Gunpowder And Dogs - Firecrackers And Dogs

We’ve been discussing gunpowder, which is not a supplement for dogs. Gunpowder doesn’t make milquetoast dogs become good guard dogs, but it does make them sick. Here’s why: Nitrates in gunpowder cause vomiting and diarrhea, shortness of breath, trembling, and red blood cell damage. Fortunately, dogs aren’t as sensitive to nitrate poisoning as cows, goats, and other ruminants are, but they are affected by it.

Treating a pet that’s eaten gunpowder
If you can get to the clinic, your veterinarian will flush your pet’s stomach to remove as much gunpowder as possible. Gunpowder acts a gut irritant throughout the gastrointestinal (gastro=stomach, intestinal=intestines) system. If you can’t reach the clinic, call your vet and follow the advice you’re given. If the gunpowder was swallowed within the last couple hours, your vet may recommend giving hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting. If your pet ate gunpowder several hours ago, your vet may recommend a large meal of mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, or pumpkin. These are easily digested and their bulk may help push the gunpowder through the system. If your pet ate a festival’s worth of fireworks, your veterinarian will tell you that homecare is inadequate, and that your pet must be hospitalized and treated with IV fluids and medications.

Firecrackers contain cadmium, barium, and arsenic
Firecrackers are similar to gunpowder, but are more dangerous. While gunpowder contains potassium nitrate (saltpeter), carbon, and sulfur, firecrackers contains these ingredients and additional coloring and explosive agents that are highly toxic. For example most firecrackers contain the heavy metals cadmium, barium, and arsenic. more. When your pet eats firecrackers, cadmium damages the kidneys, barium damages the brain and nerves, and arsenic causes bloody vomiting and diarrhea.

Firecrackers contain chlorates
Firecrackers can also contain chlorates. Chlorates oxidize the red blood cells and the blood turns brown as the iron in the blood’s hemoglobin becomes rust. At this stage, your pet is running rust through its vessels rather than blood. The rusty blood causes the gums and mucous membranes to be slightly brown. The urine is also brown.

Effect of chlorates
Pets poisoned with chlorates are very ill because rusty blood (methemoglobinemia) doesn’t carry oxygen and the heart and brain can’t work without oxygen. In an effort to put things right, your pet’s spleen begins destroying the damaged RBCs. The scrapped RBCs are carried from the spleen to the kidneys where they plug the kidney’s filtering mechanism. The plugged kidney filters (glomerulonephritis) cause acute kidney failure and death.

Will your pet die?
How sick your pet becomes depends upon how much gunpowder or fireworks it has eaten. This is the case with most poisons: severity is related to quantity. If your pet ate only the residue of firecrackers lying about after festivities, it is exposed to heavy metals that lace the packaging materials, wicks, and ash residue. This amount is may be toxic but may not be fatal. If your pet ate enough fireworks to light up Disneyland, the picture, although bright, will not be pretty.

What poison is more common than firecrackers and kills pets just as firecrackers do?
Fireworks are not a common pet poison, but there is a very common cause of poisoning that harms your pet’s body in the same way—the brown blood of methemoglobinemia. In a later blog, we’ll look at this common poison.

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Gunpowder and dogs

Some folks feed gunpowder to dogs intending to make them fierce. What a waste of gunpowder. Actually what they’re shooting for is a good guard dog, but guard dogs are born, then trained; good guard dogs never explode into the role from lunching on gunpowder.

To create good guard dogs, expose them to different people, of different ages, with different styles of dressing. This exposure allows dogs to give less regard to appearance than to energy. They learn to distinguish the benign from the dangerous. They become well socialized, neither fearful or aggressive. You’ll never have a dog that makes your neighbors march on city hall to have the breed banned.

Perhaps the idea of feeding gunpowder arose because someone wanted a weapon, a cannon with fangs to fire at threats. Dogs just don’t make good guns; they are more natural as missile defense shields—peaceful most of the time, reactive when necessary, but not aggressively reactive.

We’ll cover why gunpowder is toxic and what to do if your dog eats it in a future blog. You’d be surprised to learn that firecrackers are even worse for dogs than gunpowder. …

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Fighting Fleas – What Kate T. Taught Me About Brewers Yeast & Garlic

My friend Kate T. turned around my thinking on using brewers yeast and garlic. Brewers yeast and garlic are reported to help dogs resist fleas, but I’ve avoided using them for fear of causing allergies.

