April 2010

Springtime always brings new pets into the home. Puppies and kittens are adopted from breeders, shelters, and pet stores. With the introduction of these new furry family members comes a time commitment and responsibility to ensure that they will become a welcome part of the family.

A trip to the vet will provide the new addition with the vaccines, de-wormers, and other treatments or medications to make sure parasites are not “on board”. Obvious birth defects or genetic problems can be caught at an early age.

In dogs, training and socialization is very important at a young age, as these lessons can make the difference between a well behaved, well socialized pet that can be included in family activities, or a pet that is banished to the garage, enclosed runs, or the back yard.

In fact dogs need to be introduced to both people and animals of different sizes, shapes, and colors to understand that we all come that way. Dogs without socialization can be very afraid of different kinds of people, facial hair, or even baseball caps if they never saw them as puppies.

Vets usually recommend isolation to prevent infection with parvo virus. What I realized is that this often retards their social development. Puppies can be safely introduced to adult dogs owned by family and friends in safe areas not visited by sick puppies. The lessons they learn from interacting with other dogs, they carry with them for the rest of their lives. If an adult dog snaps or growls at a puppy from continually jumping on him or her, it teaches the youngster something. They learn what behavior is acceptable and what isn’t from the source. We can’t teach that. They have to learn that from their own species. If you want puppies to like cats, they need to interact with cats when they are 8-12 weeks old, before they get the confidence to chase them.

Dogs are generally safe from catching parvo after 2-3 vaccines, with the last one occurring after 16 weeks of age. Even 2 vaccines by 12 weeks give pretty good immunity. Most cases of parvo infection occur in unvaccinated puppies, and especially in Rottweilers, Pitts, and small toy breeds like Maltese. Puppies with a couple vaccines can go to safe areas with minimal risk. Don’t let your puppy go to areas where there have been any sick puppies! Adult dogs rarely carry parvo, and lessons learned at a young age are worth the minimal risk. So riding in the car, shopping centers, and gathering of friends or family humans and safe pets are good for a new puppy.

Look at the world through their new eyes; it could be a scary place.

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Yesterday at work I was reminded that flea season is up on us once again. Dogs that chew their butt vigorously often have fleas feasting on their blood right where the tail joins the body. You will see fleas or flea poop on either side of their tail, up along their back, or underneath on their belly. Monthly flea treatment is usually necessary for all animals for several months during flea season. There are spots where many dogs and cats live in close contact, or a yard is frequented by feral cats, and the increased flea population requires year round treatment. in these tough times many clients are treating when they see ‘em, rather then year round. Did you know that you can easily divide a large advantage or frontline that is safe for dogs and cats, on more than one animal. You have to be really careful on small animals and should use an insulin syringe to measure accurately. If you have one 20lb and 10 lb dog and 2 10 lb cats, you can split up the dosage in a large tube for all 4 animals. Remember, the flea treatment has to say it is safe for cats.

Desiree Marineau, a vet assistant at Gilroy Vet reminded me yesterday how easy it is to teach a dog or cat to let you wipe or brush their teeth. First you get a tasty toothpaste and feed it as a treat for a few days, then introduce the paste on a toothbrush or gauze, and let them lick it off. After that they expect the paste as a treat and will let you put it in their mouth and rub or brush their teeth and gums. I will still let my dogs chew on my dental treatment frozen chicken and smoked pork hocks or shanks. I think I will try wrapping some gauze around my finger and wiping Maisey’s teeth and gums a couple times a week to see if it helps her breath

Parvo virus starts rearing it’s ugly head in the summer. It will target young unvaccinated puppies. Usually 2-3 vaccines at 3weeks to a month apart will protect a young animal (the last one should be after 4 month of age). If you have a brand new puppy, keep it off the ground in public places where sick puppies spread the disease through their diarrhea. However don’t deprive your pup of the socialization it needs by keeping it away from all dogs. It is safe to put your pup in with older dogs owned by family and friends, in safe and secure surroundings. Where else is a puppy going to learn not to be a pain in the butt, and other social graces? These important lessons need to be learned when the puppy is young and impressionable. That means when an older dog gets irritated with the youngster, let it voice its displeasure and snap. You can’t teach that body language to the puppy, and it may prevent a future injury. The pup needs to know when to back off . Of course you have to know that the older dogs are safe and not aggressive.

