Each year the Veterinary Practice News holds a contest called They Ate What? They invite veterinarians to send in xrays showing the most unusual objects their client pets have swallowed (technically called pica). If you’ve ever had a dog or cat with an appetite for non-edible goodies, you’ll appreciate these stories. Photos compliments of VPN website and contestants.

9 handballs

Vanessa Hawksin, DVM, of Warrenton, OR. Her patient was brought in for examination of lameness in a back leg. X-rays coincidentally revealed 9 handballs in his stomach.

Here are some of the runners up.

mulch, shoe laces and other delicacies

Lisa Anne Attanasi, DVM, of Eaglewood Cliffs, N.J. saw a 12 year old Beagle for an overdose of shoe laces, mulch, a knee high stocking, a plastic plant, plastic ties, and bristles from a car snow cleaning brush.

Tinkerbell really wanted to go for a walk

Jenny Yanson, practice manager at Suburbia North Animal Hospital, treated 6-month old bulldog Tinkerbell who had eaten a training collar off another dog in the home. To the doctor’s and owners’ surprise, this was not Tinkerbell’s first training collar appetizer. They found not 1, but two collars in her stomach.

This duck got nailed

Michael Herko, DVM, in Baltimore, MD found a nail and stones in a duck’s gizzard when she arrived with a lame leg and abdominal discomfort. Silly goose — I mean duck — was back a month later with another nail in her tummy.

This little guy had a sore throat

Lisa Anne Attanasi, DVM, of Eaglewood Cliffs, N.J. seems to have more than her share of mischievous clients. Little Sally, a 1-year old dachshund, swallowed a 2 inch needle.

This baby dog must have really wanted some milk.

Melissa Seavey of Westborough, MA, removed 10 baby bottle nipples from  a 4-month-old  Golden Retriever puppy.

Oh, I feel like I ate a Gorilla

Beth Shannon, DVM, North Liberty, Iowa, treated a 1½  year old Chi-Weenie for a tummyache after he chewed on a bottle of Gorilla Glue.  The glue expanded and molded perfectly to his stomach, but was removed successfully.

Bridget Landon, DVM, Reno, NV, got a surprise when a 9-month-old Golden Retriever came in for vaccines and left minus a gutful of rocks. No wonder the dog had lost her appetite and been vomiting for two days.

If you have a story about some crazy item your pet swallowed, please share it below in comments.

Technorati Tags: pica, dogs and cats swallowing strange items, rocks handballs needles and glue in pet stomachs

Rico the Reindeer-Cat

Escape     When trick-or-treaters come knocking, be sure your escape artists are secured safely and can’t rush out the door between your ankles. Harm to black cats    As unthinkable as it is, there are sick individuals who will brutally harm black cats around this holiday. If your cat is allowed outdoors, keep her or him indoors and safe from this kind of perversion for a couple of days before to a couple of days after Halloween.

Decorations   Cute little witch candles can singe an errant dog or cat tail if not kept out of reach of an exuberant wag. Holiday decoration electrical wires can attract dangerous attention from the family bunny or guinea pig. Be sure they are secured. Fall displays using ears of corn can be appealing to dogs, and if eaten the cobs can end up in an expensive emergency surgery for blocked intestines.

Anxiety   I happen to have a 95 pound guard dog who is scared of the the sound of the ice maker, the UPS truck, or anyone wearing a large hat or carrying an umbrella. So, scary Halloween costumes are not high on his list of favorite sights, even if they’re not on him. If your pets become anxious with frequent knocks at the door, or the sight of gruesome ghouls and goblins, or those freaky looking pumpkins you worked so hard on, you might want to put your pets in another room with music or television on to distract them. If you have an exceptionally nernous nellie in your pack, you might need to use a calming product. There are a number of good herbal remedies; if something stronger is needed, your vet can help.

Scootie & Ernie trick-or-treating

Recently I had to leave one of my dogs in the car while meeting with a friend. I’m conscious of how quickly cars heat up even with the windows down a few inches on a sunny day, so I put a thermometer in the car and periodically checked to make sure ShaktiPaw was safe. My friend scoffed at my concerns because the outdoor temperature was only 70°. He is  not alone in his naivete about the risks of leaving a pet in the car in moderate termperatures. 

An article published in the Journal of Pediatrics,   July 1, 2005, addresses the danger of heat stroke under these conditions. Catherine McLaren, MD, Division of Emergency Medicine, Stanford University, and James Quinn, MD, Department of Geoscience, San Francisco State University, wanted a definitive answer to how hot is too hot to leave a child [or pet] in the car. Previous studies had shown the temperature inside a car quickly rose to between 134° and 154° when outdoor temperature exceeded 86°. They wondered whether similarly high temperatures happen inside a car when the ambient temperature is cooler.

