Goodness knows the lakes needed the heavy rains of the last two weeks, but I am ready for some sunshine, and so are our dogs and outdoor cats. I am seeing a lot of puddles, standing water, & soggy grass instead of rainbows. What I can’t see are some hidden dangers.
Leptospirosis- This is a common bacterial disease in our area. It harbors in the urine of wildlife, and can easily get into our parks and yards. Dog can get exposed by drinking the contaminated water or just even splashing in mucous membranes like eyes. This little spirochete then gets into the bloodstream and can cause liver or kidney failure. Symptoms include fever, nausea, diarrhea, yellow tinge to membranes, and death. And it can then be spread to humans if we get exposed to the urine of infected dogs. Cats rarely get this disease, but cattle can too. The local vet emergency clinic in Flower Mound routinely sees cases of canine Lepto. Fortunately there is a vaccine that we recommend for all dogs in our area, but it only lasts for year.
https://www.avma.org/public/PetCare/Pages/Leptospirosis.aspx
Giardia– All the wetness is a perfect place of lots of intestinal parasites, but especially giardia, which is a protozoa, not a “worm”. It causes mild to moderate diarrhea, soft or mucoid stools, gassiness, and is highly contagious. We see it mostly in puppies or kittens, or families that just got a puppy or kitten. It is highly contagious, and difficult to clear a household. It isn’t controlled with heartworm prevention unlike hookworms, roundworms, and tapeworms. Humans can get giardia too.
https://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/infectious-parasitic/c_multi_giardiasis
Mushrooms– We have all seen mushroom pop up in our lawns after rains. These are just the fruiting bodies of many types of normal fungus that live in our soils, not just one kind. Some can be poisonous (hallucination, excessive salivation, or liver failure), others just cause GI upset. It is best to prevent ingestion. I rarely see mushroom toxicity here in Lewisville. If you suspect toxicity, try to collect a sample of the mushroom when you bring the dog to the vet.
http://americanmushrooms.com/lawnandgarden.htm
Mosquitos (think heartworms)– Hopefully, we all know that mosquitos are the carrier of heartworms, and nasty little blood suckers too. This is another reason to keep your dog and outside cat on year-round heartworm prevention.
https://www.heartwormsociety.org/pet-owner-resources/heartworm-basics
Antifreeze– Good ole ethylene glycol that keeps our car engines from overheating in the summer, and freezing in the winter. Unfortunately, it has a very sweet taste that many dogs and outside cats like. Even a small amount of antifreeze is very toxic to the kidneys and usually causes death. Most of us are very careful if we change our own antifreeze, but it could be a problem in parking lots with standing water where someone else has dripped antifreeze on the pavement. Best not to drink from puddles.
http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/antifreeze/
see our Facebook page about cats hating to get wet
https://www.facebook.com/Garden-Ridge-Animal-Hospital-371475996712/
Category: Dog
#46 Valentine’s Day Doggie Treats
So you want to celebrate this holiday with your best 4 legged friend. But you know that chocolate is “bad” for dogs and cats. Actually, it is the theobromine and fats in chocolate that are bad, toxicity is dose dependent, and dark chocolate is loaded with more theobromine than milk chocolate. So the dose is relative to the size of the dog and the darkness of the chocolate. I have seen large dogs accidentally eat a large amount of chocolate and still be OK. I have seen a basset hound eat a whole big heart shaped box of assorted chocolates, and get a raging case of pancreatitis from the fat ingested that require hospitalization. I have seen a tiny 10 # dachshund eat a 12 oz bar Hershey bar (a potentially toxic dose)and we needed to induce vomiting. But if your dog eats a few M&Ms, it probably isn’t an issue.
That said, it is still safer to make some dog and cat friendly non-chocolate Valentine treats. Here are some recipes.
Carob Doggie Delights- from Dogington Post
Making homemade dog treats is a fun way to let your canine companions know they are your special valentines.
Carob Doggie Delights
1 1/2 Cups Wheat Flour
1/2 Cup Rolled Oats
1/4 Cup Carob Powder
1 Tablespoon ground Flax Seed (Optional)
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 Egg
1/2 Cup Water
1 Tablespoon Honey
Instructions:
In a small bowl combine the wheat flour, rolled oats, carob, flax seed, and baking powder. Set aside. In a separate bowl beat together the egg, water, and honey. Add the dry ingredients and mix until well blended and forms a stiff dough.
Place on floured surface and roll to desired thickness. Cut into heart shapes. Bake at 300 degrees. If rolled to 3/8″ baking time is 30 minutes to 35 minutes.
