93. The 21-year-old veterinary student had to choose his knife to defend himself

"Choose your knife!" the young undergraduate's eyes narrowed as venomous rage accumulated over some months pierced into my eyes. He spluttered "Why you keep ignoring me? Why? Why?"

Two post-graduate Malaysians and I were in the kitchen pantry of the Dalrymple Hall of Residence eating supper and chatting before retiring for more studies. We toasted bread or cooked our instant noodles when this young man from Malaysia, in his early twenties confronted me.

Our routine during term time after dinner was to have a game of darts or to play snooker for half an hour. Then we would get back to our rooms to study. At around 10.30 p.m, we would meet for supper.

It was a monk's life during term time. No girl friends as we were in foreign territory and Glasgow was not as popular as London with Malaysian and Chinese nurses studying in the United Kingdom. Female undergraduates in Glasgow or Strathclyde Universities in 1971 coming from Malaysia and Singapore were as extinct as dodos. We did not drink beer and so were not as sociable as we ought to be. Beer and girls did mix well during my time and it was a great time for British undergraduate youths living away from the eyes of spying parents.

Yet the youths of Asian and British Caucasian cultures at that time were barriers to cross-border undergraduate romance, at least in my case.

We were to study hard and make a better life for ourselves by getting a British degree. Yet here there was one Malaysian Chinese youth who wanted to commit murder by provoking me to a fight.

What provoked this young man to pick on me I don't know even some 36 years later. Did I ignore him during dinner? Our group usually sat together. The only Malaysian Chinese who ate dinner with the Caucasians was my class-mate as he could drink beer and enjoyed the company. One ought get to know the natives but then I had no social skills at the age of 21 years old.

Now, I encountered a dangerous situation my parents or teachers had not taught me how to handle. I would pay a terrible price if I mis-handled this situation. That was the price of death. And I would have missed the internet and so many advances of 2007.

It was 1971 and I was a second-year veterinary undergraduate. I stayed in Dalrymple Hall of Residence as my Colombo Plan Scholarship paid one pound a day for my food and lodging and I did not think of sharing apartments with other Malaysians.

In the Hall, breakfast and dinner were catered for and the central heating during the coldness of winter was reliable. I disliked waking up in the middle of the night to shiver as that would be in sharing apartments that had only an electric filament for heating the room.

Now, there was a challenge to a knife fight. The antagonist took out a kitchen knife and poked at me as I did not reply to his queries. He puffed his face and raised the tone of his voice. He waved the butter knife in front of my face and in the air defiantly, "I fight you with one hand tied up. Now, you go and choose your knife! You got no balls? You are so sissy swaying your hips as you walk down Saucihall Street?"

He was short broad shouldered and slightly muscular in his biceps and triceps. His face became redder as the pocked marks scarred by many pimples radiated a pinkish red glow. I really had no idea why he said I ignored him so many times. Probably, at dinner time, I chose to sit with other members of the Asian group than to sit next to him.

A youth financed by his parents to study in Glasgow University to upgrade himself and earn more after getting a degree. Now he was about to commit murder.

"Singapore student murdered in the U.K." would be the headlines if I mis-handled this situation. I had not trained in unarmed combat although I spent 9 months in the Special Constabulary as part of my national service in Singapore, before embarking to Glasgow for my veterinary studies. There was a lesson or two in unarmed combat. Useless lessons when a national serviceman of 21 years old was confronted with a raging bull.

Nobody had ever thought me how to handle such situations. All my classmates in Raffles Institution over the last 6 years of study were genteel. I did not mix with street gangs of Singapore and was not street-smart. I was a provincial guy. A bookworm. A lover rather than a street fighter.

Here was a youth ready to kill and bring shame to his own family. The dark forces had overtaken his mind. How would I respond?

He said again as he put his right hand behind his backside. "One hand tied behind his back...come...choose your knife...

I could not think clearly nor did I justified my boycott of him. One arm tied behind his back. That seemed like an advantage to me. I had two arms and he had one arm to fight.

Wow, he wanted to be the "One-armed Swordsman" --- a popular Chinese film during that period. The Swordsman had one arm hacked off but he trained hard with one arm to go after his enemies and to right injustices. Any adversary seeing his one arm sneered at him as they over confidently fought with him. They were invariably killed.

Young men are over confident. This youth offered to have one arm tied behind his back before we commenced. Would the two post-graduates obliged? They were mature men and would have not been accessories to murder.

What did I do? I ignored this chap and walked away.

Was it the pyschology books at the National Library that subconsciously taught me to walk away from a fight rather than stand up to the adversary? I don't know. I read a lot of books in the National Library during my teenaged years. They were free and answered many questions on growing up, making friends and how to behave in courting girls. Court ship knowledge was of no use as I could not put into practice as my secondary and pre-university school was an all-boys' school and the convent school girls across the road were frightening.

