pet connection

Update: You can see the video here. Dr. Becker’s information is at the end of the piece.

Our Dr. Marty Becker will be live from the North Idaho Animal Hospital — where he works when he’s not traveling — at 7:30 a.m. on “Good Morning America” Mondaythis morning, talking about common-sense measures all pet-lovers should take to minimize the risk of catching something from a pet. (He’ll be at the hospital at 4:30 a.m. PT to make the 7:30 a.m. ET time slot!)

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Petsmart is being sued by a Houston family who says a cockatiel sold by the chain killed a family member. The story:

Joe De La Garza Sr., 63, died in 2006 of psittacosis, also known as parrot fever, caught from a bird purchased at the store, family members argue in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in state district court, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times reported Wednesday. [...] Houston attorney Ron Franklin, who is representing three of De La Garza’s children in the lawsuit, said they are not suing for money but only to require PetSmart to stop selling cockatiels and other similar birds, as well as to spread public awareness about potential human contraction of psittacosis from birds.

Petsmart denies a link between the death and the bird. On their Web site, they have a new media release discussing in general what the chain does to prevent their birds having the disease. The courts will have to sort this one out, but the story is spreading like crazy. Since our Dr. Becker just completed a “Good Morning America” segment on how to protect yourself from diseases that can be caught from pets, we’ve had media interest in interviewing him.

Of course it’s a shocking thing for someone to die from an infectious disease caught from a pet, and we could not be more sorry for any family so tragically hit. But it’s always essential to keep risk in context and be aware that a handle of common-sense measures reduce most of the risk of contracting anything from your pet. Despite the sudden media interest, a human death from psittacosis is rare — the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports fewer than 50 confirmed cases of the disease in the United States since 1996.

The risk is low, in other words, and can be made even lower by:

• Buying pets from reputable sources. For birds, you can ask a veterinarian who specializes in avian care to recommend a rescue group, reputable bird shop or breeder. Failing that, look for a bird from a source that follows the Model Aviculture Program, a national voluntary program for the certification of aviculturists through inspection by avian veterinarians.
• Keeping the pet’s area clean. Psittacosis can remain viable in dried bird dropping for a long time, but regular cleaning and sanitation will kill the bacteria. Change cage papers daily, at least, along with food and water dishes. Wipe down any fouled areas with a damp cloth with sanitizing solution (ask your bird’s veterinarian for a product recommendation that’s safe for your pet). Wash dishes in hot soapy water, rinse and allow to air-dry, and scrape and wash perches regularly as well. Replace toys on a regular basis, sooner if they become covered with poop and cannot be cleaned.
• Washing your hands after handling your bird or cleaning his cage or the area around it. When it comes to staying healthy overall, you just can’t wash your hands enough. (Don’t forget to sing “Happy Birthday” to yourself while you soap up to make sure you keep the suds on your skin long enough.)
• Making sure your pet is healthy and stays healthy by working with your veterinarian to be sure all preventive-care measures are taken as recommended. This is good for both you AND your pet!

As our Dr. Becker likes to say, “”Get rid of the risk, keep the pet.” You’re much more likely to catch something from another person than from your pet.

Along the same lines, you may want to listen in to a radio interview Dr. B’s doing tonight, on the subject of diseases that can be passed from pets to people. If you’re in San Francisco, tune in to KGO 810 at 8:05 p.m PT. tonight. If you’re anywhere else, listen in on ‘net.

The Bird Channel has just posted a good piece on psittacosis, by the way.

Every so often, something sets the chickens off, usually just around dawn. They put up such a cackling commotion that if I’m not already awake I soon will be, and so will the neighbors. (Fortunately for us all, these morning alarm events are rare and quickly quieted.)

The first time it happened, I rushed out to find a stray dog on the neighbor’s acreage behind me. She was clawing at the fence boards with determination, and the hens were bunched at the other end of the enclosure, making quite the ruckus. I went out the back gate to see if I could catch the dog (a cattle-dog cross, by the look of her), but she was not having it. She ran down the edge of the property and slipped out the gap she’d come in. Subsequent attempts to catch her on the street proved equally futile, and she she finally disappeared.

Once she was gone, the chickens settled down quickly. The next couple of times I never could figure out what set them off, but as soon as I investigated and told them all was well, they were just fine.

I’m starting to think of these moments as vignettes from some almost-forgotten movies, where there’s a farm couple in bed and a ruckus outside. “Ma, there’s a fox in the henhouse,” says Pa. “Hand me my shotgun.”

I’ve never seen a fox here, and I figure in most cases — the stray dog aside — a raccoon is the reason for the ruckus. We see those commonly enough, and they’re one of the reasons why the chicken area has heavy-grade wire, even on the top.

No clue what got the girls riled up this morning. I ran outside and looked around, but it wasn’t even a full-fledged panic — the sedate Ameracunas were still asleep in the coop, with Agatha the white Delaware and Charlotte the Plymouth Rock leading the remaining hens in the panic brigade.

“It’s OK girls!” I said brightly, and they continued their clucking as they apparently shared this information, deciding whether or not to believe me. And then, they trooped back to the food container, and that was that.

(Pictured: Charlotte, who shares flock leadership chores with Agatha.)

