St. Patrick’s Day

Irish Setters

St. Patrick’s Day is upon us, and what better time to talk about the beautiful Irish Setter?  This breed holds a special place in my heart, as I grew up next door to a Setter named Noah.  He fascinated the neighborhood kids with his big heart and slobbery grin.  But, you don’t see a lot of Irish Setters anymore. Maybe this is because they can be reckless and high-strung if they do not receive the proper amount of mental and physical exercise.  Decades of people buying this dog for its beauty and ignoring its physical and mental needs resulted in the dog’s reputation as being destructive and hard to manage.

But, it is this impulsive and independent spirit that I find so alluring.  And the beach can be just the place for a high-strung dog.   After a Setter is trained to behave on a leash and come when called, they can work their brains and their bodies as they play fetch or herd gulls.  Their flowing red coat is a spectacle to watch when they run at full speed.

The Irish Setter is classified by the American Kennel Club as a sporting breed. As an ancestor of the Spanish Pointer, the Irish Setter is an all-purpose hunting dog, both a pointer and retriever all in one. They are especially good for hunting game birds. They have excellent noses and are very fast. Over the years many breeders have started breeding more for looks rather than the dog’s hunting ability, and for some reason I find this sad.  In fact, the Irish Setter used to be a red and white dog, but selective breeding in the 19^th century resulted in the chestnut color that we see today.

This talented breed has also been used for tracking, guarding, agility and competitive obedience.  Although I wonder about the guarding ability, as the setters I have known tend to be overly friendly and eager to please.  They might actually, in an effort to be friendly and helpful, lead a burglar to the jewelry rather than scare them away.

If you should consider an Irish Setter as an addition to your family, you should know that they are sensitive to the tone of one’s voice and will not listen if they sense that they are stronger minded than their owner, and on the other hand, they do not respond well to harsh discipline.  Like a high strung horse, the Irish Setter needs a calm, stern and rewarding discipline.  Sometimes kids simply get trounced by these big clown-like dogs. That said, they are generally wonderful with kids as my neighborhood friends can attest.   They also need regular brushing to keep the sand spurs out of their flowing coats.

If you want more information about the Irish Setter, check out the Irishsetterclub.org.  No matter what breed you may be interested in adding to your family, always think of rescuing a dog in need before you buy one from a breeder.  Saveoursetters.org is a national organization that can link you to Setters in need near you.  Setterrescue.org is a Southeastern organization coordinating Setter rescue in our area as is Irishsetter.rescueme.org/SouthCarolina.  The oldies are the best as I am a sucker for those grey faces and an energy level that I can keep up with, but there are needy pups out there too.

Sullivans Island Overreacts

I am sure all of you dog lovers have recently heard that the Sullivan’s Island town council has unanimously decided to ban dogs from the island’s beaches year-around from 10am-6pm. It was widely publicized and well known that the council was going to review their existing leash law last Tuesday, but that is not what they did. They banned dogs from the beach year around.

Now, I am a huge supporter of leash laws and I strongly support waste control laws. I am even a supporter of restrictions on dogs during hot summer activities. These types of restrictions increase safety for both humans and dogs.

Generally, dogs are banned from beaches for two reasons. One is that people ignore the leash laws and allow their pets to wander, bothering others and creating complaints. The other reason is the waste problem. Deborah Hazen-Martin, of the town’s council, inferred that Sullivan’s Island might even have to close their beaches in the summer if the dog waste problem got any worse.

There are solutions to both of these problems that do not require a total ban of dogs from the beach. Dog friendly beaches and towns throughout the nation have adopted some of the following suggestions.

• Ban dogs during the hottest part of the summer when beaches are the most crowded. Banning dogs from the beach in December in Charleston is ridiculous. Folly Beach has done this successfully, although I would suggest a ban be limited to June, July and August when dogs are most at risk from the heat.
• Ban dogs from certain places on the beach. For example, dogs could be banned between station 19 and 25 during the summer. But, banning dogs from the entire beach is unnecessary. In San Diego there are several sections of beach reserved for dogs and their owners.

