Five Tips in Feeding Your Puppy

FIVE TIPS IN FEEDING YOUR PUPPY

Feeding a puppy can be challenging with all the different foods available.  Here are five tips that are important when feeding a puppy:

Tip one:  Feed puppy food.  I realize this sounds obvious, but puppy food is designed and formulated for the specific nutrients needs of a puppy.  I will routinely have a pet mom or dad come into my office that was told to feed an adult food to their puppy to slow the growth.  This is not advisable.  A puppy formulated food is best.

Tip Two:  Check the label.  All dog food manufacturers are required to have a feeding statement on the label.  That statement should say one of two things for puppies:  “For all life stages” or “for growth and maintenance” of puppies.  If this is not on the label, do not feed this food to your puppy.

Tip Three:  Feed for your breed.  Large or giant breeds have different nutritional requirements than a small or medium breed of puppy.  Large and giant breeds have higher caloric requirement as well as a calcium to phosphorus ratio than a small to medium breed.  If you feed a large to giant breed puppy a food formulated for a small to medium breed, this can be seriously lacking in the nutritional requirements for your puppy.

Tip Four:  Feed for body condition.  All puppies go through growth phases.  They will “grow out” before they “grow up.”  What we refer to as “puppy fat.”  It is important as you take your puppy into the checkups, we will monitor the growth of your puppy.  If they are growing to quick or not quick enough, we will make recommendations on the amount or type of food for your puppy.

Tip Five:  How much to feed?  First, do not look at the manufacturer’s recommendation.  Generally, they recommend overfeeding.  A good rule of thumb:  One cup per 10 pounds per day divided into 3 portions.  So, a 10 pound puppy should be fed ¼-1/3 cup three times daily.  A 20 lb puppy should be fed ½-2/3 cup three times daily.  Keep in mind, this is a general rule.  We will look at other factors:  energy, body condition, and lifestyle that could affect the amount to feed. 

Written By: Dr. Dan Markwalder
Companion Animal Hospital Partners, LLC

Toddlers & Dogs: Tips for Harmony

Toddlers and Dogs: Tips for Harmony

Dogs and toddlers can be overly excited when interacting with each other.  This can result in pulled hair or tumbling children.  They can also be shy or afraid in uncertain interactions.  A misunderstanding can be dangerous. Both children and dogs need to be taught about appropriate behavior and both need a sanctuary place where they can retreat to be undisturbed.  Here are some tips to promote safe and happy interactions.

Safe Space for both your dog and your toddler

Your dog and your child both need a safe space where they can retreat when they’ve had enough. Your toddler should have a place to play energetically and your dog needs the choice to be there or not.  A kennel is ideal, but a dog bed works, too. Teach your children that the kennel is off-limits and not to interact with the dog when she is in there. Enforce the idea that the bed or kennel is the dog’s private space. A dog needs a comfortable, safe place where the children never go.

Encourage Positive, Supervised Interactions

Encourage predictable and positive interactions to foster good relationships. Involve your child in the things your dog likes – feeding, treats, walks and play. When these things are positive experiences for your child and your dog, they will each grow more comfortable with one another. 

Always supervise interactions between your toddler and your dog. No one thinks their dog would bite their child. Yet it happens.  Each year in the US, about 400,000 kids receive medical attention for dog bites.  Young children are at greatest risk and are frequently bitten by familiar dogs. Stories of what can quickly go wrong during unsupervised interactions are harrowing. “I have examples of 2-year-olds getting bitten in the face, and no one in the family saw it,” says Dr. Berger of the San Francisco SPCA. “I think that oftentimes parents have a false expectation of what should be tolerated from the dog’s end because we all have a story of a dog that does tolerate that. But oftentimes that can later lead to problems when the dog either gets older or if the dog has just had enough, and [the child’s behavior] pushes the dog over the threshold.” Books like Tails Are Not For Pulling, written by Elizabeth Verdick and illustrated by Marieka Heinlen, can help teach your toddler how to interact gently with the family dog.

Identify Body Language

Learn to identify body language that indicates stress. Usually there are subtle signs of distress before a growl, which is a serious sign of fear, anxiety or stress. These early signs can include looking away (averting just the eyes or turning the head or body away), yawning and tense/rigid body postures. If you can recognize these indicators, you can intervene before there is any serious trouble. Looking away is usually the first sign of concern. From the dog’s perspective, a growl is a scream for help.

