pet connection

As an exotic animal veterinarian, I am constantly asked why anyone would want an exotic pet (bird, rabbit, guinea pig, chinchilla, ferret, lizard, turtle, snake, hedgehog, sugar glider, or other unique creature) over a dog or cat. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with cats and dogs. I have several cats and dogs of my own, in addition to my exotic family members. It’s just that there are so many reasons to have an exotic pet that it’s hard to limit my answers to just a few. But here are a few simple reasons for choosing an exotic pet:

1. There are so many varied species that owning an exotic animal can be an incredible learning experience.

Exotic pets are fascinating. With their unique behaviors and incredible social interactions with each other and with us, they really can teach us all sorts of new information. But this is a Catch-22. Before you embark upon the journey into exotic pet ownership, be sure to learn enough about the social, nutritional, and environmental needs of the exotic pet species you are considering so that you don’t end up with a pet whose needs are more than you bargained for.

2. Many exotic species don’t take up much space.

For many city dwellers that live in cramped, tiny apartments, a pet such as a dog or cat that requires a lot of space just isn’t an option. A small mammal (such as a hamster, gerbil, guinea pig, chinchilla, or rat) or even a reptile or small bird that can live in a fairly small cage, might be a more feasible choice.  Ask anyone who owns one of these smaller exotic species, and they’ll tell you that these pets can provide the same love and companionship that a larger dog or cat can offer.

3. Some people are allergic to hairy pets.

Although many people would love to have a dog or cat as a pet, they often cannot because they or their family members have allergies to the dander that hairy pets carry on their fur.  These seemingly unfortunate people can still have a loving pet, however, if they choose a reptile (such as a lizard, turtle, tortoise, or snake) that has neither hair nor dander on its skin.  If they are not allergic to feathers, they might also choose a bird. So don’t despair if you’re allergic to hair!

4. Most exotic pets don’t need to be walked.

For many busy pet owners who work long hours, owning a dog that needs to be walked every few hours is not an option because they can’t get home to do it and don’t have the finances to pay a dog walker. The good news is that most exotic pets don’t need to be walked. While they do need time out of their cages to be socialized and to have a good quality of life, most birds, small mammals, and reptiles can adapt to our busy human schedules when it comes to “time out of cage.” In general, as long as we make some time to interact with them on a daily basis, the time we make available for most exotic pets can be flexible.

5. Some people only want pets that will live a long time.

People comment all the time that they could never own a pet because they’d get so attached to the pet that they couldn’t bear losing it. Of course, no pet – exotic or otherwise – lives forever. However, certain species, such as larger birds and some reptiles, can live for 20-40 years in captivity. Certainly, these animals must be taken care of properly: fed appropriate diets, housed according to species’ needs, and receive regular medical check-ups to live to their genetic potential. But for many people who have grieved over the loss of a relatively shorter lived pet such as a dog, cat, or small mammal or tiny bird, the prospect of having a potentially very long lived pet can be very appealing. Once again, this is a double-edged sword in that before you rush out to buy or adopt that reptile or large bird, you should seriously consider whether you have the lifestyle, finances, and future provisions available to support a pet that might outlive you!

Photo credit: amsccanton.com, blogginpet.com

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Rosie is an adorable golden retriever (shown at right) who lives in Duchess County, New York. She’s a therapy dog, and as part of her duties she works to calm people in particularly stressful situations, such as testifying in court proceedings. That’s where her story becomes interesting. Rosie recently assisted a teenage victim in a rape case who was testifying under oath against her accuser. The New York Times picks up the story:

The new role for dogs as testimony enablers can, however, raise thorny legal questions. Defense lawyers argue that the dogs may unfairly sway jurors with their cuteness and the natural empathy they attract, whether a witness is telling the truth or not, and some prosecutors insist that the courtroom dogs can be a crucial comfort to those enduring the ordeal of testifying, especially children.

The new witness-stand role for dogs in several states began in 2003, when the prosecution won permission for a dog named Jeeter with a beige button nose to help in a sexual assault case in Seattle. “Sometimes the dog means the difference between a conviction and an acquittal,” said Ellen O’Neill-Stephens, a prosecutor there who has become a campaigner for the dog-in-court cause.

Service dogs have long been permitted in courts. But in a ruling in June that allowed Rosie to accompany the teenage rape victim to the trial here, a Dutchess County Court judge, Stephen L. Greller, said the teenager was traumatized and the defendant, Victor Tohom, appeared threatening. Although he said there was no precedent in the state, Judge Greller ruled that Rosie was similar to the teddy bear that a New York appeals court said in 1994 could accompany a child witness.

At least once when the teenager hesitated in Judge Greller’s courtroom, the dog rose and seemed to push the girl gently with her nose. Mr. Tohom was convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life.

Is the mere presence of a cute dog who offers comfort an unfairly prejudicial influence on a jury? Interesting question, isn’t it?

