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Book Review: Engineering for Cats

Book Review: Dogs Rough & Smooth

Dogs Rough & Smooth by Lucy Dawson, foreword by Susan Orlean Harper Design, 2016 This is a facsimile edition of celebrated British illustrator Lucy [...]

A Saint: Roberta Baker

Roberta Baker was a saint. It is incredible to me how little I appreciated that when we were working together. As the song says, [...]

Earl Russell, An Older Gentleman

I didn’t spend a lot of time with Earl Russell, but he left me with a profound influence that I didn’t appreciate at the [...]

My Friend Alvin Toombs

Here’s another story about someone who enriched my life. I lived in Alvin’s front yard for 12 weeks, one week per year for [...]

Custom Artwork from the past

Once upon a time, there was a very talented young artist named Em Naughton. Em had a lot more talent than she did money [...]

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Butch the Lion at the Hayti Zoo

Hayti had a zoo? Improbable as that seems today, it really did. When I was a kid, I loved nothing better than going to [...]

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Resorptive Lesions in Cat Teeth – FORLs

We used to call these FORLs – Feline Odontoclastic Resorptive Lesions. The dental specialists decided to drop "feline" because they started finding them in [...]

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The most amazing orthopedic surgery, and the most amazing cookies

Several months ago, Oliver broke his left front leg, both bones, and right above his wrist. With both bones broken, a splint or cast [...]

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Like father, like son… sort of

This could be about Father’s Day or my birthday or science or all three. That' s my Dad on the left, and that good-looking, [...]

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The Story of Jude, KHD’s Famous Gunshot-wound Case

This is one of those crazy things. We’ve seen lots of dogs with severe wounds that needed help, lots of nasty messes. Officer Petix [...]

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“Mr. Bill” Westbrook, gentleman of the dance.

For some time now, I’ve been thinking about a series of blog entries that would profile people who have really enriched my life. While [...]

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Fasting for 12 hours before anesthesia

We always tell folks to take away the pet's food the night before any procedure that will require anesthetic: surgery, dental cleanings or extractions, [...]

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Shedding – It’s normal for your pet

My daughter sends me a nice email from Zambia today: Is there anything we can do to control Spud's shedding. He seems to shed [...]

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Book Review: “Thanks For Picking Up My Poop”

Who has not lived in fear of how they will be able to waste time when their internet is down? Sure, you probably have [...]

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What to name the cat?

In a way this is more about the subject of names in general, but I’ll get to cat names eventually. If you can’t wait, [...]

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Peanut Butter artificially sweetened with Xylitol is dangerous for your dog

Xylitol is an artificial sweetener that is relatively well tolerated by most people. It is in lots of "sugar-free" or artificially sweetened products, from [...]

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The Invisible, Underground, Electric Dog Fence

Dogs love to play, and they need to exercise. The bigger they are, the more room they need to run and play. People know [...]

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Fireworks are more fun for people than for pets.

I think my worst dog and fireworks injury was the dog who snatched up a lit firecracker and it blew up in his mouth. [...]

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Broken nose is healing fast.

Three days post-op. Very little nasal discharge now, most of the swelling has gone down, and he's running and playing. Ah, to be young [...]

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A pretty bad broken nose.

This little guy evidently did something to antagonize his adult buddy in the home. Apparently, the big guy bit down on his head – [...]

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People Helping Pets this Christmas

At this holiday time of year, we think about giving and receiving gifts, and about helping those in need. Kennett’s Humane Officer, Tena Petix, [...]

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“Letter to the Editor”? Did not see that coming.

I was a little surprised to find my last post about our animal control situation printed in the Daily Dunklin Democrat newspaper as a [...]

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Balancing finding homes for needy pets, and providing good animal control service.

You may be aware that there are some upsets and disagreements over the handling of our city’s animal control department. This is a complex [...]

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The case of the dog who ate the non-food item.

Eating non-food items is a big problem in pets. It happens so often that I am amazed at how seldom I have to do [...]

