Kidney Disease

By Dr. Mimi Elliott, DVM
Emergency Veterinary Intern

Kidney disease is a very common problem in our small animal population. It is more common in cats than dogs and can occur at any age, but more often in older animals. Your veterinarian will diagnose kidney disease in your pet by running two tests; the first is a blood test to see if kidney values are elevated (this is called azotemia), and the second is a urine test to see if the kidneys are working to concentrate the urine. If your pet’s urine is not appropriately concentrated, but kidney values are normal, he/she has lost 50% of kidney function. If the urine is not concentrated and the kidney values are elevated, your pet has lost 75% of kidney function.  In cases of severe dehydration, it is possible for the kidney values to be elevated without true kidney damage or dysfunction. A stone in the lower urinary tract (urethra) can cause elevations in kidney enzymes.

If your pet’s diagnostics show kidney disease, your veterinarian will classify his/her illness as chronic or acute kidney disease/failure. The difference between the two is the severity of your pet’s clinical signs and the magnitude of the blood work changes. The therapeutic goal of chronic kidney failure is to slow the progression of the disease. The disease itself most often cannot be cured. Treatment may include a restricted protein and phosphorous diet, phosphorous binding medications, and subcutaneous fluids. These patients can often have subclinical urinary tract infections, so your veterinarian will likely recommend bloodwork, a urinalysis, and urine culture at least twice a year. Many of these patients remain stable and do well for many years.

Chronic kidney disease can be a result of a multitude of insults to the kidneys. These include toxins, infection, congenital abnormalities, cancer; kidney stones, etc.; stones or calcifications throughout the urinary tract are very common in our companion animals. Your veterinarian will likely want to run a number of tests to determine the cause of your pet’s kidney disease such as a urinalysis, urine culture, abdominal x-rays, and an abdominal ultrasound. Unfortunately, often times despite running these diagnostic tests, the underlying reasons for kidney disease cannot be determined.

Acute kidney failure can be caused by toxins, infectious diseases, or an insult to the kidneys when the patient is already in chronic kidney failure. This can include dehydration, urinary tract infection, high blood pressure, and many others. These patients are usually very sick and may have symptoms such as drinking/urinating more often, inappetance, weight loss, vomiting, lethargy, etc. Treatment for these patients often includes multiple days of hospitalization to flush the kidneys and balance electrolytes. It is possible to get patients out of acute kidney failure, but they may continue to have long-term kidney problem.

Kidney disease occurs frequently in dogs and cats. It is important to note that with treatment, these patients can often continue to have an excellent quality of life for a significant period. Yearly wellness exams with your veterinarian can help with early detection of kidney problems.

AMVS is a 24-hour veterinary facility providing specialty internal medicine, surgery, emergency and critical care, physical rehabilitation, pain management, and blood bank services for pets. They are located in Longmont at 104 S. Main St. For more information, go to www.AspenMeadowVet.com.

850 Spartan Ave at Berthoud High School
(park east of the high school; directions are posted on the website, www.starkids.org).

The speaker for the evening will be Mike Hotka, a senior software engineer at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder and an intrepid amateur astronomer, Deep Sky Marine, JPL Solar System Ambassador and Dark Sky Ranger. He is also a volunteer at the LTO.

His talk will be on the discovery of the planet Neptune. Dark, cold and whipped by supersonic winds, Neptune is the last of the hydrogen and helium gas giants in our solar system. More than 30 times as far from the sun as Earth, the planet takes almost 165 Earth years to orbit our sun. In 2011 Neptune completed its first orbit since its discovery in 1846.

The ice giant Neptune was the first planet located through mathematical predictions rather than through regular observations of the sky. (Galileo had recorded it as a fixed star during observations with his small telescope in 1612 and 1613.) When Uranus didn’t travel exactly as astronomers expected it to, two mathematicians, one from England and the other from France, working independently, proposed the position and mass of another as yet unknown planet that could cause the observed changes to Uranus’ orbit. Mike’s talk will discuss the astronomical mindset of the time, how the calculations were made and the race to have someone search for this undiscovered planet. Eventually the Frenchman convinced the German Observatory in Berlin to conduct a search. Neptune was found on the first night of searching in 1846. Seventeen days later, its largest moon, Triton, was also discovered.

For the past 8 years Mike Hotka has been a software developer at Ball Aerospace for ground support equipment for satellite communications and data up- and download protocols.

Before that he was an adjunct professor in astronomy at Front Range Community College in Westminster, a member of the technical staff at SUN Microsystems, AT&T/Bell Labs and Rockwell International/Alcatel Network Systems. He holds a BA in Physics & Computer Science, and MS in Computer Science and an MS in Mission Operations and Space Management.

