Mosquito ConsiderationsIn an October 2008 seminar, Dr. Tom Nelson made much of the increased numbers of tropical storms hitting the Gulf Basin in the past several years since Hurricane Katrina. His thesis is that more storms equals more rain, equals more flooding, equals more mosquitoes. This was not much accepted as an explanation for the […]
Author Archives: Doc
Preventive Medicine Considerations Heartworm preventive products have never been “100% effective”, but they have been pretty close. It is interesting to note that in the drug approval process, testing is done in a (relatively) small number of Beagles in a laboratory setting, using only 100 microfilariae to infect the subjects. This is a far cry […]
Heartworm Testing Considerations One explanation proposed for the increase in dogs diagnosed with heartworm is an increased sensitivity (or accuracy, if you will) in the tests that are being used. In other words, if you have a better test, you'll find more dogs with low numbers of heartworms that you might have missed previously. Thirty […]
The Problem In the past three years, we have seen a significant increase in the number of dogs where heartworm preventive medication has not been 100% effective. In addition, it has been more difficult to clear infected dogs of the worm burden with treatment. It has also been more difficult to clear microfilariae from dogs […]
Worked till 2:00 PM. Grabbed a sandwich and ate lunch in the car on the way to Murray, Kentucky (2.5 hour drive from old Kennett). Met son at dorm for end of semester load-out. Filled the van full of dirty clothes, clean clothes, unicycle, accordion, books, CDs, fencing equipment and stale groceries. 2.5 hours to […]
We’re Some Kind of Boy Scouts("We Will Rock You", with apologies to Queen ) Written by T. Everett “Doc” Mobley Introduction:Sometimes in stories or movies, we see a man who does the right thing, even when he doesn’t have to. The other guys are going to do something bad, and he doesn’t go […]
Three times each year the Cherokee District Boy Scouts camp together for a big group outing with lots of fun activities for the boys. It's a big deal compared to a regular camp-out. This spring, we combined with five other districts. I couldn't get all the tents in one picture from the top of the […]
When the phone call starts that way, I am often skeptical. People often blame poisoning for everything from cancer to parvovirus diarrhea. How do you know it's been poisoned? Did you leave poison out where your dog could get it? Did you see him eat it? Before I could ask any of my questions, the […]
The dermatologists harp on this, and for good reason. When a dog has a skin problem, you frequently see a very non-specific outward appearance. If he's been scratching it, it just looks like it's been scratched a lot. You will probably see hair loss, flaking skin, redness, crusts, scabs, maybe some pimples. This will be […]
Here's Mollie. [Sorry the photo is a little out of focus; our timeline got way out of hand and I didn't take time to check the picture before she left.] She's a complicated case and she got me to violate one of my basic rules, to wit: I'm a doctor for the whole patient, not […]