Posts Tagged ‘dogs’
Pet Obesity Awareness: Tips For Keeping Your Pet Slim & Trim
Do you know what 88.4 million dogs and cats have in common? They are obese. In a recent study, it was found that 53 percent of adult dogs and 55 percent of adult cats in the United States were classified as being overweight or obese by their veterinarians. Many of these pets were not characterized by their owners as being obese. So in simple terms, fat pets are the new normal in pet ownership.
Even though they may be cute, being overweight may be detrimental to your pets health. These extra pounds can put the pets at risk to other disorders such as painful arthritis, heart disease, breathing difficulty, diabetes and even bladder cancer. Obesity not only affects your pets health but also their quality of life.
Certain pets are more likely to be obese. These factors include but are not limited to:
- Breed—Certain breeds such as the Labrador Retriever, Cocker Spaniels and Cavalier King Charles Spaniels tend to more likely affected.
- Age – Older dogs are less active, have less energy, and require less calories.
- Neutering/ spaying – Clinical trials have shown that the basic metabolism is lower in neutered dogs, so they require less calories.
- Medical Problems – Sometimes weight gain can be associated with a medical problem, so a specific treatment may be required.
- Overfeeding – This tends to be the most common problem. Dogs having an unlimited access to food tend to eat more than they need. Also many commercial foods are loaded with salt and fat to improve the taste. This could make your pet want to gorge.
- Feeding habits – Feeding table scraps and “people food” can lead to obesity
- Lack of exercise – As with people, too much food and too little exercise produces a typical result. Obesity
An owner can assess their pets’ weight at home and contact your veterinarian if you think that you have a problem. To do this, I would suggest the following.
- By running your hands along your pet’s ribcage, you should be able to palpate the ribs covered by a thin layer of fat. If you cannot feel the ribs, that could be a sign of an overweight pet.
- Look at your pet from the side. You should see an upward tuck of the abdomen. An overweight pet will have very little to no tuck.
- View your pet from above. There should be a moderate narrowing at the waist just past the ribcage. A straight or bulging line from the ribcage to the hips can indicate and overweight pet.
- A lot of pets will gain weight in the neck area. So if the collar needs loosening, this may indicate obesity.
The most effective way to achieve a healthy weight is to combine increased exercise with changes in your pet’s food or nutrition program. An exercise program should include walking your dog at a constant pace to help burn calories. The program should also include encouraging it to play in the yard or at home. Tossing a frisbee or a ball can also help burn excess calories. It is important to remember that when starting an exercise program, make sure that you ease into exercise. Because an overweight pet is more prone to injury.
A proper diet is essential for your pets overall health and well-being. Balanced nutrition is an important part of an active, healthy lifestyle. A low fat and low calorie diet is essential in helping your pet lose weight and stay fit. Fiber is also an important ingredient since it helps your dog eat less while keeping full. It is important to avoid table scraps and make sure that you account for the treats when considering how much to feed your pet during meals.
Weight loss is important, and your veterinarian is a good place to start. If your pet is obese, a veterinarian can help rule out ailments that can cause obesity and give you advice what foods might be best for your pet. Monitoring its weight loss is also important. A dog should typically lose about 1 pound per month, so monthly weigh-ins will help determine if the program is working for it.
Most things are easier said than done, but that doesn’t always need to be the case. Remember that you are your pet’s will power and are in control of its health. Allowing it to become obese is detrimental, and we know that you don’t want your pet leaving your side any sooner that it needs to. Maintaining a healthy weight is essential to maintaining a long, healthy life. With time and effort on your pet, it will be happier and healthier than ever.
Three Keys To Water Safety For Dogs
Oh, the sounds of summer! Many people and their pets will spend numerous hours this summer basking on a beach, boating in a lake, or even lounging by a pool in their own backyard. Many pets love being around water, but each year approximately 40,000 pets lose their lives in drowning accidents. You need to look out for your pet around water, since even the strongest, most enthusiastic swimmers can get into trouble. The keys to water safety for dogs are prevention, preparedness and awareness.
Prevention
Believe it or not, not all breeds are Micheal Phelps-type swimmers. For example, the Bassett Hound and English Bulldog just are not built for swimming, so it is important to have a secure fence and gate around your pool and never leave your pet unsupervised.
