|
Statistics
Members: 237
News: 1054
Web Links: 17
Visitors: 640363
|
|
A Little Bit of Knowledge |
|
|
|
March 2006
- Eliot Kaplan, DVM -
Most of us know that a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing. This is no truer than in veterinary medicine. Veterinarians often see the result of a well-meaning client who read or saw something that leads the client to misdiagnose or improperly treat a condition that afflicts their pet. The result can have bad consequences for the pet.
For instance, one of my clients is a nurse and has seen breast lumps on women that were diagnosed as benign cysts. When she found a breast lump on her dog, she stuck it with a needle "because it must have been a cyst---it felt like a breast cyst on a woman". She then watched it enlarge over the next 4 weeks. The lump turned out to be a malignant mammary tumor and by the time the dog was presented, a major portion of its pectoral muscle had to be removed to effectively remove the tumor. If it had been presented sooner, less invasive surgery would have been required and the chance of an actual cure would have been greatly increased.
Another scenario is when a client makes an assumption based on a fallacy or on "what she heard" and based on the assumption makes a bad decision for a pet. I had a client come in not too long ago with a 12 year old dog weighing 4 pounds that was very ill. The dog was never spayed and as a result, had a life-threatening condition known as a pyometra (pus-filled uterus). The dog's owner informed me that she never had the dog spayed because she heard it was too small to spay. To save the dog's life, it was immediately spayed and after a few days in the hospital, was discharged to the owner on the way to recovery. But the illness could have been totally prevented if the owner would have gotten her pet spayed when it was younger. It would have saved the dog a lot of discomfort and pain in later life.
The moral of this article is that pet owners should avoid making medical decisions for their pets solely on what they heard or seen because they sometimes draw the wrong conclusions. Rather, they should ask the veterinarian for advice. The veterinarian is the expert and they should take advantage of the knowledge he or she has to offer. And this is a good reason to have your veterinarian examine your dog or cat at least once a year. Your veterinarian can often spot medical issues with your pet early on, and advise you the best way to deal with them. This could diminish pain and suffering for the client and pet at a later time. |
|
Subscription
Special OfferOrder 12 ISSUES of the CHOICE for family and friends for only $12.00 plus gst (Canada only). Send your name and address and a cheque to Seniors Choice at Box 41075 RPO South, Lake Country, BC V4V 1Z7
MYRA CANYON KELOWNA BC
SILVER STAR VERNON BC
|