They did their tests on 16 clear, sunny days with outdoor temperatures ranging from 72° to 96°. On two of the days they tested with the windows opened 1.5 inches. Here are the results:

Regardless of the outdoor ambient temperature, the rate of temperature rise inside the vehicle was not significantly different. The average mean increase was 3.2° per 5-minute interval, with 80% of the rise occuring during the first 30 minutes.

The final temperature inside the vehicle depended on the starting ambient temperture, but even at the coolest ambient temperature (72°), the internal temperatures reached 117° [my emphasis]. On average there was about a 40° increase….Cracking windows open did not decrease the rate of temperature rise in the car.

Conclusion: even at relatively cool ambient temperatures, the temperature rise in vehicles is significant on clear, sunny days and puts infants [and pets] at risk for hypotheremia. Vehicles heat up rapidly, with the majority of the rise occurring within the first 15 to 30 minutes. Leaving the windows “cracked” does not significantly slow the heating process or decrease the maximum temperature attained.

A dog’s normal body temperature is 101.0 to 102.5. According to the Animal Protection Institute (API), dogs can only withstand 107° to 108° for a very short time before suffering irreparable brain damage or even death.

So with this in mind, I was interested to see the  Too Hot for Spot safety window thermometer featured on a veterinary blog, DrJon@PetPace.com.  This AVMA poster offers a graphic public awareness message. They can be ordered at www.AVMA.org.

Technorati Tags: heat stroke in dogs,   brain damaged pet left in car, risky temps inside car on moderate day, too hot for pets, pet car safety  

Ever wonder what your cat’s bad breath means, aside from the fact you haven’t brushed his teeth in six months? How about that goopy goo that collects in the corner of your pup’s eyes?  Obviously your veterinarian is the ultimate answer, but at midnight on a Saturday, you might want to get a sneak preview of what’s going on. You can pay a vet on line for some preliminary advice, or you can do a little research on your own at one of the on line symptom checker sites.

I was pleased to see how many symptom checker websites popped up in a quick search — until I tried using them. Not surprisingly, some are easier to use and more complete than others.  Not being a vet, I can’t speak to the quality of advice. What I could do was look up a sampling of conditions my own pets have experienced over the years. Based on those results, I found a couple of sites that inspired more confidence than others as a starting point:

Drs. Foster and Smith Symptom Checker

Pet Place

Please be realistic about this. Online research should be no more than information gathering when it comes to your pet’s health. Need I repeat? A full veterinary evaluation should follow any online research you do.

Technorati Tags: pet symptom checker, cat and dog health diagnosis, veterinary advice

Ever wondered whether pet first aid and CPR is something you should learn more about? Your trusty blogger and pet first aid instructor recently did a brief TV demonstration that gives a couple of important techniques for saving your pet’s life. The demo animals are dogs, but the same techniques apply to cats. Take a look:    King 5 TV: saving your furry family members with pet first aid.

If you have one of those problem kitties, you might want to check out Animal Planet’s new show, My Cat From Hell, featuring cat behaviorist Jackson Galaxy. Thanks to one of my favorite blogs, Little Big Cat, we have a sneak preview: Cat From Hell Highlights

I hope by now you’ve heard about another Pig Ear recall for possible salmnella contamination. Just in case you haven’t, here is a link to the Key’s Manufacturing Company’s press release:   http://www.keysmanufacturing.com/recall.htm

Veterinary insurance is an idea that has been around for a long time. The last time I had a pet young enough to use it, there was only one (expensive) option in my state. Now many companies offer this important service to animal owners. The challenge now is to figure out which is the best policy for each owner’s pets. Pet MD has added a great new blog to help figure that out called  Healthy Assurance.

Be Kind to Animals Week  is May 1-7 — oops, we almost missed it. To make amends, I want to leave you with a thought-provoking quote from Little Big Cats recent Cat’s Walk Newsletter:

…this is also a good time to think about the many ways that we impact animals’ lives. There is so much thoughtless and even institutionalized animal cruelty in this world, from calf-roping at rodeos and wild animals in circuses, to the millions of mice (who are legally not considered “animals”) sacrificed in the name of science, and the billions of chickens that will be slaughtered  for human consumption this year alone. Let’s all try to be mindful of their suffering, and do our best not to add to it. Consider a donation to your local shelter, or to one of the national organizations that work so hard for animal welfare and animal rights.

Give your pets a hug for all the joy and well-being they bring to your life.

Technorati Tags: pet first aid and CPR, pigs ear recall, cat behaviorist on Animal Planet, Be Kind to Animals Week

Continuing on our theme of pet first aid and prevention for this month, today’s article is a list of human foods that can be toxic to our pets. The ASPCA fielded 167,000 calls last year about pet exposure to poisonous materials.

They’ve put out a  list of common human foods that are dangerous to our dogs and cats.

