Caring for Pets, Lead In Ceramic Food Bowls From China

Check your dog bowls. Check your cat bowls. With the latest recall of ceramic dishes made in China, check to see if your pets are eating from bowels made in China. Chinese-made ceramic bowls may have a high lead content in the glaze. For that matter, so might ceramic bowls made in Mexico.

To prevent lead and heavy metal toxins in glaze from leaching into your pets’ food, switch to:
· ceramic bowls made for babies,
· ceramic liners of crock pots, or
· stainless bowls.

Pets exposed to lead develop subtle learning, behavior, and health problems that become increasingly more severe. Some of the problems caused by lead are:
· anemia
· anorexia
· coma (loss of consciousness)
· constipation
· diarrhea
· headache
· hyperactivity
· insomnia
· irritability
· kidney problems
· learning disability
· lethargy
· nausea and vomiting
· Schizophrenia–like symptoms
· seizures.

If you have any concerns that your pet’s bowls may be contributing to health, learning, or behavior problems, switch immediately to glass bowls or stainless cooking pots, then find new dishes.

New pet food dishes don’t need to cost much money, just look for dishes that won’t break, and are chemically inert—such as glass, stainless, and ceramic approved for babies. Then, ask your veterinarian to run a simple blood test to see if there are changes in your pet's red blood cells that indicate lead damage.

Lead profoundly affects health, and you’re able to prevent lead poisoning from glaze used on ceramic dishes in China with a simple approach—NO ceramic dishes for pets that aren’t certified as safe for babies.

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Dog Nutrition and raw and home-cooked dog food

After the recent episode of pet food poisoning, consumers were asked how they felt about feeding prepackaged food. Almost 70% of consumers said they were concerned with packaged foods. Half of these consumers said they were extremely concerned, and 20% are considering feeding home-cooked meals.

The latest issue of the Whole Dog Journal will help consumers interested in switching to raw or home-cooked diets. For recipes and success stories on using home-cooked and raw diets for pets, visit the Journal's website: http://www.whole-dog-journal.com. In every case these folks report their dog's health improved when switched from packaged to raw or home-cooked meals. The article mentions places to purchase bones, meat, and other ingredients, and describes supplements used to ensure complete nutrition.

If feeding raw or home-cooked meals, feed them warm rather than cold. Cold, raw food is difficult to digest and increases the likelihood that dogs will develop diarrhea.

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Pet Health Caring for Pets, the Top 10 Reasons Cats Visit The Veterinary Clinic

Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI) says the top 10 claims filed by cat owners for treatment at veterinary clinics are:
· Urinary tract infections
· Stomach upsets
· Kidney failure
· Skin allergies
· Diabetes
· Respiratory infections
· Ear infections
· Tooth extractions
· Diarrhea and intestinal problems (Colitis)
· Hyperthyroidism.

The most common problem, urinary tract infections, are potentially serious in cats because stones can block the urethra and prevent urination. As urine builds in the bladder, the body reabsorbs elements that should have been excreted, such as potassium. When potassium level rise, the heart rhythm slows. Thus, cats with bladder problems can die of cardiac dysrhythmia.

Feeding canned or home-cooked foods and providing filtered water increases the amount of fluid in a cat’s body and helps keep urine moving. Cats that aren’t urinating at least twice a day should visit the veterinary clinic immediately. Cats that are urinating more often than normal—especially if they urinate in unusual places—should also visit the veterinary clinic.

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Emergency Veterinary Care, more trips are made at the full moon

Many speculate that there is an increase in human emergency rooms admissions during different phases of the moon, and now there is research to show that this speculation is correct for dog and cat admissions.

Work by Regan Wells, Juliet Gionfriddo and Timothy Hackett, and Steven Radecki sited studies that have shown both an increase and no change in human emergency admissions for:
Psychologic crises,
Suicide,
Gout,
Childbirth,
Dog bites,
Seizures,
Heart attacks,
Fights, and
Trauma.

