Cooper
Canine POTM January 2021
Cooper is a lively, sweet, young Border Collie. When we first met him, he was already on medications dealing with what seemed like ruptured anal gland abscesses. At the time, they looked like they were healing, so no treatments were changed. We were set for follow-up on some other medical issues, but did not think much more would come of the anal gland situation.
However, come a month or more later, the anal gland lesions were not healed yet. This is very atypical for a pet who is not licking and who had proper treatment for the condition. As a matter of fact, the lesions seemed to “spread” and seemed to look like areas of torn skin in multiple locations around the rectum.
While he is not the most common breed for the condition, it looked like a case of Perianal Fistulas. This is a condition almost exclusively seen in German Shepherd dog breeds (80+ % of the time),but can be seen in any breed. It has a likely autoimmune component, maybe allergic, and some genetic links. It can be a painful and progressive disease. Even though Cooper was on prednisone for another medical condition, the lesions continued to look worse. Prednisone is a common medication used with autoimmune diseases, but this disease responds better to alternative treatments. Since his other health conditions seemed under control, we decided to switch him over to medications commonly used for Perianal Fistula treatment. And within a short time, he was responding beautifully!
By 4 months of treatment, the lesions were long-healed and he was back to feeling his happy comfortable self. We slowly weaned down his medication dosing and symptoms have not returned. Time will tell whether or not his symptoms will come back and whether or not he will need a long-term regime for treatment, but for now, we are happy to report that he is still doing great! Since ruptured anal glands are a very common problem and this problem is a less common condition that can look similar, we wanted to name Cooper our AHS canine Pet of the Month with his great response and healing!
Little Man
Feline POTM January 2021
Little Man is a sweet little kitten. He was found in a dumpster with three littermates. The litter was rescued by a good Samaritan and Little Man was adopted to his new owner. Little Man was examined and found to be very healthy. The Animal Hospital had recently started to offer puppy and kitten health care plans. The plans include the essential wellness vaccines, internal and external parasite treatment and prevention for a year as well as a spay or neuter. The plans also include a retroviral blood screen for kittens to determine if the cat has been infected with feline immunodeficiency virus or feline leukemia. Little Man’s new owner signed him up on the male kitten plan. Little Man went from being abandoned in a dumpster to having a great forever home in addition to all his wellness care and prevention for the next year. Little man has a heart-warming story and that is why he is our feline Pet of the Month.