Now, in Britain in 1971, I had a menace more frightful than girls in blue pinafores. This Malaysian youth was more powerful than me as he had been doing body building while I did not. He would prevail over me in the fight. Probably he would stab my abdomen as his rage was out of control. A dark force overwhelmed him that winter night, asking him to kill as a "one-armed swordsman". I don't know anything about his background but he probably was involved in "staring incidents" in Malaysia.

At that time and even in 2007, male youths accused each other of staring. They would return with back up gangsters just to pick up a fight and cause grievous bodily harm. Such youths are no better than animals and all societies probably have such gangs.

Sending youthful male students overseas to study is a very worrying matter for Malaysian and Singapore parents. They don't know whether they will mis-behave now that are free from parental and societal restraints and supervision. Especially nagging mothers!



I recall sadly a case where 2 Singaporean undergraduates of New South Wales University were said to be murdered by their Singaporean flat mate in 2004. Could the murder have been prevented. What were the causes that led one flat mate to kill two?

Could there be an accumulation of tensions over some months. The accumulation of rage enable the dark forces of the mind to take one direction --- to kill the flat mates. If only the signs of rage were recognised in the 3rd flat mate, could proper advices be given to prevent the murders?

Youths sharing an apartment overseas can be easily stressed as flat mates share the common bathroom and kitchen. One party might want cleanliness of the bathroom and the other would soil it. There would be tension and nagging to convert the untidy one, without success.

I am able to write today because I was not provoked so easily during that period of time although my male hormones were raging as part of my development. Praise be to the Lord, you would say.

Or was I a coward? A lover and not a fighter? I would have been murdered, no doubt about it as this antagonist was superior in brawns than me --- a scarecrow of a youth. I still have not learn martial arts. At my age of 57 years old, yoga would probably be beneficial for me, rather than karate.

All young men must be taught to walk away from a fight. But who will teach them? By reading books. Lots of books. Pyschology books from the National Library. But Singapore youths dislike reading books. Read from the internet.

Let your parents especially your nagging mums know if you have financial or personal problems. Try not to fight for your rights by provoking your flatmates to behave. Move out. Do other things. Read books. Well, no. OK. Just go to your addictive online gaming and slay dragons! Hormonal changes and an assertion for your rights may cause you to commit murder or get murdered. Remember that your parents have limited wealth. Their life savings enable you to study overseas.

Study hard and bring glory, not shame to the family.

92. Cat with fleas - to spay or not?

It is a hard decision. Some flea dirt on the face. An active flea seen clearly against the white hairs of the back of the leg speeding faster than sound and so was not caught.

If the cat is sent back to be defleaed, it costs the owner time and money. Few owners appreciate this procedure. The caterwauling cat continued to make lots of noises, offending neighbours in the HDB apartments and stopping the owner and family members from having a good sleep.

There was only one flea seen. About 4 mm long and very highly mobile. Singapore cats still have fleas but rarely are they seen in domestic cats housed at home. So, it was a puzzle to me why this cat had some fleas. It was possible that she was allowed freedom outside the house and had contacted fleas from other cats.

My decision was to spay her as Singaporeans are living in a time-pressed world where the cost of living shoots up every year. Another increase in the electronic road pricing rates. Some increase in bus fares. Of course, salaries of civil servants are also increased. The private sector employees in the lower ranks, such as cleaners, do not seem to benefit from the economic boom as there is massive underpricing of fees from contractors.

I don't know the earning power of the cat owner. The cat was brought in for spaying. If there are too many fleas, I would stop the spay. This would be negligent. What if one flea hop into the incision and contaminate the inside of the cat?

This was a clean cat, except for some flea dirt on the face and the only flea I saw at her backside. It was not possible to catch this flea as it had bolted inside the coat. Such a small cat yet it is not that easy to catch a single flea.

After spaying, the flea re-appeared and I caught it.



On camera.



I was taking picture of the swollen ovaries and uterine horns for research. The owner had got rid of most of the fleas before sending in the cat for spay.

93. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread

"The Toy Poodle has not passed stools for the past 6 days," Mrs Lee, a friend of the owner said. "The owner is worried. Her vet had referred her to another practice because this dog is aged and has heart disease. Besides the owner is a good friend."

Friendships built over a life-time, like reputations, can be destroyed in one incident over the death of a beloved Toy Poodle. So, it was prudent for the first vet to avoid treating this 15-year-old for constipation.

Mrs Lee lamented: "The second vet charged the consultation fee and sent her home. She still has constipation. Do you make a house-call or should I bring the dog to your surgery?"

