Here we go

For those of you who don't know me, which is probably most of you, my name is Karolina & I am sort of obsessed with animals. My hope for this blog is to post random tid bits of information about them. :] Now, I don't particularly have a preference; I love the furry, the four-legged, the scaly, and even the hairless, with that I hope to post information about them all. 

I won't take credit for everything I will post and I will obviously give credit where credit is due. What I'd like is to offer readers a chance to read, laugh, critique, and hopefully learn something about my one true love: animals. :]

With that, here's my first thing I'd like to talk about:

DANGEROUS FOOD FOR DOGS!

Most new dog owners or even long time dog owners do not know about the dangers that exist within our pantry or fridge. While some of the food we shovel into our mouths is not particularly the best for US, some can be deadly to our pets. 

Here's a list and snippet of an article I found on PETFINDER.com

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"THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXCERPT FROM PETFINDER.COM’S THE ADOPTED DOG BIBLE

Sometimes it seems like dogs are little garbage disposals dressed in fur. Dogs are scavengers by nature, so they are likely to try to get their teeth into things they shouldn’t. And they are omnivores, which means they will munch on just about anything — from roadkill to garbage to the contents of the cat’s litterbox. Yuck!

While some things will just leave a bad taste in your dog’s mouth, there are other common foods that can be very dangerous, and even fatal, if ingested. These include:

•   Alcohol
•   Avocados
•   Chocolate (all types)
•   Coffee (all forms)
•   Garlic
•   Grapes and raisins
•   Macadamia nuts
•   Moldy or spoiled foods
•   Onions or onion powder
•   Salt
•   Yeast dough
•   Xylitol (sweetener)

In addition, avoid feeding your dog bones (especially small, soft bones such as those from chickens and pork chops) as they can splinter and cause injury to the mouth, throat, and intestines. "

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I've been a veterinary assistant for over three years and have seen some interesting things in the clinic. Those puppy dog eyes your pooch gives you could be fatal to him and heartbreaking for you. Alcohol might seem like the only item on the list that is obvious, but do not overlook the others! Xylitol is especially dangerous and is found in chewing gum such as Trident and Spry. According to AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association), "Dogs ingesting large amounts of products sweetened with xylitol may have a sudden drop in blood sugar, resulting in depression, loss of coordination, and seizures..." 

And lastly, something not mentioned on that short list: raw food. Another small quote from AVMA, "[We] discourage the feeding to cats and cats of any animal-source protein that has not first been subjected to a process to eliminate pathogens because of the risk of illness to cats and dogs, as well as humans. Cooking or pasteurization through the application of heat until the protein reaches an internal temperature adequate to destroy pathogenic organisms has been the traditional method used to eliminate pathogens in animal-source protein although the AVMA recognizes that newer technologies and other methods such as irradiation are constantly being developed and implemented". 

:] Let me know if I missed anything or you're interested in more information! Thanks for reading!

Heartworm Disease

Heart ... worms...

Hmm. Most people actually don't know what they are, how their pets can acquire such a strange disease, and why it's bad. Interestingly enough, heartworm disease is actually considered to be more a disease of the lungs than of just the heart itself. So heart / lung worms... :] I am actually writing a paper about how heartworm disease (or HWD) affects the pulmonary artery in dogs for my physiology course, so I'll post it once I am done.

If I tried to answer the first three statements right now, I would probably go into an extremely dense and detailed response.... apparently I've been reading far too many scholarly articles. Simply put, cats, dogs, and other mammals acquire HWD from mosquitoes. Sidebar: unfortunately mosquitoes are one of nature's favorite vectors and they kill thousands of humans and animals alike. The heartworms take many months to grow and will eventually make a home for themselves in the right part of the heart; the right side of your heart is responsible to pushing deoxygenated blood into the lungs, picking it up, and sending it off to the rest of your body! The simplest part, why is it bad? Well... any parasite living in the heart .... bad for many, many reasons. My paper will answer most of that.

What I really wanted to write about today was treating the disease. A couple of weeks ago, we had a heartworm positive 10 month old puppy at work. Now when you have a puppy, you will typically start heartworm prevention immediately (6-8 wks of age) and then test your pup's blood in a year to ensure they are negative for the nasty parasite. We only need three drops of blood, enough for the fancy eight minute test to determine whether or not the blood is heartworm antigen free.

For those of you who need a quick biology recap, an antigen is a substance in your body that evokes the production of antibodies. When an antigen enters your body, your immune system is stimulated to create antibodies to fight that particular antigen off.

So, antigen tests used in veterinary clinics will detect specific antigens primarily found in adult female heartworms. Most commercial tests will detect infections when mature female heartworms are at least six months old. This is exactly why you must start prevention as soon as possible! If ONE mosquito is carrying baby heartworms, better known as microfilaria, and it feeds on your dog, they will become infected. Preventing with just ONE monthly heartworm pill actually kills microfilaria, but it is NOT capable of killing adult worms. 

Now unfortunately, there is NO treatment for heartworm disease as of right now. The only pharmaceutical company to have created an approved drug for treatment, Merial, has been dried out since 2009. According to several sources, Merial has not released a reason for the shortage of the drug, called Immiticide, but has only said that there are "technical issues" in manufacturing.

Since I was curious what we would do for this poor 10 month old puppy, I decided to read about her options and here is what the American Heartworm Society recommends to do (for now):

"With Immiticide unavailable, the American Heartworm Society (AHS) has issued guidelines for treating heartworm-positive dogs to try to mitigate the damage that heartworms cause while in the body and the danger they present when they die. Briefly, here is what the AHS advises:

1. Verify all positive antigen tests with a second antigen test from a different manufacturer.
2. Give monthly heartworm preventive medication to prevent further infection. If the dog tests positive for microfilariae, pretreat with corticosteroids prior to giving the first dose of heartworm preventive medication and keep the dog under veterinary observation for at least 8 hours afterwards, due to the risk of anaphylactic shock from the rapid die-off of the microfilariae.
3. Treat dogs with doxycycline at the rate of 10 milligrams per kilogram of body weight twice a day for four weeks (give half as much if a dog cannot tolerate the higher dose). Repeat this dose quarterly (one month on, two months off) for as long as the dog is infected with heartworms. This will reduce the possibility of the infection being passed to other dogs through mosquitoes, shorten the lifespan of the adult worms, and lessen the chance of adverse side effects from worm death.
4. Restrict all activity and limit all exercise, as the danger from adult heartworms increases with physical activity.
5. Dogs with symptoms from the heartworms should receive medical treatment to alleviate respiratory distress. Surgical removal of the worms should be considered if cardiac function is affected.
6. When Immiticide becomes available, proceed with treatment if the dog still tests positive for heartworms."

On that note, I should really go work on that paper.... Have a good night :D