robertwoodsdvm.com Blog

YAY! My good friend “Sprint” with help from her owner, took SECOND PLACE in the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge 2009 Nationals in the large dog agility competition. Sprint made the trek to Purina Farms in Summit Gray, Missouri to compete on October 2nd and 3rd in their National Finals Competition. I get the pleasure of treating Sprint with acupuncture, and have seen her compete in agility before. She is a dog that truly enjoys every moment of competing and lets you know by barking the whole time! I am glad she placed, but I am sure Sprint could upstage that Border Collie that won, if she was given another chance. Sprint certainly lives up to her name.

In the state of California, a Rabies vaccination is required for all dogs over 6 months of age. The first documented Rabies vaccination for a dog is considered to be “good” for 1 year. Every following Rabies vaccination is considered to be protective for 3 years.
When it comes to vaccinations, I do prefer to do titers rather than vaccinate, but the state of California does not accept a Rabies vaccine titer as a substitute for an overdue Rabies vaccine.
I am pleased to now be able to offer the “safest” type of Rabies vaccines to my clients. They now manufacture a Mercury free Rabies vaccine, also referred to as TF (Thimersal Free). Thimersal is a mercury containing perservative that is found in vaccines. This is the same preservative that sparks pediatric vaccination debates on the cause of autism in the children of this generation. The hope in the companion animal community, is that the less preservatives a vaccination contains, the less likely it will be to cause an allergic reaction when given. In a dog or cat, a vaccination can cause a hyper sensitivity reaction. Each animal’s reaction varies from something as mild as malaise, to an extreme of hives, swelling, and so on. My hope is that I will see a reduction in adverse reactions, and will be keeping an additional record to compare ratios.

I recently had to speak with fellow veterinarians to enlighten them on the benefits of acupuncture and realistically, how it can benefit our patients. As I was writing, I noticed that I could take an excerpt and inform my clients as well.

The years of being a certified veterinary acupuncturist has allowed me to enhance the quality of life for my patients in numerous ways. Probably the biggest advantage of acupuncture therapy are the minimal side effects associated with its usage. I can honestly say that aside from mild soreness the treatments have been well accepted for a variety of species. I have treated a wide range of conditions using acupuncture with a range of success as well. In general, any inflammatory condition can benefit from the use of acupuncture. Numerous studies have shown the benefits of acupuncture for pain relief such conditions as osteoarthritis and intervertebral disc disease, nausea and anxiety. I have also used it successfully to treat everything from pancreatitis to rectal prolapse. Acupuncture has several physiologic effects including vasodilatation, immunomodulation, neurotransmitter and hormone secretion, and nerve stimulation.

The majority of cases I treat are dealing with chronic osteoarthritis and/or intervertebral disc disease. My success rate for mild to moderate cases based on owner response is well over the 75% range. There are also patients who have undergone treatment for what is thought to be a last ditch effort who have made a full recovery. Granted that is the exception rather than the norm, but if you were to ask the owner if they were grateful to have tried acupuncture, they would whole heartedly support the modality.

Acupuncture is one more powerful tool that has the ability to increase the quality of life for our patients without complications, excessive expense, and no interactions with conventional therapy.

I have included a list of conditions for which I have personally seen improvement using acupuncture. Usually within a series of four treatments, I have an 80% chance of knowing whether or not the therapy is of benefit to my patients. If it is not helping, I will be honest with the client. We all want what is best for our patients, and clients, and I would encourage you to consider acupuncture for those frustrating cases that seem to just need just a little something else.

Conditions successfully treated with acupuncture:
*Intervertebral Disc Disease
*Osteoarthritis
*Anorexia
*Complications of Neoplasia
*Epilepsy
*Fibrocartilaginous Infractions
*Pancreatitis
*Hepatitis
*Autoimmune Disorders
*Chronic Renal Failure
*Asthma
*Congestive Heart Failure
*Glaucoma
*Atopy
*Anxiety
*Inflammatory Bowel Disease
*Cystitis

As some of you know, my cat “Oso” is fighting nasal cancer.

