This past weekend, I attended the New Jersey Veterinary Medical Association Annual Conference.  To all of you feline owners out there, this one is for you.  After spending two days listening to various lectures about respiratory diseases, I wondered what I could pass along to you that could be of practical help in controlling feline bronchial asthma.

Every morning when my kids get on the school bus, I tell them: “learn something new and make new friends.”  This week my mind was wondering back to 1995, when every Friday afternoon, I took my dog Ness to a park near the Nature Reserve in Englewood.  Ness loved that park because, just before sunset, it was often entirely empty and I thus let him walk next to me without the leash.  We used to stop and look at the view of all of Bergen County from the top of the hill, watching the magnificent sunset just before twilight.

February is National Pet Dental month.  During that time, veterinarians around the country raise awareness about dental diseases in pets.  Dental disease is the number one disease in pets.  More than 85 % of pets over the age of four have periodontal disease, a more advance and irreversible form of dental disease.  Because of bacteria, entering the blood stream and spreading to vital organs, pets with dental disease live, on the average, two to four years less than pets who do not suffer from this condition. 

“He can actually run up and down the stairs without waiting for me to pick him up,” the owner of Cocoa, an arthritic Yorki, reported enthusiastically after only one injection of Adeqaun, an all natural medication approved to treat arthritis in dogs. Following a knee surgery, I knew that Cocoa would benefit from a series of injections.  

Lilly is a very old cat with an intestinal mass in her abdomen.  I discharged her today after a few days of intensive care at my hospital.  Lilly, along with her owner, were fighting for a good quality of life for her, for just a little bit longer.  Lilly was certainly showing some improvement as she was eating and responding well to my treatment. 

When I graduated veterinary school, almost 20 years ago, veterinarians used to take blood samples from dogs and screen them under a microscope for microfilaria -- the baby stage of a blood parasite, called heartworm.  The heartworm lives in blood vessels and it is transmitted via mosquitoes.  

Yes it is.  Dental x-rays allow us to see “under the gums” things we cannot see when conducting a dental exam.

Of the top 10 reasons why cats are brought to their veterinarian, urinary track infection is number one and chronic renal failure is number three (based on data taken from medical claims submitted to veterinary pet insurance in 2007).