Weather permitting after the presentation, visitors will be invited to look through the large telescope at various celestial objects.

Public star nights are held the third Friday of each month (except July, when the LTO is closed for annual maintenance). No reservations are necessary for these nights. Just come and join in for the talk and some observing afterwards.

If you have any questions, please call the observatory information line at 970-613-7793 or check the LTO web site at: www.starkids.org

Meinte Veldhuis, President, Little Thompson Science Foundation

Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) are the hottest new category of aircraft. These sporty two-seaters aircraft are uncomplicated and easy to fly and require only a Sport Pilot license pilot rating to fly.  The Sport License requires fewer hours of instruction and the aircraft are less expensive to own or rent.

Come to the Expo and find out if Sport Flying is for you.

Try a flight simulator

The Expo will feature aircraft from more than a dozen manufacturers plus flight schools, equipment providers and service providers.  The day kicks off with a pancake breakfast at 8 a.m. but participants are welcome to visit any time before closing at 4 p.m. Speakers will be on hand to explain the Light Sport Aircraft category,  provide information on how to earn a Sport Pilot license and many related aviation seminars.

Whether you are new to aviation or are a seasoned pilot, the Sport Pilot license and Light Sport Aircraft offer a more affordable flying experience. And of course it’s loads of fun.  This is a great opportunity for every frustrated sky watcher to take control and join the ranks of those who call themselves Pilots. Join the adventure on May 19 & 20.

An Evektor based at Erie, Colorado

The Expo is sponsored by the Colorado Pilots Association, the Voice of General Aviation in Colorado.

Front Range Airport is 6 miles southeast of DIA in Watkins, Colorado. (Directions). There’s plenty of free parking and free admission to the Expo.

For additional information about the event, contact Blanche Cohen at 303-755-1525 or blanche@acm.org. There are limited opportunities for members of the media to experience a ride in a Light Sport airplane before or after the Expo. Contact us for further information.

By Dr. Danielle Huval

Emergency Veterinarian

An older dog with a sudden head tilt, lack of coordination (ataxia), and eyes that are moving rapidly from side to side or rotationally (nystagmus) may have vestibular disease. Vestibular disease occurs when the vestibular apparatus, a region in the ear that helps the body balance and orient to the environment, is not functioning correctly. This can be caused by a middle ear infection, a brain lesion, or is unknown (idiopathic). Other signs include motion sickness (vomiting), circling, and falling to one side. Some dogs can be unable to walk or get up without help. The good news is that idiopathic vestibular disease usually resolves completely within weeks and improves dramatically within the first 24-48 hours.

While it is not always possible to determine the exact cause of vestibular disease, it is important to note that this is not a stroke (vascular accident). A vascular accident is defined as an injury or death of neurons (cells in the brain) caused by a lack of blood supply. This does occur in dogs but is very rare because dogs do not have vascular disease (clogged arteries), which is common in humans. A vascular accident can cause a number of different symptoms all depending on what area of the brain has been affected. Common stroke associated symptoms include collapse or weakness, decrease in mental alertness, change in position of eyes, and even seizures.

In an initial exam of a dog with vestibular disease, it may be possible to determine whether the symptoms are being caused by a middle ear infection. Histories that include ear infections, a concurrent outer ear infection, or facial nerve paralysis, are signs that the vestibular symptoms are related to a middle ear problem. However, sometimes the outer canal of an ear looks normal and radiographs, CT or MRI may be necessary to fully evaluate and determine if a middle ear is involved. Treatment of a middle ear infection starts with long-term antibiotics. Bacterial cultures and procedures that are more involved may be necessary if the ear infection does not improve.

If vestibular signs are noted with other nerve deficits, the eyes move up and down rapidly (vertical nystagmus) or the nystagmus is positional or changing, this may indicate a brain lesion. Causes of a brain lesion include a brain tumor, infection, or vascular accident. A CT scan or MRI is often needed to more completely diagnose what kind of lesion is affecting the brain. Treatments of brain lesions are mostly supportive, but may include seizure medications, long-term hospitalization, and intensive care. This type of vestibular disease has a guarded prognosis, generally worse outcome, than other causes.

Idiopathic vestibular disease, or old dog vestibular disease, is the most common cause of vestibular disease in dogs. Although we do not know the cause of this disease, symptoms usually improve within 24-48 hours. Vestibular disease symptoms occur quite rapidly and can be very scary. Generally, a dog having a vestibular episode is extremely stressed and their needs cannot be met at home. Treatment may be necessary to control vomiting and to keep them from becoming dehydrated. This often involves short-term hospitalization and IV fluids. With vestibular disease, a dog may not be able to stand or walk and caring for a large dog suffering from this disease can be very difficult. Within a couple of weeks, most dogs will have fully recovered, although some dogs may have a lasting head tilt or ataxia.

