Minimally Invasive Surgery: Redefining What's Possible in Animal Care with Dr. Daniel Spector

In this episode of Ask the Vet, Dr. Ann Hohenhaus is joined by her AMC colleague Dr. Daniel Spector for an informative conversation about minimally invasive surgery in pets. Dr. Spector has led AMC’s minimally invasive surgery program since its launch in 2024, and he brings nearly two decades of experience to the operating room. Together, they discuss:

• His perspective as a pet owner whose dog needed multiple surgeries
• The difference between minimally invasive surgery vs. traditional surgical procedures
• The benefits and suitability of these techniques for both small and large animals
• The types of procedures that can be treated with minimally invasive techniques
• What factors go into deciding whether minimally invasive surgery is the right fit
• How certain procedures can prevent life-threatening diseases
• Why minimally invasive surgery is a key part of AMC’s residency program
• How his interests in cooking, hiking, and running influence his approach to surgery

Also on this month's show:

• Viral trending animal story featuring Bitsy, a stray cat from Alberta, Canada found with six legs.
• Animal news, including the story of an abandoned US postal service truck full of baby birds, how comparative research between humans and dogs is helping both species in the fight against cancer… and wild capuchin monkeys caught on camera carrying baby howler monkeys, a completely different species.
• Pet Health Listener Q&A, where Dr. Hohenhaus answers questions about whether or not to neuter a small toy poodle, the causes of tongue cancer in cats, and how to switch your pet’s diet for better digestive health.

Do you have a pet question for Dr. Hohenhaus? Email askthevet@amcny.org to have your question answered on Ask the Vet's Listener Q&A.

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Transcript

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We want to remind our listeners that this program is for informational and educational purposes only, and not intended to substitute for professional veterinary medical advice, diagnosis and treatment. The Animal Medical Center does not recommend or endorse any products or services advertised by Sirius XM. Welcome to Ask the Vet with Dr. Ann Hohenhaus. This is the place to talk about your pets and get advice for the top veterinarian from the Animal Medical Center in NYC. Hear from the leading authorities on animals and ask your questions. Now here's your host, Dr. Ann Hohenhaus. Hello everyone and welcome to Ask the Vet. The podcast for people who love their pets and want the latest in pet health and animal news. I'm Dr. Ann Hohenhaus, I'm a senior veterinarian here at the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center, and I also serve as a director of health information. And we're coming you today from New York City, where we always broadcast. From today, we'll be taking a closer look at minimally invasive surgery. Fields are changing the way we approach everything from routine space to complex tumor removals. Smaller incisions, less pain, and faster recovery times make these advanced techniques an expansion of what's possible in veterinary care. Here at AMC, our minimally invasive surgery center opened in early 2020 for hand, has already completed more than 130 procedures in its first year, including lung tumor removals, laparoscopic gallbladder surgeries and more. And to help us explore this topic further, I'm going to be joined by my colleague, Doctor Daniel Spector, who's a board certified veterinary surgeon and head of AMC's surgical service to Doctor Spector, has led our minimally invasive surgery program since its launch, and he brings nearly two decades of experience to the operating room. I'm really glad to have a chance to talk to him today about how these procedures work, when they're the right choice, and why they represent such an important step forward in veterinary medicine. The Schwarzman Animal Medical Center is the only level one veterinary trauma center in New York City, and it has 115 years of being the very best place for pets. So if you're seeking advice on maintaining your pet's health, I'm here to help. Just send me your questions to ask the vet at AMC and reorg, and I'll answer your questions on next month's show. If you don't have a pen or pencil right now, don't worry, I'm going to give that email address in the show again later. But now it's time for our trending animal of the month. It's time for the internet's most talked about animal. A stray tabby cat in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, recently made headlines not for her markings or her temperament, but for her unusual anatomy. The cat, now named bitsy, was found with six legs, including two extra limbs and a malformed hind limb that faced backwards. Veterinarians suspected that she had absorbed a twin while she was in the womb, and that resulted in a partial second pelvis and three nonfunctional limbs that dragged behind her. Despite her unusual condition, bitsy was sweet and social, but she was clearly in pain and struggled to do basic things like lie down comfortably or reach a food ball. After X-rays confirmed the extra limbs were not helping her to stand up. Surgeons at Windermere Veterinary Hospital performed a two hour procedure to remove these three limbs and also the extra pelvis. Her recovery was remarkable. Almost