If you frequently hike or otherwise enjoy the great outdoors with your pet, please take care to prevent painful encounters with snakes. Bites occur most often in between March and October when snakes are most active. According to the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center (APCC), a snake bite is always considered an emergency—a venomous snake bite can be fatal if not treated immediately, and even a bite from a nonvenomous snake can be dangerous for your pets.
Here are some tips for snake bite safety around pets:
Avoid chance encounters with snakes:
Keep your yard tidy by clearing away undergrowth, toys and tools that make great hiding places for snakes.
Keep walkways clear of brush, flowers and shrubs.
Clean up any spilled food, fruit or bird seed, which can attract rodents—and therefore snakes—to your yard.
When walking your pet, keep him on a leash.
Steer your pet clear of long grasses, bushes and rocks.
Snakes can strike across a distance equal to about half their body length. If you see a snake, head back the way you came.
Familiarize yourself with snakes who are common in your area. In the event of a bite, identifying the type of snake may help with your pet's treatment.
Recognize snake bite symptoms:
Local or general swelling
Bleeding
Intense pain
Low blood pressure
Dead tissue around the wound
Shortness of breath
Weakness
Renal failure
What to do if you think your pet's been bitten:
Remember to stay calm.
Keep your pet calm, too, by limiting his activity.
If your pet was bitten on the neck, remove his collar.
If possible, keep the location of the bite below heart level.
Seek veterinary care for your pet immediately.
Treatment options such as cold packs, ice, tourniquets, alcohol, bleeding the wound and trying to suck out venom should not be attempted in place of getting your pet to the vet—they may just waste precious time.
Always keep your personal safety in mind and do not try to catch or kill a snake yourself.
Even if you think a snake is dead, never handle him. Some dead snakes are capable of inflicting a bite by muscle contractions.
Contact the Town & Country Animal Clinic team at (606) 436-3446 today for more information.
Is your pet's microchip up-to-date? If your pet were lost,
would an animal hospital or shelter be able to contact you once your pet was
found?
It's important to get
your pet microchipped; but it's just as important to make sure that microchip
contains the correct information in order for your four-legged friend to get
home.
How does a microchip work?
The microchip, which is about the size of a grain of rice, is injected by a
veterinarian or veterinary technician just beneath your pet's skin in the area
between the shoulder blades. This is usually done without anesthesia, and the
experience can be compared to getting a vaccination.
Each microchip has a unique
registration number that is entered into a database or registry, and is
associated with your name and contact information. If your lost dog or cat is
found by an animal hospital, shelter or humane society, they will use a
microchip scanner to read the number and contact the registry to get your
information.
Make sure you can be found, too
While it may be comforting to know the microchip won't get lost or damaged, and
that it will probably last the pet's lifetime, the microchip is useless if
you're not updating your contact information with the registry. If your pet has
been microchipped, keep the documentation paperwork so you can find the contact
information for the registry. If you don't have the documentation paperwork,
contact the veterinarian or shelter where the chip was implanted.
Keep in mind there are more than a
dozen companies that maintain databases of chip ID numbers in the U.S. By using
AAHA's Universal Pet Microchip Lookup at petmicrochiplookup.org, you can locate the registry for your
chip by entering the microchip ID number. If you don't have your pet's
microchip ID number, have a veterinarian scan it and give it to you.
Only about 17% of lost dogs and 2% of
lost cats ever find their way back to their owners. Prevent the heartache and
ensure your pet has an up-to-date microchip.
The temperature is soaring, and it’s
only going to get hotter. Make sure you know how to keep your cat safe in the
summer heat.
Watch out forheatstroke. Symptoms
include panting, lethargy, drooling, fever, vomiting and collapse. If you
think your cat may have heatstroke, get the vet ASAP — the condition can
cause permanent organ damage and death. Learn more about heatstroke in
pets.
Offer your cat several ways to
cool off. Leave a fan on
in a place where your cat can sit in front of it, add some ice cubes to
her water or offer her a cool treat (check out our recipe for catsicles.)