• Provide a time when dogs can be allowed off leash. This is one thing Sullivans did right by allowing off leash activities between 5am and 10am.

• Enforce leash laws with hefty fines. The same effort it will take to enforce the ban would result in a rather large income for the city if off-leash owners were fined.

• Enforce waste laws with fines and make it easy to spot and retrieve a bag for waste pick-up. Again, monitor the beaches, post signs, garbage cans and poop-pick up bags at each station. In Jupiter Beach, Florida, a local dog club helps monitor and clean up the beach if needed.

What saddens me immensely is the year-around ban. Dogs on the beach are not a problem when the beaches are devoid of people. May and September are the best months to enjoy a long day of swimming and playing with your dog on an empty beach, and Sullivan’s Island has made this impossible unless you can run home to your house and put your dog back inside before 10am. I suspect that this move was motivated by a lot more than just waste control. It reeks of an attempt to restrict non-resident access to another of our public beaches.

Cats Get Heartworms Too

When I was notified that this month’s edition would be about Valentines and Groundhog day, two things came to my mind, neither of which were romance or global warming. Instead, I immediately thought of hearts. The real things that pump our pet’s blood, not the valentine kind. I also thought of Dachshund and their genetic urge to hunt the groundhog. In the end, I decided to focus on hearts, especially cat hearts, because I have a pet (no pun intended) peeve: Too few cat owners know or understand the grim reality of heartworms in cats. It seems everyone knows that dogs can get heartworms. They diligently give their dog his heartworm pill once a month to prevent this deadly disease. But what about our cats?
When I graduated from veterinary school too many years ago, we thought that it was extremely rare for cats to get heartworms. This turned out to be terribly wrong. The truth was that cats were hard to test for heartworms, so we simply didn’t know that they were dying from this disease.
Let’s start with some background information, so you can understand how heartworms affect cats. Heartworm larvae enter the cat’s body while a mosquito is feeding on the cat’s skin. Unlike the dog, the cat is not a natural host for the heartworms and the cat tends to mount a massive immune response to these migrating larvae. Thus, very few baby heartworms make it to adulthood in the cat’s heart, but the inflammation from this immune attack is quite detrimental to the cat’s well-being. If a larvae does make it to the heart, the ensuing adult worm wreaks havoc. While dozens of adult worms can develop in a dog’s heart, cats usually only develop one to five. But, even one worm is absolutely deadly to a cat.
Symptoms of heartworms in cats are different from a dog as cats develop more of a lung disease that shows up as respiratory distress, chronic coughing or vomiting. Feline heartworm disease is often misdiagnosed as asthma. Some cats with heartworms die a very sudden death when the body mounts a massive immune reaction to a heartworm.
In cats there are two phases where the disease can show symptoms. The first is when immature worms reach the blood vessels in the lungs. Even these tiny worms casue inflammation that interferes with the cat’s ability to breathe. The second phase can occur when a worm dies. At this time the worm loses its “protective coating” and the body recognizes it as a foreign body. The inflammatory reaction mounted when a worm dies in a cat’s lung is basically anaphylactic shock – or a massive allergic reaction that can result in sudden death.
The test for heartworms in dogs is fairly uncomplicated and simply picks proteins from female adult heartworms, but since cats rarely develop a full grown heartworm, there may be too few worms to produce a positive test. Therefore no single test for heartworms in cats is reliable. The American Heartworm Society recommends that cats get two types of tests, both an antibody and an antigen test. Chest x rays and echocardiograms may also be necessary.
There is no way to rid a cat of heartworms. Killing the worms with drugs like we do with dogs is too dangerous because of the massive inflammatory reaction that cats have to dead worms. Therefore all we can do is try to control the inflammation and wait out the heatrworm’s lifespan of 2-3 years. Some cats make it and some don’t.
The good news is that heartworm infection in cats is 100% preventable! So why aren’t all cats on heartworm prevention? I just don’t understand this. Heartworm prevention can be easy to give to a cat, as it comes in yummy chewies or topical applications, so you don’t have to chase your cat around to give a pill every month. There simply are no good excuses, so ask your vet how you can protect your cat’s heart today.