immediately, bitsy could move more freely, rest more easily, and start to enjoy life like a typical young cat. She's now a confident, pain free tripod, living with her adopter. While cases like these are incredibly rare. We see lots of pets here at the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center that have an amputation as part of their treatment. Our AMC to the Rescue Fund, which is a community fund that provides care for pets without a forever home. Do a lot of amputations to correct fractures that are not repairable and causing pets a lot of pain. So an amputation, as drastic as it sounds, is actually a really good procedure in cats like Betsy, in the ones we take care of here at the Animal Medical Center. And now it's my pleasure to welcome my colleague, Doctor Daniel Spector. Doctor Spector is a board certified veterinary surgeon and the head of AMC's surgical service, too. After graduating from Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine in 2006, he completed an internship at Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston and his surgical residency right here at AMC. And after that, he went on to lead surgical services in Chicago and New York before returning to AMC ten years ago today. He leads the Denise and Michael Kellen Institute for Surgical Care's new minimally invasive surgery center. Doctor specter, thank you so much for joining me on the Bet. I'm thrilled to talk to you about the incredible advances that are happening in minimally invasive surgery. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here. I always like to begin by asking my guests about their pets. So can you talk to me about the pets you have at home? Or have there been animals in your life that have shaped how you think about surgery? I do. I currently have a very, very energetic chocolate lab and a young kitten at home, but pets throughout my life have really shaped how I both approach veterinary medicine in general and surgery specifically. Having different pets at different phases of my life have really given me a vast perspective as to being on both sides of the conversation. And so I've used my experiences with my own pets going through medical issues, surgical issues, to be able to better communicate with owners and to be able to understand their fears or their anxieties, to help guide them through the decision making process with surgical care. So if you have an incredibly energetic lab, sounds like that one's not been very sick lately. What what kinds of problems had your pets had in the past that have made you think about ill pets the way you do? My two original pets three. Original pets one. When I was a young, young child, going through, quite honestly, end of life, phases with him really exposed me to what it feels like as an owner going through those decision making processes and care and how it impacts and affects the family. But during my adult life, my OGs, as I call them, my golden retriever Duncan, and my cat Abe, who I had through very important years of my life as a as a young veterinarian and a veterinary student, one went through surgical procedures. Duncan had, cancer in his abdomen and needed surgery, more than once for that. And then years later, Abe, my cat. Went through a heart failure. And the decision making perspective and speaking with the veterinarians who were here at the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center, because that's where I would obviously always come from. My pets care. Talking to them, getting their perspective, and talking to them from an owner perspective and forgetting what I do for a living, forgetting any of my knowledge or experience, and trying to just allow them to help guide me through. So it was it was both intense medical issues as well as, surgical issues that, really allowed me to explore and be a part of that side of the conversation as well. So when my cat was sick, I was out of town. So I was lucky because other people took care of my cat for me and dealt with it because I was away. And I came back to a cat who was ready to go home from the hospital. So if your dog needed surgery, did you? I was grateful not to have to take care of my own cat. And also because when you put him in a cage a bit and he was really an idiot. So did you do surgery on your own, pet? Absolutely not. So Duncan's first surgery was when I was in my first job in Illinois, and I had a colleague do his first surgery, because I've also had the experiences with other colleagues doing major operations on their own pets. And just like in people, that's in people, it's not allowed. And and I got that firsthand experience with one of my colleagues doing surgery on his own pet and needing to make significant decisions in the operating room and not being in the emotional space to be able to do that. So that will always stick in my mind. And so the answer is absolutely not. I will never do a major operation, on my own pets. But having the benefit of working here, I get to just, you know, go down the hallway to one of my colleagues and ask them for help. And guidance. Yeah, I don't know that I would. I mean, it's hard enough to go home and give your pet medication and sub q fluids and that kind of stuff, let alone make decisions in the operating room. So I do the treatments at home, but but not the in the hospital stuff. I think I think it's really hard to maintain your perspective. You know, either you're worried you're doing too much or