We
are honored to present Monty, an eight month old, male Pug, and Piper, a one
year old female Pug, as Companion Animals of the
Month for March 2008. This lovable duo are the tenacious companion animals to
Jeff, Sally and their daughter Lexie Sebastyn. Monty and Piper are actually
half siblings, as they had the same father but different mothers. The Sebastyn's
adopted Monty and Piper, at the tender age of 8 weeks, from a family
friend that has bred Pug's for more than 14 years.
Piper, the more reserved of the pair, prefers to sleep in every morning and will go back to bed if she is woken up too early. She enjoys playing the role of a "big sister" to Monty, and will walk Monty around on his collar and leash. Monty is the more outgoing of the pair. He loves to greet neighbors and snuggle up with the Sebastyn's on their couch. Both Monty and Piper enjoy wrestling with each other and playing tug-of-war with their stuffed animals. Their favorite tradition is a treat of two mini marshmallows each at night before they go to bed.
As cute and fun as they are, Monty and Piper have faced some
not so fun, breed specific medical problems. The most common hereditary problems in pugs include
breathing difficulties, skin fold 
infections, and eyelid problems. So
far, Monty and Piper have evenly distributed all these common problems amongst
themselves.
Monty's first experience was just after Thanksgiving in 2007 at which time he
was diagnosed with facial
skin fold dermatitis, he was treated with antibiotics. Then in December
2007, he developed patchy hair loss at various spots on his body. Dr.
Sukhija
performed deep skin scrapings which yielded positive results for Demodicosis.
Demodex is a mite that is part of the normal fauna of a dogs skin (animation on
left is courtesy of veterinarypartner.com). It is
typically present in small numbers and resides in the hair follicles and glands
of the skin. It only becomes a problem when the numbers exceed the
tolerated amount by the dogs immune system. It is theorized that the
initial proliferation of mites may be the result of a genetic or immunologic
disorder. We treated Monty with an oral parasiticide called Ivermectin.
The treatment involved once daily dosing of the medication until healed
and continued two weeks post cure. After he seemed healed, we re-checked Monty and repeated the skin scrapings every two weeks.
Unfortunately, his skin problem continued to worsen despite the Ivermectin and
oral antibiotics to treat the secondary bacterial infection. His next
treatment involved a
topical parasiticide, Mitaban, used as a medicated dip. This involved bathing Monty in
an exfoliating shampoo and following that with a Mitaban dip. This
medicated dip was once the treatment of choice for Demodicosis until the
development of Ivermectin, however now it is reserved for severe, non-resolving
cases, such as Monty's, because of the side affects of central nervous system depression which manifests as sedation lasting 1-3
days. Needless to say, it was almost alarming to the Sebastyn Family to see Monty quiet for over a day
after each dip. Fortunately, the concurrent use of Ivermectin by mouth
daily and two Mitaban dips, two weeks apart, cured him. Now Monty has his
beautiful hair coat back and will probably not have a recurrence of Demodicosis
throughout his life.
In the mist of Monty's skin difficulties, Piper started
developing eye infections and corneal ulcers. Dr. Sukhija found that her
facial skin and skull had developed in a way that caused her eye lids to turn
inward forcing her lashes into her eyes. The condition is know as entropion
(photograph on right is courtesy of wikipedia.com). This constant touching and rubbing action by the lashes leads
to chronic eye infections, worse of which, manifests as corneal abrasions or
ulcers. Without treatment, these ulcers can get develop as deep infections
leading to vision loss or even a ruptured eye ball. Topical eye antibiotics for the corneal ulcers
where prescribed but the primary problem still had to be
treated. Dr. Sukhija performed bilateral entropion repair surgery.
This particular surgery is the closest procedure to plastic surgery for dogs.
However, it is only preformed for medical purposes, not for cosmetic reasons. Piper was put
under general anesthesia and Dr. Sukhija removed excess skin on her eyelids so
that the eye lashes would turn upward as naturally intended. Special care had to be
taken not to remove too much as doing so can lead to ectropion, or outward
turning of the eye lids which can lead to dry eyes, inflammation, infection, and even ulcers.
After recovering from surgery, Piper returned
for rechecks and suture removals. She now has beautiful natural looking
eyelids and lashes.
Pugs
will be Pugs as they say. Both Monty and Piper snort and snore when they
breath, although the sound of that is rather charming. This snoring is
due to the abnormal upper respiratory anatomy caused by the cute pudgy face and
is called Brachycephalic Syndrome. It consists of a constricted or
stenotic nares, an elongated soft palate, a hypoplastic (underdeveloped)
trachea, and sometimes laryngeal collapse. The Sebastyn family takes care to avoid overheating but neither
dog will need surgery to repair these hereditary issues. While
Monty and Piper have been through some difficult medical conditions, they are
always happy to come to Atlantic Animal Hospital for their treatments.
With the help and support of the Sebastyn family, both Monty and Piper have made
full recoveries. The Sebastyn's share a very strong bond with Monty
and Piper, and Atlantic Animal Hospital is dedicated to keeping these
two adorable Pugs happy and healthy for years to come.
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