Obestiy A Pet Epidemic Too!!
Did you know that approximately 45% of pets brought to veterinary clinics are overweight? It’s true. These are some guidelines that I follow when determining if a pet needs to go on a diet…
1. Feel your pets rib cage. You should be able to feel individual ribs. If not your pet is overweight.
2. Stand over your pet. Does it have and hourglass figure? If not your pet is overweight.
3. Look at your pet from the side. Is there a tuck at the abdomen? If not your pet is overweight.
These are some quick things that you can do to see if your pet is overweight. Now as for putting your pet on a diet that is another issue. First switch your pet (slowly over a week or two) to a reduced calorie diet. Two of my favorites are R/d by Hill’s or Calorie Control by Royal Canin. Take your pet to your veterinary clinic, talk to the staff there and weigh your pet. Both of these companies offer pamphlets that help to determine what your pet should be eating to lose weight.
Some other tips to help lose the weight are exercise, small frequent meals (so your pet feels full all day instead of being a voracious eater at one meal and hungry the rest of the day), feed carrots or low calorie treats and exercise. Some people ask how can I get my cat to exercise…..sure its easy for the dog people they just have to walk the dog but what about my cat. I offer the following suggestions……
Put the food bowl up or downstairs so your cat has to do the "stair" workout. Use enticing toys like laser pointers, feathers on strings or flicking sticks to get your cat to move around.
Just like with humans it is important to lose the weight at a decent rate. Most will agree that 10% a month in weight loss is a steady rate. I also encourage people to take their pet into their veterinary clinic once a month to get weighed and talk with the staff with regards to any questions you may have or to adjust the amount of food that your pet will get daily.
Remember, losing weight is never easy for humans or pets but with perseverance and the assistance of a good diet and the help of your veterinary staff you can do it and so can your pet.
Tags: pet, dog, cat, healthy pet, obesity
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What is wrong with the SPCA?
A school principal has resigned and could face felony firearm charges after he shot and killed two orphaned kittens on school property last month.
Wade Pilloud, who resigned as principal of the K-12 Indus school, 40 miles west of International Falls, said he shot the kittens to spare them from starving to death after their mother was killed in an animal trap. Associated Press
Amidst all the school shootings a principal decides that shooting 2 kittens is a good idea. What was this man thinking? And what is wrong with taking these 2 kittens to the local SPCA where they could be reared and adopted out?
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Hypoallergenic Cats…..is it true?
A small California biotech company says it is ready to deliver the Holy Grail of the $35 billion pet industry: a hypoallergenic cat. New York Times
In October of 2004 a company called Allerca out of San Diego began a project to produce kittens that do not produce the protiens that most humans are allergic to. These so called "lifestyle" cats are available at cost of $4000. While some may think that this is outrageous others from around the world are hoping to be able to purchase one of these cats. Orders are being taken and the wait time can be a year to two depending on where special homes are found.
Would you pay this amount for a pet? Bets are on the company making a sizable profit.
Tags: cats, allergies, hypoallergenic, breeds
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Yet some more nature on Pender Island…..
Yes we get to see whales and these little darlings…..
You can certainly visit my other blog for more info on where I live and some of the nature that I run into here.
Tags: wildlife, deer, Pender Island
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Canine Parvovirus
Although vaccinations have decreased the number of dogs seen with this sometimes fatal disease this is a reminder to everyone who went through the 70’s and 80’s massive outbreaks of this disease and why vaccines do help control these outbreaks.
Parvovirus is a highly contagious virus that attacks the intestines and causes sloughing of the inner layers of the intestine. The most common symptoms of this disease (the “intestinal form”) are vomiting and diarrhea. Another less common form, the “cardiac form”, occurs in very young pups (less than 8 weeks of age) and attacks the heart muscle, often resulting in sudden death.
Parvovirus is contagious to dogs only—not to cats or people. Any age, breed, or sex of dog could be affected by parvovirus. However, infection with parvovirus does not automatically mean illness. Several factors such as age, environment, stress, parasites, and general health status of each individual dog infected could affect the severity of the disease. The degree of illness could range from very mild to unapparent to very severe, often resulting in death. The disease is usually more severe in young dogs (less than 6 months of age), old dogs, and for some reason black and tan dogs like rotti’s or shepherd or dobermans.
Fecal/oral transmission is how this disease is spread. Now this doesn’t mean that your pet actually has to go outside and eat another dogs stool. Your dog could just walk in the park, contact the virus on the grass and then lick his paws when he gets home. Or you could bring it home on your shoes or hands and your dog could lick those. Parvovirus is very difficult to "kill" in the enviroment and can infect susceptible dogs for as long as 6 months once shed in the stool.
