Pet obesity

Do you laugh when your cat's belly drags on the floor? Do you make jokes about what a great footstool your dog makes because he is so wide? Do you admire the beautiful dogs on those cute flea preventative and dog food commercials?

What do all these questions have in common? In all of these instances, the animals I am describing are overweight or obese. Obesity affects 45% of our dogs and 58% of our cats according to a 2009 study performed for the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention. As in humans, obesity can increase pets risk for arthritis, heart disease and diabetes. It reduces both quality of life and life span. A long term study done by Nestle Purina showed that dogs kept at a lean body weight lived on average 2 years longer than their slightly chubby counterparts!

How do you know if your pet is obese? The numbers on the scale are often much less useful than the look and abilities of your pet. When you feel your pets ribs do you feel them easily, or do you really need to press down? When you look at your pet from above can you see an indented waist behind the rib cage or are they square? A greyhound body shape is the extreme in dog athletes but all dogs should have at least hints of that outline. There is an excellent rating system on Nestle Purina's obesity management website at http://www.projectpetslimdown.com/Home/Obesity. This is the same scale that your veterinarian will use when assessing your pet's weight.

So you think your pet maybe overweight? What comes next? First step is to schedule an appointment with your veterinarian. They can help you make a plan as to how much your pet should loose and how quickly. Too quick can cause pets, especially cats, to become sick so be sure to plan with your veterinarian how to approach healthy calorie restriction.

Just like with us, exercise is an important component in healthy weight loss. It can often be difficult to get overweight animals up and moving. So start small. A couple of minutes several times a day can add up fast. Also, try and pick activities that your animal really enjoys. If your dog just will not go for a walk trying playing with a toy instead. Throwing it up the stairs for them to chase is excellent activity. For cats check out the indoor cat initiative at http://indoorpet.osu.edu/ for ideas on how to get your cat more active.

If you are ready to start helping your pet get healthier make an appointment with your veterinarian. You can also check out the following websites for some additional encouragement and support: http://www.projectpetslimdown.com/ and www.petfit.com. They will even give you tips on how to get healthy and fit right along with your pet!

More Iams food recalled

The Iams company is not having a good year for its dog and cat foods. There are further recalls of dry food now. There is a risk that these foods could be contaminated with Salmonella. Not only can this make your dog or cat ill but it could make you sick as well. If hands are not properly washed after handling the food you or a family member could become sick. If you are concerned that you may have one of the following dry foods in your house check the Iams website at www.iams.com to verify UPC codes. If you have one of the potentially contaminated foods, stop using it and throw it away. The Iams website should have information about how to receive a refund for the food you discard. Also be sure to wash any bowls or containers thoroughly before using them again.

Foods affected (these are all dry formulas; wet foods and treats are not affected):
All dry Veterinary formulations for dog or cat
Eukanuba Naturally Wild
Eukanuba Pure
Eukanuba Custom Care Sensitive Skin

Iam cat food recall

Want to let everyone know about a new cat food recall. This one is by Iams Company. All varieties of 3.5 oz and 5 oz Iams Proactive Health Cat and Kitten foods with the product dates 9/2011 to 6/2012 have been recalled. The product date can be found on the bottom of the can.

Fortunately, this recall is due to something missing, rather than something toxic that has been added. This is different from the Menu Foods recall a couple of years ago that caused so much illness. In this case a vitamin called thiamine or B-1 is deficient in this food. If cats are being fed these canned foods exclusively they could show signs of thiamine deficiency. Symptoms include loss of appetite, excessive drooling, weakness, stumbling as if drunk, inability to hold up the head, tremors and seizures. If you see any of these symptoms you need to have your cat examined immediately. Thiamine deficiency can be treated.

If you have any of these canned foods in your cupboard please discard them. If you have more questions or would like to find out about reimbursement contact Proctor and Gamble (the parent company of Iams) at 1-877-340-8826.

