Month: June 2019

117 Why do Small Pets Chew?

This is straight off the Oxbow website. They are THE company for “munchkin” herbivorous pocket pets like rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, and mice.
The continuously-growing or “open rooted” teeth of rabbits, guinea pigs, and chinchillas are designed to keep up with the continual wear caused by the natural, high fiber diet of small herbivores. In the wild, your animal would munch on grasses, branches, bark, and any number of other hard, fibrous materials throughout the day. In captivity, it’s essential to provide ample materials to satisfy this instinctual behavior and prevent dental overgrowth.

Chewing Checklist for Your Small Pet
High Fiber Hay
Satisfying your pet’s chewing instincts starts with hay. Every small herbivore should have unlimited access to fresh, high fiber hay each day. Hay is the primary source of fiber in your pet’s diet; in addition to providing essential dental wear, the fiber in hay is responsible for keeping your pet’s digestive system healthy and moving. Without this constant motion, your pet’s digestive system can quickly fall into a dangerous state called gastrointestinal stasis.
Safe, Natural Chews
Hay is great, but it’s essential to provide additional fun chewing options to keep your pet mentally stimulated and engaged. To accomplish this, provide a variety of safe, natural chews each day. Place these items in various locations throughout the habitat, rotating chews regularly to keep your pet mentally stimulated. Ideal materials for chews include untreated wood, hay, natural fibers such as sisal, jute, and vegetable-based dyes.
Woven-Hay Hideouts
In addition to their chewing instinct, all prey animals are wired to hide away to escape stressors throughout the day. Every habitat should include at least one hide space to support this instinct. Choose a woven-hay hideout such as Oxbow’s Timothy CLUB Bungalow to make this experience even more enriching. In addition to a safe space to hide, Timothy Club Bungalows provide an ample supply of all-natural chewing materials.

Tips for Chew-Proofing Your Home
Wires and cords
Electrical wires and cords pose a serious threat to the health of chew-happy animals such as rabbits and guinea pigs. Take special care to keep these items out of your pet’s reach. Exercise pen fencing makes a great barrier to areas where cords and wires might be present. Plastic split-length tubing is available at most hardware stores and makes a great protective cover for cords in areas where it might not be possible to eliminate your pet’s access.
Houseplants
By nature, your small pet will instinctively want to forage on any green, leafy material available, including houseplants. Some houseplants can be poisonous to small pets, so make sure to keep all plants elevated and out of reach. If you are concerned about whether any of your plants might be poisonous, be sure to check with your veterinarian.
Furniture, Carpet, Etc.
For rabbits, guinea pigs, and other small pets allowed to roam the house, it can be very difficult and frustrating to prevent damage to furniture, carpet, and other “tempting to chew” elements of home décor. The best way to prevent this type of damage is to offer better, more interesting options. Provide a variety of all-natural chews, toys, and play centers throughout your pet’s living space to help prevent destructive chewing behaviors.

Benefits of Chewing Include:
• Provides essential, beneficial dental wear
• Offers mental stimulation throughout the day
• Promotes play and activity that help prevent obesity
• Prevents boredom-based behaviors
• Helps build your bond with your pet

Check out Oxbow’s new line of toys- Enriched Life- the video is very cute.
https://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/blog/all-about-chewing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk6v3qljUkM&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv3zr7bhtRc&feature=youtu.be

116 “Zombie” deer disease- CWD

You may have heard of a weird disease in deer called the “Zombie” deer disease, which is really Chronic Wasting Disease ( CWD). This is a contagious always-fatal neurologic disease affecting cervids (deer, elk and moose), that is contributing to declines in herds and raising the possibility of local extinctions. It has been identified for 40 years in Western states, but recently has been popping up occasionally in Texas in mule deer on the New Mexico border and some captive fancy deer herds near San Antonio. It is not in our native white tail deer population yet.

What it is? CWD belongs to a group of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). Within this family of diseases, there are several other variants that affect domestic animals: scrapie, which has been identified in domestic sheep and goats for more than 200 years, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle (also known as “mad cow disease”), and transmissible mink encephalopathy in farmed mink.Several rare human diseases are also TSEs. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) occurs naturally in about one out of every one million people worldwide. Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (v-CJD) has been associated with the large-scale outbreak of BSE in cattle herds in Great Britain.

