Dr Erik Johnson - Veterinarian
Companion Animal & Fish Health
Kidney Failure in Young(“ish”) Cats See also: Kidney Results When you get blood work back on a pet (Cat), it’s about nine years old and it shows kidney failure it’s not always clear what’s going on. There’s another test or two that you’d run on a dog and there are some tests you could run … Read more
Diabetes for Fractious Pet Owners
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a disorder where the body is unable to regulate its blood sugar level.
This is a well written description of how to give an insulin shot. It discusses “the bubble” and how to load the syringe. It doesn’t have doses but it does have “my favorite” type of dosing syringes etc.
A mask may be necessary. Racing muzzles are pretty easy to put on. There are lots of kinds of masks.
Some people are like “Nuts to this, I know she has a right to complain but I’m not getting bitten over this” and let their dogs go. Depending on the ‘battle’ it is, I could be aligned to that thought process.
But….
Cushing’s Disease Veterinary Notes So, I put together 39 pages of information on Cushing’s Disease, which is overactive Adrenal Glands. The body produces way too much Cortisol and the impact is insulin antagonism, and hunger and thirst, weight gain, thinning skin, premature aging. And increased vulnerability to infections. Actually, a lot of the same symptoms … Read more
Long ago, traditional Chinese medicine derived that Black Bear gall bladder contents was therapeutic for numerous diseases (link) and disorders. I wasn’t even born at that point and my exposure to TCM is limited. Fast forward to the Vietnam War when military personnel were exposed to large amounts of Agent Orange and suffered severe liver … Read more
This article separates a couple kinds of Addison’s from the typical kind which has signs referrable to glucocorticoid *AND* mineralocorticoid lack. But, the “atypical” HoAC doesn’t have electrolyte disorders (low sodium and high potassium) and may be managed with nothing but Prednisone at a dose low enough to manage the glucocorticoid deficiency say, 0.15mg.lb once … Read more
Kidney Case Review and Understanding Kidney Disease in Companion Animals This document is for my clients who have pets that have been diagnosed with kidney issues. There’s a ton of information to take in when you get that ‘news’ and so I put together this one-page handout to refresh your memory after we talk. Interpretation … Read more
Cushings Disease HyperAdrenoCorticism in Dogs Cushings Disease is a condition wherein the dog’s adrenal glands produce too much cortisol. When this happens a dog may exhibit signs like you’d see in Diabetes, namely increased thirst and appetite, except you also see weight gain and NOT weight loss. It’s treatable but it’s not cheap to diagnose … Read more
Seven Simple Assessments of Liver Health & Function By Doc Johnson Besides extremely expensive, (and risky) liver biopsies, ultrasounds, radiographs and bile-acids-tests – – there are seven ways to interpret liver health. All of these come from the bloodwork. Here are the seven liver measurements and their interpretation: *ALT* – Alanine Amino Transferase: This is … Read more
