Dr. Shawn’s Blog

Heartworm Prevention

There’s been a discussion on my email group (naturalpetcare@yahoogroups.com, please join if you’re not currently a member!) about which heartworm preventive medication is best to give…while there are several good ones on the market, my current choice is iverheart which we prescribe for our patients….keep the following point in mind when purchasing heartworm preventive…the manufacturers of these products guarantee their products are so effective that your pet will not develop heartworms when taking them as prescribed…if the pet develops heartworms, the manufacturer will pay for the cost of diagnosis and treatment IF you purchase the product from your veterinarian AND you administer it monthly. The veterinarian will need to produce medical records to verify these points.

Cancer and Vaccines

On one of my email groups there has been a discussion regarding vaccinating pets with cancer. It seems that unfortunately there are still many veterinarians who will not see/treat “sick” pets unless they are current on their annual vaccines. This means that if your pet has cancer but needs a vet visit, you must submit your pet to getting vaccines at the time of the visit even though the visit is for another problem.

My clients and readers of this blog know that pets do NOT need annual vaccines. Additionally, sick pets and those with cancer should NEVER be vaccinated until their illness has been successfully treated (pets with cancer should never receive another vaccine even when their cancer is in remission as the vaccines might cause the cancer to return.) I suggest you find a doctor who does not require vaccines for pets with cancer. I am surprised based upon the discussion in my email groups just how difficult this is, but I can only suggest that pet owners continue searching until you find someone who is more interested in giving your pet the proper care rather than simply pushing vaccines.

For pets who do not have cancer, an annual blood vaccine titer test will show if and when your pet needs vaccines, which can be given as needed based upon titer testing. In my practice this means that most pets rarely receive vaccines and only get them when the test shows a low titer AND the pet is healthy.

Dr. Shawn

Speaking on Saturday

This Saturday Sandy and I will be speaking at the Holistic Expo in Addison, Tx. The topic is breast cancer and our new book and our talk begins at 3 PM CST. Feel free to stop by my office for discount coupons. Hope to see you there! And check out our new Facebook page. Please sign up and Like/Friend us. I’ll try to post information and specials there as well as my email list, but since posting on Facebook is easier I recommend you signing up to receive our posts.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Paws-Claws-Animal-Hospital/269895649709880

Also, coming (hopefully) soon, thanks to several of you suggesting we get an updated hospital page, I hope to have a new Paws & Claws website…..if you have any interesting stories about how we’ve helped your pets, please send them my way to post on the site. Thanks!

Dr. Shawn

Pet Health Insurance-Choose Your Plan Carefully

I’m often asked if carrying pet health insurance is a good idea. Because caring for a sick animal can be expensive, I usually recommend pet health insurance under the following circumstances: if your pet suddenly became ill and you are faced with immediate medical expense of $1000 or more, would you be able to afford it or would you need to decline health care for your pet? If you would be unable to afford this amount of medical expense (or even more,) carrying pet health insurance is a good idea.

However, not all insurance policies are created equal. Since most owners are open to the idea of using natural therapies to keep their pets healthy and treat them when they become ill, it’s important to find out prior to purchasing an insurance policy for your pet if that policy would cover natural therapies. Unfortunately most do not, so you must choose your policy wisely.

The actual amount of money an insurance company will reimburse you for your pet’s health care depends upon the policy. In general, there are two types of policies. The first is one that pays a set amount of money per procedure. As an example, some policies will pay up to $200 for blood testing for a sick pet once your initial deductible is met. However, if the doctor believes that additional blood testing is necessary, the insurance policy will not reimburse you for any expenses beyond $200, leaving you on the hook to pay the full price for these additional tests.

The second type of policy, one that is more commonly sold and the type I recommend, pays a fixed percentage of expenses up to a maximum dollar amount. For example, after your initial deductible is met, this type of policy will pay 80% of expenses up to your policy maximum, usually $10,000 or more. This means that if blood testing costs $500, the insurance company will pick up most of the bill since there is no maximum amount for blood testing as there is with the first type of policy described above.

The moral of the story is simple: check out different companies and different policies before you purchase one. I’ve had to deal with several pet owners who were not too happy with the insurance company once they realized they would not be getting as much reimbursement as they had thought, leaving them responsible for most of the bill for their pet’s treatment. Make sure the policy covers natural therapies in addition to conventional medications and that the policy reimburses you for most of the cost of your pet’s treatment after your deductible is met. Choosing any other type of policy is a waste of your money and will end up costing you more money over the life of your pet.