The dog park question in Vancouver: It’s a never-ending recurrence: the tension between the rights of dog owners and non-dog owners in public spaces. The latest setting is Vancouver, British Columbia. The story comes from the Globe and Mail.

Beware of counterfeit medication: How many times have we warned against buying bargain medications from online retailers because of the risk of them being counterfeit (and even worse, harmful)? The latest troubling anecdote appeared in the Daily Kos. Marge Wright tipped me to the link discussing the fatal poisoning of a dog in Centreville, Virginia, due to probable bogus knockoff medication packaged as Frontline. EPA and FDA both know about it. Still, every year dogs and cats die because the truth never goes away: if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. The ten or twenty bucks you think you’re saving aren’t worth your pet’s life.

Heartworm supply shortage: Speaking of medication, VIN News confirms the shortage of Immiticide that has been looming since last year is reaching an even more serious levels.

Little known kitteh fact? CathyA forwarded this link to me (as well as the heartworm link above), and I don’t have a reason to dispute it…though I can’t confirm it, either. When cats are stressed, their right ear is hotter than their left. Anyone want to test this one out and report back?

Fun infographic! Thanks to the Pet365Blog, via Dogster, for this fun infographic: Dog vs. Human anatomy facts.

Video of the week comes from my pal Miz in Sacramento: Herm vs. the stairs. What’s that?  I only cited it because it shows a little bitty dachshund? I have no idea what you’re talking about. Is that a dachshund? Really? I didn’t know.

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: Rosie, Kelly Shimoda for NYT.

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The American Kennel Club recently began a program to recognize the good work that therapy dogs do. The AKC is not certifying potential therapy dogs but instead opened dialog with a number of organizations that already certify therapy dogs, and developed a program to recognize those dogs. I’m proud to say that my now twelve year old Australian Shepherd, Riker, was the first dog registered in this new program.

Riker began visiting retirement homes and Alzheimer’s facilities when he was just a year old. He accumulated more than 200 hours doing these visits and was always a hit with the folks he visited.

However, by chance I got a call from the director of a day care center for children who needed protection.  The director wanted to give a therapy dog a try but the dog would need to love kids, be very tolerant of the kids’ actions, and be able to react accordingly should a child be too rough. Many of these kids had never been taught how to be good to animals. In fact, many had been raised seeing people being cruel to animals.

In addition, because the kids were under various types of protection, the dog’s owner would need an extensive background check and clearance.

I decided to give Riker a try since he loves kids and I already had a background check and clearance from my Marine Corps and military police days. It just needed to be updated.

Once I got that taken care of, Riker and I began visiting this day care center. I’ve written about a few of our visits in previous posts, so in short I’ll say Riker found his life’s work. I swear he’s happier there than he is at home. He gives kisses when kisses are needed, snuggles when kids need a hug, chases the ball when they need to play, and makes the kids laugh on a regular basis.

I stopped counting his visit hours when he went over two thousand.

I’ve been watching Riker to see when he’s going to be ready to retire. He is slowing down and is sleeping more. However, he still brings me a toy so we can play every evening. He still enjoys going to the dog training yard. He even continues to demo during the therapy dog classes. At twelve years of age, when I bring out his therapy dog vest, he turns into a younger dog. He bounces, whining, and trying to stick his head through the opening of the vest. So he’s obviously not ready to retire yet.

I’m so proud of my old dog I could just bust!

Photo: Riker by Liz Palika

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Staging a dog fight in New York has always been a felony, but until now, attending an animal fight in New York state wasn’t even considered a misdemeanor. It was merely a violation. Last week, Governor Andrew Cuomo added more teeth to the offense. From the New York Daily News:

The new law makes it a class B misdemeanor punishable by up to three months in jail and a $500 fine. Repeat offenders face up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Just one more step in the right direction…

Dog massacre in China rescinded: A proposed rule that would have effectively removed nearly all dogs from Jiangmen, China has been reversed because of public outcry, according to England’s The Independent. Still, authorities in the city could hardly be called dog friendly.

Originally the city had planned to clear “illegally-raised dogs” from its downtown area after a spate of canine attacks led to a higher incidence of rabies. Dog owners were ordered to bring their pets to special stations where they would be either put to sleep or given to new owners in the countryside. Dogcatchers were readying to team up with police to search for “illegal dogs”, with any strays destined to be killed on the spot.

However, there was outraged reaction among local residents, with large numbers criticising what they said was inhumane treatment of otherwise innocent canines. “The key problem is to educate people to raise dogs in a civilised way rather than simply ban dogs,” local resident Wang Yubin said.

And although city officials have backtracked from a full-scale canine massacre, the rules are still pretty harsh.

From now on, pet dogs are banned from public places such as parks, squares and shopping malls. Residents who take dogs to public venues “would be advised to leave”. And in the case of attacks, dog owners would be responsible for all medical bills, lost wages and other compensation, a report on the official Xinhua news agency said.

