DOG HEALTH AND MEDICINE

The holidays are a time for family and tradition. But it can also be a time for pancreatitis for dogs. The most common cause of pancreatitis in a dog is the ingestion of a lot of fat. People feed a lot of high-fat treats in the wake of these holidays, or the dog gets hold of them inadvertently. The fat then increases the production of the digestive enzymes in the pancreas, which is what gets the process going.

Most cases of pancreatitis in dogs are acute. They come, and then they go. But sometimes, instead of an acute presentation, it develops into a more chronic presentation, says Linda Ross, DVM, a Tufts veterinarian who specializes in diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.

Palliative radiation therapy is an option for those dogs whose cancers are too far advanced or whose tumors for whatever reason will not be responsive to surgery or chemotherapy. This therapy can make the rest of their time with you as comfortable and asymptomatic as possible.

The side effects of palliative radiation therapy, as opposed to definitive radiation therapy meant to help cure a cancer, tend to be minimal because the total dose is pretty low.

Letters to the Tufts Veterinarians - A tumor in a testicle; Veterinary Information Network; Which food is right for my puppy?

I've always understood that dogs don't see as many colors as people, or don't see colors as brightly, but I read recently that they have ultraviolet vision and can see colors that aren't even on our radar. How can both things be true?

When we suggest to clients that their dog should go on a ventilator, theyll often ask, Doesnt that mean the prognosis is really bad? says Tufts emergency and critical care veterinarian Armelle de Laforcade, DVM. And the truth is, she adds, if a dog is sick enough to be on a ventilator, shes pretty sick. In fact, when we first got a ventilator years ago, we tended to put a dog on it right before she died as a last resort. So we, too, were left with the impression that it doesnt work, doesnt save lives. But we have found over time that if you think about the reasons to put a dog on a ventilator and you put her on early, it really is a useful tool to carry her over until she recovers from a bodily insult.

Youve no doubt heard the term rotator cuff. It applies to dogs as well as people and refers to the fact that the shoulder joint is supported by a cuff of muscles. If those muscles are torn, stretched, or otherwise compromised, moving the shoulder can cause great pain. And fixing the problem requires patience. In a person, for example, wearing a sling might be required for weeks to months, especially if there has been surgery to repair the injured muscle. The patient may not even be allowed to lift a glass of water because the muscle tissue, still weak, can tear all over again.

As Tufts researchers work to develop a scoring system to help determine whether a splenic mass is a deadly cancer or a highly curable hematoma before the owner makes a decision to have surgery performed, they have also confirmed that the prognosis for dogs with hemangiosarcoma is tied closely to the cancers stage. When veterinarians talk about a cancer being stage 1, 2, or 3, they are referring to where the cancer is in the body. (Grading a cancer, on the other hand, is about what the disease looks like under a microscope.)

Benign hematoma or deadly cancer, what most commonly leads to death around the time of the operation in the 8 percent of dogs who die in the hospital is either bleeding in overdrive or clotting in overdrive. If theres bleeding in overdrive, its not just in the spleen but also all over the body. The bleeding at the site of the spleen consumes the dogs clotting factors in an all-out effort to staunch the flow of blood, so the dog now becomes prone to bleeding in other areas of the body. Its called coagulopathy.

One of the most common things we see is dogs who are brought in with splenic masses, says John Berg, DVM, a Tufts veterinary surgeon with a particular interest in certain types of cancer. Hes talking about masses that develop in the spleen, the abdominal organ (in both dogs and people) whose major function is to store emergency supplies of red blood cells as well as other components of blood. And the masses Dr. Berg is talking about can be huge - volleyball-size, he notes.

They said it couldnt be done. Okay, we said it couldnt be done - me, my wife, and Franklin. Soon after Rosies arrival when Frankie was already three years old, he starting packing on the pounds, going from a svelte 49 pounds to a rather astounding 74 in the course of just a couple of years. And there appeared to be no turning the tide.