you're worried you're not doing enough, and and you're just irrational, because it's your pet kind of thing. So absolutely, to our topic at hand for today, I think we might have some listeners who don't really know what minimally invasive surgery is. So can you talk about how a minimally invasive approach differs from a traditional surgical approach? Yeah, this is really exciting and something that, I'm really enthusiastic about because of, of all of the, the benefits to it. So a minimally invasive surgery is doing the exact same operation as a traditional surgery on the inside, but we're doing it through much smaller incisions. So instead of having an incision in a Labrador, that would be maybe a little over around ten inches long, we can do the same surgery in some instances through an incision that is half an inch long or smaller. And so this is really beneficial because not only are the incisions smaller and minimally invasive approach allows us to do all of these same procedures, but in a much more comfortable way for the animal, and that helps them have a much easier and more rapid recovery in the hospital. But the main difference is really the much smaller incisions, the magnification. And that all allows for a more precise surgery. And so it seems counterintuitive that the hole is smaller, the incision is much smaller. So how would we be able to see as well. But with the magnification that we get on the monitor, and the incredible true color and brilliance of the light that we use, we can actually see much better and get into areas where you wouldn't be able to get to through an open or traditional surgery. So just for the listeners, I heard doctor speak at a professional meeting, a meeting for veterinarians. And what struck me was and I never thought about this. When you do a traditional open surgery, then you have a device that holds the body open so you can see into the abdomen no magnification, and you have a really bright surgery light. So so you have good light, but then you have to touch everything with your hands because you need to move. You need to move the intestines out of the way. If you're looking for the kidney or you need to move the stomach because it's blocking your view of the pancreas or something like that. So there's a lot more touching of the insides with hands. And that that your insides are not meant to be touched. You know, they're inside for a reason. And so I see that as another real advantage of this is that he's got these sleek, little thin surgery instruments that go in and move things around, which is completely different than touching things with hands and moving, organs around, because these little teeny instruments can slip right in and get where they need to be. So I thought that was a really interesting way that you described it in, in that particular, presentation that I went to, because there's a lot of touching that happens when when you're doing surgery and say that you have to remove a lump from the intestine, then you have to hold that intestine close to each other so you can, you know, so or staple it back together. And that happens in a much tidier fashion, I think in minimally invasive surgery. Yeah, I think that is a huge benefit that goes way beyond just the small incisions. And why when I get asked the question, how small of an animal is too small and we have the benefit that we're we're still looking for two small because we have three millimeter instruments for cats and very, very small dogs. And we have five millimeter instruments for for a larger dogs. And so even though the incisions sure are small, exactly as you said, there's much less manipulation, movement, touching, holding than we would otherwise have to do. So I truly believe that there's a lot of reasons that make minimally invasive surgeries less painful than their traditional surgery counterparts. So just for the audience out there, who doesn't think in millimeters, three millimeters is about a quarter of an inch, which it's hardly an incision at all. It's like a puncture. You know, if you step on a nail, that's probably a three millimeter incision with a rusty nail on your bottom of your foot. So that tells you how small these are. And if I had a how small? A small dog, could we do surgery on a five pounder? Minimally invasive? 6 pounds? Absolutely. We're doing minimally invasive surgery on a cat tomorrow who, probably weighs about 4 to 5 pounds. And that's that's not uncommon. And so that's why the size of the animal is, is much, much less important to me, because I think that we can benefit small dogs and small cats as well. So what types of problems or procedures are especially good for minimally invasive surgery? This is what I think is extremely exciting because every time I answer this question, the list gets longer and longer. Because we can treat so many different surgical problems. Minimally invasive. Okay. Now, some of the ones that I find are the most benefited by a minimally invasive approach would be lung tumor removals. Tumors of the adrenal glands and other abdominal tumors that were able to remove minimally invasive early. That can give them a much easier recovery than they would otherwise have, easier meaning, less time in the hospital, less dynamic changes in their blood pressure, their comfort, all of their vital signs. And so I think those are some of the surgery or the procedures that most benefit from a minimally invasive technique, including