Stories: Turtle spay (oophorectomy)

Dr David spayed last week a red eared slider. "Steve", as she is name, has been having a lot of reproductive problems. Finally, after two months of retained eggs, the owner elected to have her fixed. In mature females, this can be done through the femoral fossa, which allows a successful surgery without having to break through the plastron (shell).

"Steve" was first sedated and then prepared for surgery. An endotracheal tube was placed to assist with ventilation and the delivery of anesthetic gas.

The surgery was performed with the use of an endoscope. An endoscope allows direct access to the coelomic cavity (abdomen) and permit easy visualization of the different organs. With the use of a non traumatic forceps, the ovaries were then exteriorized and removed.

The two ovaries were successfully removed.

"Steve" is now recovering and enjoying again the sunshine and the great days ahead.

North Georgia Zoo

Southeastern Mobile Vet was today at North Georgia Zoo. North Georgia Zoo is located in Cleveland, GA and it is home for Wildlife Wonders. They have many animal species and more than 400 animals. The owner, Ms. Hope Bennett, took me around the place to meet all of the animal collection. I am delighted about this new oportunity. I will be putting pictures soon. Keep tune up for more info.

Some facts about Heartworm disease

    Heartworm disease has been reported in all 50 states. The American heartworm society recommends year round prevention for all cats and dogs. Heartworm disease has a greater incidence in the southeast where the disease is very common.

The disease is transmitted by mosquitoes. They become infected when feeding on infected animals. After 2 weeks, the infective larvae mature and can infect other animals when the infected mosquito bites again. Interestingly, heartworm disease has been reported in many other animals, too. 

   Recently, there have been a few cases of positive dogs while receiving heartworm preventative in the Mississippi river delta area (Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansan and Mississippi). Although certain resistance of the parasite may have occurred, the two common factors related to this lack-of-efficacy cases are inconsistent administration of preventative medications and inappropriate testing intervals. An ongoing study looking into these reported cases in the Mississippi river delta area has shown that 77% of the reported cases were due to gaps in purchase of preventative, 20% were due to compliance on administration of the already purchased preventative and only 3% of the cases were probably due to failure from the medication. Another study in the USA has shown that compliance with heartworm preventative is less than 50%.

The take home message is that:

- Preventative medication must be given every 30 days. Compliance includes not only the time that medication is given, but also appropriate administration or application of the medication in the proper weight range.

- Heartworm prevention must be started at 8 weeks of age. About 13% of the reported cases of lack of efficacy occurred in puppies due to a late beginning in the use of preventative.

-Heartworm disease should be tested every year.

- Heartworm cases have been reported in all 50 states, and for that reason, the American Heartworm Society recommends year round prevention in all USA.

Vey useful website on heartworm disease are:

- The American Heartworm Society         http://www.heartwormsociety.org/

For any further questions, please contact me at drdavid@semobilevet.com. I would be happy to answer any questions. 

Career day on Wheels at Stripling Elementary

What a great day we had at Stripling Elementary School in Norcross, GA. We were invited to tell students of PK, 1 and 2 about our daily rouitine at work. They were about 600 students. Kids were delighted about our experiences and they asked tons of questions about how to take care of their pets. Southeastern Mobile Vet is grateful for having the opportunity to share the daily experience on the road. Thank you Deborah Desalvo, Counselor at Stripling Elementary, for the invitation to take part of such a wonderful day.

Talking about birds - Urban Chickens

Backyard poultry is becoming very popular in the last few years. This is because chickens are not only great pets but they also provide eggs and/or meat depending on the owner. However, there are two important things to remember: 1) the increase close contact between people and chickens increases the risk of zoonotic diseases (diseases transmitted to people); and 2) poor husbandry could lead to poor pet care (e.g. infectious diseases, malnutrition, behavioral issues, exposure to predators and environmental conditions).

