Long Beach Animal Hospital

08/09/2024

Touching an Iceberg

As a general rule when you are in a zodiac you want to stay far away from glaciers. Not only can a calving glacier swamp a zodiac with a mini tide wave, we learned that when the huge mass of calving ice hits the water it can shoot out shards of sharp ice over 1 […]

08/01/2024

Dr. P just returned from a 10 day expedition trip in the high Arctic of Svalbard. This page has a smattering of the wildlife he saw. There will be more posts about what it is like to go on this trip logistically, the awesome guides, and more details on each of these species at a […]

08/01/2024

Arctic trip to see the polar bears.

Dr. P just returned from a 10 day expedition trip in the high Arctic of Svalbard. This page has a smattering of the wildlife he saw. There will be more posts about what it is like to go on this trip logistically, the awesome guides, and more details on each of these species at a […]

07/31/2024

Arctic Wildlife Teaser

Dr. P just posted a few photos of his recent Arctic trip:

Dr. P just returned from a 10 day expedition trip in the high Arctic of Svalbard. This page has a smattering of the wildlife he saw. There will be more posts about what it is like to go on this trip logistically, the awesome guides, and more details on each of these species at a […]

07/05/2024

The Black Skimmer of Bolsa Chica
Summer is the time to see them, and if you catch a glimpse of one streaking by you won't be disappointed.

Introduction The Bolsa Chica wetlands are a good place to observe birds and practice your wildlife photography. During the summer months the Black Skimmers make their appearance. Not only are they are beautiful birds to look at as they fly like an F-16 fighter plane, they are quite the photographic....

06/29/2024

River Otters Time

We scored, check out this link to see our group in action with some river otters:

Introduction   River otter families are one of the most playful and fun to observe animals in the wild. Dr. P and his veterinary students and California friends came across a family at a large pond in northern Michigan in June of 2024. Let’s meet the otters and our group of intrepid photographers...

06/29/2024

A great blue heron drying its wings in the sun while it stays cool by rapidly inflating and deflating its throat pouch.

06/29/2024

At a pond in northern Michigan this river otter caught and ate a rainbow trout. Otters are expert "fisher otters", and can easily catch a trout.

06/29/2024

This guy was enjoying his meal until a crow came around for some morsels and the otter decided to take his prize someplace else.

12/11/2023

12/11/2023

Extern Daily Diary Final Day

Farewell!

It is so hard to believe that my incredible externship experience here at LBAH is coming to a close today. I learned more applicable clinical skills and knowledge in one month here than I typically did in a didactic semester in veterinary school. The website with all of the medical information on it is a tremendous source of information, and I used it often to brush up and prepare my cases for rounds.

So many thanks are in order, and it’s tough to know where to even start !

Thank you Dr. Palazzolo who was instrumental in starting this externship program before I was even born. His comprehensive knowledge of everything veterinary medicine related is amazing, and with his dedication to teaching students, like me, even more astounding. I can’t imagine starting my career without his mentoring (and morning rounds). He taught me how to think critically by the way he challenged me in rounds as we reviewed case histories, exam findings, blood panels, radiographs, ultrasounds, and treatment plans.

Thank you to all of the doctors who also taught me this past month; Dr. Loper, Dr. Ridgeway, Dr. Seto, Dr. Yamamoto, Dr. Lin Dr. Adam, Dr. Brewer, and Dr. Reed as well. Each doctor was patient and supportive as they let me be a part of their daily cases even with their very busy schedules. They all answered my questions thoughtfully and have shown me ways to enhance my clinical thinking.

Thank you to all of the LBAH staff, receptionists, caretakers, and nurses alike, whose warm acceptance and kind support made me feel so welcome and part of the team (especially when I bring in Krispy Kreme doughnuts to boot !).

I learned so much about working with people, and appreciate clients' willingness to help me learn on my way to becoming a veterinarian. Thank you to the community for all the constructive feedback on my LBAH Facebook Daily Extern Diary posts, it is much appreciated !

Hope to see you all again soon, with my freshly minted California veterinary medical license and doctor of veterinary medicine (DVM) diploma, as I plan to stick close to this south bay community.

This is me, Kyle, and Mrs. Gosling, my last client. I hope to go to Africa with her when Dr. P goes back in 2025 (are you reading this Dr. P)?

I look forward to what the new year will bring, and hope everyone has a great rest of this one !

12/09/2023

Extern Daily Diary Day # 19

We are always looking for ways to decrease the medication we give our patients while addressing their problems. One of the modalities we have used for decades to treat arthritis in animals that accomplishes this goal is called Veterinary Neuronal Adjustment (also called VNA or VOM).VNA is a great part of multimodal pain management strategies that can help reduce a patient's drug therapy requirements.

