Most people would rather not have their pet undergo a dental cleaning.  They worry about the cost and the anesthesia, and they try to wait until absolutely necessary (smelly breath, bleeding gums) to have their pet's teeth cleaned.   But dental health is very important for your pet's overall health and comfort level.  Bad teeth are associated with increased risk of heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease, and, worst of all, pain and discomfort.
Here is why it is bettter to get your pet's teeth cleaned sooner rather than later: First of all, it will be less expensive.  Less tartar to remove, less periodontitis to treat, fewer (hopefully no) teeth to remove - the procedure won't take as long, and consequently we don't charge as much.  
​Secondly, it will be safer.  A shorter procedure means a shorter period of anesthesia which will be safer.  Also, the pet will be younger if you do the procedure now than they would be if you wait until later to do the dental.  In general, a pets health deteriorates as they age (especially if they have significant dental disease), so doing the dental sooner rather than later means they are healthier, and so, again, it's safer.
It will be less painful.  Even though we do everything we can to keep dentals procedures from causing pain, such as giving pain meds beforehand and using nerve blocks, a simple cleaning and polishing is always going to be less painful than periodontal treatments and tooth extractions would be.
Your pet's mouth will be healthier.  Mild gingivitis is reverible.  Gingival recession and periodontitis is not.  So if you wait too long, your pet will still have significant gum, bone, and potentially  tooth loss, even after cleaning and periodontal treatment.  Do it sooner and your pets mouth will be "like new."
Lastly, if you have your pet's teeth cleaned sooner, the cleaning will last longer.  If the teeth are still healthy but just have some tartar, when we clean the teeth your pet will be left with nice healthy smooth enamel.  Enamel is the hardest substance in the body and is relatively resistant to the accumulation of tartar, so tartar will not develop as quickly.  If you wait until the enamel has been damaged and underlying dentin is exposed, or if the gums have receded and the cementum of the roots is exposed, those two substances are much less resistant to the accumulation of tartar, and you will see it begin to develop on the teeth again within months of having them cleaned!  Teeth that are compromised will  need to be cleaned again much sooner than teeth that are healthy.  If you begin dental cleanings at an earlier age and an earlier stage of dental disease, you will have a pet with a healthier mouth, a healthier body, and one which will not need as many dental cleanings over the course of it's lifetime compared to a pet who had to wait until later to have it's teeth cleaned.
One last note about safety: we screen our patients very carefully prior to dentals with exams and blood tests to make sure it will be safe for them to undergo anesthesia, and we will have a very candid conversation beforehand about the potential risks.  In addition, we monitor them very carefully during anesthesia both with machines and by continually examining them for any signs of problems. Consequently to this date, having done hundreds of dental procedures, we have a 100% success rate.  We have never lost a patient due to a dental procedure.

  Blastomycosis is a fungal infection that is common in our area, and unfortunately seems to be even more common in our neighborhood.  We have had 3 cases of Blastomycosis in the less-than-a-year that we have been open.  Blasto is a mold that lives in the soil and in decaying leaf litter, usually within close proximity to a source of water.  If forms spores which are inhaled into the lungs.  At body temperature the mold spores turn into yeast and can spread throughout the body.  Most of the time Blasto will cause small non-healing sores in the skin or will cause a cough.  Sometimes it presents as limping, when the yeast invades bones and causes lesions that can be mistaken for cancer on an x-ray.   Blasto can also infect the eyes and cause a loss of vision.
  Dogs are most commonly affected by Blasto since they spend a lot of time sniffing close the ground where the spores are present.  But people can also be infected, and so can cats that venture outside.  The picture above is a view through the microscope of Blasto yeasts surrounded by white blood cells taken from a skin lesion of a cat that we saw last week. 
  If there are skin lesions, it is a simple matter of looking under the microscope for the tell-tale yeasts.  If there are no skin lesions, we look in the eyes, and we may take x-rays of the lungs and/or bones.  There is a urine test that can be sent to the lab to determine whether lesions see in the eyes or by x-ray are due to Blasto.
  The treatment for Blasto is long term treatment with anti-fungal medication.  However, if the infection is not caught early and spreads to the lungs, it can cause severe pneumonia which may be fatal even with treatment.  Therefore, we encourage anyone with a pet that has unusual skin lesions, unexpected limping, coughing or changes in breathing pattern, or sudden loss of vision, to bring the pet into the clinic quickly for a check up.
  If you have any questions about Blasto (or anything else), please call us a the clinic at 847-934-5530.

