Veterinarian about innovations in pet treatment: today, the possibilities are greater

People often acquire a pet spontaneously – they see a cute little puppy and take it home. However, before taking on the responsibility for an animal that will live not just one or two years, but a decade or more, veterinary specialists advise learning about the species’ characteristics, diseases, and temperament. Only by choosing a pet responsibly and assessing your capabilities will you avoid later disappointment.

One of the most common problems for people with pets is the diseases of dogs or cats, which are often difficult and expensive to diagnose and treat, and in some cases, may be incurable. However, as veterinary doctor Vytautas Siaurys, founder of the veterinary clinics “Siaurio Šnauceris,” explains in a press release, innovations in medicine today help quickly and accurately identify diseases, making their treatment more effective.

“Just a few years ago, mast cell cancer, also known as mastocytoma, was a challenging issue for both veterinarians and the animals themselves, because it required surgically removing not only the tumor but also a lot of surrounding tissue. And ensuring that all metastases were removed was almost impossible; there remained a chance that the tumor would return, necessitating surgery over and over again. Now we have a new drug, which was completely accidentally developed from berries growing in Australia. It is enough to inject it directly into the cancer-affected area, and after four weeks, the tumor completely disappears,” says V. Siaurys about the innovative treatment, which has already been successfully applied in the clinic for about a year.

The doctor reminds that if you feel unclear skin formations while petting your dog, similar to warts, moles, or papillomas, you should show them to a veterinarian, who, if there is suspicion, can perform a biopsy or advise monitoring whether the formations are growing. For example, if a small two-millimeter formation grows to four millimeters in a month, it is necessary to visit the clinic again, as your pet may have developed a mast cell tumor, known as a mastocytoma.

Joints are prosthetized not only for humans

It’s fun to play with your pet by throwing a ball or a frisbee, but do you notice that over time your dog has difficulty getting up, gets tired after walking longer distances, starts limping, and reacts more and more weakly to the beloved ball? “Such symptoms are already a signal that a specialist’s examination is needed. A veterinarian, by feeling and, if necessary, taking an X-ray, can timely diagnose osteoarthritis (chronic diseases affecting joint surfaces), injuries, or congenital hip, knee, and elbow joint pathologies, such as dysplasia, which cause pain and discomfort for the animal. Joint diseases can be influenced by various factors, but there are several essential ones – the animal’s size, age, build, as well as heredity, living conditions, nutrition, and exercise. All of these are closely interconnected,” says V. Siaurys.

According to the doctor, not so long ago joint replacement surgery was a miracle even for humans, so he says he can only be glad that, with medicine and science advancing, joint replacement surgeries have been performed on dogs in the clinics he established for more than five years. For now, these are the only clinics offering this service.

“Previously, we could only relieve an animal’s life temporarily with medication. It was painful when a large 8-10-year-old dog arrived, whose internal organs were still functioning perfectly, but the joint changes had progressed so far that you realized there wasn’t much you could offer, except medication. Sometimes also surgery, during which we would remove the bone growths that caused immense pain, but they would grow back fairly quickly. Seeing the animal’s suffering and apathy, owners would make the only possible humane decision – euthanasia,” explains V. Siaurys, regarding the reasons why he decided to invest in extremely expensive equipment, the only one of its kind even in the Baltic States.

Šunų ir kačių katarakta jau pagydoma

Cataracts are a condition common to dogs of all breeds and sizes. The progression of the disease is quite similar to that in humans – the lens of the eye gradually loses its transparency and eventually becomes completely opaque. The animal’s eyes become milky, vision begins to deteriorate, and eyesight is ultimately lost. “Cataracts can be caused by untreated eye inflammation due to an injury, diabetes, or simply old age. There’s no need to be overly fearful of this disease anymore, as it is now diagnosed quite successfully and has been operated on in our clinics for four years. During the surgery, a new lens is inserted into the eye through a three-millimeter incision, and it can be expected that the animal’s vision will improve along with its quality of life – once the pet starts seeing the table, chairs, and other obstacles again, it will move more and life will take on new colors,” says the veterinarian. By the way, V. Siaurys says that based on the results of studies conducted in the United States, it was found that dogs still see colors, even though they differ from those seen by humans. The vision of four-legged people is similar to that of people with color blindness, when the colors green and red are not distinguished, for example. Dogs are not short-sighted, but they need to see a moving object equally well in the dark and light, and they also see a moving object better than a standing object.