Make sure that your pet can get out of the pool. If it jumps or falls in, it may panic and drown. Even the strongest swimmers can tire easily.
If you are taking your pet boating or in a river or ocean, it may be wise to invest in a dog floatation device and use it. Just like people, it’s easy for your pet to develop a cramp and become exhausted too far from shore or get overwhelmed by the tides.
Preparedness
Since pools are filled with chemicals that control the water and algae, and lakes and ponds can be a common source for parasites, it may be a good idea to bring fresh drinking water for your pet. The chemicals and parasites can cause your pet to become ill, which may lead to vomiting, diarrhea and other health issues.
One of the best things that you can do is to take courses in pet first aid and CPR. These are available at many local Red Cross chapters and sometimes taught by a local veterinarian. A near-death dog rescued from the water may be saved by your prompt actions—if you know what to do.
As I mentioned before, if your dog isn’t much of a swimmer or is older and debilitated, get him a personal floatation device. These are especially great for family boating trips, because most have study handles for rescue when a pet goes overboard. It is also important to keep a long leash on the boat at all times in case you need to restrain your pet for any reason.
It is also important to bring fresh water to rinse off your pet after swimming to get out the chlorine and other pool chemicals, as well as bacteria and dirt he might get on him from an ocean or lake. Don’t let your dog sit in a wet collar as hot spots can develop as well.
Awareness
Be aware of your dog’s condition as he plays. Remember that even swimming dogs can get hot, so bring fresh water and offer it at every opportunity. When your dog is tiring, call it a day. A tired dog is a good dog, but an exhausted dog is in danger of drowning.
Be particularly careful with young and old dogs. Young dogs can panic in the water and old dogs may not realize that they aren’t as strong as they used to be. Keep them close to shore, and keep swimming sessions short.
During the hot summer, many dogs are drawn to water to cool off and swimming also meet your dog’s exercise needs with a low-impact option of movement. But accidents can happen in a hurry. So try to prevent these accidents by being prepared and aware. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us.
Should I Adopt A Cat Or A Dog?
It is always a good time to adopt pets, but June has been designated cat adoption month. By far the most common pets are dogs and cats. If I asked a person the difference, I would probably get a strange look and an answer like “one barks and growls, where the other meows and purrs.” But there are other differences that affect them as to whether they may be the right pet for your family.
First off, dogs need to be cared for, whereas cats are independent. Dogs are descendants of pack animals. Dogs like company and will never be bored if one spends a lot of time with it. Their pack mentality allows the dogs to be trained more easily as they crave attention. On the other hand, cats love to spend a lot of time alone. Cats are solitary hunters that are more attached to their environment than they are to other cats.
The pack behavior also relates to how a dog is built physically. In the wild they are designed to run down their prey. This translates to dogs being built as long distance runners. Dogs need a lot of space as they love to run around. Cats are designed to stalk their prey. Their instincts lead them to sneak up on their prey and then pounce. This leads to cats being built more as sprinters rather than long distance runners. Contrary to dogs, cats are very happy in small places.
When looking at the nature of dogs and cats, the former loves to please you, but the latter always love to please themselves. Well, dogs are more affectionate when compared to cats. Dogs will wag their tail, and even their whole body, to show affection. A cat will only show affection by allowing you to scratch it behind the ears.
Unlike dogs, cats are lap animals. A cat will tolerate being smooched, but on the other hand, you will be smooched by a dog. Dogs are happy to see you when it is awaken from sleep, but a cat will just pretend to be sleeping, even if you try to wake it.
Dogs tend to be your friends at night and protect you from harms way by scaring the intruders. Cats, they will just run for cover.
By knowing your lifestyle, you can determine what pet is best for you. Dogs are more social, require more attention and space. Cats on the other hand tend to be happy being by themselves and don’t require as much attention and space. Both species can be rewarding pets.
If you have any questions about the right pet for you, please contact our office!
National Poison Prevention Week For Pets
Did you know that the third week of March is designated National Poison Prevention Week? The Pet Poison Helpline wants everyone to remember the four-legged members of your family. About 90% of the calls to the helpline involve dogs because they tend to be more curious, unpredictable, and indifferent to eating just about anything.
Many products that are kept around your house can be toxic to your pet, so it is important to keep the Pet Poison Helpline number to contact if needed. That number is 1-800-213-6680. If an emergency occurs, they are available to help and assist the frantic owner.
