Thankfully for us and our pets, our four-legged companions are living longer than ever thanks to advancements in veterinary medicine. With the improvement in superior diagnostics such as ultrasound; MRI; CAT scan; laparoscopy; elbow, knee and hip replacements; and ability to seek specialized care, we as owners can do so much more to improve the quality of life in our pets. Unfortunately, for your pocket book, it’s also getting more expensive. That said, your dog and cat are worth it, right? When it comes down to improving quality of life, take these special steps to ensure that your geriatric pets are feeling good.

Skip the vaccines and get blood work or x-rays instead
I’m a firm believer that the less chemical and drug exposure, the better. Most dogs and cats need to be vaccinated initially to protect them from potentially fatal diseases, such as distemper, parvovirus, panleukopenia, and rabies. However, if your pet has gone through his full puppy or kitten series (which involves a set of three to four vaccines every 3-4 weeks until 14 weeks of age) and annual vaccines for the first half of his life, then he’s pretty well protected. Once your dog or cat hits 7 or 8 years of age, talk to your vet about skipping the vaccines at this year’s annual visit and splurge on blood work or x-rays instead. The caveat is that some vaccines (such as rabies) is legally required by your state, so that one is a must! Doing geriatric blood work every year is a good way to check for any early problems in the red or white blood cells, platelets, kidneys, protein, or liver. Another extra step would be to consider doing abdominal x-rays one a year, particularly in large breed dogs such as golden retrievers, German shepherds, or Labradors, as these breeds are very predisposed to certain type of malignant cancers. As a vet, it’s hard to feel the belly when it’s full of fat, and an unmissed tumor on the spleen or liver could be caught in advance with x-rays.

They should check to see if their pet needs NSAIDS for arthritis or other pain; be even more vigilant about their pet’s weight (studies show skinnier dogs live longer); as lumps and bumps develop, get skin masses tested; stop getting vaccines but instead get yearly bloodwork; and be sure to take care of their pet’s teeth.

While our economy may be down, not so when it comes to our four-legged friends! Last year, pet owners spent over $43.4 billion – with most of that squandered on useless gadgets or extravagant pet products. When it comes to pampering our pets, learn how to discriminate between which products are worth spontaneously splurging on (studded-collar, anyone?), which are worth skipping (magnetic beds), and which ones are essential for the health of your pet. These are five pet products that you shouldn’t skimp on!

Pill pockets:
If your dog or cat are on daily medications, make life easier for all involved – buy them some pill pockets. These easy-to-mold soft treats have a “built-in pocket,” allowing you to stuff a pill inside without your pet ever noticing. Once you place the pill inside, simply pinch the pocket closed – hiding that gross medicine taste from your pet. These delectable treats are irresistible – and tried and tested by my own three pets. Before you know it, your pet will be begging for his meds. If you have the rare dog or cat that’s smart enough to pick the pill out of the pill pocket, splurge on a compounding pharmacy that can convert the medication into a lovely fish- or liver-flavored liquid instead – allowing you to feed his medications with his food instead.

Promise or Halti collar:
This unique collar is a must when it comes to training a new puppy, and is the #1 tooted tool recommended by veterinary behaviorists. These collars come with different names: the Gentle Leader, the Promise collar, or the Halti… and each one is a vet’s (and pet owner’s) life-saver. While you may take it for granted that it’s “easy” to know how to properly walk down the street with your dog, it’s harder than it looks – and this collar will show you how. This unique two-strap collar is designed to be a modified leash that prevents your dog from pulling and makes him submissive to your every command. While this collar looks like a muzzle, it’s not – rather, it’s designed to work by two mechanisms: one strap (loop) goes over the muzzle, while the second strap goes around the back of the neck. It’s the muzzle strap that makes this collar effective – when your dog pulls on the leash, this loop tightens down and applies tension to the muzzle of your dog – mimicking what happens when a dominant alpha wolf tries to exert his or her dominance of a submissive dog (biting down on the muzzle) - causing your dog to back off. This shows your dog that you’re the boss in a language that he’ll understand. Meantime, the other strap helps prevent your dog from pulling against the leash – it mimics a mother carrying her puppy by the back of the neck, causing the puppy to instinctively relax. Granted, it’ll take some time getting your dog used to this muzzle strap collar (he’ll rub his face on the carpet, trying to initially get this off), but it’s worth it – your dog will quickly learn that it’s associated with walk time, and will learn to stop pulling on the leash, making you look less like an out-of-control owner!

Just because your dog’s nose feels extra cold and dry today doesn’t necessarily mean something is wrong with him. While you may sleep with your pet, pick up his poop, and know all of his intriquicies, it’s not worth chancing your pet’s health on your self-appointed vet degree! Here are the top 3 common mis-diagnoses I see owners making at the expense of their pet’s health, all of which can be life-threatening if not cared for right away.