If at any time your dog is uncoordinated, cannot get up, or collapses, this is an emergency! While it may be idiopathic vestibular disease, many other diseases can mimic these signs and immediate treatment could be lifesaving. A veterinarian should evaluate him or her as soon as possible. Figuring out what is going on will help you make a decision for what is best for your pet and the rest of the family as soon as possible. So if there is any doubt, call us or bring your pet to your veterinarian or an emergency clinic after hours. We are here to help.

AMVS is a 24-hour veterinary facility providing specialty internal medicine, surgery, emergency and critical care, physical rehabilitation, pain management, and blood bank services for pets. They are located in Longmont at 104 S. Main St. For more information, go to www.AspenMeadowVet.com.

Public Star Night at the Little Thompson Observatory

850 Spartan Ave at Berthoud High School

(park east of the high school; directions are posted on the website, www.starkids.org).

The  speaker for the evening will be Monte Henderson, a senior program manager at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, CO. His talk will feature the Deep Impact Mission to Comet Tempel1.

On July 4th, 2005, NASA’s Deep Impact program completed a highly successful mission to explore the interior of a comet. Deep Impact’s excavation of the comet Tempel1 drew worldwide attention and was widely acclaimed as a tremendous scientific and engineering success. The mission was, by any measure, NASA’s most widely followed unmanned mission ever, and one of its most popular of all time.

At the heart of the mission was the project team from Boulder’s Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation. A company best known for its canning jars (Ball Jars) had successfully proposed, designed, built, tested, and flown a highly sophisticated two part spacecraft that smashed into a comet 83 million miles away and successfully relayed nearly 12,000 images of the comet taken before, during, and after the collision.

Monte Henderson, Ball’s program manager for the Deep Impact program will present a discussion of the Deep Impact mission.  The following topics will be highlighted:

• Comets and Their Secrets, Why did NASA want to learn more about comets?
• The Spacecraft, What did Ball design and build?
• The Mission, What did the program accomplish and what did we learn?

Mr. Monte Henderson has been with Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. since 1990. Mr. Henderson worked on the National Defense Brilliant Pebbles Initiative (launched Oct 1992), the Hubble Space Telescope Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-object Spectrometer (NICMOS) Instrument (launched Feb, 1997), the NASA Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF, since renamed Spitzer) (launched Aug, 2003), NASA’s Deep Impact mission (launched Jan, 2005), NASA’s Kepler mission (launched March, 2009) and the Air Force Space and Missiles Systems Center’s (SMC) Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) program (launched Sept, 2010). Mr. Henderson was also the Program Manager on the Kepler Mission, a mission to search for Earth-like planets orbiting nearby stars. Since 2010, Mr. Henderson has been the program manager for the Geodesic Dome Phased Array Antenna (GDPAA) program and the Affordable Common Radar Architecture (ACRA) program.

Before joining Ball Aerospace, Mr. Henderson worked at Lockheed Missiles and Space developing phased-array antenna missile guidance systems; and at the Los Alamos National Laboratories, designing intrusion detection systems in weapons development and storage facilities.

Mr. Henderson holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Software Engineering, Embedded Systems from the New Mexico State University.

Weather permitting, after the presentation; visitors will be invited to look through the large telescope at various celestial objects.

Public star nights are held the third Friday of each month except July, when the LTO is closed for annual maintenance. No reservations are necessary for these nights. Just come and join in for the talk and some observing afterwards.

If you have any questions, please call the observatory information line at 970-613-7793 or check the LTO web site at: www.starkids.org

President Obama’s chief strategist David Axelrod speaking about Mitt Romney’s failure to condemn conservative talk radio show host Rush Limbaugh:

“If you don’t have the strength to stand up to the most strident voices in your party, how will you stand up to [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad?”

By Dr. Denise Crumbaker, DVM
Emergency Veterinarian

A recent patient that was hospitalized by our clinic’s emergency service was there not because of a trauma or acute illness, but because he had eaten approximately 30 pieces of sugar free gum earlier in the day. While the gum itself wouldn’t have been a big deal for a larger breed dog, the concerning factor was that the gum contained a substance known as xylitol which has actually been shown to exert toxic effects in dogs.

Xylitol is a natural substance obtained from the bark of birch trees. It is typically used in human products as an artificial sweetener. The benefits of xylitol are that it generally has minimal effect on plasma glucose or insulin levels, making it a popular choice amongst diabetics. One of the most common places to find xylitol is in sugar free gum or mints, but it can also be found in a powder form that is utilized as a sugar substitute when cooking.