Letyour cat find cool spots in
the house. Your cat will seek out the cooler parts of your home, so
make sure she has access to areas with tile floors or rooms that don’t get
much sun.
Play in the morning or evening. Any exercise should take place
during the cooler hours of the day. This is especially important for young
kittens and seniors, both of whom are very vulnerable to heatstroke. (If
your cat has just eaten, make sure you give her some time to digest before
you begin playtime.)
United Airlines
flew a lost dog home Wednesday in first class for free — four years after he
went missing.
The Lambert family didn’t think they would ever see
Sam, a Yorkshire Terrier, after he disappeared from their yard in Louisiana.
But he was found by an animal control officer in in
Cedar Rapids, Iowa earlier this month.
He was straggly and weighed less than 6 pounds.
Luckily, staff at the shelter were able to use the microchip he had to identify
the Lambert family as the owners.
Danielle Lambert said she was “shocked” when she got
the call.
“I first thought that there was no way it could be
Sam. He’d been missing for four years,” she told CNNMoney.
Sam was a birthday gift for her daughter Karisa when
she turned 10 years old. Now she’s 15.
The Yorkie was nursed back to health at the shelter
until he was fit to fly home. He landed in New Orleans on a United flight at
11:16 a.m.
“This just makes all of us feel really, really happy
that we can make this miracle come true for this family and their little dog,”
said Diane Webber, a manager at the Cedar Rapids shelter.
No one knows how Sam got to Iowa, which is nearly
1,000 miles away.
“We have no clue,” said Lambert. “I guess that’s the
piece we’ll never know.”
Pets aren’t always easy to take care of, and they often require a
substantial time commitment (something you’re all too aware of at, say, 3 a.m.,
when Bing Clawsby is finally ready to go outside and do his business). But pets
provide an amazing return on that time investment, especially when it comes to
your health. Case in point: According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, pet owners tend to have lower blood pressure, cholesterol, and
triglyceride levels than non-pet owners. But that’s not all. Pets also model
many surprisingly healthy behaviors that humans would do well to emulate. Here
are just a few, according to veterinarians, dog trainers, and other pet
experts.
1. They focus on what matters most. You may get grumpy after a bad
day at the office, but your pooch never does. “Companion animals mostly care
about food, love, and shelter (not always in that order). As long as they have
those things, they don’t need much else,” Mary Gardner, DVM, a veterinarian and
cofounder of Lap of Love Veterinary Hospice tells Yahoo Health. “Pets also
don’t complain much at all. People believe they hide their pain; I simply think
they manage it differently.” If humans could model these behaviors, Gardner
adds, we’d be healthier, happier, “and more people would want to be around
us.”
2. They practice portion control (even if not by choice). Snowball
might not want to limit her kibble intake any more than you want to limit your
tortilla-chip intake. Nonetheless, she typically eats reasonably sized helpings
of nutritionally balanced food — and never gets to eat straight out of the bag.
Follow her lead. “Both animals and people need structure and regulation when it
comes to portion size,” says Jme Thomas, executive director of Motley Zoo
Animal Rescue based in Redmond, Washington.
3. They know how to de-stress. Your pooch doesn’t pour a glass of
cabernet when the going gets rough (though, yes, it would make a very popular
YouTube video if she did). She may, however, start begging for a walk or to
play a game. Smart dog! “Actively seeking healthy activities — that function as
de-stressors when stress levels are high — helps to reset people as well as dogs,
and bring us back to a productive and functional status, from which many things
feel a lot more ‘do-able,’” Marisa Scully, a certified dog behavior specialist
in Philadelphia, tells Yahoo Health.
