Disc Degeneration in Dogs – Diagnostics (Part 2)

as far as health problems in breeds of dogs, you can thank the purebred clubs for breeding that in the types of dog breeds.

phoenix911: "as far as health problems in breeds of dogs, you can thank the purebred clubs for breeding that in the types of dog breeds."

And you can thank the vets for making more and better diagnostic tools and health care services available to pet owners. Routine dental cleaning, x-ray arthritis evaluation, etc. etc.

Old Rover out on my uncles farm was a run of the mill farm dog that never had nor needed such fancy medical treatment and bills. Rabies shots and that was it. No heart worm pills, no flea treatments, maybe a bath in dog soap once in a while. Not much more and he lived longer that some of the pampered pets.

Our dog on the farm was a Heinz 57 also. with mostly collie blood line and the neighbor hood dog blood line.

Never had problems. And I did not realize what kind of problems can occur to a dog. until I moved off the farm to go to college at age 25. The you have to take care of the dog 80% more, because they are less self sufficient then the farm dogs.

And I agree with your last paragraph. they are healthier and more resistance.

Now its a compliment to say you have a dogs life.

Back on line again SavvyExacta. Sorry for not answering your post, but I was tearing the home office apart. The "Deagle" is having some kind of digestive system problem. Being "off his feed" for a couple of days is not normally a worry for me with a dog, but this dog has "never met a food he didn't like". Since my Border Collie lost his appetite a couple of years back, and it turned out to be Valley Fever (http://www.vfce.arizona.edu/VFCE%20OLD/ValleyFever/canine/canine.htm), I have been keeping an eye on the both of them, and the Calico cat.

On to the subject at hand: A lot of the diagnostic tools (and drugs) available to humans now actually got their first hand trails in veterinary medicine. I just wish that it was as easy for me to get an MRI. At last count I had 3 blown out disks, and it took me 2 doctors, and 5 years to get the first MRI ordered. C'est la vie!

To rephrase the last two posts it would seem that, in America at least, we are treating the animals better than we treat a lot of humans.

I've often felt that if we gave up on spending huge amounts of money at the vet's office and gave the cash to feed the hungry we could come pretty close to solving world hunger.

When my sisters seperately spent thousands on hip replacements and knee surguries for dogs that didn't cost that much I began to question their ability to reason.

In a nutshell, in America the ability to apply critical thinking has gone to the dogs....

I can see both sides of your argument. But I do have pets who are more like "members of the family" than "animals" so I lean more toward the side of taking measures to save lives/make them more comfortable.

Yes, it does look like the amount of $$$ spent on pets is large. However, the technology and skill used to perform surgery on an animal is very similar to performing surgery on a human. Vets go to school just as long as doctors. (No, you can't really compare human life with other animals - I'm just saying the amount of work and precision is the same.)

What I am saying is look at the cost of surgery or diagnostic tests for people without health insurance. Simple blood work can run thousands of dollars. An MRI would be something like $5,000 according to the paperwork regarding the one I had in January. For a pet, the same technology is used but it costs considerably less. Blood work is around $100-200 here. An MRI is several hundred dollars rather than thousand. (The lab technology for blood work is the same; the MRI equipment is probably smaller for small animals but much larger for large animals and perhaps more expensive.)

It's interesting how vets are very eager to help your pets get better - they want to find and solve the problems at hand. I've worked with very medically-oriented vets who want to diagnose and treat with medications or surgery. I've also worked with a vet who wants to find the cause of the problem and treat more holistically by making the pet healthier as a whole, a lot like some of the healthier lifestyles people are taking these days (healthier diet, exercise, alignment, fewer vaccinations, etc.).

To me, the opposite seems true in the human medical world. It's just a swarm of paperwork and being shuffled from one area to another where you never get any real answers - just the occasional prescription and "call back in two weeks if it's not better".

I hope that your Deagle starts eating. My dad's English setter has stopped eating as well - they suspect cancer or kidney failure. He's taken to feeding him blended canned food with a syringe until they can figure out what's wrong with him.

I suspect that the reason the treatments applied by the vets are more practical than the tons of paperwork and expense involved in treating people is because the lawyers have not yet made a practice of suing vets....

I've heard of a few malpractice lawsuits against vets. Some animals are insured. (Big Brown, Triple Crown contender, is rumored to be insured for $50 million plus.)

I think the real reason that there's less paperwork is the lack of health insurance. Although there is some insurance for animals, it's usually reserved for things like accidents, cancer, surgical procedures, etc. - not routine exams and care.

When insurance for pets becomes for commonplace we'll probably see fees go up as well. For example, my dentist charges one price for patients with insurance and another for those without. Everyone winds up paying about the same (unless you've got great coverage and go for "free"), but the insurance companies pay a quite a bit more of the dentist's operating expenses for the patients who do have dental coverage.

A lot of the diagnostic tools (and drugs) available to humans now actually got their first hand trails in veterinary medicine.

with no help from PETA.

Pet insurance - I have Banfield Wellness insurance on both of my dogs. It covers their vaccinations, dental cleanings, nail clipping, and all sorts of tests. It was especially helpful with my older dog who we adopted knowing that she was heart worm positive. The injections were not cheap to cure her, but insurance paid the brunt of it. It was also a pre-existing condition, but in the dog insurance world, unlike human insurance where they will do anything to save a buck, it doesn't matter, they treat the problem.

Treating pets better than people - Well, I can understand some people's way of thinking on this one, that it is nuts. I for one do not feel this way. My dogs are very much a part of my family. I also believe that in this country (USA) imparticular, citizens are written a blank check. You can be or do anything you want if you work for it! With some exception (mental illness, etc), the people 'starving' in the streets put themselves there and are doing little to nothing to recover from it because relying on the charity of others is easier than getting a job. Pets, especially dogs, love their families unconditionaly and are the ultimate loyalist. I for one could never in a million years let my dogs go by the wayside due to a medical ailment or any other reason because 'it is just a dog'.

All of my dogs have been "rescue" dogs as well. The last was a Pembroke Welsh Corgi that 16 years old when she was dropped-off at the local animal shelter. She lived till 18, and had a blast that 2 years trying to herd the Border Collie!

On a side note, and to anyone who lives in the U.S. Southwest: http://www.redrockbiologics.com/ This is a vaccine to help your dog deal with a rattlesnake bite. Is it effective? I don't know for sure, and I sure hope to never find out. To me it is cheap insurance. I take my dogs out in the desert every day, and they chase lizards, chipmunks, rabbits, mice, and coyote's. The occasional rattlesnake is to be expected. To that end, I have had several occasions to teach them to leave the snakes alone, but it is always a possibility.

What most people don't know, is that most rattlesnake bites aren't venomous. They are what is called a "dry bite". No venom is injected (or wasted - in the snakes opinion), but the bite can still be serious, due to infection. Even if venom is injected, it doesn't mean instant death. There is plenty of time to get the victim (human or animal) to medical care. What this vaccine is supposed to do, is give more time,and alleviate the damage. Again, I stress that: I don't know for sure, and I sure hope to never find out.

Best advise I can find, is that if you or your animal are bitten, remember the motto of "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy": DON'T PANIC!

Wrap whatever you have handy above and below the bite. Not as tight as a tourniquet, you don't want to cut off blood flow, just slow down the spread of the poison. Stay calm. If you can, and there is another person there, have them go for help while the person/animal uses minimal effort (fast heartbeat will spread the poison faster).