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Toa Payoh Vets Clinical
Research
Making veterinary surgery alive
to a veterinary student studying in Australia
using real case studies and pictures |
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A MAN HAS A
SECOND LIFE
Dr Sing Kong Yuen,
BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS
First written:
31 January, 2010 |
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 toapayohvets.com
Be Kind To Pets
Veterinary Education
Project 2010-0129
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"My children are grown up and so I
don't have any responsibilities
now. I have a capsule," the pet
shop operator said when I asked
him how he would cope if he were
to suffer another stroke. He was
paralysed some 4 years ago and now
he is normal. He could talk to me
like any normal person and so he
has recovered fully. His various
tablets enabled him to live a
normal life but his weight has not
decreased.
We had known each other for over
30 years. His son had grown up to
take over his thriving business.
His wife is an excellent dog
groomer.
I visited his pet shop this sunny
weekday evening as he had invited
me a few times when he brought
puppies for me to vaccinate. He
had shifted to another location as
the old one was put up for en bloc
sale. I was impressed with his big
pet shop with a large inventory of
various brands of dog food. I can
judge how successful a pet shop
business is by the inventory of
dog food. Nowadays, dog food sales
are not on credit terms as many
pet shops close every year. So his
large inventory means he must have
a big clientele of dog owners in
this relatively affluent area of
Singapore.
I could see a Caucasian woman in
her late 30s taking back a
well-grown red miniature poodle
from the shop and admiring it
outside where her silver sports
Mercedes was parked. Besides other
clients, a woman in her 30s came
in to buy her big bag of Pinnacle
dog food and recognised me first.
"My Husky does not bite his tail
anymore," she said. "However the
patch over the tail gland is
hairless," she promised to e-mail
to me a picture. Her case is at:
Tail Gland Disease in a Siberian
Husky. What a coincidence as I
had not been to this pet shop for
at least 2 years as it was quite
far from Toa Payoh.
I seldom visit pet shops nowadays
as I have so many things I want to
do. "How much it costs to feed
your Husky?" I ask this young lady
with 2 Huskies and a small car. I
always wonder how she could pack
in 2 Huskies in such a small car
to the dog park.
 The
pet shop operator has her loyalty
as he gives loyalty cards which
entitle buyers to discounts and
some privileges. As for me, I
wonder if the loyalty card system
to retain clients applies to the
vets. In theory it should. In
reply to my query on feeding
costs, the lady said, "Excluding
canned food which I feed in the
evening and two meals of dry food
(Pinnacle brand) a day, it will be
S$36.00 a month. So, it is S$1.20
a day.
Returning to my mission to get the
pet shop operator to change his
lifestyle, I said to him, "I read
a book written by a doctor
specialising in heart attack
cases. It mentioned that heart
attack patients would revert back
to the old life-styles after a
while," I sipped the Chinese tea
he poured into a small tea cup for
me.
"Yes, I was very afraid of death
for the first few months after my
stroke," the operator told me.
"Now, my doctor said that I have
so many tablets to take. I ought
to be OK eating all my favourite
seafood, pork-belly meat and laksa
(fat-filled noodles with prawns).
After all, my children are grown
up and I have no more
responsibility." His wife could
take care of herself.
His wife and son had voiced their
worries about his life-style to me
when they brought the puppies for
vaccination and I enquired about
the head of the household.
I said I would talk to him
sometime. Many months had passed.
Here I was now visiting his pet
shop. He had become an invincible
man as he did not reduce his
weight, did not exercise much nor
become a vegetarian. After all,
his doctor had prescribed him all
the medication to prevent another
stroke. If all fails, he certainly
had a plan - a capsule to end his
life if he were to suffer another
stroke.
"If you have stroke, you will be
paralysed. How will you be capable
of taking this capsule? In any
case, the ones who suffers most
will be your wife and son, rather
than you if you die. They have to
take care of you 24 hours a day
while you remain paralysed. Have
you thought of this?"
He did not reply. I did not probe
further what type of capsule he
had but I am sure he had some
medical knowledge to do what he
wanted if he suffered another
stroke.
"A friend recommends me to take
the tablets from India to slim
down," he told me. "My friend says
it works for him."
I was surprised that he did not
learn from a well known medical
case where an actress who took
slimming tablets made in China had
to accept a liver transplant from
her boyfriend. Another woman
taking the same pills had actually
died. I reminded him of the case.
"It is best to stop taking such
pills, cut down drastically on
your fatty food. Do more walking.
Weigh yourself daily. I can say
you avoid the weighing machine so
as not to know you have put on
weight, am I right?"
"No, I don't weigh myself any
day," the operator laughed. "It is
hard to stop eating all the fatty
food. After all, my doctor tells
me he has prescribed medication to
lower the high blood pressure and
the cholesterol level in the
blood. So I should have no
problems."
Just take the medication and all
strokes will be prevented. It is
not so simple as that. One's liver
will be tolerant to the medication
and that means the medication
dosage needs to be increased or
the type changed.
Some people just need to eat at
different hawker stalls and
restaurants, sampling different
types of cooking. What is living
if one does not live to eat? Eat
to live, more vegetables and fish
and monitoring the weight weekly
is far from the mind of most
recovered heart attack or stroke
person. What can be done to help
loved ones to change their
lifestyle?
 Sometimes,
changing one's unhealthy lifestyle
or becoming vegetarian will do and
the medication may be dispensed
with in some cases, with the
doctor's regular check up. It is
hard to be alive and eat the bland
vegetable, fish diet and fruits
most of the time for many years. I
believe that such a regime works.
So far, I am nearing 60 years of
age and have not needed any
medication for diabetes, heart
attacks or strokes. So far, so
good. As for the pet shop
operator, I hope he stops taking
the slimming pill made in India if
he does not know what it contains.
Otherwise, he may suffer liver
failure rather than a stroke! This
man has a second life due to
modern medicine and though he has
his life to live according to his
wishes, he need to take care of
his health, Modern medicine can
only help once and may not be
efficient or effective later.
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toapayohvets.com
Be Kind To Pets
Veterinary Education
Project 2010-0129
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 Toa Payoh Vets
Clinical
Research
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