Dog Routine Problems

It is a good bet almost every dog will have the need for at least one ofthe procedures during a normal lifetime.

Unusual Swellings Other Than Growths. Abscesses form fromsplinters, dog bites, gunshot wounds, or any other injury that breaksthe skin. One of a host of different bacteria may be the cause but most abscesses are treated by lancing the lesion, draining it, and flushing itwith an antibacterial material. If extensive, a drain may be necessaryand hot compresses.

Cysts are usually smaller than most abscesses and are not usuallyinfected. They are lanced, expressed, and if necessary their linings areremoved.

Serum Pockets. After accidents great pouches of fluid often developunder areas of skin that has been loosened. Sometimes they fill withblood which clots and from which the plasma is absorbed back intocirculation. If the injury is serious enough, bacteria may gain access tothe pocket. After the skin is shaved, an incision at the lowest part ofthe pocket is made and the fluid and clots squeezed out. The area maybe flushed with antibacterial solutions and the body bound to press theskin against the underlying layers to promote rapid healing with orwithout a drain.

Ear Hematomas. Hematomas are pockets of blood between layers ofthe skin. The most common location is in the ear. Dogs with ear mitesbruise the ears by constant scratching. Dogs shaking their heads bruisethe ear flaps on collar hardware. If the ear is not treated, the ear willheal with a gnarled deformity, sometimes called a potato chip ear. Letthe veterinarian operate.

One method of surgical treatment of a hematoma in the ear, to facilitate rapidhealing without puckering. The drain is moved back and forth to prevent themiddle strip from healing, and is removed when the sides have healed down.

Lacerations should be cleansed and if the edges have skin withoutgood circulation it must be trimmed away before suturing. It is wise tohave open lacerations sutured promptly to prevent infection. The tip ofthe flap of some, such as a three-corner tear, may have an inadequateblood supply and must be trimmed before suturing. Commonly causedby barbed wire, this kind of tear will retract in a few days, makingsurgical repair more difficult.

More extensive lacerations usually require drains to prevent hemato-mas and seromas and to permit the drainage of purulent material frominfection, which commonly develops.

Lacerations of the edges of the ear tend to become deeper as the dogshakes its head. Healing is often completely prevented, and even afterthe area has healed, the dog may open the tissue to blood flow byshaking its head incessantly. The bleeding can be greatly reduced bytaking a stitch to encircle the blood vessel at the base of the notch. Afresh cut can best be repaired by your veterinarian, who will use ananesthetic and carefully suture layers of the skin of the ear togetherseparately. One stitch through both skin layers and the cartilage isseldom entirely satisfactory, but if the skin is sutured neatly, the carti-lage and layers will heal together evenly.

Warts. Simply cutting a wart off results in hemorrhage. To removeone successfully, the skin below the wart must be dissected along withthe protruding part. A few drops of local anesthetic under the wart isenough to deadens the area. A single suture bringing the skin togetherusually results in perfect healing. Regardless of local anesthesia, manydogs are apprehensive and struggle. It is usually best to remove suchlesions with a general short-acting anesthesia.

Polyps and Papillom.. Little toadstool-like growths on the body orin the mouth or on the lips of a dog may often be removed by simplytying them with a thread at the base with a surgeon's knot and lettingthem drop off. However, oral papillomas can be no numerous thatmuch more extensive surgery is required. If there arc only a few ofthese virus-caused oral papillomas, we prefer to do nothing as the dogwill develop resistance, usually in four to six weeks, and the growths willdisappear without treatment.

Eye Surgery. Most eye surgery, such as cataract removal, demands ahigh degree of skill and should be done by a specialist if one is available.One lesion that appears serious is quite easily corrected, and that isthe prolapse of a glandular tissue from the inner corner of the eye. Itappears suddenly and is considered by many concerned owners to be agreater emergency than it is. Lubricat the tissue and gently pressed it back under the third eyelid to treat the eye with ointment. More often it will not remain corrected and shouldbe removed surgically. If the condition develops in one eye we canpredict it will occur in the other eye one day.

Sometimes foreign objects must be removed from the eye. A light oilsuch as a few drops of cooking oil in the eye will lubricate it so that theobject works toward the inner corner, where it leaves with excess tears.Another minor problem that may appear worst than it is is a swelling, under an eye, that ruptures and drains down the cheek. It wouldn'tappear that the problem is an abscessed tooth root but it usually is. Oneof the roots of the largest tooth, the fourth premolar, is the problem.After the tooth is extracted the abscess heals.

Two minor maladies requiring surgery. Left, abscess under the eye, which can becured by extraction of infected tooth. Right, inflamed gland of Harder, whichcan be snipped off.