Our patient today has chronic arthritis (osteoarthritis), and had become acutely constipated and barking (vocalizing) much more than normal. We took an x-ray to screen for any other apparent painful GI issues, such as a foreign body, and confirmed his colon was constipated.

His VNA procedure had the added benefit of helping him defecate his constipated f***l material as well as pain management for his long-standing arthritis.

You can learn much about this at our web link, including videos of actual treatments:

https://lbah.com/vna-veterinary-neuronal-adjustment/

Tomorrow is my last day at LBAH for my externship- 😢

12/09/2023

Extern Daily Diary Day # 18

Today I was able to scrub in with Dr. RL’s spay procedure in our surgery suite.

There are a few compelling reasons to spay our female pets, first and foremost is to reduce the chance of breast cancer (mammary chain tumors) developing later in life. In fact the earlier a patient is spayed (ie prior to her first heat) there is a significantly better chance she won’t develop breast cancer.

We typically recommend our friends be of at least 6 months of age prior to spaying and some large breed dogs may be a little older to support their required rapid bone growth..

More about the specifics behind spay procedures & the benefits can be found here:

https://lbah.com/canine/spay-canine/

Additional benefits behind spaying include, prevention of a canine’s heat cycle and or false pregnancy issues, prevents conception and canines from going into “heat”, and is the best (and sometimes only) treatment for when the ovaries or uterus has a severe infection (pyometra).

Thank you to the kind client who sought me out today in the clinic after her pet’s exam. Her feedback that these posts were helpful in her career counseling role, since they highlight aspects of what the day to day being a veterinary student can look like, was heartening to hear ! I am always happy to learn that these posts are benefiting our local community in a myriad of positive ways !

12/08/2023

Extern Daily Diary Day #17

Rabbits are a popular pet, and one I am quite fond of. They get many problems unfortunately, so it behooves you to read the Rabbit Diseases section of our website:

https://lbah.com/rabbit-diseases/

Today we saw a rabbit that needed to have her tear ducts (nasolacrimal duct) flushed.

When rabbits experience inflammation or blockage of this duct their normal tears that keep their eyes lubricated, then build up and spill over the eyelids. This constant moisture on their eyelids and face can cause skin irritation, inflammation, hair loss and make the skin susceptible to infections.

Factors that can cause inflammation or blockage of the nasolacrimal duct include anything that can cause a “sniffles” flare up (bacterial eye infections, allergies, upper respiratory disease, sinus disease) or sometimes a rotten tooth or “hay poke” caused swollen abscess within the mouth can block or clog this passage as well. Additionally recurrent infections, chronic inflammation and aging can cause persistent narrowing (stenosis) of these ducts.

To help keep our fluffy friends comfortable and support draining their tears through the nose, we can perform routine tear duct flushing. This is done by gently visualizing the duct opening within the lower eyelid at the corner of the eye (commissure) closest to the nose, and with a soft, thin catheter, sterile saline in a syringe is flushed through ideally rinsing out any built up blockage as well. Typically our patients will sneeze or wiggle their noses as fluid drains through, so it can be fairly obvious if flushing is patent, that is if the amount of saline isn’t already apparent.

12/08/2023

Extern Daily Diary- Day #2
Busy day today with several surgeries and ultrasounds. I will go over one of the ultrasound cases.
It was an elderly dog that was not eating well and was lethargic. The exam on this dog revealed a possible anemia, that was confirmed on blood panel. This is consistent with the lethargy and poor appetite.
Since anemia is not a disease, but a sign of a disease, an abdominal ultrasound was performed to help determine the cause of the anemia.
The ultrasound revealed blood in the abdomen (called hemoabdomen) and problems with the liver and spleen. This is consistent with cancer, a probable cause of the anemia.
In the picture I have a cute paw on my shoulder while I learn from our radiologist that is doing the ultrasound.
To learn more about ultrasound and cancer here are two links from our web site:
https://lbah.com/ultrasound/
https://lbah.com/feline/cancer/

12/06/2023

Extern Daily Diary Day #16

Today I was lucky enough to see more of the veterinary care thriving behind aquariums! We saw a myriad of species from big sea turtles and adult sharks to tiny 3 inch bony fish and baby sharks. Education animals offer such amazing opportunities to help educate the public and nurture the human animal bond within the perspective of ecosystem health.

