Amy & I were heading to Becky and Jere Ozment's home for a church get together. Another car was following behind us, since they didn't know the way. As we were passing through an intersection I could see a dead Calico cat that had been run over and as we drove by, she raised her head up.... I missed THAT diagnosis.

I pulled over and picked up the little girl and put her in the car and continued on to the Ozments, where I dropped off my wife and headed to the clinic.  With the examination, I could tell the Right Humerus (upper arm) was fractured, so I gave her an injection of Pain medication and put a bandage on to support her arm by securing it to her body wall, and headed back to dinner. Everything else seemed to be in good shape. She was a cute little 4 & 1/2 pound cat and a very good patient. I called her SPLAT, but for some reason Amy didn't like that name.

Afterwards, I went back and took X-rays... her arm was really busted up. The bandage would keep it stabile temporarily, but she needed surgery. We noticed that she was a Polydactyl. That means that she had extra toes on her front feet. Amy was into the history of Key West and knew that most of the cats there had extra toes. Since Key West was a shipping point, a long time ago, there were lots of ships in and out and sailors felt that these extra toed cats made better mousers (or ratters if that's an actual word) to protect the cargo. Many people call these Hemingway cats, as he was a famous writer that made Key West his home and a majority of cats had this genetic trait.. Amy informed me that Ernest Hemingway's nurse girlfriend's name was Agnes von Kurowsky....  & that's how she got her name. Names are important in my family and we don't take the task of choosing one lightly. It might take an entire BLOG to go over all of my family pets and their names.

I scheduled a surgery. It took a pin and 3 circlage wires to piece it back together. Surgery and recovery went well. We let her convalesce at the hospital for a few days and then Amy decided that she wanted her to come home...... At that point Amy had not been a cat person. She loved Agnes and they really connected. Within 2 or 3 weeks, she was running around and it was difficult to tell which leg had surgery, except that the hair hadn't grown back. Now Amy liked this cat, but this had increased our flock of cats to 3. We didn't need anymore, so a month after her orthopedic surgery I spayed her. Of course during the course of all of this she got her vaccines, etc. etc. and was a part of the family.

Agnes was a great cat. If I had a camera rolling I could have made some money when she leaped up 3 feet of more after a bug and landed in the pool. She swam to the side, I plucked her out, she shook off and continued her hunt for bugs. One day she went missing. This was before FaceBook, that has been so helpful in finding lost pets for us. We put signs up, put ads in the paper, searched the neighborhood and the park, but no Agnes. I just hope that someone found this cute little cat and is still giving her a great home. She would be a little over 7 years old now.

Many mammals have scent glands. The skunk is the most infamous. These are natural in the dog and cat, but we humans don't like them. Anatomically there are glands on either side of the anus, with a sac to hold the secretions and a duct to allow those secretions to the outside. In nature, their function is to leave the animal's scent whenever they have a bowel movement.

Wolves and their territories have been studied. It has been theorized that they defecate in certain areas to make sure that intruders know that they are in another animal's territory. Of course they utilize urinary marking as well. I wonder if dogs hike on a tire so that when the car leaves it increases their territory??? Sorry, just a random thought.........            When you see a dog scratching and kicking the dirt after going to the bathroom, looking like they are trying to cover it up, they may actually leaving more scent from the glands between the footpads.

OK, enough of the nature stuff. What's the big stink about them anyway? The human owners have a few issues with these things. "He's scooting across the yard (or more importantly my carpet) on his rear end." "He can't stop licking." "When he gets nervous we smell this putrid smell." "I think he is constipated, because he strains a lot."   All of these things can be attributable to those little sacs. They can get infected, impacted, inflamed, full, abscessed,  etc. There are different things that may be done when one of these things happens. We can feel the sacs and express them to relieve some irritation. Some pets need it weekly and some never. There are different ways to express them and some patients are easy to do by simply squeezing on either side of the anus and milking the substance out. A better way to do it, and with some patients, the only way, is to insert a finger to actually feel the sac it self and express the substance out through the duct. I can't speak for all Veterinarians, but I use an exam glove. If it is an ongoing  problem we may flush the material out of the sac and instill medication into the sac to help. There may be a problem with the bowel movements being too soft to help express them naturally. If there is a bacterial infection or abscess, then antibiotics will be given. There are even instances where we will remove the Glands and Sacs surgically, to be rid of them permanently. I've only removed the Anal Sacs/Glands on one cat, but it is a much more common procedure in the dog. Every patient and situation is different in the underlying causes, as well as treatments.

There are other things that can cause these same symptoms. Tapeworms, that are spread to our pets when they swallow a flea or eat a rodent, can cause itching which can lead to scooting or licking as well. You are as likely to see Tapeworm segments on the pet (look like rice or sesame seeds when dry) than a lab will under the microscope.  Some Food allergies will cause the perianal irritation leading to itchiness. I have seen a few dogs with bladder problems cause similar signs, whether an infection or bladder stones. It isn't uncommon for female dogs to have an anatomical problem with the vulva that can cause extreme irritation. I'll admit, that sometimes it can be hard to tell which problem came first after they have been scooting in the driveway. Uncommonly, we can see cancer in that area.

Take home message: Feed a quality pet food and stay away from the table food, people food, leftovers, special treats, or whatever you decide to call it. The more normal the food.... the more normal the stool.... the more normal the Anal Sacs. Keep the weight down. Fat dogs & cats have more problems.  If your groomer is expressing them, but you're still seeing the symptoms, get it examined. It could be that the sacs aren't getting emptied completely or we may be dealing with another cause. You know your pet. Talk to your pet's vet and decide which is the best course of action.

