pet connection

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When I was living in rural northern Florida almost a decade ago, there was nothing to see except the night sky. Electronic media was pretty iffy, and although that took some getting used to, I eventually stopped noticing when the cable was up or down and just left the TV off.

My entertainment was the sound of the surf and the sight of the night sky — and a good book, usually. With almost no light pollution — this was really, really rural — the stars were everywhere. Honestly, I never knew a sky could look like that!

Since moving back to an urban/suburban environment, I can’t see the stars anymore. But now and then, I sure notice the moon.

Did you see it this week?

When I saw the above illustration, by Canadian artist Liz Saunders, I looked up at the moon and was back among the stars again. And in the moon, I saw … my girl Heather.   Visit the Blazingstar online shop for more.

After hearing about a recent PetSmart recall of beef hoove chews contaminated with salmonella from the indefatigable Therese Kopiwoda at PetSitUSA, I found myself launching into one of my regularly scheduled rants about “voluntary” recalls.

Every freaking press release, from industry or from FDA, uses that same meaningless phrase: a “voluntary recall” — as if there’s any other kind, considering that the FDA doesn’t have mandatory recall authority.

And then I was caught mid-rant when something completely different popped into the old email inbox: a warning from the FDA that no one should buy other treats made by the same company that manufactured the treats in the PetSmart recall, because they, too, were probably contaminated with salmonella:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is issuing this health alert to warn consumers not to use Pig Ears and Beef Hooves pet treats manufactured by Pet Carousel because the products may be contaminated with Salmonella. The products were distributed nationwide in both bulk and retail packaging for sale in pet food and retail chain stores. Pet Carousel is based in Sanger, Calif.

The products were manufactured under conditions that facilitate cross-contamination within batches or lots. Although no illnesses associated with these products have been reported, the FDA is advising consumers in possession of these products to not handle or feed them to their pets.

The affected pig ear products were packaged under the brand names Doggie Delight and Pet Carousel. The affected beef hooves were packaged under the brand names Choo Hooves, Dentley’s, Doggie Delight, and Pet Carousel. All sizes and all lots of these products made by Pet Carousel are included in this alert.

During September 2009, the FDA conducted routine testing of pig ears made by Pet Carousel. The test results detected a positive reading for Salmonella. This prompted an FDA inspection of Pet Carousel’s manufacturing facilities. During the inspection, the agency collected additional pet treat samples. Further analysis found Salmonella present in beef hooves, pig ears and in the manufacturing environment.

I guess a “health alert” is about as strong an action as our current FDA can take. Which raises the question: When will Pet Carousel issue a “voluntary” recall of its own?

However much the “voluntary” thing makes my head explode, at least PetSmart sent out a press release and recalled the treats. Good for them. Of course I’d rather they weren’t selling contaminated treats in the first place (and I bet they do, too), but bad things do happen, and the way you tell the good businesses from the bad is how they react when they do.

A lesson everyone in the pet food industry should take to heart. The sooner the better.

Although I’m not exactly holding my breath.

Spammers waste no time, I’ll tell you what.

We are already getting comments posted (thanks, spam filter!) and e-mails in our in box trying to sell snake oil to “prevent” or “cure” H1N1 in pets.

The FDA has been on these scammers since last summer. Seems now the crooks are just tossing a “pet” label on the old inventory and trying to get scared pet-owners to buy it.

Check out the FDA’s information section.

Update: Great read in the NYT Well blog about how the H1N1 cat was diagnosed. Veterinarians are an essential part of our public-health system, and it’s good to see them getting some attention and respect for their work in this area.

With the news yesterday about a cat in Iowa who contracted the H1N1 virus from other family members, it’s certain there’s no more timely topic than the one our Dr. Marty Becker already had lined up for today’s “The Dr. Oz Show.” (Check for local times and listings.)

Although the H1N1/feline story broke after the segment was taped, the bottom line remains the same: Get rid of the risk and keep the pet.

Over on the  PawNation site. Helena Sung wrote a good overview of the segment:

On Thursday’s episode of The Dr. Oz Show, Dr. Becker (of “Good Morning America” fame) talks about diseases you can catch from your dogs and cats. “Because we’re living more intimate lives with our pets – hugging and kissing our pets, and sleeping with them at night — we’re at more risk for catching certain zoonotic diseases from our dogs and cats,” Dr. Becker tells Paw Nation.

Foremost among those diseases come from MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), parasites and ringworm. The bacteria MRSA is resistant to many antibiotics. A study found that a full 50% of the houses that researchers inspected had MRSA lurking on kitchen and faucet handles, drains, and on high chairs and trash cans. The common denominator was pet cats. “Cat owners are eight times more likely to have MRSA in their homes,” says Dr. Becker. Moreover, the bacteria was “ping-ponging back and forth between humans and pets.”

Another alarming fact? “About 600 U.S. children lose their eyesight each year due to roundworm larvae,” says Dr. Becker, “which they contract from soil that has contaminated dog feces, which doesn’t have to be from your dog, but from any dog feces off the street.” With respect to parasites, Dr. Becker points out that our pets can bring deer ticks into the home, which can cause Lyme disease in humans.