Tip: Make these valentine dog treats something really special by drizzling with carob. Melt carob chips in the microwave or double boiler and drizzle over treats.
Tuna Catnip Kitty Treats from Joy the Baker.com
1 (5 ounce) can tuna, no salt added and packed in water, drained
1 cup oat flour*
1 large egg
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 heaping tablespoon dried catnip
*It’s easy to make your own oat flour. Simply grind old-fashioned oats in a spice grinder (or a super clean coffee grinder) until it is transformed into a light powder. There you have it — oat flour!
Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade attachment, combine drained tuna, oat flour, egg, olive oil and catnip. Blend until mixture is smooth. It will be thick but pliable and not terribly sticky.
Roll dough into 1/2 teaspoon balls and place on prepared cookie sheet. Use a skewer to press an X-shape into each cookie ball.
Bake cookies for 10 to 12 minutes until they are dried on top and slightly browned. Allow to cool completely before offering to your kitty.
Place treats in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to seven days.
https://www.rover.com/blog/homemade-valentine-dog-treats/
http://www.dogingtonpost.com/valentines-day-dog-treat-recipes/
http://joythebaker.com/2014/01/tuna-catnip-kitty-treats/
#45 This Is Us Spoiler- Feb 8, 2018
I am a big fan of the TV series “This is us”. It has been no secret that the dad, Jack, dies when the triplets are teenagers. But we didn’t know exactly how he died until the show after the Super bowl, last Sunday. Here is the spoiler- it was heart disease, not the fire.
And this is National Heart Month. People wearing red dresses to raise awareness, Valentines and all that.
How is this related to heart disease in pets? Many people don’t know that dogs, cats, and ferrets can get heart disease. Mostly we see congestive heart disease and cardiomyopathy, not myocardial infarctions, aka “heart attacks” like Jack did. Humans do get congestive heart disease 2nd to valvular disease, and some poor young athletes have dropped dead on the playing field with cardiomyopathy that they didn’t even know they had.
What’s the difference? What do all these words mean?
Congestive heart disease is where the blood is not pumped 100% forward through the heart because one or more valves doesn’t close all the way, leading to fluid” backing up”. And the most common valve affected in the mitral valve on the left “high pressure” side of the heart, so it backs blood up to the lungs. This is the most common type of heart disease that I see as a general practitioner. It is usually in smaller dogs, older dogs, and ones that have had some teeth/gum disease. There is definitely a gum disease/valve link. I will usually hear a heart murmur, which is actually the sound of the turbulence of the blood in the leaky valves. It can later progress to the dog coughing on exertion, or when they have been sleeping on one side. When this occurs in humans, they have the option of open heart surgery and valve replacement. The procedure was actually pioneered on dogs as surgery model but it is seldom done on geriatric canine patients. We manage it as clinicians and owners with rest, blood pressure medicines, diuretics to move the fluid away from the lungs, and a drug called pimbobendin (Vetmedin) that helps the heart pump stronger. It replaces the digitalis medicine that we used years ago. Thankfully, I don’t see congestive heart disease in cats, or ferrets. Unfortunately, King Cavalier Spaniels as a breed have a high incidence of congestive heart disease, even at a young age, so there seems to be a genetic component is some breeds.
Cardiomyopathy means disease of heart muscle. The actual muscle becomes weak, stretches out slowly, making it larger and harder to pump blood efficiently. We see it in some breeds of dogs, like Boxers, Dobermans, and some cats like Maine Coons. It is a tragic disease because it is hard to manage and the pets die young. In the 1980s we were seeing a lot of cats of all ages with it. Veterinarians discovered that cats needed a unique amino acid called taurine for heart health, and it was absent in some cat foods. Once that amino acid was added to cat food, this form of cardiomyopathy all but disappeared. Thus we discovered that cats aren’t just little dogs, and you can’t feed them dog food exclusively.
Ferrets also get cardiomyopathy. We haven’t found a genetic or nutritional link in this species, and it is difficult to manage those “big” hearted fellows too.
Heart attacks in pets? Probably not the same underlying coronary artery disease as humans, but they certainly can die suddenly from heart disease of any kind.
I wish I had great news about ways to “cure” heart disease, but I don’t. Pets and people die when the ticker gives out, just like Jack did. And we cry.
For more information:
http://newsroom.heart.org/events/february-is-american-heart-month-6669831
article on mitral insufficiency- http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=1968
canine cardiomyopathy – http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=2496
feline cardiomyopathy- http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=2507