VETERINARY NEWS
ACVH Newsletter
This video is about feline heartworm disease prevention.
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Running the Hounds Around and About Salem
Our day begins when Milo and Otis, the family pooches start stirring at 5:30 AM and nuzzle our elbows for the morning constitutional. At that insanely early hour I can be found scrabbling around the closet for appropriate footwear and attempting to assess the state of the weather in the darkness. I am definitely not thanking them for waking me up. I could always use another 15 minutes of sleep. But not only are their tails wagging, the entire back end of each dog is wriggling, the front end is bouncing , the eyes are dancing with the anticipation of the morning walk with moi! They will not be denied.
We head out to the local park for a romp, usually meeting their pals buddies Zoe, Max,Baxter, Jack, Buck, Abby,Dillon, Boyd, Lilly, Tilly, Lucy and many others. They are quite the social boys. Luckily all these doggie social contacts have owners who are accompanying their dogs at an insanely early hour of the morning. We walk or jog the dogs for about a mile, chat with each other as we greet the morning, perhaps catch a sunrise. After 30 to 45 minutes I’m usually awake, thoroughly aired out and psyched to greet the day.
The funny thing is I didn’t plan to be an early morning dog walker. For the first few years of our life with a dog I was the afternoon/ evening walker and my husband Bart was the early AM guy. Then a couple of nasty winters hit and I had the brilliant idea of getting another puppy. It was not really my fault. We had C-sectioned the mother and successfully delivered nine puppies. When they came back for their 8 week puppy vaccines I just couldn’t forget them. It took no convincing my daughter Rebecca. She had helped resuscitate them post C-section. Bart and Ben were a pretty easy sell. As my mother –in-law put it ”My God not another sporting dog!”. In addition to a nutty Chocolate Labrador we now were the proud parents of a German Short Haired Pointer puppy with energy levels shooting off the edge of the charts in the breed book. Now Bart was walking 2 dogs in the early AM every day. In the interest of marital harmony I offered to walk the dogs in the morning a couple days per week.
Our dogs have really contributed to my health and that of my family. We all get outside and walk a lot more. Romps in our backyard with the dogs occur when the kids have friends over. Snow is an occasion for getting out and watching them tunnel under the freshly fallen snow and leap over the drifts. We search for places we can walk or run with the dogs off leash legally with a pass such as Trustees of Reservations The Grass Rides at Appleton Farms in Hamilton and Ravenswood State Park on Route 127 in Gloucester. (go to HYPERLINK "http://www.thetrustees.org" www.appletonfarms.org and click Appleton Farms Grass Rides to find out about joining and obtaining dog passes). We take them to Salem Woods and Cranes Beach (off season and also a trustees property www.thetrustees.org) for long walks.
In my quest for further calorie burning and in the spirit of multitasking I started jogging (very slowly 20 minute miles) to increase the distance the dogs were exercised. They had a bit more exercise and I had an built in excuse for going slowly—the picking up after the dogs, giving the dogs some water when they stand looking plaintively in front of a water faucet, tripping over the dogs, preventing the dogs from ingesting or rolling in small wild animals that passed on to the next world sometime last week, retrieving the dogs when they wander away and so on. As we run further I am getting slightly fitter at a frustratingly gradual rate while I fear the dogs are rapidly developing stamina to run further on an exponential scale. This additional stamina will drive their need for still further exercise requiring me to walk them even more. In some ways I can sympathize with the people who give up, fence in the yard and overfeed the dog, yet still I carry on with the relentless cycle.
There is a leash law in Salem and currently in Salem there is no place to legally have your dog off leash without running the risk of a ticket from the dog officer. Several members of the dog owning community and Doug Bollen, Director of the Parks and recreation Department have been working on establishing a fenced in dog park at Leslie’s Retreat park. The organization is called SPACE an acronym for Salem Play Area for Canine Exercise. Bart Hoskins, Brenda Shanley, Linda Leroy and other Salem dog lovers have been fund raising, ironing out plans with Mass Highways and working with landscape architect Michael Sullivan of Beacon Architectural Associates to design the park. The plans include a 5 foot high black fence enclosing a spacious exercise area with engraved pavers to memorialize donors pets. Anyone who donates $100 will have a flagstone engraved with their pet’s name at the entryway. ( Please make a check for $50 out to SPACE with the name of your pet to SPACE PO Box 8875 Salem MA 01970). The area will be as large as possible so people and pets will not feel hemmed in . If donations are sufficient there will be a spigot with fresh water for thirsty pups. The owner of Reliable Fence is a dog owner and is giving the organization a big break on the price of the fencing. Another dog owner is donating his brick laying skills to lay the pavers at the entrance. The biggest corporate donor giving $2500 is Beverly based Unleashed Doggie Day Care ( HYPERLINK "http://www.unleashthedog.com" www.unleashthedog.com) Motto: An exhausted dog is a good dog. Thanks to Unleashed and lots of Salem citizen volunteers we will soon have exercised exhausted and legal dogs in Salem.
