cats Archives - Page 2 of 4

Do Cats Want to Work for Their Food? The Answer May Not Surprise You

Steve DaleFor two decades I’ve been speaking at veterinary and animal behavior meetings about the need to enrich indoor environments for companion animals, but most especially for indoor cats. When I began, Tony Buffington, DVM (professor emeritus at The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine), and others at around that time had begun publishing studies demonstrating that living in a dull environment increases stress in cats and may cause or contribute to both behavior issues and a variety of health problems.

By enrichment, I mean providing suitable outlets to meet the specific, hard-wired needs of a particular species. For cats, enrichment includes the manner in which they are fed.

There’s no doubt that cats, being the predators they are, have a built-in prey drive. But what is the best way to activate that drive, and do cats prefer to be fed?

Years ago, it was discovered that some laboratory rodents and a varied roster of zoo species prefer to work for their food, a phenomenon known as contrafreeloading, rather than dining from a free-standing food dish.

Mikel Delgado, Ph.D., a certified applied animal behaviorist and certified cat behavior consultant, set out to learn if domestic cats contrafreeload in a home environment. The only previous study on cats dated to 1971, with six laboratory cats showing no interest in working for their meals.

Delgado hypothesized that in a home environment, domestic cats would readily contrafreeload and show a preference for eating from a food puzzle compared to a dull tray piled with identical food. She also hypothesized that more active cats would be more likely to contrafreeload.

“I’ve long recommended food puzzles to clients with positive results,” she says. “In nature, cats hunt so I was certain that tapping into what cats are hard-wired to do would be no problem and we’d easily prove the previous study [for cats] wrong. However, science can be funny that way, and yes we were surprised [by the results].”

Those results were recently published in a paper called “Domestic cats (Felis catus) prefer freely available food over food that requires effort” (with Brandon Sang Gyu Han, grad student at the University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, and veterinary behaviorist Melissa Bain, DVM, professor of clinical animal behavior at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine) in the Journal Animal Cognition.

Seventeen cats participated in the study, using one consistent food puzzle (Trixie Pet Tunnel Feeder Food Puzzle) with a food dish next to it.

Surprise: Cats did little contrafreeloading. Instead, they mostly chose the easy meal from the bowl. Most cats ate some food from both sources, but the amount of food eaten from the easy meal on the tray was significantly higher than the amount of food eaten from the puzzle. Almost half the cats consumed less than 10 percent of food from the puzzle. And none of the cats were considered strong contrafreeloaders.

“Though surprising, our findings were statistically relevant,” says Delgado. “There wasn’t a lot of variability.”

However, veterinary behaviorist Theresa DePorter, DVM (who is boarded both in the U.S. and Europe), says, “We’ve actually known for a very long time that domestic cats do contrafreeload – depending on how we define contrafreeload – as very well fed indoor/outdoor cats who clearly don’t require a meal but apparently enjoy the chase and catch and then deliver rodents or birds as live ‘gifts.’”

Dr. DePorter, who lives in a rural setting, says one of her cats – who happens to be very well fed – catches mice.

Liz Bales, VMD, notes another factor: “The seeking circuit was missing in this study. Cats need to go through seeking and finding their prey, the hunt. The pounce and eat is only a fraction of the process, which was represented by the food puzzle but it just sits on the ground next to a food bowl and may not be stimulating enough for many cats who naturally are hard-wired to seek. Also, there’s no movement involved with this particular food puzzle, and movement is stimulating for cats.”

Dr. Bales adds: “In my experience, cats being cats, the acclimation period, four to 12 days, of a novel way to feed wasn’t nearly long enough. I would think the acclimation period to the food puzzle should be months and not days.” And indeed, Bales does have acclimation experience as she is also an entrepreneur who created “hunting products” for cats, notably the Indoor Hunting Feeder (https://docandphoebe.com/).

Cats may be timid, cautious or at least circumspect about anything novel such as a new food puzzle, adds DePorter. “Yes, they may well require more acclimation time, particularly since these cats may have had no prior experience with food puzzles.”

Neither Bales nor DePorter quibble with the notion that this study was well-thought out and important, but both consider it only a start, and Delgado doesn’t disagree.

Delgado’s hypothesis that generally more active cats would be more into contrafreeloading also fell flat.

Delgado suggests: “Perhaps it means lives are so enriched of the cats in the study that their drives to use puzzle feeders was reduced. Perhaps we could have better acclimated and more motivated by using treats at first in the feeders. Also, individual cats may have individual preferences to different food puzzles.”

Delgado, who co-owns a website that sells puzzle feeders (www.foodpuzzlesforcats.com) is in no way suggesting pet parents diminish use of puzzle feeders. “For starters, do understand most of the cats in our study did eat something from the puzzle feeder.”

Bales says “countless times” she has witnessed her puzzle feeders contributing to solve behavior problems, which in some cases has kept cats in homes.

DePorter also remains a cheerleader for puzzle feeders. “I absolutely don’t interpret this study is suggesting not to use puzzle feeders – that would be a mistake. We know puzzle feedings are enriching, help to control food intake, and provide physical and mental exercise and may reduce obesity – which is so common among cats. And, of course, obesity leads to a laundry list of issues.”

Delgado concludes, “Certainly, there’s more to learn, more to do – understanding cats has never been easy.”

This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.

Steve Dale, CABC (certified animal behavior consultant), hosts two national pet radio shows and is on WGN Radio, Chicago. He’s a regular contributor/columnist for many publications, including CATSTER, Veterinary Practice News, and the Journal of the National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America. He’s appeared on dozens of TV shows, including Oprah, many Animal Planet Programs, and National Geographic Explorer. He has contributed to or authored many pet books and veterinary textbooks such as “The Cat: Clinical Medicine and Management” and co-edited Decoding Your Dog, by the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists. He speaks at conferences around the world. www.stevedale.tv.

Telehealth Is a Win for Vets, Pets, and Clients

Steve DaleRoxy’s arthritis had worsened. Because of the 18.5-year-old Devon Rex cat’s history of gastrointestinal issues, her veterinarian and owners had few pharmaceutical options for managing her pain.

For clients, seeing a pet in pain is the worst. Cats are especially adept at masking pain, so when they actually show they are in pain, they are really hurting. That’s where we were with Roxy.

Gabapentin had been prescribed, but all it did was increase her catnap time. I consulted an expert. “Let me hold Roxy’s paw and we’ll slowly increase the dosage,” said Robin Downing, DVM, internationally renowned for her knowledge about pain in pets.

Dr. Downing consulted with my Chicago, Illinois-based primary care practitioner Natalie Marks, DVM, who welcomed Dr. Downing’s contribution.

Downing gradually upped the dose of the gabapentin, and her persistent yet measured effort appeared to bring results without an accompanying significant primary side effect of the drug: drowsiness.

“Multimodal is the best approach for osteoarthritis for nearly all cats,” Downing says. To that end, we began to employ a tool called an Assisi Loop, which uses targeted pulsed electromagnetic field technology to treat pain and decrease inflammation. That not only benefited Roxy’s osteoarthritis, but also had the potential to aid her GI issues. In addition, for arthritis I give her injections of Adequan.