Don’t Ever Give Up…Hope for the Hopeless

Two years ago I wrote a book called Unexpected Miracles. In this book, I shared the stories of just a few of my favorite patients. These were dogs and cats that had been diagnosed with many serious problems, in some cases life-threatening problems. Their owners sought my help for 2 reasons. First, their regular conventional veterinarians had given up hope that anything could ever be done for their pets. Second, they knew about the miraculous healing power of natural medicine and hoped I would be able to give their pets a chance at recovery and ultimately life.

As a holistic veterinarian using integrative and naturopathic therapies to help heal pets, I was honored to be given the chance to offer “hope for these hopeless cases.” The pets whose stories are profiled in Unexpected Miracles are alive because their owners did not give up hope, even when the medical professionals around them did.

Since the publication of Unexpected Miracles, I have had numerous occasions to help even more pets that conventional medicine could not help. Recently, I had the opportunity to intervene in the life of a young Maltese named Bo Diddley.

When I first say Bo 1 month ago, he had become acutely paralyzed in his rear legs. His conventional doctor treated him with high doses of corticosteroids to relieve pressure on his spinal cord. Unfortunately the treatment did not work, and despite the fact that little Bo was not in pain and was not suffering, his conventional doctor recommended euthanasia for Bo. Thankfully his owner refused and sought my help in what appeared to be a dire situation.

While a diagnosis was not available when I began treating Bo, I knew he suffered from some type of severe spinal cord injury (an X-ray of his neck would later prove that Bo suffered from a fracture of his second cervical vertebra which was the cause of his spinal injury.) His owner had already been given a hopeless prognosis by her prior veterinarian. As I shared with her, while none of us can ever make accurate predictions, I felt that I could offer Bo therapies unavailable from his conventional veterinarian and wanted to try to help Bo. She agreed and knew euthanasia was always an option in the future if Bo did not improve.

I began treating Bo with cold laser therapy applied to his neck twice weekly, and also started him on an aggressive supplement protocol using herbs, homeopathics, and nutritional therapies. Over the course of the next 4 weeks, Bo made great progress. By the end of his first month of treatment, he was walking almost normally on all 4 legs and acting like a typical puppy. Therapy has continued to assist in the healing of his neck fracture.

Thankfully Bo’s story has a happy ending. His owner is to be commended for listening to her heart rather than her prior doctor. By assisting Bo’s normal healing ability rather than simply covering up his symptoms with multiple medications, Bo was able to heal normally. I expect him to live a long happy life, knowing if his owner continues to focus on a holistic health program she will have many more years of happiness with him!

Breast Cancer Book Now Available in Paperback Version!

As you know, I’ve been busy writing my latest book on breast cancer. Eighteen months ago my wife Sandy was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. Thankfully it was caught early and she is doing well and currently cancer-free.

As a result of her experience, we have written a book in order to educate women about breast cancer. Our book, Breast Choices for the Best Chances: Your Breasts, Your Life, and How You Can Win the Battle! (Your Choice Natural Health Publishing) shares the research we did that gave Sandy the factual information she needed to make choices about her health care. Chapters include discussions on diet, mind-body medicine, nutritional supplementation, testing every woman should get (many doctors don’t recommend these tests but they can be lifesaving,) new research on the significance of lymph node involvement, and a rational discussion of conventional therapies.

Our philosophy is simple: “Each woman is an individual, and each woman’s cancer is very different from every other woman’s cancer. The information in Breast Choices for the Best Chances: Your Breasts, Your Life, and How You Can Win the Battle! is intended to provide education as well as a starting point for women to consider ALL of the many options they face following a of breast cancer.”

I have just a few simple goals I’d like to accomplish with this book.

Goal 1 is to share with women simple and practical ways they can reduce their risks of ever developing breast cancer.

Goal 2 is to empower women to make their own health care decisions.

Goal 3 is to help others with cancer. To achieve this important goal, I am donating a significant portion of the profits to 2 charities close to my heart. These 2 charities were formed recently to honor the lives of 2 beautiful young ladies who passed away from cancer in the summer of 2011. Micaela and Anna were friends of my daughter Erica. To celebrate these 2 special young ladies, I am donating a portion of the sale of each book to their families to assist them in helping others also suffering from the horrors of cancer.