Dr. Elizabeth Bradt is a graduate of Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, resident of Salem and owner of All Creatures Veterinary Hospital in Salem, MA. Please forward comments titled Vet Connection on Subject line to docliz@creaturehealth.com
April - June 2008- Volume 1, Issue 2
Spring has sprung!
With the onset of spring and warm weather comes a host of problems to deal with. It’s time to think about the creepy crawling things that can affect your pet’s health, such as mosquitoes, fleas and ticks. All these “pests” can cause major problems for your beloved pets.
Heartworms are carried from one animal to another by mosquito bites. Historically, we only worried about heartworms in dogs, but there is an increasing amount of evidence that cats are at risk, as are ferrets. Fortunately, it is easy to prevent. Just give your pet his/her monthly dose of heartworm preventative. At All Creatures Veterinary Hospital, we recommend year round preventative. The heartworm pill also acts as a dewormer for intestinal parasites that he/she may pick up at the dog park, play group or just walking down the street! Dogs over 6 months of age must have a blood test before starting preventative, but puppies and cats may be started at any time.
Ticks transmit a plethora of diseases! In this area, Lyme disease is extremely common and complex. It can affect many organs including the joints, heart and kidneys. The ticks that transmit Lyme disease are present all year from September thru August. We also vaccinate for Lyme disease on a case-by-case basis. Please discuss this with your veterinarian. Fleas earn their living by sucking blood through the skin of the host. The adult flea leaves behind partially digested blood (“flea dirt”), which is a food source for the larvae that hatch from the eggs. Unfortunately, severe infestation on very young or debilitated animals can lead to anemia, and even death. Some animals can also develop an allergy to the fleas, which makes both pet and owner miserable.
To treat and prevent flea and tick infestation, we recommend year round preventative, such as Frontline and Revolution.
Exotic Pets Need Annual Check-Ups Too!
All pets can benefit from wellness care whether they have scales, fur, beaks or pouches. But often, people who own non-traditional pets, or exotics, don’t plan regular vet visits for their animals.
A non-traditional pet is an animal other than a cat or a dog. The most common exotic pets are mice, guinea pigs, rats, hamsters, gerbils, rabbits, ferrets, sugar gliders, birds and reptiles.
Regular wellness care for all pets can help prevent greater health problems and, in the long term, keep medical costs down. They are particularly important for exotics since many non-traditional pets are prey species, which, by nature, don’t exhibit signs of an illness until it is too late. Instinct dictates that they hide any signs of weakness from possible predators. If your exotic pet is showing signs of illness, they should be seen by a veterinarian as soon as possible. Their health can deteriorate very quickly once symptoms become apparent.
So, how can wellness visits help your crafty critters?
- Bringing in your guinea pig for regular visits can allow the veterinarian to analyze its diet and determine if it is getting adequate amounts of vitamin C. Guinea pigs are prone to scurvy, which can be fatal. Some guinea pig pellets may not contain enough vitamin C, and, believe it or not, some foods can be damaged by moisture or sunlight if it is mishandled.
- Iguana owners often make the mistake of feeding their reptiles a diet of only crickets. However, iguanas are herbivores, and leafy green vegetables are an important component of their diet.
- Reptiles kept indoors don’t get enough ultraviolet light, which is essential for their calcium utilization and the prevention of a common condition called metabolic bone disease.
- Many parakeet and cockatiel owners rarely bring these smaller tropical birds in for visits. But, a trip to the vet can help prevent intestinal parasites and liver disease, as well as ensure normal gastrointestinal bacteria levels and proper beak and feather growth.
- A small number of diseases account for the majority of ferret illness. Young ferrets often become obstructed with objects that they eat (i.e. string, foam rubber, toys). Ferrets also frequently develop adrenal gland disease, pancreatic tumors (insulinomas) and lymphomas. Furthermore, ferrets require annual rabies and distemper vaccines, and should be given monthly heartworm preventative.
- Rabbits and rodents need to have their teeth checked periodically for overgrowth. Their incisors and molars continually grow over the course of their lives, and if they are not being worn down naturally, can greatly inhibit the animal’s ability to eat.
SO, LOVE YOUR EXOTIC PET – BRING IT TO THE VET!