Always ask permission to approach or pet unfamiliar dogs. Not all dogs are comfortable around kids, so they may not react well to being approached or touched. It’s also good to ask the dog to do something, like “sit” or “shake”, rather than simply reaching out to pet the dog, as this can provide a more predictable interaction for the dog. May I Pet Your Dog?, written by Stephanie Calmenson and illustrated by Jan Ormerod, can help teach your toddler the cardinal-rule of interacting with unfamiliar dogs: ask permission first.

Written by: Shelia Newenham, DVM
Companion Animal Hospital Mount Prospect

How to Prevent and Treat Ticks

Tick-Bourne Disease in Dogs and Cats

      With summer upon us and lot's of ticks around this year, discussing tick-bourne diseases seemed appropriate. We typically think of dogs getting ticks but cats can as well.  I am going to seperate dogs and cats in my discussion because they get different diseases but they also share some.

       The Centers for Disease Control have also noticed a spike in the Midwest Regions in the number of tick-bourne related reported illnesses this year in humans and animals.  Ticks typically need blood to survive and complete different life cycles.  They attach to the pet and on average need close to 48 hours to transmit a disease, if that tick is infected.  Not all ticks are infected but they all do need blood to survive.  Different types of ticks carry different types of infection.  I will be mentioning the diseases we see more often in the Midwest and surrounding areas. 

       This topic is also very near and dear to me because I have a dog whom suffers from Erlichia (tick-bourne disease).   He will be affected for it his whole life and it can re-appear at any time.  When I rescued him from the Caribbean, he was already positive for the disease.     
Prevention is the KEY!

TICKS  (yuck!)

The most common ticks in and near the midwest are:

• Deer tick  (aka: black legged tick) 
• Brown dog tick
• American Dog tick
• Lone Star tick

       I commonly will get a question about the right and best way to remove a tick and dispose of them.  You are going to want to get the head of the tick, which is what is buried in the skin, out.  This can be difficult ....a tick digs in using two sets of hooks. Each set looks like a hand with three hooked fingers. The hooks dig in and push into the skin. Then these “hands” bend in unison to perform approximately half-a-dozen breaststrokes that pull skin out of the way so the tick can push in a long stubby part called the hypostome.

soooooo.......

•  You can use a tweezer to remove but remember to get as close to the skin as you can so that you get as much of the tick pulled out
• If you have rubbing alcohol at home,  apply alcohol to the tick and it can act like a smothering agent and sometimes they will back out a little.  You will still need to pull on it to remove.

       ++++  rubbing alcohol will kill the tick after you remove it   +++++

• There are a lot of other theories, ideas and suggestions on removing ticks but I will not be getting in to them and you need to do what you are comfortable with.  I do recommend if you have gloves, to wear them during the tick removal

When in doubt, then bring your dog to the veterinarian for help!!!  We can remove it for you.

      

DOGS

Tick-bourne diseases in dogs include:

• Lyme disease
• Anaplasmosis
• Erlichia
• Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

    Due to the complexity of each disease, I am not going to get in to the specifics but focus on prevention and appropriate diagnostic testing.  If you suspect or have found a tick on your pet then we recommend the 4DX test run by IDEXX laboratories or a similar test (ask your veterinarian).  I also recommend that this be a yearly test run because it includes a heartworm test also and is able to pick up tick-bourne diseases before we see any clinical signs or long lasting effects.  

    The other huge benefit from this test is that it can distinguish between exposure, vaccine and active infection.  If your pet tests positive for one of the tests, you will be guided on whether to treat or a more specific diagnostic test will be choosen.

    All of the above tick-borne diseases have similar symptoms. If left undetected and untreated they can cause more serious internal problems. Annual testing allows us to catch things sooner and treat early. The most common and effective treatment for a dog with a tick-borne disease is Doxycycline, which is an oral antibiotic. The treatment for heartworm positive dogs can vary depending on the stage of the infection.

CATS
Tick-borne diseases in cats include:

• cytauxzoonosis
• tularemia
• haemobartonellosis
• babesiosis

         Since tick-borne infections can be life threatening especially in cats, prevention is key. If your cat goes outdoors, he or she should be under your direct supervision or within a secure outdoor enclosure.  Any cat with outdoor access should be checked for ticks each evening, especially during the warmer months of the year. It’s also a good idea to apply a safe tick repellent or flea and tick collar made specifically for cats. 

        As far as diagnostic testing for cats, there isn't one test that looks for all of their tick-bourne disease issues.  In cats we typically do general blood work and then add-on the appropriate test when we have a little better idea which disease it might be.  Unfortunately, the outcome for a lot of these diseases in cats is death.   So again prevention is so key.  If you have an outdoor cat and it is sick, make sure you mention this to the doctor.

