WOW, friends, there is some scary stuff in
the veterinary literature these days!!!! I decided to start the New Year
right by resolving to keep up with my reading better, so that I
don’t have a big stack of veterinary journals cluttering up the
area around my bed.
(Whenever possible, I prefer to keep that area free so that I can
clearly see anyone who might be trying to steal my toys.) So here’s what you need to
be watching for, my little buckaroos.....
XYLITOL is something that our people like to
eat. It is a sugar
substitute that your Mom or Dad probably eat a lot of, if they are
on a diet, especially if they are on one of those diets that are
“low-carb.” It is also
in sugar-free gum, nicotine gum, chewable vitamins, and lots of
tooth and gum care products. And while it is OK for people, it
is very bad news for us pets! This nasty stuff causes our blood
sugar to go very low.
This is called hypoglycemia. So if you are petite like me, it can be
especially dangerous - little dogs and cats can even collapse, or
pass right out, or even have seizures!
What is even more awful is that xylitol
can cause some pretty bad diseases in animals. The American Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) has a Poison
Control Hotline that has been tracking problems with xylitol. They found that some
animals get really sick and vomit, and then their blood stops
clotting normally, and they bleed into their intestines, and their
liver even can stop working right - awful stuff! This xylitol crud can make you
die if your people don’t notice your symptoms and get you to a vet,
fast.
Even a little bit of xylitol is very bad
for you - so you need to resolve, right now, to stop eating gum off
the sidewalks during your daily walks, and no more licking the
frosting off the cupcakes, either! And tell your people to NEVER use
their own dental care products on you - make them march right down
to their vet’s office and get something that is designed especially
for a dog or a cat.
This goes for toothpaste, oral rinses, and any breath
fresheners.
GRAIN MITES are tiny little bugs that are
probably in your food, unless you have a wonderful Mom or Dad who
makes your food fresh for you like my Mom does for me. The problem with them is that
while they are too tiny to hurt you with their pinchy little feet
(boy, are they ugly under a microscope - I heard our Nurses talking
about this just last week when they found some in a stool sample),
they are causing lots of allergies in dogs and cats. Since they like to live in grain,
I can guarantee you that if your people are feeding you a dry food
that has any corn or wheat or rice or barley or amaranth or quinoa
(that is pronounced “keen-wa,” by the way), they are also feeding
you these mites. Grain mites (sometimes also called storage
mites) are also found in cheese, straw, wallpaper, furniture, and
dried fruit.
Many dogs and cats that get really itchy
and red around their face or neck or ears have grain mite
allergies. Lots of
people have allergies to these grain mites, too - did you know that
people can have an almost fatal reaction - and hit the floor,
THUMP! with allergic shock just from opening a box of pancake
mix? It happens to
some dogs and cats, too. So now would be a good time, in
case your people are making any resolutions to feed you better, to
suggest that they talk to the vet about a better diet for you. Even
if you don’t have grain mite allergies, you‘ll feel - and look - a
lot better if you eat some fresh real food every day, instead of
only processed yuck.
Here are some other steps your people can
take to protect you, if they really feel that they have to keep
feeding you dry food:
1. Store the dry food in airtight
containers, and never in damp spots like garages or
basements.
2. No food stockpiling! If your people buy more food than
you should be eating in 30 days, you need to start turning your
nose up at it and refuse to eat - ‘cause believe me, friends, old
food is absolutely CRAWLING with storage mites! Need I say more? Why, yes, it seems I do, because
my keen ears can already hear some outraged owners grumbling about
how dogs and cats have no sense of finance, and how little bags of
food cost more than big bags! Remember, storage mites poop a
lot where they live.
So the bigger the bag, the more your people are paying for mites
and their poop. NOW
I’m done with item #2!
3. You know those really cheap icky dry
foods that have a lot of dusty crud in the bottom of the bag when
you finally get down there? That stuff contains storage mite
body parts by the gazillions. Need I say more? I think not!
4. Wash all storage containers frequently
in detergent and very hot water. Let them dry completely before
refilling them with food. Never just wipe them
out.
OK, PARASITES.....what was I going to tell
you about these? Let
me think.....it’s hard, ‘cause my new holiday toys are still so
distracting, especially the fuzzy hedgehog one that I have not been
able to tear the squeaker out of yet - what are these things made
of these days, titanium??? I used to be able to tear out any
toy’s squeaker in 60 seconds or less. Lemme try to focus
here....
Well, there is one old parasite I read
about that is cropping up again and it can cause weight loss, a
cruddy eye discharge, lameness that shifts around the body and
causes your muscles to get all weak, and you’ll get a bad fever
too, so that if you aren’t feeling bad enough from the pain and
all, the fever will lay you low! It is called Hepatozoon, and it
is carried by ticks, so it is a growing problem for pets that like
to be outside. I have
a lot to tell you about this one, so I think I’ll save it for next
month so I can tell you everything that you’ll need to know.
In the meantime, you should be getting a
newsletter in the mail from our hospital this month (that is, if
your people brought you in to see my Mom or Dr. Papacek or Dr.
Boudreaux in 2006, you will get it). (And if your people haven’t
brought you in to see us in the last year, well, little cutie-pies,
it’s up to you to turn the tables and tell them “Bad human! Bad human!” The wacky idea some humans have
is that their pet is “Inside” and doesn’t need to see a vet
regularly....and they yell at us for doing sensible things like
rolling in wonderful stuff we find outside to remove the nasty
smell of a fresh grooming??? Honestly...) Anyway, this newsletter that I,
Lizzie, helped research will tell you about our Doctors' new ideas
on how to protect you from fleas, and heartworms, and ticks that
carry bad diseases like this Hepatozoon thing.
Until next month, your good friend Lizzie,
will continue to read, and study, and try to figure out why it is
harder to rip apart dog toys these days - OH! - and of course to
learn more stuff for you to tell your humans about. Including the Hepatozoon
bug.
CHOW! (That’s Italian for goodbye, I
think. Do you like
leftovers from Maggiano’s as well as I do?)