4. They hit the hay. People don’t get enough sleep: According to a
2014 survey by the National Sleep Foundation, 45 percent of Americans said that
a lack of sleep had impaired their activities at least once in the previous
week. Learn from your cat or dog, who knows just how important it is to get
enough shut-eye, says Jeff Werber, VVM, president and chief veterinarian of
Century Veterinary Group in Los Angeles. “Whether it’s a lazy dog day
afternoon, or a quick cat nap, you won’t find them burning the candles at both
ends.” 5. They stretch! There’s a reason one of the most common yoga moves is
named downward dog. Dogs (and cats) stretch constantly — and we should do the
same, notes certified dog behavior consultant Russell Hartstein. Why?
Stretching can improve flexibility and reduce your risk of injury.
6. They’re open to new things. Animals are naturally curious.
“Open a box or empty a bag and before you know it, your cat will have climbed
in to investigate. Walk your dog past a gardener planting flowers and chances
are she will check it out before moving on,” Werber says. “And they’re always
up for some fun. A game of catch, a walk, a visit — bring it on.” Since
research has found that seeking out new experiences can keep people feeling
young and healthy, we’d do well to follow suit.
7. They’re comfortable getting zen. Numerous studies have found a
correlation between mindful meditation and reduced stress, decreased heart
disease, and a stronger immune response — and that’s something your cat already
knows how to do instinctively. “Each morning I sit on the sofa with my cat,
Turtle, while I drink my first cup of coffee,” says Kristen Levine, a pet
living expert. “We spend about 10 minutes together, her getting neck and head
rubs, me enjoying her purring and having a few meditative moments at the start
of the day.It sounds simple, and it can be, but depending on the activity, it
can have a powerfully relaxing or invigorating effect for both human and
critter.”
Science is proving what pet
owners have long believed: Dogs understand what we're feeling. Specifically,
dogs can recognize the difference between a happy and an angry human face, a
study published Thursday in Current Biology suggests.
It's the first research to
show definitively that dogs are sensitive to our facial expressions, says
coauthor Ludwig Huber, head of comparative cognition at Messerli Research
Institute at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna.
In the Austrian study, 20
pet dogs of various breeds and sizes were taught to play a computer game
through a series of exercises. In the first, the dogs were shown two touch
screens, one with a circle and one with a square. Through trial and error, they
learned that a treat would appear if they chose the right geometrical figure.
Eleven of the 20 dogs were
able to catch on to rules of the game and make it to the next phase, where they
were shown photos of faces. Half the dogs were rewarded for picking a happy
expression and half for choosing an angry expression. The interesting catch:
the dogs were shown only the upper half or the lower half of a face.
It was easier to teach the
dogs to choose a happy expression than an angry one, suggesting the dogs do
indeed understand the meaning behind the expression, Huber says.
As a test, the dogs were
then were presented with:
the same half of the faces
they saw during the training, but from different people
the other half of the faces used in training
the other half of new faces
the left half of the faces used in training
In the vast majority of cases the dogs chose the right answer 70 to 100 percent
of the time.
Dogs who had been trained
to recognize an expression of anger or happiness on the upper part of a face
could identify the same expression when shown only the lower part, and vice
versa, Huber says, adding “the only possible explanation is that they recall
from memory of everyday life how a whole human face looks when happy or angry.”
Dog owners know their pets
not only recognize emotions but also feel empathy.
Delilah, a 3-year-old
Chihuahua, always seems to know when her owner Eva Shure is having a bad day.
Delilah knows when her owner is having a bad day.
Making eye contact and cocking her head to the right, the little dog will stare
at Shure's face as if trying to assess her feelings. “It’s weird, I can see her
thinking and processing,” says Shure, a 35-year-old New York City business
owner. “I’ll say, yeah, it’s not a great day and she’ll come up and sit next to
me.”
Beverly Levreault, 57, says
her 6-year-old Australian Cattle Dog mix is always tuned in to her moods. “If
I’m not feeling well, like when I have the flu, Lacey is definitely lower key
and will not leave my side, ” says Levreault, a graphic designer from
Williamstown, New York. “If I take her for a walk, she’s not as rambunctious as
she usually is.”