Many dogs are highly allergic to brewers yeast, and--as with most food allergens--it causes hot, itchy ears. The cells lining hot ears increase cerumen production and the ears fill with brown discharge. Fungal and bacterial organisms multiply like whipped cream from a spray can in this discharge. The dog scratches its ears, tears the skin, and the bacterial swamp penetrates into deeper dermal tissues. An infection that began in the outer ear canal (otitis) invades the middle ear (otitis media) and inner ear(otitis interna). The dog constantly shakes its head, scratches its ears; and, eventually, it becomes a deaf dog that walks with a head tilt.

What began as a reaction to brewers yeast can become a problem that does not end until the entire ear is removed surgically in a procedure called ear ablation. To stop this progression, veterinarians dispense antibiotics, steroids, fatty acids, and ear washes, and ear flushes. They schedule repeat visits for the pet so everyone stays on top of the situation. Ear, skin, and allergy appointments are so common that they account for 20% of visits made to the average clinic. The percentage would be higher if those outdoor dogs routinely forbidden to enter the house were allowed to sleep in under their owner’s bedat night. Many of these dogs would keep their families awake with their scratching and odor.

Given my concern for allergies, Kate T. needed to pound my head a bit to remind me that not all dogs are allergic. Her point is that dogs without allergies should have the benefit of brewers yeast & garlic. So, Thank you Kate T. for making me a better veterinarian. I will be more open-minded to the benefits of brewers yeast & garlic and will suggest it for more pets.
How brewers yeast & garlic repel fleas, hasn’t been clarified. Perhaps it provides vitamins and immune stimulants that keep the pet exceptionally healthy. We do know that healthy pets attract fewer fleas than unhealthy pets. Perhaps brewers yeast & garlic changes the dog’s odor and masks the presence of exhaled carbon dioxide that attracts fleas.

Regardless of how it works, let's consider using brewers yeast & garlic for these pets:
· small dogs with light skin, such as the Maltese and Westie, who often have an inflammatory skin reaction following application of topical flea & tick medications.
· Dogs with liver disease who cannot metabolize chemicals efficiently.
· Dogs in the South where fleas are a year-round problem may benefit from the combining brewers yeast & garlic with topical flea treatments.

So from Kate T. and me, go for it. Add brewers yeast & garlic to your pet’s food to help repel fleas. And, please let us know how it worked for you.

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Rat Poison Found In Pet Food

Poisoned “meat and gravy” style pet foods
The moist “meat and gravy” style pet foods that is causing illness and death in pets contains a rat poison. The poison, aminopterin, is not legal as a rat poison in the U.S., but it is used for rodent control in China. Recently, flour from China was found contaminated with aminopterin, and some speculate that wheat gluten in the toxic pet food was made from Chinese flour.

Aminopterin and Methotrexate
In the past, Aminopterin was used in the U.S. to treat cancer, but it caused severe toxicity and was discontinued. A similar drug, methotrexate, replaced aminopterin as a cancer medication. Because methotrexate and aminopterin are similar, data on methotrexate tells us what toxic effects to expect from aminopterin. Methotrexate causes vomiting, diarrhea, kidney damage, balding (hair falls out and doesn’t regrow) and bone marrow suppression.

Intestines
Vomiting and diarrhea occur because cells lining the intestine are damaged. Pets with intestinal damage either need foods that are easily digested or IV fluids.

Kidneys
The kidneys are essential to life, but fortunately pets can survive kidney damage if 1/3 of the kidney cells are still functioning. When less than 1/3 functions, the pet dies. Kidneys stimulate the bone marrow to make red blood cells and regulate potassium, sodium, calcium, and other ions. These ions stimulate the heart to contract with a normal rhythm, the muscles to contract, and the nerves to send messages. Kidneys also regulate the blood pressure and how much fluid is in the body. If the kidney fails, pets have:
· A change in the amount of urine—making either much more or much less than normal,
· Edema and swollen legs,
· A moist cough,
· A strong smell of urine on the skin,
· Itching skin,
· Vomiting and diarrhea,
· Seizures,
· Acute blindness, and
· A weak neck with drooping head (cats), and
· Drooling (cats).

Bone Marrow
Bone marrow is a source of red blood cells that carry oxygen, platelets that help with clotting, and white blood cells that fight infection. With marrow suppression, pets will have:
· Anemia,
· Bleeding, and
· infection.

