pet connection

What do rubber squeaky toys, shiny jewelry, and potting soil all have in common?

They are all foreign objects that various species of exotic pets commonly ingest. These are just a few items that we see exotic animals inappropriately consume. Even everyday objects found in our homes, like carpeting, towels, and plastic bags can be easily ingested by exotic species. These objects can cause life-threatening gastrointestinal obstructions that often require surgery to resolve.

So what can exotic pet owners do? While no one can guarantee that his or her pet will always be safe from ingesting foreign objects, there are certainly some precautions pet owners can take:

• Pet-proof your animal’s enclosure. Scour the areas your pets frequent, and be sure to pick up any small, loose objects or dangling materials like string, ribbon, or wires that call out to pets to be chewed on.
• Never let your bird, small mammal (rabbit, ferret, rodent, or other species), or even your reptile, out of its cage unsupervised, even for a minute. That’s all it takes to gulp down or bite off a bit of foreign material.
• Be sure your pet’s cage or other enclosure locks securely and is escape-proof. Exotic pets are very clever and manage to get out of even seemingly secure places.
• Never leave tempting human food items or any kind of medication out within the reach of your exotic pets. Even if you think they won’t eat it, they might. It’s not worth the risk.
• Don’t assume that all pet “toys” are safe; many of these toys are made from potentially toxic materials (like lead) or have pieces that can be bitten or broken off, swallowed, or ingested. Carefully inspect any toys you leave in your pet’s cage, and consider whether there is anything in or on them that your pet might consume inappropriately.
• Pay attention to your pet’s bedding. Several types of bedding that are labeled as “safe,” such as corn cob or walnut shells, are actually consumed by many exotic pets and ultimately can lead to gastrointestinal obstruction. Bedding made from paper or recycled paper products is digestible if consumed and is therefore safe.
• Learn to recognize potential signs of foreign object ingestion in your pet’s particular species. For example, rabbits cannot physically vomit. Therefore, if you own a rabbit, you would not rely on vomiting as an indicator of whether your pet has ingested foreign material. And while ferrets can vomit, they often will not, showing only signs of diarrhea, even when they have swallowed something they shouldn’t have.
• Have a plan: talk to your vet before you have an actual emergency situation, so that if your exotic pet consumes foreign material and starts to act sick, you will know what to do and where to go even if it’s the middle of the night.

While we may not be able to prevent every exotic pet from inappropriately consuming all foreign materials, awareness of this problem and vigilance to prevent it can certainly save many animals lives.

Photo credit: ookaboo.com, toykeeper.net

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The earlier you diagnose Lyme disease, the better the chances of tackling it. Unfortunately, catching it early is easier said than done. Previously, tests either haven’t been sufficiently sensitive or accurate. Last week, Cornell University announced a breakthrough. Researchers at the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Animal Health Diagnostic Center (AHDC) have developed a breakthrough multiplex procedure. Bettina Wagner is the Harry M. Zweig Associate Professor in Equine Health, and is also the test’s lead developer. She tells us the new test can

detect three different antibodies produced in response to the bacteria associated with Lyme disease using a single test on the sample, [and thereby] eliminates the need for separate tests. In addition, it requires smaller samples and answers more questions about the disease. Multiplex technology has been used for the last decade, but the AHDC is the first veterinary diagnostic laboratory to use it to test for Lyme disease.[...]

The bacteria that cause Lyme disease are particularly difficult to detect, according to Wagner, because after infection they tend to hide where they can’t be found. They bury in the joints of dogs, causing arthritis or lameness. Serious kidney disease has also been associated with Lyme infections in dogs. In humans and horses, they also burrow into the nervous system, in the spine or the brain, causing pain, paralysis or behavioral changes. By the time such clinical signs appear, the bacteria are usually not in circulation anymore.

Thanks, CathyA

Bionic doggie: Almost precisely one year ago, I told you about a cat who had prosthetic (bionic, I said at the time) paws installed for him in England. Today, it’s time for the canine version. In this ABC News story, Dr. Becker comments on the new veterinary trend:

Veterinarian Marty Becker said prosthetics are becoming increasingly common on disabled pets.