ACVH Newsletter
This video is about feline heartworm disease prevention.
Running the Hounds Around and About Salem
Our day begins when Milo and Otis, the family pooches start stirring at 5:30 AM and nuzzle our elbows for the morning constitutional. At that insanely early hour I can be found scrabbling around the closet for appropriate footwear and attempting to assess the state of the weather in the darkness. I am definitely not thanking them for waking me up. I could always use another 15 minutes of sleep. But not only are their tails wagging, the entire back end of each dog is wriggling, the front end is bouncing , the eyes are dancing with the anticipation of the morning walk with moi! They will not be denied.
We head out to the local park for a romp, usually meeting their pals buddies Zoe, Max,Baxter, Jack, Buck, Abby,Dillon, Boyd, Lilly, Tilly, Lucy and many others. They are quite the social boys. Luckily all these doggie social contacts have owners who are accompanying their dogs at an insanely early hour of the morning. We walk or jog the dogs for about a mile, chat with each other as we greet the morning, perhaps catch a sunrise. After 30 to 45 minutes I’m usually awake, thoroughly aired out and psyched to greet the day.
The funny thing is I didn’t plan to be an early morning dog walker. For the first few years of our life with a dog I was the afternoon/ evening walker and my husband Bart was the early AM guy. Then a couple of nasty winters hit and I had the brilliant idea of getting another puppy. It was not really my fault. We had C-sectioned the mother and successfully delivered nine puppies. When they came back for their 8 week puppy vaccines I just couldn’t forget them. It took no convincing my daughter Rebecca. She had helped resuscitate them post C-section. Bart and Ben were a pretty easy sell. As my mother –in-law put it ”My God not another sporting dog!”. In addition to a nutty Chocolate Labrador we now were the proud parents of a German Short Haired Pointer puppy with energy levels shooting off the edge of the charts in the breed book. Now Bart was walking 2 dogs in the early AM every day. In the interest of marital harmony I offered to walk the dogs in the morning a couple days per week.
Our dogs have really contributed to my health and that of my family. We all get outside and walk a lot more. Romps in our backyard with the dogs occur when the kids have friends over. Snow is an occasion for getting out and watching them tunnel under the freshly fallen snow and leap over the drifts. We search for places we can walk or run with the dogs off leash legally with a pass such as Trustees of Reservations The Grass Rides at Appleton Farms in Hamilton and Ravenswood State Park on Route 127 in Gloucester. (go to HYPERLINK "http://www.thetrustees.org" www.appletonfarms.org and click Appleton Farms Grass Rides to find out about joining and obtaining dog passes). We take them to Salem Woods and Cranes Beach (off season and also a trustees property www.thetrustees.org) for long walks.
In my quest for further calorie burning and in the spirit of multitasking I started jogging (very slowly 20 minute miles) to increase the distance the dogs were exercised. They had a bit more exercise and I had an built in excuse for going slowly—the picking up after the dogs, giving the dogs some water when they stand looking plaintively in front of a water faucet, tripping over the dogs, preventing the dogs from ingesting or rolling in small wild animals that passed on to the next world sometime last week, retrieving the dogs when they wander away and so on. As we run further I am getting slightly fitter at a frustratingly gradual rate while I fear the dogs are rapidly developing stamina to run further on an exponential scale. This additional stamina will drive their need for still further exercise requiring me to walk them even more. In some ways I can sympathize with the people who give up, fence in the yard and overfeed the dog, yet still I carry on with the relentless cycle.
There is a leash law in Salem and currently in Salem there is no place to legally have your dog off leash without running the risk of a ticket from the dog officer. Several members of the dog owning community and Doug Bollen, Director of the Parks and recreation Department have been working on establishing a fenced in dog park at Leslie’s Retreat park. The organization is called SPACE an acronym for Salem Play Area for Canine Exercise. Bart Hoskins, Brenda Shanley, Linda Leroy and other Salem dog lovers have been fund raising, ironing out plans with Mass Highways and working with landscape architect Michael Sullivan of Beacon Architectural Associates to design the park. The plans include a 5 foot high black fence enclosing a spacious exercise area with engraved pavers to memorialize donors pets. Anyone who donates $100 will have a flagstone engraved with their pet’s name at the entryway. ( Please make a check for $50 out to SPACE with the name of your pet to SPACE PO Box 8875 Salem MA 01970). The area will be as large as possible so people and pets will not feel hemmed in . If donations are sufficient there will be a spigot with fresh water for thirsty pups. The owner of Reliable Fence is a dog owner and is giving the organization a big break on the price of the fencing. Another dog owner is donating his brick laying skills to lay the pavers at the entrance. The biggest corporate donor giving $2500 is Beverly based Unleashed Doggie Day Care ( HYPERLINK "http://www.unleashthedog.com" www.unleashthedog.com) Motto: An exhausted dog is a good dog. Thanks to Unleashed and lots of Salem citizen volunteers we will soon have exercised exhausted and legal dogs in Salem.