An old dog that can die anytime from a severe heart disease is a challenging case. To be frank, it is a nightmarish case in a litigious society that Singapore has become. It was therefore prudent that the second vet sent the dog home without doing "anything" according to Mrs Lee.

I presumed the 2nd vet wanted to avoid writs and complaints to the veterinary authorities or press from disgruntled owners should the dog die during treatment.

The background picture gets complicated as I asked more about this dog before treatment. A lean Toy Poodle with bluish tongue tip hanging out of his lips. I put her on the table. Her temperature was normal. Her heart was very bad as the machinery heart murmurs bounced off my stethoscope. She was on heart drugs prescribed by the first and second veterinary practice.

"The drugs made her drink a lot of water," the owner said over the telephone in between serving customers. It is best to phone the owner for the history of the case.

If the dog was drinking water, she should not be constipated. When I palpated her abdomen, she had a big soft mass of around 10 cm x 10 cm in the large intestine not too near the anus. Constipation stools are usually hard as stone normally.


So, how did this senior constipation?

A prescription diet for heart disease, prescribed by the second vet practice was not eaten by the dog. The owner accepted the advice to discontinue the feeding of the usual brand of dog food. Unfortunately, the dog disliked the taste of the prescription diet and would not eat. So, the owner fed her pieces of chicken meat instead. The dog urinated a lot but did not pass any stools for 6 days.

"Why did the locum not treat this dog for constipation?" I asked Mrs Lee as the first vet who was overseas and had engaged a locum.

This case appeared convoluted.

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. If the locum vet of the first practice and also, the vet of the second practice, did not want to treat this constipation case, there must be something that needed to be known.

Was this owner a potential litigant or had shown litigious behaviour? If there was a possibility, it would be prudent to pass the buck to another practice.

I did not ask Mrs Lee about this aspect of the owner. Instead I asked: "Why did the locum not treat this case?"

Mrs Lee's bright eyes set against a chocolate brown face lit up as she said: "At one time, the locum expressed the anal glands of this Toy Poodle. No anal oil came out. The owner remarked that the first vet who engaged this locum could express the glands."

Mrs Lee still had not answered my question as to why the locum did not want to handle the case of constipation. I thought, "Well, if the dog did not have anal gland impaction, no oil would come out. What is the big deal?"

Mrs Lee was matter of fact as she shook her curly haired head: "The locum was angry with this comparison remark and henceforth refused to handle the dog of this owner."

This was understandable and right for the locum not to take up this case. If the owner has no respect, it would be best not to handle the case.

But why should the second vet at the referred practice not handle the case? Had the owner's infamy preceded her to the second practice?

Can there be no smoke without fire? I was apprehensive. If the dog dies during treatment, reputations built over a life-time get destroyed in one reckless acceptance of a case in which the owner is likely to sue for negligence. Bad press publicity is not good even if the vet is found not guilty.

As if to answer my question, Mrs Lee said, "The younger vet rejected this case after charging $25.00 for consultation. The older vet who sees this dog was on leave at that time."

So, what should I do now since the dog is in my surgery. I had the impression this was a simple case of constipation and had asked Mrs Lee to come to the Surgery.

Not a conflict canine constipation. This dog could die anytime as her tongue was moderately cyanotic. Tongues should be pink. Her nose had lung water bubbling out. The heart drugs were doing a good job. The owner and Mrs Lee could not give me the names of the 2 out of 3 drugs being taken by this dog.

This was a risky case of possible sudden death from heart failure. Any restraint of the dog for treatment would precipitate heart failure and then death. A decision had to be made as Mrs Lee and her husband had taken so much trouble and a taxi to come to the Surgery.

"Let my husband hold the dog as she is familiar with him," Mrs Lee said as she did not want to be present in the treatment room. The stools were quite deep inside the large intestine and around 25 cm away from the rectum as I pass the catheter into the colon over 15 cm deep till I met the obstructed stools.

I pumped in 10 ml of soapy enema water from the syringe after mixing the soapy liquid and water in a bowl.

Mr Lee held the dog on the table. He was a man of few words unlike Mrs Lee. The room was deafeningly silent as we waited for instant results. No stools came out of the anus onto the newspapers on the table. The dog was all right. Not panting excessively or collapsing. He just would not poop.

Was there a hope of her passing out the stools at all? This was a case where performance counts. Action speaks louder than words. If no stools come out, it was a failure of the vet to perform.

Somehow I envisaged the owner saying to me as she did to the locum: "The first vet will be able to do it. Why can't you?"

Mrs Lee stated that the first vet refers old dog with heart disease to the second vet. Heart disease, old age and constipation --- this case would be referred to the second vet practice. So the question of the first vet treating this case is moot.

