Separation Anxiety: Love is a Battlefield

A few weeks ago my friend adopted a fluffy little 3-year-old mutt named Mack.* Apparently, Mack's previous owners were at the end of their rope with the dog's pooping and peeing in the house, and he was destined for the shelter or far worse. Friendly, cute and active, it's easy to see how Mack wiggled his way into a new home even with his bad toilet habits. After all, with a little hard work maybe Mack could be properly potty trained.

In very short order, my friend discovered the stories about Mack were true. As soon as the family left the house, Mack would deposit little gifts on the rug. As the family vet, my job was to determine if Mack had a medical or behavioral problem. How I wish we'd found a simple explanation on his physical exam, blood, fecal and urine tests! All systems checked out, leaving us with a behavioral issue. And unfortunately there is no magic pill to cure that ill. What we needed to do next was learn as much as possible about the triggers for the bad behavior so we can figure out ways to reprogram Mack's response.

Observation revealed Mack has separation anxiety. In a very short time Mack has become intensely attached to my friend's young daughter. So much so that if he can't physically be near her he freaks out. When the family came over for dinner the other night, Mack had to come too or he would mess in their house. As the kids played in a bunk bed fort, Mack barked and scratched and cried because his favorite person was out of reach. Later, when we sat down to eat, the dog had to be under the table at her feet. To anyone other than a veterinarian, this level of doggie devotion may be touching. To me, it is terrifying!

Separation anxiety is one of the most common behavior complaints I hear about in my canine practice. It beats out undue aggression and excessive barking, but ties with noise phobias (think fireworks and thunderstorms) in summer months. Separation anxiety runs the gamut from barking or pooping on the rug to full-out tooth-and-claw demolition of personal property. This last is obviously difficult to endure. Dogs often injure themselves in their desperation to join their beloved, and they can cause a lot of monetary damage as well. It is not uncommon for these dogs to be relinquished to shelters or even euthanized!

An example of separation anxiety destructiveness

It is June, and Mack cannot stand to be even a few feet away from his girl. Imagine what will happen on her first day of school in September! Like most behavior problems, separation anxiety tends to get worse over time. And we humans often inadvertently make it worse the harder we try to fix it. Instead of caving into Mack's needs, letting him tag along on dinner dates and generally rearranging the family's life to ensure he has the constant companionship he craves, we must act now to curb the clinginess....it's time for a restraining order.

OK, OK! A restraining order may be a bit much. In fact, cold turkey changes can be disastrous in behavior modification programs. Instead of a restraining order, what Mack really needs is an intervention: loving family members, veterinarian and maybe even a certified animal behavior consultant working together to help him make better choices and endure occasional alone time. Properly addressing Mack's separation anxiety will require a lot of time and effort on the owner's part. It might even require the use of "doggie Prozac" so the training can really sink in.

Mack's youth, energy and attentiveness make him a great candidate for such a training program. If a girl's best friend ever deserved a second chance, it's definitely little Mack.

*Name changed to protect privacy.

On Cats and Plants: A Sometimes Sick and Twisted Love Affair

Yesterday afternoon, after knocking down some tall grass and weeds next to the shed, I noticed our farm cat Jimi Happy Hendrix staring intently into the green debris. At first I thought he was tormenting a mouse, but on closer inspection found he was simply fascinated with a fragrant weed. Growing up I always called that particular weed "mint" due to the sharp minty odor its leaves emit when crushed. Soon Jimi was pressing his nose into the plant, pushing and rubbing his head all over the leaves. It reminded me of the common feline response to catnip!

Another farm cat enjoying some naturally occuring catnip.

A quick internet search on Wisconsin weeds revealed that I have catnip growing all over the place on my farm. I was shocked to read that some people intentionally propagate this plant in their landscaping. And I thought it was just a farm weed!

Here are some fun facts about catnip (Nepeta cataria):

• the chemical nepetalactone is the thing that triggers the feline's response
• the catnip reaction is inherited, so some cats are totally unaffected by it
• large cats like tigers can be sensitive to it as well
• the reaction to catnip only lasts a few minutes before the cat acclimates to it; it can take an hour or two away from catnip for the cat to "reset," but then they may have a reaction again
• very young kittens and older cats seem less likely to have a reaction to catnip

While this particular plant obsession of Jimi's is reasonable and safe, it got me to thinking of a recent case that did not have a happy ending.

Sport* was a 2-year-old male neutered indoor tabby cat. He had been vomiting green fluid and not eating well for about two days when his owners called, worried he had eaten a plant prior to onset of his illness. Sport's physical exam revealed lethargy and dehydration. His laboratory work was consistent with sudden kidney failure. Next I placed a call to Animal Poison Control Center, a division of the ASPCA. With the clinical data and plant information in hand (bless the owners for supplying details about the suspected plant culprit -- this is very important in a toxicity case and rarely available!), we determined that Sport had ingested a type of lily. While beautiful, lilies are notorious for causing kidney failure in cats. Unfortunately, even with several days of aggressive therapy it became evident that Sport's kidneys were too damaged to allow for recovery, and he was humanely euthanized to alleviate further suffering.

