When do you worry about a C. perfringens positive on faecal PCR? Well… Never. PCR tests for the genetic material to produce the toxin, not the toxin itself. There is no correlation between amount of genetic material and toxin levels, so this test is a bit of a furphy. Then why do so many patients respond to diet modification and metronidazole, you say? Most infectious or inflammatory GIT processes, even transient gastroenteritis will cause some degree of dysbiosis (aka altered GIT micro biome). So feeding a quality diet, full of “prebiotics” (foods that feed “good bacteria”), and metronidazole will help to rebalance things and decrease the effects of the original injury. There is currently minimal evidence to say that probiotics benefit these dogs, though the evidence is very strong in humans – and it doesn’t do any harm!
Meet Our Team – Maya
July 2nd, 2019Maya is a vet from Brazil, who came on board initially in our nursing team. Maya’s knowledge and understanding of complex medical conditions was so exceptional, we decided to make her our intern! Maya will be working with our medicine team throughout the week to help with our client contact and written communications, and generally keep everyone happy with her quality patient care and cheeky winks. Welcome Maya!
Did you know…
June 28th, 2019Gastric foreign bodies can almost always be removed by endoscopy? Patient goes home same day, no pain relief, and generally significantly cheaper than surgery. In the last 3 days we have removed a pin, a needle, and a fish hook uneventfully!
Incontinence – when the drugs don’t work, there is still hope!
June 27th, 2019Recent advances in the management of incontinence have drastically improved outcomes for pets and the quality of life of their humans! Two new procedures include injection of collagen into the urethral sphincter mechanism, and the placement of an inflatable occluder around the bladder neck to improve sphincter tone. We are running a special on collagen injections for a discounted rate of $820 throughout August (normally $1580). Chat to our medicine team of Dave, Anna, Liz, or Paul to see if this would be appropriate for your patient!
Effective Treatment for Urinary Incontinence
June 26th, 2019Did you know that urinary incontinence can be treated by collagen injections to increase tone in the urethral sphincter? Contact our team to discuss if your female patients are candidates for this treatment.
CPD EVENING – JULY 4th 2019
June 18th, 2019Join Dr. Rita Singh and the team from Northside Veterinary Specialists on Thursday, 4th July for an evening of cardiology CPD. Rita will be covering congenital heart defects, including PDAs, pulmonic stenosis, and more. Learn about the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of these conditions.
RSVP on 02 9452 2933 or to info@northsidevetspecialists.com.au by Monday, 1st July. All practice members welcome. We hope to see you there!
In The News
February 5th, 2019Under Pressure?
Attention Vets: Are you feeling under pressure?? Don’t be! The New ACVIM guidelines for management of hypertension in dogs and cats is available as free access online:
Clinical Practice
January 30th, 2019What Antibiotic Do I Use For…?
What antibiotic should I be using with suspected infectious cholangiohepatitis in dogs?
The most common bacterial infections of the liver ascend through the biliary system from the duodenum, and include Staphylococcal spp, E coli, and Clostridia. Good old Amoxycillin clavulanate at 20mg/kg BID would be an ideal choice to cover these most common organisms. If I am not seeing a response (resolution of pyrexia, reduction of liver enzymes), I get suspicious that this may not be a bacterial infection and consider liver biopsy / bile cytology and culture, and recommend further testing before escalating antimicrobial coverage.
Technology
January 29th, 2019The Regurgitating Frenchy
Unfortunately, French bulldogs (and all brachycephalics) are predisposed to several causes of regurgitation, including decreased oesophageal tone, sliding hiatal hernia, and pyloric stenosis. We could do ultrasounds, endoscopy and radiographs several times over, and still miss a diagnosis due to the dynamic nature of all of these conditions. Fluoroscopy is an ideal modality for examining these patients – they can have a meal, while we watch. From this, we can measure the oesophageal motility, the movement of the stomach through the hiatus of the diaphragm diagnosing hiatal hernia, and delayed gastric emptying consistent with pyloric stenosis.
Clinical Practice
January 24th, 2019Getting to the Bottom of Anal Sacculitis
I have actually had buckleys success treating culture positive anal sacculitis with systemic antimicrobials – the more you give, the more resistant the bacteria are in there – but they are always in there…
The best medical success I have had is flushing weekly for 4-6 weeks and instilling a topical antibiotic + cortisone into the gland. I just thread a 22g catheter (without stylet!) into the duct, and attach a saline syringe and flush. My favourite ointment to instil is Panalog, but if you can’t get that either chloramphenicol + a cortisone-containing ophthalmalogic preparation seems to do the trick. I’ve also sucessfully used manuka honey a few times, but you have to use a big catheter because it’s so thick!
Regarding when to go to surgery: If the anal sac feels large and flaccid after a couple of flushes, I usually take them out. If they are full and feel like they have good tone, I tend to persist with medical managment.