gallbladder removals, you know, and people that's obviously standard of care. Dogs and people need their gallbladder removed for very different reasons. And so it's a little bit different in dogs and people, but because that is a surgery that can be, challenging for pets to recover from when we're able to to address these early and do it Laparoscopically or minimally invasive, we they do better and they have an easier recovery. So I think those are uncommon surgery. I mean, they're common here. They're uncommon in the veterinary world. And so your neighborhood vet wouldn't necessarily be taking out gallbladder and lung tumors and things like that. But we do even what people would consider routine surgeries, minimally invasive, space. And I guess the other one that often goes along with the spay is a gastric Pepsi, which ties down the stomach to help prevent dogs from developing a torsion or a twisting of their stomach, which is a life threatening emergency if a dog is caused. Can you fix that minimally invasive, or that still is a traditional surgery to untwist the stomach? That if they're already twisted, that would be an open or traditional surgery because they are much, much sicker. And so that would not be a good opportunity for a minimally invasive surgery. But as you said, I feel extremely strongly about prophylactic gastropexy, meaning preventatively tying or tacking the stomach to the body wall to prevent it from happening down the line. And at risk dogs. And I always tell owners that no surgery, nothing is is routine. But these are some of the most common procedures that we do, like you said, is the stomach tacking procedure so that we can essentially eliminate a rapid, life threatening disease from happening ever in that dog's life. And so that is, I would say, probably the most common minimally invasive surgery that I do, and that we do here, as well as spaying, as you said, I think, again, going back to the lack of touching and lack of manipulation, even spaying, they are more comfortable and, benefit from a minimally invasive approach. So when you're trying to figure out minimally invasive versus traditional surgery, what things just a surgeon think about, to help them make that decision. Yeah, there's there's a lot that goes into that decision. And the conversation around that decision with, with owners. And so a few things are very, very important to the conversation. And it really goes with our physical exam. Is the pet otherwise healthy? Is is there a minimally invasive technique even available? And assuming that there is, would that be beneficial? Meaning, are we going to make sure that we can provide adequate benefit and easy recovery in that pet? And it really depends on physical exams, their blood work most frequently, especially, with some of the more advanced surgeries. There's scans. So ultrasounds sometimes Cat scans were doing beforehand to make sure that it's still makes sense. The routine procedures or like I said, the most common procedures. To me, that almost always will make sense to me. And so that's what I talk to owners most frequently about, is being, to me, almost always makes sense to do it minimally. Invasively stomach attacking. That's the same. And so it really is very individual dependent. But most commonly we need to evaluate and really thoroughly, look at all of the, the diagnostics that have led to that consultation and led to that appointment. So since you've done 130 of these procedures in just a year of operation, what's the best one? There there are so many best ones. The stomach tacking procedures are the best because we're starting to, we can hopefully reduce the number of Tahitians that we see in the emergency room that need emergency surgery and are really, really sick. So we can really prevent a potentially devastating disease. On the more advanced side, when you take out a dog's lung tumor and they can go home the following day or some other abdominal tumor like of the adrenal gland, or taking out the gallbladder, and they can go home the next day feeling really well. That's a very, very dramatic difference from the recovery from most traditional surgeries. And so, we've been doing this I've been doing this for a long time, like you said. But but it doesn't get old. I still get so excited to see the difference in their recovery. And so there isn't necessarily one individual patient, one individual procedure. As much as watching so many more pets be able to have a more comfortable and easy recovery, get home to their parents and their families sooner. Whether that's the same day with the stomach tagging procedure or, you know, the next day, potentially with with lung tumors, that is really exciting. And that's one of the hugest benefits, and one of the most rewarding aspects of minimally invasive that I see. So AMC’s the only veterinary hospital in New York that offers these advanced, minimally invasive procedures like laparoscopic gallbladder removal, taking adrenal glands out. How do they those surgeries work? And and how come more people don't do them? Sounds like they're a great thing to do. They are. Admittedly, Im biased. I think a lot of it is number one, spreading the word and making sure everybody knows that this exists and this is an option. And what it does, just like in people, is it really allows people and makes people aware, both owners and primary care veterinarians, of the importance of screening, of general health screening in