boxers Archives -

I recently went to a socially distanced neighborhood block party and met a few people I had never met before. Where I currently live in Jupiter, most of my neighbors are snowbirds and based on the spike in COVID-19 cases in Florida, they may not be coming back anytime soon.

At the party, I met a female neighbor who, after finding out I was a veterinarian, dragged her husband unwillingly out of a group of men who were talking about golf and politics to talk to me.

I am going to call him Dr. Skin because he is a dermatologist and his demeanor got under my skin. Mrs. Skin told him to tell me about Annabella, their 9-year-old boxer, who had increased thirst and urination. Mrs. Skin wanted to take Annabella to the veterinarian, but with the pandemic, she was reluctant to allow Annabella to be seen by her veterinarian while she was forced to stay in the car.

This allowed Dr. Skin the opportunity to act as a veterinarian by searching Google. I asked Dr. Skin how he felt about his clients coming in and comparing his diagnosis to Dr. Google and he said he hated it. I told him that he was doing the same to the veterinary profession.

Dr. Skin told me that he had put increased thirst and urination into the search engine and based on his research, diabetes and kidney disease were the most likely diseases followed by Cushing’s disease and a high salt diet. I nodded my head in agreement that they were definitely high on my list, as well.

So, I asked him what he has done, knowing that he has not called or seen his veterinarian. He told me he obviously wouldn’t start insulin therapy without taking Annabella’s blood sugar but was tempted. He didn’t think Annabella had kidney disease because her urine was very yellow in the morning and he would assume that if she had kidney disease her urine would always be clear in color. Then he abruptly left to get the bag of dog food so I could look at the sodium level.

I told Mrs. Skin that Annabella needs to see her veterinarian. Bloodwork and urine need to be analyzed and Annabella needed to be examined.

She agreed.

Dr. Skin not only brought back the bag of dog food for me to look at but Annabella as well. From ten feet away, I could see that Annabella’s lymph nodes on her neck, chest, and rear legs were swollen.

Annabella is a boxer and boxers are the number one canine cancer breed.

As Dr. Skin was showing me the bag of dog food, I interrupted him and asked if a patient came to him with swollen lymph nodes and abnormal clinical signs, would he take the necessary tests for cancer? He said absolutely and wondered why I had asked. I told them Annabella’s lymph nodes were very enlarged, and her clinical signs were classic for hypercalcemia, secondary to neoplasia.

It was a very hot day and Dr. Skin’s face went from red to pale white in one second. He left abruptly with Annabella and Mrs. Skin. I hoped he was going to the veterinarian.

Follow-up: Annabella had lymphoma and is currently being treated with chemotherapy. I later got a fruit basket from Mrs. Skin, and I would be happy to continue calling her husband Dr. Skin.

Dr. Glenn Kalick

To my wife, I am probably getting a little judgy, but I literally had a Clint Eastwood moment from Gran Torino when he tells everyone to “get off my lawn.” To better explain, I was walking on Juno Beach and maintaining a 6-foot social distance as my wife and I walked on the sidewalk along the road. It was one of those days that said it was 88 degrees but the RealFeel index said 107. We brought water and, probably every 1⁄4 mile, there was a shower under which we kept wetting our baseball caps.

It was nice to be outside and see something other than the same houses on the block, then we heard someone behind us, but could not see him. He had one of those booming voices. I knew he was from New York from the accent and it took nearly 30 minutes for him to catch up to us. There he was, wearing a t-shirt without sleeves, a Yankees hat, mirrored sunglasses, and walking a 6-month old Boxer pup. Over the thirty minutes it took him to catch up to us, I heard about his life, his girlfriend, his frustration with the pandemic, and the stupid dog he bought. It wasn’t until he was close enough that I realized it was a puppy.

When Mr. Yankee was right behind us, I could see that the puppy was thirsty. He was hyper salivating, and when he walked by the showers you could see him try to lick the puddles on the sidewalk, but Mr. Yankee pulled on the leash because he was walking and having an intense conversation on his phone. For the next quarter mile, the puppy kept walking on the grass and Mr. Yankee pulled him back on the pavement making comments on his phone to whomever he was talking to about the puppy being stupid. I made sure that we stayed close. Mr. Yankee was about to walk by the next shower when I stopped and decided to tell him that the puppy was thirsty. Mr. Yankee told me that he didn’t bring a bowl and I told him to cup his hands and fill them with water which he did, and the puppy drank three handfuls of water.

He looked at me and asked me if I was a vet or something.
I told him that I was. He asked me if I could look at his dog’s weird walk. His last dog was a German Shepard and he had to put him to sleep because of hip dysplasia and this puppy never walks straight. I said that I would but I told him that hip dysplasia is a radiographic diagnosis. I asked him what the puppy’s name was and he said it was Aaron, after Aaron Judge, the Yankee superstar. Figures. I watched Aaron walk and he kept getting off the pavement and walking onto the grass. Mr. Yankee kept pulling him onto the sidewalk. This happened multiple times and finally Mr. Yankee stopped and said to my wife and I that this dog either has hip dysplasia, needs extensive training which his German Shepard never needed, or is stupid.

I looked at Mr. Yankee and saw that he was wearing sneakers. I asked him to take off his shoes. He asked me why. I told him it was a training trick. I was so surprised that he listened to me and when he stepped on the pavement, he jumped off the pavement and onto the grass. He told me that it was “f****n hot”. I agreed. Aaron is not stupid he has probably burned his pads and wanted to walk on the grass because it is cooler. He picked up his puppy and saw that the puppy’s pads were raw. It was great watching Mr. Yankee carry Aaron back home.

By Dr. Glen Kalick

Tag: boxers

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