Have I rushed in where angels fear to tread? The Toy Poodle looked at us in apprehension, shivering a bit as her legs trembled. She did not pass out stools. Neither did she die of heart failure.

Should I give a second dose or not take the risk? I waited 5 minutes. No poop. This time, I withdrew the catheter slowly as I pumped in 2 ml of the 10 ml of soapy enema. I had increased the concentration of the soap by adding more soap. This is no formula to share with you readers as this was not a commercial enema.

Commercial enemas come in a tube for one to insert inside the rectum of constipated babies. These are handy. They may not work in this case as the stools are deep away from the rectum. I was doing a type of colonic irrigation and had to be careful in case I perforated the colon with the catether.

The Toy Poodle still would not pass stools for the next 5 minutes. She evoked a soft cry as she strained her anus slightly. No stools came out. From my experience, I ought to wait a while.

I put the Toy Poodle inside the crate and talked to Mrs Lee about her son. Mrs Lee was in her fifties and would only work part-time at night. Her husband who looked as slim as a teenager had recently retired.

I asked: "Any grandchildren to look after?"

"No, my son presented me 2 cats from Australia," she sighed as she told me about the cat's health. Her son was doing a Ph.D and had been a small property developer in Australia. He would build 4 houses and sell them.

This was an unusual son. I would say that 99% of Singaporean parents had sons and daughters going to Australia just to study and enjoy life. Consume, not create wealth. And here, a Singapore boy who made his own money.

"Has he got any housing agents in Singapore?" I asked Mrs Lee. "I would like to meet him and talk about being his agent." Of course, I would learn more by meeting this man.

This constipated Toy Poodle brought me an opportunity to meet Mrs Lee who had a son who set an excellent example of what I mean by "Create, not consume" when I advise the youths of today that venture overseas to study. But many will not know how and will be consumers.

We were in the waiting room and there was no clients. So we could talk. After some 15 minutes of conversation, we went to the holding area to check out the Toy Poodle. She had passed a big piece of soft stools onto the newspapers and had gone to the other side to avoid stepping on the stools, well formed of around 6 cm in 2 pieces each.

She went home to Mrs Lee's house first before handing over to the owner. I advised the owner to give the old dog food that the dog was used to as it had fibre. The heart disease prescription diet could be given if the owner started with small amounts.

As the Toy Poodle had lost considerable weight, according to Mrs Lee and would not eat the prescription heart diet, it would be pragmatic to feed her the old dog food rather than pure chicken meat. The dry dog food had fibre but chicken meat had no fibres to stimulate the large intestine to move the stools.

"It is possible that the large intestines are not good at peristalsis or moving the stools out of the body despite the presence of lots of water being drunk," I explained to Mrs Lee. "The cause of partial paralysis of the intestines could be due to the old age as this dog is as old as a 100-year-old person if you use 15 years of the dog x7. This is equal to 105 human years."

The dog has not long to live in view of her serious heart murmurs. Maybe 1 or 2 years more but I may be mistaken.

For some reason, her intestine was not so active as to pass out stools after eating chicken meat. If she did not have fibre, she would get constipation again. And so, it would be best to feed her what she wanted to eat and relieve the owner of her worries.



Many Singapore owners are not aware of the need to feed the prescription diet in small amounts, adding more and more over a period of weeks.

They give the dog large amounts to replace existing formula food. Obviously, the dog does not want to eat the new food especially when he is used to table or people food. The prescription diet is abandoned and deemed no good.

Much education needs to be done to follow up with her in the use of the heart dieseaseprescription diet. It is difficult for the vet to do so. So chicken meat was substituted for the previous dry dog food or other food as the dog would eat the meat.

I never met the owner as she was busy working. I just hope that her dog would not get constipation again. I may not be second time lucky if I rush in where angels fear to tread and get slapped with litigation and demands for explanations from irate family members if the old dog's heart stopped beating during the treatment. The probabiity of this happening is very high and it would be prudent not to handle such cases.

91. Importance of continuing contractions for stroke patients

"See his shoulder is sloped to one side," Mrs Lam pointed to a classmate who had a stroke on the left brain some 8 years ago and was now seated on a sofa, "I have the same condition and my head could not be upright." Mrs Lam lowered her head such that her chin touched her neck. Mrs Lam had physiotherapy in Australia where she migrated with her husband some 15 years ago.

The other stroke classmate had stopped going for physiotherapy in Singapore.

The other is around 70% recovered, judging from my observations of their ability to converse and walk normally but I am not professionally qualified to assess them.