middle to advanced age animals. Because if and when we can find these issues, whether it's in adrenal tumor or a gallbladder problem early in its course, they will be amenable or be a good candidate for a minimally invasive approach. And then people are more aware that that it's a great option. And so I think making sure that with, you know, conversations like this, with owners and conversations with primary care, veterinarians in the community knowing that this is a viable option and in helping answer questions, so that people are aware that it exists and can reach out for more and recommend it more. So I also think one of the reasons that that some of these things are not common is in general practices. AMC has, like 140 veterinarians. So it's a lot of patients to keep 140 veterinarians busy. So if something is only seen by a general veterinarian once a year, we've got 140 times greater chance of seeing that multiple times here at AMC. And so I think we get used to doing things that way, because we have the opportunity to see many cases where some of these things, if I was in general practice, I'd never be good at taking out adrenal glands because I would only see one a year because it's in the general population, not common in the AMC population, lots of things become much more common because we have so many more patients to take care of, and that that's one of the things that makes us good is, is because we see so many. And I always think that AMC veterinarians develop very quickly and a sixth sense about how to manage patients because they've seen so many or they've seen 3 or 4 before. And when they see the fifth one, they're like, I know what this is, and I know what we're going to do about it. And that's that's one of AMC's most best qualities, is, is the caseload that allows veterinarians to develop that extra sense, that helps them know what to do. So minimally invasive surgery is part of our training program, where we help young veterinarians develop that extra sense about case management. So how do our surgery residents here learn minimally invasive surgery, and how are we shaping this great next generation of veterinarians? So it's a huge part of our our training program and has been for a very, very long time. The three interesting. When I was doing some research into my, talk to primary care veterinarians, the AMC in the 70s was actually one of the first places to do minimally invasive surgery in animals. And at that point it was more diagnostic, only looking around endoscopy, things like that. Truly a pioneer. And it wasn't until the 90s, early 2000 where we started to really treat as opposed to just diagnose. And so years ago, we and for years we've been training residents to do minimally invasive surgery. This is where I learned how to do it. And the American College of Veterinary Surgeons, the group that board, certifies us as surgeons, has very strict guidelines and it wasn't until about 9 or 10 years ago that they actually required minimally invasive surgeries to complete a residency. And I always look at the requirement and sort of laugh, because our residents complete the number of minimally invasive surgeries within the first three year residency within the first month of being here. And so I think that's really important. And I it is really important to me that our residents, when they go out as surgeons, are comfortable as well as very proficient in minimally invasive surgery. And because, as you said, the volume of cases and the number of patients we treat here, certainly minimally invasively they leave here very, very good, minimally invasive surgeons and very commonly either start minimally invasive programs in the practices that they go to, or they really expand sort of basic or developing programs. And so it is it is very, very important here. And I, as well as all of the other surgeons here today, take great pride, in the level of training that our residents get in minimally invasive surgery. So we just have a couple of minutes left. And on a personal level, when you're not in the operating room, you're a cook. Although I could say that some aspects of sharp things in the kitchen, of which I'm always slicing myself with, might be similar to surgery, a hiker and a runner. So tell me how your personal interests influence your approach to your work and how you think about surgery. Yeah. Interesting. It's all very similar to me in that all of those things running, hiking, cooking. You can do this. You can hike the same trail, you can cook the same recipe, you can run the same route or race 50 times. And each time it's going to be different and something new is going to happen. And so the level of experience and comfort and expertise that you accumulate each time you hike a trail, that helps prepare you for the next time you're going to do it. When something out of the ordinary comes up, you do it and it's snowing out, or you get caught in a snowstorm, or all of a sudden it's pouring out. You're cooking a recipe and you don't have the exact ingredient you need, but you think you can substitute it. So all of those things really allows both creativity as well as adaptation, all based on, you know, years of experience, and enjoyment. We I wouldn't do any of these things if they weren't incredibly fun, rewarding to do. So, all of these things give me a huge sense of enjoyment, satisfaction and pleasure, whether it's hiking with my kids up the High Peaks in the Adirondacks, or