When Dr. Wells et all looked at data for about 12,000 dogs and cats over a ten-year period, they found more emergency room visits occurred on the dark of the new moon and during the moons brighter and brightest phases than when the moon was at first quarter or waxing. They calculated the increased risk of emergency admission during the fuller moon days for dogs was 28% and 23% for cats. The type of emergency did not appear to have a pattern.

The complete study, “Canine and feline emergency room visits and the lunar cycle: 11,940 cases (1992-2002) is in the July 15, 2007, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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Botulism Contaminates Pet Food

RECALLED PET FOOD

• Natural Balance Eatables for Dogs Irish Stew With Beef, Potatoes & Carrots


• Natural Balance Eatables for Dogs Chinese Take Out


• Natural Balance Eatables for Dogs HOBO Chili with Chicken & Pasta


• Natural Balance Eatables for Dogs Southern Style Dumplings With Chicken & Vegetables

Castleberry (Bumble Bee Foods) has recalled more than 80 types of stew, chili, and hash because botulism toxin is found in the food. The recall includes canned pet food sold under the Natural Balance label. Dogs that eat food contaminated with botulism toxin can become paralyzed and die.

Botulism has three ways of infecting
This outbreak of botulism is caused by the toxin in food, but botulism can infect pets and people using three routes:
• Foodborne (toxin),
• wound contamination (bacteria), and
• infant botulism (spores growing in the intestines).

Foodborne botulism is probably the most common problem for dogs; and wound contamination, the most common problem for horses and livestock. Infant botulism is the most common cause of human infection. Cats, the lucky devils, aren’t susceptible to botulism infections under natural conditions. Fiendish experimenters have been able to infect them, but cats don’t get botulism outside the laboratory.

Signs and Symptoms of Botulism
In dogs, foodborne botulism toxin affects the nerves to all parts of the body, but it is most obvious when the nerves that stimulate the muscles are damaged and the dog becomes limp and paralyzed. Symptoms can begin as quickly as 6 hours after eating, but in some dogs no symptoms will be obvious for a week or 10 days after ingesting the toxin. Once symptoms begin, they reach maximum severity quickly—within 12-24 hours.

At the same time as the dog is becoming paralyzed and unable to move, botulism toxin is causing less obvious, but equally serious damage elsewhere:
• eyes lose the ability to focus so that vision is impaired,
• throat muscles cannot contract the dog cannot swallow,
• the stomach doesn’t work so that food cannot be digested
• the intestines don’t work and the dog cannot defecate, and
• the muscles that expand the chest don’t work so the animal cannot breathe.

Death is usually due to respiratory paralysis.

Damage to the nerves and muscles occurs because the toxin blocks acetylcholine, the signaling molecule that travels from nerves and tells muscles to contract. Dogs with this form of nerve paralysis become weak and lose all their muscle tone. Within a week, their muscles will atrophy. The skin begins to break down and bed sores develop because the dog cannot move and will lie in the same position until helped.

Diagnosis of Botulism
Several diseases cause nerve paralysis symptoms similar to those caused by botulism, such as myasthenia gravis, coonhound paralysis, tick bite paralysis. To determine what’s making a dog ill, veterinarians look for signs of botulism in the blood and the feces.

Treatment of Botulism
If the dog is diagnosed before the toxin has damaged the nerves, an antitoxin is helpful. It is Type C or polyvalent containing type C antitoxin. Antitoxin doesn’t help after paralysis occurs. Paralyzed dogs require intensive care and can be put on respirators and ventilated until the nerves and muscles recover. Intensive care and artificial ventilation may be necessary for 1-3 weeks. During recovery, the following complications can occur:
• dry eye (keratoconjunctivitis sicca),
• pneumonia,
• bed sores (decubital sores), and
• urine scalding of skin.

Fortunately, dogs can completely recover, but it may take many weeks for their muscles to develop the tone they lost while paralyzed.

Powerful Poison
The extreme danger of foodborne botulism is that it takes the tiniest amount of toxin (one microgram) to poison a pet and block acetylcholine release throughout the body. This is unlike most cases of toxic poisoning where the severity of the illness is related to how much of the toxin the pet is exposed to. For example, dogs that eat a tiny amount of chocolate never become ill, but a large amount can cause heart rhythm disturbance and heart failure.

