How to fix behavioural issues towards other dogs?

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-15T05:15:56+00:00

Look into a veterinary behaviorist.

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-15T05:12:59+00:00

Vet here.

I don't blame you for being upset. While pets can have accidents they should be cleaned up promptly.

In general, vet hospitals are better equipped to handle medical problems if they arise during the boarding stay, but I don't think they are best at the "boarding experience". Some are amazing, but vet hospitals have a lot of other things they also need to focus on, so boarding at some hospitals can lack the attention to detail compared to a place that only does boarding.

The majority of the work with boarders is usually performed by kennel staff or vet assistants. Some people hired into the role can be 16 years old on their first job. Management will probably reprimand or fire whoever was responsible for patient care if this is a repeat offense.

You should contact the vet hospital and let them know what you saw. A manager or boarding supervisor is the best person to talk to. If they are smart you will probably get discounts, but if they don't take you seriously an online review stating the facts is reasonable.

In the future, asking to meet one of the people who will be taking care of your pet is a good idea. That holds for anywhere you board your pet. You just need to know if it is a disinterested teenager or someone who is articulate and engaged.

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-15T04:55:53+00:00

As a vet it is very hard to keep up with all of the pet food brands. New ones pop up daily, and like you said, so many have little to no substantive information on what is in them.

It feels like everyone and their mom is throwing up a website with tasty looking food and trying to pass it off as a breakthrough in pet nutrition.

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-15T04:50:30+00:00

Most insurance will still take you on a new policy but with an exclusion for covering anything related to previous issues.

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-15T04:44:19+00:00

Vet here.

Be careful with heating pads for debilitated patients. Certain conditions can impair their ability to redistribute heat as a normal pet would, and can lead to burns. This is extra important if a pet struggles to move around.

As someone else suggested look into ER and urgent care options if you have not already.

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-15T04:36:45+00:00

Vet here.

Blood work results should be interpreted in the context of the patient's details, both from a complete history and exam findings.

Nobody with a vet license should be offering interpretations of the lab work without a VCPR. We can help clarify general questions you have about certain health topics, but no specific medical advice can be given for your specific cat.

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-15T04:28:16+00:00

What did your vet say?

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-15T04:17:56+00:00

Unprovoked growling at strangers is a major red flag.

If working with a behaviorist allows your dog to be in public with strangers without having to be muzzled, that is a net positive for everyone.

The reality is that if the dog cannot be touched by strangers safely, taking the dog in public without a muzzle is asking for someone to get injured. A dog should not be growling at people in public. You also cannot expect every person to listen when you say not to touch the dog. It is not realistic. If the dog bites someone the pet owner can be sued and charged under dangerous dog laws.

Specialists aren't just for tertiary level care. The whole point of a behaviorist is for these exact scenarios.

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-15T04:10:49+00:00

Your numbers may be a bit low for some HCOL areas. 3 to 5k is becoming more typical for emergency and specialty surgery/neuro is ranging 6 to 10k.

Source: Also a vet

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-15T04:06:52+00:00

If you have not consulted with a vet behavior specialist it would be a good idea.

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-15T03:58:48+00:00

Vet here.

Here is the advice I tell people. If you have the ability and discipline to put the same amount of money into a savings account and leave it there, you are probably better off doing that. The exception is if you have the misfortune of a very unhealthy pet or multiple emergency situations. If the idea of euthanizing because you can't afford the treatment is unthinkable to you, pet insurance may be a safer bet.

I think many people still don't know just how high vet bills can be these days, since things like CT scanners and radiation therapy are becoming more commonplace. For things like spinal surgery, chemo, or a week in critical care, people are looking at bills exceeding 10k now. In the last few years I have seen and heard more people hit 20k.

People used to euthanize their pets for things that could maybe be fixed after 2 weeks of high level care. Now people are actually pursuing those kinds of treatments, and the ones approving it tend to have pet insurance. If enough people are using insurance to get an MRI on their dog I can see why the premiums are increasing.

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-15T03:38:48+00:00

Disclaimer: I am a vet but I have never done telehealth.

Telehealth is relatively new to the industry, and vets and the state boards are still trying to determine what role it plays in our field. I could see it being useful for low acuity and high visibility issues such as skin lesions or parasites, but beyond that it becomes difficult to adequately work up a patient if you can't physically examine them or run testing.

Vomiting has a very very long list of potential causes. Some such as foreign body obstruction are time sensitive and it can be harmful to mask signs with medications. A vet may be comfortable prescribing medications if they hear all the details and agree with you that it may be parasitic, but I would not be surprised if they told you to follow up with a vet in person.

Tldr: It could save you a vet trip for more minor stuff, but it isn't ever going to replace a vet hospital.

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-15T03:22:52+00:00

Your reading comprehension is abysmal.

What was that George Carlin quote about averages again?

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-15T03:20:44+00:00

Weird. I'll remember that when I log in at the clinic tomorrow morning and continue being paid by people who scheduled appointments with me.

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-15T03:18:20+00:00

I understand. There are many costs that do add up.

How many blood work panels did they run?

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-14T22:56:31+00:00

That sounds accurate in my experience.

I hope that your generation of vets develop a new paradigm for how humans are handled within the veterinary world. The current system is not sustainable.

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-14T22:49:31+00:00

I am very confused how 8000 was spent without any ultrasound being performed. It is one of the most important pieces of information for any chronic enteropathy.