being able to help a pet get home to their to their family, sooner, all of those things are incredibly rewarding. And build on all of your experiences over many years. I think that's a great comment to end this conversation on. So I want to thank my guest, Doctor Daniel Spector, head of surgical Service, Chew, here at the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center. Thank him so much for joining us today and giving a closer look at the minimally invasive surgical program here. And for his expertise and innovation that he brings to his work every day. Thanks so much for joining us here at Ask the Vet. All right. Thank you. If you want to learn more about minimally invasive surgery, Doctor Spector will be leading a free webinar for pet owners on Wednesday, June 25th at 6 p.m. the event will be on zoom, and so you need to register not because you have to pay money to attend, but because we can't send you the zoom link if you don't register and give us your email. So to register for Doctor Spector's event, you want to go to AMCNY.org. And if you put events in the search bar, it'll take you right to the registration page. I know that keeping your pet healthy is very important to you. And with that said, I hope you'll reach out to me if you have a question about your pet's health and I'm going to respond in next month's Ask the Vet podcast. And here's the email to send your question to. Very simple. AsktheVet@amcny.org. We have a short break coming up, but stay tuned because there'll be lots of interesting animals stories when we return. We're back with Dr. Ann Hohenhaus on Ask the Vet. Hello everyone, and welcome back to Ask the Vet. It's time for the animal news. It's time for animal headlines, the biggest animal news from across the world. In a baffling and heartbreaking incident, about 12,000 baby birds including chicks, turkeys, geese and quail were found abandoned last month in a US Postal Service mail truck at a facility in Delaware. They were in transit from a Pennsylvania hatchery when a routing error left them without food, water or temperature control for more than three days. And sadly, nearly 4000 did not survive. But the surviving birds, around 8000 of them, were transported to the First State Animal Center and the SPCA, a no kill shelter in Camden, Delaware, that handled the entire rescue effort. The shelter has been providing round the clock care, and so far more than 5000 birds have been adopted out to individuals, farms and sanctuaries, with a strict policy that none be used for meat to cover the cost, which have exceeded $100,000. The shelter has been relying on donations and has since ended its contract with the state's agriculture department, citing a lack of support. The Postal Service has acknowledged a process breakdown and is conducting an internal investigation. While animal advocates are pushing for greater oversight of live animals, shipping. Our second story today is about dogs. Dogs are not just man's best friend. They're becoming allies in the fight against cancer. Veterinary oncologists and human doctors are teaming up to study lymphoma, a type of blood cancer that affects both dogs and people in very similar ways. Unlike lab mice who have don't really have the same disease that dogs and people do, dogs develop lymphoma naturally and they live in the same environment as people do making their disease. And the information we can gain from studying that disease much more applicable to helping human health. In 2018, two boxers with T cell lymphoma responded to a single infusion of an immunotherapy drug, an outcome so promising that it helped launch human trials approved by the FDA. This cross-species research is a win win. Dogs gain access to advanced treatments, and humans benefit from accelerated breakthroughs in cancer care. Just one more way dogs improve our health. And our final story comes from a tiny island in Panama, where a team of scientists was reviewing wildlife camera footage and found something very bizarre. Captured monkeys carrying baby howler monkeys between 2022 and 2023. These researchers documented at least 11 cases where howler monkey babies are a completely different species from the Capuchins were seen in the arms of Capuchin adults, so the captured monkey adults had howler monkey babies in their arms. There was no sign of violence, and many of the captions treated the babies as their own, even carrying them after death. That's something that's kind of common in the monkey world. Scientists think one monkey may have confused parental instinct for kinship, and the others copied the behavior. This was because only one particular group of the capuchin monkeys displayed this strange behavior pattern. This suggests that behavior can vary dramatically even within a species. Sadly, the infant howler monkeys didn't survive since they were too young to be cared for by another species. But the story is prompting scientists thousands new questions about monkey emotion, their social hierarchy, and the complexity of animal behavior. And now it's time for questions from our listeners. Our first question is from Miriam L. Miriam's question is, I have a one year old male toy poodle who weighs just 3.9 pounds. He's calm, healthy, and gets plenty of exercise. He's a pedigree from show dog parents and was born in Israel where we spend most of our time. I'm struggling to decide whether to neuter him. His health is my top priority and I'm currently