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Veterinary Information for Dog Owners
We have compiled veterinary information pertaining to dogs at this site. We hope it will be useful to you. We add to the information on a regular basis. As time goes on, we hope to make it a more and more valuable resource for dog owners seeking information on veterinary medicine. In many cases we have left the original question and answer format - feeling that the dialogue is helpful .
Please do not use our site to attempt to diagnose or treat your pet. Your veterinarian is the best source of health advice for an individual pet. Please do use our site to become better informed about the medical problems your pet may have. We will do our best to ensure that information presented is accurate and up-to-date. The most current information will be at the top of each page. Remember that veterinarians often disagree about the best treatments for pets. There are often several perfectly acceptable ways to treat the same condition. Just ask a lot of questions!
3/27/2007 - Please Note...I have taken the old Cat and Dog pages out of www.vetinfo.com
A number of search engines still refer to those pages and not to the current cat and dog domain pages that are updated with new information. We left them originally because there were so many links from other websites to them . You will find all of the same pages with more current information in the dogs and cat domains.
The current pages are found in www.vetinfo4cats.com and www.vetinfo4dogs.com
Dr Mike is Blogging - What is he thinking about, reading about, what's bothering his veterinary clients?
Keep checking the blog for thoughts, ideas and odds and ends of current veterinary thinking , musing and information.
Dr Mike's BlogFor a complete listing of our sites medical and behavioral problems in dogs - please see
The Alphabetical Index of Dog Healthcare Information - This is our main information site organized in many different topic pages.
Search Vetinfo4cats with Google - the bottom one searches the site. The top one searches the web. There is a separate search on each domain - Vetinfo, vetinfo4cats and vetinfo4dogs.
Please note: The information on our site is for everyone to read. Please use it as often as you like.
Please use the search engine or one of the indexes to access the information you need on our website.
Major Pet Foods were recalled in the past year - millions of packages and cans of dog-food brands and cat-food brands sold in major retailers. Recall now includes, some dry cat food and jerky as well as other treats.
http://www.vetinfo4dogs.com/drecallist.html
If you have started feeding homemade diets because of food recalls, please note the list below.
This list comes from the Animal Control Center via the ASPCA and is based on illness and death in pets not on theory.
Foods to Avoid Feeding Your Pet
- Alcoholic beverages
- Avocado
- Chocolate (all forms)
- Coffee (all forms)
- Fatty foods
- Macadamia nuts
- Moldy or spoiled foods
- Onions, onion powder - all forms
- Raisins and grapes
- Salt
- Yeast dough
- Garlic - all forms
- Products sweetened with xylitol - artificial sweetenerhttp://www.acvim.org/uploadedFiles/ACVIM_Pet_Recall_Guidelines_March_23.pdf this has places to send pathology and who to contact in case of suspected or known toxicity and how to report.
WANT MORE INFO?
For further information, pet owners should check the following Web sites or hot lines:• FDA: www.fda.gov/opacom/7alerts.html
Genetic Testing for Multi-drug Sensitivity
We still have information on our vetinfo.com web site suggesting that collies and other herding breeds can be given ivermectin for heartworm prevention. Many people do not agree. This controversy is based on the sensitivity of these breeds to this medication when used at much higher doses, usually twenty times the heartworm prevention dose or more, for treatment of other parasite infections, particularly demodectic mange.
There is still no evidence that I am aware of that indicates that collies or any other breed of dog have adverse reactions to ivermectin, milbemycin or other monthly heartworm prevention medications at the standard doses. I find it kind of amusing that many of the folks who write me believe that I should recommend milbemycin over ivermectin since it is safer. The irony is that milbemycin only requires a ten times overdose to cause symptoms so it is actually more likely to cause reactions in the unlikely event that someone manages to overdose their collie to this degree.
To get back to the point, though, there is good evidence now that the sensitivity to ivermectin is not a simple reaction to a particular medication. Dogs who are susceptible to ivermectin toxicity have a mutation in a specific gene sequence. This mutation affects a drug transport system involving p-glycoprotein. When this molecule is not present in adequate quantities drugs that are absorbed into cells can not be removed by the cell and a toxic exposure results.
The inability of dogs with the specific gene mutation (MDR1d) to process ivermectin also affects their ability to process a number of other drugs, some of which are used fairly frequently in veterinary medicine. These drugs include all of the monthly heartworm prevention medications, narcotics (loperamide, butorphanol), acepromazine, digoxin and dexamethasone. In addition, there are severe implications for dogs undergoing chemotherapy, as several of the most commonly used chemotherapeutic agents as well as the best drug to prevent nausea associated with chemotherapy, ondansetron, can also be toxic to patients with this condition. While the heartworm prevention medications must be overdosed to cause problems the high end of standard dosing schedules for narcotics and acepromazine are within the toxic range for some dogs.
Collies, Australian shepherds, Shetland sheep dogs, Old English sheepdogs, German shepherds and long haired Whippets are widely affected and scattered reports indicate other breeds may be affected to some degree, as well. There probably isn't a major reason to check for this condition unless you have one of the well recognized breeds to be affected with this problem as this time, though. There may be a related or very similar gene in Border Collies
I think that I would want to know the results of this testing prior to any event that involved anesthesia, treatment for demodectic mange or chemotherapy. Many vets, possibly most vets, use acepromazine prior to anesthesia and use pain relief medications such as butorphanol or possibly morphine that may be affected by the presence of this gene mutation in conjunction with surgical procedures.