Pet Dental Health Month

February is National Dental Health Month and Bees Ferry Veterinary Hospital is celebrating by offering free dental checkups and 10% off all dental treatments during this month only.

How do you know if your pet needs to take advantage of this special? The answer is pretty simple: you probably do. Eighty percent of all dogs and seventy percent of cats over 3 years of age have some form of dental disease.  If one of our veterinarians has mentioned that your pet would benefit from some form of dental care, now is the time to follow up.

If you aren’t sure if your pet needs dental work, call to make a free appointment with one of our nurses today.  He or she can help determine if you simply need to start a dental care regimen at home or if you need to schedule a cleaning, periodontal treatments or even extractions.

Remember that dental disease doesn’t affect just your pet’s mouth. Periodontal disease is a silent killer that starts with a bacterial infection in the mouth. The bacteria then sneak through the blood stream to the heart, lungs or kidneys where they exacerbate existing disease or cause disease by themselves.

The first sign of periodontal disease is bad breath, and it shouldn’t be ignored.  If plaque is present as a brownish staining of the teeth, your pet has stage I periodontal disease and it is time to initiate an aggressive brushing or dental chew program.  If there is a black line where the teeth meet the gums, your pet has stage II periodontal disease and bacteria has made its way under the gum line.  You won’t be able to get this off with brushing or chews, so you need to schedule a professional dental cleaning now.

Your pet has stage III periodontal disease when calculus had formed.  When this happens, you have missed your opportunity for a simple cleaning.  These teeth need to be x-rayed for disease under the gum, cleaned and if pockets of detached gum are forming around the teeth, then we will need to perform some form of periodontal treatment and you will need to maintain an aggressive home-care regimen to save the affected teeth.  Unfortunately, once calculus has formed, it is hard to tell how bad the periodontal disease is until the pet is anesthetized.  Sometimes we find stage IV and V periodontal disease under the calculus.  These pets will require tooth extractions or root canal therapy.  So, when you bring your pet in to have that mouth cleaned up, be available for us to call you in the middle of the procedure if we find periodontal disease beyond stage III.  Treating these bad teeth immediately brings instant comfort and relief to your pet.

Whatever stage of periodontal disease your pet has, it should be treated now.  Call us today so we can help.  843-769-6784.

Running with your dog

OK, it is time to start working off those holiday pounds and your canine pal should probably do the same.  Dog running partners are much more motivating than humans.  Unless they are sick, a dog will never say “I just don’t feel like it this morning” and they will probably roust you from your bed even if you don’t feel like it.  A dog will not make fun of your lycra or criticize your form.  He will not mind running the same boring route everyday.  And, a dog that exercises is a happy dog all day long.

Before you head out with your new jogging partner, you need to make sure that he or she is up to the task.  The ideal running dog weighs 30-70 pounds and has a short to medium length hair coat.  Giant dogs like Great Danes do not have appropriate body proportions to support long distance running.  And, believe it or not, Greyhounds are not great for long distance either.  They can sprint like the wind, but long trots are not really their forte.  Obvious breeds that cannot become running partners include small or miniature dogs, those with squashed noses like Bulldogs and Pugs and short legged dogs like Basset hounds and Daschounds.

Young growing dogs should not be considered a good long distance partner either.  At this early age, it is best to begin training the puppy to obey commands so he or she will heal, stop, slow down and respect traffic.  My dog even understands “right” and “left”.  This is very helpful when I decide to make a sudden turn or if she is out ahead of me.  All this obedience training can be done within a couple of blocks of your home while you are waiting for the dog to mature.  Most are ready for long distance training by the time they are 2 years old.

Once you have determined that your age and breed of dog is going to make an appropriate running partner, go see the vet.  He or she will check out the dog’s heart, joints, muscle and weight.  If all goes well, he’ll get a clean bill of health and you can begin training.  If your dog has been enjoying the couch as much as you have over the holidays, you should probably start very slowly.  Start with half a mile every other day.  Increase the distance by 10% each week and give the dog a day off for every day of running.  In no time you will both be enjoying the spring for an hour or so at a time.