Lynette Whiteman says she’s
not sure that her 5-year-old Yorkie-Maltese cross is using facial expressions
to gauge how she feels. “But she definitely reads my emotions,” says the
58-year-old from Toms River, New Jersey. “I run a therapy dog program and the
dogs are just amazing. They go into a room and immediately pick out the person
who needs help.”
Behavioral experts say the
new findings, while important, wouldn’t surprise anyone with an intimate
knowledge of dogs.
Coco and Lynettte
"This new work continues to build the case for just how sensitive dogs are
to our subtle behaviors,” says Dr. Brian Hare, chief scientific officer at
Dognition and an associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke
University. “This is the strongest evidence yet that dogs are even reading our
facial expressions.”
That sensitivity may be the
result of generations of selective breeding for a true partner, says Dr. Carlo
Siracusa, director of the behavior service at the University of Pennsylvania
School of Veterinary Medicine. “We have selected animals that are able to perceive
our emotions and communicate with us at a level that no other animal can,”
Siracusa says.
Dogs may not talk, but they
are very good communicators, says Dr. Nicholas Dodman, a professor in the
department of clinical sciences at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine
at Tufts University and director of the animal behavior clinic at Cummings.
“Just as we are masters of
the spoken word, dogs are experts at reading body language,” Dodman says.
“It’s almost impossible to
hide your feelings from a dog.”
Turns out, reading facial
expressions isn’t the only thing dogs have in common with us.
They can be bitten by the
computer gaming bug. “They can really become freaks for it,” Huber says with a
chuckle. “They don’t want to stop playing. It’s incredible. They’ll play till
they are exhausted and fall asleep.”
It is natural for puppies to
explore their environment; however, their natural curiosity often leads to
frustration on your part when they chew your favorite slippers. While you may
be tempted to punish your naughty pup, reinforcing good behavior is much more
effective and will keep you and your dog happier. Chewing is a natural
behavior that helps dogs relax and aids in dental health. It is important to
provide proper chew toys for your dog. Additionally, giving your dog a specific
time for chewing will help them ”wind” down for the night (similar to humans reading
a book before bed).
Anxious chewing
However, not all chewing is
good for your dog. Destructive chewing may be related to anxiety. It is
important to teach your dog that he cannot always receive attention on demand.
To reduce anxiety, train him to lie on his bed or in a crate, rather than
constantly at your side. For dogs with separation anxiety, begin with short
departures and then gradually increase the length of your time away to help
them be comfortable and calm while you’re gone.
Anti-chew sprays
Anti-chew sprays can be used
to deter your pup from chewing on household items. If you witness your puppy
chewing on a household item, calmly walk over and spray the item with the
anti-chew spray and firmly say ”leave it”. Instantly redirect your puppy’s attention
by animating the dog toy in order to get him excited enough to chew it. Once
the dog wants the toy give it to her and then softly praise the dog and back
away (avoid turning this into an active game of tug-of-war; you simply want to
get the dog interested in the toy). This will give the dog something to chew on
and still remain in the calm state she was in previously.
Teething
Chew toys are a great way to
keep your puppy busy as well as relieve pain associated with teething. Once the
teeth erupt, the real chewing begins. The teeth seem to need “setting” into the
jaw and this is accomplished through hard chewing. Present your puppy with a
variety of toys to determine which types he likes best (avoid giving him chew
toys that resemble household items that you do not want him to chew, i.e. a toy
shaped like a shoe). Rotate different toys to keep your puppy’s interest and
reward your puppy with praise when he chews on them. If the puppy seem to seek
out a certain items that are not for chewing, try finding toys with similar
textures because they may need that texture for dental health. Remember, buying
a bunch of toys is a lot less expensive than replacing the furniture that he
may chew up.