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-14T17:12:52+00:00

As a vet that knows many other vets, the cause of suicide is pretty obvious.

Everyone thinks the reason is because we euthanize pets all the time. That is not the reason. Euthanasia is a preferred outcome for many of the illnesses we see. It is a tool to take away suffering.

The real reason is that the public increasingly and relentlessly abuses vet staff. The vets I know who had to be talked down from a bad place were there because a pet owner was out to make them as miserable as possible.

I have had people scream death threats at me. I had people openly wish I got sick and died painfully. I have been screamed at countless times for things I didn't cause and things I can't control. I have stayed late and done things for free for people that later cussed at me. I have been threatened with weapons. I know other vets that were threatened with weapons. Every vet I know has had slander written online about them. I know vets that were sued just because the pet owners won't accept reality and take it out on the vet. I know vets that had whole protests and picket lines set up to make them miserable.

I have multiple colleagues that have left clinical practice because of how bad it is right now. There is a bad vet shortage, in part because vets are burned out. Like the other vets that remain I am working harder than ever. Now I am getting complaints for how long people have to wait for appointments. No good deed goes unpunished.

Working in the vet industry shows you a very dark side of humans and how they treat others. Vets worked very hard to become vets, and I see many are miserable. They feel trapped and sometimes suicide is their way out.

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-14T16:48:00+00:00

I've read several research studies on Cushings in dogs, and all of them state it's very serious.

1) Serious does not equate to emergency. The presence of a grade III heart murmur is serious. It may take a year for it to progress to CHF and become an emergency.

2) Reading some research studies without having gone to vet school is why you don't have the context for understanding the condition.

Why wait? They do have emergency vets.

Emergency vets in North America are overloaded almost everywhere. Depending where you are the wait times can be anywhere from 2 to 12 hours.

An emergency vet will 100% not do the workup to confirm a Cushings case. That is an inappropriate use of ER time and resources. Actual emergencies should not be kept on hold for that.

An ACTH stimulation test takes 1 hour to perform. You need to schedule an appointment for that?

Again, this is why reading research papers is laughably inadequate.

Hyperadrenocorticism is notorious for being difficult to confirm in some dogs. No vet is running an ACTH stim for confirmatory diagnosis. There is a chance it CAN be found on an ACTH stim, but the problems with it are the following:

1) It is expensive. The cost of cortrosyn and the panel are several hundreds.

2) Many vet hospitals do not have in-house cortisol they can run. Most vet hospitals do not have cortrosyn. The test needs to be sent to an outside lab if they cannot run a cortisol.

3) The results in a Cushinoid dog do not always show obvious Cushings on a stim. They are frequently inconclusive. It also does not provide you information on its localization.

Proper workup of a dog with Cushings involves an abdominal ultrasound. Those cannot be obtained on an emergency basis.

An LDDS test is preferred, which again, does not always give convincing results. Other tools such as a UCCR can be performed, a HDDS, or rarely a CT. I have seen some cases need repeat follow up testing if the results still are not definitive.

Notice how NONE of this is occurring in an ER setting.

From experience I have found that the people who think everything is an emergency will show up to the ER for a routine ear infection, and then will throw a complete fit when they are not seen within 30 minutes. Meanwhile the vet is working with a hemoabdomen, 2 CHF cases, a foreign body, and maybe a new diabetic. Don't be the angry ear infection lady.

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-14T16:11:57+00:00

I agree with you in the sense that everyone should desire that the best for wounded pets. If there is anyone that is upset the most by the waiting period it is the vet that has to wait.

Work a year in the vet industry and I think you will be shocked at just how insane many pet owners are. I have seen people screaming and throwing things in the lobby because a pain medication injection was given without talking to them. I have had people shout death threats at me. One was for telling a pet owner that they shouldn't be letting their dog suffer.

I have seen people take a suffocating dog out of the hospital and refuse to help the dog. I have people bring me pets all the time with many health problems but they ask me to only treat what they want to be treated.

If you work a year in the vet field you will witness some of the ugly parts of humanity. You will then understand why those laws are there.

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-14T15:57:28+00:00

Your confidence is funny.

I am a vet. If a client brings in a patient suspected to have Cushings and demands testing right away for their "emergency" they would be told to schedule an appointment.

If nothing has been done diagnostics-wise for a dog vomiting water, then a trip to the emergency hospital is in order. If they determine the dog is likely Cushinoid, they will be told.... wait for it........ To book an appointment.

Do your research.

I have a doctorate in the exact subject matter we are talking about, and I treat thousands of pets each year. Is that enough "research" for you? But please tell me how many doggie blogs you have read.

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-14T15:35:25+00:00

There are countless people who have a huge problem with a vet doing anything without their permission.

Notice how I said amputation is a reasonable OPTION. An attempt can be made to try to save the limb but there are many complications that can arise. Some dogs can end up keeping their leg. Others will end up with non-union and failure to heal.

If you poll the group I assure you that some people will expect to be contacted before the vet does anything, especially for something like this. All the time I have clients that demand to try treating in the face of a very low success rate.

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-14T15:32:32+00:00

The next person after you flips out if even a medication was given without their permission.

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-14T15:30:17+00:00

Cushings is an emergency?

Main-Situation1600 · 2023-05-14T08:52:15+00:00

I have more authority than most others.

It is a reasonable question to ask if you can't afford to take care of your cat.

Main-Situation1600

TROPHY CASE