I’m proud to see my undergraduate alma mater extolling the virtues of canine companionship! The University of Scranton sponsored a pet therapy day prior to final exams. It’s widely known interacting with domestic animals lowers stress and blood pressure. If only Fido took your finals for you….
You certainly don’t think of the veterinary profession as one where performance of duties risks loss of life. Police, fireman, and men and women in our armed forces certainly face the prospect of death daily, but veterinarians rarely need to worry. Sadly, a small animal veterinary colleague died this month after she was struck by a vehicle while attending to two dogs who laid in the road outside her home. The driver fled the scene but has since been arrested and jailed.
Dr. Kathryn Gilpatrick, 37, died assisting her neighbor’s dogs who strayed into the road near Knoxville, Tennessee. We animal lovers put ourselves in harm’s way treating these animals. I know the emotional trauma of seeing pets in the road struck repeatedly by traffic. As a teenager, I stopped in the middle of the night to carry a wayward snapping turtle across a darkened road to ensure its safety with disregard for my own. I’ve even pulled over on the side of the highway to help fearful dogs who’ve found themselves in the middle of traffic. I won’t say these traits are innate but they come pretty close. Veterinarians share the passion to preserve animal life and alleviate suffering. I am sure Dr. Gilpatrick died doing what she loved.
Like Dr. Gilpatrick, I find myself unable to sit idly by during times of crisis. It’s humbling to view the fragility of life and to know the call of duty, however great or small, comes with great implications.
How do you remove dried snot from painted walls without damaging the paint? You can’t. At least that’s my experience with my chronic snotting, snuffling, sneezing, snorking cat. Winston has successfully plastered my walls with copious amounts of mucous with a holding power rivaling the largest tube of gorilla glue. If you have one of these snorkers in your house, there is hope!
I recently attended a veterinary conference lecture that focused on these cats by Cynthia Stubbs, DVM, DACVIM. We all know snot-nosed cats can prove difficult to manage for both veterinarians and pet owners. Once the appropriate diagnostics are performed to rule out some of the more easy to treat issues, many pet owners are faced with the choice of advanced and often expensive diagnostics. While I still strongly recommend performing a vast array of diagnostics to get to the heart of the disease, many times cats suffer from difficult to diagnose rhinitis and sinusitis that can be exacerbated by respiratory infections. There is a probable association between chronic snorkers and chronic infections with herpes and calicivirus. Both herpes and calicivirus attack nasal and upper airway mucosa, causing chronic inflammation that can lead to nasal discharge and destruction of the delicate nasal bones that sit inside the nasal passages. This correlation has lead Dr. Stubbs to pursue both palliative and curative treatments.
Dr. Stubbs suggested one such treatment involves giving affected cats intranasal bivalent vaccinations against herpes and calicivirus. The intranasal delivery is purported to increase local mucosal immunity and therefore decrease the inflammation in the nose. Dr. Stubbs reported some cats needed only the vaccine on an every 3-6 month basis for near complete relief. The off-label use of the vaccine does not confer any immunity to panleukopenia, so Dr. Stubbs recommended also giving the traditional subcutaneous trivalent FVRCP vaccine. In addition, Dr. Stubbs bravely uses the anti-inflammatory antibiotic doxycycline along with the NSAID piroxicam to provide additional symptomatic support. Word to the wise: Non-liquid forms of doxycycline are known to cause esophageal stricture in cats and piroxicam should not be used in cats with kidney disease.
I am planning on trialing the intranasal vaccine in my own snorker. We’ve tried multiple antibiotics – no small feat given Winston is a perceptive, neurotic, inflammatory bowel disease cat. Nothing has alleviated his six years of nasal congestion. I will certainly follow-up in future postings.
Diagnostics Performed in Nasal Discharge in Cats
Common Diagnoses In Nasal Discharge in Cats
Dr. Jennifer Koehl offers a unique perspective on all things veterinary medicine.
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