How to Have a Safe and Happy Holiday Season

Happy Holidays from Companion Animal Hospital! 

With the holidays fast approaching, we know what a busy time of year this can be.  By taking a few precautions, you can make sure that everyone in your family (including your furry friends) enjoys the holidays! Below are some ideas to help avoid timely and expensive emergency visits to the vet.

1. Keep your holiday plants away from your pets. While there are many beautiful plants we associate with the holiday season, some of these can be quite toxic to our pets. Holly and mistletoe can cause gastrointestinal upset and even abnormalities with the heart. Ingesting only a small amount of certain types of lilies can cause kidney failure. If you suspect your pet has consumed a toxic plant, seek veterinary attention immediately.
2. Be very careful about feeding table scraps. While it is never a good idea to feed your pets table scraps, some of the foods we associate with the holidays can be especially dangerous. For example, turkey bones can pose as choking hazards or obstruct the gastrointestinal tract. Fruit cake may contain grapes or raisins, which can cause kidney failure. Chocolate can cause an array of symptoms ranging from vomit and diarrhea to death. Also, we see a spike of “pancreatitis” (inflammation of the pancreas) around the holidays because of pets often getting fatty scraps; this disease is quite uncomfortable for your pet!
3. No alcohol! In addition to avoiding table scraps, be careful your pet doesn’t get into the alcohol. Alcohol can cause dangerously low drops in blood pressure, blood glucose, and body temperature.  Even some desserts made with alcohol (rum cake for example) can cause these signs, along with GI upset from ingesting the dessert!
4. Firmly anchor the tree. A nosey pet can potentially knock a Christmas tree down if not firmly anchored, which can injure your pet. Also for those of you with live trees: be sure that your pet is not able to assess any water you may have in the base, as this may contain fertilizers that can be toxic to your pet.
5. Consider skipping the tinsel on the tree. What cat doesn’t love something shiny and stringy to play with?? Unfortunately, your cat may decide that the tinsel is a fun toy. If your pet ingests the tinsel, there is little risk of toxicity but a big risk that it can block up their intestines and result in an expensive surgery to remove it!
6. Have fun! The holidays are a wonderful time to enjoy time with your pet. Consider getting them a stocking and fill it with appropriate treats (talk to your veterinarian if you need recommendations on what to fill it with!). Maybe take your pet for pictures with Santa. Play in the snow. Do whatever makes you and your pets holiday season merry and bright and SAFE!

 References:

1. https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/general-pet-care/holiday-safety-tips
2. http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/pet-owners/seasons/winter-holiday-pet-poison-tips/

article written by:

Erin Walsh, DVM

Companion Animal Hospital Mount Prospect

Why is it so hard to get an appointment with your vet right now?

Why is it so hard to get an appointment with your vet right now?

Fact or Fiction

FACT OR FICTION

 A Dry Nose Means That My Dog/Cat is Sick. False!

It is normal for dogs and cats to have a dry nose. In fact, their nose can vary from wet to dry depending on their activity level

and environmental surroundings. Some breeds may have a drier nose than others but it does not necessarily mean they are sick.

 Dogs See Color. True!

Dogs actually do see in color however their range of color variation compared to humans is much less. Research suggests their vision  is similar to a person who is red

green color blind. While their color range may be more limited compared to their human counterparts, dogs do have some

advantages as well. They have a broader range of peripheral (side to side) vision since their eyes are further off to the side compared to people. Another advantage Fluffy has is their ability to see better in dim light and can detect smaller or more subtle movements with increased accuracy compared to their human parents.

 A Wagging Dog = A Happy Dog. False!

For the most part, when a dog wags his or her tail they are happy. However,  sometimes a wagging tail can also mean they are over stimulated, anxious, fearful, frustrated, or defensive over a situation. Therefore, we have to examine the rest of Fluffy’s body language to determine their mood. As a general rule of thumb,  the position of the tail can help give us an insight into how they are feeling. Typically, a tail that is of a middle height position suggests Fluffy is relaxed, attentive, and happy. If the tail is more vertical, this suggests Fluffy is over confident, over stimulated, or possibly feels threatened. If the tail tends to be down or tucked, this is a sign of submission, fear, anxiety, or defensive.

A Purring Cat = A Happy Cat. False!

While cats due purr when they are happy and content, they also purr for other reasons as well. Purring can also be due to a self soothing behavior if they are anxious, scared, in pain, or feeling ill. Cats will also tend to purr when nursing their young.

written by:

Aisha Kung, DVM

Companion Animal Hospital, Oak Park

Dental Care: The Root of Your Pet's Health

Dental Care: The Root of Your Pet's Health

            Who doesn’t love getting kisses from their better half?  No I don’t mean your partner, your dog of course!  It is all fun games until your dog has a mouth that could clear out a room while you are watching the Packers-Bears game with friends.  But again, who wants Bear fans in their home?! (Yes I’m a Packer fan).