One prosthetic can cost anywhere form $1,000 to $3,000.

“It’s really heartwarming,” said Becker. “Dogs just soldier on. They could be in incredible pain but still greet you with their tail wagging.

Between you and me, I personally wish he had quoted Oscar Goldman’s famous line from my favorite 1970′s tv program. “Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology.”

Dogs iz smarter than you: It really doesn’t matter if you can’t distinguish between identical twins. Chances are good your dog can. ScienceNow has the details. (tip of the cap to Marge Wright)

Joplin Adopt-a-thon: In Joplin, Missouri this past weekend, nearly four hundred cats and dogs were placed by the Joplin Humane Society Animal Adoption Resource Center’s Adopt-A-Thon.

Though the event was set to begin at 10 a.m., people began arriving as early as 5 a.m. and long lines quickly formed.

Tim Rickey, senior director with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said they expected a good turnout, but the estimated 2,000 people interested in adoption “far exceeded expectations.”

Melissa Wallis and her daughter, Kaylee, traveled from Vinita, Okla., to adopt a small dog because “Daddy finally said ‘yes,’” she said.

“We heard about all the pets in need of a good home, and they’ve been through enough,” she said.

Thanks to the Joplin Globe for the details.

Labradoodle regret: Wally Conran is an elderly Australian gentleman who thinks he may have made a big mistake. What did he do? Mr. Conran is the man responsible for what we know today as the labradoodle. What does he regret? Read this piece from the NY Daily News and find out.

Heartworm medication update: In the wake of the Merial contretemps, there’s a growing question as to whether the problem Dr. Kari Blaho-Owens identified with respect to Heartgard Plus is or is not symptomatic of a broader issue. The Companion Animal Parasite Council released a statement saying it will be continuing to monitor research results, though it stops short of saying that medication currently on the market needs improvement.

Attacking FIP: Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) is both incurable and fatal. Our own Ingrid King’s blog Conscious Cat reports on the Winn Feline Foundation‘s 33rd annual Feline Symposium, held last week in Reston, Virginia.

UCDavis Vet Med surveys: The University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine is running a survey, and they would very much like to hear from Pet Connection readers. Want to help? Details below:

• Behavioral Interactions Between Children and Cats
  • A project to understand more about the interactions between cats and children from 3 to 12 years of age. If you have at least one cat of 1 year of age or older, and a child between the ages of 3 and 12, currently residing in the home with the cat, we would greatly appreciate your taking about 10-15 minutes to complete this anonymous survey. The results will help us to counsel people about cats and children.
• Dog Behavior: The Rest of the Story
  • Most dog caregivers have heard about how to train a dog to sit, stay and come, and many have heard about preventing aggressive behavior, separation anxiety and house soiling. But there are several unanswered questions, such as why dogs eat strange things, why they howl at fire engines and if they “catch” human yawns. At the Companion Animal Behavior Program in the Veterinary School at the University of California at Davis, we are conducting a voluntary web-based survey of the primary caregivers of dogs to gather information about the rest of the story. If you are the primary caregiver of an adult dog, your cooperation in taking about 10 minutes to fill out this confidential survey will be appreciated by thousands of dog caregivers.
• Cat Behavior: The Rest of the Story
  • Most cat caregivers are bombarded with talk about toys for entertainment, new types of appealing litter, ideas for upholstered climbing trees, and other products of commercial value, and which may give some insights into cat behavior. But there are several unanswered and unexplored questions, such as why and when cats purr, why they yawn and why some cats eat plants. At the Companion Animal Behavior Program in the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California at Davis, we are conducting a voluntary web-based survey of the primary caregivers of cats to gather information about the rest of the story. If you are the primary caregiver of an adult cat, your cooperation in taking about 10 minutes to fill out this confidential survey will be appreciated by thousands of cat caregivers when we disseminate the information gained from this survey.

