Cruciate Ligament Rupture

On of the more common causes of lameness we see in dogs is a ruptured cruciate ligament.

Many people would be familiar with cruciate ligament rupture after watching a bit of footy. It is quite a common injury in football players when they land awkwardly or have a bad knock to the legs.

In dogs, ruptured cruciate ligaments are often what we consider a degenerative condition. That is, rather than the ligament rupturing with significant trauma, there is a weakness in the ligament that leads to it rupturing with normal activity.

Because of the underlying weakness in the ligaments, if a dog ruptures the ligament in one knee, they have about a 70% chance of rupturing the ligament in the other knee.

The normal sign of a ruptured cruciate ligament is the dog becoming suddenly lame. This may be when chasing a ball, or even undertaking gentle activity such as walking around. We can confirm cruciate ligament rupture but checking for instability in the joint combined with xrays.

In people there is often no need for surgery as our legs are straight so the cruciate ligament doesn’t have much use in gentle, day to day life. Of course for athletes or very active people surgery is often indicated.

Because a dogs leg is bent the cruciate ligament is used in every step, so for most dogs surgery is required. This normally involves cleaning up the damage within the joint, then creating a prosthetic ligament to stabilise the joint. We use the Ligafibre Iso-toggle Technique. We prefer this technique as it gives consistently excellent results while still being affordable. We are lucky to have Dr Joc Bunny at the Bunbury Vet Clinic, who has her Memberships in Surgery, meaning she has undertaken extra training and examinations in surgery. With Dr Joc performing these procedures we find the dogs return to good function quite quickly.

Early surgical treatment of cruciate ruptures gives much better results as the damage to the knee joint is minimised, so any back leg lameness in a dog should be examined quickly to help minimise arthritis in the future.

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Hot Dogs

With the hot weather arriving, we need to take extra precautions to protect our dogs from overheating.

The two most common causes of overheating we see are dogs being left in cars, and dogs exercising during the heat of the day.

Unfortunately we see several dogs each year that are left in cars on hot days. This is extremely dangerous. Just like children, you should never leave your dog unattended in a car. I have seen dogs suffer from heat stroke when left in a car on a day that was only around 20 degrees. The inside of a car can heat up to over 40 degrees on a 20 degree day and over 60 degrees on a hot day. These temperatures can be reached in as little as 10 minutes, so what might seem like a quick trip into a shop can be fatal for your dog.

Dogs exercising in the heat of the day can also be dangerous. A dog’s cooling process is not as efficient as ours, and dogs are also much more likely to overdo things when they get very excited, like when chasing a tennis ball. Dogs can also burn their paws on hot bitumen or sand, so remember to check how hot the ground is when you take your dog anywhere.

For a dog to cool itself, it pants. The panting process itself uses a lot of muscles, which in turn creates more heat within the dog. Once a dog is overheating, the panting it is doing to try to cool down can sometimes make things worse. For this reason it is important to recognise overheating early to prevent a potentially fatal situation.

Dogs with short noses such as bull dogs and pugs, and overweight dogs are especially prone to overheating, so they should never be exercised on hot days, and should be kept inside or in a cool place during the heat of the day.

If your dog is overheating, these are the steps you should take:

·         Bathe the dog in cool (not cold) water, ensuring you wet right down to the skin

·         Place the dog in front of a fan or air conditioner

·         Place cold packs in the dogs groin, armpits and on the base of the neck (wrap them in a tea towel first so the cold doesn’t damage the skin)

·         Call the vet for advice

Thunderstorms and Fireworks

With the recent thunderstorms, I thought it would be a good time to talk about noise phobias.

Many dogs have phobias of loud noises such as thunderstorms and fireworks. This can show up in behaviours such as shaking and nervousness for the more mild cases, through to destructive and escaping behaviours for the more severe cases. I have seen some animals end up with quite severe injuries after they panic with loud noises, so it is a problem that needs to be taken seriously.

During a thunderstorm, it is important to act normally. If you act nervous or try to comfort the dog, they will pick up on the changes in body language and this can increase their stress levels. Also try putting on a radio or television to help drown out the noise of the thunder or fireworks.

Desensitisation to loud noises can work well in many cases. CD’s of thunderstorm and fireworks noise can be purchased, which can be played at gradually increasing volumes to get the dog used to the sounds. This can eventually “cure” the phobia once the dog realises the noises are harmless.

There is a new product available called a “Thundershirt”. This is a specially designed, tight fitting shirt that can make the dog feel much more secure. The shirt is applied at the first signs of a storm, and can work in around 80% of cases.

For the more severe cases, we often find that medication is required. The older style medications that used to be prescribed were heavy sedatives. These worked well to stop the dog escaping or injuring itself, but did little to stop the anxiety and fear. We now tend to use medications that combine a sedative and anti-anxiety effect, as this protects the dog as well as easing the dog’s distress.

If you need further advice about noise phobias or any other stress related problems, please contact us at the Bunbury Vet Clinic.

Painted Dogs Escape at the Zoo

When I was a student, I was lucky enough to spend a few weeks working with the vets at the Perth Zoo. When I arrived, I was told to sit down and read the Emergency Procedure Manual. “Don’t worry”, they said, “nothing ever happens, it’s just procedure”. Famous last words.

We went out to treat an elephant with conjunctivitis when we received a call that three of the Painted Dogs were down in their enclosure and not moving. We raced across and saw that one of them was already dead, two were still breathing, while another two seemed unaffected but very agitated. It turns out they had been fed meat from a horse that was heavily contaminated with a powerful anaesthetic.

The decision was made to chase the two unaffected dogs into their night enclosure. The keepers started making a loud noise, which caused the animals to panic and they jumped out of their enclosure. We all raced for cover in the cars and quickly planned how to dart the escaped dogs so they could be recaptured. Fortunately it was before opening time, so there was only zoo staff to be moved into the safe zones.

I was given a fire extinguisher and put on an exit from the savannah area, with instructions not to let the dogs past me while the vets and nurses set about darting the dogs. I don’t know what I would have done if the Painted Dogs came my way, as there was nowhere to hide if they did. After a few terrifying minutes, I received a radio call that the dogs had been darted and recaptured, so we set about working on the two dogs that were down in their enclosure.

Over the next week, the vets and nurses worked tirelessly to save these two dogs. The head vet didn’t leave the zoo for five days, and we all took turns trying to keep them alive. At one point we had to breathe for one of the dogs for over 24 hours.

After 5 days, one of them died. We all were devastated, but the other one was starting to recover so we kept going. We spent another 3 days medicating and feeding this dog with a stomach tube before it was strong enough to eat on its own.

The day we released it back into its enclosure with the other dogs was unforgettable. We were all tired and emotional, but it all felt worth while.