How Common is Dental Disease?

            According to the American Veterinary Dental College, periodontal disease is the MOST COMMON clinical condition occurring in adult dogs and cats, and worse yet it is ENTIRELY preventable.  How common you might wonder?  Several studies have shown that in dogs by age 2 or 3, about 85-90% of them have some form of periodontal disease.  This number mirrors what I see in my daily practice.  Other than bad breath, there are unfortunately very few signs of periodontal disease.  As a result, a dental treatment comes often too late for many of these patients and leads to many teeth needing to be removed.

What can you do to prevent dental disease in your pet?

            The good news though, is that a lot of the disease that I see can be prevented with at home care.  This includes brushing of the teeth, chewing on bones, dental prescription diets, and dental chew products.  Before choosing a dental product, talk to your veterinarian of where to find products that are scientifically proven to help reduce dental disease.  He or She will likely talk about the Veterinary Oral Health Council (VOHC.org).  This council will validate manufacturer’s claims of decreasing dental disease.  You can go to this council’s website and look for products that you

can try.  My favorite products to use are “dental diets”.  I look at this as us brushing our teeth once or twice a day depending on how often you feed your dog.  It is easy and dogs love these products.

            

The goal of at home care is the same goal with your own dental health; a beautiful pain-free, functional mouth.  Dental cleanings will still be recommended by your veterinarian, just like we see our dentists regularly.  By doing more frequent cleaning treatments, anesthesia time will be less, there will be less teeth extracted over the course of the life of the dog, and there will be less risk of systemic disease as a result of chronic dental disease.

In closing, I want your dogs to be among your friends watching the game due to the fact that he/she has a healthy mouth.  The more Packers fans the better during a Packers-Bears game!  Please look at the following websites for more information and talk to your veterinarian as well regarding dental cleaning treatments.  

By: 

Nick Juleen, DVM
Companion Animal Hospital Kenosha

Websites:  The American Veterinary Dental College, www.avdc.org and The Veterinary Oral Health Council, www.vohc.org. 

Companion discusses pet allergies & factors on CBS Chicago

Our very own Dr. Amanda Schnitker at Companion Animal Hospital River North was featured on CBS Chicago! Watch the video to learn more about pet allergies and what do do if your pet has a serious allergic reaction, also known as anaphylaxis.
Severity of allergies in pets can vary, just like in humans, and can be due to a long list of factors such as medications, pollen, dander, shampoo, dust, and food. Often times, minor allergies produce symptoms such as:
- Excessive paw-licking
- Itchiness
- Scratching and butt-scooting
- Hair loss, either an all-over thinning or bald spots
- Coughing, sneezing, or asthma
- Tummy trouble like vomiting and diarrhea (for food allergies)
However, anaphylaxis is serious and can be fatal as it can affect major organ systems such as the gastrointestinal tract, the circulatory system and the lungs. Action should be taken immediately if your dog shows any of the following symptoms:
- Swollen muzzle and/or eyes
- Sudden gasping and trouble breathing
- Rapid-onset diarrhea or vomiting
- Weakness
- Collapsing
Please reach out to your nearest Companion location with any questions or concerns!

Written By: Morgan Rhyner, Companion Animal Hospital Marketing Manager
Sources: http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/my-dog-just-came-inside-and-her-eyelids-and-muzzle-are-swollen-whats-going-on - https://www.rover.com/blog/dogs-allergic-reaction-signs/

What to do if your pet has a tick:

Ticks are a relatively common parasite in our area.  At times, they are a VERY common cause of concern (or even panic!) amongst pet owners.  If you have found a tick on your pet, here are some “Do’s and Don’ts" of removing the tick.

Do:

• Part the fur so you can see where the tick is attached to your pet’s skin.
• Grasp the tick (using a specialized tick remover or common household tweezers) as close to the skin as possible.
• Using firm, steady pressure, pull the tick away from your pet’s skin until it is removed.
• Clean the area where the tick was removed using alcohol if necessary.

Don't:

• Use flame or heat to burn the tick.
• Use alcohol, peroxide, or other methods to irritate the tick in an effort to get it to back out
• Freeze the tick off the pet

Methods that irritate the tick (burning, freezing, chemicals, etc) can cause the tick to regurgitate its stomach contents as it is removed.  This can increase the risk of disease transmission as Lyme Disease is carried in the tick’s gastrointestinal tract.  Simply pulling the offensive creature out is safer AND more effective.

The saliva of ticks is very antigenic.  This means it will produce a significant immune reaction in the animal that has been bitten.  It is quite common for a bump to develop after a tick bite.  It will at times look irritated, scabbed, and raised.  These reactions may take up to 3-4 weeks to completely resolve.

