What is a reverse sneeze?
A reverse sneeze is a sneeze, snort, gagging sound that some pets make for no apparent reason. Some owners may think their pet is choking while experiencing a reverse sneeze episode. Dogs will stand with their necks stretched and their chest will often heave but they do not appear to be in any real distress.

What causes reverse sneezing?
The exact cause of this process is not completely understood, but it is typically attributed to an irritation of the throat and/or soft palate that results in the subsequent spasm. Common contributing factors include allergic disease, excitement, irritants, pressure from a color, inhaled foreign material, and eating or drinking. Short-faced (brachycephalic), small breed, and overweight dogs may have more incidence of reverse sneezing. Rarely nasal mites are found in dogs that are reverse sneezing.

How are reverse sneezes treated?
No treatment is required. In some cases offering food or water may interrupt an episode. Offering a toy, command, or walk outside may also help. If the problem progresses additional diagnostics including scoping of the nose may be indicated.

What is the prostate?
The prostate is a gland located beyond the bladder in the male urinary tract. The urethra passes through the prostate. In young dogs the bladder is within the pelvis while in intact adult males it can naturally drop into the abdominal cavity. The prostate is responsible for providing fluid to transport and nutritionally support sperm. Depending on when a pet is neutered the prostate will either discontinue further growth or shrink as much as 80% in size.

What are symptoms of prostate disease?
Common signs include difficult, painful, or bloody urination or defecation as the diseased prostate puts pressure on the urethra below or colon above. Narrowing of the urethra an also cause a thinner stream or prolonged time to complete urination. Incontinence may also be noted. While in some dogs with prostate disease there be no visible signs, in severe cases systemic signs such as fever, abdominal pain, vomiting, anorexia, or abnormal gait may also be noted.

What diseases affect the size and health of the prostate?
The prostate enlarges naturally in intact males with age. This is termed benign prostatic hyperplasia. While not harmful in and of itself, the enlargement can predispose to other issues (infection, cysts) and lead to pressure on the urethra and thus urination issues. The prostate gland can become infected with bacteria typically secondary to a urinary tract infection. This can then lead to abscesses or pus filled pockets of fluid. Prostatic abscesses can be life threatening. Tumors of the prostate gland while less common in dogs than humans can also develop. In some cases tumors in other locations such as the testicles can also secondarily affect the prostate.

What testing is involved with prostate disease?
Palpation of the prostate via rectal exam is often the first step looking for abnormal size, shape, or discomfort. Radiographs may further help define the prostate gland. Ultrasound is another imaging option to look at the interior structure of the prostate. This may performed externally through the abdominal wall or via the rectum. General blood and urine tests are used to determine other potential complicating factors. A sample can be obtained directly from the prostate via a needle or in some cases a urinary catheter. In some cases a surgical biopsy may be necessary.

How is prostatic disease treated?
Treatment is based on the involved disease process. Very commonly castration (neutering) is necessary to lower hormone levels and thus decrease the size of the prostate. Bacterial infections, some tumors, and benign prostatic hypertrophy all require castration for any decent chance of successful treatment. Oral antibiotic therapy if necessary is often for a prolonged period of time. With some forms of prostatic disease surgery may also be necessary. Prognosis is directly dependent on the specific disease diagnosed.

Obesity has become an extremely important health problem in the Western world, not just for humans but for dogs and cats as well. Obesity in pets is associated with joint problems, diabetes mellitus, respiratory compromise, and decreased life span; recent estimations suggest that up to 35% of dogs and cats in the U.S. suffer from obesity.

Why Obesity is Bad

A common justification for over-feeding treats is that a pet deserves a higher quality of life as a trade off for longevity. While this might on some level makes sense (after all, a pet munching on a treat is certainly getting a great deal of satisfaction from doing so), the other consequences do not make for higher life quality in the big picture. Here are some of problems that obese animals must contend with while they are not enjoying their treats and table scraps.

Arthritis
The over-weight animal has extra unneeded stress on joints, including the discs of the vertebrae. This extra stress leads to the progression of joint degeneration and creates more pain. Weight management alone decreases and can even eliminate the need for arthritis medications. The problem is compounded as joint pain leads to poorer mobility, which in turn leads to greater obesity.

Respiratory Compromise
The obese pet has a good inch or two of fat forming a constricting jacket around the chest. This makes the pet less able to take deep breaths as more work is required to move the respiratory muscles. Areas of the lung cannot fully inflate, so coughing results. The pet also overheats more easily. Many cases of tracheal collapse can be managed with only weight loss.