If you own a dog in Jiangmen, you have about three weeks to get your dog licensed with local authorities. One nagging problem: nobody’s sure how residents will do that. *sigh*

I’d take away the guns: I’m sure there’s a perfectly good reason why animal shelters in Los Angeles double as armories. Details at the LA Times.

Meet Pennsylvania’s new first pups: Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett and First Lady Susan Corbett introduced the press to the state’s new First Dogs. Penny (short for Pennsylvania) and Harry (short for Harrisburg, the state capital) are 11 week-old Airedales. They’re also quite cute. Thanks to our pal Amy at Philly Dawg for the link.

Post-conference coverage: Since last week’s successful No Kill Conference at The George Washington University, the pet blogging world has been buzzing. Brent Toellner of KC Dog Blog has great rundown of the conference with some of his thoughts. Shirley at YesBiscuit wrote three different post-conference posts, the first of which is here. The comment thread the real draw, though. Media coverage included the Toledo Blade. Finally, Ryan Clinton, the driving force in Austin, Tex., is featured in a guest post on Nathan Winograd‘s blog.

A new day in Florida: Meanwhile, great news out of Manatee County, Fla: a new commitment to become a No Kill community.

The power of social media helps Willow: The most heartwarming stories involve the power of love to strengthen the human-animal bond. So it is with this remarkable story of Willow. Born with deformed back legs that made normal walking impossible, Willow was adopted by a woman who did everything possible to give her a better life, including telling her Facebook community about her beloved kitten. That’s when Willow really started to benefit from the kindness of strangers. The details can be found on Canidae Pet Food’s blog.

Bad news from Scotland: One of the great legends of the companion animal world is the the tale of Greyfriars Bobby, the Skye Terrier who epitomized the concept of a pet’s loyalty. One big problem: Time Magazine says it was a hoax.

Cats and raptors: I remember Edward Lear’s classic poem “The Owl and The Pussycat,” but I don’t think it was supposed to look like this video of the week.

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: First, nydailynews.com. Second, independent.co.uk.

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There are a few conditions that veterinarians see with some regularity that really scare the pants off of pet owners, but most vets don’t see them as major problems. One of these goes by the slightly offensive moniker of Old Dog Vestibular Disease. (Can you imagine if you went to your family MD are were diagnosed with something like Old Fart Syndrome?)

Dogs afflicted with this disorder, abbreviated ODV, usually develop a sudden loss of balance accompanied by a head tilt. They can roll on the ground, and in some cases will become nauseous and vomit due to motion sickness. The rolling happens because they are literally trying to catch up with a world that they perceive as spinning.  The head tilt makes them look rather cute and quizzical, as if to say ‘Why is everything spinning all of a sudden?’ The signs are rapid and dramatic, and many a pet owner thinks this is the end. The good news is that, in the vast majority of cases, the signs will pass and normal life will resume within a few days (some dogs will have a bit of a head tilt for a while, but I still maintain that it makes them look a tad cuter).

To get a taste of what they are going through, it’s exactly like the old game that you played when you were a little kid when you have one of your friends spin you around and then stop suddenly. The world just keeps on spinning.  For kids, the spinning slows down and stops after a few minutes, but for the dogs the spinning can go on for days. And, just like with the spinning kids, if you look closely at the eyes of a dog suffering from ODV, they are rapidly darting back and forth (a condition called nystagmus) as if they are watching an unseen tennis match.

The real cause for this disease has eluded science. We have a few guesses, but no one really knows for sure what causes this condition. It may be a mini-stroke (sort of like a transient ischemic attack, or TIA, in people), or some random inflammation of the inner ear, or vestibular system, that controls our balance and lets us know which way is up. There are other diseases that can mimic ODV, like brain tumors and inner ear infections, so cases that don’t get better in the usual time-frame of two to five days, warrant further workup with imaging modalities like MRI or CT scan. Among dogs that don’t get better within a few days, about 25% were found to have a brain tumor when subjected to an MRI.

Some dogs can be treated at home, and will only need medication for motion sickness and maybe a little TLC and hand-feeding. For dogs who are vomiting, or for whom a couple of days of being off of food and water may be harmful (like dogs with kidney disease), treatment in the hospital with IV fluids and other medications may be warranted.

I have had many owners bring me their dog in the middle of the night, in tears because they are afraid I am going to tell them that something awful and life-threatening has happened to their beloved pet.  In most cases, I am able to let them know that their pet probably will return to almost full function within a few days, and with very little medical to-do. Every once in a while, we will get a pet who has been on a steady decline and an episode of ODV is the last straw in the gradual decline in quality of life, and owners will elect to euthanize, but most are very relieved to find out that things are not as bad as they at first seem.

What has been your experience? Have any of you had dogs that have had an episode of ODV? How did it go, and what kind of information did you veterinarian have for you? For more information on the condition, please visit VeterinaryPartner’s page on the topic.

Images courtesy of flickr.

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