Most pets gain weight in the winter just like their owners, many times due to a decrease in exercise. Pet obesity is often worsened during the winter when short days and cold weather means less opportunity for proper exercise. Find new ways to make exercise a priority, even when it’s cold outside. Maintaining your pet’s health with proper diet and exercise will help assure that you both have a happy winter season.

Do your pets sleep in your bed?

Specialist of the Month

Animerge is proud to honor Dr. Spiegel, our dermatologist, as our Specialist of the Month! We thank Dr. Spiegel for all of his contributions to our facility!

Referring Hospital of the Month

Animerge would like to honor Somerset Veterinary Group as our Referring Hospital of the Month for February! Thanks to them for referring clients to our 24/7 Animal Emergency and Specialty Care facility.

If there’s snow on the ground; check your pet’s paws for ice balls or injuries. Rinse feet off if your pet has walked where de-icers have been used. If your pet is having difficulty exercising due to depth of snow, slick icy surfaces, or appears to be winded, we recommend that you shorten the usual exercise times and monitor for any unusual signs. If you suspect that your pet has ingested any harmful toxins from de-icers or anti-freeze, please let us know immediately, so that we may advise you about what to do next.

Hank's Story

On the evening of December 30, 2010 as I relaxed at home, the familiar sound of my cell phone alerted me to the arrival of a new text message. The message was from my colleague, Dr. Peggy Hauck and it read simply, “Hank is home!” Believe it or not those were some of the sweetest and most exciting words I could have read. After all, I had first admitted Hank to the hospital, 19 days prior. His illness and his hospitalization had been heavy on my mind, and I was glad that this story looked like it was finally ending happily. A sweeping sense of elation and joy swept over me as I texted back, “YEA!!!” Hank Sarrow’s history as an animERge patient began about one year ago. At a little over one year of age, Hank began having seizures and made several visits to our emergency room as a result. Over the last year, Hank has since returned on a number of occasions for recurrent seizure episodes despite several anticonvulsant medications and his very dedicated owners who administer these medications religiously and according to a very strict schedule. 

Despite this, Hank is routinely rushed into animERge after one of his cluster seizure events and is triaged to our treatment area for immediate attention and administration of an injection of valium to stop the seizure activity. Having had the pleasure of often being the receiving doctor during many of these episodes, the situation has become routine for me. Hank gets carried to the treatment area and placed on a table. As I stand in front of him and administer the valium used to stop his seizures, I have a front row view of the transformation. Slowly the seizure activity quiets, Hank then seems somewhat sleepy from the valium, and then within a matter of minutes he regains consciousness, slowly lifts his head and reaches out to plant a series of kisses on my nose.

That’s when you know Hank is back. He is an adorable dog – a true mixed breed weighing in at around 26 lbs. He has big brown eyes, a right ear that flops down, and a left ear that depending upon the time and his mood, may stand up or flop over. Because of his recurrent seizures, Hank has come to stay at animERge on a number of occasions as a medical boarder when his family goes away. Everyone at animERge knows Hank – and everyone loves him. EVERYONE! Receptionists, veterinary technicians, and doctors alike – we all enjoy Hank for his outgoing personality – for the prance in his step, his freely wagging tail, and the kisses which he so generously bestows on anyone willing enough to take a knee beside him.

Affectionately known as “Hankala” or “Hanky Panky” by the staff, Hank navigates the hospital as if it is his second home, happily acknowledging staff members with a tail wag or by stopping to welcome some petting by passersby. He navigates freely to the elevator, trotting all the way until he stops at the door and waits for it to open, nose poised at the side he knows will open first. He knows it’s his ride downstairs to go outside for his walks. 

So on the evening of December 11 when I realized that Hank had arrived but it wasn’t because of a seizure, I was admittedly surprised and concerned. I entered the exam room to find Hank in his owner’s lap. He was extremely quiet and depressed. He did not wag his tail; in fact, he barely lifted his head. Hank had been vomiting. He looked uncomfortable and palpation of his abdomen confirmed that he had abdominal discomfort. Initially based upon x-rays and because of his history of having gotten into the garbage and vomiting up some indigestible foreign material, there was concern that Hank had a ‘foreign body,’ or rather additional material in his stomach that was indigestible and not passing. However, bloodwork soon revealed something much more concerning – Hank’s pancreatic values were more than ten times normal. He tested positive for pancreatitis.

As an emergency clinician, pancreatitis is a fairly common ailment seen in my patients. The pancreas, the organ responsible for making digestive enzymes at the signal of a passing meal, can become inflamed after periods of diet change or ‘dietary indiscretions’ when the pancreas has worked very hard to produce enzymes to digest something it is not used to digesting. Conveniently, nature has designed these digestive enzymes to usually be packaged in an inactive form within the pancreas. They traverse a short ‘pipe-line’ and are dumped into the small intestine where the enzymes are activated and thus capable of digesting food. When inflammation of the pancreas activates these enzymes within the pancreas itself, autodigestion, or self-destruction of the tissue of the pancreas occurs. The process is painful and requires aggressive medical treatment.

Based on his demeanor, I had concerns that Hank was suffering from a fairly serious case of pancreatitis. My instincts made me also concerned about the possibility of a pancreatic abscess – or a focused pocket of inflammation and infection that would require surgery to remove dying tissue and infection. Hank was admitted to the hospital and was started right away on an aggressive regimen of medications aimed at quieting inflammation in the pancreas and at stopping the destruction of pancreatic tissue. An abdominal ultrasound was scheduled to better assess the pancreas. The initial abdominal ultrasound quelled our concerns about a pancreatic abscess. The pancreas was indeed inflamed, but Hank responded well to medical treatment. His appetite returned, and so did some of the spring in Hank’s step. He was discharged after five days of hospitalization with medications to continue at home.

