The Mississippi Valley Veterinary Medical Association had a terrific meeting last week, and we all were able to learn a lot of valuable information that will help our pets.
We all went to a session on team building, and learning how to utilize each other's talents better. On Thursday, there were conferences about behavior - specifically separation anxiety, and a conference about fleas. We learned all about the life cycle, and how the particular medications help to get rid of the fleas if they are found on on the pet.
For flea preventative, we recommend Frontline Plus. There are several different products available that also do a good job, but for our local population of pets, we found Frontline to work the best. If you have questions, we will be happy to answer them for you.
The Eastern Illinois Veterinary Medical Association also had a conference on Thursday with advanced laser techniques, and new flea control products.
During the CO2 laser presentation, we refreshed our memories on the physics of the CO2 laser, and also learned different techniques to help with 'stenotic nares' - and elongated soft palate. The nares condition is something we see in dogs that have the 'smashed in look' to the nose. Medically we call that 'brachycephalic'. If their nostrils are not open enough for them to breath normally when the mouth is closed, then something should be done to help the dog breath better. While not performing surgery may not present a problem immediately, what we do know is that over a lifetime of trying to breath through narrowed openings will creat problems at 8+ years of age with (medical jargon alert!) everted Laryngeal sacules. This condition causes little sacs in the larynx area (adam's apple) to 'pouch out' into the airway, and thus causing an obstruction problem.
More on the other mouth surgery later. :-)