That was in 2018 and Roxy clearly benefited from the collaboration between Drs. Downing and Marks and the multimodal approach. However, about a year ago, I noted that Roxy appeared to be struggling a tad more and asked Dr. Marks for further advice.

“The struggle we have as small-animal practitioners is that we only have certain pain medications that are safe and approved for cats as they age, and many are contraindicated for cats with other conditions,” Marks said. “Our goal for our patients is for them to have the best quality of life and to be as pain free as possible every day. The beauty of veterinary medicine today is that we have a variety of integrative therapies which are readily available, and I thought about medical massage therapy. And technology can deliver a way to demonstrate options as never before.”

She suggested I contact Rosemary LoGiudice, DVM, who is boarded in veterinary rehabilitation medicine and practices in Hanover Park, Illinois. She is at least an hour from my home, not to mention this was all happening at the height of the pandemic.

Marks said, “I think this may be the perfect use of telehealth. And I believe massage therapy may help.” Dr. LoGiudice agreed.

LoGiudice noted that ideally she would want to get her hands on Roxy to feel her flexibility and for heat in the joints. But she was able to communicate with Dr. Marks, who has known Roxy most of her life and had recently examined her.

Using my phone, I took video of Roxy moving in her own element from different angles as directed by LoGiudice, who says, “When I can see the dog, cat, or horse moving in a natural way, I can get a good feel for stride and how the joints are moving. Very few dogs and cats are going to show me in the exam room how they move at home.”

LoGiudice and I jumped on a Zoom show and tell call. Dr. LoGiudice held a plush dog in her lap. She showed me exactly what to do, where to do it and how much pressure to exert when offering massage therapy. Old-school written directions could never replicate Dr. LoGiudice demonstrating, and then watching me and directing me, “Move your hand slightly lower.”

I gradually spent more time every night massaging Roxy. Roxy not only didn’t fend off the nightly spa treatment, she began to request it. Even now, a year later, when I stop, she paws at my face demanding more.

That was no surprise to Downing. “If this was causing Roxy pain or discomfort, or Roxy didn’t enjoy it, she still moves well enough to walk away,” she says.

Watching video of Roxy two weeks after the start of the Dale Spa treatment, LoGiudice wasn’t surprised either by the effect of medical massage to slightly but noticeably increase Roxy’s mobility and interest in exploring or moving to whatever room my wife and I are in. Also, LoGiudice is now inspired by the idea of using video and video chat to support clients in a way she hadn’t previously considered.

Downing agreed. “There’s no substitute for being hands-on with our patients, and for office visits, but you can certainly observe more remotely than what is possible in an exam room. And to schedule time for a virtual lesson in medical massage therapy, acupressure techniques, or teaching animals how to stretch are only a few examples.”

From her perspective of having known Roxy for more than half her life, Dr. Marks says, “I absolutely saw a difference in Roxy. What I really loved about this collaboration isn’t only about considering integrative care, it’s about how veterinarians are being creative to help all involved, especially at this time. And right now, we do need to be creative. I hope this specific type of partnership and using technology in the way we did with Roxy becomes a model, sticking around long after the pandemic.”

This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.

Steve Dale, CABC (certified animal behavior consultant), hosts two national pet radio shows and is on WGN Radio, Chicago. He’s a regular contributor/columnist for many publications, including CATSTER, Veterinary Practice News, and the Journal of the National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America. He’s appeared on dozens of TV shows, including Oprah, many Animal Planet Programs, and National Geographic Explorer. He has contributed to or authored many pet books and veterinary textbooks such as “The Cat: Clinical Medicine and Management” and co-edited Decoding Your Dog, by the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists. He speaks at conferences around the world. www.stevedale.tv.

Compulsive Behaviors in Cats: How to Recognize and Manage Them

Sandy RobinsIt’s not only people highlighted in reality TV shows who suffer from obsessive compulsive disorders; cats do, too. Repetitive and exaggerated behaviors such as sucking on fabrics and chewing plastics, excessive grooming, or bolt-out-of-the-blue aggression are signs of typical compulsive issues in cats. How a pet parent reacts to and understands these issues can go a long way toward controlling and even eradicating them.

According to feline behaviorists, neither age and nor gender are mitigating factors in compulsive behavior. However, wool sucking along with repetitive meowing has been found to be more common among so-called oriental breeds such as Siamese and Birman cats.

Dr. Nicholas Dodman, president and CEO of the Center for Canine Behavior Studies (they study feline behaviors too), who authored The Cat Who Cried for Help: Attitudes, Emotions, and the Psychology of Cats, ranks excessive grooming, known as psychogenic alopecia, as the most common abnormal repetitive behavior among cats generally. Wool-sucking and pica, the ingesting of weird objects, come in second, and, lastly, Dodman says that feline hyperesthesia, often referred to as twitchy skin syndrome, which results in a cat launching unprovoked attacks or suddenly appearing startled and then dashing away, is often also considered to be a compulsive disorder.

Psychogenic Alopecia

Cats are often mislabeled as independent, selfish, and uncaring creatures. In fact, the opposite applies; they are very caring and empathic and very conscious of their surroundings. Thus, all kinds of changes and conflict in their lives can evoke stress and anxiety. One common reaction to their personal situation is over-grooming.

“Feline psychogenic alopecia may begin as a displacement behavior arising from situations of conflict, frustration, or anxiety, but might in time become compulsive,” says Dodman. In an article published on the CCBS website, he spells it out: “The diagnosis of psychogenic alopecia as a compulsive disorder is reserved for those cases in which no underlying medical problem is evident.

“In most cats, over-grooming resulting in alopecia where they have pulled out chunks of fur and licked their skin raw, has an underlying skin disorder such as an allergic reaction to fleas or other external parasites. Inhalant allergies and even food allergies could be the root cause, and it’s important to seek veterinary assistance to rule all these causes out before the excessive grooming can be diagnosed as behavioral.”

In her book Cat vs Cat, Pam Johnson-Bennett says: “Because cats are such meticulous groomers, a cat parent may assume that the behavior is nothing unusual. Displacement grooming is a normal way for cats to recue their anxiety and calm themselves during or after a stressful situation. You may see this after a cat miscalculates a jump and falls to the floor. Although it may look as if she is embarrassed, it has more to do with her need to get her bearings because she was caught off-guard. Also being denied something she wants like getting on a counter and being repeatedly removed and even scolded can prompt displacement grooming,” she explains.

However, Johnson-Bennett points out that it’s easy to dismiss these small stressors. So, they build and suddenly the cat has huge bald patches!

“Interactive play comes to the rescue yet again,” she writes. “Use it to boost confidence and release endorphins. Pouncing and play games offer mental and physical stimulation.” And she warns, “if you see your cat sitting in a particular position before she’s about to start compulsively grooming, get out the wand and other toys and play instead!”

But play may not be the complete answer. Sometimes medication is necessary to help break the cycle.

Wool Sucking and Pica

Cats who love to chew on a blanket or a piece of cloth may be likened to young children who walk around sucking on pacifiers or hugging security blankets. This behavior often occurs in kittens who have been removed from their mothers too young and have not had the opportunity to nurse until their mothers properly weaned them. Soft, cuddly fabrics become a substitute for mama cat.

