Willow Grove Pet Gazette

Thank you for visiting Willow Grove's Pet Gazette newsletter!  Here you will find interesting facts, tips for your pet family, and exciting news about Willow Grove Animal Clinic.  Don't forget to mention this wonderful site, and our clinic, to your friends and family!  

September-October 2009

Zoonotic Diseases:  Diseases You and Your Pet Can Share
     
     It's hard to imagine that our loving, furry friends could transmit anything to us.  Unfortunately, Zoonotic Diseases are those that can potentially affect both people and their animals. Three ways of contracting a zoonotic disease is by contact, ingestion and through bite.

Contact:
Ringworm---a fungal infection involving hair and skin
In animals, usually there are areas of hair loss, which may or may not be itchy.  In humans, itchy patches usually show up as a reddish ring, sometimes slightly flaky.  Children tend to be more affected than adults, but this does not exclude adults.  Animals and humans can contract this disease through direct contact with the pet that is carrying the ringworm as well as exposure to inanimate objects (hair on couch, or bed, etc). Early detection and treatment (on pets and yourself) as well as cleaning of the environment will decrease amount of spread of the fungus.
Almost 50% of people exposed to ringworm will get it.

Sarcoptic Mange---Scabies---caused by microscopic mites that live directly under the skin
In animals, severe itching and hair loss, not associated with seasonal allergies, occurs.  Skin scrapings and microscopic examination may or may not show mites.  In humans, itching and red rash, often in areas normally covered by clothing, occurs.  Direct contact is usually needed for transmission, although these mites have the capability to live in the environment off of the pet for 1 day.  Skin scraping test and treatment of the pet at the first signs of itching and/or hair loss will help in prevention of any further infection.

Hookworm---intestinal parasite most commonly contracted from contaminated soil
In animals, hookworms can cause diarrhea and anemia.  Humans are commonly infected by walking barefoot in contaminated soil.  The hookworm larvae then causes red rashes and itchy skin.  Hookworms can also cause anemia in humans depending on the population.  Anemia (low red blood cell count) can cause intellectual and physical developmental delays in children and impairment of cardiovascular performance in adults.

Ingestion:
Roundworm---most common zoonotic parasite. (intestinal parasite most commonly passed from the mother in animals)
Puppies and kittens are more commonly infected than adult animals, but this does not exclude them.  Infection is usually not apparent, but the animal may have an enlarged belly, may even vomit a worm, or pass one or more in the stool. Diarrhea is possible, but not neccessarily a symptom.  As gross as it sounds, this worm looks much like that of a cooked spaghetti noodle.
Roundworm eggs can survive in the soil for years--20% of the US park soils contains eggs.  In humans, roundworms can be seen as tracks underneath the skin, often the face, and mostly affects children. 
Personal Hygiene and hand washing, routine worming for your pet, and regular fecal checks can help reduce the number of roundworm infections.

Giardiasis---caused by Giardia---environment: standing water, toilet water, etc.
In animals, this can cause bloody diarrhea.  This is the most common human parasitic infection in the US with the highest incidence in day car centers.  In humans, this can cause bloody diarrhea and abdominal pain.  Humans and animals can both contract this disease by ingesting infected water.  Dogs can lick their paws that may have contaminated dirt or water on them.  The only way to really prevent this from happening is to avoid untreated stream water, long standing water, or toilet water.

Bite:
Rabies---infectious disease transmitted through bite (saliva)
Rabies incubation period in dogs is about 2 weeks to 6 months.  Some signs of rabies positive are:  Changes in behavoir (such as shyness in a normally friendly pet, loss or fear of man by a wild animal, increased alertness, or aggression), dilated or unequal pupils (indicating nervous system involvement), weakness or paralysis of part of the body.  Once symptoms start, death is usually in 2-10 days.
Rabies incubation peroid in humans is anywhere from 9 days to 5 years.  Some signs of rabies positive in humans are:  pain at the bite wound site, anxiety, hyperactivity, salivation, muscle spasms in the throat, ascending paralysis, convulsions and coma.  Death always occurs 2-8 days after first signs of rabies, and treatment is unsuccessful.
Rabies is transmitted through a bite wound of an infected animal.  The actual virus lives in the saliva of the infected.
Best way for prevention is to vaccinate puppies and kittens at the earliest age possible, 1 year after that date, and 3 years from then on out for the rest of their lives.  If bitten by an animal of unknown vaccination history, a post exposure injection should be given.
Rabies is always fatal once symptoms appear.