Three days later, Hank returned to the hospital. His owners reported that he had done well for a day or so, but then by the second day, he had begun to refuse food and he had become extremely lethargic once again. He was admitted to the hospital again on Sunday evening (December 20) with plans to repeat an abdominal ultrasound. Abdominal ultrasound confirmed massive pancreatic inflammation and dying tissue and given his extremely depressed demeanor, the decision was made to take Hank to surgery. Dr. Collins, our surgical specialist, discovered immediately during surgery that there was indeed a very serious situation at hand. Hank had a pancreatic abscess that had very recently ruptured thus spilling potentially bacteria-ridden pus into his abdomen. 

This was an extremely serious and potentially life-threatening situation. In fact, the literature suggests that the one-month post-operative survival of veterinary patients with pancreatic abscesses is approximately 50%. This meant that technically speaking, our beloved Hank’s chances of surviving were as good as a coin toss. Thankfully, we had acted quickly, and Dr. Collins had removed the area of the damaged pancreas (about one-third of the pancreas) and painstakingly cleaned up the abdomen and removed areas of infection. Somewhat coincidentally this is one of Dr. Collins’ favorite things to do - a self-proclaimed “Cleaner” – she freely admits that this is one of the most rewarding things she does as a surgeon. The results are often undeniably very rewarding; to take an animal that will most certainly die of broad-spread infection if left untreated, to “clean ‘em up” and in doing so, to invariably save their life.

Hank remained in the hospital for the next 10 days. He received nutrition through a feeding tube. He received a myriad of medications – antibiotics, pain medications, medications for nausea, and of course, his anticonvulsants. We monitored his vital signs, his blood counts, and his pancreas on ultrasound – we watched with baited breath for signs that the inflammation was subsiding and that the infection was not resurfacing. Every member of our staff – veterinarians and technicians alike participated in the intensive care Hank received during this time. Our team rotated through shifts, like the routine changing of the guard outside Buckingham Palace, as we took our turns watching over, and caring for, our Prince. 

Hank’s dedicated owners came to visit him twice daily as well to reassure their little guy that they were still there for him and to continue his fight. Two days after surgery, I was lucky enough to be sitting on the floor next to Hank’s owner when he finally regained his strength enough to crawl out of his cage and into her lap for a snuggle. The sight literally made my eyes tear up. Two days after this, he became spunky enough to chew out his intravenous catheter. When the nurses alerted me of this development, I could do nothing but laugh– Hank was definitely feeling better! Repeat abdominal ultrasound confirmed slowly resolving pancreatic inflammation. Hank was weaned back on to oral feeding and he ate voraciously!

Apparently, my subconscious was still somewhat skeptical of Hank’s progress. I awoke one morning to recall that I had had a dream about Hank. Dreaming about my patients is not uncommon for me and in talking with many of my colleagues I know that I am by no means alone. Much of the dream was a rehashing of all of the facts of Hank’s case in an apparent effort to ensure that all of his problems had been addressed. The dream ended with me finding out that after all, Hank also had a foreign body! In all of the investigating, analyzing, and worrying that we, as veterinarians, do about our patients every day, it is no wonder that these sorts of dreams occur. Unfortunately, they always leave me slightly unsettled.

Despite my subconscious reservations, Hank continued to do well. On January 4, we performed another re-check abdominal ultrasound. Although Hank’s pancreas continued to improve, this ultrasound revealed a blood clot in Hank’s spleen. This blood clot, an unfortunate complication in any postoperative patient, could result in decreased blood flow to part of the spleen. Our whole team took this news with what seemed like a synchronized sigh of frustration, but we also knew that he had come so very far. 

Thankfully, for the moment the spleen was retaining sufficient blood flow to not require surgery and this development was just something more that we would need to treat and monitor. Hank was admitted to the hospital and started on medication to help prevent blood clots. Even so, Hank remained unaware of this subsequent development and continued to improve daily. A couple of days later as I sat at my computer writing up charts, I brought Hank into the office with his bed so he could have a little reprieve from his hospital “room.” He first scoured the room looking for food and then whined and begged to sit in my lap. I happily lifted him into my lap where he remained as I typed up my charts. I couldn’t help but to think that finally we had turned the corner. Hank was released from the hospital the following day.

Since then, Hank has made slow but steady recovery. He lost weight during his illness and has been a      little slow to regain it. He continues to eat his low-fat prescription diet designed to allow his pancreas to recover and his family reports that he grows stronger every day. His story is a special one. His case was by no means the first pancreatitis or even the first pancreatic abscess the animERge team had treated, but the various twists and turns that the case took required that our whole team participate. His successful outcome was made possible by every one of our team members. Hank is a very special dog and he has a wonderful and dedicated family. Although the nature of our business requires that we hope not to see him again soon, thankfully we know he will at least come for visits to pick up his food or to just say “hi” and to spread around a few kisses.

-Andrea S. Freeman, VMD, MS

Valentine's Day Tip

Chocolate!  Who doesn't like chocolate? Including our pets?  We want to remind you that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and your pets love candy and chocolate just as much as you do. Chocolate, in all forms is dangerous for both cats and dogs.  If you suspect your pet has gotten into chocolate, or any other harmful substance; please call us right way and we'll guide you on what to do next.

Happy Birthday Wishes!

 Happy Birthday wishes to Barbara, Nicki and Rob this February! We are proud to have them as a part of our team at Animerge!