Armadoggon

You enter a yard a barking leaping Boxer named after a famous one greets you behind a sideways removed room door leaned to block him and his housemates. The Boxer just returned from neutering at the shelter and still had his testosterone enough to rip a hole in the shepherd mix now nipping at your pants, ripping the invoice from your hand. The caretaker apologizes while attempting to herd the 4 dogs on the deck into the house. You avoid loss of appendage and anesthetize the victim of the Boxer's Tyson-like bite enough to repair said injury.

You are presented another dog as the caretaker tells the sad story of her family's wrongdoings and the lawyers and police and animal control's wrongdoings. The neighbors are certainly doing her wrong with complaints of barking and public nuisance of whom she claims called the POLICE from their vacation home in another State. You examine the subordinate Pitbull that did receive a superficial gash. You treat this as well while enduring additional fantastical stories of lost chances, wealth and real estate.

On your way out the Boxer leaps up to you paws on your shoulders and you take his arms and dance with him clownishly to snap the woman from her funk knowing full well this dog is exhibiting pure dominant behavior. You advise the caretaker of your concerns that the injuries will continue and yet she assures you the dogs are undergoing training and she simply loves them while attempting to corral them barking command after command. You had put a rebel dog T-shirt on the victim and she looks very cute while now awake from the anesthesia enough to nip at your pants and herd you out past the heavy door and broken gate. Give the antibiotics and pain meds you say with a smile.

You head up the 405 through that lovely Sepulveda pass becoming ever wider accelerating erosion on a grand scale simply to allow many more lanes of cars crammed along side you after this coming CARMAGEDDON... Lord save the poor animals in need of emergency attention in their homes. Except that 911 VETS will have PROVIDERS on both sides of the BLOCKADE TO the two civilizations: Valley Tribes and Westside Tribes. Fear not you think. You hope. As you reach your destination your thoughts turn to a helicopter service that airlifts pets from the home to the ASEC or AEEC or AEC ASG or many other 24-hour emergency clinics. Not yet, you think.

There's a feral cat on the driveway with impossible dreadlocks.

You rush around with the kids on Sunday and mix in a few housecalls until late afternoon when the family is begging you to hang out and start the barbeque when a call from the Service transfers you to the same caretaker with four dogs… who suddenly has none. You discover the Boxer attacked the others again and turned on the woman trying to pry them apart ripping gashes in her arm sending her to the ER for repairs. The Boxer now awaits trial in the County Shelter from whence he came. A nice dog who simply needs to live as the only dog but now has a scarlet letter of red tainting him for future adoptability due to liability. The rebel dog and the cohorts now reside in doggy sleepover camp for a piece. Hopefully together away from the others.

You recommend the woman receive adequate care except that her Insurance company is guilty of wrongdoing as is the Emergency Room. You hold fast to your non-culpability in the incident as a wrongdoer and remain the champion of animals you think you are. You envision a bark-free night on her block as the poor woman heals from a tough lesson in dog pack management.

The Service wakes you again at 3:45AM. Monday starts early this week.

Big Dog on 2nd Floor...

...will eventually become a difficult situation. Mel (not his real name), the 110lb labrador mix still sporting his cahones, was slowing down on his walks in Sherman Oaks. His human dad was getting old himself and having back trouble of his own. The local veterinarian had found arthritic changes in his lower back and gave him a general pain killer (Tramadol, synthetic opiod). This was the day he couldn't make it up a long flight of slickly tiled steps. Today was the day Mel's back was to give out. Inauguration day for Barack Obama. The day the country was finally cool enough to have a black president. Mel was going down. His human dad hoisted Mel up those steps once more. Spine strain for spine faulter. On the housecall his lymph nodes were enlarged to accompany his testicular tumor, the main medical consequence of not neutering the dog. Use it or lose it. Either Mel's back went out structurally or a tumor of the prostate has invaded the spine. His dad and mom and other family members said goodbye and Mel was peacefully euthanized at home. And as I labored to give Mel his sleigh ride down the tiled steps I thought about how the sweet lab must have touched their lives. I was also very grateful I had pre-treated myself with Ibuprofen.

SOAPBOX:
Please neuter your pets. Please research why this is important. Please live on the first floor with a large pet if there is no elevator.

Thanks,
Dr. Steve Weinberg

Dog Saved by Viagra

Another beneficial use of the most popular medication on the planet has turned up in veterinary medicine: Viagra AKA sildenafil citrate. I have recently learned its other miraculous uses other than the drug's emotionally and over-utilized beneficial side-effect.

A wonderful cattle dog, Rat, was seen for weakness and exercise intolerance. Rat lived with his two owners in beautiful Topanga, the town that lies nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains. Rat is an avid hiker and energetic explorer, so for him to be tired was unusual.

At the time of exam he was clearly in distress and the excitement triggered him to worsen. His tongue had started to turn blue (cyanosis). We quickly applied an oxygen mask to relieve the distress. I placed a nasal oxygen catheter to more efficiently deliver oxygen. As the history was revisited, the owner mentioned that he had always had trouble breathing. In fact, another vet mentioned while he was a pup that he wasn't going to live long. Well, it took 13 years for the crisis to develop. Upon stabilization by 911 VETS Providers, Rat was transported to the local Specialty practice and rushed back to the treatment table where the case was handed over to the Cardiologist on staff. Rat spent some time in oxygen until he was evaluated by ultrasound. He was diagnosed with COPD (chronic obstructive lung disease) and pulmonary hypertension (high blood pressure in the right side of the heart). He was put on a new heart medication, pemobendin, as well as VIAGRA to combat the hypertension.

After a few days of agonizing decision-making, the owners elected to wait it out to see if Rat could come out of oxygen. His lungs had lost their full elasticity and caused severe back pressure on the heart. Finally after 3 days of treatment he was able to breathe room air and maintain a normal pink color to his gums. The medication is working. Thanks mostly to the quick assessment and skilled specialist, Rat is now continuing his rugged lifestyle back home in the canyon with the miraculous medication used as originally intended to combat high blood pressure.

These owners are one couple who actually pay attention to the VIAGRA spam in their e-mailbox.