Putting up with puking
Why is it that we cat owners are so tolerant of puke? While it seems like a “normal” cat thing – it’s not. If it’s happening more than once a month, something is wrong. Here’s a simple hint: if there’s no hair in the vomit, it’s probably not due to hairballs! If your cat is long-haired and vomiting up hairballs, sure – you can home remedy and try laxatives like Laxatone – or better yet – more frequent brushing and grooming instead. But if you’ve tried that to no avail, your cat could have an underlying metabolic problem (like inflammatory bowel disease or even kidney failure) that is causing it. If it’s an acute episode of vomiting (like vomiting multiple times in a day), rush your cat or dog to a vet – a foreign body (like a toy, hairball, or corn cob stuck in his intestines or stomach) may be the cause!

The mis-diagnosed urinary tract infection
If you’re the lucky owner of a male cat, take heed. If you notice your cat squatting and straining to urinate in multiple areas of the house (like in the tub, on your comforter, outside the litter box, or in your potted plant container), don’t just think he has a urinary tract infection (UTI) and reach for your expired antibiotics. Chances are, it’s a feline urethral obstruction (FUO), which is when the tip of your cat’s urethra (the tube leading from the bladder to the tip of the penis) becomes blocked by crystals, grit, or mucous plugs. Having a FUO means your cat can’t urinate for days and results in severe pain, malaise, and temporarily kidney failure (with secondary vomiting). A FUO can be life-threatening, and is very different from a UTI (only 2% of these symptoms are actually from an active infection). If you’re the lucky owner of a male dog (particularly a Dalmatian, Schnauzer, Shih-Tzu, or predisposed breed), don’t think you’re off the hook - these signs could be from a bladder stone and secondary obstruction also.

Coughing up hairballs
The misnomer “coughing up hairballs” isn’t accurate – after all, you cough from the trachea, while you vomit from your esophagus. These two tubes don’t cross, so you physically can’t cough up a hairball. If you notice your cat doing this without actually bringing anything up (like a hairball or vomit), your cat is likely coughing instead. Certain cats – like Siamese cats and obese cats living with smokers – are often asthmatic, and are misdiagnosed as having hairballs instead. If you notice this, videotape it for your vet to see and hear, as you’d want to have emergency inhalers and medications at home if in the event another asthmatic attack occurs…. instead of just chalking it up to vomiting. If your dog is doing this, he may actually have a tracheal collapse – when the cartilage of the airway is too weak- resulting in a narrower airway to breath with. Unlike cats, dogs don’t get asthma, so something else like an airway problem, bronchitis, pneumonia, or even cardiac problems could be causing this instead. Regardless, it’s not normal for either species to cough, so get it checked out at a vet!

Playing with poisons
While most people suspect their pet is poisoned by eating something off the street or something thrown over the neighbor’s fence, it’s pretty rare. In fact, your pet is more likely to be poisoned inside your house than outside! Before you mis-diagnose your pet and attempt a home remedies that don’t work (like milk, ipecac, or vegetable oil), contact a veterinarian first. They’ll often times be able to diagnose the true cause of the problem with an exam and blood work. When in doubt, you can also call a pet poison control number just in case.
 
•    When in doubt, call a vet – there’s not a charge to ask a question, so check with the experts before doing anything that may potentially misdiagnose or mistreat your pet!
•    Trust your instinct – you do know your pet the best. If something is wrong, don’t self-diagnose. Bring him to a vet for advanced diagnostics to truly get to the bottom of things.

With all the recent panic over the pig-transmitted swine flu, here are some other diseases that can be passed on from your pets — and the easy things you can do to protect yourself. These five diseases are preventable by pre-cautioning yourself and keeping your pets healthy in the first place!

Toxoplasmosis
If you’re ever owned a cat and been pregnant, you know your M.D. is paranoid about your cat shedding Toxoplasma to you. Cats are carriers for this infectious single-cell parasitic organism, but are smart enough to rarely ever be affected by it - they just shed it. Unfortunately, Toxoplasma can result in miscarriage, birth defects, and in the immunosuppressed, neurologic signs. It’s contagious in three ways:  (a) via transmission from a pregnant mother to her unborn child when the mother is infected during pregnancy, (b) by handling or ingesting undercooked or raw meat from infected animals (like venison, lamb, or pork), or (c) by inhalation or ingestion of the oocyst (an early “egg” stage of the Toxoplasma) from soil or litter contact (when gardening, playing in your kid’s sandbox, or from an unhygienic litter box). Toxoplasma oocysts take more than 24 hours to “ripen” and become infectious to you, so daily cleaning of the litter box helps prevent transmission to you. If you’re pregnant, it’s safer for you to clean the litter box once or twice a day for the duration of your pregnancy, or better yet, let your partner have litter box duty for the next nine months. A few other easy ways to protect yourself are to avoid raw meat (cooking meat to at least 152ºF), using gloves when gardening, washing your garden vegetables well, and being an advocate for keeping cats indoors, as they first are exposed to toxoplasmosis while hunting vermin.