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Systemic Fungus Infections

What is wrong with this kitten? How did she get this classic "Roman Nose" profile? She wasn't born with it. She has an infection [...]

Why didn’t my comment show up?

Well, I wish I had known this a long time ago. I tried to reply to someone's question yesterday and could NOT get it [...]

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Aural Hematoma repair question

I don't usually put these things in the form of a post, but the comments don't seem to be working as they should on [...]

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Dog still tests positive after heartworm treatment

Ken writes: I adopted my dog from a shelter 2 years ago. She was estimated to be 1 year old at the time. She [...]

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Specialists versus Renaissance Man versus Insect

You may wonder what this rant has to do with veterinary medicine, but be patient. I’ll get there. “A human being should be able [...]

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Heartworm Treatment Decisions

Here's a note from Pat: I've read so much I am sick. Rescued my shih tzu mix 7 months ago. He was tested negative [...]

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Over-the-Counter Pain Medicines for Dogs? Not so much, no.

Dogs tend to be good-natured and stoic, and often conceal their pain. Many times we find older patients who have really painful arthritis, and [...]

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Cat Bite Abscesses Revisited

My uncle used to be in the law enforcement profession. He told me stories of prisoners being stabbed with a “shiv” and not even [...]

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Pet care and the language barrier

When I was in high school and college, there was a certain time when it was considered "mandatory" to take a foreign language class. [...]

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Dogs Jumping Up On You – Natural, but annoying

It is very common to have a problem with a dog that jumps up on you. It is the natural greeting behavior of dogs [...]

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Big Bladder Stone

I’ve posted a case like this in the past, but it never ceases to amaze me. This dog doesn’t look like she feels very [...]

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How Tight Should a Collar Be?

Some animals wear crazy costumes. Some wear bandannas, and some wear harnesses, and some wear halters like the “Gentle Leader”, but a collar is [...]

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Dog’s can’t really digest bones.

I've posted before about why we don't feed bones to dogs. They really don't get any nutrition out of them, and they can certainly [...]

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Microchip Identification in Dogs

“So, on those microchips, what kind of range do they have?” About three inches. When people don’t really understand what microchip identification is, they [...]

Communication is more than just words.

I was at a veterinary convention and heard a report from our state licensing board. They told us that the vast majority of complaints [...]

Taking the Doctor’s Advice

You’ve probably seen the TV ad where the doctor rushes across the ball field trying to make a catch. “You wouldn’t want your doctor doing [...]

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Following Directions

"Now why is there two sets of directions on this bottle?” What do you mean? “It says on this label, give one pill twice [...]

First Aid for the Poisoned Pet

Today a lady arrived at our door with a drooling, twitching puppy, and around a half-gallon of insecticide. It had been a full gallon [...]

Sometimes the very best care is not enough.

We can do so many wonderful things with medicine and surgery that we begin to think we can fix anything. If we just do [...]

Internet Sources for Veterinary Advice

People are searching the internet for information on how to care for their pets. Some veterinarians hate this. Not me. It would be pretty [...]

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Celebrating Dogs and Décor

I received a review copy of Sleeping With the Beast, by Dale Ryan. It’s not your everyday dog-book. To quote the dust jacket notes, [...]

Consulting a Specialist, Episode 2

Well, it seems like only yesterday that I was writing about the importance of consulting a specialist, and here we have a case in [...]

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Consulting a Specialist

My tag-line that follows my signature on Veterinary Information Network is “I’m lost, but I’m making good time.” When I am putting a puzzling [...]

Veterinary Medicine at the Career Fair

In a nearby small town, the counselor organizes a “career fair” every two years. She doesn’t call on the same professions each time, as [...]

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Cats Hate Restraint – Episode 2

My last post about cats hating restraint was more directed at being physically held down. This is about a cat named Murphy, named for [...]

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Cats Hate Restraint

I find that sometimes cat-owners are reluctant to have their pets sedated for examinations and what appear (to the casual observer) to be minor [...]

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Horsehair Worms

The horsehair worm is a parasite that lives in water, and its larvae infect insects. Every year or two, a panicky client finds one [...]