Diet recommendations
Given possible problems with intestines, kidneys, and bone marrow, veterinarians recommend the following:
· Easily digestible foods, such as chicken broth and mashed sweet potatoes until the vomiting and diarrhea resolve.
· A salt-restricted diet, which means no potato chips, pretzels, smoked salty pet treats, or baked good. Baked goods contain baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). The sodium in baking soda is just as much a problem for weak kidneys as the sodium in table salt (sodium chloride),
· A constant source of fresh, filtered water. The family will measure how much the pet drinks and urinates and report changes in the amounts to their veterinarian.

Medications and supplements
For medications and supplements, veterinarians recommend the following:
· Herbs, such as rehmannia, and Omega 3 fatty acids, such as Nordic Natural Omega 3 Pet, to strengthen the weakened kidneys.
· A Chinese herbal remedy called Four Materials Decoction (Si Wu Tang) to strengthen the bone marrow and treat anemia. Four Materials Decoction is usually served in chicken soup that contains chicken liver, with the liver providing the iron needed to make red blood cells.
· Herbal formulas with astragalus and mushrooms to strengthen white blood cells.
· Garlic to protect intestinal crypt cells from methotrexate-induced damage.

Oral folic acid
The vitamin that is depleted by aminopterin is folic acid, which is also called folate. Folic acid is a water-soluble B vitamin that can be found in liver, eggs, whole grains, lentils and beans, asparagus, and dark green leafy vegetables such as spinach. Folate is also available as a vitamin supplement. Dogs with folic acid deficiency and anemia are prescribed 5 mg of folic acid orally once a day. Cats with folic acid deficiency and anemia are prescribed 2.5 mg of folic acid orally once a day. A more precise oral dose is 100 mg/lb of body weight given daily. Thus, a dog that weighs 10 lb would receive 1000 mg, which is 1 gram. Oral forms of folic acid are generic drugs that don’t require a prescription.

Injectable folinic acid
For pets with severe toxicity, injectable folinic acid is given directly into muscles or veins. The dose is based on the body mass of the pet and is calculated to provide 3 mg/cubic meter. Prescription folinic acid is sold under the trade names Leucovorin and Wellcovorin.

Holistic veterinarians
Although pet families can use the above information and medicate their pets, it is unwise to do this without consulting a veterinarian. Veterinarian who can recommend therapies that include nutrition, herbs, vitamins, and supplements, are listed with the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association. Their website is: www.ahvma.org.

Genetic factors
The suggestions outlined above will help some pets, but not all. Among the factors that determine whether a pet responds, is the pet’s genetic makeup. In humans, there is a 7-fold difference in the side effects experienced with methotrexate based on the person’s genetics. Pets are likely to show similar genetic variability in their reaction to aminopterin.

Light-hearted attitude
Whether you pray or meditate to achieve a light heart or are spontaneously light-hearted, an upbeat attitude will be as healing for your pet as any pill. Pets surrounded by morose concern cannot heal; and, while those nurtured by families with light hearts may not heal, they have the possibility of enjoying their last few days. We wish all of you inner peace, whether or not your pets were exposed to aminopterin in pet foods.

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Dog Flatulence or Dog Gas

Been covering serious topics lately—toxic food, kidney failure, and PKD walks for kidney failure—and it's time for a change. Let's look at flatulence, which is not a toxic problem but is nuisance for many dog families. According to a study that asked pet owners if their dogs were flatulent, 43% said - even when resting! If a family has two dogs, this is a quality of life issue.

We're focusing on dogs because cats don't have the gas problems that dogs have--or we notice it less. There's no scientifically verified breed, age, or sex predisposition to flatulence, but in my experience, boxers and bloodhounds are simply amazing. You may have other breeds that belong on the predisposed list; let me know and we'll publish "informal" research results.

We do know what causes flatulence in many dogs:

1. bran cereal, oatmeal, psyllium, celery or other high fiber foods.
2. potato chips, French fries and other high fat foods.
3. eggs, broccoli or other high-sulfur foods.
4. food that hasn’t been eaten before, or being allergic to the food.
5. milk in lactose-intolerant animals. This is caused by enzyme deficiency.
6. lack of enzymes in general--exocrine pancreatic insufficiency.
7. lack of the right gut bacteria so that food is not processed and absorbed.
8. gulping food in competition with other pets in multi-pet families.
9. gulping because they have a rescue-dog's fear that they’ll never eat again.
10. gulping food, swallowing fast, then opening the mouth to breathe. This happens with an allergic pet that can't breathe through its nose.

Knowing why some pets are pass gas, makes it easier to know what steps families can take to decrease flatulence:
· alter the diet,
· remove competition,
· control allergies, and
· provide enzymes.