We began homotoxicology remedies as SQ injections given:

8/25/09
8/30/09
9/4/09

The swelling began to go down immediately after the first injection. His body reacted to the swelling as if it was an abscess. The skin punctured open to drain, and he had clear discharge from his nose.
Then I became concerned that the wound was not going to heal, it looked as though the skin was dead around the opening. Almost as if the bridge of his nose was really going to fall off. It was bloody and ulcerated.
I will say last Saturday was not a good day for “Oso” and we held him as we sat on the couch, wondering if these would be his last moments. After that moment, I incorporated a chinese herbal remedy to hopefully help dry up the bloody wound.
The next morning, I could already see the perimeter of the wound was getting smaller and the swelling remained to stay down. He has a good start to maintaining control over the nasal cancer, and probably within a few days, I am hoping the wound will be completely healed. If you remember his entire left nasal cavity was swollen, his eye was pushed closed by the pressure, and the entire bridge of his nose was protruding about an inch and half. As you can see from the pictures, he has no swelling, normal eye shape, and no discharge.
He is still eating normally, laying in the sunshine, and rubbing up against all his cat friends. Hopefully, he will continue to be happy and at least feel like somewhat of a normal cat as he battles

I received an email from a client of mine, who is always fighting for the welfare of pets. She reminded me of the California Senate being days away from voting on the Puppy Mill Bill.

Sadly, this bill was already declined in the state of Texas, so we really do need to speak out of the welfare of our California pets. For more information on it being denied in Texas, you can check my discussion board on facebook.

Here is an example of a letter to send to your district:

“Puppy mills commonly house animals in overcrowded, filthy, and inhumane conditions with inadequate shelter and care. The puppies who survive these conditions are taken from their mothers for sale at approximately 8 weeks of age, when they are highly susceptible to contagious diseases and very sensitive to behavioral stress. Left behind are the hidden victims of puppy mills-the mother dogs.

Puppy mills contribute to pet overpopulation, which is a serious problem in California. Every year, California’s animal shelters are forced to euthanize thousands of dogs due to lack of homes, while puppy mills in our state just add to the problem. Pet overpopulation is a humane crisis and puppy mills feed into it, while taxpayers foot the bill.

Please help stop puppy mills by supporting A.B. 241.

Thank you. ”

For more informaiton you can follow the link below:
Californian’s Take Action Against Puppy Mills

As you can see from the pictures above, our cat “Oso” is battling with a very serious problem. His left nasal cavity is swollen, and that swelling pushes up into his eye, leaving little room for his eye to be entirely open. I initially treated him with allopathic medicine (western), he was sedated , his nasal cavity drained, biopsied, flushed and was treated with antibiotics. Diagnostic testing could not pin point what type of tissue is causing swelling, but it is believed to be either Nasal Lymphoma or Sarcoma.

“Oso” is about 8 years old, and is a very sweet loving cat. Although, he is not the type of cat who is going to allow me to treat him with chemotherapy, even then a good portion of the nasal tissue would have to be removed, and the quality of life of a cat with half a nose is limited. It is not fair to traumatize him in doing such treatments. This is the same cat , who hears the crinkle of the Advantage flea treatment package, and becomes MIA for the next 12-24 hours.

So, we are going to keep him as comfortable as possible. He still loves to eat, loves to roll around in the sunshine, grooms himself, and is still social with the other cats.

I am going to treat him with some homotoxicology remedies that will help the angry tissue drain, and hopefully make it possible for him to see out of his left eye and breathe out of his nose. Essentially, allow him to maintain a good quality of life.

The 3 weeks he was on antibiotics twice daily, he was constantly hiding, so oral homotoxicology is not his best bet. He will get a combination therapy as a SQ injection once weekly and I will document his progress with the camera. I always get random questions about homotoxicology treatments, so hopefully you can witness homotoxicology in action.

Wish “Oso” luck on his battle!

August 9, 2009 would mark “Beaucephous” turning 15 years old. “Bo” suffered from what, sadly elderly German Shepherds are prone to, degenerative myelopathy. Sadly “Bo” only made it to 14.

“Bo”, as you can see, lived the lap of luxury. A few years back, I remember his owner getting him a temper pedic bed, as his new “dog bed”. She would jokingly spend her “date nights” with “Bo”. Aroma-therapy candles, a little music, his specially made bed, and his mountain of stuffed animals, and tell the food delivery man not to ring the bell and disturb her dog who was relaxing.

I saw “Bo” for acupuncture treatments for over 3 years. A 90 pound German Shepherd coming into a pet hospital can be a little intimidating for other clients. “Bo” had a heart of gold though. He would sit on his mat on the floor while I placed the acupuncture needles in their locations. With each needle, I asked “Bo” how his day was, and he would respond with a GIANT german shepherd attack bark. If you were sitting in the lobby, listening, you would think I was being eaten by a huge german shepherd, though “Bo” never once snapped at me. He just had A LOT to talk about! He had to tell me about his week, or how he was worried that his owner was worried.

