Leptospirosis

The risks, symptoms, and preventative measures for Leptospirosis: 

We have been hearing many questions the last couple of weeks about Leptospirosis (or lepto for short). Lepto is zoonotic, meaning that is can infected both humans and animals. Lepto is a bacterial infection that is spread by the urine of wild animals such as raccoons, skunks, opossums, squirrels, rodents (mice/rats), and even deer. The bacteria (leptospires) gets into water and soil and can survive there for weeks. Humans and pets get infected through contact with contaminated urine (or other body fluids, except saliva), water, or soil. The bacteria can enter the body through skin or mucous membranes (eyes, nose, or mouth), especially if the skin is broken from a cut or scratch. Drinking contaminated water can also cause infection. Infected wild and domestic animals may continue to excrete the bacteria into the environment continuously or every once in a while for a few months up to several years.

The clinical signs of lepto vary and are nonspecific. Sometimes pets do not have any symptoms. Common clinical signs have been reported in dogs. These include:

• fever
• vomiting
• abdominal pain
• diarrhea
• refusal to eat
• severe weakness and depression
• stiffness
• severe muscle pain
• inability to have puppies.

Generally, younger animals are more seriously affected than older animals.

Get your pet vaccinated against lepto if you live in or frequent “high risk” areas. The vaccine does not provide 100% protection, because there are many strains (types) of lepto, and the vaccine does not provide immunity against all strains. It is important to get your pet vaccinated again even if it gets leptospirosis because it can still get infected with a different strain of leptospires.

Remember to watch your pet close when you are out to make sure he/she does not drink from small streams/ponds/etc. 

LYMES DISEASE - It's on the rise in our area.

The following article was found on Veterinary Practice News web page. We thought it was important to share with all of you as it shows our pets are going to be at an increased risk for Lymes disease.

 CAPC Tracks Lyme, Other Diseases Afflicting U.S. Pets

By Clay Jackson                                                      Posted: May 2, 2013, 2:30 p.m. EDT

Lyme disease, the tick-borne bane of people and pets, is predicted to pose a higher than normal threat this year in parts of the United States, according to Clemson University and the Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC).

Disease hot spots are expected to occur along the Oregon and Washington state coastlines, the Great Lakes region, New England and the Mid-Atlantic, researchers reported this week.

As a service to dog and cat owners, CAPC will issue regular email updates and alerts about Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis, anaplasmosis, intestinal parasites and heartworm. Registration is available at PetsAndParasites.org.

The circled areas are where researchers expect the greatest prevalence of Lyme disease to occur in 2013. Red is "very high,” orange is "high,” yellow is "moderate” and green is "low.”

The CAPC website also offers parasite prevalence maps clickable by county and broken down by the number of diagnosed cases of each disease.

The map data is provided by Idexx Laboratories of Westbrook, Maine, and Antech Diagnostics of Irvine, Calif.

In developing the forecast tool, the Clemson team relied on some of the methods used in severe weather forecasting.

"The ever-evolving CAPC Parasite Forecast model combines historical data such as parasitic disease test results from veterinary clinics across the country and changing variables that include weather conditions, vegetation indices, wildlife populations, human population density and human disease prevalence,” said Clemson professor Robert Lund, Ph.D.

CAPC, based in Bel Air, Md., acknowledged that the data does not represent the total number of positive tests.

"Instead, we estimate it represents less than 30 percent of the activity in the geographic regions,” stated the nonprofit group, made up of veterinary parasitologists.

While the data used in the forecasting and maps may not be 100 percent accurate, CAPC called it "statistically significant” and serving as a "strong representation of the parasite activity for each area.”

Here is an example of the data available as of May 2:

Tuolumne County, Calif.
• 3 out of 122 dogs tested, or 2.45 percent, were positive for Lyme disease.
• 0.58 percent of all positive cases of Lyme disease in California occurred in Tuolumne County.
• 1 in every 162 dogs tested was positive for ehrlichiosis.

Lancaster County, Pa.
• 215 out of 2,909 dogs tested, or 7.39 percent, were positive for Lyme disease.
• 1.83 percent of all positive cases of Lyme disease in Pennsylvania occurred in Lancaster County.
• 1 in every 40 dogs tested was positive for anaplasmosis.

