5 Questions Pet Owners Are Asking Right Now – Answered
Every week brings a new round of questions at the front desk, in the exam room, and in my inbox, and lately a lot of them start with “I saw something online about…” That is not a bad thing at all. Curious pet owners make my job easier. Here are five of the questions coming up most often right now, answered the way I would answer them if you were sitting across from me.
My dog or cat threw up. Do I wait it out or come in?
This is one of the most searched pet health questions in the country, and the honest answer is that it depends on three things: how your pet is acting otherwise, how long it has been going on, and whether anything is coming out the other end. A pet who vomits once and then drinks, eats, and goes back to pestering you for a walk can usually be watched at home for twelve to twenty-four hours with small, bland meals. A pet who is lethargic, who cannot keep water down, whose belly is tense or painful, or who is a puppy, a kitten, or a senior should be seen the same day. Repeated vomiting with no stool at all is the pattern that worries me most, because it can mean a blockage, and blockages do not resolve on their own.
Can I give my pet something from my own medicine cabinet?
Please don’t, and I say that with real sympathy, because watching your dog limp at nine o’clock at night is awful. There is a video making the rounds right now suggesting ibuprofen for a limping dog. Ibuprofen causes stomach ulcers and kidney failure in dogs and cats, sometimes from a single dose. Acetaminophen is even worse for cats. We have pain medications made for pets that are both safer and more effective, and most of the time I can get one into your hands quickly. If your pet is hurting, call us during our urgent care hours and let us choose the medication.
Does a dental cleaning really have to be under anesthesia?
I understand the appeal of the anesthesia-free option, and I wish it worked. Most dental disease lives below the gumline, where it cannot be seen, cleaned, or x-rayed on an awake patient. An anesthesia-free cleaning polishes the visible part of the tooth and leaves the infection underneath, so the mouth looks better while the real problem keeps going. Under anesthesia we can take dental x-rays, clean the roots, and find the painful tooth your pet has been quietly hiding, all without fear or struggle. Modern anesthesia with pre-operative bloodwork and full monitoring is safe for the large majority of pets, including older ones, and dental pain turns out to be one of the most common things I find in animals whose owners are certain they seem fine.
My pet is only a little overweight. Does it actually matter?
It matters more than almost anything else you control. Most dogs and cats in this country are carrying extra weight, and most owners do not see it, which is not a failure of love. The baseline has simply shifted, and a round dog looks normal to all of us now. Extra weight shortens life, worsens arthritis, makes breathing harder in flat-faced breeds, and is the leading driver of diabetes in cats. The encouraging part is that this is one of the few things we can fix without a prescription, using measured meals, fewer calories from treats, and a plan built around your pet’s actual body condition rather than the feeding chart on the bag. Losing even ten percent of body weight often changes how a dog moves within a couple of months.
When is my pet a senior, and do they really need to come in twice a year?
Most dogs and cats cross into their senior years around age seven, and large-breed dogs get there sooner. Twice-yearly visits sound like a lot until you remember that a single year for your pet is roughly five or six years for you. Most of what we catch early, including kidney changes, thyroid disease, high blood pressure, heart murmurs, and early arthritis, shows up in bloodwork and a hands-on exam long before it shows up on the living room floor. Pets are remarkably good at hiding illness. Two visits a year is simply how we keep up with them.
The Bottom Line
The internet is a fine place to start a question and a poor place to end one, because similar symptoms can have very different causes and your pet cannot tell us which one they have. If any of this sounds like your household, give us a call or book a visit. We would far rather see you early than late, and we will always tell you honestly when something can wait.