Friday, December 07, 2007
December 6, 2007
KEEP THE HOLIDAYS HAPPY!!
Happy holidays to all of us pet lover’s. This is a wonderful time of year not only to show our human loved ones how much we care but also to show our love to our pets.
Here we are only on December 6th and my wife has purchased new warm, holiday theme sweaters for 4 of our 10 dogs!
Just like human children our pet children must be protected from toys or other gifts we buy them. This of course is important twelve months a year, but we must be especially vigilant this time of year.
If the label says made in China, I do not care how cute the toy is do not buy it. Lead toxicity can be deadly and it can often build up over time. This is particularly hard to piece together sometimes. If i ask an owner if they have any “new” toys that is probably a bad question for me to ask, for it can be misleading. A pet can get a toy six months ago, responsible for the lead poisoning. This can be for several reasons; the pet ignored the new toy and decided to chew on it 3 months later. The lead containing pieces of the new toy are not present in the surfaces of the toy, thus the pet may only ingest lead once they have chewed the surface of the toy off reaching the lead containing parts months later.
Do not buy ceramic crocks for water and food bowls made in china or Mexico. Many times these ceramic items have lead incorporated in them at the time of firing in the kiln (oven).
Always watch out for toys to make sure your pet is not chewing off pieces of string or cloth. Another one is the plastic eyes on the head of the stuffed toys; remove these before you give them to your pet.
Strings!! String foreign bodies (anything your pet eats that is not food can be classified as a foreign body)) are particularly dangerous especially in cats and rabbits. Cats love to play with string. Some cat toys have toys with tons of strings hanging off for the cats to play with. String can cause signs like vomiting and diarrhea and often create a very dangerous condition called an intussception. These most often result a serious surgery to remove the string and repair the damaged section of intestine. Those string like aluminum colored icicles that you hang on your tree are favorites for cats. Do not hang them low enough for your cat to reach, or better yet just find another item to decorate your tree with. I will never forget a case about 15-18 years ago now where this cat had eaten a large handful of this stuff. Luckily the pet owner had identified this situation early and we did have to do surgery to remove the icicles from the stomach.
I say this was lucky for the icicles were all still in the stomach and no small intestinal damage had been done. Had this owner waited another 24-48 hours the surgery would have been much more serious.
Salt to melt ice and snow can be dangerous if ingested and the paws often become very inflamed. Actually what happens is the feet have sustained a chemical burn. This of course hurts and the pet licks the feet and ingest even more of the salt.
Antifreeze!!! Undoubtedly the most dangerous situation. If antifreeze is spilled or leaks out or your car and your pet ingest it, they will die of kidney failure unless specific steps are taken to prevent the damage to the kidneys. If you even suspect your pet has ingested antifreeze get him/her to a veterinarian right away.
Electric shock; we tend to have wires running all over the place this time of year. Puppies, kittens and most especially rabbits tend to chew on electric cords. The propensity of rabbits to chew electric cords is incredible. They can of course get enough of a shock to cause immediate heat failure. If they survive the shock you will often see black burn marks on the lips and gums.
Pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs) can occur, and may not be noticed by the owner until several days after the event. This can be treated successfully if recognized early enough.
Toxins toxins everywhere! Many of our decorations can contain other toxins besides lead. Some on the berries on table centerpieces can be toxic. The best way i can put this is do not allow your pet access to any of your holiday decorations, period.
I have mentioned but a few of the things we need to be aware of as dangerous to our pets. Please just be thoughtful as you buy and distribute new items in your home.
I must mention one metabolic disease common over the holidays. That is pancreatitis. This is much more common in the dog. Fatty meals can make a dog very sick due to ingesting too much fat. The problem is that during a daylong holiday dinner
Celebration at your home, there may be twenty people sneaking your dog a treat, instead of the normal number of humans in your house. So instead of getting treats from 2 people, they get treats from 20 people. The signs of this are vomiting, diarrhea and malaise (laying around, not feeling good). Pancreatitis can be life-threatening if not caught early and treated appropriately. Therefore ask your guests kindly not to feed snacks to your pet during holiday dinners or at any other time of year. Once your dog has had a documentable (bloodwork) pancreatitis they are much more likely to have future pancreatitis episodes.
Happy holidays, safe holidays, and blessed holidays to all of you and your pets.