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I talk a lot about nutrition these days. In the course of exchanging ideas, people relate individual stories and give me new ones. For example, pumpkin is used to help the sensitive bowel of senior pets and those other individuals that have constipation problems. The amount of fiber and moisture in the pumpkin pulp help “move things along”. After seeing pumpkin mentioned on several sites and talking to people that have used it in their food, I decided to give it a try on my “furry family”. Yes I did try the Dog Dish Diet Crock Pot Recipe and a can of pumpkin on the discerning palettes of the Martinez zoo. When I fed the new ingredient, pumpkin, my dogs and cats loved it! The sweet taste of the pumpkin gives a mixture a whole new flavor.

Feeding raw food diets  is also a very popular subject. Why is “raw food” good for pets? It is actually an ancient concept. The raw food diet takes the idea of the “animal package” or prey back to the time when dogs ate things without processing. Believe it or not, we did too. Our food processing started when we cooked  the kill to give it  a longer “shelf life”. The ancestors of our dogs had a simpler method, they gorged themselves then buried the rest. Raw food diets are the whole meat, bones, and internal organs of domestic animals with minimal processing and no additives. Most people are afraid of handling and feeding raw food because of stories of guts and infection. Fortunately you can buy many great products that make the process less scary.(honestkitchen.com, k9allnatural.com, omaspride.com). Or you can try the concept by feeding  a raw chicken thigh, or piece of fish from the market.

When you feed the bones,cartilage, and marrow raw or “Dog Dish Diet Crocked” your dog or cat will get the minerals, protein, fats, and oils necessary for optimum health.  I like to think of this mixture as “raw food” lite. I use this mix of food in my practice, and it helps pets with chronic health problems described in my book, Dog Dish Diet.

Cooked or not, whole food without lots of preservatives, stabilizers, and other chemical additives is less stressful on the body. The less our digestive system and internal organs are bathed in non-nutritive, or irritating substances, the better. Animals with many health problems should eat the best non-stressful diet possible, their systems are already stressed because  their diets are “out of whack”. Dogs and cats often become sick or unhealthy due to diets with too many allergens, too many carbs, too many chemicals, or because it is way too dry.Each animal has it’s tolerances just like we do.

A good example of this is the number of cats that puke or have diarrhea. If you have a “puker” or cat with runny stool, try my crock pot recipe , but increase the meat to 75-90% of the mixture. Many cats will decrease the amount of throwing up , or diarrhea in a week. (The veterinary term for this problem is inflammatory bowel disease…cause unknown. Just in case feeding grain and inflammatory agents in the processed food to sensitive carnivores that do not need grain or chemicals in their food is the cause, give it a try.) In a month of two, affected cats  may need less or even no medication. Course it does take a few minutes to prepare, scoop out the stew, and wash the pot.

So the crock pot is a great way to treat your dog or cat to the type of food they would get “in the wild”. Once you have tried that, you may even  be brave enough to try feeding a real “raw food diet” to your pets. By the way Dog Dish Diet is titled for dogs, but many of the concepts are identical for cats. Cats have a requirement for taurine, an amino acid in meat. Since they are obligate meat eaters, and taurine  was available in all their prey, their body quit making that amino acid . That is why you hear that cats can’t eat just dog food. It does not have enough taurine. A taurine deficiency may cause eye,heart, and other health problems in cats. I love to supplement my cats with a piece of meat. They love it, and the chewing helps control tartar.It took a while , but my cats became used to a raw or cooked “meat treat” several times a week. My tabby, Norman, bats me from his perch on the counter,when I walk by the fridge in the morning. He expects his chicken or ham “meat treat”.

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