The 2011 Banfield Report: Our own Dr. Nancy Kay’s blog Speaking for Spot has a summary of the 2011 survey from Banfield Pet Hospital, reporting on key trends in veterinary health today. The data comes from more than two million dogs and 450,000 cats seen during 2010. Dr. Kay notes highlights, covering dental disease, flea infestation, diabetes, heartworm and others. Please take the time to read the entire report here.

I always like to hear from readers, especially if you have tips, and links for interesting stories.  Give me a shout in the comments, or better yet, send me an e-mail.

Image credit: Tick, treeandlawncare.com.

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It’s no surprise that many people are caught off-guard when their children enter adolescence. While it’s certainly normal for teenagers to behave as if their bodies have been invaded by aliens, it doesn’t make living with teens any easier for their parents. While no doubt many parents muse on the possibilities of military school for their obnoxious offspring, the vast majority deal with this often difficult time as best they can, muttering “this, too, shall pass” under their breath while dealing with the routine challenges of adolescence.

The same is true of most dog-owners as well, of course. Many dogs go through a difficult adolescence, one that that strains the bonds and — if the supply of young adult dogs in shelters is any indication — occasionally breaks them as well. Adolescent dogs, like adolescent children, are often impulsive, thoughtless, rude, destructive, hyperactive and prone to shifting gears with little warning. Oh yes, and they can also be sweet, attentive and loving.

You can have faith that I know all about this. Because of … Faith.

Faith is a handful, to say the least. And she actually did go to “military school” — to her co-breeder’s training facility in Texas, while I was on the book tour — and came back not that much different from when she left. On the plus side, she now understands that “here” and “fetch” are not suggestions but words meant to be followed by actions. On the negative side, she still thinks the table on the back patio is there to allow her a better look inside the back window when I put her out, and that underwear is something most fun when shared with company. And she still goes from 0 to 60 in .5 seconds.

She’s not a bad dog, by any means. Just a big ol’ bag o’ adolescent crazy beans. What she needs, I know, is exercise (daily), training (more, regularly) and patience (mine, unending).

The exercise she’s getting, in exhausting daily doses, from a source I wouldn’t have imagined two weeks ago: A horse named Duke.

Duke is the horse I’m now leasing, a sweet 21-year-old gelding who has seen it all and done it twice. He has taught countless beginners to ride and worked as a summer camp horse as well. He’s a nondescript brown Appendix (or, if you prefer, a quarterhorse-thoroughbred cross) who greets everyone as if she has a carrot in her pocket (for which he will check). His current owner jumped into ownership after a few lessons convinced him he loved riding. He bought Duke after the woman who was giving him lessons looked around for an older, near-”bomb-proof” horse and found Duke in need of a new home.

For the last year or more I’ve been looking around on my own for a horse like Duke, not to buy but to lease.  I’ve looked at a half-dozen horses, maybe more, but until Duke not one was the right fit for me, in one way or another. But I knew that leasing (either full-time or half) is a great way to get into riding, or back into riding, as in my case. So I kept looking until last week, when … I met Duke.

Duke’s in a fantastic little barn just south of the University of California, Davis, on a quiet, set-back piece of property surrounded by miles of protected farmland. With light traffic, I can get to the stable in 20 minutes, and I plan my trips to the barn for the off-peak times to avoid the crush of commuters. The lease works for Duke’s owner because he has a work project that’s making it hard to find any time for Duke, much less get out after work to care for him daily. So I’ve got a horse for the next three months, and then … we’ll go from there. Chances are Duke’s owner will want to have him back full time, or share him 50/50, but who knows? Sometimes leases turn into buys, but either way you get to try the horse without committing for life.

I’m finishing my first week with Duke, and it’ll be another week and change before I tack him up and ride on my own. I wanted to start by taking care of him, by going out just after dawn and taking him from his stall and turning him loose on pasture while I cleaned his stall, dumped the old shavings and manure and then put down fresh shavings.  I wanted to spend time grooming him, fussing over him and giving him treats, and working in the round pen on his responsiveness to me.  Yes, I’m anxious to ride, but I’m more interested in laying a good foundation for our future partnership. I want us both to feel comfortable with each other.