Clinical signs:
Cardiac form (less than 8 weeks of age):
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Sudden death
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Crying, difficulty breathing, gasping for breath
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Extreme depression
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Weakness
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Unwillingness to nurse
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Irregular heartbeat
Intestinal form (any age dog affected, but more severe in puppies):
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Depression
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Loss of appetite
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Fever (usually above 40C)
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Vomiting with or without blood
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Diarrhea with or without blood (more serious if blood present)
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Low white blood cell count (due to immunosuppression)
Treatment is aimed at maintaining the normal body composition and preventing secondary bacterial infection. Because this is a virus, there is NO CURE. Death from parvovirus results from dehydration, overwhelming secondary bacterial infection, blood loss from intestinal hemorrhage, or heart attack from invasion of the heart muscle by the virus.
Early FLUID THERAPY is the most important factor in treating dogs with parvovirus infection. The body is normally about 80% water. Life is NOT possible when 12-15% of the normal body fluids are lost. Intravenous fluids both rehydrate the body and nourish the sick dog.
Additional treatment includes prevention of secondary bacterial infection and drugs to control vomiting and diarrhea. No food or water is given while the dog is vomiting. Repeated laboratory tests are often necessary to monitor your pet’s white blood cell count and state of hydration.
Prevention/Control of parvovirus by sanitation measures alone is extremely difficult because the virus is such a resistant, hardy organism and because it is so easily spread. Contact with other dogs,and especially their stool, should be minimized. Bleach diluted one part to 30 parts water can be used to clean kennels, floors etc in a house or yard that had a dog infected with parvovirus. Vaccinating your dog at the proper intervals will help to minimize risk and contraction of the disease as well.
Guidelines for young puppies:
1. Do not take the puppy to the front yard, park, for a walk around the block, or to pet stores. These are all places where infected dogs have been or presently are.
2. Only have the puppy around adult dogs that YOU KNOW are current on vaccinations. There should be no contact with stray dogs or dogs that you are not sure of.
3. Do not let the puppy be exposed to any other puppies. These pups could be incubating the disease (and therefore be contagious) without showing signs of illness.
4. Always wash your hands after handling any dog.
Vaccinations are the most effective preventive measure for canine parvovirus disease. A properly immunized dog will have circulating antibodies in the blood that will destroy parvovirus following exposure. Dogs remain HIGHLY SUSCEPTIBLE to parvo until 2-4 weeks after the last injection of the immunization series.
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Animals Need Bloodbanks Too!!!!
Frequently pets need blood transfusions too. Some of the common reasons for transfusions that I have run into are parvovirus, acute blood loss from accidents, preventative measures when a dog with a bleeding disorder like auto immune hemolytic anemia needs surgery, bleeding disorders (AIHA) and others. Now you may think it is strange but yes there are animal blood donor banks. Veterinary clinics often do not have a clinic cat or dog that they can draw enough donor blood from so they often call upon one of the larger emergency clinics in the area or blood donor banks.
Dogs and Cats do have blood types:
Dogs have 7 major blood groups. They are labeled as DEA (Dog Erythrocyte Antigen) 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8. The DEA 1 system consists of types 1.1 and 1.2. DEA 1.1 is the most significant type and all donor dogs are tested to determine if they are positive or negative for DEA 1.1
Cats have blood types too. They are different than dogs. Cats have a blood group system called the AB system consisting of 3 blood types which are: A, B and AB.
Donors:
Large breed dogs are the ones used for donation purposes. Once typed a dog can donate once every 3 months to a clinic and approximately 450ml of blood is taken at a time. Cats must weigh over 12 lbs and a smaller amount of blood is taken from them usually at the most 50ml. Most donor clinics do not take blood from cats because they can be quite fractious without sedation so usually a clinic cat or a cat of one of the staff members at a clinic is a donor.
Dog donors cannot be unspayed females or dogs who have had a previous litter of puppies. The reason for this is that a unspayed female dog who has had a litter may create antibodies circulating in her blood. These antibodies may pose a harmful risk to the recipient dog by triggering a severe transfusion reaction.
All donors should have had all their vaccinations up to date as well.