Some ways to prevent zoonotic infection:

• Always wash hands thoroughly after cleaning the litter box or yard where the pet has eliminated.
• Make sure children also wash hands after playing outside in the area the pet uses for elimination.
• After a pet has had worming medication, be especially vigilant to clean up after elimination to avoid re-infestation.
• Frequently wash hands or any other area of skin contact, if pet is being treated for a transmissible skin zoonosis, such as ringworm.
• Become educated about your possible exposure to zoonotics.

Diseases you cannot catch from your dog:  Distemper, Lyme disease, Cancer, Demodectic Mange, Ear Mites, Kennel Cough, Heartworm Disease

Diseases your dog cannot catch from you:  Lyme Disease, Common Cold, Chicken Pox, Measles, Influenza


July-August 2009

  5 Mouser Myths Debunked

You know your cat doesn't have nine lives and black cats aren't witches in disguise, but these tall tales have led to incorrect notions about cats.  Here are often-heard health yarns, and how to unravel them.

1) Cats are aloof, unsocial creatures.
Contrary to popular belief, cats are social creatures and need interaction.  Dogs wag their tails and bark in delight when you come home.  Cats show affection by nuzzling your leg.  Even though they're not boisterous, they still want--and need--attention.  Some cats do shun human affection, but these introverts don't represent the whole feline species.  In fact, lack of interaction can be an early sign of illness.

2) Indoor cats don't need preventive medicine.
A cat doesn't have to go outside to get sick, especially if it lives with other pets that do head out.  When these outdoor pets come back inside, they can bring along--and pass on--all sorts of infections, from respiratory viruses to internal parasites.  Fleas and mosquitos can easily make their way into the house, then jump onto or bite an indoor cat.

3)Cats are independent and don't need care.
Putting out extra food might satisfy their basic needs for a weekend alone, but if a cat gets sick--say from ingesting a foreign object or suffering a urinary tract blockage--while home by itself, it can be severely ill (or worse) by Sunday night when its owner returns. 

4)Cats elliminate outside the litter box to be spiteful.
Instead, missing the box often indicates an underlying medical condition, such as urinary tract disease or infection, kidney disease, or diabetes mellitus.  It can also be a sign of arthritis, which makes getting into the litter box difficult.  Or it can be a sign of litter box avoidance resulting from a variety of factors or a sign of territorial marking.  When you notice your cat eliminating in the wrong place, contact your veterinarian immediately.

5)Cats don't get heartworms.
Heartworms affect dogs and cats differently, but they do indeed affect cats.  Heartworm disease has been reported in all 50 states.  Unlike dogs, cats are troubled by heartworm larvae (juvenile heartworms) rather than mature adult heartworms.  When the larvae arrive and when they die in cats' lungs, they cause lesions that may lead to airway and arterial disease referred to as heartworm-associated respiratory disease (HARD).  Cats that exhibit asthma-like symptoms may in fact be suffering from HARD.  The disease can cause severe illness and death and approved treatments aren't available, but it's completely preventable with the proper use of preventive medication.

-courtesy dvm360.com


May-June 2009

Proper Removal of a Tick

The best way to remove a tick is with fine-pointed tweezers. Grab as closely to the skin as possible and pull straight back, using steady but gentle force. In addition:

• Do not use your fingers to remove the tick.
• Do not twist the tick, which can cause breakage, leaving part of its body in the skin.
• Do not crush, prick, or burn the tick, which may cause it to salivate or regurgitate infected fluids.
• Do not try to smother the tick with products such as petroleum jelly or mineral oil. Ticks can store enough oxygen to complete feeding.

Proper Disposal of a Tick

 Place the tick in a sealed container or small plastic bag and deposit in the trash. James Herrington, MPH, Public Health Education Specialist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says that the humidity ticks need to survive is lacking inside a plastic bag. Do not flush ticks down the toilet because they can easily survive in the water.

For removing ticks off your pet, it is a good idea to put on a pair of latex gloves.  In doing so will reduce the chance of contracting any tick borne disease that is spread through fluids of the tick.  When removing ticks with tweezers, remember to get as close as possible to your pet's skin without actually pinching their skin.  Pull slowly away from your pet because pulling too quickly may break the tick away and the head of it may still be in the skin and could eventually get infected.  Follow these easy guidelines of removing ticks and you should be alright.

Two new products we have available:
C.E.T. Aquadent - It is what it's called; apply a certain amount of this liquid to your dog or cat's water daily and it helps to reduce bacteria buildup in their mouth, which in turn reduces that horrible odor they can produce.
Furminator - It does just the same as it is named as well; it is a modern day brush for your dog or cat, or horse even.  It has teeth just like any brush but the difference is inbetween.  The brush could almost be considered a hair thinner; it removes all the undercoat, dead, dried and loose hair.  Brush with this properly and you can feel it tug at all the hair that is coming out.  When you come in, be sure to view the looping video we have on display and see how it works in person, just ask!