As with almost everything else, prevention is best, so here are some pointers to help prevent poisoning. By taking note, this can reduce the exposure to poisons.
- Never give your pet any medications unless specifically instructed to do so by your veterinarian. Tylenol is a common medication to help relieve your headache, but it can be deadly to your pet. As little as one 500mg tablet can kill a cat.
- If you use flea control, always read the label directions for proper application. Never put a flea control product on your cat that is for a dog or vice versa. Permethrin is a product in flea controls that is extremely toxic to cats. As a matter of fact, a few drops can potentially be life-threatening.
- Be aware of some houseplants. They may be pretty, but they can also be toxic to eat or chew on. This is not a problem in human adults, but pets and children love to explore, chew and taste. Plants like oleander, rhododendrom, azaela and yews can affect the heart and be cardiotoxic. Rhubarb can cause kidney damage and some mushrooms can cause liver damage.
- While essential to a car’s cooling system, antifreeze can be fatal to cats and dogs. It is sweet-tasting and as little as one lick can be deadly. It is important to sweep up all spills and keep it locked away from pets. It may be more expensive, but a safe antifreeze alternative could prevent accidental exposure.
- If you apply weed killer or insecticide to your lawn or fertilize your plants or garden, remember to follow label directions for proper applications and do not allow pets access to these areas until the amount of time listed on the label by the manufacturer has passed ant the product has dried thoroughly. Your pet could become exposed by licking its’ paws after walking through treated areas when wet or before access should be allowed.
- Alway store lawn and garden products in areas that are inaccessible to animals such as locked storage sheds or garages. These products can include rodenticides, slug and snail baits, paint, oil and gasoline that are potentially dangerous chemicals to name a few. Rat poisons are a bait to attract the rodent, and this works on rodents as well as pets. Even if it is hidden or seemingly out of your pet’s reach, determined pets may be creative to reach the bait. Also, rodents that have died from the poison and are ingested by pets pose a risk.
- Meat and food scraps mixed with discarded household cleaner containers and other trash are a recipe for disaster on many levels! Even “good pets” who usually don’t get into garbage may get an inclination due to what they smell or if they are bored and hungry. It is important to protect your pets from getting into the trash by securing all your garbage cans with tamper-proof lids. For extra protection, you may want to keep them safely out of reach in the cupboard or shed.
- If you are unsure about proper usage of any product, please call the manufacturer and/or your veterinarian for instructions. It is also helpful to keep hydrogen peroxide or Syrup of Ipecac on hand to induce vomiting if instructed by your veterinarian.
If you suspect that your pet has ingested a potentially poisonous substance, immediately call your veterinarian or the Pet Poison Helpline. Again their number is 1-800-213-6680. In most instances, early detection and prompt treatment may help reduce the risk of developing clinical signs or increase the chances of a successful recovery if signs are present. It will help to note what you think your pet has eaten, when he ingested the substance in question and any problems he is experiencing.
How Do I Know If My Pet Has Rodenticide Toxicity?
With the cold weather upon us, many other four-legged friends such as mice are taking up refuge in our houses trying to keep warm. In order to control this problem, many happen to go to our local hardware store and put out rodenticides. Unfortunately, several of our curious pets may venture upon the “mouse bait” and ingest it. This can cause serious problems which can include death if not noticed and proper treatment received.
There are several different rodenticides such as anticoagulants, bromethalin, and cholecalciferol that are used and they all attack different body systems. So it is important to know the active ingredient so that proper treatment can be implemented.
Signs of rodenticide toxicity do not show up for several days and sometimes are very subtle and unrecognized. The most common sign may be bloody saliva in your pets water bowl. If you suspect that your pet has ingested the poison, it is best to seek medical attention as soon as possible. Take the poison box with you. That way the veterinarian can see which product has been ingested and proper medications will be given. Your veterinarian will want to induce vomiting as soon as possible, including giving activated charcoal to reduce the absorption of it in the stomach. Other products such as Vitamin K, or lasix may be giving depending on the poison. Bloodwork and a urinalysis will be done to assist the veterinarian with the diagnosis and prognosis.
A quick and easy recipe to use for getting your dog to vomit would be to give your dog one to two slices of white bread and then give a mixture that consists of 3 tablespoons of Hydrogen Peroxide, and 1 tablespoon of peanut butter. Wait 10 minutes to see if your pet vomits. If it doesn’t repeat it again.