The Kindle version is available at the following link:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00750RJSY

The paperback version is also now available at the following link:

https://www.createspace.com/3695592

I am asking for your help in achieving these worthy goals. Please share this information with everyone you know. If you have an email list or email newsletter, please share this information with your readers. Let friends and family members know about this book and encourage them to purchase one or more copies to help support the charities which will benefit from them. Let your Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In contacts know about the book as well. While we may not be able to cure cancer simply because of this book, I believe we can help many women reduce their chances of breast cancer, offer hope to those suffering from the disease, and benefit many who have cancer through the good works of the charities that will benefit from the purchase of Breast Choices for the Best Chances: Your Breasts, Your Life, and How You Can Win the Battle!

In order to maximize the amount of money donated to these 2 charities, I urge you to purchase the book through the links listed above.

Thanks so much for your help

Dr. Shawn

Update on Breast Cancer Book

The Kindle version of my latest book, Breast Choices for the Best Chances:Your Breasts, Your Life, and How You Can Win the Battle! is now available; you can order it at the following link:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00750RJSY

The paperback version should be available in the next 2 weeks!

Here is a brief look at just some of the important information in the book. This particular excerpt deals with how understanding statistics can help you decide whether or not to undertake a particular therapy.

One area of concern in particular is whether or not my wife Sandy should use the drug tamoxifen as part of her ongoing therapy. Tamoxifen is a hormonal drug that is prescribed for all women with estrogen receptor positive breast cancer (isn’t it interesting that conventional medicine prescribes a treatment for ALL patients regardless of their particular set of circumstances or individual concerns.)

Tamoxifen is a strange drug: it can block estrogen from attaching to breast cells (and theoretically lower the risk of breast cancer recurring) but also acts like estrogen as it stimulates other cells of the body (in particular cells of the uterus, which explains the possibility of uterine cancer as a side effect of tamoxifen therapy.) Since Sandy tends to not want to take conventional medications unless there is an absolute benefit to them, we wanted to find out as much information as possible about whether or not tamoxifen therapy might be of benefit to her, and if there is benefit to her taking it, find out how much benefit they would be for her.

And this is where the idea of medical statistics comes in. I’m going to include a lot of information on the research involving tamoxifen in my book, but for now I just wanted touch on the topic of understanding statistics.

Looking at the statistics of the benefits of tamoxifen for Sandy’s particular grade of cancer (which is obtained via a number of analyses performed on her tumor including the Oncotype DX test,) statistics show that 5 years of tamoxifen therapy could reduce her risk of breast cancer recurring in her affected breast, opposite breast, or somewhere else in her body by approximately 50% (notice that studies do not “guarantee” that tamoxifen will do this, only that it “could” do this.)

On the surface, a risk reduction of 50% seems pretty good. If we didn’t look beyond that number, it would make sense that most women would benefit from tamoxifen therapy (ignoring for the sake of argument that some women will develop uterine cancer or a second breast cancer which is usually more aggressive than the initial breast cancer, not to mention other side effects such as hot flashes or blood clots that could lead to a stroke, from the use of tamoxifen.)

However, in trying to understand how medical statistics apply to a treatment you’re considering for yourself, family members, or your pet, you have to look at the actual risk the patient may face in real numbers. Based on studies using the Oncotype DX test recurrence score, women like Sandy with a low recurrence score have a 10 year survival of approximately 97% if they take tamoxifen. The same women have approximately a 94% ten-year survival if they do not take tamoxifen. In other words, 3/100 women taking tamoxifen are expected to die from breast cancer after 10 years following their diagnosis, whereas 6/100 women not taking tamoxifen are expected to die from breast cancer 10 years following their diagnosis. The difference between 6 women versus 3 women is 50%! Therefore, tamoxifen is expected to lower the risk of death by 50%. If you look at the real numbers however, we’re only talking about a difference of 3 women. For Sandy, it wasn’t worth the risk associate with tamoxifen therapy to reduce her real risk of only 3%.

And this is why it’s so important to look at the real numbers rather than simply medical statistics. While doctors and pharmaceutical companies love to quote statistics in terms of percentages, it’s vitally important to understand the real numbers behind the statistics. While a 50% reduction in death sounds great, when you are only talking about 3 people surviving if they use a certain medication, that 50% reduction in death doesn’t seem so impressive anymore.