It was a cool Saturday, Oct 27, 2007 evening to meet the classmate who had migrated to Australia some 10 years ago and is now retired with rental income and money and a good sense of humour. He referred to others commenting on his bowl-shaped hair cut with an even front horizontal fringe, said, "it is not what you dress but whether you can pay the bills."

He also said to me when I asked if his Australian house was big, "I guess all of you live in bungalows with swimming pools, landscaped gardens and ceilings higher than 2 stories as I have had been invited only to two classmate's houses."

Of the group, 3 are now living in bungalows with land of over 20,000 sq.ft, but the others had humble residences.

I attended a dinner meeting of a group of classmates from Raffles Junior College to catch up with one who had migrated to Australia. They were around 53 years old. I was the spouse.

2/3 lawyers in the group had a stroke. One was Mrs Lam who had stroke some 15 years ago and is around 90% recovered. She was driving some 9 months after the stroke as she had to take her children to school. The children are now grown up.

"I had 5 botox injections into my right arm," Mrs Lam told me. "I stop after this one botox injection as I don't want to get addicted to this drug."

Apparently, stress triggered her muscle rigidity. She was no longer working but stress could come at any time. She stretched out both hands and said in "sometimes a need to think first voice" that the normal left hand was "longer" than the right hand which was the result of her left-brain stroke.

"Do you still go for physiotherapy?" I asked. I mean, it was some 15 years since she had stroke as my lawyer in Singapore and I assumed that she did not need it. But she still has this muscle contraction in her right hand and arm. She needed physiotherapy and it seemed that she was fortunate that she had a good physiotherapist in Perth where she had migrated.

"How did you locate a good physiotherapist?" I asked.

"One day, an old Australian woman noticed me limping," Mrs Lam said. "She asked me what was wrong with me." The woman asked her daughter who recommended 2 names. As she had seen the doctor before, she chose the other. This is Ms Julie Peck in private practice using the "Feldenkrais" method. Half an hour of massage once a week would relieve her right hand muscle pain.

"Any oil used?" I asked. In Singapore, Chinese nationals and others doing massage for stiff neck for busy executive women use oil to rub out the muscular kinks.



"No," Mrs Lam said. She was satisfied with a physiotherapist. "It is hard to get a good physiotherapist in Singapore," she said. As for the other classmate, he stopped going to the physiotherapist.


From this encounter, I believe that muscles of one side of the body, after or with no stroke, need to be used continually or they contract from lack of use. Otherwise, the person cannot stand straight, like the tree in the picture. Muscles need continuing contractions, like professionals need continuing education.

89. Follow up on 87. Submissive urination.

DRAFT



I guess you do lots of writing in your present career. Are you a writer or in the mass communication business?
My replies to you are in CAPITAL LETTERS BELOW.

---...@singnet.com.sg> wrote:

> Dear Dr. Sing:
>
> Thank you so much for your kind advice on the
> situation, especially your taking time to answer my
> email before rushing to work this morning.
>
> Here are my thoughts on your very systematic pros &
> cons of whether or not to spay my dog.
>
> YES.
> > 1. Prevention of breast cancers and womb
> infections,
> > but not all intact female dogs get this problem.
> Only
> > that the probability is higher for intact females.
>
> I will ensure that my dog gets regular checkups at
> the vet. Only issue now is finding one vet/clinic
> we will stick to since my dog hasn't gone to the vet
> in so many years haha!
>
> > 2. Unwanted puppies/dogs being put to sleep or
> > abandoned. This does not apply to your situation.
>
>
> I will try every means possible to make sure my dog
> isn't accidentally mated. I would of course love to
> have her puppies, but I think she's too old to go
> through pregnancy at this age.

FEMALE DOGS OVER 6 YEARS OLD ARE ADVISED NOT TO BREED, GENERALLY.
>
> Are female dogs fertile only when they are on heat?

YES.

> Do they have urges and want to mate when they are
> not on heat?

NO. SOME 'MATING' BEHAVIOUR SEEN COULD BE DUE TO DOMINANCE BEHAVIOUR.


if my dog gets humped by a male dog
> (whether or not she wants it) when she is not on
> heat, will she get pregnant?
>
NO

> > 3. Dirtying the house with blood stains every 6
> > months. This problem does not bother you.
>
> Yes, I let my dog run about the house even when she
> is having her menses. Only thing is I wipe her
> before she sits down on her bed, but all these
> problems are solved with the sanitary pants.
> Amazing thing is one night she managed to get the
> pants off! This is the kind with a buckle strap and
> the pants/buckle were intact next to her bed the
> next morning haha! I didn't scold her or anything
> but kept the pants on and took them off only when
> she has her food or needs to relieve herself, so she
> learned very fast. She struggled when I tried to
> put on the pants at first, but later on, she would
> even stand still to let me strap on the pants!!
>
GOOD TEACHER. YOU MUST BE GIVING HER LOTS OF PRAISES AS REWARDS.