The sucking itself is not a problem, but if the sucking turns into chewing and swallowing, it can lead to problems such as gastrointestinal obstructions. Boredom and loneliness, especially when cats are left alone all day, can lead to separation anxiety and can prompt them to turn to material sucking and chewing to soothe themselves. This can lead to pica, the ingestion of material, plastic, and other non-food items.

Often the urge to suck on fabrics subsides as a kitten becomes an adult. However, problematic chewing can recur in adulthood as a defense mechanism for dealing with a stressful situation such as household tensions between cats or separation anxiety.

In the case study on compulsive wool sucking published in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior with which Dodman was involved, two hundred and four Siamese and Birman cats enrolled in the study were tracked for various physical characteristics, current and previous medical conditions, presence of an abnormally intense appetite, and environmental factors. The research ultimately showed that early weaning and small litter size were associated with increased risk of wool-sucking in Birmans only. The presence of a medical condition was associated with increased risk of wool-sucking in Siamese cats. The presence of an abnormally intense appetite was seen in all affected cats. However, no relationship was found between physical characteristics and wool-sucking in Siamese or Birman cats.

Dodman also points out that medical conditions that can trigger abnormal ingestion of inappropriate material include hunger, nutritional deficiencies such as anemia or inadequate dietary fiber, diabetes, or tumors.

Feline Hyperesthesia

“This is a complicated behavioral condition with some features that appear compulsive and others that appear frankly neurological,” says Dodman. “Because of the overlap between symptoms of other issues, it is thought to possibly be a form of partial seizures with compulsive components. There is an apparent sensitivity to touch (episodes may be induced by stroking along the spine), which can trigger attacks and accounts for the name of this syndrome,” he further explains.

Feline hyperesthesia is often referred to as rippling skin syndrome, rolling skin syndrome, or twitchy skin syndrome. Signs include dilation of pupils, excessive skin rippling, and frenetic self-directed grooming that may result in hair loss. Grooming may be so intense it may manifest as self-directed aggression often focused on the tail (tail-chasing).

Affected cats may emit excessive and unusual vocalizations and appear to hallucinate (act afraid of their tail) and run away. They may appear “manic” (excited look, frantic running, jumping) and are frequently extremely sensitive to touch. Sometimes aggressive bouts are preceded by attention-seeking and enhanced affection to people. Affected cats are often anxious and restless, constantly wandering and pacing. Sometimes the aggression can be directed at people.

“Almost all aggressive behavior can be traced back to a specific cause. Idiopathic aggression – the name given to totally unprovoked aggression that has no known cause — is rare,” says Johnson-Bennett. “This type of aggression is too difficult and too dangerous for a cat parent to try and correct without professional help.”

Helping Owners

Advise cat parents to be on the lookout for excessive sucking or chewing on fabrics, behaviors such as hunting and pouncing at unseen prey, running and chasing, paw shaking, freezing, excessive vocalization and a manic look, self-directed aggression such as tail chasing, and overgrooming to the point of pulling out fur in patches. While these may start out as signs of conflict or anxiety, if not attended to, they can become compulsive disorders over time.

Ask cat parents about conflicts in the home and whether there are ways to eliminate it. They may need a referral to a veterinary behavior specialist who can help them to recognize and manage such conflicts, whether they are between cats and humans, cats and other cats, or cats and other animals in the home. Other things to try:

Environment enrichment may help to distract a cat from compulsive behavior.
A tall cat tree or cat condo strategically placed near a window helps keep cats engaged.
A fountain not only attracts a cat to drink water but also adds sound and motion enhancements to the environment.
Offer the cat an indoor garden of safe plants to nibble on, ideally placed near a water fountain or water dish.
Wand toys allow cats to chase, pounce, and play.
For cats who enjoy exploring, leash-training can provide safe outdoor excursions. A catio is another option that can provide distractions from self-harming.
Suggest puzzles that can be filled with treats or a portion of a meal.
If wool sucking or over-grooming are involved, a diet that includes a high-fiber kibble may help redirect the cat from compulsive behaviors to focus on nibbling. A veterinary nutritionist may have suggestions.

This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.

Sandy Robins is an award-winning pet lifestyle journalist and author of For the Love of Cats, Fabulous Felines: Health and Beauty Secrets for the Pampered Cat, The Original Cat Bible, and Making the Most of All Nine Lives: The Extraordinary Life of Buffy The Cat.

Fear Free Euthanasia: Help Pets and People Say Goodbye Peacefully

Julie Liu, DVMPet parents will remember their animal’s euthanasia for the rest of their lives, and if their pet is agitated or anxious, they’ll remember that, too. Helping them to plan ahead can make the experience easier for your patients and their families.

When people make the difficult decision to euthanize a pet, there are many other smaller decisions they’ll have to make, such as when to schedule and whether they or their children should be present. Among the details that should be considered on your end is how you can reduce the animal’s fear, anxiety, and stress during their final moments.

When pets have a fear of the veterinarian and are brought in for euthanasia, their stress levels can escalate. The procedures that may take place before euthanasia can be scary or painful, such as being restrained by a veterinary staff member while their front leg is shaved and an IV catheter is placed. While this usually occurs away from the owner, the experience is often stressful enough that the difference is noticeable when the pet is returned to the exam room.

Even if a particular patient doesn’t routinely require anti-anxiety medications, consider them when clients are bringing pets in for euthanasia. Many pet parents have concerns about their sedating effects, but this is one instance where it truly doesn’t matter–sedation will only help the euthanasia go more smoothly. Dispense them at least a few days ahead of time to ensure that the client is able to give a test dose before the day of the pet’s euthanasia. Some anti-anxiety medications such as gabapentin also help reduce pain, so they can decrease discomfort to procedures such as IV catheter placement prior to euthanasia. If your patient is agitated or is still fearful despite oral pre-visit pharmaceuticals, consider injectable sedation prior to euthanasia. The last thing a pet parent wants to see in their time of grief is their pet flailing, vocalizing, or trying to escape. Sedation will decrease stress for the pet and their family.

If your practice routinely uses IV catheters for euthanasias, have clients rub a lidocaine numbing cream such as Supernumb on the tops of their pet’s forelegs several hours prior to euthanasia. IV catheter placement is painful, and numbing the area will make for a more compassionate experience, especially since multiple catheter attempts are sometimes needed in debilitated pets .

In your Fear Free practice, you use treats with patients during routine visits, and you can use them with euthanasia, too. Providing a smorgasbord of vanilla ice cream, lunch meat, cheese chunks, Churu, peanut butter, or whipped cream will allow clients to continue bonding with their pets while lowering their stress. Take care to avoid giving greasy foods such as burgers–while tempting to offer as a last meal, they can cause nausea and gastrointestinal upset.

If you don’t offer housecalls for patient euthanasia, I urge you to consider it. Even pets who don’t have a strong fear of veterinary visits will never be as relaxed at the vet as they will in their home, with their familiar bed and environment. You can even have classical music playing quietly in the background to help create a calming environment. I’ve euthanized several pets in their homes, and in every instance I felt that the experiences of the pet and the owner were better than they would have been in the clinic environment.

Pets deserve to have a Fear Free death as much as they deserve to have a Fear Free life. By considering a patient’s emotional health during their final days, you’ll help make their passing as compassionate as possible.