Finally, whatever the statistics or the real numbers presented in the study, keep in mind that the patients being tested are “generic” patients. As much as possible, you must try to determine YOUR real risk or YOUR PET’S real risk in order to make the best decision for therapy.

5 Myths About Veterinary Anesthesia

Myth #1: Anesthesia is dangerous

Anesthesia has evolved into a safe medical practice since it was first used in 1799. Initial anesthetic drugs included such things as ether and chloroform, both of which proved toxic and often fatal not only to the patient but also to the doctor administering anesthesia! Modern anesthetics are very safe and have come a long way from early anesthetic drugs. Having said that however, they are medications and like any medication they can cause harm to the patient or the doctor and the staff in the operating room.
In general, there are two types of anesthetics: injectable anesthetic drugs and inhalant anesthetic drugs (gases.) Injectable drugs can be further classified into short acting medications or longer acting medications. Short acting medications tend to be used for induction of anesthesia (getting the pet to become anesthetized very quickly) or given continuously throughout anesthesia for maintenance of anesthesia (keeping the pet asleep during the entire procedure.) Long acting injectable medications may be used as the sole anesthetic drug and will usually keep the pet asleep during the entire procedure without the need for additional anesthetic. Inhalant or gas anesthetics are used in place of injectable drugs to keep the pet asleep during the entire procedure (although short acting injectable drugs may be given to quickly anesthetize the pet before it is placed on the gas anesthesia for maintenance.)

Both injectable and gas anesthetics can be used safely IF dosed properly, IF chosen considering the pet’s medical condition (some drugs should not be used in pets with certain medical conditions if at all possible, such as the use of xylazine in pets with heart disease) and IF proper monitoring of the pet while anesthetized is done (I believe proper monitoring should include at least careful visual observation of the pet’s respiration and heart rate as well as monitoring by an electronic monitor that checks the pet’s heart rate and oxygen saturation through pulse oximetry.)

In my practice, I’ve performed what I call holistic anesthesia which includes careful monitoring and low doses of anesthetic drugs properly chosen for the patient’s condition so that the pet can wake-up immediately following surgery without any anesthetic hangover effects.

Thanks to modern anesthetics and monitoring equipment, anesthesia should no longer be considered dangerous as long as it is properly administered, as is the case with any conventional medication.

Myth #2: My pet will be groggy following anesthesia

One of the most common complaints I hear from pet owners who seek out my help for anesthesia and surgery is that their pets are groggy for several hours or several days following prior anesthetic procedures. While this commonly occurred many years ago as our anesthetic drug choices were more limited, in my opinion it should never occur today. I believe it is malpractice to send the pet home if it is barely awake following anesthesia or surgery. In general, this hangover or groggy effect occurs when injectable ketamine and xylazine (or similar) drug combinations are used for anesthesia. These drugs, while safe when used properly, are often given by injection for spaying and neutering procedures, especially when these procedures are offered at a discount or low cost (these medications are much less expensive than using gas anesthesia or other injectable medications.) A very common side effect of these medications, especially when given under the skin or in the muscle, is prolonged recovery periods. Many of these pets are groggy for 24 hours or more, and I’ve seen pets that required hospitalization for supportive care as it took them several days to fully recover. In my opinion a safer (although slightly more expensive) approach is to use a short acting anesthetic followed by gas anesthesia for anesthetic maintenance for surgical procedures including spaying and neutering. Using this anesthetic regimen, pets wake-up quickly following surgery and can be sent home fully awake. If sedation is needed at home to keep the pet from becoming overactive, oral sedatives can be used.

Myth #3: My pet can’t be anesthetized too often

Some pet owners are concerned if their pets require several anesthetic procedures over a short period of time, such as for cleaning severely infected ears or changing bandages or splints following fracture repair. Once again if the proper anesthetic drugs are chosen, these quickly leave the body and do not require extensive metabolism by the liver or kidneys. This is especially the case with gas anesthetics, as the anesthetic leaves the patient while the patient continues to breathe following the procedure. While it is true that we never want to anesthetize a pet more than necessary, some procedures such as those I just mentioned require sedation or anesthesia with some frequency. Rest assured that as long as the proper anesthetics are chosen, there is no increased risk to your pet from having several procedures done over a short period of time (as an example, keep in mind that in human medicine, burn patients are often anesthetized daily to allow cleaning of their wounds and skin grafting.)