Sammy Vaughn, DVM
Veterinary Associates-Stonefield
KEEP THE HOLIDAYS HAPPY!!
Happy holidays to all of us pet lover’s. This is a wonderful time of year not only to show our human loved ones how much we care but also to show our love to our pets.
Here we are only on December 6th and my wife has purchased new warm, holiday theme sweaters for 4 of our 10 dogs!
Just like human children our pet children must be protected from toys or other gifts we buy them. This of course is important twelve months a year, but we must be especially vigilant this time of year.
If the label says made in China, I do not care how cute the toy is do not buy it. Lead toxicity can be deadly and it can often build up over time. This is particularly hard to piece together sometimes. If i ask an owner if they have any “new” toys that is probably a bad question for me to ask, for it can be misleading. A pet can get a toy six months ago, responsible for the lead poisoning. This can be for several reasons; the pet ignored the new toy and decided to chew on it 3 months later. The lead containing pieces of the new toy are not present in the surfaces of the toy, thus the pet may only ingest lead once they have chewed the surface of the toy off reaching the lead containing parts months later.
Do not buy ceramic crocks for water and food bowls made in china or Mexico. Many times these ceramic items have lead incorporated in them at the time of firing in the kiln (oven).
Always watch out for toys to make sure your pet is not chewing off pieces of string or cloth. Another one is the plastic eyes on the head of the stuffed toys; remove these before you give them to your pet.
Strings!! String foreign bodies (anything your pet eats that is not food can be classified as a foreign body)) are particularly dangerous especially in cats and rabbits. Cats love to play with string. Some cat toys have toys with tons of strings hanging off for the cats to play with. String can cause signs like vomiting and diarrhea and often create a very dangerous condition called an intussception. These most often result a serious surgery to remove the string and repair the damaged section of intestine. Those string like aluminum colored icicles that you hang on your tree are favorites for cats. Do not hang them low enough for your cat to reach, or better yet just find another item to decorate your tree with. I will never forget a case about 15-18 years ago now where this cat had eaten a large handful of this stuff. Luckily the pet owner had identified this situation early and we did have to do surgery to remove the icicles from the stomach.
I say this was lucky for the icicles were all still in the stomach and no small intestinal damage had been done. Had this owner waited another 24-48 hours the surgery would have been much more serious.
Salt to melt ice and snow can be dangerous if ingested and the paws often become very inflamed. Actually what happens is the feet have sustained a chemical burn. This of course hurts and the pet licks the feet and ingest even more of the salt.
Antifreeze!!! Undoubtedly the most dangerous situation. If antifreeze is spilled or leaks out or your car and your pet ingest it, they will die of kidney failure unless specific steps are taken to prevent the damage to the kidneys. If you even suspect your pet has ingested antifreeze get him/her to a veterinarian right away.
Electric shock; we tend to have wires running all over the place this time of year. Puppies, kittens and most especially rabbits tend to chew on electric cords. The propensity of rabbits to chew electric cords is incredible. They can of course get enough of a shock to cause immediate heat failure. If they survive the shock you will often see black burn marks on the lips and gums.
Pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs) can occur, and may not be noticed by the owner until several days after the event. This can be treated successfully if recognized early enough.
Toxins toxins everywhere! Many of our decorations can contain other toxins besides lead. Some on the berries on table centerpieces can be toxic. The best way i can put this is do not allow your pet access to any of your holiday decorations, period.
I have mentioned but a few of the things we need to be aware of as dangerous to our pets. Please just be thoughtful as you buy and distribute new items in your home.
I must mention one metabolic disease common over the holidays. That is pancreatitis. This is much more common in the dog. Fatty meals can make a dog very sick due to ingesting too much fat. The problem is that during a daylong holiday dinner
Celebration at your home, there may be twenty people sneaking your dog a treat, instead of the normal number of humans in your house. So instead of getting treats from 2 people, they get treats from 20 people. The signs of this are vomiting, diarrhea and malaise (laying around, not feeling good). Pancreatitis can be life-threatening if not caught early and treated appropriately. Therefore ask your guests kindly not to feed snacks to your pet during holiday dinners or at any other time of year. Once your dog has had a documentable (bloodwork) pancreatitis they are much more likely to have future pancreatitis episodes.
Happy holidays, safe holidays, and blessed holidays to all of you and your pets.
Sammy Vaughn, DVM
Veterinary Associates-Stonefield
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