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What else can I do with my itchy dog?

One of our readers writes: I have 2 Chihuahuas, one weighs 10 pounds and the other weighs 15 pounds. They both have the same [...]

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Too Old for Tumor Surgery?

This is Ling Ling. She’s some kind of a Collie mix, or something. Sweet dog. Her picture here was taken a few years ago [...]

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What is a safe anesthetic?

What is a safe anesthetic? I’d have to say that it’s one you wake up from without any apparent damage. OH… you meant which [...]

Phone lines are out of order

If I were just punching the clock, I might think how great it is not to be troubled by the phone. What a great [...]

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After the Puppies are Born

Care of the Bitch after Whelping Pregnancy and nursing puppies constitute a severe strain on the mother’s health. Though most mothers handle the task [...]

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Normal Birth in Dogs

Normal Birth in Dogs Preparations for Whelping: Begin preparations for delivery of puppies before the female gives birth. A whelping box should be provided [...]

Normal Pregnancy in Dogs

I received a question on this today, so I will post the handouts we use here at KVC. This is the first of three. [...]

FurEverBrite Glow-in-the-Dark Pet Collar

I had ordered a couple of these to tie on to my dog, but I found a better alternative. You see, most of the [...]

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Removing Painful Teeth is Worth the Trouble

I got excited this week. I got excited because I got the opportunity to fix something that really needed fixing. You might think that [...]

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The Fur-Ball Tree Returns

At this holiday time of year, we think about giving and receiving gifts, and about helping those in need. Kennett’s Humane Officer, Tena [...]

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Diagnostic Workup Success – that almost wasn’t.

This is Molly. A few days ago she was presented for an examination. She had been limping a little the night before and just [...]

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Is there a good alternative to Immiticide treatment?

Eric writes: Thank you for all the information regarding heartworm prevention and treatment. There is a lot of misunderstanding. We are an animal welfare [...]

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This wound looks worse than it is.

I saw this little kitty today for a very nice lady who wanted a second opinion. Her cat received a big wound in the [...]

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Seizures – Why? Is it time to start medicine?

I received an email with a question about seizures today I have had my little chihuahua (female, about 4 or 5 years old, weighs [...]

Grassbur (Sand bur) pick-up: easy and fun

Necessity is the mother of invention, but ingenuity is the daddy. Sometimes little triumphs can give you a lot of pleasure. The KVC exercise [...]

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What is Pyoderma?

A client writes in, "What is Pyoderma?" Pyoderma means "pus in the skin". That is, infections in the hair follicles. Probably not fatal, but [...]

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Pain after Heartworm Treatment

A reader writes in today: Had our cocker spaniel treated 5 hours ago with his first shot. For the past 5 hours, he can [...]

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What to do now that Immiticide is in short supply.

A reader writes in: Hi. I have a 12 year old mixed breed who has been on Heartguard preventative most of his life. Unfortunately, [...]

Testimony to Good Nursing Care

A stray cat had kittens out in a fellow's shed. She took off and abandoned two of them. One of them had already died, [...]

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AHS offers guidance in face of Immiticide shortage to treat heartworm infection

Aug 11, 2011DVM NEWSMAGAZINE National Report — As a shortage of the heartworm treatment Immiticide® looms, the American Heartworm Society unveiled an interim management [...]

Chronic Recurring Ear Infections

Liz writes: We have a 100 pound American bull Dog. He has had a constant yeast infection in his ears for over one year. He [...]

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Flood waters cause abandonment of animals – ASPCA to the rescue… and me.

Lots of flooding in the Caruthersville, Missouri area, even before they dynamited the levee upstream. Many people left and abandoned their animals. Last week [...]

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Snake-bites and Facial Swelling

Most of the snakebites that I have to deal with here are from copperheads. We do have cotton-mouth water moccasins, but most of my [...]

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Osteomyelitis in a Toe

This is Storm today. She looks pretty happy. That's because her toe is not hurting nearly so badly as it was 10 days ago. [...]