Always keep your dog on a leash.  Some people like the waist leash attachments and others think they are dangerous because the dog could pull you over if he sees a squirrel or another dog.  Know your companion and his habits when making a decision about what type of leash to use.  Stay visible.  Use reflective vests, collars and leashes.  Flashing lights around the dog’s collar are very effective.  If you must run near traffic, remember that your dog’s nose is the same height as automobile exhaust pipes.  Try to keep him away from these nasty pollutants.  Check your dog’s paws before and after the run.  If you are running on the beach, where sand can clump between the pads, you might want to do this more often.

In general you cannot enter running races with your dog.  Some runners are terrified of dogs and under crowded circumstances, leashes can be a source of trips.  However, there are some races that encourage canine participation, and these can be great fun and a source of bonding with your canine companion.  As my friend, who is not an avid runner, ran across the finish line of our local Reindeer Run with her dog Scup, she said couldn’t have been more proud of her pal and running partner.

Dog-Runner

When is it time?

Four years ago I thought it was all over for my Border Collie Makeba. She sat under my desk shaking in pain and her back legs were weak and she was stumbling. Something was compressing or damaging her spinal cord. X-rays didn’t reveal much. I was able to control her pain with medications and rest and my colleague, Holley Cone, DVM helped her with acupuncture and chiropractic adjustments, but she still wasn’t quite right. Like most veterinarians, when my own pet is the one in trouble, I become a complete idiot. So, I sought second and third opinions. Local surgeons were hesitant to attempt surgery without the benefit of an MRI to localize and identify the problem, but this was before Charleston had its two veterinary MRI facilities. So we travelled to NC State in Raleigh for an MRI. The diagnosis: twenty one herniated disks of varying severity. Dogs only have 28, so you can imagine my dismay. The worst ones could be surgically managed, but there were so many affected. Meanwhile, just with medical and physical therapy, Makeba was getting better and stronger.
Everyone I consulted with agreed; no need for surgery if she was getting better. And better she got. She never resumed her previous activities like pulling my husband on his bike or running the length of Sullivan’s Island, but she could walk and trot and play with her toys. And after we laid wool carpet on our stairs, she could even go up and down on her own. Life was good again.
To everyone’s amazement, this lasted four years. But in the last few weeks she suddenly lost all she had gained. Now she was 15, and my husband and I had to make the decision that I have helped so many of my clients make over the years. At what point do you say goodbye to a long loyal friend? I’ll share with you some of the things to help you make such a decision, but ultimately, you just know. My husband and I knew that if Makeba lost her ability to get up on her own and if she lost her usually voracious appetite, then it was her time. We said our tearful goodbyes when all she would eat was cat food and she had to be carried outside to eliminate. She was tired.
But, I have clients who decide to euthanize a pet long before and long after these stages. It is such a personal decision that there are no rules.
When discussing this issue, I like to point out two things. One is that age itself is not a disease. We all get lots of diseases when we reach a certain age, but it isn’t age itself that is a disease. So, if your aged pet is slowing down, be sure to have your veterinarian assess him or her to see if there are treatable disease processes going on before you decide to euthanize a pet. Once you know what disease you are dealing with, it is easy to remember that you are not making the decision for your pet to die. The disease process decided that. You are simply helping decide how your pet is going to die. Once you reach this point, you have two choices: euthanasia or hospice care. It is making the decision to discontinue treatment and move into hospice care or euthanasia that is so hard.
The quality-of-life parameters that we use to help us determine if a pet is ready for hospice or euthanasia include his or her appetite, willingness to eat a favorite treat, ability to get to an appropriate place to eliminate, pain, nausea, interactions with others, weight, mentation (stupor or seizures) and playfulness. You can use a scorecard to rank these parameters from 0 (worst) to 10 (normal pet). If most of these parameters are less than an 8, then an end of life decision is warranted. Another way to do this is to start a diary of your pet’s quality-of-life by simply using a frowny face or a smiley face for each day that passes. At the end of 10 days or 2 weeks, if there are more frowny faces than smiley faces, then we must admit our defeat. The disease process is going to overwhelm our pet and we need to help make decisions about his or her dying process.
If you are really stuck, think of three things that make your pet distinct and special to you. For example, Makeba was an intensely loyal dog. She always had to be in the same room as my husband or myself. She was an amazing athlete and could jump through hoops and run with me while training for a marathon. She was also ridiculously smart. She loved training and learning new tricks. Make your own list for your ailing pet. If two of these three things are missing from your pet’s life, then it may be time to make an end of life decision for him or her.
Since we usually outlive our pets, it is likely that we will grieve their loss. I agree with a colleague of mine who pointed out that it is not fair to let our pets suffer longer because we don’t want to suffer sooner. Our pain (grief) is inevitable, but theirs (suffering from a terminal illness) is avoidable.
Even though I am crying as I write this, I know I made the right decision at the right time for my beloved “Sheepdog”. Maybe this will help you when the time comes for you and your lovely pets. May it be eons!!