Stargazer Lily

It is alarming how many plants are extremely toxic to cats. And cats seem to love chewing on most of them. The Animal Poison Control Center provides several helpful resources for pet owners. Here are just a few:

• Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants
• 17 Poisonous Plants
• Top 10 Pet Toxins of 2010
• Animal Poison Control FAQ

If your indoor cat is a plant chewer, it is best to eliminate the dangerous varieties listed on the ASPCA website from his living quarters entirely. For outdoor kitties, you can avoid planting toxic varieties, but obviously the risk of her ingesting a neighbor's unsafe foliage has to be added to the long list of other dangers outdoor cats face on a daily basis while out cavorting.

* Names have been changed to protect privacy.

There's a First Time for Everything

Today as I unloaded my first shipment of veterinary equipment, I discovered my "rabies pole," a heavy duty metal pole with a retractable cable "noose" on one end. This device is used (thankfully infrequently) to safely capture aggressive dogs (and other creatures) and keep them at arm's length. Naturally I wanted to try out my new piece of equipment, so I called upon EdGrrr. (GrrrD, the spaniel, doesn't often come when called; being 13, we debate if she's actually deaf or just has very selective hearing.)

EdGrrr happily obliged my request, leaping and lunging at me goofily in a friendly impersonation of a crazed canine as I fumbled with the unfamiliar "rabies pole." Finally, I lassoed the cable around his neck, snugged the loop and effectively restrained my dog. I lavished lots of love and praise on my willing victim and went back to unpacking. A little later I came across a neat little mad cat capture device that just begged to be tried ..."here, kitty kitty kitty..."

Finished for the day, my thoughts turned away from outfitting my veterinary clinic to my blog. (I've made a pact with myself that I will write every Sunday if possible.) It dawned on me that while the pets of a veterinarian are lucky to receive expert care and medical attention, there's a lot of unpleasantness that a vet's  pets must also endure.

A lot of my veterinary "firsts" were performed on my own pets. The first penrose drain I ever placed was in a major laceration EdGrrr suffered after being hit by a car. GrrrD was one of the first canine spay surgeries I ever performed (the very first was Jada, a frisky humane society dog in veterinary school). I successfully performed my first emergency c-section/spay on one of my farm cats, Betty Bumblebee.

I've heard some of my colleagues can't bear to perform major surgery on their own animals. Is it fear of screwing up? I'm not sure. For me, there's something very comforting about practicing/perfecting my skills on my own pets. Naturally, I want the best for them, but there's a different level of scrutiny on my work when it's my own pet on the table -- not lower, not higher, just different. Plus I then get to monitor their recovery with an intimacy that allows me to offer detailed advice to my clients when they find their pet in similar circumstances.

It's not always misery for a vet's pets. Sure they must submit for the vet student's inexpert blood draws -- practice makes perfect. But, like GrrrD, they also experience regular full-body massages as the veterinarian-in-training perfects her physical examination technique.

My animals share with me their daily physiological ups and downs: the bouts of diarrhea and ear infections, the grass eating (and stool eating), the occasional limp and odd barking in their sleep. The things that clients ask about frequently, sometimes with great worry. I am grateful to each of my pets that they enable me to share not only my formal medical training but also my personal animal experiences with my clients.

When It Comes to Chew Bones I'm a Big Meanie

Normally I enjoy being proved right. Who doesn't? But this time that smug feeling is tempered by guilt and worry because I did something wrong!

The veterinary dental specialists at the UW Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital drilled it into me (no pun intended) that dogs should not be given real bones as a treat. Many people recognize the danger small bones or cooked bones pose to dogs since they can cause choking or perforation of the GI tract from splinters and shards. As a result my clients proudly inform me that they only offer their canine friends large meaty bones as a chew toy. I then have to play the role of the mean old veterinarian and tell them it's a bad idea.

Why? What many people do not know is that bone-chewing causes a lot of dental grief for dogs. In fact, as a vet I've encountered far more damage in my patients' mouths as the result of chewing on real bones and imitation nylon bones than choking or gastrointestinal trauma!

Here's the American Veterinary Dental College's take on the issue. (The AVDC is the pet equivalent of the American Dental Association for humans.):

Dogs are carnivores – they chew on bones in the wild. However, AVDC does not recommend cow hooves, dried natural bones or hard nylon products because they are too hard and do not mimic the effect of a dog tearing meat off a carcass. These hard products are associated with broken teeth or damaged gums.

So, why am I feeling so guilty? Take a look:

Remember in my last post how my dogs have been chewing on scavenged deer legs lately? Well, EdGrrr, my heretofore seemingly indestructible yellow lab, has now fractured his upper right canine tooth doing just the thing I warn my clients against. Ugh...a canine tooth! From chewing on a spindly deer forelimb?!? Unbelievable. So that huge beef femur you just picked up from the butcher for Rover is definitely off limits.

A broken tooth is painful and leads to nasty infections. Tooth root abscesses are common sequelae to chipped and fractured teeth. Treatment for a fractured tooth depends on many factors, but includes root canal or extraction with pain medications and antibiotics. Needless to say, a fractured tooth is a very expensive problem to have and is best avoided. Drat!

For those of you who just threw that pig knuckle in the garbage can, you may be wondering what is an acceptable alternative for the dog who needs to chew? A great resource is the Veterinary Oral Health Council. This organization works with accredited veterinary dentists and relies on testing and research to determine which treats, toys and foods are tooth-friendly. If possible, choose chew toys carrying the VOHC seal of approval.

And now I'm going back outside to pick up the remaining deer parts in an effort to prevent additional injury in my wild and crazy farm dogs.