Tags: pets, cat, dog, veterinary
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Overweight Pets
Did you know that approximately 45% of pets brought to veterinary clinics are overweight? It’s true. These are some guidelines that I follow when determining if a pet needs to go on a diet…
1. Feel your pets rib cage. You should be able to feel individual ribs. If not your pet is overweight.
2. Stand over your pet. Does it have and hourglass figure? If not your pet is overweight.
3. Look at your pet from the side. Is there a tuck at the abdomen? If not your pet is overweight.
These are some quick things that you can do to see if your pet is overweight. Now as for putting your pet on a diet that is another issue. First switch your pet (slowly over a week or two) to a reduced calorie diet. Two of my favorites are R/d by Hill’s or Calorie Control by Royal Canin. Take your pet to your veterinary clinic, talk to the staff there and weigh your pet. Both of these companies offer pamphlets that help to determine what your pet should be eating to lose weight.
Some other tips to help lose the weight are exercise, small frequent meals (so your pet feels full all day instead of being a voracious eater at one meal and hungry the rest of the day), feed carrots or low calorie treats and exercise. Some people ask how can I get my cat to exercise…..sure its easy for the dog people they just have to walk the dog but what about my cat. I offer the following suggestions……
Put the food bowl up or downstairs so your cat has to do the "stair" workout. Use enticing toys like laser pointers, feathers on strings or flicking sticks to get your cat to move around.
Just like with humans it is important to lose the weight at a decent rate. Most will agree that 10% a month in weight loss is a steady rate. I also encourage people to take their pet into their veterinary clinic once a month to get weighed and talk with the staff with regards to any questions you may have or to adjust the amount of food that your pet will get daily.
Remember, losing weight is never easy for humans or pets but with perseverance and the assistance of a good diet and the help of your veterinary staff you can do it and so can your pet.
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Let me introduce myself……..
My name is Lorraine and I have been an animal health technologist for 15 years. I have worked in various veterinary clinics in Canada and thought that I would use this forum to bring information to people about and for their pets. I hope you like the site and find it and the information useful. Thanks for visiting.
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Societies that help out pets
Here in Victoria we have quite a number of societies that help the less fortunate with spaying/neutering/caring for their cats. I have 2 problems with this.
1. People who can actually afford getting surgeries performed on their pets use/abuse these programs. for example we had a client phone and book an appointment to have her cat neutered. Then she said to our receptionist "don’t tell them that I have a husband if they (the society) ask, because then we won’t qualify for assistance. Then when they dropped the cat off for his appointment they pulled up in a new truck and were both wearing quite nice clothing.
The societies really need to screen better. I know that the societies are run by volunteers but some sort of check should really be done prior to people getting any assistance. As it stands right now all people do is phone, give a sob story and then they get help. Our clinic also offers people a lower cost on spaying and neutering if they are society assisted. For example a neuter for a regular cat is $80 while a society assisted price is $40 minus the money that a society gives (usually $25) so the owner only pays $15. Pretty damn cheap and it really yanks my chain when the owners complain about that.
2. Because the societies are taken advantage of they also have less money to go to those people who are in dire need of help. I know that yes people who can’t afford pets shouldn’t have them yada yada yada but you know what……what if that cat was the only thing that a parent could give their child for a birthday present? and they got it for free from a dumpster…..yes we’ve had that happen. I really feel empathy for those who really are having hard times and cannot afford food for their family let alone their pets. So if less people took advantage of the societies maybe those who really need the money would get help.
Victoria Cat Rescue , Greater Victoria Animal Crusaders
Tags: help, animals, pets, neutering, spaying, societies
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Flea Control – Cats
Just a little warning for all you cat owners out there. I work at a veterinary clinic and have done so for the past 15 years. We had a cat come in last week that had a severe reaction to Advantage-Multi being applied wrong by the owner. It is very important to apply the medication at the base of the skull. Not between the shoulder blades like other flea control products like Revolution. Because the owners applied the Advantage at a lower point the cat was able to turn around and lick the area and Advantage Multi is not meant to be orally consumed. The cat presented to the clinic with the following clinical signs: fever, tachycardia, unable to walk and vomiting. We placed the cat on IV fluids, started some medications and general nursing care and the cat made a full recovery but if the owners had not noticed what was happening with their pet they may have lost her.
For cats: apply onto the skin at the base of the skull. Be careful not to apply it too low or your cat may be able to lick off the solution. Although this won’t harm your cat, it doesn’t taste good and it could lower the effectiveness of the treatment.
http://www.nofleas.ca/english/how/easy.asp
So please owners read the labels, read the directions and if you don’t understand them please ask one of your veterinary clinic staff.
Tags: pets, cats, medications, veterinary, clinic
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