to “hook” the ribbon with a surgical instrument and pull it right out.

The stomach was closed with a few sutures, the remainder of the intestine was explored manually, and the belly was closed.

It is important to realize, as in this case, many foreign bodies are radiolucent (you cannot see them with x-rays) and a barium series or exploratory surgery are necessary to get to the root of the problem. And one should never just remove a foreign body and NOT explore the abdomen carefully.

Because this owner was pro-active this kitty has suffered no ill effects. Many times people want to wait and see if things will get better on their own.

Several factors, I think, are responsible for people not wanting to do surgery.

1) If the doctors cannot find it on radiographs why cut my kitty open? (We have already addressed this, if the object is not dense enough it will not show up on x-rays)
2) Anesthesia is always risky (Yes they are, and that is why preoperative bloodwork and radiographs with safe anesthesia monitoring can make anesthesia as safe as possible).
3) MONEY is often the primary motivator in cases such as these, that is why we highly recommend Veterinary Pet Insurance(VPI) (http://www.veterinarypetinsurance.com/).

This insurance has helped prevent many very loved pets to avoid an “economical euthanasia.” We do every thing possible to avoid this in our practice in several ways 1) VPI is the most important thing to have in place, pets are easily covered as youngsters and if you get them covered early, even routine things like vaccines and spay/neuters are covered. 2) Care-Credit is a financial service catering specifically to pet owners. It helps many owners out, but high interest rates are consequence. 3) We extend credit to long-tem clients in unusual situations

So far the ribbon eating kitty is the only one we have had to perform to my knowledge.
Let’s see we had the lab who ate the ham AND the tin foil, she had vomited it all up before she came in. This owner chose to wait five days after the occurrence to come in. He got REALLY lucky, tin-foil going up or down the esophagus and cause sever cuts in that organ, (the food tube to the stomach).

We had several little dogs that could not resist the Holiday chocolates. These we do induce regurgitation (vomiting) and then tube or syringe feed activated charcoal, this substance helps absorb toxins in the intestine and they are eliminated in the stool. Specific medications are also used to stop the vomiting and help the patient become more comfortable.

We had a yellow lab who ate a glass Christmas ornament!!! He sustained a few cuts in the mouth. The smart owner brought in what ws left over of the ball shaped ornament to the hospital. We first x-rayed the piece of ornament by itself, to make sure it was radiodense, i.e. that it would even show-up on x-ray. This particular ornament was VERY thick glass with painting on it. It showed up very well! We radiographed the abdomen (belly) and no signs of the ornament were apparent. So I guess he just like munching on it, must not have tasted very good so he did not swallow any! He got a round of antibiotics to prevent infection from the cuts in his mouth.

So all in all the Holidays of 2004-2005 were not too hard on the beloved patients of Veterinary Associated Stonefield.

I hope each and every one of you are welcoming the New Year, and have a happy and successful 2005.

Sammy Vaughn