This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.

Julie Liu, DVM, CVA (Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist) is a small-animal veterinarian who practices in Austin, Texas. In addition to advocating for Fear Free handling of pets, she is passionate about feline medicine and senior pet care.

Placing Cats With FeLV: What to Know

Kim Campbell ThorntonAt University of Florida, Julie Levy, DVM, DACVIM, DABVP (Shelter Medicine) focuses on the health and welfare of animals in shelters, humane methods for cat population control, and feline infectious diseases.

One of her successes in the latter area is determining the most reliable and effective way to test cats for FeLV, a disease for which approximately three to four percent of cats in the United States test positive each year. The diagnosis affects an estimated 60,000 cats in animal shelters annually. And until recently, the diagnosis has frequently been a death sentence for cats.

In a study published last year in Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, the researchers—who included Dr. Levy—state “Overpopulation of cats in shelters, combined with limited shelter resources, apprehension about viral transmission and preconceptions about how FeLV infection may impact quality of life or adoption potential often lead to routine euthanasia for shelter cats following a single positive FeLV test.”

But their findings suggest a high national demand for a lifesaving option for cats diagnosed with FeLV and have made a difference for cats in several ways. One is that the recommended options for testing have been pared down to a small menu of the most accurate and cost-effective tests.

“In the past, veterinarians and shelter managers were confused about what kind of sample they should collect from cats, what tests they should run, and how much they could trust the results. There are so many point-of-care and laboratory options that it could be overwhelming,” Levy says. “Our work with naturally infected cats in animal shelters has helped us address outdated dogma and to streamline testing .”

That’s important because more and more shelters are working to place FeLV-positive cats in homes. Levy’s interest began because in the past, cats who tested positive for FeLV were often routinely euthanized. Because of that dire consequence, she says, testers were so fearful of misdiagnosing cats that they often ran multiple tests, sometimes with varying results.

And the disease, which suppresses a cat’s immune system, does not run a straight course. It affects different cats in different ways and at different times. Levels may change over time depending on a cat’s immune status. Some cats live with the disease with little problem. It may flare up if the cat is stressed or has a comorbidity such as an upper respiratory infection and then die back down. It’s not possible to run a test once and then expect the cat to remain the same throughout life. Accepting that screening for FeLV is often fraught with a level of uncertainty, Levy suggests pairing a simplified testing process with a goal for saving cats regardless of the results.

“Let’s just identify these cats as infected or not infected as best we can and then get them into the right homes and support them and not try to achieve some level of control or absolute knowledge that isn’t attainable,” Dr. Levy says.

But why would shelters place cats infected with a disease that is commonly considered a death sentence?

Because life-saving protocols and good guidelines for adopters mean that FeLV is not necessarily a death sentence. And because people are willing to adopt cats with FeLV and give them the care they need.

The adoption study showed high national demand for a life-saving option for cats diagnosed with FeLV. In it, researchers state: “The majority of cats referred to the FeLV program were adopted, demonstrating that programs centered on adopter education and post-adoption support can create lifesaving outcomes for most FeLV-infected cats, despite uncertainty regarding their long-term prognosis.”

The study also noted that FeLV infections could not be confirmed in approximately one in five cats referred to a large FeLV adoption program, a reminder of the risk of basing a cat’s fate on a single positive test result.

That FeLV adoption program, begun by Austin Pets Alive!, was the springboard for Levy’s research to identify the most practical testing protocols.

In collaboration with IDEXX and APA, which places hundreds of FeLV-infected cats from around the country each year, University of Florida researchers enrolled 130 infected cats who were fostered, tested monthly, and then followed over time. Previously, many small studies had evaluated one test at a time, but none had compared so many different tests at the same time, in the same cats, repeatedly.

“That has allowed us to determine what the more reliable tests are and to evaluate how the status of cats changes over time,” Dr. Levy says. “It changes a lot more than we expected.” They were also able to evaluate the survival rate of cats in relation to their test results.

Originally, the study was not expected to run for more than a year, a year funded by $160,000 from Maddie’s Fund, plus professional time contributed by researchers, testing donated by IDEXX, and discounted testing from other laboratories. But the researchers recognized the value of the information they were gathering and knew they would never be able to repeat it. They didn’t want to lose track of the cats or of the very engaged group of cat owners who wanted to help.

Support from ECHF allowed the study to continue beyond that first year. Vicki Thayer, DVM, then executive director of ECHF, thought the work was important enough to support and put through an out-of-cycle proposal to ensure they could continue the work. The funding allowed staff to spend time staying in touch with the cats and to complete another two rounds of testing for a year for some longer-term results.

“ECHF has always been so tuned in to the emerging needs of cats and the emerging research opportunities,” Levy says. “This is a great example of recognizing a critical moment in time for cats on a critical disease that was killing a lot of cats, either medically or because of inappropriate euthanasia.”

Four years later, the cats are part of the largest group of infected cats that have been followed for the longest period of time. They are real-world cats under real-world conditions.

The result is a new test available through the IDEXX commercial diagnostic lab that can not only provide confirmation of infection but also information about the cat’s prognosis. Using a new quantitative PCR test, shelters can now identify whether a tested cat is likely to be a long-term survivor or develop disease and mortality early. The study also found that whole blood is the best sample for testing, rather than serum or plasma. That’s good news because whole blood doesn’t have to be processed before it’s tested.

Levy recommends using a high-quality point of care test in a “one and done” screening process for most newly acquired cats and then managing the cat appropriately according to the test results. Shelters or practitioners who want to go to the next level of testing—to follow up on a positive screening test or to screen blood donor cats, for instance—can choose the quantitative PCR, a DNA test that identifies the extent to which a cat is affected by FeLV. The long-term follow-up study by the University of Florida study showed that if there’s a lot of FeLV when cats are first diagnosed, they are more likely to develop early disease and to have a shorter lifespan.

And “manage appropriately” doesn’t mean euthanize. But that message still needs to get out to veterinarians. Too often, cats with FeLV are stigmatized as poor risks for adoption when in fact their condition can be supported like other chronic diseases. The retrovirus is impossible to cure, but a cat with FeLV can live for many years without illness and without spreading the disease to other cats if they are adopted into single-cat homes or with other FeLV+ cats.

“We need to do a better job of sharing the life-saving paradigm with veterinary practitioners,” Levy says. “It is very frustrating to place an FeLV+ cat with an informed adopter, only to have their veterinarian convince them that the cat should be euthanized,” Levy says. “That’s just very old school thinking.”

In fact, the Association of Shelter Veterinarians and the American Association of Feline Practitioners do not support euthanasia based solely on a cat’s infection status.

The assumption is that people won’t want to adopt cats if they don’t know how long they’re going to live or if they might require expensive treatment toward the end of their life. That’s frustrating to Levy.

“People adopt old dogs or dogs with medical conditions all the time,” she says. “They’re like, ‘Yes, this animal needs a home. I like him. Nobody knows what the future will bring. And even if he has only a few years left in life, he’s a good dog for me, and I want to be there for him.’”