leaning towards not doing it, at least for now. What are the health risks or benefits of neutering a dog this small? And is there any urgency to make the decision? So I think I'll answer the last question first, which is Miriam, I don't think there's any urgency to neuter this male toy poodle unless he develops a disease that could be improved or cured by neutering him. But it sounds like right now that's that. The answer is a no. So there are health benefits to neutering male dogs. I would say that the two are one. If they're neutered, they have no risk of developing testicular cancer, which definitely happens in dogs. And neutering male dogs also prevents enlargement of the prostate, which once a dog has an enlarged prostate, they're always worried about infections and abscesses in the prostate, but that tends to be an older dog disease. And that's kind of why I'm saying it's not an urgent point to neuter this young dog right now. The topic of neutering has gotten really complicated, and there are research studies that look at dogs by breed when they're common breeds, and there are research studies that look at dogs by size, dividing them into like really small dogs to really big dogs and looking at at the health benefits and risks of neutering. And those scientific studies make very specific recommendations by breed and size about when to neuter and spay dogs. The charts are really complicated, and there's no way that a veterinarian could memorize all those. But veterinarians have access to this data. And that's what I do when a client asks me when they should neuter their dog, I get out the research and I look at the charts and tables and make a determination about what's right for that dog based on its breed or size. So for this little guy, neutering is not urgent, and unless he develops a disease, probably not a rush at all to do so. Good luck Mary. I bet he's cute as a button. Our next question is from Annie. Annie asks. My cat was intubated for a procedure, and less than two weeks later, my vet diagnosed her with tongue cancer, something that wasn't detected earlier. She quickly lost weight and tragically, she passed away on Mother's Day, just one month after being diagnosed. How can a cancer like this progress so rapidly? Is it possible it was overlooked during intubation? And what do we know about the causes of tongue cancer in cats? This loss has been devastating to our family and I'd appreciate any insight you can offer. Thank you. So I can't really tell Annie for sure what kind of cancer her cat had in its mouth, but I can make a pretty good bet that it was a squamous cell carcinoma. That's the most common kind of oral cancer we see in Cat. And one of the risk factors for oral cancer in cats. It's not a strong one but it's definitely one. It's exposure to secondhand smoke meaning some person in the household smokes and the cat is exposed to the smoke, which contains nicotine and other carcinogens. So keeping your cat away from smoke, cigarette smoke is really a benefit to their health. It's probably a benefit to your house too. If you stop smoking to protect your cat. Oral squamous cell carcinoma in the cat is terrible. It is so rapidly progressive. My sister's cat got it. And the cat was very uncomfortable and painful very rapidly. And they had to make a really hard decision to euthanize their cat because she was not eating and her mouth hurt a lot. And I would say that it was less than a month from the time they figured out what was wrong with the cat, until she was just really doing terribly. So the answer to Annie's question is yes. Oral squamous cell carcinoma can progress extremely rapidly. I doubt if anybody missed it. Because it can be kind of stealth. It sometimes starts in the bone and then finally shows out of the bone, or it causes a loose tooth and a cat loses a tooth. And that's what makes you take them into the veterinarian. So this squamous cell carcinoma is one of the tumors I hate to see because it is such a devastating disease for both the cat and the family. My condolences to Annie and her family. And our last question is from Abby. Amy wants to know my one and a half year old Chow. Chow has been on the same diet since he was eight weeks old, eating both dry and canned food. I've been thinking about switching to a different formula to better support his digestion and overall health. His stool is usually soft formed, and I'm worried that changing his food to upset his stomach. What's the best way to transition to a new diet without causing digestive issues? So first of all, if Amy's one and a half year old dog has been eating the same diet since he was eight weeks old. That makes me think that this now grown up chow chow is eating a puppy food, and adult dogs don't need a puppy food. Puppy food has extra calcium and vitamins and things to make the puppy grow. And once you hit about a year, you don't need those extra nutrients. Probably also has more calories. And what Amy doesn't want is an overweight chow chow. So I think changing the diet is a good idea. There are multiple diets out there for digestive health, and they tend to have, probiotics in them. They tend to have prebiotics. Prebiotics or things that the probiotic bacteria thrive on so that it supports the gut health by promoting good bacterial growth in the GI tract. And there are diets that are set up to take into account dogs dietary sensitivities. So I might choose a diet for an adult dog that