Diabetes Mellitus
Extra body fat leads to insulin resistance in cats just as it does in humans. In fact, obese cats have been found to have a 50% decrease in insulin sensitivity. Weight management is especially important in decreasing a cat’s risk for the development of diabetes mellitus.

Hepatic Lipidosis
When an overweight cat goes off food or partially off food because of illness or psychological stress, body fat is mobilized to provide calories. Unfortunately, the cat’s liver was not designed to process a large amount of body fat. The liver becomes infiltrated with fat and then fails. A stress that might have been relatively minor, such as a cold, becomes a life-threatening disaster.

Reduced Life Span
A study of age-matched Labrador retrievers found that dogs kept on the slender side of normal lived a median of 2.5 years longer than their overweight counterparts.

Unwillingness to Accept Therapeutic Diets
If the pet should develop a condition where a therapeutic diet is of great benefit, the pet that has been maintained primarily on a diet of table scraps may be unwilling to accept commercial pet food of any kind, much less a food modified to be beneficial for a specific disease process. This unwillingness will hamper treatment.

Increased Surgical/Anesthetic Risk
Obesity poses an extra anesthetic risk because drug dosing becomes less accurate. (It is hard to estimate a patient’s lean body mass for drug dosing if it is encased in a fat suit.) Furthermore, anesthesia is inherently suppressive to respiration and adding a constrictive jacket of fat only serves to make proper air exchange more challenging. And still further, surgery in the abdomen is hampered by the slippery nature of the extra fat as well as difficulty visualizing all the normal structures through the copious fat deposits. One never knows when a pet will require an emergency surgery (to say nothing of regular teeth cleanings). So is the enjoyment of all those extra treats really worth it?

How did my Pet get so Fat when he doesn’t really Eat that much?

One might think weight management might be easier for a pet than it is for a human. After all, the pet relies completely on someone else for feeding and exercise so it should follow that if the humans in control can regulate feeding and exercise, the pet should lose weight. It seems like this would be true but, as with humans, there is tremendous individuality with how different pets store the food they have eaten. Beyond this, sometimes it is hard to know what a pet is eating or the owner may not have a good sense for how much should be fed. Here are some factors involved:

A cup of food depends on the cup
When food packages refer to a certain number of cups of kibble being appropriate for a certain body weight, they are referring to an actual measuring cup. This may seem obvious but many mugs, coffee cups, and other scooping cups may not be equal to a cup measure. If you do not have a cup measure, you can often get one from your veterinarian’s office as most manufacturers of reducing diets for pets provide free cup measures.

The package guidelines are just guidelines
Many packages of food include on their label some sort of feeding schedule that indicates how much food should be fed to a pet of a certain weight. This information is also available on most pet food web sites as well. The problem is that each pet is an individual and just as one person weighing 150 lbs can be obese and another person of the same weight may be skinny, the same is true of pets. These guidelines are meant as a starting point only. If your pet is too fat on the recommended feeding schedule, then you should reduce the amount of food or change to a diet that is higher in fiber so that a satisfying volume of food can still be eaten without adding calories.

Genetics
Some animals simply have the genes that predispose them to obesity. Dog breeds with genetic tendencies towards obesity include the: Golden Retriever, Cocker Spaniel, Dachshund, Beagle, Shetland Sheepdog, Boxer, Cairn Terrier, Basset Hound, Cairn Terrier, and Labrador Retriever.

Children at home
It is almost impossible to keep children from providing extra treats to their dog. This may include snacks spilled during play (pets have no “5 second rule”) or purposely feeding the pet unwanted food under the dining table. Similarly, pets that are allowed to roam (usually cats) often find food left out by neighbors, either to purposely feed their own pets or strays, or as unsecured trash. It is almost impossible to control the diet of an outdoor cat.

Slow metabolism
Some pets do not burn calories efficiently; they simply have a slow metabolism. This might be genetic as mentioned or it might be the result of a disease such as hypothyroidism or Cushing’s disease. Testing for health problems such as these is helpful to get the best treatment for resolution of the obesity. It seems like increasing exercise and eating a healthier diet would be easy to accomplish for a pet but it generally does not turn out that way.

Underestimation of the power of treats
Many people express their affection for the pet by providing regular treats, and the pet happily obliges by begging or even performing cute behaviors. For some people, feeding treats to the pet constitutes a major part of the human-animal bond and they do not wish to give it up or reduce it. Pet treats are often high in calories, though, and four or five treats readily converts into an extra meal’s worth of added fat. Free feeding of dry food encourages the pet to snack as well; meal feeding represents better calorie control.