They feel the same way about cats with FeLV or other diseases such as FIV, she believes. Those are often young cats who are healthy in the moment, enjoying life, and are great companions. In an adopter satisfaction survey, 74 percent of respondents had a “very positive” experience living with an FeLV-positive cat adopted from APA and 21 percent had a “positive” experience; 73 percent were “very likely” to adopt a FeLV cat again and 11 percent were “somewhat likely” to do so.

The shelters that are starting adoption programs for cats with FeLV are proving Levy’s point, using creative and fun programs to place the cats.

“Very often, the thing that tips a shelter over to trying it is when a favorite cat turns up positive or a foster home ends up with a positive cat and they can’t possibly euthanize it,” Levy says. “So they take this ‘dangerous’ step of adopting it out and it goes so well. They’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, why didn’t we do this sooner?’”

That’s what happened at Tree House Humane Society in Chicago. A foster caregiver raised some neonatal kittens who tested positive later and no one could bring themselves to euthanize them. They adopted them out and the adoptions were so successful that they now feature FeLV cats at their new cat café. They are popular adoptees thanks to good education and public relations. A cat café in Seattle has a similar program, focusing on FeLV cats from local shelters.

The Austin model provides good data on the viability of such adoption programs, especially when they are combined with the education and support of local veterinarians, as well as how to put them in place. The programs create optimism and enthusiasm for saving cats who could be considered some of the most vulnerable in the shelter system.

“We need to be better at providing the continuing education to private practitioners, so they also feel this optimism about caring for these cats,” Levy says.

This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.

Kim Campbell Thornton is content manager for Fear Free Pets and is an Elite Fear Free Certified Professional. She has been writing about dogs, cats, wildlife, and marine life since 1985 and is a recipient of multiple awards from the Cat Writers Association, Dog Writers Association of America, and American Society of Journalists and Authors. When she’s not writing or editing, she’s snuggling with Harper and Keeper, her Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.

Dogs Less Stressed With Owners Present at Exams, Study Shows

Linda LombardiSome aspects of the experience of visiting the veterinarian are generally recognized as stressful to pets, such as strange noises, unfamiliar people and animals, and being handled in uncomfortable ways. Less clear – and now even more relevant in the wake of the pandemic – is a question asked by a recent study: how are pets affected by whether or not their owner is present during the exam?

In research published in Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association in November, 32 dogs underwent a standardized exam consisting of examination of the head, palpation of lymph nodes and body, axillary temperature measurement, heart rate assessment, and respiratory rate assessment. The exams were recorded on video under two conditions, with owners present or absent. Behaviors indicating fear were assessed, including reduced posture, avoidance, escape, lip licking, body shaking, yawning, and vocalizing; physiological measures were also taken.

Based on their findings, researchers concluded dogs were less stressed when the owner was present during the exam.

“When the owners were allowed to be present with their dogs, they did have more reduced fear levels: reduced vocalizations and reduced temperature, and we also saw some female dogs had lower heart rates when they were with their owners,” says coauthor Anastasia C. Stellato. “So our results show that, if possible and if it’s appropriate for that client, to allow owners to be in the exam room could have a beneficial impact.”

Owner presence didn’t eliminate fear: more extreme responses, such as attempting to escape, were the same in both groups, despite the superficial nature of the exam. “It’s important to keep in mind that the exam we conducted was very passive,” says Stellato. “It was on the ground, they had a traction mat, we didn’t even use rectal temperature, and yet we still saw those fearful responses.”

So while those reactions indicated that the dogs would have preferred to avoid the exam, owner presence apparently allowed them to tolerate it somewhat better.

The study found an age difference in that older dogs lip-licked less than younger dogs when their owner was present. It’s possible that this was the result of a stronger bond developed over the years, but since length of ownership was not recorded, this remains a hypothesis for further investigation.

One finding that was surprising to the researchers was that owner-present dogs yawned more. Yawning is a complex behavior in dogs, so this result is difficult to interpret. “It was contrary to our expectation, so it requires further investigation,” says Stellato.

On the whole, the results suggest that when possible, allowing the owner to be present can be a simple way to reduce stress.

Veterinary behaviorist Karen van Haaften, senior manager of behaviour and welfare at British Columbia SPCA, says: “I think it’s a nicely designed study. It’s randomized and controlled, which is nice to see in a clinical study. I personally am not surprised by the results of this paper, but I think it’s really useful information for both veterinarians and pet owners to know, and I think it’s a timely one to consider, because during COVID, most vets are not allowing pet owners into the hospital.”

Even after the pandemic is over, pets will still need to be separated from their owners sometimes, so ways to mitigate the stress of this experience need to be considered. Van Haaften says: “When I read this, I’m asking myself, why are we seeing this response? Is it the social support — the bond that the pet has with the owner — that is reassuring to them? Or is the lack of familiarity? They don’t see anything in this clinic environment that feels familiar to them. Probably it’s both, but if the second, we can work on that.”

When pets do need to be separated from their owner, she says, consider how to include things familiar to the pet in the experience.

“We can interact with them in the way that we see that the owner does – use cues the owner uses, use training that they already know, walk them in on equipment that’s familiar, maybe bring something familiar from the owner into the room with them.”

Post-pandemic, we can return to the idea that familiarizing pets with the clinic in advance; for instance, dropping in simply to get some treats and meet friendly people. “If you do that a couple times a week they’re going to love going into the clinic — now it’s a familiar place where good things happen to them.”

And in some cases, a very little bit of familiarization right before an exam can make a big difference. “For some dogs, it doesn’t take that long to bond with a person,” van Haaften says. “If a technician or someone spends five minutes feeding cookies, performing trained cues with a dog, suddenly, now they’re good friends, and the dog has a familiar person they can go into the clinic with.”

Some clinics are doing exams outdoors for pets who are stressed inside the clinic, which can allow the owner to be nearby and this might be worth continuing for some pets as well. In general, van Haaften recommends flexibility and attention to individual differences.

“Behavior during vet exams is really complicated, and different techniques are going to work with different animals,” she says. “Be creative, be willing to be flexible about how you do exams to give your patients the best experience.”

This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.

Linda Lombardi writes about the animals that share our planet and our homes for magazines including The Bark, websites including National Geographic and Mongabay.com, and for the Associated Press. Her most recent book, coauthored with Deirdre Franklin, is The Pit Bull Life: A Dog Lover’s Companion.

Study Suggests Simple Cage Modification to Reduce Stress in Hospitalized Cats

Linda LombardiThe veterinary clinic or hospital can be a stressful place for cats, full of strangers and strange noises and sights. A recent study suggests a simple and inexpensive way to reduce this stress by use of plexiglass sheets hung over the front of the cage.

In the study, thirty pet cats were placed in one side of two connected cages (the starting side, left or right, varied randomly) for 70 minutes. There were three conditions: open cage vs a cage-front covered by clear plexiglass; open cage vs opaque plexiglass; and clear vs opaque plexiglass. Observers calculated stress scores from the cat’s behavior during the first and last 15 minutes and recorded how much time was spent in each cage.

The cats who were most stressed in the first 15 minutes spent significantly more time in the cage that blocked the most incoming stimuli: they preferred either type of plexiglass to the open cage, and preferred opaque plexiglass to clear.