The Basotho Pony

The trip of a lifetime, thanks to the Basotho pony.

“I have never been so dirty as an adult” my husband accurately reflected after our second full day in the Lesotho mountains.   We had been riding atop the agile Basotho ponies to remote villages where the children have never seen a motorized vehicle and the babies shied from our white faces.  It was on this trip that I fell in love with the Basotho people and the remarkable animals that support their livelihoods.

We arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa on Friday the 18^th of November.  There we rented a car and drove over deeply potholed roads to the South African-Lesotho border.  Lesotho is a small  mountainous country that is completely surrounded by the country of South Africa and is the home of the Sotho-speaking  (Basotho) people.

Although few Americans have heard of it, pony trekking in Lesotho is a “must do” in Southern Africa.  My husband, an expert on African development, has known this for some time, and we were finally taking the time to make our own trek.  I knew that we would be riding ponies that were born and bred to handle the mountainous ascents and descents, but I was picturing something like the donkeys that carry people into the Grand Canyon.  I had no idea .

“Nerves will be tested on the first day as you descend into the river gorge” was the description in the Xeroxed informational booklet that we found in our rustic base-lodge.  And they were not kidding!  The Basotho pony has evolved from the South African Cape horse, the Arabian horse and the Connemara ponies from Ireland .  The result is a small horse with ferocious strength, agility, and unlike the donkey, this animal is patient and fearless.  With 100 to 200 pounds of human or gear on their backs, they climb and hop up and down rocky faces that only sheep and goats would traverse in any other part of the world.

Now, I grew up riding horses.  My childhood companion was a hot-blooded Arabian that tested my riding abilities, but even I was shocked and hanging on for dear life as my pony took me down into this gorge on sheer chalky faces and over steep uneven rocks.  I leaned back as far as I could and squeezed tightly with my out-of-shape thighs, and yes, closed my eyes sometimes.  Somehow we made it down to the river – and that was just in the first hour.  There were a lot more rugged mountains ahead.

Alex was the name of my pony, I think.  It seemed like our guide made up names when I asked what the horses’ names were.  They may not really have names, as they are regarded truly as vehicles.  Naming your horse would be like naming your car.  Some people do it, but it isn’t the norm.  Consequently, these horses don’t seem to bond with their human. That isn’t really true, they just aren’t bonded like our spoiled animals, who run for attention to anyone who might feed or pet them.  There is a different kind of bond here, and it results in an animal that is incredibly easy to be around.  These horses don’t kick or bite like most donkeys I know.  They respond quickly to commands and could be trusted with a small child running under their legs.

So, the stoic Alex carried me for seven hours on that first day.  We finally made it over the most rugged mountain pass to the village of Sekoting.  There we were greeted by children and the village sangoma (traditional healer), who lived next door to the Basotho hut where we were to stay.  Our hut, leased from the village chief, was round with hard mud-dung floors, adobe walls and a thatched roof.  It was stocked with a gas burner, a bucket of spring water (to which we added purification tablets) and mats for sleeping.  The red dust was everywhere, but we settled in and began to watch the end of a day in the life of a remote African village.