Picture taken from avma.org

Two of the most important zoonotic diseases of poultry in the USA are salmonellosis and campylobacteriosis. Please do not hesitate to contact me for further information about zoonotic diseases. As always, a good source of information is the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (http://www.cdc.gov/). Among diseases affecting poultry, some of the more common diseases are mycoplasmosis, fowl cholera, fowl pox and coccidiosis. Something important to remember is that poultry can become carriers for some of these diseases after recovering from it. Therefore, when new birds are introduced into an established flock, they may bring serious diseases with them. So please, remember to isolate new individuals before introducing them into the collection as well as contacting your vet for advice and test that can be run before introduction.

Amicalola deer park

We had a great day at Amicalola Deer Park. Amicalola Deer Park is located in Dawsonville, GA. We performed physical examination on all of the dogs at the park. There were 4 Great Pyrenees and 4 wolf hybrids. The director at the park told us that they use the wolf hybrids for marking the perimeter with urine to keep away smaller wild predators away from the park.

The park is amazing as well as their spirit to help the community. Other animals at the park are: goats, llamas, emus and, of course, tons of deer. There are also some potbellied pigs and two ponnies!

 

There are three deer species at the park: fallow, sika and white tailed deer. Of which, fallow deer clearly outnumber the other two deer species.

I will share more details soon about the park and their residents!

Amicalola Deer Park

We will be on Thursday at Amicalola Deer Park taking care of their animal collection. Amicalola deer park is a local zoo in Dawsonville. The animal collection is made of a large collection of cervids (sika, fallow and white-tailed deer) as well as other wonderful species such as llamas, emus, goats and potbellied pigs. More pictures to follow soon.

Bringing a New Kitten Home and other cat info.

Bringing a new kitten home can be an stressful event for you and the kitten. The kitten should be checked by a veterinarian before he/she enters the household. Apart of the complete physical examination, the kitten should receive a fecal parasite testing and be checked for feline leukemia and feline immunodeficiency virus. Gastrointestinal parasites in kittens can be transmitted to people, and the other two can suppose a risk for your other cats in the house.

The introduction part should take a few days. First allow a small room for the kitten. A litter box should be placed on the opposite site to the food and water. As he/she gets comfortable with the small room, he/she will be ready to explore other places and retrieve to the small room for safety. Feliway, a natural product made of cat pheromones, can be used to speed the process and decrease the stress associated to the new changes. 

For more info on how to introduce a cat into a household, please check out the link. There are many other good sources to learn about how to provide care to your cats. Some good information can be gained from the American Association of Feline Practioners under the cat health topics.

Picture courtesy of Hawk Talk

Anesthesia course in zoo and exotic animals

Dr. David Martinez will be assisting a very well known course in zoo and exotic animals. The course is done by Safe Capture International Inc. This is a well recognize company that has provided training and continue education since 1989. This is a 14 hours course with 2 hours of hand-on training. This course is considered by US government agencies to be the standard in Chemical Immobilization training and will take place at the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia on February 26 and 27, 2011. 

MD vs. Veterinarian

What would a MD and a veterinarian say to each other? You should watch this video. This is a very funny clip about the true realitiy among veterinarians. We are trained to do a lot and expected to do even more. Please enjoy!

MD vs. Veterinarian

A sad reality, it is 2011 and I still get to see a lot of raptors that have been shot.

 Hawktalk, a rescue group that works with raptors, brought this red shoulder to me because he was unable to fly. The xrays revealed that the bird has been shot. Unfortunatelly, one of the pellets caused a fracture of the right radius.

Reptile Show - Repticon Atlanta



Repticon Atlanta



Location: Gwinnett County Fairground

Time: 9:00AM Saturday, January 29th

 

 

 

Southeastern Mobile Vet, LLC. Come meet Dr. David Martinez at Repticon Atlanta on Saturday 29. Dr David Martinez would be performing health certificates for the outsate vendors at the event. The event is one of the largest in Georgia. I will be there, as always, to answer any questions you may have about these unique exotic pets.

Southeastern Mobile Vet NEWS

Southeastern Mobile Vet is officially now open and ready to take care of your pets and animal collections. Call us now at 678-710-8387 or visit us at our website www.semobilevet.com to make an appointment.