Welcome Dr. Kate Onasch! Dr. Kate started with us on July 21st! Dr. Onasch is a graduate of Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine. After graduating from Veterinary School, Dr. Onasch completed a prestigious one year internship at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington, KY. Dr. Onasch practices all aspects of equine medicine including lameness, reproduction, internal medicine, and preventative medicine. She will be taking over the large animal practice at Town and Country and also doing Small Animal preventative medicine and surgery with Dr. Ayres. Outside of work Dr. Onasch enjoys riding, hiking, fishing, and spending time with her dog, Jake. We are so happy to have Dr. Onasch on our team!
We’re
sure your pet means the world to you.
During this Pet Appreciation Week, take time to celebrate your pet and
THANK them for all that they do for you and your family.
We would like to welcome Dr. Kate Onasch to our team. She will be starting late June, early
July. Dr. Onasch is a graduate of Ohio
State University College of Veterinary Medicine, class of 2013. After graduating from Veterinary School, Dr.
Onasch completed a prestigious one year internship at Hagyard Equine Medical
Institute in Lexington, KY. Dr. Onasch
practices all aspects of equine medicine including lameness, reproduction,
internal medicine, and preventative medicine.
She will be taking over the large animal practice at Town and Country
and also doing Small Animal preventative medicine and surgery with Dr. Ayres.
Outside of work Dr. Onasch enjoys riding, hiking, fishing, and spending time
with her dog, Jake.
Did you know today happens to be Love Your Pet Day? Every day is Love Your Pet Day for us! There are many ways to show a little extra love to your pet.
Sometimes it may
seem like a cute idea to give someone a pet as a Christmas present, but it’s
important to give that some extra thought before you do it. Most pets that are
given up lose their home because their owner loses interest in them or is
unprepared for the responsibility of pet ownership. This is a huge problem seen
among pet owners who receive their pets as “gifts.” Children especially are
given the mistaken idea that pets are all fun and games, but they are not fully
ready to take on the responsibility of feeding, walking, cleaning, and training
their pet.
Instead of
giving pets as presents, we recommend getting acclimated to the idea of
bringing a new pet into your home. Bringing your children to volunteer at an
animal shelter or babysitting the pet of a friend or family member can help.
Children and potential pet owners (no matter their age!) need to be reminded
that pets aren’t just cute; they are also hungry, need to exercise, and need to
use the bathroom. They can be messy when they aren’t fully trained, and the
training process can be difficult too.
Please, don’t
adopt until everyone in your family is READY.
Sunday is Take a Hike Day! That means gear up and take your four-legged friend out for a nice walk outdoors! It’s a great way to bond with your pet while also staying fit!
My dog was recently diagnosed with a "hotspot." Can you tell me
more about this skin condition?
Answer
“Hotspot” is a general term used to describe the angry reaction that your
pet’s skin is displaying. It may also be referred to as “acute moist
dermatitis.”
Hotspots have many causes, but are usually the result of self trauma and
subsequent infection that occurs as your pet tries to relieve himself from a
pain or itch. An underlying allergy is most often the cause of the pain or
itch. Some breeds are more prone to seasonal allergies, so you may see hotspots
at the same time each year.
There are three types of allergies that may lead to hotspots:
Inhaled allergy (pollens,
dust, molds)
Insect allergy (fleas, bee
sting, spider bite)
Ingested allergy (food)
Please discuss treatment options, which may include thorough cleaning,
antibiotics and anti-inflammatory agents, with your veterinarian.
For more information, see Library Articles Skin
Problems in Pets, Allergies
and Spring
Allergies.
Veterinarians see a lot of patients with ear infections. In
fact, it's the second most common reason for a client visit, according to pet
health insurer, VPI Pet Insurance. With ear problems prompting so many trips to
the vet, should ear cleaning be a necessary part of grooming your pet?
Generally, cleaning
a dog's ears on a routine basis is not necessary, according to Leonard Jonas,
DVM, MS, DACVIM, a veterinarian with Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital in Wheat
Ridge, Colo. That's because animals have a naturally occurring self-cleansing
process.
"I've had pets my whole life,"
Jonas said. "I don't remember ever routinely cleaning out their
ears."