Everything is going according to plan, with the added bonus of how good Duke is with Faith.

The second day out to the barn, I brought Faith, intending to leave her in the truck until I was done with Duke, then walk her around the stable on leash to see her reactions. She was so good on Day One that  I let her drag a long line for a couple of days. When she continued to impress with her good manners,  I let her off-leash and was delighted to see her react calmly to her surroundings, which aren’t really that strange since she spent the last four months on a cattle ranch, and previously stayed on a friend’s farm visiting with the horse there. She has not bothered any horse, has greeted people and other dogs with a wagging tail and has responded to every request for “here” and “heel” promptly and enthusiastically.

Best of all, Faith has come back  home every day exhausted, which is about the best thing an adolescent dog can be. When I start riding, she’ll be going with me, since the farm roads  behind the barn are far from any traffic and she is built to cover distance in a smooth, effortless trot.

I expect a good summer for us all … me, Faith and our new pal, Duke.

(Top: Faith, exhausted. Above: Duke, unimpressed.)

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Ever loved a cat who, well… didn’t love you back? Or if s/he did, it was on his or her own decidly quirky terms?

I have. So have our own Gina Spadafori and Liz Palika. And that’s the topic of my SFGate.com column today:

I was speaking on social media and animal welfare at a Maddie’s Fund day-long seminar. One of the other speakers, Bonnie Brown, of the Nevada Humane Society, was giving a presentation about creatively marketing adoption promotions.

Brown showed a slide of a poster advertising “Catzillas” for adoption — cats who had, let’s say, not gone to charm school.

“I got the idea when I saw this show called ‘Bridezillas,’” she said. “I figured if there are people who’ll marry these brides, then there are people who’ll adopt these cats.”

The Catzilla campaign was a success, and that got me wondering what some of us get out of sharing our homes with curmudgeonly cats. Because I’m far from the only person I know who’s had a cat like (my un-affectionate cat) Peavey; almost every cat-owner I know has, too.

And what do we get out of these mostly-unrequited loves? Palika thinks she knows why some of us love these less-than-cuddly cats.

“I take pleasure in such little tiny things from (Xena),” she said. “When she’s asleep on the bed and I walk by, and she wakes up, opens her eyes, stretches, and goes ‘meow’ — I hate to sound cornball, but those moments are precious to me.”

I admit I always wanted something like that to happen with Peavey, and for him to be more like other cats. I asked his veterinarian about it, and when he couldn’t find any physical explanation for Peavey’s behavior, he told me, “Some cats are just like that.”

I suppose if this happened today, I’d have consulted a feline behaviorist, or tried more modern cat training techniques, like clicker training, to see if I could bring him around.

Spadafori, on the other hand, likes her wild thing just the way he is.

“Ilario is a unique character,” she said. “I don’t want to change him. I like him, he’s mine, he’s gorgeous, and he’s not going anywhere.”

Read the rest here.

Photo: Ilario, AKA “The Big Orange Kitty,” or T-BOK, courtesy of Gina Spadafori.

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Piercing cats to give them a “goth” appearance qualifies as cruelty. That’s the essence of a ruling from a Pennsylvania Superior Court panel who affirmed the conviction of a groomer in Sweet Valley, Penn. Details from the New York Times.

The groomer, Holly Crawford of Sweet Valley, Pa., offered the kittens for $100; Judge Kate Ford Elliott wrote in a 19-page opinion that “metal protruded from the kittens’ small bodies, pierced through their ears and necks, and at least one of these kittens also had an elastic band tied around its tail, an attempt at docking, which is a procedure to stem the blood flow so that the tail eventually falls off.”

An investigator for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals posed as a customer and met with Ms. Crawford in 2008 and reported her to the authorities. The kittens were seized, and a jury found Ms. Crawford guilty of animal cruelty; in April of last year she was sentenced to six months of home detention and electronic monitoring, followed by probation.

