Do Dogs Get Heart Attacks Or Strokes

dog heart

Kira came to us last year in a lot of trouble. She was weak, lethargic, her heart rhythm was chaotic and her pulses were weak and irregular. She was in heart failure: the likely culprit was a heart muscle disease called dilated cardiomyopathy with a secondary atrial fibrillation.

kira the akita

She was treated with a drug to improve heart function, and a second drug to control her atrial fibrillation. Like many dogs, she responded well. But what is her future?

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Help! My Dog Has Kennel Cough

‘At A Glance (Details Below)’ Essential Facts

What Is Kennel Cough?

  1. A persistent infection of the throat with a bacteria and a virus.
  2. Causes a dry, repetitive, choking cough and fever.
  3. Mild cases often have sneezing, runny eyes and noses.
  4. Highly contagious wherever dogs meet. Incubation is usually 7 days.

Now dive deeper.

Recently we saw a 9 week old puppy who came from the breeder 7 days earlier. The day before we saw her she had started coughing, and by that night it had become very bad. Being a Boxer puppy, she wasn’t letting it get her down but you could see she wasn’t her normal self.

She has kennel cough. She hasn’t been around other dogs so where did she get it from?

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Why do dogs chase their tail?

polar bear

Have you ever had this zoo experience? It takes a careful and patient observer. You’re enjoying watching an animal moving around their exhibit (after all, many animals are asleep or aren’t even visible) when suddenly you realise “hang on, this animal is doing exactly the same thing over and over again”?

This is stereotypic behaviour and it’s the bane of every zoo. Here’s the polar bear at Seaworld on the Gold Coast in 2007 who would do this for hours on end.

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Help! My Dog Has Heat Stroke

heat stress dog

‘At A Glance (Details Below)’ Emergency Care

How To Treat A Dog With Heat Stroke

  1. Move the dog from the hot area and provide water if the dog can drink
  2. Wet the dog with cool water and apply cold packs to the neck and groin
  3. Travel to your vet as quickly as safe to do so; call them on the way

Now dive deeper.

Every dog owner needs to know how easily heat stroke can harm their dog.

Heat exhaustion is caused by excessive body temperature. Anything over 39C is abnormal but heat stroke typically occurs at over 41C.

Why are dogs at risk of heat stress?

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Myth 29: The runt of the litter

puppy choice

Runt. What a powerful word. It instantly brings to mind images of poor, sickly puppies destined to never be as healthy as their brothers and sisters.

What if the whole idea of the runt of the litter is a myth?  Well that’s what I think, anyway. My 20 years tell me you can take home the smaller puppies without having poorer health, as long as you follow a few basic rules…

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Bathing Dogs: How Often To Bath, How To Do It

dog sponge bath

“I thought you can’t bath a dog more than once a month”. We hear this almost every day when we tell someone how the right bathing strategy can help their dog’s skin (read how to bath dogs later). This has to be the most common and widely held myth of all and it deprives dogs of a great way to soothe their itchy skin. However, there is an element of truth to it.

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Myth 25: Heelers, Kelpies and Collies are crazy

“Watch out. Those dogs are crazy, they bark and dig and destroy things.” This is what Daisy’s owner was warned when he told his friends he wanted a heeler.

Luckily for him and Daisy he didn’t listen and followed his instincts. And he is now able to enjoy one of the closest and happiest dog-owner relationships you will ever see. Read how he did it.

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Myth 24: You feed a dog by following the instructions

dog given food

hamish the cavalier king charles spaniel
Are Dog Food Instructions Accurate?

I’m going to start with an admission; my dogs have been fat. This will come as a relief (and possibly a delight) to those thousands of dog owners over the years to whom I’ve discussed their dogs’ weight. Today I’m going to explain why this happens to all of us, how to judge your dog’s weight and how to decide how much to feed them.

The guidelines written on dog foods are almost never right for your dog.

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Myth 21: Tea Tree Oil is good for my dog’s skin

toyah the boxer

This is Toyah’s gift to all dogs with itchy skin. She had mild dermatitis for a while and her owners quite rightly thought a bath would help. They found a nice-looking soothing shampoo with tea tree oil and gave her a good clean. Instead of getting better, her dermatitis got dramatically worse, and three days later when she came to us her skin was looking angry and sore.

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Myth 20: My dog is too old for surgery

mia old malamute

We’ve known Mia since she came bounding in to the clinic twelve years ago and started stealing our soft toys.

These days she still has a go but though she’s a puppy at heart, she’s old and has significant arthritis. However, her quality of life is good. A few weeks ago, her owner noticed Mia being a bit unsteady and wondered if it could be the arthritis treatment. We thought that was unlikely and so did a home visit to check on her.

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How Micki’s seizures were fixed by a new diet

This is Micki. He’s so happy and active that this is the best photo we could take. But he wasn’t always so perky. Last year he started having seizures and his very concerned owner brought him to us. There was nothing remarkable found on his physical exam, so we took blood for haematology and biochemistry, as we always do when dogs are having seizures.

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Poisoning in a puppy. Yes, the vet’s puppy.

sick puppy

Just to to prove it happens to us all, here is Loki’s recent health emergency and some advice on how to identify and avoid pet poisons.
Four days ago Andrew’s 9 week Jack Russell Terrier was doing his usual morning routine of running around the garden seeing what could be destroyed or eaten. He was of course under supervision but all the same was darting in and out of sight among the bushes. All seemed fine but only ten minutes later he suddenly looked extremely unwell, vomited and passed diarrhoea. It was obvious something was terribly wrong so he was immediately rushed to the surgery.

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Do Dogs Need Treats?

Following our killjoy post about Christmas hazards, now we’re going to tell you why your pet doesn’t need treats! And why they are happier without them.

Don’t worry. We’re not going to report you to the RSPCA if you occasionally give in to those pleading brown eyes. We know treat feeding comes from the heart and later I even talk about ways to do it well. But we do hope that after reading this you will feel less like you have to give the treat, and less guilty if you don’t.

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How Can We Reduce Puppy Farming?

Update 2017: new dog & cat laws in South Australia are just around the corner. Also read about our help in successfully prosecuting a puppy farmer.

While there are many good breeders we encourage new puppy owners to be aware of where their puppy has come from. Until we have effective legislation, this is the only way we can help to reduce unethical breeding. With that in mind we have formulated a list of questions new puppy owners should ask before purchasing a pup.

  • Have the puppies had a full veterinary health examination and their first vaccination
  • Have the breeding dogs and puppies been given the same veterinary care expected for all pets?.
  • Have the breeding females been bred only between the ages of one and six years, and only at every second season?
  • Have the adult dogs been exercised every day or are they confined continuously?

And of course, PLEASE call us for our health advice before choosing a breed? It is also worth finding out about the common breed-related health conditions and what breeders should be testing for.

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By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here.