However, that doesn't mean pet owners should
never take notice of their dog's ears. Certain breeds, lifestyles and physical
characteristics will make a dog more prone to what Jonas calls "abnormal
situations," in which the pet's normal homeostasis is disrupted. This is
when something, either systemically or locally in the ear, interferes with the
normal surface barrier defense system and the normal cleaning process that
keeps bacteria and yeast under control.
There are signs to
watch for if your pet is having an issue with its ears. These, according to
Jonas, include:
Shaking its head
Flapping its ears
Rubbing at its ears, either with a paw or by rubbing against
furniture or carpet
Self-massaging the ear to ease itch, pain or irritation
Debris and/or redness inside the ear
Sores inside the ear
Odor in the ear due to abnormal oils and bacteria
"If you [the pet owner] look in the ear,
you can see sometimes a lot of debris," said Jonas, explaining what an ear
with an infection or problem may look like. "Then [you] see redness on the
ear flaps (inside) or sores developing. And then there's also odor that occurs
when you have an abnormal ear."
Breeds to watch
There are certain breeds of dogs—such as Shar Peis, bulldogs and poodles—that
have narrow ear canals and have a higher chance of incurring ear issues.
Poodles, especially, have more hair in the canals, Jonas explained. "The
hair itself is not a problem, but if they've got something abnormal with their
whole defense system, all that extra hair in there makes it difficult."
Cocker spaniels are notorious for ear
problems, Jonas added.
When to clean your pet's ears
According to Jonas, it's best to consult your veterinarian before going forward
with an ear-cleaning regimen. Unlike cleaning the teeth, cleaning the ears does
not need be done regularly. If a pet owner suspects that something may be wrong
with the ear, it's advised to visit the veterinarian and establish whether the
dog's ear needs to be cleaned by the owner either routinely or for an
instructed period of time.
Cleaning the dog's ears without first seeing
a veterinarian is not a good idea, Jonas said, "because you don't know
what's going on inside. You don't know if there has been a ruptured ear drum;
you don't know if there's a stick or a stone or something stuck down inside the
ear that needs to be fished out by a veterinarian."
A veterinarian can diagnose the problem and
make the proper recommendations, which may be cleaning and/or medication.
Typically, there are two situations for which
a dog's ears would need to be cleaned regularly. The first is when a
veterinarian instructs for it to be done, and the second is when the dog is
frequently in water. "Water in their ears disrupts the normal defense
barrier system in that ear, and can make them prone to getting infections and
irritation and inflammation," Jonas said.
If there needs to be ear cleaning
A veterinarian should show the owner how to properly clean the dog's ears
because "there are a lot of different techniques, and it depends on what
the problem is," Jonas advised.
There are a couple of precautions to always
remember, according to Jonas. First, never use a Q-tip, because it tends to
push the wax and debris further into the ear. Second, be sure a groomer does
not pluck the hair out of the dog's ears, unless that hair is contributing to
an ear problem; Jonas believes that doing so may cause irritation.
One thing pet owners should also consider is
that if the dog has an ear infection, it could be very painful for them.
Forcing the dog to get its ears cleaned or putting medication in them can be a
dangerous situation for the owner and the dog.
"If your pet doesn't want you to do it,
don't, because it hurts," Jonas said. "You're just going to create a
problem, and you need to look to alternatives."
Wondering how to make your pet feel included during your family ice cream break this summer? Stuffing a Kong and freezing it is a great way to make your pet feel like part of the activity!
This week is Pet Appreciation Week, a time set aside for pet owners to show their pets how much they mean to them. Are you doing anything special for your pet this week?
Dental health is an essential part of your pet’s overall physical health, and a healthy mouth is often directly linked to physical health. February is Pet Dental Health Month and we are proud to be offering FREE Greenie magnets, FREE toothbrushes, stickers, balloons and pictures frames to clients that visit us in February. Take advantage of this amazing deal while supplies last. Call us at 606-436-3446 for more details.
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