April 2009
     Heartworms:  Agonizing to Treat.  Easy to Prevent.
       Imagine how many times you get bitten by mosquitos in one month.  We receive oddly shaped welts and are very itchy, even if bitten 10 times.  All it takes for your dog to get heartworms is just one bite of a mosquito that is carrying the disease.  Mosquitos that are carrying the disease do not look any different than those that are not.  So, just to be safe, any mosquito is a bad mosquito.  We all know that mosquitos can sneak through the crack of our door or window, so we know even our inside dogs are not safe from heartworms.
       It all starts when a mosquito carrying microscopic heartworm larvae takes a bite, leaving the tiny heartworm larvae behind to infect the dog.  The larvae enter the dog through the bite wound and find their way to its veins.  Over the next several months, actual heartworms develop invisibly within the dog.  Eventually they migrate to the arteries of the lungs (where they can grow up to a foot in length) and cause severe lung inflammation and heart failure.  The presence of heartworms in the vital blood vessels of the lungs can cause problems ranging from coughing, difficulty breathing, energy loss, dizziness, and even death.  *It is very important, especially during summer time, to pay extra close attention to your dog(s).  To the average person these symptoms would seem like they were just overheated, but could very likely be an infection of heartworms.*  The maturing of heartworms is all happening invisibly right in front of you.  Usually no outward signs whatsoever, unless of course they have advanced to the heart or lungs.  
       Veterinarians are equipped with a very simple blood test that will actually acknowledge if your dog has heartworms.  The heartworm test that most veterinarians carry will also test for Lyme disease and Ehrlichia which are two tick-borne diseases that your dog can contract from ticks.   
       The importance of getting your dog heartworm tested is to keep your dog healthy and reduce the number of other dogs that may get infected.  When a dog has heartworms, a mosquito bites that dog and picks up microfilaria (the baby heartworms).  Then in the mosquito the microfilaria turn into larvae which infect the next dog the mosquito bites, starting the whole cycle over again.  
       The scary thing is that a mosquito can go anywhere and everywhere.  In 2001, this is what the number of infected dogs looked like:

 

 Eight years later and imagine how the numbers have doubled, even possibly tripled!

  
       Getting and keeping your dog on a heartworm preventative once a month life long will save your dog's life and help reduce the horrifying numbers across the U.S.  This is one disease we know we can prevent by simply giving a tablet once a month.  *One thing to remember about heartworms is if you give your dog a heartworm preventive, and if they do have heartworms but you don't know yet, this could very well kill them.*  Heartworm preventives range from as little as $5 - $7 a month.  Forgetting just one heartworm pill will leave your dog susceptible to contracting the heartworm disease.  
       Yes, there are ways to treat heartworms once contracted.  Heartworms can be in many different stages within your dog once contracted, so the doctor would determine at the time of diagnosis how best to treat that patient.  Treating heartworms is an expensive process and is not without the possibility of complications.  Preventing the disease is easier than treating the disease.  Heartworm testing and administering heartworm prevention is one of the most important things you will ever do for your beloved pet.
       Visit our "Links" section and click on Heartworm Society .  There is a website that provides much more information and frequent updates if there are ever any questions.

March 2009
     We’ve had quite a few animals recently with food allergies.  One of the ways we can help a pet with food allergies is by limiting what types of food they consume.  Trying to find a food fit for your pet can be quite difficult, especially with all the different labels, descriptions and ingredients.

     Last year at the 2008 North Carolina Veterinary Conference one of the courses we attended was “Choosing Diets-Deciphering the Labels.”  With the knowledge gained from that course, I figured what better way than to help spread the knowledge with struggling clients and friends.  It is very hard just to find a good quality food, especially not knowing how tricky the labels can be.  I have compiled some of what Korinn Saker (MS, DVM, PhD, Diplomat American College of Veterinary Nutrition) spoke about and some general knowledge of food nutrition and labels..

     “The purpose of the Label is to provide information relative to the safety, efficacy, palatability and cost of the product.  Some of this information is directly apparent; some of the information only becomes apparent after closer evaluation of and interpretation of the printed information.  Labeling guidelines are published by the American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) which are meant to provide a degree of uniformity to pet food labels, hopefully making interpretations more universal.”