Genetic testing for multi-drug sensitivity is available from the Veterinary Clinical Pharmacology Laboratory at the College of Veterinary Medicine of Washington State University. The cost is currently $60 for a single dog or $51 per sample if five samples are submitted at a time. A cheek swab is all that is required and the kits for testing are available from the laboratory. More information is available from the vet school's web site, www.vetmed.wsu.edu/vcpl
Dr Mike Richards, DVM
3/8/2006
The following information is from UC Davis.
http://www.awca.net/drug.htm UCDavis has a nice page on the MDR1d gene for reader and Collie owners and clear states that the monthly heartworm pills containing Ivermectin are safe to use and that only high doses of Ivermectin are toxic to collies. Since these people are doing the gene sensitivity studies with Washing State University, I think their judgment on the issue is sound.
Problem Drugs included in sensitivy
There are many different types of drugs that have been reported to cause problems in Collies, ranging from over-the-counter antidiarrheal agents like Imodium® to antiparasitic and chemotherapy agents. It is likely this list will grow to include more drugs as our research progresses.
Drugs that have been documented, or are strongly suspected to cause problems in dogs with the MDR1 mutation:
Ivermectin (antiparasitic agent)
Loperamide (Imodium®; over-the-counter antidiarrheal agent)
Doxorubicin (anticancer agent)
Vincristine (anticancer agent)
Vinblastine (anticancer agent)
Cyclosporin (immunosuppressive agent)
Digoxin (heart drug)
Acepromazine (tranquilizer)
Butorphanol (pain control)
Potential Problem Drugs
The following drugs may potentially cause problems when given to dogs that have the mutation. Biochemical studies have shown that this gene has the potential to act on over 50 different drugs.
Ondansetron
Domperidone
Paclitaxel
Mitoxantrone
Etoposide
Rifampicin
Quinidine
Morphine
There are nine breeds identified as being affected by the gene. It has also shown up in some German Shepherds and some mixed breed dogs.
Affected dogs in breed populations with MDR1-1
Breed
No. of Dogs
Tested
Super
Sensitive
Sensitive
Normal
Australian Shepherd
179
2%
30%
68%
Australian Shepherd, Miniature
56
4%
45%
52%
Collie
287
32%
46%
22%
English Shepherd
91
<1%
14%
86%
McNab
35
3%
29%
69%
Old English Sheepdog
212
1%
9%
90%
Shetland Sheepdog
214
2%
17%
80%
Silken Windhound
124
1%
37%
62%
Longhaired Whippet
89
16%
52%
33%
These breeds have been tested and so far the gene has not been found..
Australian Cattle Dog
105
Australian Kelpie
109
Bearded Collie
136
Belgian Malinois
63
Belgian Tervuren
104
Bernese Mountain Dog
111
Border Collie
222
Borzoi
91
English Setter
73
Flat Coated Retriever
111
Greyhound
110
Italian Greyhound
117
Jack Russell Terrier
91
Koolie
56
Labrador Retriever
113
Pembroke Welsh Corgi
132
Whippet
105
Note: There have been recent reports on the internet that the mutation has been found in Border Collies.
Quarantine regulations changed in UK
Traveling with your pet to the UK is easier now. The US and Canada have been added to the List of accepted counties In The PETS agreement. There are still some very specific guidelines to be met and you and your vet need to strt the process six months before you plan your trip with your pet or you may have a quarantine problem anyway.
You have to travel into the UK by commercial carrier, either plane or boat. Pets traveling on a private plane or boat are not allowed to enter the UK.
Certain procedures are required before your pet can travel. Prepare at least seven months in advance: It may take at least 7 days , sometimes longer, for a vaccination to build a titer unless the pet was previously vaccinated. Vaccinations do not protect instantly.
Have your pet micro-chipped - so that it can be identified
Have your pet vaccinated against rabies
Have a blood test to ensure that the rabies vaccination has worked and obtain the appropriate certificate to prove this (your pet cannot enter the UK until six months after the blood sample was taken)
You must then obtain a PETS certificate from a government-authorized vet
Before your return trip to the UK all pets have to be checked for ticks and tapeworm by a local vet - and a certificate issued.
For more details and advice: The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Animal Health Division, 1a Page Street, London SW1 4PQ. Telephone: 020 7904 6577
A list of all member counties and procures involved are found at the above website. Everyone who travels with a pet outside of their country might want to bookmark the site.
Michal
3/20/2006
Canine Influenza Virus - previously unknown
Question: hi, this is gwen writing from work. mia is under the desk, sleeping. anyway, here is the question. someone at work yesterday told me that they heard on the radio that there is a dog influenza virus out there now that is quite serious with no treatment. is this true, and what can be done for the dogs? what are the symptoms? is it life-threatening? btw, saw my question about heat stroke on the main site. glad it was a question worthy of putting out there. if you can please send the response to my normal email, that would be good. thanks. just writing this from here because i have the time.
gwen and miaAnswer: Gwen-
In further researching this question I have discovered that the canine influenza outbreak in greyhounds has spread to other dogs in Florida and elsewhere in the country and that the virus is now considered to be contagious from dog to dog. There are two good web sites for information on this:
http://www.diaglab.vet.cornell.edu/news.asp
http://www.aazv.org/canine_flu.htm
The mortality rate reported is low but the infection rate is high after exposure so this may become a new challenge for dog owners. I suspect that individual pet or working dogs, even those with a fairly large amount of exposure to other dogs but not in group situations like shelters or kennels will probably not run into this virus much, at least for a while. Eventually it is likely to spread pretty widely in the dog population, though. I would be surprised if someone isn't working on a vaccine but have no direct knowledge of that.
I'm not sure why this information didn't turn up in my original searches --- sometimes it is just a matter of picking the right search words!
Mike Richards, DVM
9/27/2005
http://www.avma.org/public_health/influenza/canine_guidelines.asp
Last edited 01/04/08
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