What are symptoms? It causes a characteristic spongy degeneration of the brains of infected animals resulting in emaciation, abnormal behavior, loss of bodily functions and death. While yearlings and even fawns can contract CWD (often getting the disease in utero from their mother), late-stage CWD symptoms are usually only visible in adult animals because of CWD’s long incubation period (usually around 18 months but may be as long as two years). In most cases, animals with CWD show no visible, outward symptoms of the disease for all but the last few months of the disease’s cycle. Thus, the majority of infected animals are virtually impossible to distinguish from healthy, non-infected animals. Because CWD affects the neurological system of an infected animal first, other causes of mortality (predators, vehicle collisions, other diseases) usually remove the animals from the population far before outward signs of the disease become apparent.
However, if an infected animal survives to the final stage of this always-fatal disease, the most obvious and consistent clinical sign is emaciation. CWD affected animals continue to eat but amounts of feed consumed are reduced, leading to gradual loss of body condition. Excessive drinking and urination are also common in the terminal stages.
Behavioral changes also occur in the majority of cases of late-stage CWD, including decreased interactions with other animals, listlessness, lowering of the head, blank facial expression and repetitive walking in set patterns. In elk, behavioral changes may also include hyper-excitability and nervousness. Excessive salivation, drooling and grinding of the teeth also are observed. This is where it got the “zombie” nickname.

Why is it important? CWD poses serious problems for wildlife managers and the implications for free-ranging deer and elk are significant. Where it occurs, CWD alters the management of wild deer and elk populations. Ultimately, perceptions about human health risks associated with all TSE’s may erode hunter’s confidence and their willingness to hunt in areas where CWD occurs. This would be a huge hit to Texas deer hunters if people were afraid to eat venison.

Can humans get it? Scientists don’t think so, but health and wildlife officials advise caution. Hunters are encouraged not to consume meat from animals known to be infected. In addition, hunters should take common sense precautions when field dressing and processing deer or elk taken in areas where CWD is found.

How can we control/prevent it? Migrating wild animals are hard to control. States are trying to stop cervids from crossing state lines, running surveillance programs and vaccines are being developed. The latest in vaccine testing was in my vet news this week, but it wasn’t 100% effective in the test cases.

For more information:
http://cwd-info.org/faq/
https://www.cdc.gov/prions/cwd/index.html
https://www.avma.org/News/JAVMANews/Pages/170815a.aspx
https://www.avma.org/News/JAVMANews/Pages/180915l.aspx
https://www.avma.org/News/JAVMANews/Pages/190701l.aspx

115 New Kidney Test

We are now able to run the new kidney function test, symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA), in house instead of sending it out. The new renal biomarker identifies the onset of kidney disease months or even years earlier than traditional methods. Last year, SMDA was included in our October senior bloodwork special that we sent out to Idexx, our reference laboratory.

In a recent clinical study, Oregon State University researchers showed that SDMA identified disease much earlier in the disease progression, when the kidney had suffered far less damage that results in permanent loss of function—up to four years earlier in at least one animal. Typically, a diagnosis is made when 75% of kidney function has been irreversibly lost, at which point, the prognosis can be poor. However, on average, SDMA detected kidney disease when only 40% of function had been lost and, in some cases, 25% of function.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a leading cause of suffering and death in cats and dogs. In time, one in three cats and one in 10 dogs will develop some form of the disease. Certain risk factors might make pets more likely to develop kidney disease, such as Lyme disease, kidney stones, infections, toxins, injuries, genetic abnormalities, cancer and others. Warning sign might be very subtle like drinking more, urinating more, weight loss, vomiting, and bad breath. Early diagnosis can be a key in identifying the base cause of kidney disease. This provides more time to treat the underlying cause or to slow progression of the disease. It may also help your pet feel well for as long as possible.

Until today, kidney disease has been routinely diagnosed in part by measuring blood creatinine. However, creatinine alone cannot detect kidney disease until late in the disease process, limiting the opportunity to extend the life of the pet through treatment options. This new SDMA kidney test may help us to identify chronic kidney disease in cats and dogs months or even years earlier than before.

For more information, pethealthnetwork.com

114 Volunteer Opportunities

I have bumped into several clients and former clients this week who have no pets or have room for more pets in their life, but don’t want to adopt a new one for life. These people are realistic about the time demands of a new dog or planning on traveling soon, but feel a hole in their lives right now. I have a suggestion: Volunteer!

The City of Lewisville Animal Services has an active Volunteer program with formal training and background checks, starting as young as 16 years old with a signed parental waiver. Volunteers are allowed to do housekeeping chores, handle and socialize animals, provide needed human contact, interact with future adopters, and ultimately even “jog a dog”.  Check out their Facebook page.

For more information: https://www.cityoflewisville.com/about-us/city-services/animal-services/volunteer-with-animal-services

Breed rescue groups are always looking for temporary foster homes. I find many clients that LOVE a specific breed and know its idiosyncrasies make great foster families while the parent organization does the work to find a forever home. So if you love Golden Retrievers or Shelties, find their local rescue group, go through their process, and schedule fosters on your time frame. Win for you, win for foster pet, and a win for the rescue group.

The ultimate foster is to be a puppy raisers fora service dog. We actually have a national organization called Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) with an office in Last Colinas in Irving. This is a big commitment since you will raise their lab/golden mix puppy for 12-18 months to adulthood with basic training, CCI competes their specialized training, and then they are matched to a disabled person free of charge for their forever home. This would be an ultimate act of giving.