We deal with icky things a lot. One of my equine clinicians at UT, Dr. Dallas Goble, called all small animal practitioners, "Anal Gland Squeezers". That's why this is such a Glamorous Profession!

I was 15 and couldn't wait to spend time with a beautiful girl that grew up between Yorkville & Dyer. I bought books to help me to understand her better..........& I didn't like to read. She was a beautiful sorrel Quarter Horse yearling.

I had grown up around the farm, but had never really done much with horses. Most of my equine experience had been with 2 mean Shetland ponies that Daddy got to pull a wagon. (I can't wait to tell you that story!) My sisters had ridden some on a horse named Stormy. Her actual name was Hurricane Sadie, but my sisters had renamed her. She was a Quarter Horse that apparently had good blood lines, but I wanted an upgrade. Daddy made a deal with Pete & Sandra Young to trade Stormy for a filly. The Youngs wanted Stormy for a brood mare and Sandra later told me they called her "ole PH". My new girlfriend's name was Mud Creek Missy...... which was changed to Wendy. (And yes, there was a family discussion for a name) This boy was one happy dude! I even got a new saddle for my birthday.

At a year old, Wendy hadn't had much done with her. She had as much energy as I did. I wasn't there, but loading her in the trailer to come home was described as exciting. It just made me happy to get her to the farm and she got put in the barn lot with SPOT, a great big spotted horse. Our family was very excited about our new addition. On that day, our church welcomed its new Preacher, Willis Gilliland. We wanted to include them, so my sisters and I went by to visit and took his daughter Carla to see our new horse. I really doubt that she cared, but we felt it was a good excuse to show off our new horse and be neighborly. We got to the farm and found that she had split her head open running under the low barn.  We of course panicked and drove to Dr. Thurmond's house. He of course remained calm and said it would be fine..... The scar eventually went away.  I don't panic much about animal medical issues anymore, but when my son Jack fell and split HIS head on the bathtub, I panicked again and couldn't even think of my wife's name to yell for help... I know now that it's Amy. She is the one who I defer to for Human Medical issues. I can now handle the 4 legged ones.

The decision was made to break her myself and I spent lots of time calming her down and trying to get her used to everything. I had almost a year, before I would get on her back as a 2 year old. It was going to be a challenge, since both of us were very new at this. I needed to get better at riding, so I spent a lot of time on Spot riding out to the pasture through the cows. Spot was not going to get in a hurry (except heading back to the barn). If I needed to get a cow up, all I had to do was pick it out and Spot would take them back home.  If a calf was walking too slow, he would simply lower his great big nose and push them ahead. If one of our bulls needed to be brought up, no horse was needed. I could just climb on him in the pasture and he would take ME to the barn. Spot was the horse that my mother took all of her Kindergarten kids to sit on. Our family even had one of our Christmas Cards with all 4 kids sitting on his back. (He measured about 16 hands).  He didn't give me much experience with staying on a running horse, but it was better than nothing. Spot would stand perfectly still under one of our peach trees so I could climb on him and reach the peaches that he couldn't..... He was never that still if he had a saddle on.

When the time came for me to get on her for the first time, I was fairly confident. A lot of time had been spent preparing the two of us for this moment, putting things on her back and loading her on & off of a trailer (as an aside, don't ever load a horse on a trailer not hooked up to a truck like I did......once). It went pretty smoothly, although she was still high strung. I was 16, and was pretty sure I knew all I ever needed to know about anything and everything at that point in my life..... just ask my Mother. It took only a few rides before I got bucked off, but I do have a selective memory. I'm sure I was getting cocky and too complaisant, and I found a cockle burr under her blanket that I blamed the first time on. I tried to ride her often, even though sometimes it was much easier and faster to jump on my motorcycle to ride through the cows, than it was to catch and saddle my horse. She would go through ponds, over cattle rubs, through the woods...... but she was ALWAYS aware. I'm grateful that she didn't know what a snake was when the first one crossed our path or I would have been on the ground again. I could mount and dismount from both sides, wave a towel and even twirl a lasso over her head. I'll admit it was just for show since I couldn't catch a cow with a rope even if I was standing on the ground next to her..... Wendy progressed nicely in just a few months and did well working cows.

One day, Joe Douglas & I were getting the cows up to the barn. He was on Spot and I was on Wendy. We were going through a gate and I got too close to a post causing my leg to get pulled back into Wendy's flank. It didn't take much for her to throw me off, right into a mud puddle. I did as the books say, and I got right back on. I actually had no choice, there was work to do. After we got through with the cows, I noticed  my watch was missing. Joe (who lived & worked at the farm for YEARS) found it in the mud the next morning, and of course the Timex was still ticking. I considered sending my story in for a commercial, but I was afraid they would make me reenact the scene. Don't think that those were the only 2 times I got tossed. I didn't count all of them.

After I went off to school I was only able to see and ride her in the summer and during breaks. Daddy & I decided that we would try to get her bred while I was in Vet School. I was warned by my professors that nobody in Vet School has anything normal happen with any of their animals, especially horses. She had a sorrel filly that gradually turned Red Roan. I never liked Roans until I saw her. She was beautiful. She was perfect. Because my dog's name was Gumby, we decided to call her Pokey. They had a GREAT time together running and chasing through the pasture.

Wendy got to grow old (about 30) in the cow pasture, without many riders. We did acquire two more horses for Finley & Claire to ride, that kept her company. She was just happy that I would take those other two to carry children around for the Humane Society fund raisers instead of her.

As with all animals, the time came to make sure that her life ended as smoothly as possible. I was very fortunate to have one of those defining moments that are so helpful in making the final decisions. It was just the 2 of us together in the pasture, and thankfully the tips I received from Dr. Blackford in Vet School about the final injection paid off, and everything was peaceful. It was still a tough day.