Pain is a common problem in pets, especially as they age.  They often don't make it obvious.  The graphic above is a good summary of some things to look for.  
Pain in pets can be managed in a variety of ways: adding rugs over slippery surfaces, massage, and physical therapy are a few of them.  A variety of medications are also available which are safe and effective.  Your veterinarian can help you figure out which approach is best for your pet's particular problem.
The first step is to have them evaluated.  And as always, for new patients the first exam at North Hoffman Veterinary Clinic is free.  So if you even just suspect your pet might be in pain, there's no reason to wait.  Call or stop by today:
847-934-5530.

   Finally, it's going to be a warm weekend in Chicago! Get out there and enjoy it with your dog!
   But please remember: it is now officially warm enough that you should not leave your pets (or your kids!) in the car. They can develop heat stroke very quickly even with the windows cracked open or parked in the shade.
   Exercise induced heat stroke is also very common in dogs when the weather first turns nice. Don't forget: Dogs don't sweat! They can't cool themselves off quickly. Prolonged vigorous exercise (chasing a frisbee or ball for example) can lead to heat stroke in dogs even when the weather is just getting warmer and not that humid. In most dogs, their enthusiasm far exceeds their common sense. It's up to you to make sure that they have plenty of water to drink and that they don't play so hard or long that they get sick.

If you have a pet, especially if you have a dog, there are three insect "vectors" you need to worry about: fleas, ticks and mosquitos.  If you have a cat that spends time outdoors, these vectors are of concern for them too.

Fleas cause itchiness, dermatitis and can be a source of tapeworms!  They are very easily spread from pet to pet and lay lots of eggs.  So a single treatment is not going to be enough to rid your pet of fleas once they have them.

Ticks are a source of Lyme disease,  which most people have heard of, and for which there is a vaccine for dogs.  However, they are also a source of some other tick borne diseases like Anaplasmosis and Canine Ehrlichiosis for which we do not have vaccines, and these diseases can be an even greater threat to your dog's health than Lyme is.

Luckily for dogs and cats, mosquito bites rarely cause the itchy welts for them that they do in humans.  Dogs and cats are not as allergic to mosquito saliva as we are.  However, unluckily for dogs and cats, they can contract heartworm disease from mosquito bites.  

In the case of fleas and ticks, we try to prevent the diseases they carry by killing and/or repelling the fleas and ticks.  In the case of mosquitos, while there are some flea/tick products which also repel mosquitos, we do not rely on them to prevent trasmitting heartworm.  Instead we give a medication that would kill any heartworm larvae that may have been transmitted by a mosquito bite.

Another difference between that approach to fleas/ticks and the approach to mosquitos/heartworm is that the flea/tick medication, once it has been given, is typically going to last for a month (or up to three months depending on the product).  Heartworm treatment typically only lasts a few hours.  What it does is it kills any larvae in the pet that were obtained within the last month by a mosquito bite.  So we give heartworm preventative monthly, not because it will last for a month, but because it can kill any heartworm that the pet was exposed to in the previous month.  Once those heartworm larvae have been living in your pet for more than a month, they get harder to kill with preventative.

So when do you begin flea/tick/heartworm preventative, and when can you stop it?  The answer depends on the weather and the temperature.  If it's an early spring or an unusually warm fall/winter, it is easy to start too late or end too early giving the preventative medications that you need to keep your pet healthy.  For that reason, we recommend giving these medications all year round.


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