> > 4. Urine marking making the residence smell
> strongly
> > of urine. Very rare in female dogs. Your sounds
> like a
> > submissive urination case and not an alpha female.
> > Does she pee when excited or greeting you?
>
> Oh she is the sweetest and gentlest dog. She doesnt
> even struggle when you try something new on her e.g.
> tying her hair. Last night she won over our
> long-time lady friend who has been terrified of dogs
> all her life, but our friend was so smitten was our
> dog that she took so many pictures together so that
> she can use it as her handphone wallpaper.
>
> My dog is very afraid of my husband because he uses
> a loud and disciplinary tone when he talks to her.
> Nowadays he isn't fierce to her anymore, but she is
> still a little scared of him, so she often pees when
> he is trying to pick her up to put her back in the
> balcony.

SUBMISSIVE URINATION. YOUR DOG WANTS TO APPEASE YOUR HUSBAND SO THAT SHE WILL NOT BE BITTEN (THIS IS WHAT SHE WILL DO IF SHE LIVES IN THE PACK OF DOGS. YOUR HUSBAND IS HER PACK LEADER. You may be the subordinate or at most an equal. )

No problems with me though ... I know she
> won't follow me when she knows I need to go to work,
> so we have to put her in the balcony, so I just pick
> her up and hold her all the way from upstairs to
> downstairs balcony, with lots of hugs and patting of
> course.
>
> Oh I must share with you this about her toilet
> training. We sleep in the upstairs bedroom and her
> urine area is downstairs in the balcony. When I
> wake up to go to work in the morning, I used to have
> to carry her from her bed, put her in the balcony,
> close the sliding doors, and make sure she has
> relieved herself before letting her out again.
> Nowadays she knows when I have got out of bed, but
> she stays in her bed. I go downstairs to do my
> stuff and soon enough I hear her running down the
> stairs, she usually comes to see where I am, and
> then either she runs herself to the balcony or I
> tell her verbally to go pee pee, she runs to
> balcony, pees, comes out, and waits for me to wipe
> her. Then she will wait for me to go back up
> together to the bedroom.
>
> There are times when the dog has run up herself to
> rest in her bed and wait there for me when we have
> guests at our place till very late at night.

SEEMS TO BE TOILET TRAINED. SHOULD BE AT 8 YEARS OR SOMETHING IS TERRIBLY WRONG.
>
> > 5. Skin disease affected by hormonal imbalance.
>
> I will monitor her skin condition. Not a problem
> since I was terrified of dogs all my life until I
> decided to take care of her, so I read up online
> about grooming dogs and so now I groom her myself
> and bathe her weekly.

I GUESS YOU WERE BITTEN/LEAPT UPON BY A DOG WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG.
>
> > 6. False pregnancy. Dog gets moody, aggressive,
> not
> > eating and other behaviour.
>
> I didn't sense any change in her temperament during
> her recent heat. Only thing was more frequent
> urination and she even wet the pad in the sanitary
> pants without bothering to go to her urine tray.

HOW TO GO TO THE PEE TRAY WHEN SHE CANNOT PEE ONTO IT? SHE HAS A PAD, REMEMBER?

> But she didn't like feeling the wetness in the pants
> after she did that, after a few times, she learned.

CAN'T FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU ARE WRITING ABOUT. YOU MEAN SHE CAN STILL PEE ON THE PEE TRAY WITH PADS ON?
>
> For her, the motivation is what she needs to do in
> order to be let out to be with us, so she tries her
> best to learn the behaviour expected of her ...
>



> > NO.
> > 1. Breast cancer and infection of the womb can be
> > detected if you take the trouble every week to
> check
> > your dog and get her examined by your vet 6
> monthly
> > during the senior years.
>
> OK I will make sure my dog gets regular checkups.

OBSERVE FOR CHANGE OF BLOOD COLOUR AND CONSISTENTCY. USUALLY BAD VAGINAL DISCHARGE IS YELLOWISH, STARCHY AND SMELLY IN PYOMETRA (WOMB INFECTION).
>
> > Or at least yearly. As puppies, there is plenty of
> > attention. As older dogs, many owners just forget
> > about them, esp. their dental infections and other
> > problems.
>
> My dog does have bad breath. I heard that most older
> dogs have bad breath. I am just starting to get her
> used to brushing teeth, but it's not easy training
> such an old dog ha ha! Other than toothpaste, are
> the dental water products (those that you add to
> their water) any help in preventing bad breath?

YOUR DOG NEEDS DENTAL SCALING AND CHECK UP BY YOUR VET.