I learned so much today but here are my big three take away lessons. First the importance of routine water quality monitoring and strict protocol steps behind introduction of new animals is of utmost importance in preventative health care for education animals.

Second, ultrasound is a wonderful clinical tool for our aquatic friends and works really well as a mobile unit with a probe that can be submerged to reach patients underwater. And lastly, how key teamwork within and between departments is in the continued daily care of education animals, just like it is within veterinary hospitals too !

12/05/2023

Extern Daily Diary Day # 15

Dental Disease is the most common overlooked disease of dogs and cats. Prevention is the key to prolonging our pets' comfort and longevity.

You can start when your pet is young by making brushing their teeth a fun game or treat over time and not a stressful chore (the same can be done for their paws and ears too!).

For our older patients refractory to brushing, there are also great dental diets, treats, chew toys and water supplements now available to help support healthy teeth maintenance, although brushing is most ideal.

Today I learned about non-anesthetic dentals (NAD) that in addition to bushing helps prevent the progression of more severe dental disease that requires sedation and commonly removal of infected and rotten teeth.

NAD's are performed only after one of our doctors examines your pet and decides the problem is mild enough for NAD to be effective. If not, an anesthetic dental is needed to thoroughly clean the teeth under the gum line and remove rotten and painful teeth.

In the two photos below you can see a before and after an NAD.

To learn much more about this important (and painful disease) please read our Dental Page:

https://lbah.com/feline/dental-disease/

12/02/2023

Extern Daily Diary Day #14

Our dog and cat friends have sensitive ears, and ear infections can be painful to them. Typical symptoms include pawing at the affected ear(s), red ear flaps (pinna), and shaking of the head or rubbing the face on the affected side.

To determine the best treatment therapy we often recommend an ear cytology. This sample from the ear, swabbed gently with a cotton tipped applicator, is carefully smeared onto a glass slide, heat fixed, stained to then review under a microscope. This is what I am doing in the picture below.

There are several different causes to this problem, with underlying allergy not uncommon. Further details about ear infections can be pursued here https://lbah.com/canine/ear-infection/

12/01/2023

Extern Daily Diary Day #13

We started the day with an emergency case. You can learn about the emergency services at LBAH from this link on our website:
https://lbah.com/pet-emergency-services/

Our emergency was a puppy that was weak and unable to stand, with a low body temperature (hypothermia), a low heart rate (bradycardia), obtunded (unresponsive), and was sensitive to abdominal palpation.

In the photo below I am checking its heart and respiratory rate with a stethoscope.

The owners weren’t sure what could have happened with their little puppy since she was kept crated overnight. This pup is exhibiting classic signs of ma*****na toxicity. Other possible causes are internal parasites (worms), parvovirus, and low blood glucose (hypoglycemia), to name a few.

Diagnostic tests can be critical in diagnosis. our Diagnostic Tests page will show the ones most commonly used:
https://lbah.com/diagnostic-tests/

Routine therapy for a pup with ma*****na toxicity is symptomatic until the affects wear off. This therapy includes warmth for hypothermia, dextrose for hypoglycemia, and especially fluids to support the liver and kidney while they metabolize and excrete the toxin. Fluid therapy is critical, and we have a complete page dedicated to it on our web site:

https://lbah.com/fluid-therapy/

With the holiday season well underway this is a good reminder that our pets face a lot of unique & potentially lethal hazards this time of year. From bakers chocolate toxicosis, tinsel linear foreign bodies, electrical cord burns, to feeding table scraps of GI upsetting holiday meals, it’s a good time to keep an extra close eye on your four-legged family members' health.

12/01/2023

Extern Daily Diary Day #12

Our guinea pig patient presented today was inappetant and had lost weight since the summer. After ensuring his teeth aligned and were not causing him mouth pain and difficulty eating, we took a radiograph to further assess a mass palpated in his abdomen.

The mass is visible circled in red on the radiograph below. If you want to learn more about guinea pig radiographs follow this link:
https://lbah.com/guinea-pig/guinea-pig-x-rays/.

Even with multiple views, it is tough to specifically identify which organ or organ system the mass is associated with in the one dimension provided with our radiographs. An abdominal ultrasound can help clear up this uncertainty and is a much less invasive step compared to the next option of surgical exploration.

On ultrasound the mass was determined to be associated with his intestines Unfortunately these findings point more towards a cancerous cause called lymphoma. Going forward our guinea pig will likely require medication to try to shrink his GI mass or surgical removal for his comfort and quality of life.

These little guys are frequently brought to us with an array of problems. To learn more about them follow this link on our website:
https://lbah.com/guinea-pig-diseases/.