Based on AAFCO regulation, any food label should include the following:

• Brand or product name
• Purpose statement for which pet the food is intended for, i.e. cat, dog, bird, etc.
• Quantity Statement
• Guaranteed Analysis
• Ingredient Statement
• Statement of nutritional adequacy
• Feeding directions
• Name and address of manufacturer or distributor

 Additional points of interest regarding label format and labeling include:

• A graphic representation on a pet food label can not misrepresent the contents of the package
• The word “proven” is NOT permitted on a food label unless the claim is substantiated scientifically or by other empirical data.
• Statements making false or misleading comparisons between that product and another are not allowed
• Statements such as “new”, “improved”, or similar designation must be substantiated and limited to six months production

 Brand and Product Names

     Terminology needs to be accurate and guidelines specify which types of words reflect the actual product ingredient content. For example:

• Words such as “All” or “100%” can only be used in the product name if the product contains only one ingredient (not including water, decharacterizing agents, or trace amounts of preservatives and condiments).
• An ingredient or combination of ingredients can form a part of the product name when:  the ingredients constitute a specific % of the total weight of the product; the names of the ingredients of the product name are listed in order of respective predominance by weight in the product, etc.
• If a descriptor such as “with” or similar designation appears in product name, the named ingredient must constitute at least 3% of the product weight (excluding water).
• A flavor designator can be included as part of product name if:  it conforms to the name of the ingredients as listed in the ingredient statement; type size is equal; flavor designation can be substantiated.

      The ingredients in a product are listed in descending order by their predominance by weight in non-quantitative terms.

A few examples of commonly defined ingredients include:

• Meat:  is the clean flesh derived from slaughtered mammals and is limited to that part of the striate muscle which is skeletal or that which is found in the tongue, diaphragm, heart, esophagus with or without accompanying and overlying fat and the portions of the skin, sinew, nerve, and blood vessels which normally accompany the flesh.
• Meat by-products:  Is the non-rendered, clean parts other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals.  It includes, but not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs/intestines freed of contents.  Does NOT include hair, horns, teeth, hoofs.
• Meat meal:  is the rendered product from mammal tissues, exclusive of any added blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach, and rumen contents.  It shall not contain added extraneous materials not provided for by its definition.  The calcium level should not exceed the actual level of the phosphorus by > 2.2 times.  It shall not contain > 12% pepsin indigestible residue and not >9% of the crude protein in the product shall be pepsin indigestible.

Although this is a large amount of information regarding Food Labels, there is so much more.  Being very careful to fully read and understand the food label of the food you are about to purchase can save you time and money.  For example:  If we find that your pet is allergic to chicken and you find a lamb and rice meal, look again and I bet you will find chicken fat or chicken oil hidden in the list of ingredients.  Though it may be very low on the list (meaning there isn’t very much) this could mean weeks of itching and torture for the both of you.  Put yourself in your pet’s paws, imagine you are allergic to shrimp and I bet just one bite would send you to the hospital.  Not to say one bite of food that your pet is allergic to will send them to the emergency clinic, but they may need some sort of veterinary care.

February 2009
   Did you know that periodontal disease is the most common disease in both cats and dogs? 86% of adult pets have some form of periodontal disease. If this goes untreated, the bacteria in the oral cavity can spread into the bloodstream and have harmful effects on the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. By providing good dental care we can help increase your pet's longevity.
  There are many different ways to help provide good dental care. Some of them that we provide are:

• C.E.T. Home Dental Care Oral Hygiene Rinse for Dogs and Cats- Rinse daily following each meal or as directed by your veterinarian.
• C.E.T. Home Dental Care Enzymatic Toothpaste- Use a soft-bristled toothbrush (one that we carry).  Apply daily or as directed by your veterinarian.  We carry a poultry flavored toothpaste that most dogs and cats enjoy. 
• OraVet Plaque Prevention Gel- Apply once a week or as directed.  Dry the gums as much as possible and apply to your pets teeth and gums at the gumline. There is the option for us to apply this product directly after the Dental Cleaning which will last for two weeks!  (However, the take-home product lasts about a week)
• C.E.T. Chews for dogs and C.E.T. Treats for cats.  They are treated with a special enzyme that breaks down potential tartar build-up on your pets teeth when they bite into them.

• Bad Breath -  one of the first signs of dental disease
• A yellowish-brown crust of plaque on the teeth near the gum line
• Red and swollen gums
• Pain or bleeding when your pet eats or when the mouth or gums are touched
• Decreased appetite or difficulty eating
• Loose or missing teeth

     If your pet has bad breath or reddened gums, it could be from gingivitis. Gingivitis occurs when soft plaque hardens into rough, irritating tartar. Tartar build-up on your pet's teeth can cause damage to the teeth and gums.
     If left untreated, gingivitis can lead to an infection called periodontal disease. This disease can cause the loss of teeth. You can prevent serious dental problems from happening by making sure your pet receives dental exams at the time of each vaccination, again at six months of age, and then annually.