Chocolate, Coffee, Caffeine
Alcohol
Avocado
Macadamia Nuts
Grapes & Raisins
Yeast Dough
Raw/Undercooked Meat, Eggs and Bones
Xylitol (an artificial sweetener found in many desserts)
Onions, Garlic, Chives
Milk

The list was really 11 foods, but that doesn’t sound quite as catchy as the top 10. So the last on the list is salt. A pet that has eaten too many salty foods can develop vomiting, diarrhea, depression, tremors, elevated body temperature, seizures and even death. So keep the potato chips to yourself!

I’d also add fatty foods as highly dangerous to pets. My Chesapeake Bay Retriever once showed his retrieving prowess by opening the cupboard door to get the turkey skin out of the garbage. He spent the next week in the ER on IV fluids for pancreatitis.

Reminder: the ASPCA’s poison control hotline is 1-888-426-4435.

Technorati Tags:   foods dangerous to pets, human food toxic to dogs and cats, pet poisoning, pet first aid 

This month the focus of Pet News You Can Use is  on pet first aid and preventing accidental injuries and poisonings to our pets.  Because April is Pet First Aid month, the topic is showing up in lots of places, to the benefit of pets everywhere.

I did a guest article for blogger Michele Hollow, at Pet News and Views, which identifies 5 tips to help your pet in an emergency. Take a look here: http://www.petnewsandviews.com/.

I will also be offering a free teleseminar on Pet First Aid this Thursday, April 21 at 5 p.m. Pacific Time or 8 p.m. Eastern Time. To join the call, you can register at www.TheEvolutionOfAnimalHealthCare.com. Once you have signed up, they will send you the phone number and access code. Registering with this website won’t result in email spam, but you will receive an occasional newsletter announcing the next in their interesting monthly speaker series on tradiitonal and alternative health care for pets.

I hope you’ll join the call  on Thursday. And if you live in the Pacific Northwest, you might also be interested in taking the full Pet First Aid & CPR class I’ll be teaching on Saturday, April 30, 2011. For more information on that class, go to my website at www.AnimalsReign.com.

Technorati Tags: pet first aid, accidental poisonings in dogs and cats, preventing pet injuries, toxic products in the home

How much and what kind is dangerous? Well, when my friend’s 60-pound Lab counter-surfer-par-excellence pulled half a German chocolate cake off the kitchen counter, we learned that toxicity depends on size of animal, size of the portion, and type of chocolate. Miss Sabra and her two chocoholic canine cohorts survived their escapade. A smaller dog might not have.

Today’s post is going to be short and sweet, because I want to send you to one of my favorite veterinary bloggers, Dr. Justine Lee,  who has written a great article on this subject.  She includes a table showing the amounts of theobromine and caffeine in different kinds of chocolate, to give you an idea of their relative toxicity.

A nibble of chocolate a day might be good for humans, but it’s not for our pets. Store your desserts and candy safely out of reach of your pets.

Now for the link to Dr. Lee’s excellent article: http://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet.

Don’t forget to post the Poison Control Hotline’s phone number near your telephone, (888) 426-4435.

Technorati Tags:   chocolate toxicity in dogs and cats,   chocolate and your pets, which kinds of chocolate are most dangerous 

As a pet owner, pet sitter, and volunteer in dog rescue, I’ve seen my share of emergencies with animals. I had taken pet first aid ten years ago and promptly forgot everything I learned. I promised myself to assemble a pet first aid kit and didn’t.

Finally I decided the best way to learn it was to teach it, and I became certified as a pet first aid instructor. The training has saved my bacon — or I should say some pets’ bacon — several times in the past two years, from a friend’s dog limping in with a split, bleeding toenail; to a foster dog that got into some organic fertilizer; to one of my dogs having an allergic reaction to an insect bite. I’ve also heard numerous success stories from former students who were able to save lives with what they learned in the class.

 It doesn’t get much more satisfying than that. So I continue to hold classes in the Seattle area about once a quarter. I also do presentations to local and online groups on pet safety, injury prevention, and first aid response. 

On April 21, at 5 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time,  I will be the featured speaker on a free teleconference discussing dangers in the home, measures we can take to keep our pets safer, and a few of the basic first aid actions to take in case of an accidental poisoning or injury.

To join the free phone-in presentation and discussion, you can sign up at http://theevolutionofanimalhealthcare.com. Once you sign up, they will send you the phone number to call at the designated time. I promise it will be worth your time.  As an aside, I think you’ll find their speaker series has some very interesting presenters on alternative and traditional health care.

I’m also teaching a pet first aid and cpr class in Seattle on April 30, 2011. For more information on the scope of the class or to register, go to www.AnimalsReign.com. Space is very limited for that class, so if this is something you’ve thought of doing, be sure to sign up today.

If nothing else, please look around your home for toxic houseplants, dangerous household cleaners and garden products that could put your beloved pets at risk. A future blog will identify some of those risks.

Technorati Tags: pet first aid, dog and cat cpr, animal poisonings and accidents