Large herds of white angora goats and sheep were shepherded into twig-fenced enclosures.  It seems that all the boys are shepherds and the older ones brought in the family’s small herd of cattle.  The cattle in this region are the symbol of wealth and are worth a lot, so owning 4 or 5 cows is a big deal.  The cows spend the night in stone enclosures with the donkeys.  The village appeared to own one Basotho pony, who was blanketed for the coming storm.  My husband and I joked about this truly being a “one horse town”.

The next day we again rode to another village near a spectacular waterfall.  Because we arrived earlier, we were able to see more of how the villagers and their animals survive in these arid mountains.

A pig was nestled up against the rondavel of our host family.  Tiny baby Angora goats wandered around the village bleating for their mothers.  Apparently, the babies cannot handle the rugged terrain, but the mother goats must be taken into the mountains to graze, so they leave their babies behind for the day and are reunited at night.  The grandmother and village elder, seemed to take pity on the tiniest ones, as they rested at her feet in the shade of her hut.

One thing I learned is that there is no organized feeding or watering of any of the animals.  Everything must make it on its own. Herding dogs didn’t beg from people because they know they aren’t getting anything from them.  They make due with the legs, feet and heads of cows that have been slaughtered for food.  So, as you walk out of the villages, you find large cow bones just lying around.  Chickens and their chicks strut around picking up grass seeds and bits of corn leftover from the corn that is ground by the villagers as their main staple.  While on the trail our horses grazed at night and drank from rivers that we crossed during the day.  (Back at the base lodge, these hard working horses were fed grain and corn)

What a perfect way to spend the Thanksgiving holiday.  We met joyful children, caring elders  and enjoyed stars so bright and dense that the sky seemed one mass of light.  All the while, we were getting dirtier and dirtier from the red dust that permeated the air, our horses’ blankets and even our sleeping bag.  Sometimes you have to let go of social norms and just let yourself get really, deeply dirty to remind you what to be truly grateful for.  I love that about Africa

Stem Cell Therapy Saves Dog’s Lives

This holiday season, consider giving your pet relief from arthritis pain. Millions of dogs suffer the aches and discomfort of arthritis. Millions more may be hurting without any obvious signs. Now, a new science, using cells derived from the pet’s own fat, may bring relief to many or our painful pet companions.
When your pet has arthritis, you can almost feel the pain he is suffering. You watch as he struggles to rise from his bed, cringe as he slowly ascends the stairs, and you can even hear the creaks and groans as he stretches out before his morning walk.
More than 15 million dogs in North America suffer some form of degenerative joint disease, better known as arthritis. Unfortunately, many dog owners are completely unaware of the pain their pet is experiencing, chalking up the slow movement to the effects of “old age”.
Some dogs may receive daily doses of pain relievers and oral joint care supplements. Still others might find their way to physical therapy or rehabilitation. Some lucky pets even get ramps built in their homes, sparing them the need to climb the dreaded stairs.
But for some, any or all of these options are not enough to relieve the pain. Sadly, many owners decide to euthanize their faithful companion, because of the severity of the pain or the continued high cost of treatment.
But a new helpful treatment is finally here called stem cell therapy. Vet-Stem and Medivet are two companies focused on bringing regenerative medicine technology to veterinarians. They have developed a therapy to treat arthritis in dogs using the pet’s own fat tissue. The Medivet technology even allows the veterinarian to process the cells in-house, meaning that your pet does not have to wait a week for cells to be sent to an outside lab, processed and sent back. With Medivet technology, your pet can have the fat cells harvested and injected into the affected joints in one day.
Stem cells are precursor cells that have the potential to develop into a variety of specialized cell types. Most people may equate this technology with the controversial use of embryonic stem cells. But this new technology uses adult stem cells derived from the fat of the pet. Since they are the pet’s own cells, there is no ethical debate.
This technology was developed from research and techniques used in equine medicine. Scientific and anecdotal evidence from more than 2,500 horses establishes that fat derived stem cells are quite helpful for tendon and ligament injuries. Furthermore, no significant side effects were reported. Stem cells appear to moderate the inflammatory response and actually create a healthier healing environment in the joint.
Recently, a detailed study on the use of fat-derived stem cells in dogs showed that animals receiving the treatment demonstrated a significant improvement in lameness when compared to dogs in the control group. We have definitely seen this effect on our own patients at Bees Ferry Veterinary Hospital. Dogs that couldn’t climb stairs or jump on beds are back to their old mischievous selves.
All of this seems pretty miraculous and for some pets, the results are truly nothing short of a life-saving miracle. Unfortunately, not all pets are good candidates for this therapy. Since anesthesia is involved in both the harvesting step and the reintroduction of the cells, this may not be ideal for patients at increased risk for anesthetics. Any dog with serious systemic disease, such as cancer, might not benefit from these treatments.
Some pets need to return regularly for follow-up treatments, but we are seeing improvement in arthritic dogs for 6 months to 3 years before repeat injections are needed. Some pets do so well, that they over-exert themselves and injure other muscles and ligaments that have not been used in a while. You can minimize these complications by limiting your pet’s activity until he is fit again.
Arthritis can be painful and even debilitating in any dog. If you suspect your dog suffers from this disease, talk with your veterinarian about testing to confirm arthritis and then discuss the many treatment options. Your veterinarian will recommend a multi-modal approach, combining appropriate medications, controlled exercise, weight loss, and environmental changes to make your dog’s life easier. In some cases, new technology, like stem cell therapy, might be beneficial. To learn more about this high-tech solution to an age old problem, visit bfvh.net and go to our arthritis page.