United States
• 1 in every 21 cats tested was positive for roundworm.
• 0.71 percent of cats tested were positive for hookworm.
• 6.56 percent of dogs tested were positive for Lyme disease.

Symptoms of Lyme disease in dogs often include lameness due to inflammation of the joints, lack of appetite and depression.

The numbers show the need for preventive care, said CAPC executive director Chris Carpenter, DVM.

"While virtually all infestations of parasites are preventable, estimates indicate that fewer than half of the dogs in the country are protected,” Dr. Carpenter said.

CAPC recommended that dogs and cats, especially those in Lyme hot spots, be treated year-round with monthly applications of tick-and-flea medication. The organization urged that routine veterinary checks become part of the routine, too. 

"Prevention is easy and relatively affordable when compared to the cost and heartache of treating a sick pet,” Carpenter added.

Remember to have your pets on their Vectra 3D or Activyl!

 

National Poison Prevention Week

In December we did a blog about Christmas Concerns and Holiday Hazards. We would like to expand on the list for National Poison Prevention Week (March 18-24) and to help keep your home pet safe all year long. The ASPCA has its own poison control center and their phone number is 1-888-426-4435. If your pet every gets into anything that could potentially be a poison, it is important to get a call out to the ASPCA as soon as possible. They do have a $65 fee. Their website also has a few lists that you can look through. I found the following information and added a few extra notes: 

Foods to Avoid Feeding Your Pet

• Alcoholic beverages
• Avocado
• Chocolate (all forms)
• Coffee (all forms)
• Fatty foods – especially if your pet has pancreatitis.
• Macadamia nuts
• Moldy or spoiled foods
• Onions, onion powder
• Raisins and grapes
• Salt
• Yeast dough
• Garlic
• Products sweetened with xylitol – Such as sugar free gums/mints.

Medications to Avoid

Common examples of human medications that can be potentially lethal to pets, even in small doses, include:

• Pain killers – including Tylenol and the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications like Advil, Aleve, etc.
• Cold medicines
• Anti-cancer drugs
• Antidepressants
• Vitamins
• Diet Pills

Common Household Hazards

• Fabric softener sheets
• Mothballs (Naphthalene)
• Post-1982 pennies (due to high concentration of zinc) – We did see a case of poisoning by a penny a few years back and would highly recommend keeping your change in your piggy bank to avoid unwanted ingestion.

Omega 3 Fatty Acids

Omega 3 fatty acids – Check out what they can do for your pet: 

The science behind Omega-3 fatty acids: These are considered essential fatty acids. We need them for our bodies to work normally. Because essential fatty acids (ALA,DHA,EPA) are not made in the body or are inefficiently converted, we need to get them from our diet. 

Omega-3s have a number of health benefits. Omega-3s are thought to play an important role in reducing inflammation throughout the body -- in the blood vessels, the joints, and elsewhere. In other words, Omega-3s are good for pets with allergies, otitis externa, arthritis, ACL injuries, etc. 

 

The fun stuff: Omega 3 Fatty Acids come in a variety of forms to help your pet out. We have a hypoallergenic cheese flavored chew here called Catalyst. Most pets love them! Each chew has 3000 mg of fish oil so it is easy to dose. The formula for how to give Omega-3s can be simplified into giving about 1000 mg of fish oil per 10-20 pounds of body weight depending on the condition. 

With all oils it is important to work up to the appropriate dose. You start off low and increase the dose a little bit every couple days. This will prevent your pet from getting digestive upset from the oil.

Holiday Concerns

Be careful how you deck your halls! The holiday season is generally a time of family togetherness in which even our pets participate. One’s thoughts generally are far from thoughts of injury; however, one must be aware of some important seasonal hazards in order to insure a happy holiday season.

RIBBONS & TINSEL
These are of special interest to playful cats and kittens who see these materials as toys (or prey) to be chased, pounced upon, chewed or swallowed. While chasing and pouncing pose no health threats, chewing and swallowing do, as these strings or “linear foreign bodies” can catch in the GI tract, leading to bunching of intestine as the body tries in vain to move the string or ribbon through. This is a life-threatening condition requiring surgery for correction. Supervise animals who play with string closely.