Ms. Crawford, who was described in the opinion as having “several facial piercings” and being “enthusiastic about piercing,” had admitted to piercing the kittens herself without anesthetic, though she did treat them with antiseptic after the procedure.

That’s the important part of the story, but my favorite section (and yours, I’m betting) comes at the very end…

Judge Elliott wrote, “Appellant’s claims center on her premise that a person of normal intelligence would not know whether piercing a kitten’s ears or banding its tail is maiming, mutilating, torturing or disfiguring an animal.”

The judge added, “We disagree.”

Paralyzed tornado dog is walking again: Debbie and Daniel Leatherman live in Joplin, Missouri. They thought they had lost their 10 year-old cocker spaniel, Sugar, after the catastrophic tornado tore their house apart last month. Luckily, Sugar wasn’t lost. He was discovered by a stranger and brought to Joplin Humane Society, and his injuries took him to the University of Missouri Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. Unfortunately, the diagnosis was grim: a traumatic rupture of Sugar’s spinal cord. He was paralyzed. The operative word of the last sentence is ‘was. ‘ Thanks to the veterinary staff in Columbia, Sugar is now walking again. Thanks, Phyllis.

Historic cancer breakthrough? A couple weeks back, Dr. Tony Johnson wrote a sobering post about the canine version of a heart attack, called hemoabdomens. As Dr. Tony explained, the root cause is often a ruptured mass on the spleen due to an aggressive malignancy called a hemangiosarcoma. A hemangiosarcoma is often considered a nearly universal death sentence…or is it? Research out of Oregon State University signals hope for a previously hopeless cancer.

No more goldfish in Baghdad by the Bay: San Francisco is pushing to enact some of the toughest regulations outlawing the sale of animals of any municipality in the nation. But they’re not stopping at outlawing trade in puppies and kittens. As SFGate reports, the city’s Animal Control and Welfare Commission wants guppies and goldfish to receive the same protections. Thanks to Susan Fox for the link.

Everybody’s got something to hide except me and my monkey: If you have a therapy animal, is he protected from seizure by authorities? Yes? Always? What if he’s a monkey? In certain places, not so much. And the authorities’ show of force can be a little over the top, too. Hat tip to Mary Cvetan.

The secret life of feral cats: Do you ever wonder what the lives of cats are like when they’re on their own? Where do they go? How far do they roam? Is there a difference between ferals and cats who have owners? Jeff Horn wondered, too. Jeff was a grad student at the University of Illinois. He put radio-tracking collars on forty-two cats, some owned and some unowned, and let them do what they do. The results are summarized in Science Daily:

One of the feral cats in the study, a mixed breed male, had a home range of 547 hectares (1,351 acres), the largest range of those tracked (red outline). A pet cat in the study, by contrast, stayed very close to home.
“That particular male cat was not getting food from humans, to my knowledge, but somehow it survived out there amidst coyotes and foxes,” Horn said. “It crossed every street in the area where it was trapped. (It navigated) stoplights, parking lots. We found it denning under a softball field during a game.”
The owned cats had significantly smaller territories and tended to stay close to home. The mean home range for pet cats in the study was less than two hectares (4.9 acres).
“Still, some of the cat owners were very surprised to learn that their cats were going that far,” Horn said. “That’s a lot of backyards.”
The pet cats managed this despite being asleep or in low activity 97 percent of the time. On average, they spent only 3 percent of their time engaged in highly active pursuits, such as running or stalking prey, the researchers reported. The un-owned cats were highly active 14 percent of the time.

Thanks, Ingrid.

Simon’s Cat: That’s right, it’s time once again for our favorite feline line drawing! Today, we’re in the kitchen.

I always like to hear from readers, especially if you have tips, and links for interesting stories.  Give me a shout in the comments, or better yet, send me an e-mail.

Photo credit: Piercing, a11news.com. Sugar, munews.

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