Coauthor Kyle G. Mathews, DVM, MS, DACVS of North Carolina State University says the idea behind the study was to find an affordable way to make clinics less stressful, while still allowing a full view of the patient. The opaque plexiglass is “like looking at the cat through a pair of sunglassses,” he says, which is much better than other inexpensive possibilities. “When you put a towel over the cage, or you give them a hiding box, you can’t see the animals.” When staff need to open the door to look at the hidden cats, that adds stress; if there’s a problem, staff might not notice in a timely fashion. “They may have IV lines, and that makes giving them a hide box difficult, because they could get their lines tangled up,” he adds.

Other possibilities are more expensive. For example, louvered windows, such as those used for privacy in conference rooms, would probably work. “You’re looking down at an angle and can see the cat, but the cat looking straight out can’t see the room,” he says. “But these are very expensive and have to be custom made.” In comparison, inexpensive plexiglass cut to order can be bought fairly cheaply and all that’s needed is to attach hook and loop fastener strips to hang it from cages.

If you’re wondering why not a one-way mirror, they ruled that out immediately for good reasons. “A one-way mirror only works if there’s light on one side, and dark on the other. So the person in the dark room can see the person in the light room, but the person in the light room can’t see the person in the dark room,” he says. “So we’d need the light in the cage with the cat and the room would need to be dark.”

While they may be a start, barriers won’t solve all the problems that stress cats. In particular, while plexiglass sheets block light (a 74.4 percent reduction for opaque and 13.9 percent for clear), they do little to block noise (only a 4.5 percent reduction). Although no one has specifically studied the effect of noise on cats, it’s almost surely a problem, especially in an echoing stainless steel cage.

“Eventually, if people don’t want to rebuild a room for cats, we may need to design a cage that has insulation around the outside of it, but still stainless inside that you can clean,” he says. “But noise reduction is going to be a more expensive alteration. So this was our first attempt at looking at, is there something relatively cheap that a practitioner could use to retrofit their clinic that would make it feline friendly.”

Further research also needs to be done in a real hospital setting: this study was done in a special room, with video of the sights and sounds of a veterinary inpatient ward projected onto a screen. But in the meantime, the results suggest that it’s worth trying and doesn’t appear to have any downsides. “The indication is that it probably is helpful, especially in the most stressed-out cats,” he says. “It’s not going to hurt them – they’re not going to move away from it, there was no indication that was the case.”

Board-certified veterinary behaviorist Margaret E. Gruen, Assistant Professor of Behavioral Medicine at North Carolina State University and a Fear Free Certified Professional, agrees that this is worth trying, noting that odors, separation from owners, lack of hiding places, and sounds of people talking and monitors beeping are all stressors for cats, making hospitalization and recovery more difficult for them as well as increasing morbidity. They may refuse to eat or be hesitant to use the litter box. And anxiety is often difficult to differentiate from pain in cats. Looking at ways to mitigate these stressors while still being able to easily observe feline patients, especially when they are ill or recovering from procedures, benefits both veterinary teams and the cats themselves.

“The cats, and their people, will appreciate it,” she says. “And having happier cats in the hospital is a win for everyone.”

This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.

Linda Lombardi writes about the animals that share our planet and our homes for magazines including The Bark, websites including National Geographic and Mongabay.com, and for the Associated Press. Her most recent book, co-authored with Deirdre Franklin, is The Pit Bull Life: A Dog Lover’s Companion.

Why Fear Free Is Better Medicine

Tony Johnson, DVM, DACVECCFear limits options.

When a patient is fearful of seeing me at a veterinary hospital, their world shrinks to two options: flee or fight. Neither one is fun for them or helps me do what I’m supposed to do for the patient and the family who loves them: find out what’s wrong and make it better.

With patients who are driven by fear, their natural instincts kick in and they resist everything we need to do to get them well.

I’m sure you’ve all been there when trying to treat a fearful patient. Patients displaying aggression are driven by fear. The vast majority of them don’t display this type of behavior at home – so why do they revert to aggression when we are trying to help them?

Think of their first few visits to the hospital and try to see it from their perspective. The car ride. They are likely apprehensive when loaded into the car or carrier. Their owner may try to soothe them with calming words, but fear takes hold.

The sights and smells. When they arrive at the hospital, they can smell the fear from dozens – hundreds – of other pets before them. They can smell the odors of the hospital – cleaning and disinfecting products, the cautery unit in surgery, the parvo dog in isolation. Their heightened sense of smell, many thousands of times what ours is, wafts all of these to them: smells of sickness and death. They sense that this is a bad place.

After this – needles, restraint. The inability to move. The fear of being atop the exam table with no place to run.

Is it any surprise, then, that they would grow to dislike this place and its occupants?

We know that we want to help them. We know that a vaccine will prevent deadly diseases, that a spay will prevent unwanted pregnancies and pyometra…but they don’t.

Lest I be misunderstood – I am not saying that a veterinary hospital is a bad place – not at all. I love them and I know the good that veterinarians do each and every day to protect and preserve animal health and promote healing. We just need to find a way to explain it to our patients.

Since we can’t use words (or my favorite means of communication – interpretive dance), we have to show them by our actions. We have to note the aspects of our places of work and our way of handling them and convey the concept that this is not a bad experience. We have to make their perception of this is a bad place become Hey, this ain’t half bad.

I know it can’t happen each and every time – I can’t take the time to cozy up to the Great Dane that just came crashing into my ER with a GDV – but I can take the time to make sure his post-op stay is as free of pain and anxiety as I can safely make it.

Fear Free is a mindset. It’s a new way of looking at our interactions with patients to suss out aspects that can be improved, spikes of fear that can be dulled, practices and protocols that can be improved.

Why?

You can look at it as a moral imperative – we have taken an oath. It’s the right thing to do. No patient should be worse off for seeing us.

You can look at it practically, as well.

Imagine the stress of trying to do a toenail trim or a heartworm test on a 90-pound dog displaying fear and aggression. That dog is probably recalling all sorts of memories, stretching back to puppyhood, of nauseating car rides, stressful physical restraint, triggering smells.

Now imagine a dog who saw each visit before this one as a chance for treats, pets, and gentle interaction. Happy visits – just in and out the door, and he didn’t even notice the DHLPP jab because he was too busy licking peanut butter off of a kind hand and the veterinarian giving the shot used a brand-new needle. Imagine a dog who received safe sedation for a laceration instead of being held down and receiving nothing but Brutacaine.

Which dog do you think will let you trim his toenails with less stress – for all of you?

Fear Free isn’t just about the patients. How many times do you think your top-tier tech will wrestle with that dog before she hears the siren call of nursing school? How many times will you look at the chart of the FAS 5 dog and feel your heart sink? Feel burnout creeping ever closer?

This doesn’t happen with a calm pet who knows that a visit to a veterinary hospital is a good thing, not a terrifying experience. In my 20 years of emergency practice, I’ve seen fear quite literally kill many patients – patients who are barely coping with illness at home, who then take a lethal turn when the fright of a car ride or veterinary visit tips them over the edge. Fear Free could have saved many of them.

If you take a patient who’s comfortable with the whole process in a veterinary hospital – check-in, physical exam, diagnostic tests, and going back home – you have a patient who doesn’t want to flee or fight me or my team. They’re cooperative and calm – they might enjoy the whole thing if we give them love, confidence, and, of course, plenty of treats). And judicious use of sedatives and analgesics can help offset the fear, anxiety, and stress of visits and procedures. Fear Free patients will let me run the tests and do the physical exam that gets me the answers I need to deliver the best care I can.

