Tell Us What You Think
On this episode of Tails of Truth, Dr. Angie Krause and veterinary nurse, JoJo, dig into listener comments and questions, covering cat hyperthyroidism testing, Cytopoint and cancer risk, heartworm resistance to ivermectin, and the rabies vaccine recall. They also talk through saccharomyces boulardii for dogs on prednisone and the ongoing debate around gut health and allergies in dogs. Some comments are kind. Some are not. Dr. Angie and JoJo answer them anyway.
Key Takeaways
- Cat hyperthyroidism testing is different from thyroid testing in dogs or people and a standard T4 is usually sufficient; free T3 panels are rarely needed.
- Oral ulcers unrelated to kidney disease can drive up BUN and creatinine through dehydration alone, which can look like kidney failure on bloodwork without being kidney failure.
- Saccharomyces boulardii is generally considered safe for dogs on prednisone and may ease gut side effects, though it has no known direct effect on lymphoma itself.
- Long-term gut-healing protocols for allergic dogs are time- and resource-intensive and haven't shown consistently reliable results in Dr. Angie's experience.
- Cytopoint is not linked to increased cancer risk. Cyclosporine, a different drug, does carry a small increased lymphoma risk in some patients.
- As of recording, there were no confirmed reports of ivermectin-resistant heartworm in Colorado; informal discussion pointed to possible resistance in the Mississippi Delta/Louisiana region, not yet a verified nationwide trend.
- Rabies vaccine cost and dosing intervals vary by manufacturer and formulation: a one-year and three-year version aren't automatically the same product.
Soundbites
"The majority of these messages are so disrespectful and unnecessarily mean." — Dr. Angie
"Sometimes intervention earlier prevents more intense toxic interventions later." — JoJo
"Cytopoint is not going to increase your dog's risk of cancer. That's real." — Dr. Angie
"That's a very privileged place to sit, to be able to say I am gonna just really spend the next two to three years working on my dog's gut health." — Dr. Angie
"If somebody had one experience with their animal and it worked out well for them, they suddenly are the expert." — JoJo
Please subscribe and review! xoxo Dr. Angie & JoJo