Very rarely does a media release come in offering information that’s original and interesting. So hats off to the folks at Hagen, who did some research, had some fun and offered up this classic, with information that I bet few pet-lovers know:

This year, the pet hamster turns 70.  That’s past Social Security age, and almost as old as John McCain, but it’s not old enough to slow down this adorable little critter, which has seen its popularity as a pet jump 41 percent since 2001. It’s only fitting that during this special year, Rolf C. Hagen, Inc., maker of the Habitrail, the world’s most famous pocket pet product, has come out with some exciting new hamster products.
 
We know the exact age of the pet hamster, because unlike dogs, cats and every other companion animal, which became domesticated over a long period of time after gradually shedding their wild ways, the Syrian hamster (which is what the vast majority of pet hamsters are) came into our homes directly from the laboratory.
 
In fact, up until the 1970s virtually every Syrian hamster sold as a pet in this country was a direct descendent of a single breeding pair from a lab at a Jerusalem school.. Saul Alder, a researcher at Hebrew University (he translated Darwin’s Origin Of Species into Hebrew), is indirectly responsible for giving us the pet hamster. He obtained the first colony of captive bred Syrian hamsters to use in his medical research in the early ‘30s.  Prior to that time the Syrian hamster was an obscure wild animal.
 
In July 1938 a dozen of Adler’s hamsters were sent to the Public Health Service laboratory in Carville, Louisiana. Not long after that a small number of the descendents of this group made the leap from lab animal to house pet with the help of a gambler-highway engineer from Mobile, Alabama named Albert Marsh. He won a Syrian hamster in a bet and became so taken with the animal that he set up a breeding farm to promote hamsters as pets.
 
Marsh published a book on hamster care that had at least six printings and tirelessly promoted the little animals across the country following World War II. His timing couldn’t have been better, as the baby boom created a huge demand for small “first pets” for children.
 
The hamster boom was responsible for the creation of one of the most famous pet products in history. In fact, it may be the only pet product with a brand name that’s become generic — Habitrail. 
 
Do a Google search of “Habitrail,” and you’re bound to find references to the word being used describe any modern tubular structure from subway passages to walkways in parking structures and shopping districts.  The word “Habitrail” has become to architecture what Xerox has to copying printed documents, or iPod has to MP3 personal music device.
 
The Habitrail was introduced to the world by the MetalFrame Company, which was acquired by Mattel in 1969. Apparently Barbie and Ken weren’t keen on keeping hamsters, and the rights to manufacture the Habitrail were purchased by Rolf C. Hagen, Inc. of Montreal, the world’s largest privately owned pet product manufacturer.

Here’s a link to more on the company’s new Habitrails. 

The Fresno State Bulldogs won the College World Series, and congratulation to the hot dawgs down valley. Their win reminded me of canine college mascots. I did an article on this topic, years ago, and I’m going to try to remember all the major ones.

The best known is arguably the “other” Bulldog mascot, at the University of Georgia. Uga plays center stage at every UGA football game, and even had a pretty major presence in the book, “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” (One of my all-time favorite reads, by the way, since I love Savannah. Or loved what Savannah used to be, before The Book put it on the map.)

So … Georgia Bulldogs. Fresno Bulldogs. Yale Bulldogs. Lots of others. Bulldogs definitely rule as canine college mascots.

The next best-known college dog mascot in the non-Bulldog division would probably be Smokey, the Bluetick Coonhound at the University of Tennessee. Close behind? Reveille, the Collie at Texas A&M. Huskies at the University of Connecticut and the University of Washington. The Boston Terrier at Boston U.

My favorite? The Salukis the University of Southern Illinois. I mean, really, a Bulldog would be great on the line, but a Saluki would be a swift wide receiver.

And hey, what’s a matter with a Labrador? Go Fighting Labs!

Cats? Don’t know of any domestic cat college mascots, but lots of Tigers and Bobcats, the first most notably Mike at the Louisiana State University.

Did I miss any of the big ones? Put ‘em in the comments.

Dogs who are taking the flea preventive drug Comfortis (spinosad) at the same time they are being given high dosages of the drug ivermectin, such as those used in the treatment of demodetic mange, are at risk of ivermectin toxicity.

The maker of the drug, Eli Lilly’s companion animal health division, does not believe that there is any risk to using the regular heartworm-prevention dose of ivermectin with Comfortis; the daily dosages used to treat some stubborn cases of demodetic mange are as much as 100 times the monthly dosage used to prevent heartworm infection. In an informational release, the company cited a supporting field study that involved hundreds of dogs (PDF file):

The administration of Comfortis and approved canine formulations of ivermectin at doses labeled for heartworm prevention has been tested and shown to be safe, including in a North American field trial involving over 450 dogs that were required to be on monthly heartworm prevention throughout the three-month study. Laboratory work has found that, even at doses of 5 times the monthly dose of spinosad combined with 10 times the monthly dose of milbemycin oxime in ivermectin-sensitive collies, there were no signs of neurotoxicity (Sherman et al., publication pending).

The FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine is advising that the two drugs not be prescribed at the same time.

Ivermectin toxicity can be fatal and requires immediate veterinary care. Early signs include vomiting, weakness, drooling, tremors and coma. Dogs also often become blind, although this is usally reversible.

With aggressive veterinary care including hospitalization with round-the-clock nursing, most dogs will recover.

High-dose use of ivermectin is considered “extra-label,” which means a use of an approved drug to treat an illness for which it has not been approved. Such use is legal under the Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act of 1996; without extra-label prescribing, half or more of the drugs used in veterinary medicine every day would be unavailable, including most antibiotics.