The fact that botulism toxin is so powerful is also why we fear it may be used by terrorists to poison humans.

Heat Destroys Botulism Toxin
Botulism is a little unusual in that it is not the bacteria themselves that make pets sick when they eat poisoned pet food, but the toxin the bacteria make. Because this toxin is destroyed by heat, boiling food for 10 minutes destroys the toxin, as well as the bacteria. Boiled food cannot make pets ill.

Some bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus) produce toxins that are not destroyed by boiling, so it is unwise to ever become complacent about what we’re feeding our dogs.

Bulging Cans
One sign that botulism bacteria might be in canned food is that the can will bulge if the bacteria have had time to grow. Botulism bacteria thrive in sealed cans because they grow best where there is no oxygen (anaerobic bacteria). As they grow, they produce a gas that causes the can to swell. If you have any cans of food with bulging lids, return them to the store.

Don’t assume that a can of Natural Balance pet food that isn’t bulging is safe. To protect your pet, return your cans of Natural Balance food to the store.

To find out more about Natural Balance dog food recall, visit Castleberry's Web site: http://www.castleberrys.com. or
http://www.castleberrys.com/news_productrecall.asp.

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Tail wagging in dogs, the importance of direction

We’ve been covering disc disease for a couple weeks, and it’s time for a switch to something fun. Did you know dogs wag their tails to the right OR to the left? I didn’t. I thought dogs wagged their tails in the middle, going both the right and left. A three-page article titled “Asymmetric tail-wagging responses by dogs to different emotive stimuli” in Current Biology, March 2007 by A. Quaranta, M. Siniscalchi, G. Vallortigara maintains that dogs wag their tails more to the right in positive circumstances and to the left when they would prefer to withdraw. The amplitude of the tail wagging shows how excited the dog is.

For example dogs wagged to the right when they saw
· their owner,
· an unknown human, or
· a cat.

The amplitude of the wagging was
· high with the owner,
· medium with the unknown person, and
· low with the cat.

Dogs wagged to the left When they saw
· a dog didn’t know.

Authors suggest that muscles that pull the tail to the right are activated when the left side of the brain is active, and muscles that pull the tail to the left are active when the right side of the brain is active.

We’ll have to take notice. Let me know what you see.

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Caring for Pets, Disc Disease and NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs)

To treat dogs with disc disease, many medications and supplements are used:

• Omega 3 fatty acids,
• homeopathic medications,
• flower remedies,
• Chinese herbs,
• Western herbs,
• joint supplements and
• nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

Of these, NSAIDs have the greatest potential to cause harm.

Examples of NSAIDs prescribed for dogs with disc disease, arthritis, and other bone and joint problems are EtoGesic, Rimadyl, Metacam, and Piroxicam. These NSAIDs are best used for short periods to control pain, but not for long periods because their potential for causing side effects is too great.

For information on how serious side effects from NSAIDs are, check out Advice to Dog Owners Whose Pets Take NSAIDs on the FDA’s website that warns pet owners not to be complacent with NSAID use: http://www.fda.gov/cvm/FdaVetFirst2006.htm#6059.

Another FDA site discussing NSAIDs is Pain Drugs for Dogs: Be an Informed Pet Owner. You’ll learn NSAIDs can cause bleeding ulcers, kidney disease, and liver disease. http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2006/506_nsaid.html.

As though the potential for causing side effects were not enough to discourage NSAID use in dogs with disc disease, NSAIDs also damage joint cells and delay their return to normal. This is the opposite of the effect that joint supplements have.

When a dog is in extreme pain from disc disease, we’re willing to accept the potential for side effects and the joint damage, but as soon as possible, we stop NSAIDs and switch dogs to other medications. Continued use of NSAIDs indicates a complacency that can lead to long-term problems. Dogs with disc disease do not improve in an atmosphere of complacency.

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