When you belong to a two-family-doctor household, you think you have special medical powers and can even treat your dog. Sometimes this is a nail, and sometimes it's a fail. Thankfully, Pepper is a very healthy dog, which we attribute in part to never feeding her anything other than dry high-quality dog food and keeping to a pretty good routine, so we rarely have to take her to the vet for a sick visit.
When she joined our family at a little over a year old, not yet spayed (and in fact, on her period!) and soon after she had her hysterectomy, I removed her sutures at home.
When she seemed tachypneic one day, I tried to listen to her lungs with my stethoscope (which was not particularly helpful for diagnosis) but figured that she'd have appear more sick if she really had pneumonia. She got better.
When her floppy ears started to get a bit smelly, we googled shih-tzu dog ear infections and felt comfortable preparing our own homemade ear concoctions including a topical steroid, anti-yeast azole and antibiotic ointment (and a maintenance flushing solution with vinegar). When we learned that pulling ear hair can help prevent ear canal infections, we borrowed some work hemostats to pluck it at home. (Of note, I have not and will never milk anal glands).
When once, a few years ago, she became rigid, incontinent and a bit dazed, we suspected that she'd had a generalized seizure, but because the post-ictal state didn't last long and it never recurred (and she was a young dog), we didn't take her in because we figured there was not much to be done (we did call the emergency vet line for advice, though!).
When she had what appeared to be doggie eczema, we treated with topical steroids (but ultimately had to take her in for worsening symptoms that required some oral canine prednisone).
I remembered that my dad once tried to treat one of our dog's arthritic condition with an ibuprofen, which caused severe gastrointestinal upset, so while Pepper hasn't really hasn't ever seemed particularly in pain to where an NSAID would even be a consideration, at least I know not to use human Motrin on our dog!
I take her in for regular annual checkups in the fall and keep up to date with the recommended vaccines and stool tests, but occasionally I'm one of *those* doggie parents that declines routine bloodwork (i.e. chem panels and I skipped heartworm last year) as she's an asymptomatic and relatively young (well, now middle-aged at eight) pup and lab tests are expensive (does anyone get pet insurance or think it's worth it?)! We brush her teeth at home because we don't feel it's particularly cost effective to spend $500 for a cleaning under anesthesia, which my parents also are convinced contributed to the decline/death of one of their dogs.
I had scheduled a veterinary appointment for today as Pep's scaly elbows/eczema didn't seem to be improving on twice daily topical ointment, as well as because her left ear seemed particularly stinky despite our ear drops. However, additionally, yesterday she had frequency of urination three times on her midday walk, and had had an indoor accident on Sunday when we were returning from out of town (which we had just attributed to the stress of our house- and dog-sitter, Kelly, having just left and her feeling like she'd been abandoned, not knowing if/when we'd return). I immediately was trying to figure out if she had a doggie UTI.
So, on Wednesday, I found myself googling the best ways to collect a urinalysis in dogs! I read about cystocentesis, where a sterile needle and syringe are used to obtain a sample from the bladder through the abdominal wall (like a suprapubic catheterization in humans); alternatively, the bladder can be catheterized through the urethra like we sometimes do in (preferably anesthetized) humans. These seemed way too invasive for our little 13-pound pup, so I thought I would attempt a midstream urine catch.
I wasn't very confident I'd be successful in my endeavor; however, during her lunchtime walk, I held a sterile urine container under her stream when she squatted (not even getting my hands wet! Yes!) and then later brought it to the vet's office, where, when I disclosed what I'd done, the front desk staff informed me that they generally use a soup ladle! Genius!).
All in all, one long hour and $250 later, Pepper was diagnosed with a bacterial ear canal infection for which she will need twice daily antibacterial drops for two weeks, and we were given an antibiotic foam to use if her skin/eczema appears super inflamed or infected (to reduce the frequency of chronic steroids).
But as for the urine (the collection of which I was so proud!)? The vet ended up doing a point-of-care bedside ultrasound to rule out stones (which apparently are common in this breed), and did in fact perform a cystocentesis because she felt my collection was not going to be uncontaminated enough. There didn't appear to be evidence of a UTI or bladder stones (good news). But it appears and I was a bit peeved, frankly, that I stuck my hand under my dog's urine stream for no good reason (but it was my own fault for trying to play doctor, I guess).
