Becker Animal Hospital

Becker Animal Hospital is making the jump into the internet age with both a new website (www.beckeranimalhospital.net), and a periodic e-newsletter. We hope to enhance our relationship with our valued clients and pets and appreciate your providing Becker Animal Hospital with your e-mail address for pet reminders.

Please let us know if you prefer not to receive our e-newsletter in the future. And, any feedback or requests for topics to be covered would be greatly appreciated. You may forward to us in person, via our website, or email directly to: ewagner@beckeranimalhospital.net.

Eric Wagner, DVM and the staff of Becker Animal Hospital

Car Travel with your Dog - Not a Pleasant Experience?

Many dogs jump at the chance for a car ride. For some, it is a miserable experience – with problems ranging from shaking and panting to nausea and vomiting. Motion sickness is a distinct entity from travel anxiety/fear. With an anxious or fearful dog, one can often desensitize the pet with short car trips, or simply spending some time in a stationary car, followed up with positive reinforcement (like food or a toy) for a calm response. We often use human anti-anxiety medication (Xanax/Valium) for tougher cases, but it must be given 1-2 hours prior to travel for full effect.

Motion sickness is a body response similar to getting off a spinning amusement park ride - initial excitement followed by nausea and possible vomiting. The medicines used for anxiety are generally not very helpful, nor is desensitizing with frequent trips. We have been using a new medication, Cerenia, which has proven very successful with preventing most motion sickness problems. Cerenia is also helpful for dogs that are sick from chemotherapy, gastrointestinal problems, or post-surgery nausea. The medication can be give by pill or injection. As with any of the anxiety medications, it must be given 2 hours prior to travel.

Let us know if your dog friend suffers from these problems, and we’ll work towards making travel a much more pleasant experience for all.

Cat Vaccines - An Ongoing Evolution of Recommendations

Cat vaccination has in recent years become a bit confusing with multiple opinions (both veterinary and non-veterinary) on frequency and types required. Here is a synopsis of Becker Animal Hospital’s current recommendations:

Rabies is a fatal disease and a legally required vaccination. We use a vaccine specifically designed for cats. The cat vaccine is good for one year, while many of our dog/cat owners will note that the dogs can get a 3 year vaccine. The 3 year vaccine is a multi-species vaccine and we currently feel more comfortable using the cat-only vaccine.

Feline Distemper vaccine is actually a multiple virus vaccine. It protects against viruses that can cause neurological/intestinal/upper respiratory and ocular diseases. We recommend all kittens receive a kittens series of vaccines (2-3 depending on age), followed with a one year booster. Revaccination is then repeated every 3 years unless the cat’s lifestyle dictates otherwise.

Feline Leukemia is a virus that is only transmitted by cat-to-cat contact, thus only cats at risk, such as outdoor cats, breeding cats, and show cats are vaccinated. We recommend testing all new cats and kittens, regardless of their lifestyle, for feline leukemia, but not necessarily vaccinating every cat.

There are several other vaccines available for cats (feline immunodeficiency virus/feline infectious peritonitis/ringworm/feline Bordetella) that have not been shown to our satisfaction to be effective or safe enough for general use. One of our veterinarians would be more than happy to discuss your cat’s vaccine needs.

Difficult to Give your Pet a Pill?

We have been using a new antibiotic for cats and dogs that has a very nice delivery method -- one shot, that last two weeks, without having to give follow-up pills. The medication is called Convenia, and is approved for use in both dogs and cats for specific bacterial infections. It is a cephalosporin antibiotic, so it is not useful in all infections, but it has proven very helpful for both clients and staff at the hospital with some of our more, how shall we say, "difficult" feline/canine patients.