Almost every day a client comes in and tells me that he or she has diagnosed and is treating a pet with what was read on the Internet. It’s Dr. Google to the rescue again. Or is it?
Dr. Google — or his colleague, Dr. Wikipedia — diagnoses and treats without the support of an examination. This is a big problem. We veterinarians examine your dog or cat from head to toe, no matter what they came in for. We take a complete history, listen to the heart and chest with a stethoscope, look in the eyes with an ophthalmoscope, check the ears with an otoscope, examine the teeth and gums, palpate the abdomen and inspect the skin before localizing the examination to the symptom or complaint your pet came in for.
Let me give you a few scenarios to illustrate the shortcomings of Internet diagnoses. Say your dog is a big, beautiful Labrador retriever, around 8 years old, and he’s been eating some grass and throwing up and has had some diarrhea for a day or so. You’re not sure how much diarrhea because he goes out in the yard. He seems OK, just a little tired.
The Internet research says try Pepto-Bismol, Kaopectate or Imodium and a rice diet. But with no examination, what may be missed may be a fever and dehydration that may accompany pancreatitis, in which the pancreas becomes inflamed and extremely painful and can be life threatening without proper treatment.
Your big Lab may have swallowed that ball he loves to play with, or an avocado pit from eating an avocado from your tree and it’s blocking his intestine, which will require emergency surgery. Or he may be experiencing a bloat in which a stomach turns and an immediate emergency surgery is essential to save his life.
The Internet cannot run a simple lab test for pancreatitis (which takes about 10 minutes) nor take X-rays that would rule out the intestinal blockage and/or bloat (gastric volvulous and dilatation), or run any blood tests or fecal tests to check for bacterial, viral, parasitic or metabolic reasons for GI signs. These tests are often necessary to properly diagnose and treat many GI problems.
I know these are major crises and possibly, and probably, I’m using a “scare tactic.” So let’s try a scenario that is not life threatening but still painful.
Your dog has the dreaded “Santa Barbara itch.” She’s licking her paws; chewing herself; rubbing her face; has inflamed, reddened skin, especially on her belly; and is waking you up at night with nonstop licking.
The Internet says Benadryl is the answer to stop the itch, along with soothing shampoo baths. But, unfortunately, your pal may have fleas, atopy (inhalation allergies that manifests as skin inflammation and itching), demodex (mange), scabies (parasite), seborrhea, contact allergies and/or low thyroid.
Many dogs that have skin allergies also have ear infections that the Internet cannot see. So your veterinarian’s examination can check your dog for skin parasites and treat your pal with an injection that will stop the itch for four to eight weeks, a pill to kill the fleas for up to three months, antibiotics for skin infection, soothing sprays, ear infection medications (if necessary) and possibly pain medications until the skin infection calms down. If needed, blood can be drawn to check thyroid levels or run an allergy panel.
Your pal will feel so much better with the correct treatment and will get recover. The Internet’s choice of benadryl will primarily have the side effect of making your pal so tired she won’t itch and the baths will aggravate the ear infections. The source of her itch was never addressed by the Internet and will reoccur in short order.
Meanwhile, your feline friend can suffer fatal results from the Internet’s choice of medications. Cats cannot tolerate Tylenol, which can be deadly for them. Aspirin (salicylic acid), which is found in Pepto-Bismol, also can be very dangerous for cats. Certain organic pyrethrin flea sprays can cause such severe neurological problems in cats that they may be fatal.
When you decide to research your pet’s symptoms on the web, there are so many choices for diagnosis and treatments that it is very confusing. Most of these recommendations are merely someone’s opinion and are not based on a licensed medical professional’s education.
The choices you make on the web are a gamble. The Internet has no responsibility for prescribing the incorrect medication. There is no recourse when the diagnosis is incorrect and brings harm to your pet.
The web can be unethical. Many over-the-counter medications have a narrow range of dosage requirements, yet all over the Internet there are so many different drug dosages suggested for the same medication.
While the Internet does not know or care about the consequences of incorrect dosing, your veterinarian knows what dosages are correct for your dog or cat’s age, weight, condition, and the contradictions and drug interactions of certain medications for your specific pet.
Even homeopathic medications given incorrectly may cause serious health issues when administered alone or along with prescribed or over-the-counter medications. Many homeopathic treatments combined with western medicine may be a great combination but need to be evaluated individually for your pet by your veterinarian.
So before you turn to the Internet for suggestions of a treatment plan that comes out of your medicine cabinet, give your veterinarian a call. We share our lives with our dogs and cats, but we cannot share our medications.
Relying on Dr. Google, who has no veterinarian degree and does not follow the oath of “do no harm,” is taking a dangerous risk for you and your beloved pet.
— Dr. Bonnie Franklin is a veterinarian who grew up in Santa Barbara and owns Your Pals Pet Hospital in Goleta. She earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from a joint program of Washington State University and Oregon State University, a master’s degree in wildlife biology from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and does consulting work with the U.S. Forest Service. Click here to contact her, and click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are her own.