We like vets. Vets are better than family doctors than treating dogs. But I do appreciate having basic medical knowledge, and I'm pretty sure we'll try to continue preliminary home treatments in the future.
When she joined our family at a little over a year old, not yet spayed (and in fact, on her period!) and soon after she had her hysterectomy, I removed her sutures at home.
When she seemed tachypneic one day, I tried to listen to her lungs with my stethoscope (which was not particularly helpful for diagnosis) but figured that she'd have appear more sick if she really had pneumonia. She got better.
When her floppy ears started to get a bit smelly, we googled shih-tzu dog ear infections and felt comfortable preparing our own homemade ear concoctions including a topical steroid, anti-yeast azole and antibiotic ointment (and a maintenance flushing solution with vinegar). When we learned that pulling ear hair can help prevent ear canal infections, we borrowed some work hemostats to pluck it at home. (Of note, I have not and will never milk anal glands).
When once, a few years ago, she became rigid, incontinent and a bit dazed, we suspected that she'd had a generalized seizure, but because the post-ictal state didn't last long and it never recurred (and she was a young dog), we didn't take her in because we figured there was not much to be done (we did call the emergency vet line for advice, though!).
When she had what appeared to be doggie eczema, we treated with topical steroids (but ultimately had to take her in for worsening symptoms that required some oral canine prednisone).
I remembered that my dad once tried to treat one of our dog's arthritic condition with an ibuprofen, which caused severe gastrointestinal upset, so while Pepper hasn't really hasn't ever seemed particularly in pain to where an NSAID would even be a consideration, at least I know not to use human Motrin on our dog!
I take her in for regular annual checkups in the fall and keep up to date with the recommended vaccines and stool tests, but occasionally I'm one of *those* doggie parents that declines routine bloodwork (i.e. chem panels and I skipped heartworm last year) as she's an asymptomatic and relatively young (well, now middle-aged at eight) pup and lab tests are expensive (does anyone get pet insurance or think it's worth it?)! We brush her teeth at home because we don't feel it's particularly cost effective to spend $500 for a cleaning under anesthesia, which my parents also are convinced contributed to the decline/death of one of their dogs.
I had scheduled a veterinary appointment for today as Pep's scaly elbows/eczema didn't seem to be improving on twice daily topical ointment, as well as because her left ear seemed particularly stinky despite our ear drops. However, additionally, yesterday she had frequency of urination three times on her midday walk, and had had an indoor accident on Sunday when we were returning from out of town (which we had just attributed to the stress of our house- and dog-sitter, Kelly, having just left and her feeling like she'd been abandoned, not knowing if/when we'd return). I immediately was trying to figure out if she had a doggie UTI.
So, on Wednesday, I found myself googling the best ways to collect a urinalysis in dogs! I read about cystocentesis, where a sterile needle and syringe are used to obtain a sample from the bladder through the abdominal wall (like a suprapubic catheterization in humans); alternatively, the bladder can be catheterized through the urethra like we sometimes do in (preferably anesthetized) humans. These seemed way too invasive for our little 13-pound pup, so I thought I would attempt a midstream urine catch.
I wasn't very confident I'd be successful in my endeavor; however, during her lunchtime walk, I held a sterile urine container under her stream when she squatted (not even getting my hands wet! Yes!) and then later brought it to the vet's office, where, when I disclosed what I'd done, the front desk staff informed me that they generally use a soup ladle! Genius!).
All in all, one long hour and $250 later, Pepper was diagnosed with a bacterial ear canal infection for which she will need twice daily antibacterial drops for two weeks, and we were given an antibiotic foam to use if her skin/eczema appears super inflamed or infected (to reduce the frequency of chronic steroids).
But as for the urine (the collection of which I was so proud!)? The vet ended up doing a point-of-care bedside ultrasound to rule out stones (which apparently are common in this breed), and did in fact perform a cystocentesis because she felt my collection was not going to be uncontaminated enough. There didn't appear to be evidence of a UTI or bladder stones (good news). But it appears and I was a bit peeved, frankly, that I stuck my hand under my dog's urine stream for no good reason (but it was my own fault for trying to play doctor, I guess).
We like vets. Vets are better than family doctors than treating dogs. But I do appreciate having basic medical knowledge, and I'm pretty sure we'll try to continue preliminary home treatments in the future.
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