Without fear – when pets are Fear Free – it’s not only easier for everyone, it’s better medicine. It’s less stress – for everyone. It’s fewer shots in the dark. Fewer guesses, fewer misdiagnoses, fewer “let’s-see-if-this-fixes-it” treatments ending in lost time, bad outcomes, and problems like global antibiotic resistance. Fear Free practices mean more pets go home faster, and you and your staff are happier and more productive.

This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.

Dr. Tony Johnson, DVM, DACVECC, is a 1996 Washington State University grad and obtained board certification in emergency medicine and critical care in 2003. He is currently Minister of Happiness for VIN, the Veterinary Information Network, an online community of 75,000 worldwide veterinarians, and is a former clinical assistant professor at Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine in Indiana. He has lectured for several international veterinary conferences (winning the small animal speaker of the year award for the Western Veterinary Conference in 2010) and is an active blogger and writer.

Esophagostomy Tubes: Fear Free Tools for Disease Management

Julie Liu, DVMSeveral months ago, my senior Bichon mix, Dorie, developed severe gastrointestinal issues. She was trembling with pain and nausea, stopped her favorite pastime of body slamming her toys against the couch, and eventually became inappetent.

Medicating Dorie has always been a challenge because she can sniff out anything no matter how well I try to hide it, but during her illness it became impossible. Even worse, the fear, anxiety, and stress (FAS) she experienced during my attempts to medicate her were almost as traumatizing to me as a pet parent as they were to her. When she didn’t respond to hospitalization I brought her to a specialty hospital for endoscopic biopsies, and during her anesthetic procedure the internist placed an esophagostomy tube (E tube).

The sense of relief I felt at having the option to medicate her and feed her through the tube without causing FAS was immense. Dorie was ultimately diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease and required weeks of immunosuppressive doses of steroids before she started body slamming her toys again, and without her E tube I wonder if she would have recovered.

As Fear Free practitioners we always try to consider a pet’s wants vs. needs, but when treatments are medically indicated for an unwilling sick pet, we have to find a different approach. The use of E tubes provides a compassionate solution to disease management that should be considered for a variety of illnesses and not only as a last resort.

Indications for E Tube Placement

Historically, many veterinarians have recommended E tubes for gastrointestinal diseases such as feline hepatic lipidosis, cholangiohepatitis, IBD, and pancreatitis. These pets can have a prolonged road to recovery and the conversation about E tube placement should be started with clients early–when their pet has had anorexia reported for a few days. At best, syringe feeding an icteric cat with hepatic lipidosis can fall short of the caloric needs required for their recovery. At worst, it can result in aspiration pneumonia, fear of the client, and injuries as the client struggles with the pet.

Conditions that cause oral pain, such as facial trauma and significant dental disease, are additional indications for E tubes when we consider the role of pain in contributing to FAS.

Rather than sending a pet home after full-mouth extractions with some canned food and oral pain medications and hoping for the best, we can have a proactive discussion with the client about an E tube at the time of surgery. This is particularly important in cases where the pet has already had decreased appetite preoperatively and adds minimal time and cost to the procedure. In cases of oral neoplasia where the client is not ready to pursue humane euthanasia, placement of an E tube to deliver nutrition and analgesia may provide at least some relief to the patient until the next quality of life discussion with the client.

In pets with chronic kidney disease, an E tube can make a huge impact on long-term management and maintaining the client-pet bond. I remember attempting to give subcutaneous fluids to my first cat with kidney disease and managing exactly one poke before she jumped off her cat perch and ran away while the fluid line whipped around, spraying fluids everywhere. Some clients are also uncomfortable with handling needles and having to inject their pet with fluids and can inadvertently poke themselves in the process. An E tube can allow a client to administer daily fluids and anti-nausea medications easily without causing FAS or discomfort.

In addition, many pets with CKD find renal diets unpalatable and develop nausea, inappetence, and weight loss as their azotemia worsens, leading their owners to feed them whatever they will eat. Placement of an E tube ensures that their pet will receive both adequate nutrition needed to maintain their body weight as well as the recommended prescription diet to try to slow progression of their disease.

While there may be an increased level of anesthetic risk for patients with CKD or other underlying health conditions, placement of an E tube¹ is very quick (typically less than 30 minutes for placement and radiographic confirmation of location) and can provide weeks to months to even years of benefit. Once the stoma heals, it may be possible to exchange the tube through the same stoma site without general anesthesia by using topical anesthesia and the techniques outlined by Dr. Sheri Ross in 2016, in which she describes one feline patient with CKD whose stoma site was maintained for almost 5 years using E tube exchanges².

Client Education

Perhaps one of the challenging aspects of E tubes is overcoming the perceived stigma attached to the tube itself. Some clients may agree to several days of hospitalization for their pet but draw the line at an E tube because they associate it with end-of-life care. While this may be true with some conditions such as oral neoplasia, in others an E tube can actually save their pet’s life or improve management of a chronic disease. Most pets with an E tube also don’t seem to notice it at all, and will eat, drink, groom, and even body slam their toys with their E tube in place.

Some clients may also feel squeamish at the prospect of handling and using an E tube for their pets. Washable, patterned neck wraps such as the Kitty Kollar³ or Kanine Kollar have been amazing at minimizing the “medical” aspect of E tubes, and their website provides a great starting point for educating owners when initiating an E tube conversation. Once the E tube is placed and the pet is ready to be released from the hospital, provide written discharge instructions⁴ with a recommended schedule for medicating, watering, feeding, and cleaning based on that pet’s calculated water and caloric requirements to ensure that the pet is getting everything they need. Scheduling a teleconsult the following day and printing a weight chart for the patient at every recheck will provide additional guidance and positive reinforcement. When your client realizes how easy it is to treat their pet with the E tube, you can consider asking them to be a resource for others who are on the fence about having one placed for their pet.

Summary

E tubes can be used successfully for a variety of acute and chronic illnesses, and their ability to remove the FAS associated with treatments is significant. Weighing the risks vs. benefits of the brief anesthesia needed for placement is important, but when routine medical management is inadequate, we need to be proactive in advocating for our patients and work together to destigmatize these invaluable tools.

Resources

https://www.cliniciansbrief.com/article/esophagostomy-feeding-tube
Ross, S. Vet Clin North Am Small Anim Pract. 2016 Nov;46(6):1099-114.doi: 10.1016/j.cvsm.2016.06.014. Epub 2016 Aug 5. Utilization of Feeding Tubes in the Management of Feline Chronic Kidney Disease
https://www.kittykollar.com
http://vhc.missouri.edu/small-animal-hospital/small-animal-internal-medicine/diseases-and-treatments/esophagostomy-tube-information-and-care

This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.

Julie Liu, DVM, CVA (Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist) is a small-animal veterinarian who practices in Austin, Texas. In addition to advocating for Fear Free handling of pets, she is passionate about feline medicine and senior pet care.