Dr. Elizabeth Bradt is a graduate of Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, resident of Salem and owner of All Creatures Veterinary Hospital in Salem, MA. Please forward comments titled Vet Connection on Subject line to docliz@creaturehealth.com
April - June 2008- Volume 1, Issue 2
Spring has sprung!
With the onset of spring and warm weather comes a host of problems to deal with. It’s time to think about the creepy crawling things that can affect your pet’s health, such as mosquitoes, fleas and ticks. All these “pests” can cause major problems for your beloved pets.
Heartworms are carried from one animal to another by mosquito bites. Historically, we only worried about heartworms in dogs, but there is an increasing amount of evidence that cats are at risk, as are ferrets. Fortunately, it is easy to prevent. Just give your pet his/her monthly dose of heartworm preventative. At All Creatures Veterinary Hospital, we recommend year round preventative. The heartworm pill also acts as a dewormer for intestinal parasites that he/she may pick up at the dog park, play group or just walking down the street! Dogs over 6 months of age must have a blood test before starting preventative, but puppies and cats may be started at any time.
Ticks transmit a plethora of diseases! In this area, Lyme disease is extremely common and complex. It can affect many organs including the joints, heart and kidneys. The ticks that transmit Lyme disease are present all year from September thru August. We also vaccinate for Lyme disease on a case-by-case basis. Please discuss this with your veterinarian. Fleas earn their living by sucking blood through the skin of the host. The adult flea leaves behind partially digested blood (“flea dirt”), which is a food source for the larvae that hatch from the eggs. Unfortunately, severe infestation on very young or debilitated animals can lead to anemia, and even death. Some animals can also develop an allergy to the fleas, which makes both pet and owner miserable.
To treat and prevent flea and tick infestation, we recommend year round preventative, such as Frontline and Revolution.
Exotic Pets Need Annual Check-Ups Too!
All pets can benefit from wellness care whether they have scales, fur, beaks or pouches. But often, people who own non-traditional pets, or exotics, don’t plan regular vet visits for their animals.
A non-traditional pet is an animal other than a cat or a dog. The most common exotic pets are mice, guinea pigs, rats, hamsters, gerbils, rabbits, ferrets, sugar gliders, birds and reptiles.
Regular wellness care for all pets can help prevent greater health problems and, in the long term, keep medical costs down. They are particularly important for exotics since many non-traditional pets are prey species, which, by nature, don’t exhibit signs of an illness until it is too late. Instinct dictates that they hide any signs of weakness from possible predators. If your exotic pet is showing signs of illness, they should be seen by a veterinarian as soon as possible. Their health can deteriorate very quickly once symptoms become apparent.
So, how can wellness visits help your crafty critters?
- Bringing in your guinea pig for regular visits can allow the veterinarian to analyze its diet and determine if it is getting adequate amounts of vitamin C. Guinea pigs are prone to scurvy, which can be fatal. Some guinea pig pellets may not contain enough vitamin C, and, believe it or not, some foods can be damaged by moisture or sunlight if it is mishandled.
- Iguana owners often make the mistake of feeding their reptiles a diet of only crickets. However, iguanas are herbivores, and leafy green vegetables are an important component of their diet.
- Reptiles kept indoors don’t get enough ultraviolet light, which is essential for their calcium utilization and the prevention of a common condition called metabolic bone disease.
- Many parakeet and cockatiel owners rarely bring these smaller tropical birds in for visits. But, a trip to the vet can help prevent intestinal parasites and liver disease, as well as ensure normal gastrointestinal bacteria levels and proper beak and feather growth.
- A small number of diseases account for the majority of ferret illness. Young ferrets often become obstructed with objects that they eat (i.e. string, foam rubber, toys). Ferrets also frequently develop adrenal gland disease, pancreatic tumors (insulinomas) and lymphomas. Furthermore, ferrets require annual rabies and distemper vaccines, and should be given monthly heartworm preventative.
- Rabbits and rodents need to have their teeth checked periodically for overgrowth. Their incisors and molars continually grow over the course of their lives, and if they are not being worn down naturally, can greatly inhibit the animal’s ability to eat.
SO, LOVE YOUR EXOTIC PET – BRING IT TO THE VET!