His owner was always very concerned about his quality of life. She had even gone to great lengths to make sure he was comfortable. She had even gone to see a pet communicator on occasion. Apparantly, “Bo” liked me, thought I made him feel better, and liked “the bunnies”. His owner had no idea what that meant until the next time she brought him in for treatment and saw the decorative rabbits outside our exam room window in the garden. That made us all laugh, and wonder?

If I have a the chance to actually name one of my dogs (rescues usually come with a pre-exisiting name) “Beaucephous” is my top choice, assuming the name suits them.

German Shepherd Rescue

These past weeks have been challenging as a veterinarian who has a close, consistent, relationship with most of my clients. I usually get the chance to personally know the owner as well as the pet.

Over the past few years, I met a young man who was referred to me by Dr. Jean Dodds, DVM and getting to know him, we shared a commonality of growing up in Ohio. He had a sweet pit bull mix named “Sway” who was battling allergies at the time. “Sway” LOVED her dad, and she loved doggie cookies. She was not dog aggressive, but she would bark at other dogs when they came in. Her bark sounded as if she was saying, “this is my dad, he is the best dad in the world, and I am not sharing him!” wagging her tail the whole time. Her symptoms progressed into what was diagnostically proven to be an auto-immune disorder. She battled with weight loss, went through multiple transfusions, feeding tubes….anything she needed, dad was eager to do for her. About 2 years ago, I distinctly remember seeing “Sway” emaciated, feeding tube in her nose, looking with forlorn eyes and thinking, “I am not sure she has anything left to give”. Then the jingle of the front door bells rang, a muffled voice in the lobby, and “Sway”, with every ounce of energy she had left, lifted her head and started wagging her tail. “Sway” knew her owner was there to check on her, everything she did, she did for him and vice versa. I knew after that moment, she was going to be ok, she was going to fight not to share her dad with anyone else.

For the past 2 years, I saw her twice weekly, then weekly, and so forth until we got to a monthly treatment regimine. Each time we put her on the scale she would weigh a little bit more, and be so happy to be with her dad. Every free moment her owner had was spent with and for “Sway”. They lived each day to its fullest.

Sadly a few weeks ago, complications from a sudden onset of pancreatitis and her pre-existing condition weakened her. Her owner, with a heavy heart, took the day off to spend with “Sway” and had made plans to put her to sleep. That afternoon, “Sway” passed on her own with her owner right by her side. I know that “Sway” didn’t want him to doubt that he was making the right decision, she closed her eyes one last time. I was so deeply saddened by the loss of “Sway”, I called home to inform my other half of the news, who was anticipating my updates all day. That whole weekend, neither of us could really be motivated for much, such a sad ending to a two year battle.

Then, last week a card came in the mail, a picture of “Sway” running in the sunset at the beach was enclosed. How touching it was to see her happy enjoying each day she spent on this earth. She had floppy ears, a squishy nose that loved to be kissed, and barked at me until I gave her a cookie. She will be greatly missed, but at least I have a picture to reflect back on and remember the joy she shared with all those around her, come what may.

This Tuesday, July 14th from 4pm-5pm the producers from Cesar Millan’s television show the “Dog Whisperer” will be holding auditions.

The auditions will be held at:
Petco
5961 Warner Ave.,
Huntington Beach

They are looking mainly for dogs with compulsive behavioral problems. You must submit a video no longer than 7 minutes at the time of the audition.

More info at: http://www.cesarmillaninc.com/dogwhisperer/submissions.php

There is an updated informative website www.LeapingBunny.org that is run by the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC) and is comprised of the leading national animal protection groups:

American Anti-Vivisection Society
American Humane Association
Beauty Without Cruelty USA
Doris Day Animal League
The Humane Society of the Unites States
New England Anti-Vivisection Society

and International Partners:
Animal Alliance of Canada
European Coalition to End Animal Experiments

The Leaping Bunny Program:
Cosmetic, personal care, and household product companies that comply with the Leaping Bunny Program’s cruelty-free standard are listed in the Compassionate Shopping Guide. The Leaping Bunny Program requires that no new animal testing is used in any phase of product development by the company, its laboratories, or ingredient suppliers:

Compassionate Shopping Guide