Dr. Sandra Truli Springer, Holistic Vet House Call Services
Truli Holistic Veterinary Services: 877-DR-TRULI
Woof! (Except Basenjis)
Gariella was rescued from a garage where she and her sister had spent the first year of their lives.
I met Gabriella in the living room of her parents’ house. She was a beautiful, well-groomed apricot Standard Poodle. Her parents had spoken of her in my office because they were worried about her.
Continue reading “Standard Poodle Learns to Play”
Einstein would have absolutely loved these 2 statistical anomalies, (if not only for the mathematical curiosity) but also the shear anecdotal quality.
As a veterinarian, I’m often asked, do any dogs scare you? Like Rottweilers?
Or Pit Bulls? And the answer is forever “no way!” I’ve had two questionable moments with Rottweilers.
“As soon as he thinks you’re not looking, he’s going to work at that Gentle Leader until he gets it off.”
“I’m gonna hafta get ridda my dog if he doesn’t stop pulling. I can’t have him pulling when I’m pushing the baby stroller.” Continue reading “Portuguese Water Dog Revenge Chews Gentle Leader”
A dead 6 foot diamondback rattlesnake lay stretched across the truck bed.
The Lady in question was a 9-year-old female German Shepherd mix. She was camel-tan with a black mask. Lady’s rump raised up 2 inches above her tail and had a cute little dimple in it. Basically, she was fat and did not look too fast or self-reliant. She looked like she ate a lot of Alpo and laid around digesting all day.
Boy, was I wrong!
“When Brinkley squats to poop, pee comes out the back of his leg.”
I thought Brinkley’s mom was kidding or lying when she first told me about his little problem.
“When Brinkley squats to poop, pee comes out the back of his leg.” Oh, really?
Continue reading “How I Diagnosed a Fur-Lined Ectopic Urethra in a Golden Retriever”
“Before her tooth surgery, she never played tug of war. Now it’s her favorite game!”
Abandoned on Interstate 95, Bella was a surprisingly healthy 2-year-old Maltese in need of a good home. No one had registered her microchip number and the pet shop she came from was out of business.
“She’s yours!” I told her ecstatic rescuer.
Her new mom brought Bella for a check up and we found she had lots of dental tartar. When Bella came for her deep dental cleaning, even though her teeth looked sparkling, her dental x-rays showed a tiny black spot in her jawbone under her premolar. Continue reading “Bella Learns Tug of War”
Sammy would have died if I hadn’t pumped the dog treats out of his distended stomach
One look at Sammy, and anyone would know he was in trouble.
At 120 pounds, Sammy was a gigantic, chubby yellow lab. But that night in the emergency room, he looked miserable. He was pacing around the waiting room and retching up mostly nothing with a little foamy phlegm every few minutes. He couldn’t even sit down for a second.
Sammy’s gums were almost blue and his femoral pulses were weak and thready. His stomach bulged out behind his ribs; he looked as if he had a soccer ball inside his abdomen. Sammy was in shock, and near total collapse. Continue reading “(Near) Death by Biscuits”
Sammy would have died if I hadn’t pumped the dog treats out of his distended stomach
One look at Sammy, and anyone would know he was in trouble.
At 120 pounds, Sammy was a gigantic, chubby yellow lab. But that night in the emergency room, he looked miserable. He was pacing around the waiting room and retching up mostly nothing with a little foamy phlegm every few minutes. He couldn’t even sit down for a second.
Sammy’s gums were almost blue and his femoral pulses were weak and thready. His stomach bulged out behind his ribs; he looked as if he had a soccer ball inside his abdomen. Sammy was in shock, and near total collapse. Continue reading “When a Twisted Stomach is Not Twisted”
A frisky Dachshund is treated for atopy, otherwise known as allergies from inhaled allergens.
Heidi came to me with a satellite-dish Elizabethan collar around her head and a terrible case of skin problems. She had lived the last 6 years in that collar, because her mom, Susan, told me that whenever Heidi had the collar off, she would immediately start to chew at herself until her skin bled.
I looked at the frisky little reddish-brown short-haired Dachshund, and from a veterinarian’s perspective I saw thickened folds of blackened, greasy skin turned thick and rolling down her hind legs. This is called hyperpigmentation and elephantitis. Heidi also had patchy areas of thinning fur and flakey, dry, dandruffy skin. I looked over her 4 inch thick pile of previous medical records, including dermatology consults, prescription diets, holistic raw foods diets, and acupuncture treatments, and I saw some things missing. Continue reading “Dachshund Dumps Collar After 6 Years”
“Free? What do you mean, free?”
I was waiting for my last patient of the day. “Chocolate” was a 2 year-old chocolate labrador retriever. He had been seen by an emergency vet the night before, and I was supposed to check him to see how he was doing. I was told he had bumps on his body, had a bunch of tests done, but still no one knew what was wrong with him or how to treat him. Continue reading “Chocolate Lab Survives Because of Publix Free Antibiotics”