Comparing ‘normal’ heads to brachycephalic heads within a species.

There is increasing pressure to breed for longer noses, or in some cases any nose at all, in purebred animals because of its negative effects on welfare. These images help show the difference in morphology very well. It is the extremeness of these features that correlate with health problems.

(Images source)

I find this a poignant visual representation indeed, and shocking in its clarity. Will never understand why brachycephalic heads are considered attractive, to me they look ugly, deformed and painful. I may have a bias for long heads personally, but anyone can see in these cases how hugely and unnaturally altered these are. I swear some humans try to breed other species to look more like themselves. It’s not cute. It’s ugly, unnatural, and often debilitating. Variation within a species is one thing, but these are exaggerated beyond what natural variation would allow, and I’ll not sugarcoat my words - A CRIME AGAINST EVOLUTION. Stop this, people, please.

When you haven’t been born with a nose you can’t breathe through, a palate that flops closed when you try to sleep, crooked teeth that jab into your gums and a skull that doesn’t properly accommodate your brain, you don’t seem to think what life is like for those who have been born that way, and had no choice in it…

Learning different types of knots and hand ties for vessel ligation! #babyvet #10monthsdown #31monthstogo

Fun With the Fundus!

Did you know, that behind the wonder that is the surface of the eye, is another layer of anatomy ready to be explored? The back of the eye, or the fundus, consists of sclera, choroid, retina, the optic nerve, and plus or minus the tapetum. 

The fundus can be seen by several different methods, such as direct ophthalmoscopy or indirect ophthalmoscopy (as seen below).

images from vetbook.com

Examining the fundus can be extremely useful to evaluate blindness, neurologic disease, or systemic disease (infectious, immune-mediated, neoplastic, etc).

Holy Hyphema!

(image from vet place)

Hyphema, or hemorrhage of the eye, can be due to trauma (like in the poor pup I saw recently), tumors, retinal separation/degeneration, uveitis, secondary diseases, or congenital conditions.

 ATTRITION IN DOGS

I am not a veterinarian. I am not a biologist. I am not a dentist.

I am, however, a comparative anatomy enthousiast and I would love to show you all some of the more interesting dog skulls I have collected.

Above is the skull of an adult male Laekenois. This is a nice example of plain old ‘good, healthy teeth’. You can look at this one to compare the others I’m about to show you with. All teeth are strong, free of plaque, straight,… 

This is the skull of an adult female Siberian Husky. She too still has all of her teeth, no signs of decay and no plaque. But do you notice something different…? See the way her upper canines are worn down…? That’s quite common amongst dogs who have spent a lot of time chewing or pulling on metal bars or wires. Mostly seen in bored or anxious dogs who live in runs or cages.

This is an extreme case of tooth attrition. This is an old shepherd mix. Its teeth are worn down to a very severe degree. The upper front teeth are missing and the bone had already healed. The canines and lower front teeth are almost completely gone. Discoloration and plaque deposits have affected the other teeth. (Stage 3 and 4 of periodontal disease; which could have been prevented)This is the result of a combination of being an excessive chewer and old age.

Awww, time for puppy teeth! This is an Alaskan Malamute pup. This little one is still lacking several premolars and it appears to have a small underbite (which basically means the lower front teeth stick out in front of the upper front teeth) but this can all still change as it would have grown into adulthood and lost its puppy teeth. No reason to worry.

Speaking of an underbite… This is the skull of an adult Pomeranian. They aren’t generally known to have underbites but it can happen. Especially in breeds who have a very reduced snout length. What’s more interesting in this skull is that the third upper premolar (the third tooth from the canine) has turned a full 90° as it grew. There simply isn’t enough space for all the teeth to sit as they are supposed to and, in many small dogs, these overlapping teeth can cause a lot of plaque buildup in the long run.

This old, male Poodle Mix has (as you can clearly see) quite a few missing teeth and porous gums. This is, however, not uncommon. Especially in smaller breeds. The teeth themselves still appeared to be in good condition. Not discolored or infected. Some dental care would have been needed but it would not appear the dog would have been in any major discomfort or pain, despite the way this skull looks. 

This poor old female Beagle had some major dental issues. Her upper molar and a premolar are missing but the bone has already healed, suggesting she lost those teeth a while back. Her lower molar was severely infected, as well as her upper canine. She was diagnosed with osteomylitis, a painful infection and inflammation of the bone marrow and passed away before the treatment was complete. 

Another old dog. This Miniature Poodle also suffered from osteomylitis. He had the same amount of plaque as the beagle but the teeth were still less affected by the disease. Note how the upper hind most molar is ready to fall out at any moment.

That’s all for now! Hopefully this post has been a little bit educational for some!

-Max

(Edit: The last photo was missing. Added it in.)

Pugs are not cute

Pugs are not cute. Pugs are malformed, inbred, sick animals that should never have existed.

(Above: pug and wolf skulls. Note the shallow eye sockets, crowded, protruding teeth, and short snout in the pug.)

I am so sick of seeing pugs being celebrated. Their small, squashed skulls, facial wrinkles, curled tails, and protruding eyes are actually valued when these characteristics are a cruelty in themselves.

Pugs are charming, sweet, funny little souls and they don’t deserve the bodies humanity has designed for them.