has pre and probiotics in it. And that's designed for dogs with digestive issues. And then what Amy wants to do is gradually shift the diet over. First of all, your dog is eating the same food for a year and a half. He might not be that happy about the change. So you want to put the new food in a separate bowl next to the old food? And if he doesn't eat it, throw it out and put some more in the next day. And ultimately he'll check it out and decide that he likes it. We hope. And then you're going to gradually every week increase. So first week 25% of new food, 75% old food. Then 50/50, then 25% of old food, 75% new food, and by the fourth week 100% new food. And that slow transition should help prevent any dietary upset for the chow chow getting a new diet. Best of luck, Amy. I hope that you pick a food that the chow chow adores. And now it's time for a little break. And when we come back, we'll have news from AMC. We're back with Dr. Ann Hohenhaus on.Ask the Vet. Welcome back to the third segment of Ask the Vet. We have important information for you from AMC's Usdan Institute for Animal Health Education. Summer is here. Except it doesn't quite feel like it in New York these days. It's been a little chilly. However, if you're heading to the beach with your dog this summer, the Usdan Institute wants to remind you about the risk of sand impaction. Sand impaction is a serious condition that can happen when dogs accidentally ingest too much sand. And how they do it is you're playing fetch with your dog at the beach, and then the ball lands on the sand and your dog picks up a ball. Ooh, and a little bit of sand. Or there's some dogs that like to bark at the waves and, you know, there's a lot of sand in the waves. And then they swallow some water, and then the sand starts to build up in their intestine and cause a blockage. And usually what you see is a dog who you come over the beach on Sunday and Monday, maybe Monday night, Tuesday, the dog's vomiting, some it doesn't want to eat and is laying around. And that is a real problem. It's very easy to diagnose. Take an X-ray and you can see the entire intestine filled with sand, which must hurt like crazy because think about a whole tube of sand lying in your abdomen. Or I bet you feel terrible. This is not something that Doctor Spector can treat with his minimally invasive surgery. In fact, Doctor Spector doesn't like to do surgery on these because he says, if you look one tiny grain of sand drop out of the intestine, it can cause a terrible infection. So you want to hope that your dog is going to get better by not feeding them, putting him in the hospital, giving them laxatives to move that sand through the GI tract. And then we take x rays every day or so to make sure that the sand is moving and coming out the other end. When it comes to sand, impaction prevention is really the way to go. And so a few simple habits can make a very big difference in a day at the beach. Don't play fetch on the sand. Go into the dunes. Go into the parking lot, go find a grassy area but not on the sand. Probably the same thing would be not just for fetch with balls, but also frisbees. Same deal. If you got to play on the sand, then you want to rinse those toys off frequently because if they're getting a big accumulation of sand, your dog is going to ingest more sand. And then I would not let my dog bark and bite at the waves where they can drink the beaches, water, and swallow all that sand. If you're interested in more summer tips to keep your dog healthy, then you want to visit the Usdan Institute at amcny.org/UsdanInstitute. The other thing that we just had a notification from the New York City Health Department the other day is that we're having an algal bloom. That means lots of algae growing in water in Central Park, and other bodies of water in New York City. Usually, the city health department post signs near those bodies of water. Your dog going into the algae water or swimming in the algae water or drinking the algae water can be fatal. So if there is a warning on the pond or puddle or wherever you take your dog to play, be sure to keep them out of those bodies of water that have warning signs about an algal bloom on them, because it can be lethal. I want to take time right now to thank my guest today, Doctor Daniel Spector, for joining me here on Ask the Vet. And don't forget, if you're interested in learning more about minimally invasive surgery, Doctor Spector is having a pet owner focused webinar on Wednesday, June 25th at 6 p.m.. The event is free and you just have to sign up at amcny.org. Put events in the search bar. Don't forget I want to know if you want to know more about your pets well-being or looking for health advice. You can email me and I'll answer your question on next month's asks about. The email is very simply AskTheVet@amcny.org. The Ask the Vet podcast is available on the Sirius XM app on all major podcast platforms, and also on AMC's website. All of this is thanks to AMC's long term partnership with Sirius XM. Don't forget to follow us on social media on Facebook. It's the Animal Medical Center on X, formerly Twitter and Instagram. It's @amcny. It'd be great if you could take a moment to give the Ask the Vet podcast a review, and be sure to like and subscribe so you receive every new episode as soon as it drops. I hope you all have a wonderful June and will join me in July for next month's episode of Ask the Vet. Thanks so much everyone!