Weird Pets and Weird Infections

Dr. Scott Weese over at Worms & Germs has a great piece about some of the difficult considerations when you adopt an exotic species of animal and then get bitten by it.

As is virtually always the case, I agree completely with him. People sometimes ask why I don't treat various exotic species: ferrets, ocelots, chinchillas, snakes, etc. Well, aside from the small fact of our being a CAT hospital (ie DOMESTIC kitties ONLY), I don't have experience with these types of critters. They can and do have sometimes extraordinarily unique husbandry needs, and can have very rare and strange diseases, many of which can affect people. I never took the exotic animal medicine elective course in vet school, so I prefer to leave that to those who did.

The State of California strictly regulates ownership of many exotic species, and for good reason. The case of 49 large exotics having to be killed in Ohio recently is a tragic case in point. If you are going to keep lions and tigers and leopards, you simply MUST know what you are doing and be equipped to do it right. I will never forget the sight of all those gorgeous tigers lying dead in a heap. I would never want to enable that sort of neglect.

On rare occasion I still see pet domestic rabbits or rats, but the demand for that is virtually gone in this economy so I am phasing them out altogether.

We are all about Felis domesticus. We don't dislike other creatures, we just don't vet them. And yeah, we still don't do dogs.

Happy Ending / A New Beginning

Yesterday Mr. Happy, our fractured pelvis hit-by-car stray, went to his new home with a former employee of mine. By all accounts he is adjusting very quickly and likes things there.

I already miss him.

A Particularly Important Reason to Never Feed Your Cat Raw Meat

If NDM-1-containing Salmonella ever gets established in poultry farms in the US, it's game-set-match in the battle against this particular food-borne bacterial infection. If you don't care about your own life, I can't make you. But I care about mine and that of my staff and patients and clients. I have seen presumed Salmonella infection in several cats that were fed raw poultry, and it can make kitties (and humans who associate with them) extremely ill. If we have no antibiotics to fight it, cats will have to be euthanized and humans will simply die if they catch it.

NO RAW MEATS. USE GOOD FOOD HANDLING SAFETY TECHNIQUES IN YOUR KITCHEN. BE INFORMED - READ ABOUT NDM-1 IN SALMONELLA HERE.

Salmonella Redux

It seems like this is one that will just never go away. Salmonella, a bacterium, causes far too much illness in the US and lack of adequate poultry testing from farm to table is the main problem. Without following the entire chain of custody, there is no way to know how or where the Salmonella is getting into the food supply.

This excellent article over at iwatchnews.com is an excellent backgrounder for the interested lay public. I wish the not-so-interested lay public would read about it, too, but I suppose that's hoping for too much.

ETA: The whole point of this post, which I forgot to mention, is that Salmonella in poultry is a potential health threat to our kitties, too. And a major reason why I oppose feeding raw meats.

Hey, She's Posting!

I seem to spend most of my time doing quickie posts over on my Facebook page rather than blogging here, which is simply laziness on my part. I guess I feel like I need a lot more length, depth, and substance in my blog posts than FB posts, but in truth that's not some legal requirement. It's just something that got into my head and now serves only to make me avoid posting here.

Bad, bad Dr. R!

I hope to do better. But if you are looking for briefer, lighter fare, you can indeed find it on the CMVC FB page.