I wonder how people in the past managed this when they
> didn't have the habit of brushing their dogs' teeth,
> yet the dog lived till old age ...
>
> > NO TIME FOR YOUR DOG - PYOMETERA (womb infection)
> in
> > older female dogs.
>
> This is my main concern that made me think seriously
> about whether or not to spay my dog.
>
> However I believe I can decide now that you've
> kindly laid out the pros and cons for me. I don't
> think I'll spay my dog, but I'll be extra diligent
> in monitoring her condition.
>
> There are a few more questions I would like to check
> with you though:
>
> 1) My dog tears often and has dried-up eye shit
> along her fur from the eyes all the way down to
> almost the nose.
>
> Is tearing common?

YES, IN SOME BREEDS LIKE THE POODLES AND MALTESE.
>
> 2) She also pants a lot sometimes. If at home, she
> tends to want to sit on the floor under the fan. So
> I guess she pants at those times because she's hot.
> However, there are times when I hold her in the
> front passenger seat and she snuggles up to me, the
> aircon is on but we can hear her panting. Why would
> that be since the aircon is on and she shouldn't be
> hot? She didn't seem distressed or anything. And
> after a while she would seem to be ok.

ANXIETY PROBABLY
>
> 3) Separation Anxiety
>
> My dog follows me around the house but doesn't
> disturb me when I'm home. When we take naps or
> sleep at night, she has her own bed on the floor in
> our bedroom. Again she doesn't disturb us, but just
> wants to be around us (me). The thing is we have to
> leave her alone during the day when we are working,
> so she is often alone in the balcony behind the
> closed sliding glass doors for 8 hours or so until I
> come home in the evenings. She senses we have
> returned even from the time we come out of the
> carpark which is right in front of our block and
> starts barking continuously when we are coming up
> the steps. The barking usually stops when we enter
> our flat and then my husband scolds her for being
> noisy.
>
> However, there are times when I come home alone and
> she doesn't bark at all until I have entered the
> house, and even then it is just a few barks, not
> continuous
=== message truncated ===
I GUESS THE EMAIL IS TOO LONG. YAHOO.COM HAS TRUNCATED IT.

Anaesthetic risks in Cat Spays

E-MAIL TO DR SING
Oct 24, 2007


<@....com> wrote:

Hello,

I have a cat that is over 1 year old. She has not been sterilised yet. I took her to ..... the age of 6 months to get sterilised and she was very slender but vet insisted she would be fine but instead she almost died.

Vet said that she was not breathing due to anesthesia, they do not know if my cat is allergic or if they gave her overdose. They were very rude and uncaring.

I can not imagine losing this cat - I love her dearly. I am now worried to get her sterilised but I must do so. Do you offer more than one type of anesthesia? Is there any advice you can offer for my situation?

Name given
HandPhone given.

REPLY TO E-MAIL

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 18:19:07 +0800 (CST)
From: "Dr Sing KY" Add to Address Book
Yahoo! DomainKeys has confirmed that this message was sent by yahoo.com.sg. Learn more
Subject: Re: REALLY NEED YOUR HELP FOR MY CAT
To: ....


I am Dr Sing from www.toapayohvets.com. Adverse anaesthetic reactions do occur in any person or animal and all practising veterinary surgeons will encounter at least one anaesthetic death.

Not all animals are healthy in the first place. It is up to the individual doctor to assess, examine accept or reject risky patients.

My advices are as follows:

1. If the cat is healthy --- e.g. normal weight, heart and lungs and temperature. Active, eating and drinking, normal stools and urine and young --- spaying usually presents no risks in most of the cases for most of the vets.

2. It is best to spay when she is NOT on heat (noisy cries --- caterwauling). But most owners spay when the cat is on heat. The ovaries, uterus and blood vessels are fragile and enlarged when the cat is on heat. Obviously, you ought not to get the cat spayed when she is caterwauling.

3. As regards anaesthetic, I use 3 procedures, depending on the health and age of the cat being spayed.

3.1 an injectable anaesthetic for normal cats based on weight.
3.2 injectable anaesthetic of less than half the normal dose plus anaesthetic gas to effect for cats that are of high anaesthetic risk including cats less than 6 months of age.
3.3 tranquiliser injection plus gas anaesthetic to effect for cats that are high anaesthetic risks.

It will be difficult for you to appreciate the technical details of anaesthesia unless you have medical knowledge and training.

4. You may need to talk to your friends to get referrals of their vets they can recommend for spaying your cat. It is the most common surgery and all practising small animal vets in Singapore are able to perform this surgery.
When your friends give you the referrals, you ask the particular vet to perform the operation for you as the practice may have several vets.

Best wishes.