Spring is coming! And I don't know about you but I am looking forward to spending more time outside, sprucing up my yard, planting new plants and spending some time out in the sun. As I spend more time outside, my dogs also spend more time outside. I am sure many pet owners are the same. So I am taking this opportunity to remind pet owners of some of the common toxins to be aware of as you work and play in your yard with your pets.

Fertilizers and insecticides are usually well recognized as potential toxins. While it is a good idea to keep your animals away from freshly applied fertilizer or insecticide, we rarely see toxicity from animals just walking around on freshly applied fertilizer. Toxicity occurs more commonly when dogs or cats find whole bags of fertilizers and decide to take a taste.

For those of us in the Pacific Northwest, one of the most common toxicities especially in the spring is from slug and snail bait containing metaldehyde. These baits are molasses flavored to attract the snails and slugs. Unfortunately, they are also attractive to dogs and children. If you have children or pets in your yard do not use these products. There are safer alternatives, such as Sluggo.

Various mulches and barks used in planting beds can potentially cause problems as well. The most well publicized is probably cocoa bean mulch. This mulch is a by-product of chocolate production and uses the hulls of processed cocoa beans. Depending on the processing and source of the cocoa beans the level of toxic theobromine is variable in each bag of cocoa mulch. It can be difficult to predict what is a toxic level because of this variability. And the mulch is particularly yummy to many dogs because it smells like chocolate for the first week or two after application. In general I would recommend avoiding these mulches even if they are labeled safe for dogs. However, if you do choose to use it try and keep it away from areas your dogs spend time or be sure to carefully supervise your dogs when they are outside to be sure they are not eating any of the mulch.

There are many toxic plants, some of which we grow indoors and others we may have planted in our yards. There are too many to list here so instead I would recommend checking out the ASPCA's website where they have a searchable list of poisonous plants. http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/poison-control/plants/

The ASPCA also has an excellent summary of various dangers (other than just toxins) in your garden. Check it out at http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/pet-care-tips/pet-safe-gardening.html

The most important thing to remember is that if you have any concerns that your dog or cat may have eaten or chewed on something potentially toxic see your veterinarian immediately. Timely intervention is often the most important aspect of successful treatment. Better to err on the side of caution in any case of possible poisonings!

Topical flea and tick preventatives-are they safe?

I initially planned to make this first blog post a little background information on me. But I want to address some recent news out from the EPA regarding the safety of topical flea and tick preventatives.

EPA recently reviewed all the reports of adverse effects of topical flea and tick preventatives. There has been an increase in incidents reported in the last year evaluated (2008). EPA has concluded that all topical preventatives can potential cause a toxic reaction. However, out of 2 million plus doses sold last year only 44,000 caused problems (less than 1 in 6,000). And most of these problems were minor (itching, redness, localized hair loss).

This is balanced with the potential risks from flea and tick bites. Fleas and ticks are not just a nuisance. Even in WA we can see flea and tick transmitted diseases. Tapeworms, Lyme disease and other blood borne fevers can be devastating not just to your pets, but to you as well.

Just like any medication, flea and tick preventatives should be used after careful discussion with your veterinarian. To ensure safety when using these medications please read the packaging carefully. NEVER apply a dog product to a cat. Do not allow animals to lick the product off themselves or other pets. Be sure you know the weight of your dog or cat to ensure you are using an appropriate dose of preventative. And as always if you have any questions or are concerned you are seeing an adverse reaction, contact your veterinarian.

I personally will continue to apply a monthly flea and tick preventative to my pets. I feel that the risks of problems are low compared to the risks of other diseases. Also one of my dogs, Lexi, has some skin allergies that are severely worsened by even a low number of flea bites. She is miserable even if I am just a few days late with her preventative! I am happy to see that EPA will be working with the various manufactures to make packaging and instructions more clear and also to improve dosing especially for small dogs. Hopefully, further research will also help us to determine what exactly is causing these adverse reactions, especially the most severe reactions.