As the old adage says, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It really holds true here. To create a safer environment for your pet, prevent access to areas where you lay poisons for mice. Keep garage doors shut, cabinets closed, and lock the basement. Never put poison outside near your dog’s run, and should you find dead rodents, remove them immediately. Ingesting a poisoned mouse can be just as toxic as eating the poison from the trap.
If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to contact our office.
Preventing Tick-Borne Disease
Ticks are a world-wide problem. They carry several diseases that can threaten the health of your dog. Such diseases include Ehrlichia, Anaplasma, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and Lyme Disease. These diseases present us with different symptoms and most are difficult to diagnose in the early stages without aggressive diagnostic testing and prompt treatment. Depending on the disease, we can be presented with clinical signs that include lethargy, neurological deficits, deficiencies of all blood elements, high fever, arthritic pain, kidney failure, paralysis, and ultimately death. Early diagnosis and proper treatment is essential for positive outcomes.
In order to prevent tick infestations, we must first understand the ticks environment and life cycle. Environmental prevention is based on what we know about the tick, which seems to be geared toward only two things, reproduction and survival, both of which depend on blood.
An adult female tick gets impregnated by a much smaller male and then engorges itself on the blood of an animal, it falls off and dies after laying a batch of eggs that may number in the thousands. The tiny, six-legged larvae that emerge from the eggs do not all survive, but the ones that do attach themselves for their first blood meal on small mammals like field mice. This is where the trouble can start for dogs if that mouse is a carrier-host for tick-borne disease since ticks are usually not born infected.
After feeding, the larvae molt, become nymphs and gain another pair of legs and the chance to become a carrier if the larger animal they feed on has a tick borne disease or pass infection on if they are already a vector from feeding on the small mammal.
Most ticks will climb on a grass blade or low-hanging tree branch and wait for your pet to come along, holding up their front legs in anticipation of grabbing hold. The ticks have chemoreceptors in sensory organs that act as taste buds on their front legs that they use to find their next meal. They know us by the carbon dioxide that the dogs and we breathe out, moisture, body heat and butyric acid which is a chemical that all mammals give off. So when a dog brushes by a tick, it will latch onto its fur and start looking for a place to attach and feed.
Not all ticks carry disease, but because of the numbers that exist makes sense to do everything possible to protect our dogs from being bitten. The way the tick behaves gives us clues how to keep the ticks away.
Obviously, since ticks like tall grasses and low-hanging tree limbs, it is best to cut the grass and remove the branches. It is also good to keep dogs away from areas where there could be small rodents such as stone walls and wood piles.
You can also spray the surroundings with a mild dish soap like Ivory with a garden sprayer. This detergent will also kill the honey bees, so do this in the evening when they are not around. Ticks do not like sulfur because of the pungent odor to their sensory organs.
There are several preventatives that are on the market that prevent ticks. Most of the good ones contain Amitraz. But do not use the products that contain Amitraz and permethrin on cats because they are toxic to them. Frontline Plus which is made by Merial contains Fipronil which is safe for cats.
The only tick-borne disease that has a vaccine available for prevention is Lyme disease. It works best in young dogs that have never been exposed before and must be given every year. Dogs have been known to get Lyme even though they have been vaccinated. Most veterinary teaching hospitals do not recommend it unless you live in an area where there is a strong likelihood of infection. The ease with which Lyme can be detected and treated may weigh against using the vaccine. Very rarely, dogs can have a reaction to the vaccine which leaves them with all the painful symptoms of Lyme disease but no hope of being cured as there is no disease to fight. Unfortunately, you cannot know if yours will be one of them before you vaccinate. However, many have been vaccinated and suffered no serious reaction and appear to be protected by the vaccine.
The best and safest way to remove a tick is to use a small curved Kelly forceps or a pair of tweezers or one of the tools especially made for the purpose, catch the tick right behind the flattened head as close as possible to the dog’s skin, and pull gently and straight out. Do not ever try to remove a tick with your fingers, burn it, put petrolatum jelly on it, twist it or jerk it. By grasping the tick with your fingers, you risk propelling the infectious saliva from the tick into your dog. After removing the tick drop it in a solution of water and dish soap to kill it.