Stop celebrating pugs. Stop buying pugs.

let’s celebrate retro pugs instead

responsible breeders decided they liked the temperament but the health issues were a nightmare, so they fixed them, they bred them out

it’s retro as in before the muzzle was bred out

and look at them

the one on the left is a retromop and the one on the right is a (elderly) pug

they’re healthier, live longer and have all the pug benefits with none of the usual health issues because of the deformed skull

they have longer legs

making exercise easier, and yet maintained most of the pug looks, and yes, they have the pug grin

want a pug - get a retropug or retromop, a healther, happier, and possibly cheaper option

even though I love pugs, it’s important that people know this 

Retromops are where it’s at friend.  Keep 100% of the pug charm with 0%of the terrible unhealthy inbred deformity. 

retromops are legitimately cuter like what the fuck

Handy Horse Tips #4

Horse Vision - what does the world look like for a horse?

The more you know about how your horse perceives its immediate surroundings, the easier it will be for you to predict its behavior and react accordingly.

Due to the position of a horse’s eyes it’s gifted with almost all-around visibility. When a horse looks forward and holds its head high the only blind spots are directly in front of the head at the height of the eyes, directly above and below the head, at the neck, on their back and behind their hind legs.

Another peculiarity is the fact that horses have a blurred perception of what they see with only one eye. For example, if the horse notices movement in this blurred area of its vision but cannot turn its head to look at the possible threat with both eyes to get a better look, it can cause fear/panic reactions (spooking). (That’s also why you should make sure your horse can always turn its head when you tie it up.)

Another curiosity is the fact that horses can perceive several things at the same time with their eyes; these stimuli are processed in different parts of the brain. That’s why an object seen with the left eye is something totally different when seen with the right eye. This is also what explains horse behavior in for example the ring; when a new object/obstacle/whatever is built up in the ring it will be checked out warily by the horse until after a few rounds it loses interest - until you change directions that is, then it’ll be something new and potentially dangerous again!

Horses are also so called dichromats, that means that they have only 2 color receptors in their eyes. The colors they can see best are blue and yellow; scientists believe that their vision is very similar to those of people with red green color blindness (which is by the way the most common type of color blindness in humans).

But what they lack in the ability to recognize colors, they make up for with their night vision thanks to the “tapetum lucidum” in their eyes, a layer of tissue in their eyes (which for example cats have, too). However, quickly-changing lighting conditions are problematic for horses (which also explains nervous/reluctant behavior in horses when they have to enter a dark trailer, barn etc).

Last but not least, horses have a remarkable vision over long distances. A horse can notice a suspicious rustling in a bush from far away easily, an ancient ability inherited from its wild ancestors, whose lives as flight animals depended on early detection of natural enemies.

Yes, it can be risky for the rider if a horse follows its instincts as flight animal all the time - but the more trust is built into the rider-horse-relationship, the less inclined the horse will be to act on them!

Mommy teaching babby easier water drinking way because drinking water is hard experience u get it in your nose. Jesus how she puts her paw on his head in the second one. Such concern and love.

THIS IS THE CUTEST THING I HAVE EVER FUCKING SEEN FROM CATS EVER

This is what a frontal sinus fracture looks like. It’s rare to actually see such obvious movement like this! This poor girl was hit by a car and also suffered a pneumothorax, metatarsal fractures and two fractures of the mandible. She was the sweetest thing and was such a trooper; she came back in for her bandage change yesterday with a waggy tail! It was touch and go but she pulled through!

Here’s a photo of a bulldog patient seen at CullenWebb. The photo depicts this patient having entropion and “cherry eye”.

This patient underwent surgery to repair entropion of her eyelids and “cherry eye” (prolapsed gland of the third eyelid).

Entropion is a condition where there is an inrolling of the eyelid. The condition is either developmental/genetic/breed-related or acquired. The condition results in varying clinical signs attributed to the hairy margin of the eyelid coming in contact with the surface of the eye. Signs may include excessive tearing, ocular pain/discomfort, and/or corneal ulceration. Entropion can be seen in any breed of dog or cat. Dog breeds more commonly affected include Newfoundlands, Rottweilers, Retrievers of any breed, Shar Pei, bloodhound, Saint Bernards, Great Danes, Chow Chow, spaniels of any breed, and any breed with relatively flat short noses (brachycephalics) as in this patient.

“Cherry eye” is the term used to describe a prolapsed gland of the third eyelid. This is likely heritable in nature and is more commonly seen in breeds with droopy eyelids (eg spaniel breeds, Bulldogs, Great Danes, Mastiffs). Without corrective surgery, patients with cherry eye will suffer from longstanding ocular irritation and possible impaired tear production leading to corneal disease including corneal ulceration.

Although family veterinarians may perform cherry-eye repair and entropion repair, CullenWebb recommends that patients with severe entropion or entropion occurring in breeds with sometimes difficult to repair entropion (eg Shar Pei, Newfoundlands, Bulldogs, among others), and patients who have had failed entropion repair seek consultation with a board-certified veterinary ophthalmologist. In addition, patients with recurring cherry-eye despite previous surgical intervention be seen by a veterinary ophthalmologist. To arrange an appointment either request referral by your veterinarian or contact CullenWebb directly at 1-506-204-8433

www.cullenwebb.com

#entropion #cherryeye #tearing #thirdeyelid #dog #animaleyedoctor #veterinary #ophthalmologist #eye

For people wanting to know very basic external anatomy of the eye…here is the eye of one of Dr Cullen’s and Dr Webb’s cats showing basic external eye anatomy.

It is important to know these basic terms when describing and understanding where a problem is occurring in a pet’s eye.

The left images are unlabelled images identical, albeit smaller, to the labelled images on the right.

The upper two images are viewing the eye from the side, while the lower images are, obviously, a front view of the eye.

#animaleyedoctor #veterinary #eye #cullenwebb #animaleye

INTUSSUSCEPTION

Intussusception must be differentiated from rectal prolapse. A probe must be inserted along the prolapse and if it can be inserted cranially more than a few centimeters, it is intussusception.