Halloween Pet Safety

      Lots of people like to have fun during the Halloween festivities, but our pets can truly be “spooked” by all of the noises and costumes.   Halloween is a holiday with many dangers for our dogs and cats.  The two biggest concerns for pets during the holiday are injuries and poisonings.

Keep your pet away from the Halloween candy.   As you probably know, chocolate can be toxic to pets and even small amounts can cause heart problems and vomiting. Candy that is artificially sweetened with Xylitol® can cause low blood sugar in dogs and has been implicated in liver failure as well. Lollipop sticks and foil wrappers can become lodged in your pet’s digestive tract,   causing painful obstructions.

Some Halloween decorations can be unsafe as well.   Fake cobwebs or anything resembling a string can be tempting to cats. String-like objects can become lodged in your cat’s intestines and cause a deadly obstruction.   Candles inside of pumpkins are easily knocked over, burning your pet or even starting a fire.

Dressing up is fun for people, but may not be very fun for our pets.  If you are thinking of dressing up your pet this year, there are some things to keep in mind.  Your pet must be comfortable at all times.  Avoid any costumes that use rubber bands or anything that might constrict circulation or breathing.  Likewise, avoid costumes with toxic paints or dyes.  If your pet appears uncomfortable in any way, allow him to dress up in his “birthday suit”.

You might not realize it, but costumes on people can be scary to pets.   Masks, large hats, and other costume accessories can confuse pets and may even trigger territorial instincts.   It is not unusual for pets to act protective or be fearful of people in costumes, even if they normally are very social with that person.

Remember, you are responsible for controlling your pet and insuring that he does not bite any of the neighbourhood ghosts.

The excitement of the day may be too much for even the best-behaved dog.   Constant visitors to the door as well as the spooky sights and sounds may cause some pets to become fearful. These pets could run away and become injured in a variety of ways.  Consider allowing your dog to spend Halloween in his own special place inside with special treats, safe and secure from the goblins.  Even if you have a fenced yard, Halloween is definitely not a good night for your dog to be outside without supervision and restraint.

Although the threat is probably minimal, many people are concerned about black cats during this time of year.   If you live in a very rural area, it might be wise to keep all cats indoors during this holiday.

If your pet does tolerate costumes, post a picture of him or her to facebook.com/beesferryvet.  We’ll vote for the best costume.  The winner gets a credit on their Bees Ferry account.