For some dogs, digestive enzymes, such as Super E12 Enzymes, help control flatulence. Dr. Madalyn Ward at http://www.holistichorsekeeping.com/ has lots of experience with these enzymes and swears by them.

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Toxic Pet Food Kills Cat and Gives Life to Lawsuit

A Chicago woman whose cat died after eating Special Kitty cat food is suing Menu Foods. Menu Foods processed batches of pet food that are now recognized as contaminated with a toxic material—likely a toxin concentrated in wheat gluten. Wheat gluten is added to moist pet foods to provide spongy, little chunks that soak up broth and resemble meat.

Recall of wet “meat and gravy” foods
Due to pet deaths, Menu Foods began a nationwide recall of their products last week. This may be the largest pet food recall ever because Menu Foods are sold under the names of more than 50 companies. (See previous blog for list of companies.) Suspect foods include all wet “meat and gravy” foods packaged in cans or pouches and containing wheat gluten. Food in cans or pouches that do not contain wheat gluten are not being recalled. Dry foods are not being recalled.

Lawsuit filed
The Chicago woman, whose cat became suddenly and severely ill, did not file a simple lawsuit, she filed a class action lawsuit. This suggests she expects to be joined by other pet owners. When pet owners provide their lawyers with clear-cut cases of toxic foods causing kidney failure, the lawyers will have an easy time of it.

Most toxins cause chronic poor health
With most pets exposed to toxins, though, disease progression is not as swift or as obvious as the death of the Chicago woman’s cat. Instead, most pets that consume toxins go through long periods of gradually fading health. This is especially true for those pets who are gloriously healthy when first exposed to the toxin. Healthy pets have robust organs and enough healthy cells remain after toxin exposure that the organs continue to function. There is no slam into the fifth gear toward decline. These pets simply slide downhill, making it very difficult for veterinarians to figure out why they are no longer vigorous. Then, when these pets are exposed to an infection, an anesthetic, or even the effects of a medication for arthritis, they suddenly collapse like a deck of cards and die within days. No one links the pet’s death to previous toxin exposure.

Many causes of kidney failure
Another difficulty proving a death caused by kidney failure is due to toxins in pet food is that many conditions cause kidney failure. Here are 30 examples of drugs, toxins, and conditions that can lead to sudden kidney failure and death: high blood pressure, heart failure, thromboembolism, vasculitis, heatstroke, NSAIDs, antifreeze, anesthesia, aminoglycosides, sulfonamides, cephalosporins, amphotericin B, cisplatin, doxorubicin, thiacetarsamide, lasix, mercury, arsenic, calcium, snake venom, leptospirosis, septicemia, bacterial endocarditis, lymphosarcoma, dehydration, advanced age, low blood sodium, low blood potassium, low blood pH, and trauma. If we included drugs, toxins, and conditions causing a slow progression to kidney failure, the list would be even longer.

Getting justice through improving your pet's nutrition
We pray for justice for every pet that has been harmed by toxins in food, but more than justice, we pray for attention to what ingredients are allowed in pet food. We allow chemicals, dyes, sugars, preservatives, and diseased meat, and these are toxic to many pets—slowly toxic. To decrease this exposure to unhealthy pet food ingredients, offer food formulated by nutritionists rather than by bean counters. Bean counters allow flour, cornmeal, chemicals, sugars, dyes, salts, preservatives, and glutens into food because these ingredients keep the price lower than when vegetables and meats make up the bulk of the food.

Offer real food
In addition, offer small amounts of real food. That’s right, real food. If it is healthy for you to eat, offer a small amount to your pet. Green beans and broccoli, carrots and sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and bell peppers are all good for pets. Don’t serve these vegetables with butter or cream sauce, but do put them in the blender so they’re ground up. Pets evolved getting most of their green vegetable matter from the stomach of prey animals where it had already been chopped up and mixed with enzymes. They still digest most vegetables better with a little help from the blender.

Honor the spirit of the pets that died
We regret that a toxic event and massive pet food recall have caused pain, death and suffering. Let’s work to use this event for good. Examine everything your pet eats and make nutrition changes for the better. These changes will honor the spirit of the pets that died in a more profound and powerful way than will the money made winning lawsuits.

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Pet Food Poisonings – wheat gluten

Recall of Menu Foods
The recall of pet food continues across the entire U.S. This may be the largest recall ever—even larger than undertaken when Diamond foods were found contaminated with aflatoxin in late 2005 and early 2006. With this recall, officials suspect that contaminated wheat gluten in foods sold under 50 different labels is cause of acute kidney disease.