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Crushing Injury’s Fabulous Follow-up

Back in the fall I posted a series of photos, sort of a "diary" of the healing of a bad crushing injury. The last [...]

Time for Tumor Removal

This really super-nice dog is thirteen years old. You can see that his beautiful chocolate coat is nicely accented by a lot of gray [...]

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Thinking about poisons and your pet.

I just got an email from the Animal Poison Control Center. Here's a link to a page on their site listing some of the [...]

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Fractured Jaws – Dizzy’s Story – Part Five

Five weeks, and Dizzy ate on his own for the first time. When he continued to do so for a few days, it was [...]

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Fractured Jaws – Dizzy’s Story – Part Four

Two more weeks of nursing care (four weeks total so far), and it looks like the infection is all under control. I'm thinking it's [...]

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Fractured Jaws – Dizzy’s Story – Part Three

So now we're a couple of weeks into this mess. In this picture, you can see that his tongue is healing well. Some of [...]

Fractured Jaws – Dizzy’s Story – Part Two

Dizzy would rather sleep in his litter-box and eliminate on a towel, so that's what we did. You can see his feeding tube hanging [...]

Fractured Jaws – Dizzy’s Story – Part One

Warning: Gross pictures below You may have seen Dizzy's picture with a face full of acupuncture needles. That's pretty much an "after" picture. We [...]

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Sinus Fracture

Abi is a beautiful, good-natured dog who got a little too close to a horse’s hoof. Actually, she got kicked in the head. It [...]

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Menagerie Fire – Day 10 – Going Home

Well, the Alligator-Man is mending. He still has a lot of bandages on his hands, but seems in good spirits. Big Brownie is feeling [...]

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Menagerie Fire – Day 5

Big Brownie has got some liver problems: really high bilirubin and alkaline phosphatase. Ultrasound of her liver doesn't look bad. Gall bladder is really [...]

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Menagerie Fire – Day 4

Well, I'm down to just Big Brownie, here. Her blood-work has been delayed. I could have run basic stuff here, but I wanted more [...]

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Menagerie Fire – Day 3

The saga continues. Today some reptile rescue folks came down from St.Louis to take charge of the turtles, tortoises, snakes, and gators. They were [...]

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Menagerie Fire – Day 2

I haven't heard definite news about the owner of the menagerie yet, but last word was that his burns will require long-term hospitalization. This [...]

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Menagerie Fire

There's a fellow who calls himself "The Alligator Man" who has wintered in Kennett the last couple of years. He lives in a big [...]

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Is this your Border Collie?

This beautiful male Border Collie appears to be a little less than one year old. He was found in Hayti, Missouri. He had been [...]

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Pet Food Recall

KROGER RECALLS PET FOODS DUE TO POSSIBLE HEALTH RISK CINCINNATI, Ohio, December 18, 2010 – The Kroger Co. said today it is recalling select [...]

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Demodex Mites live in the hair follicle.

This little guy has localized demodecosis. He doesn't look bad at all, not like generalized demodecosis (aka, "red mange"). This is the "spot case" [...]

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When the problem changes, re-evaluate the diagnosis.

And the diagnosis is: I do not know. One thing seems evident: it wasn’t a hematoma (ruptured blood vessel). Things really changed in the [...]

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Pain is Nature’s Way of saying “Don’t do that.”

When one of my patients isn't using a leg, it's usually because it hurts. If something hurts, I try to stop doing it. That [...]

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Genomes, Science and Egos

You hear a lot about DNA and deciphering the genome. In the November 6, 2010 issue there is a great article about this. This [...]

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Enlarged Spleen of the century

When a dog-owner calls and says that his dog is dribbling a little urine, you think of the usual suspects: weak bladder sphincter, bladder [...]

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Crushing Injury with Bite Wounds – a diary with a happy ending.

I've talked about crushing injuries before more than once. They are a lot worse than cuts and punctures, and initially, it's pretty hard to [...]

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Missouri’s Proposition B – Vote No.

Clients and friends have been asking me what I think about Proposition B in our upcoming election. So, here's what I think. Who doesn't [...]

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