Cristmas Cracker, not Christmas Crisis - Pet advice

Dear All,

With the festive season very nearly upon us, I feel it is important to share with you some of the problems we experience at this time of year, so as to try to help avoid some of the preventable illnesses in your pets.

Firstly, CHOCOLATE IS GENUINELY TOXIC TO PETS.
Believe it or not, chocolate is toxic to dogs, and it takes much less than you might realise to be potentially fatal. So, please dont buy chocolate for them this year, and if you do find that Fido has broken his way into the selection box, please phone for help- just 160 grams of dark chocolate is enough to kill a 20Kg dog!

Vets have access to something called the VPIS- Veterinary Poisons Information Service, run by Guys and Thomas's hospital in London. It is a subscription based service that centralises ALL occurrences of toxicity to pets. As such, they would be able to tell us the risk of toxicity from anything your pets manages to eat.

Choclate toxicity is caused by a chemical called theobromine, which is contained in chocolate. It is related to caffeine, and as such, the signs of intoxication include restlessness, shaking, vomiting and abdominal pain, eventually leading to convulsions and death.

If you suspect your dog of having eaten a moderate amount of chocolate (or any other abnormal chemical), KEEP THE WRAPPER, and phone your vet. Chocolate toxicity WOULD warrant calling the emergency vet, so even if your vet is closed, it is still worth contacting their out of hours service (which all vets have to have) for advice. Keep the wrapper handy, so that the vet can give the relevant details to VPIS when calling for advice. And dont be surprised if any dog suspected of being poisoned is hospitalised on intravenous fluids along with other meds.

Secondly, Foreign Bodies.
Toys, stones, tinsel, wrapping paper and ribbon can all cause intestinal blockages. Since opening the vets in congleton, I have had to remove 2 large stones from a cocker spaniel (his Xrays were quite impressive- see above- an elastic hair band from a young cat, and a corn on the cob (from a BBQ) from a staffie. I also have a dog hospitalised at the moment, due to have surgery for a suspected foreign body blockage tomorrow! (Added later- this turned out to be a golf ball!)

So, as toys get worn, and bits look as if they might start to break off, please throw the toy away and buy a new one. Dispose of all wrapping paper and ribbon etc securely, away from your pet, and most importantly, if you know your dog has swallowed something, it's much easier (and cheaper) to take him to the vet straight away, where we can make him sick, than to leave it a couple of days, when we'd have to go in surgically to retrieve the offending item. As a guide, it might cost about £50-£100 to make the animal sick straight away, versus £600-£1000 for surgey and all of the aftercare that goes with it, not to mention the anaesthetic risks, and the possibility of complications.

Finally, PANCREATITIS.
Another serious risk for pets (and people) this christmas, is a condition called pancreatitis.

The pancreas is a slender organ that lies along side the small intestine just after the stomach. Not only does it produce insulin (which diabetic patients dont have enough of), but also many of the enzymes needed to digest food.

Under normal circumstances, the pancreas stores the enzymes and releases them into the intestine after a meal, in an inactive form. When the secretion meets the acidic food contents (acid from the stomach), the acid activates the enzymes, allowing them to 'do their thing.' However, in pancreatitis, the enzymes may be activated within the tissue of the pancreas itself, leading to 'digestion' of the pancreas, which releases more pancreatic enzymes, and so the cycle continues.

In humans, pancreatitis is often a very serious, or even fatal illness. In dogs, it certaily can be that serious too, but often, we get a waxing and waning condition, and the pet will have flare-ups from time to time.

Diagnosis of the condition can be quite difficult to achieve, requiring certain specific blood tests. In cats, the sample has to be sent to a specific lab in the USA for analysis, if the routine tests come back negative.

Treatment involves hospitalisation for intensive treatment, including intravenous fluids, nil by mouth, antacid medication, antibiotics and pain releief as the condition is often very painful.

The cause......? too much rich, fatty food (and alcohol for us humans). So please, NO CHRISTMAS DINNER for Fido and Smudge this year.

Merry Christmas!!