Gluten
Gluten, which is found in wheat, rye, and barley, helps bread rise and adds a springy texture to cakes. Some varieties of wheat have a high gluten content and some have a low gluten content, and bakers choose high gluten wheat for cakes and bread and low gluten wheat for pies. When making pet food, manufacturers add gluten for texture and for protein, although gluten provides a lower quality protein than is provided by meat and fish. It is also added to "meat and gravy" style foods because it forms chunks that soak up the gravy and look like meat.

Gluten intolerance and celiac disease
Wheat is a staple in many cultures, but there are a large number of people who become ill if they eat it. One of the illnesses caused by wheat is celiac disease. With celiac disease, the immune system recognizes proteins in wheat gluten as foreign. The immune system sends white blood cells (WBCs) to attack the foreign protein, and the WBCs release their destructive enzymes. If people with celiac disease continue to eat wheat, what began as an enzyme attack becomes an all-out intestinal war with innocent bystander casualties. Entire sections of the small intestine fall into disrepair or are destroyed.

Symptoms of gluten intolerance
Those with celiac disease develop diarrhea and malabsorption that leads to vitamin and mineral deficiencies. The intestines become too inflamed to absorb nutrients so that undigested material passes out of the body in large, foul-smelling, pudding-like stools called steatorrhea. If this were not enough, the gluten-intolerant also develop seizures and neurological symptoms.

Pets inherit gluten intolerance
Pets with celiac disease suffer just as humans do. And pets, just as humans, appear to inherit this tendency to react to wheat gluten. Dog breeds with a known genetic intolerance are Irish Setters, German Shepherds, and perhaps Border Terriers. Many other breeds belong on this list, but veterinarians have not concluded their research into this genetic illness.

How oats can cause wheat gluten intolerance
In addition to wheat gluten causing illness, if milling companies grind other grains, such as oats, after grinding wheat, the oats can contain enough wheat protein to trigger an episode of intestinal warfare. With this episode, though, the family often has difficulty detecting the cause because the pet’s food does not contain wheat in any recognizable form.

Contaminated gluten causing kidney failure
In the case of the recalled pet foods, gluten is suspected to be the culprit. Gluten is not killing pets because it’s triggering celiac disease or a wheat intolerance. Instead, gluten is likely contaminated with mold or chemicals that cause kidney damage. Everyone involved is intent on identifying the contaminant because this will help us select more targeted treatments for affected dogs and cats.

Many moist “meat and gravy” style foods are not healthy
Pet families feed moist “meat and gravy” style foods to provide special, delicious meals. We feel good serving these foods because they look like human food, and they're expensive. Unfortunately, “meat and gravy” style foods are often of poor nutritional quality. They may appear to have lots of meat, but those chunks are actually filler. This is possible because the pet food label law says a when a label that reads “Roast Beef Flavor Pet Food” the food does not have to contain any beef meat at all. The beef flavor can be derived from beef by-products and gluten can be used to provide chunks that look like meat. A label that reads “Pet Food with Roast Beef” can legally contain 97% filler and 3% beef. A label that says “Salmon and Shrimp Dinner for Cats” can be 75% filler and 25% salmon and shrimp. Disappointing, isn't it.

What’s in your pet’s food?
As you’re inspecting your pet’s food to see if it is on the recalled list (printed in yesterday’s blog), read the label and look at the ingredients. If the food contains anything other than meat, vegetables and whole grains, it is not a blessing for your pet. Period.

Many pet foods, especially those in cans and pouches, have such sweet, smiling dogs and luxurious cats on the label that we fall in love with the food without considering the ingredients. This is a good opportunity to think again. If your pet’s food, whether it’s canned or dry, contains ingredients other than meat, vegetables, and whole grains, find a better food.

What to avoid in pet food
Avoid foods with flour, gluten, and cornmeal because they do not provide whole, nutritious grains. Avoid foods with citric acid because it is associated with an increased incidence of bloat in dogs. Bloat is a swelling of the stomach so that the stomach twists. It is frequently fatal. Avoid foods with any form of sugar (glucose, dextrose, fructose, propylene glycol) or salt. Avoid foods with chemical preservatives or dyes, which are associated with cancer and neurological conditions. Instead, choose foods with meat or fish, vegetables, and grains.

Benefiting from tragedy
Pet food poisonings are a tragedy, and we cannot bring back the cats and dogs that have died of kidney failure. For your pet, though, this may be the opportunity to reconsider nutrition, choose new foods, and make the single most important step you can make to promote your pet's health—good food.

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