Neutering
Sterilizing a pet is good for public health (fewer strays means fewer dog bites, less public resources needed for animal shelters etc.), good for a better house pet (less urine marking, tendency to fight or roam), no unwanted litters, reduced risk of many diseases, etc. The change in the hormonal picture, though, creates a tendency to form more fat cells (creating increased fat storage capacity – especially in female cats), and typically slows metabolism.

What can be done: Diet and Exercise

This sounds simple but in fact when one simply tries to cut back on food, it just does not seem to work. As with humans, a more formal approach seems to work best. This means feeding a prescription diet made for weight loss (typically “lite” or “less active” diets are meant to prevent weight gain, not actually cause weight loss), feeding a measured amount, and coming in for regular weigh-ins at the vet’s office.

This means:

• There must be control over what the obese pet eats. That’s easy enough if there is only one pet and roaming is not allowed, but trickier if there is more than one pet in the home. Use your ingenuity to feed the pets separately.
• Feed in meals. Leaving food out encourages snacking. Feeding in meals makes it easier to feed multiple pets different foods or different amounts of food.
• Commit to regular weigh ins. Know what the goal weight is and how long it should take to reach this goal/or how to tell if the pet is on target. It is important not to try to go too fast. If the weight loss is not on track, sometimes it is necessary to feed more rather than less. Your veterinarian can contact the clinical nutritionists at the pet food company so as to make the best recommendations.
• Consider interactive toys that can be used when you are not home or where your own participation is minimal.

As an initial step in obesity management, be sure to rule out health issues that might specifically cause obesity. For more specific information, consult your veterinarian or see www.petfit.com.

What is mammary cancer?
Mammary cancer or better known as “breast cancer” in humans is an abnormal growth of tissue in the mammary gland. 25% of dogs spayed after their second heat will develop mammary cancer at some point in time. Of these dogs, half will have malignant tumors and half will have benign tumors. Benign masses do not cause risk to the animal as a whole while malignant masses tend to spread to other parts of the body (metastisize) or cause additional local damage. The only way to differentiate between these types and determine the specific behavior is to perform a biopsy of the tumor’s tissue.

What causes mammary cancer in pets?
Cancer is caused by a variety of factors, many that are still unknown thus making it that much more difficult to prevent. In general genetic damage or mutations to cells initiates excessive duplication of cells and eventually what is diagnosed as a tumor. The greatest correlation to occurrence has been made with lack of early spaying. Dogs spayed before their first heat have close to a 0% chance of developing mammary cancer. This incidence increases to 7% and 25% after one and two heats respectively. Obesity at 1 year of age and high fat diets have also been linked to mammary cancer in dogs. For cats early spaying has similar benefits.

What are signs of mammary cancer?
Most commonly a palpable bump is felt along the mammary chain on the belly. There are often more than one of these at the time of diagnosis. While redness, pain, and discharge are also possible, they are not as common.

How is mammary cancer diagnosed?
A sample of the abnormal tissue is collected and submitted for histopath (microscopic) analysis. This typically takes anywhere from three to five days after submission. This will not only differentiate between benign and malignant but will also determine cell of origin and grade which directly affect prognosis and future tumor behavior.

How are mammary tumors treated?
If diagnosed early, prior to spread, initial treatment of choice is surgical removal of the mass. Sometimes the associated lymph node will also be removed. Prior to any surgery xrays of the lungs and general blood work are recommended to look for any additional concerns including obvious spread to other areas of the body. Spaying may also be indicated in pets that are still intact. Based on the tumor’s histopath results, additional drug or radiation therapy may be indicated.

What is my pet’s prognosis?
Prognosis or survival is almost solely dependent on pathology results, tumor type, and evidence of spread at time of diagnosis. While 50% of tumors are malignant, 70% of these are cured with surgery.

A hot spot is an area of self-trauma typically secondary to a local area of irritation that a pet then excessively chews or scratches. The typical appearance is a red, moist lesion that may be hairless of have the appearance of matted wet fur. These lesions are typically acute in nature with owners reporting that they were not present even hours earlier. Common causes include flea bite allergy, inhalational or food allergies, and ear infections.

Treatment for hot spots involves treating the wound and any subsequent infection, relieving discomfort, and if possible identifying the underlying cause. Because these wounds are often painful, sedation or injectable pain medication may be required. The area is then shaved to remove all fur and cleaned to remove debris over the affected area and to allow better airflow for healing. Medical treatment may involve topical sprays, antibiotics, and pain medication. An Elizabethean collar is often necessary to prevent further self-trauma. Additional testing may be necessary to better determine contributing factors to the hot spot.