PREVENTION:

• Bravecto is an oral preventative for dogs and topical preventative for cats which prevents the major ticks that I mentioned earlier and is good for 12 weeks of protection with one dose or application.  Good for fleas and ticks.
• Parastar  is a monthly topical preventative which also kills fleas and some ticks in both dogs and cats.
• Nexgard and Simparica are oral monthly preventatives that kill some ticks and fleas but are only used and safe in dogs.
• Revolution is another topical medication used in both dogs and cats.  Unfortunately, not the best for tick coverage.
• Seresto collars are good in the dog and cat for up to 8 months and kill ticks and fleas.

There are other topical medications for cats and dogs but the efficacy is questionable. 

Megan Moser DVM

Veterinarian at Companion Animal Hospital of Skokie

Rabies Vaccine - Why does my pet need that?

Rabies Vaccine - Why does my pet need that?

These days, we rarely hear about a domestic animal with rabies virus, and when a human gets rabies, it makes the evening news!  However unseen, rabies virus is endemic to the continental United States, which results in many of our wildlife animal friends still affected.  

How common is rabies? 

In the latest epidemiologic report from 2010, the CDC identified 6,153 cases of rabies in animals and 2 human cases.  Of those, 92% of cases were in wild, undomesticated animals.  Domestic species accounted for 8% of all rabid animals reported in the United States in 2010. In 2010, the number of reported rabid domestic animals decreased compared to 2009 among all domestic species except cats.  The principal hosts today are wild carnivores and bats. As you can see, rabies virus is still among us!  Your pet needs the rabies vaccination to prevent possible exposure.  There is no treatment for dogs or cats, and infection with rabies virus for pets is 100% fatal.  And the bottom line is, rabies vaccination is the law.

The law comes into effect if your pet is reported to medical workers or the police for scratching or biting a person, or in some cases, another animal.  If your animal is current on their rabies vaccination, you will get a ticket for the bite/scratch and you are required to home-quarantine your pet for 10 days.  If your pet is not current of their rabies vaccination, you will get a ticket for the bite/scratch and you are required to impound-quarantine your pet at a shelter or veterinary clinic for 10 days.

Rabies vaccines are very safe.  Less that 0.05% of animals have a reaction to the rabies vaccine.  Also, rabies vaccines are 100% effective in preventing rabies infection!

By: Amanda Schnitker, DVM

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

How to Prevent and Detect Heat Stroke in Pets

How to Prevent and Detect Heat Stroke in Pets 

Summer is a time to have a great time with your pets outdoors.  There are countless activities we do with our four legged friends.  However, when the temperature rises, the risk for heat related illness increases as well.  Heat stroke occurs when your pet’s body can’t sufficiently cool itself in very warm conditions.  It can occur in any animal, but there are some predisposing factors to be aware of:

• Brachycephalic breeds (pugs, bulldogs, boxers, etc)
• Long haired or thick coated animals
• Older animals with preexisting disease (laryngeal paralysis, heart disease, dehydration, hyperthyroidism)

• Obesity

Heat stroke is a potentially life threatening issue and successful treatment is predicated on early recognition of the symptoms.  The main goal of treatment is immediate correction of the elevated temperature.  The effects of elevated body temperature can compromise various major organs in the body.  For this reason, heat stroke is considered an emergency situation, and, if suspected you should take your pet to your veterinarian immediately.  Signs and symptoms to monitor for (especially in animals with risk factors, on hot days, or in situations that may cause heat related problems) include:

• Panting
• Abnormal gum color (bright red, pale or blue in color)
• Collapse
• Elevated body temperature (over 103 F)
• Respiratory distress
• Change in mentation- seizure, coma
• Muscle tremors

Heat stroke is better prevented than treated.   Common sense will go a long way in preventing heat related issues with your pet.  Avoid strenuous activity during the hottest times on a very hot day.  Do not leave your pet in a car for any period of time when the temperature is high and the sun is out.  If your pet spends time outside, make sure they have the ability to get out of the direct sunlight and provide plenty of clean, fresh water to drink.  Above all, if you believe your pet may be having heat related problems, early diagnosis and treatment is key and will increase the chances of a successful outcome.  Have a safe enjoyable summer with your pets!

article written by:

Derek Williamson, DVM

Companion Animal Hospital Vernon Hills and Crawford Animal Hospital