Monday - Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. | Closed Sunday
Monday - Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Closed Sunday
Call (719) 219-8569
Call (719) 219-8569
Colorado Springs is an outdoorsy sort of place. Who can resist the close proximity of the mountains paired with perfect weather for summertime activities with the dog. Sometimes in the “active” part of the activities results in cuts and scrapes on a dog’s legs and feet that require bandaging. It seems like a straightforward thing to do, but there are some tricks and pitfalls associated with bandaging that are special to veterinary medicine.
Spring is finally arriving after this long season of cold weather we have had this year, and along with the flowers and the sunshine we are starting to notice an increase in one of my favorite clinical entities: the dog who was perfectly normal when he went outside in the morning and came back in with an incredibly swollen face and itchy bumps all over his body. I like seeing these patients because although the problem is dramatic in appearance the cause is often straightforward and easy to resolve quickly. Yes, spring is the opening of bee sting season.
There is one condition that every owner of a large breed dog should know about and be prepared to take action against at the first sign of trouble. It is casually know as "bloat", but more specifically known as gastric dilation and volvulus, or GDV. This syndrome is different from the kind of bloat your dog gets when he sneaks the pantry door open and eats three boxes of cheerios and a bag of flour. In that case he may look like he just swallowed a 55 gallon drum and he may be moving a little slow, but all of those stolen delicacies will work their way through his system out one end or the other with relatively few side effects likely to occur.
Mrs. Smith was leaning against the wall in the exam room, eyes half closed with dark circles underneath. On the floor in front of her was Rambler, her normally rambunctious German Shepherd. The look on both of their faces suggested that it had been a long night last night. The note at the top of her file said “bloody diarrhea”. I have seen this scene so many times I could probably describe the events of the past evening without even hearing her story.
I could guess what was likely going on by the history and the limp when Toby, an eight year old Great Dane, came into the office. He had started developing a lameness on his right front leg a few weeks ago and it was getting progressively worse until now he was nearly non-weight bearing on the leg. Nobody had witnessed an injury, it just seemed to creep up on him. Toby had always been a little portly, but when he weighed in today he had lost 10 pounds since his last visit 4 months ago. He was still eating and drinking normally, he just seemed very painful.