Dental Surgery. Unlike the human physician, the veterinarian islicensed to perform dentistry among his or her many services.

The most common culprit in dental problems is the buildup of tartaror plaque on the teeth, which causes receding of the gums by pockets

of infection. Removing the tartar should be done if necessary to saveteeth. Different types of food seem to have little effect on tartarbuildup. In our kennels some of the dogs fed a mushy mixture hadbeautiful healthy teeth and gums all their lives, whereas others had tohave the tartar removed every six months. Sound teeth and gums seemto be influenced by heredity.

You may be able to chip or scrape tartar from your pet's teeth butmost dogs require a little anesthesia to reach all the affected areas. Ifthe tartar is soft, a moistened cotton swab dipped in powdered pumiceor even baking soda will remove it.

Some teeth become so loose they can be pulled out with your fingers.Many dogs in certain breeds lose most of their teeth before they aretwo or three years old. It appears to us that many dogs pass through aphase of a few years when, due to gum disease, they lose perhaps halftheir teeth and live the remainder of their lives with their remainingteeth in good condition. A dangling loose tooth does not require veteri-nary assistance to be removed you can do it.

In older patients extractions may be difficult as with age the jawbones become dense. Some teeth must he sawed or split before theroots may be removed.

Although it is rare, dogs can have cavities, in our experience alwaysin the first upper molar teeth. Teeth with cavities should be extracted.

Removing Dewclaws. Some dog owners brag about their pet's extratoes and never have them removed. According to show standards, somebreeds of dogs Newfoundlands, St. Bemards, and all the retrievers,for example need dewclaws, the surplus and often useless toes equiva-lent to human thumbs. Most owners, even show enthusiasts, have noobjection to front dewclaws but think that on the rear legs they tend todetract from the neatness of the dog. Accordingly, they insist thatthese useless appurtenances be removed. Dewclaws tend to be inher-ited as Mendelian dominants. It should be remembered that two daysof age is the ideal time to remove them. At that age dewclaws may besnipped off with scissors and cauterized with silver nitrate to controlbleeding. Many puppies have been killed by unenlightened amputationtaking place when the puppy is two or so weeks old, which results inexcessive bleeding.

As a practical matter, it is important to remember this: raw starch isnot soluble in cold water but it does dissolve in boiling water. However,about twenty times as much water most be added for the dissolving totake place. Mixed with an equal amount of water, it does not dissolve.Dissolving starch does not materially alter its composition, but whendissolved starch cools it becomes solid. This unimportant change ex-plains why pet food canners like to add some starchy foods to theirproducts before processing. Many of these products are excellent foodbut are not the solid goodness the buyer might think, since they are atleast 70 percent water.

In order to make starch digestible for some species dogs and cats it is necessary to crack the granules by cooking. The starch can then behandled quite easily. Rabbits, cavies, and other dog digest part ofthe cellulose by enzymes in their bodies and liberate the soluble starch.Because lumps of potato were sometimes found in dogs' stools, it wasonce commonly believed that dogs couldn't digest starch. When potatoes, carrots, or any other starch food iscooked and mashed, dogs can utilize it perfectly well.

Baking starch to 400° F changes it to dextrin (not dextrose) agummy, sweetish substance, not unlike sugar, that dissolves easily. Bis-cuits taste good to dog because the heat has converted the starch to dextrin. They are sweeter but actually very little different from starch;they have one more molecule of water (H20).

Starch is found in the dog liver and muscles as glycogen or dogtarch. It is soluble in hot or cold water. Animals quickly convert vege-table starch into dog starch, and they are able also to convert proteininto glycogen.

Fasting uses up stored glycogen, eating replaces it, and quickly.Within a few hours after a meal of starch there are abundant stores tobe found in the liver. As it is circulated for the nourishment of thebody, glycogen is converted into blood sugar, glucose. And, as theblood leaves the liver, it may contain as much as 3 percent glucose.Sometimes dog arc fed so much sugar they cannot store it. Theexcess is found in the urine; allowances for this must be made in testsfor diabetes.

Besides the starches there are several carbohydrates common to mostdiets.

Milk sugar (lactose) is found in its only natural liquid form in milk. It is not, as a matter of fact, particularly sweet. Lactose is the food ofacidophilus bacteria in the intestine. Many very difficult cases of intes-tinal trouble have been greatly helped by the simple expedient of add-ing milk to the diet or some food like bread which has considerablemilk in its composition. Lactose is easily dissolved by the acid digestivejuice. Its action on the bowel is laxative, which explains the effect ofskim milk.

Cane sugar is good for dog but spoils their appetites as candyspoils those of children. It is, of course, usually fed in artificial forms.Honey is composed of cane and fruit sugar. The latter is the sugarsweetest known to taste.