Dispelling Dental Myths

Mary L. Berg, BS, RVT, RLATG, VTS (Dentistry)Did you know that approximately 80 percent of adult dogs and 70 percent of adult cats have some form of oral disease? Dental problems in dogs and cats are among the top three pet owner concerns, and many have misconceptions about how to provide good oral care. Here is a list of the most common myths your clients believe about pet dental health or questions they have and what to know to answer them.

White teeth equal a healthy mouth.

Not necessarily. The health of the gums is more important than the color of the teeth. Red, swollen gums are a sign that infection is lurking below the gumline. Infection can lead to bad breath, tooth loss, and heart, liver, and kidney disease in pets. The best way to ensure that every pet has a healthy mouth is to have your veterinarian perform a regular oral examination and professional tooth cleaning procedure on at least an annual basis.

Bad breath is normal in pets

Not true. Bad breath is an indicator of an infected mouth. The odor is often caused by by-products of bacteria in the mouth that form plaque and lead to dental disease. Pets with halitosis need a thorough dental exam and cleaning procedure.

Anesthesia is scary, so non-anesthetic dental cleaning is the way to go.

There is always a risk when an animal is anesthetized, but a thorough pre-op examination and blood work along with individualized anesthetic protocols and monitoring reduces pets’ risk during anesthesia. An anesthesia-free dental cleaning provides no benefit to the pet’s oral health. Scaling or scraping the teeth with an instrument only makes a tooth whiter in appearance. Think of the tooth as an iceberg; we see only about one-third of the tooth with the remaining two-thirds below the gumline. Bacteria below the gumline quickly become pathologic and begin to destroy the tissues surrounding the tooth. It is not possible to eliminate bacteria beneath the gumline where damage is done. Scaling without proper polishing roughens the tooth surface, leaving more surface area for bacterial plaque to attach to the tooth surface. Anesthesia-free dental cleanings are dangerous because they give a false sense of security that the pet has a clean mouth, allowing periodontal disease to go undetected and untreated. See more at: http://avdc.org/AFD/pet-periodontal-disease/#sthash.EGBX3IuT.dpuf and http://avdc.org/AFD/

Tooth brushing is too difficult, and my pet hates it and it really doesn’t help anyway.

While not all pets are willing to accept tooth brushing, it is the gold standard for good oral care. It does take time to teach pets to accept tooth brushing. Have a detailed explanation and demonstration for the pet owner such as this: “Start slow, with your finger and some pet toothpaste. Hold the muzzle with one hand and gently insert your finger between the cheek and the teeth and ‘brush’ the teeth. Reward pets with a favorite treat, praise, or game when they accept brushing! You may need to do this every day for a week to ensure your pet learns that it’s okay! Once the pet accepts your finger, begin using a toothbrush but introduce it slowly over several days. You only need to brush the outside of the teeth.” You can also refer clients to this video from Maddie’s Fund.

Feeding hard kibble will keep my pet’s teeth clean.

Most dogs and cats swallow kibble whole, getting no dental benefit. Even if pets chew kibble, the kibble is too hard and breaks apart when the tooth hits it, offering no benefit. Some dental diets are designed to solve this problem. The kibble is larger and softer, comprising a fiber matrix that allows the tooth to penetrate the kibble, thus wiping plaque off the tooth.

6. Bones, chew toys, and tennis balls will help keep his teeth clean.

While your dog will love you for the bone, his teeth may not. The canine jaw does not shift side to side like a human jaw, so when dogs bite down on a bone they often fracture the carnassial teeth. These fractured teeth hurt and can lead to infections and abscesses if left untreated.

Here’s a good rule of thumb when choosing a chew toy: if you can’t easily bend it with your hands or if you wouldn’t want to be hit in the knee with it, don’t give it to a pet. Wild dogs and wolves often have multiple fractures in their mouths due to chewing on bones.

Playing fetch with a tennis ball is a great way to bond with your pet but put the ball away when done. The rough surface of the tennis ball can abrade tooth enamel over time. Dogs who constantly chew on tennis balls often have severely worn teeth that can become painful.

Dogs and cats do not feel pain.

Our pets can’t tell us about the pain they feel, and they often want us to be happy, so they mask the pain. An infected mouth or a fractured tooth hurt and require treatment. Pets need to eat to stay alive so they will often figure out a way to do so that causes the least amount of pain. If clients notice their pet dropping food or only chewing on one side of the mouth, their pet has a problem.

It doesn’t bother me if my pet’s teeth aren’t pretty.

Pets with dental disease have an infection that should be treated just as an infected ear or wound would be treated. This infection is in the oral cavity and every time the animal chews, bacteria is released into the bloodstream, causing a detrimental effect on the heart, liver, and kidneys. There are even new studies linking joint issues to the oral cavity.

Oral disease is an inevitable part of aging.

Pets who receive good oral home care and routine professional cleanings are much less likely to develop dental disease as they age. Many veterinary professionals believe that good oral care can add an average of two years to the life of a pet. Just as age is not a disease, dental disease does not have to be an issue in aging pets.

How can I know if a dental product will really work for my pet?

The Veterinary Oral Health Council gives dental products a seal of approval for either plaque reduction or tartar reduction. The VOHC recognizes products that meet pre-set standards of plaque and calculus (tartar) retardation in dogs and cats. Types of products include special diets, toothbrushes, treats that may contain enzymes to help clean teeth, and treats or toys that can be filled with enzymatic pet toothpaste. Items awarded the VOHC Seal of Acceptance have been proven to work based on scientific studies and protocols. Bright Dental chews and toothpaste are currently in the midst of trials to earn VOHC certification.

References

Pavilica, Z., Petelin, M., Juntes, P, Erszen ,D., Crossley, DA, Skaleric, U, “Periodontal Disease Burden and Pathological Changes in Organs of Dogs.” J Vet Dent 2008 Jun:25(2):97-105.

DeBowes LJ: The effects of dental disease on systemic disease. Vet Clin North Am Small Anim Pract 28:1057. 1998

Debowes, LJ, Mosier, D. Association of periodontal disease and histologic lesions in multiple organs from 45 dogs. J Vet Dent 1996; 12: 57–60.

Maresz, KJ, etal, “Prophyromonas gingivalis facilitates the development and progression of destructive arthritis through its unique bacterial peptidylarginine deiminase (PAD)” . PLos Pathog. 2013 Sep;9(9):e 1003627

Tang, Q, Fu H, Qin B, etal,”A possible link between rheumatoid arthritis and periodontitis: A systemic Review and Meta-analysis.” Int. J Periodontics Restorative Dent 2017, Jan/Feb, 37(1):79-96

This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.

Mary is a charter member of the Academy of Veterinary Dental Technicians and received her Veterinary Technician Specialty in Dentistry in June 2006. She worked in research for over 28 years, specializing in products aimed at improving oral health of companion animals and continues to work with companies to evaluate the efficacy of their products. Mary is the founder and president of Beyond the Crown Veterinary Education, a veterinary dental consulting service. She was named NAVTA Veterinary Technician of the Year in 2020 and received the AVDT’s Excellence in Dentistry Education award in 2019. Mary is a speaker and wet lab instructor at numerous state and national conferences. She lives on a small farm near Lawrence, Kansas, with her husband, Doug, and has two sons and three grandchildren.

Brought to you by

Older posts

Newer posts