Here goes a Dinosaur, typing with two fingers. I guess it shows (although slowly), that even a Brontosaurus can learn to use Social Media. I accuse my addicted, non-prehistoric friends of “playing,” but they claim that they are “networking with clients,” and perhaps they are more correct than I. I try to learn something every day, so I hope today that I will learn that we can increase animal care awareness if I reach out on Social Media! We examined a dog recently so affected by Demodectic Mange that we sadly had to euthanize him. It was pointed out to me that, however easy diagnosing medical problems seems, there are MANY factors that should make it the realm of professionals. Even if the owner knew the dog’s medical diagnosis, the complications had caused heartbreaking results. A friend of the owner had been giving the dog injections in attempt to cure the dog. Even if the injections were of the right type of pharmaceutical, the dosage could be too small to be effective or too large to be safe. The real problems were secondary to the Demodectic Mange: yeast and bacterial infections that were causing the dog to scratch itself until it bled.

What started my musings is that today is Saturday, the day when hundreds of people flood into our SPCA Small Animal Hospital for vaccinations. Vaccinations are the reason that most people take their pets to the vet, and also the reason that older pets (who need fewer vaccines), visit the vet less frequently. Really, vaccinations are the smallest part of the need for a veterinarian. The annual or semi-annual exam, the diagnostics, and the conversations about pet care that only a veterinarian can have with an owner are why the relationship is worth nurturing.

I performed an examination on a small dog before neutering it recently, and I discovered a heart murmur. When I called the owner to discuss the murmur, she was shocked that it had not been discovered before, because her animal had been seen by our veterinarians before. A quick review of the medical chart showed that the dog had been vaccinated by a veterinary assistant, with the owner clearly declining an exam from a licensed veterinarian and thus, the murmur went unnoticed. So the moral of my post is please have your pets examined by a veterinarian. They can tell what is right or wrong with your pet and help save lives.