Myth #4: Sick pets can’t be anesthetized

Sick pets can be safely anesthetized as long as the proper anesthesia is chosen and the pet is carefully monitored, although it is always preferable to get the sick pet healthy first before anesthesia is done. However, this is not always possible. For example, in my practice I often see older pets with very bad dental disease that are not eating and are feeling pretty crummy. It is often hard to determine if the pet has stopped eating because of the severe dental disease or because of its underlying illness. In these cases, the pet must be anesthetized in order to clean its teeth to allow us to determine if the dental disease or the internal disease is causing the lack of appetite. The good news is that once again with properly chosen modern anesthetics, antibiotics, fluid administration, additional supportive care, and careful monitoring, these pets rarely have anesthetic problems and feel much better following the procedure (and most resume eating as the severe dental disease was the cause of their lack of appetite!)

Myth #5: My pet is too old for anesthesia

I don’t believe that any pet is too old for proper medical care. If that proper medical care includes anesthesia, then the anesthesia must be done in order to help the pet. It is true that some owners choose not to have an anesthetic or surgical procedure done for a pet that they deem too old (for example, performing a total hip replacement on a 15-year-old Labrador with arthritis,) but this is the owner’s choice that is made after careful discussion of all the options available for her pet. It is true that older pets don’t metabolize some drugs as well as younger pets, and for these reasons the correct anesthesia must be safely chosen for the pet’s age and more importantly its state of health or presence of medical problems at the time of the procedure. I see far too many pets who have not been given proper care (especially dental cleanings and tumor removals) because their current veterinarians deem them “too old” for anesthesia and refuse to do the procedure.

In my area I’m known as a veterinarian who anesthetizes old and often sickly pets on a daily basis, and pet owners seek out my assistance because they want these procedures done on their older pets and recognize the health benefits the pets receive by having the procedures done. I always tell these owners that if their current veterinarians don’t want to anesthetize their pets, then the veterinarians should not anesthetize their pets as there is likely to be a problem if these veterinarians are scared of the anesthesia. I can honestly say that I have not had a single anesthetic problem or death in an older or sickly pet using our carefully chosen holistic anesthesia regimens. I hope that if you get nothing else out of this article, you’ll appreciate that older pets and those with illness deserve proper medical care and can receive it safely if the veterinarian is comfortable performing anesthesia and carefully monitoring the pet during the procedure!

Breast Cancer Book Almost Done!

Breast Choices for the Best Chances:Your Breasts, Your Life, and How You Can Win the Battle!, will be available shortly. I’m finishing the final edits now.

Once everything is ready to go and the book is available for purchase, I’ll let you know.

Help me spread the word so we can save as many lives as possible!

Shawn Messonnier DVM

Breast Choices for the Best Chances:Your Breasts, Your Life, and How You Can Win the Battle!, will be available shortly

Good news! My latest book on breast cancer, Breast Choices for the Best Chances:Your Breasts, Your Life, and How You Can Win the Battle!, will be available shortly. As many of you know, my wife Sandy was diagnosed with early stage invasive breast cancer when a half years ago. She is doing very well and is expected to live a long healthy life.

I wrote the book for two reasons. The first reason is to let women know all of the choices they face during their diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, many of which may not be shared with them by their conventional doctors. There is a lot of well researched data I’ve included in the book that shows the benefits of exercise, mind-body medicine, proper diet, proper nutritional supplementation, etc., that can literally make the difference between life and death for someone with breast cancer. There is also a good amount of information in the book about things women can do to reduce their chances are developing breast cancer. With all this information, women can be put back in charge of their own health care and make decisions they think are best for themselves and their families.

The second reason I wrote Breast Choices for the Best Chances:Your Breasts, Your Life, and How You Can Win the Battle!, is to raise money for two charities near and dear to my heart. This past summer my daughter Erica, who was preparing to go to college, lost two of her friends to cancer. Half of the proceeds from my book will go to help these two families and their foundations.

I will let all of you know when the book is published. It will be available as an e-book on Amazon Kindle as well as a paperback book, also available through Amazon.

I hope you will help me spread the word about the benefits of using integrative medicine to save lives as well as help raise money for these two wonderful charities.

Shawn Messonnier DVM