87. Senior females be spayed or not?

E-MAIL TO DR SING

--- <...@singnet.com.sg> wrote:

> Dear Dr. Sing:
>
> I found your wonderful and informative site on the
> internet and sincerely hope you could give me some
> advice on whether or not to spay our senior dog.
>
> We have an 8-year old Lhasa Apso female dog who is
> not spayed. My husband bought her directly from a
> home breeder when she was a puppy in 1999 and she
> didn't have any vaccinations all throughout her life
> until I brought her for her combination vaccine
> recently. According to my husband, she has been
> healthy and even gave birth to a litter of 2 puppies
> in 2001. The only problem she had was perhaps a
> couple of years ago she came back from the groomer
> with an eye infection that got very serious and she
> had to undergo surgery to stitch up her eyes. I
> don't know what the exact diagnosis is anyway as I
> wasn't around at that time.
>
> Our dog is the sweetest dog, extremely well-behaved
> and only barks when people visit for the first time
> -- she doesn't bark when it's people who's visited
> before -- and when she wants to be let into the
> house to be with me. She recently went on heat from
> 23 Sep to 11 Oct. We bought sanitary pants for her
> and I changed her pads
> everyday. That isn't a problem at all as I love her
> very much, but I am worried that she will have
> problems with her reproductive organs as she grows
> older.
>
> My husband thinks our dog is too old to undergo
> spaying. I want the best for her, but don't want to
> put her through anything that will influence her
> health since she is so old. She is also extremely
> timid and gets frightened by the slightest noise or
> even when a leaf falls to the ground with a thud.
>
> My husband doesn't believe in preventive treatment,
> so I had quite a hard time convincing him when I
> brought our dog home after she had her jab.
> Therefore, convincing him that a spay surgery for
> our dear dog would be all the more harder. But I
> want to have my Lhasa with me healthy and happy for
> as long as possible.
>
> Would you advise whether our dog should be spayed or
> can we just leave her alone and let nature take its
> own course?
>
> I would really appreciate your advice and look
> forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.
>
> Thank you very much for your assistance.
>
> Best regards,
>

E-MAIL REPLY FROM DR SING
>


Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 07:35:14 +0800 (CST)
From: "Dr Sing KY" Add to Address BookAdd to Address Book
Yahoo! DomainKeys has confirmed that this message was sent by yahoo.com.sg. Learn more
Subject: Re: Spaying of Senior Dog
To: ...@singnet.com.sg

Thanks for your feedback about my website. In reply,
the answer is yes and no. Here are my thoughts before
I rush to work in 7 minutes.

YES.
1. Prevention of breast cancers and womb infections,
but not all intact female dogs get this problem. Only
that the probability is higher for intact females.

2. Unwanted puppies/dogs being put to sleep or
abandoned. This does not apply to your situation.

3. Dirtying the house with blood stains every 6
months. This problem does not bother you.

4. Urine marking making the residence smell strongly
of urine. Very rare in female dogs. Your sounds like a
submissive urination case and not an alpha female.
Does she pee when excited or greeting you?

5. Skin disease affected by hormonal imbalance.

6. False pregnancy. Dog gets moody, aggressive, not
eating and other behaviour.

NO.
1. Breast cancer and infection of the womb can be
detected if you take the trouble every week to check
your dog and get her examined by your vet 6 monthly
during the senior years.

Or at least yearly. As puppies, there is plenty of
attention. As older dogs, many owners just forget
about them, esp. their dental infections and other
problems.

NO TIME FOR YOUR DOG - PYOMETERA (womb infection) in
older female dogs.

I note that time-pressed Singaporean owners even put
up with bad breath of their senior dogs and let their
decayed teeth drop one by one.

So, infections of the womb are ignored till the dog
becomes seriously ill and about to die from severe
womb infection.

The dog is rushed to the vet.

The unlucky vet gets blamed for doing the emergency
operation on the dog that dies after surgery to remove
the infected womb.

Even if the dog does not die, but continue vomiting
(kidney failure), the poor vet gets the blame for not
doing a good surgery and gets bad-mouthed.

2. Putting on weight. Being less active, many do put
on weight. Latest research findings seem to indicate
that many neutered breeds do get acquired
hypothyrodism.

3. Anaesthetic risk of death. Rare but always possible
even in young dogs at 6 months of age. Heart failure
during anaesthesia seldom happens nowadays even in
older dogs if there is no health problems.

4. Infections after surgery. Rare but does happen once
in a few hundred cases, sometimes due to the dog
licking and biting the wound. Also lack of care by the
owner.

5. Financial problems. This should not be ignored by
the vet. Some families seem to have difficulties in
paying for vet treatment. Maybe there ought to be a
charitable organisation?

The above are major issues. Got to go. Best wishes.