If your pet has been bitten by a tick, do not panic!  Thankfully, peak disease transmission occurs after the tick has been attached for 24-48 hours.  Quickly removing the tick will reduce the chance of disease transmission by quite a bit.  Using preventative products and regular tick checks will help with disease prevention and early diagnosis.

As always, we are more than happy to help you out with any tick related concerns.  Don’t hesitate to give our hospital a call!

Article Written By:

Derek Williamson, DVM

Companion Animal Hospital Vernon Hills and Crawford Animal Hospital

The Scoop on Poop!

Why are we so preoccupied with checking your pet’s poop?

Consider the following facts:

• Most pets are born with roundworms.
• Roundworms and hookworms carried by pets can infect people.  These infections have been known to cause eye disease leading to blindness in an eye in some people that are infected (primarily children).
• Hookworms can penetrate skin and foot pads to enter a pet’s body without even being ingested by your pet.
• Just like chicken pox in people remain in the body to cause shingles later in life, once a pet has roundworms, they can recur in their body without ever being exposed to an outside source.  Indoor cats can redevelop this parasite in the intestines despite being indoors for years!
• Pets can also get parasites like tapeworms from ingesting a mouse or having fleas.
• The CDC reports that 14% of Americans show that they have been exposed to roundworms based on detection of antibodies in their blood.
• In addition to roundworms, pets can be parasitized by:      
• Giardia, Tapeworms, Coccidia, Toxoplasma, Tritrichomonas, Strongyloides

Keep your pets safe and help keep your family safe!

• Have your pet’s fecal sample checked regularly.  We recommend a fecal check every 6 months!
• Pick up pet waste as soon as possible from the yard
• Keep your dog and cat on heartworm preventative all year round.  This helps prevent against intestinal parasites too!
• Teach kids to always wash their hands before eating especially after handling a pet.

Learn more at the Companion Animal Parasite Council at http://www.capcvet.org/

article written by:

Scott Petereit, DVM

Camp McDonald Animal Hospital, soon to be Companion Animal Hospital

Mount Prospect, IL

Wellness testing: What it is and why we do it

Wellness testing: What it is and why we do it

As veterinarians, we are at a disadvantage relative to our human medical counterparts, in that our patients cannot always tell us how they feel or what is wrong with them.  Still, our goals are always to 1) relieve pain and suffering, 2) treat ill pets and 3) whenever possible, prevent a pet from getting ill in the first place.  The life saying that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” certainly holds true to veterinary medicine, and when we cannot prevent disease from happening, we try our best to help pet owners detect disease early – before it becomes a major problem for our furry friends. 

You will often hear your veterinarian recommend that your pet be examined every 6-12 months – this gives us an opportunity to see how your pet is doing at home, find out about changes in their behavior and perform a comprehensive physical examination that may detect early signs of a disease.  A good history and physical examination can detect a number of diseases early, but some changes in the body are more subtle and not as easily identified by a veterinarian’s eyes, fingers and stethoscope.  For a better look at what is going on inside your pet, you will often hear your veterinarian, or their support team, recommend annual wellness diagnostic testing. 

The “Young” Annual Profile:

Young pets (< 7 years of age) get sick too!  Typically, wellness testing of young pets is less extensive, but includes:

• Screening for heartworm and tick-borne diseases
• Assessing blood counts (red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets) for signs of bleeding, infection, or bone marrow disease.
• Assessing chemicals in the blood (“chemistries”) that can tell us information about liver health, kidney function and protein metabolism. 

”Normal” values for some of these tests are based on statistics – they are the values that 95% of apparently healthy pets produced on the same test.  Sometimes our pets didn’t read the book on what’s “normal,” so testing even a healthy pet can give us an idea of what is “normal” for them!  Still, if we find out that your pet is not fitting the norm, it gives you the opportunity to make sure that there isn’t something wrong.

The “Senior” Annual Profile:

Pets >7 years of age are considered “senior” citizens.  Although you can still see humans in their 80s and 90s running marathons, it is not uncommon as we age for our bodies to not work quite like they used to.  The same is true in our pets.  Kidney and liver disease are seen more commonly, and our metabolisms may not run like the well-oiled machine they used to.  To account for this, “senior” testing is usually more comprehensive:

• Screening for heartworm and tick-borne diseases – older pets can still get them!
• Assessing blood counts for signs of bleeding, infection or bone marrow disease
• More extensive blood chemistry testing to have more precise information about the kidney, liver, and intestinal function and to screen for metabolic diseases.
• Testing of the urine (urinalysis) and thyroid (T4) for metabolic diseases

Ask your veterinarian about annual wellness testing.  We have a number of tools at our disposal to diagnose disease in our pets, and catching disease early helps us to keep them healthy and happy longer!

article written by:

Erich Roush, DVM

Wolf Merrick Animal Hospital, Kenosha WI