Dogs, however, metabolize xylitol differently than people do and that is why it causes such profound effects. A dog that consumes xylitol will have a large release of the hormone insulin, which can cause a dangerous drop in their blood sugar. Clinical signs include lethargy, weakness, disorientation, and, in some cases, seizures. One of the most serious side effects seen in a subset of dogs that consume a large dose of xylitol is acute liver failure. Initially the signs of liver failure can be very subtle and include loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, and lethargy but signs will eventually progress to jaundice (yellow coloring to eyes and skin), depression, and possibly unexplained bleeding and/or bruising.

Treatment of xylitol toxicity depends on a variety of factors. If the dog is not showing signs of toxicity and the ingestion was within four hours from the exam, many veterinarians will attempt to make the dog vomit the material. The goal is to remove the xylitol containing material from the GI tract, thus minimizing the amount of the material the dog will metabolize and reducing clinical signs. If the dog is showing signs of low blood sugar or if they have had any type of seizure activity, they will likely be hospitalized and started on IV fluids containing dextrose to help raise their blood sugar. Most dogs with these signs will only need to be in hospital for 1-2 days on average as the effects of the xylitol leave the body. Dogs showing signs of liver failure, on the other hand, often have to be hospitalized for multiple days or weeks depending on the degree of liver damage and what supportive measures need to be taken to treat the dog.

In conclusion, the most important thing for dog owners to do if their pet has possibly consumed a xylitol-containing product is to contact their veterinarian or the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center for further direction. This will allow for treatment to be expedited and to hopefully minimize the chance of severe toxicosis. The number for the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center is (888) 426-4435.

AMVS is a 24-hour veterinary facility providing specialty internal medicine, surgery, emergency and critical care, physical rehabilitation, pain management, and blood bank services for pets. They are located in Longmont at 104 S. Main St. For more information, go to www.AspenMeadowVet.com.

ALLENSPARK, CO  February 29, 2012 – Weldon Lee and Lori Huff, noted wildlife photographers, are hosting a fund raising event, Our Heritage at Risk, for the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs & Burros (ISPMB), at the Roadway Inn, 1701 Highway 34, in Estes Park, Colorado, on Saturday, April 14, from 5:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m.

Headquartered between Lantry and Eagle Butte, SD, ISPMB is unique in that it rescues entire herds of wild horses. Velma Johnston, better known as Wild Horse Annie, single-handedly founded the organization in 1960, making it the nation’s oldest organization dedicated to protecting and saving wild horses.

Karen Sussman, current ISPMB President and modern day Wild Horse Annie will speak at the event and be on hand to answer questions and sign autographs. There will also be door prizes and a silent auction. Weldon Lee, the man who talks to wild animals, will also be there, sharing stories of encounters with his “wild brothers and sisters,” including wild mustangs.

Cost of the event is $20 for individuals, and $28 for couples. All proceeds go to the ISPMB.

Public is invited.

To register, and for additional information, contact Weldon Lee at: (303) 747-2074, or via email at: weldon@weldonlee.com.

Geek out at your library® during Teen Tech Week 2012

Local teens will be tuning in at the library as Berthoud Community Library celebrates the annual Teen Tech Week March 4-10, 2012. We join thousands of other libraries and schools across the country in celebrating this year’s theme, Geek Out @ your library®.  Teen Tech Week is a national initiative of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) aimed at teens, their parents, educators and other concerned adults. The purpose of the initiative is to ensure that teens are competent and ethical users of technology, especially the types offered through libraries. Teen Tech Week encourages teens to take advantage of the technology at libraries for education and recreation, and to recognize that librarians are qualified, trusted professionals who can help them achieve greater digital literacy.

Getting teens into libraries is essential. At the Berthoud Community Library we offer gaming-come to a special Wii game afternoon March 8 from 3-5pm- access to computers, and online homework help. Through our website link to free music downloads from Freegal,  Learning Express Library & Career Accelator, Global Road Warrior, and Ask Colorado for 24/7 reference help. Once they’re in the door, we can show teens that with technology at the library, anything is possible.

Recent studies from Pew Internet & American Life Project show the majority of teens own cell phones and mp3 players. Ninety-three percent of teens regularly use the Internet — 73 percent of all American teens go online to use Facebook or other social networking sites. Three-quarters of American teens send text messages every day. Nearly 40 percent of teens share something online that they created themselves, like artwork or a video.

Teens are encouraged to celebrate Teen Tech Week.  Berthoud Community Library is offering a fun afternoon of Dance Dance Revolution on March 8 at 3pm, and check out our “old tech” display with circuit boards you could snowboard on!

Teen Tech Week is held annually the second week of March. For an updated list of sponsors and supporting organizations, visit www.ala.org/teentechweek.