Who is most at risk for contracting zoonotic diseases? “The very young, the very old, and those with weakened immune systems from HIV or chemotherapy, and pregnant women,” Dr. Becker says.

Before you banish your pet from the house or vow to keep them at arm’s length, Dr. Becker points out that the goal is to get rid of the risk, not the pet. “If you lose the intimacy, you lose the healing power of pets,” he says.

Read the rest, and check your local listings — you may still be able to catch today’s airing of “The Dr. Oz Show.”  Our Dr. Becker also suggests a review of the petsandparasites.org site for information on how keeping pets healthier keeps people healthier.

Update: ABC News interviewed our (OK, and Purdue’s) Dr. Tony Johnson after he and Christie collaborated on the story for this blog. From the ABC News site:

This could be a thing that just fizzles out but it also has the potential for huge impact,” said Tony Johnson, a clinical assistant professor at the Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine. “We have these little fuzzy things living in our house that could be vectors for nasty diseases.”

Johnson isn’t so worried that cats will spread the flu to humans: “Most influenza viruses are not going to kill you,” he said.

Rather, he worries cat owners might abandon their animals at the first sign of a sniffle.

“I think that’s what’s going to wig people out,” Johnson said. “I don’t want to see the shelters filled with cats and dogs tomorrow.”

Neither do we, Dr. T. Neither do we.

A dog rescued many years ago, found as an emaciated stray with baling wire wrapped around her snout, repaid my friend last week by saving her life.

Thanks to a liver transplant a couple of years ago, Linda Mawhinney is getting back to a fairly normal state of health after years of creeping towards becoming terminally ill. She uses a pump for her diabetes, and just recently began working full time again. This past August I saw Linda for the first time in years. She lives in a suburb of Vancouver. She has been too ill to travel, and I just hadn’t made it out there in a long time.

Emma, an 11-year old shepherd mix, woke Linda up around 3 a.m. to tell Linda she wanted to go out. Linda staggered out to the kitchen aiming for the room behind it, which has the door to the back yard. Emma simply stopped by the kitchen counter and refused to budge. Groggy as all get out, Linda thought Emma wanted food, but her dish was full. Emma kept looking at the kitchen counter and then at Linda, then back to the counter, then back to Linda.

I can just see Emma doing this. She is one smart cookie.

“Eventually, I realized that my vision was quite blotchy and what she was indicating was my glucometer,” said Linda in an e-mail to me. The glucometer was on the kitchen counter where Emma was staring. Linda checked her blood sugar and found it dangerously low at 25 when normal is 90 to 140 (or 1.5 from a normal range of 5.2 to 7.6).

“If it had dipped any lower I would have blacked out completely,” said Linda, whose new job is a patient advisor for diabetics. “I started eating Dex4 tablets and Emma went outside, where it was raining heavily.  Normally when it’s raining, she runs out and pees and then dashes back in the house.  Not this night.  She lay down in the grass for 15 minutes.  This is significant because I have been known, in a hypoglycemic stupor, to take a couple of Dex4 tablets and go back to bed without checking to make sure it’s coming up and have subsequently tanked.  After about 15 minutes, she came back in and again went to the counter where the glucometer was.  I tried to get her to go down the hall to the bedroom, but she wouldn’t go until I had taken my blood again and told her that it was okay.”

Linda’s pump had been sending out noisy beeping alarms, but that night both Linda and her husband John (years ago I nicknamed him St. John) slept through them. It’s impossible to know if Emma was responding to the alarm or to a scent indicating a problem, but she not only knew something needed to be done immediately, she also figured out how to do it.

It’s frightening to think that without Emma, Linda could have died from this one episode after nearly dying two years ago (she was the sickest person her transplant surgeon had ever seen who survived).  Linda’s health issues began almost 15 years ago, around the time I met her through an Internet dog list, and she is one hell of a survivor. I’ve never seen anyone that ill who had such an upbeat attitude every step of the way. In all the years I’ve known her, she’s only cried once that I know of, and not because she was sick or nearly dying: she cried because one of her dogs died in her arms while she was home alone and too sick to race the dog to the vet. Knowing that the dog wouldn’t have survived even if she’d been seen immediately never took away the pain.

At one point Emma was one of several rescued dogs in the house, but because of Linda’s health issues, Emma has been the only pet in the house for a while. Emma wasn’t there the last time I was, so this was the first time I met her. She’s an absolute doll. I took a lot of photos of them, and many of Emma, trying to show how happy she is despite the reasons for the scar around her snout. Linda and Emma have always had an emotional connection that went beyond the one she had with her other beloved dogs.  It’s no surprise to the people who know them that Emma would be the dog to save Linda from a dangerous glucose drop; it would have been Emma if there were ten dogs in the house.

Emma is clearly getting a bit stiff these days, and her gait isn’t quite what it used to be. She has been totally content for years, and is an easy-going, affectionate girl. Whoever cruelly left her to starve with wire wrapped around her snout so that she couldn’t eat will surely get what he or she deserves in this world. Thankfully, Linda and Emma have always deserved each other, and now they have saved each other.