ELECTRIC LIGHT CORDS
These are also tempting to cats who like to play with string as well as to puppies who are teething and interested in chewing. If a pet bites through an electrical cord, it could result in a severe burn to the tongue which causes the pet’s lung to fill with fluid, causing respiratory distress. This is also an emergency requiring immediate veterinary attention.

CHOCOLATE
Many people do not realize that chocolate can be a poison. Unsweetened baking chocolate carries a much higher dose of the toxin “theobromine” than does milk chocolate, but even normal milk chocolate can be dangerous; a small dog sharing candy can wind up in big trouble. Clinical signs of chocolate poisoning include hyperexcitability, nervousness, vomiting, and diarrhea and death.

POINSETTIA
Consuming this festive-looking plant can be irritating to the mouth and stomach of the dog or cat that chews on or eats it. Contrary to popular belief, poinsettia is not specifically toxic.

MISTLETOE
The fact that there are several types of mistletoe makes it difficult to predict the clinical signs of poisoning. Some mistletoes produce only stomach upset while others may lead to liver failure or seizuring. Consider mistletoe to be a hazardous substance and keep it inaccessible to pets and children.

COOKING
Keep pets out of the kitchen during the hustle and bustle of the season. The last thing you want is for someone you love to get underfoot and get burned from spillage.

DIETARY INDISCRETION
We all like to include our pets in Holiday meals along with the rest of the family, but try to keep in mind that sudden rich diet changes are likely to upset a pet’s stomach. Vomiting and diarrhea are not uncommon. If leftovers are of an especially fatty nature, the pancreas may become inflamed and overloaded. This condition is serious and may require hospitalization

Real Bones are Bad

Real bones & the damage they can cause our dogs:

Bones can cause damage to the GI tract:
Real bones can cause perforation of the GI tract.  This is a serious concern and would require surgery to repair.  Impaction of the GI tract can also occur as a result of feeding real bones.  Not as common, but still a concern, is aspirating bone particles into the lungs.

Bones can cause damage to the teeth:
Real bones are also a concern, because they can fracture the teeth.  The tooth that usually gets injured is the upper fourth pre-molar teeth.  This tooth is a 3 rooted tooth and if fractured, requires root canal therapy or oral surgery to extract the tooth and root. We hear a lot of hype that dogs should get real bones, because wolves get real bones or (following statement from the American Veterinary Dental College) that “Dogs are carnivores – they chew on bones in the wild. However, AVDC does not recommend cow hooves, dried natural bones or hard nylon products because they are too hard and do not mimic the effect of a dog tearing meat off a carcass. These hard products are associated with broken teeth or damaged gums.”

Dental Care

A pet needing oral care is something we see so often around here. Heavy tartar, gingivitis, fractured teeth, periodontal disease, etc. are a common finding at routine annual exams. We also hear a lot about how horrible everyone’s pet’s breath smells. 

Daily oral care is vital in keeping your pet’s oral cavity healthy. As humans we our taught to brush our teeth 2-3 times daily, floss regularly, and visit the dentist every 6 months. Animal’s teeth do not receive this same care and that can lead to tartar, gingivitis, periodontal disease, etc. There are products out there that are easy to use daily if your pet does not allow brushing. Hills & Purina both make a dental diet that is a large kibble designed to scrub away plaque. Maxiguard OraZn is a blue gel that contains zinc to reduce the bacterial count in the oral cavity. There are also enzymatic rawhide chews to help reduce the tartar build up.

Even with daily oral care, routine dental cleanings should still be done. Dental cleanings are done under general anesthesia. We do pre-anesthetic exams and blood work to ensure your pet’s safety under anesthesia. The dental cleaning includes an oral examination, periodontal probing, ultrasonic scaling of teeth above and below the gum line, polishing with prophy paste, and oral cavity irrigation with chlorhexidine rinse.

Until December 31, 2012, our periodontal therapy prices will be reduced by $50!!!