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Volume I, Issue IV October 2005 IN THIS ISSUE •
Tips for Halloween & House Pets •
Galax Euthanizes 2,653 Dogs & Cats in 2004 •
New Vaccine Creates Hope of Eliminating BVD for
Good |
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Tips for Halloween & House Pets |
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Halloween has its own special ways for resulting in
troubles for dogs and cats. Here are a
few tips for learning from other people’s troubles. 1. Don’t give them candy. Chocolate is not good for dogs or cats. Sugary foods in general are bad for their
teeth, especially since they do not brush every day. 2. Keep your bowl of candy
under close guard or well out of reach.
When scoring treats without your permission, dogs have a tendency to
consume the wrapper with the treat.
Depending on the type and quantity, wrappers can cause intestinal
blockage, intestinal bleeding, and/or intestinal perforation. If your dog consumes wrappers, watch it
closely for 24 hours. Contact Healing
Springs immediately if the dog throws up, has blood in stool, or refuses to
eat again over 24 hours. |
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3. The flickering light of a
real candle inside a carved pumpkin intrigues some cats. They have been known
to play with it and be burned or singed.
Keep an eye on cats if they express interest in your Jack-O-Lantern. 4. If costuming your pet, be
conscious of choking hazards. Dogs,
indignant over being costumed, sometimes seek
retribution by shredding the outfit.
Small bells, buttons, balls and other bite size objects can easily end
up in an animal’s windpipes. 5. We have never encountered a
case of Halloween animal abuse here, but animal groups nationwide report a
rise around the holiday. Unsupervised
youths have been known to harass and injure
pets. As much as possible, keep your
pets inside while foot traffic is high. 6. Even inside your home, only
the most social pets should be faced with a parade
of ghouls and goblins. Most pets should be kept in a separate room during peak
trick-or-treating hours. 7. Halloween is a great night
for indoor pets to wear their collars with ID tags. All the visitors may stress your pets, the
door will be opening frequently, and the chances of your pet making a break
for it are increased. 8. Feel free to serve your pets
their kinds of
treats around Halloween, to play with them, and to let them in
on the holiday in pet appropriate ways. What about Pets and Chocolate? Chocolate contains a
substance poisonous to dogs, theobromine. More bitter chocolate, such as baker’s
chocolate or dark chocolate, has more theobromine
than sweeter chocolate such as milk chocolate. Unsweetened chocolate contains seven times
more theobromine than milk chocolate. While dogs often ingest chocolate without
problems, as little as a ¼ ounce of baking chocolate has been shown to cause
serious health problems in a 10 lb dog.
Dogs reacting to chocolate may exhibit vomiting, diarrhea, seizures,
hyperactivity, increased thirst, increased urination, and/or increased heart
rate. If you know that your dog has
ingested chocolate and your
dog exhibits one of these signs, call Healing Springs. Xylitol, a sweetener commonly used
in candies and gum, can also be toxic to pets when ingested in large
quantities. Xylitol
can cause a rapid drop in a pet’s blood sugar resulting in depression, incoordination, and seizures. Packaged treats designed specifically for
your type of pet are usually the best treats for their health and
safety. Treats showing real meat
products as the first ingredient are a good choice. |
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Halloween Pet
Costume Contest Healing
Springs Animal Hospital Invites YOU. Monday, October 31. |
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2,653 Dogs and Cats Euthanized in Galax in
2004 |
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Terry Woods, Chief Animal Control Officer for Carroll
County, laid out the facts of a very disturbing picture on September 20. At the new Crossroads Institute, Officer
Woods volunteered his time to speak to a meeting of the Twin County Humane
Society and its guests. In his short,
fact-filled presentation, he described exactly what is going on at the Galax,
Carroll, Grayson Animal Shelter in Galax, VA.
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87% of animals taken to the Galax shelter are euthanized, but
numbers are improving says Animal Control Officer. |
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Officer Woods said that in his 17 years on the job,
he picked up an average of 160 dogs per year.
That totals more than 10,000 dogs that he has personally
collected. He said that an estimated
50% of Carroll County residents own pets.
That’s roughly 15,000 people. However, Carroll County has only 5,900 pet
licenses on the books. A great many dogs left at
the shelter are turned in by their owners. In 2004, Carroll County officials took 582
dogs to the shelter in Galax. Galax
officials turned over 169 dogs, and Grayson captured 306 dogs. A whopping 718 dogs, 41%
of the dog total, were turned in by their owners. The Galax, Carroll, Grayson Animal shelter
euthanized 2,653 dogs and cats in 2004.
Only 13% of the animals taken to the shelter avoid euthanasia. By state law, dogs
wearing collars must be held for at least 10 days. Dogs brought in without collars need only be held five days. Dogs turned in by their owners can be euthanized immediately. The good news is that the euthanasia rates
for 2005 are down six percent from 2004.
Officer Woods believes that the work of the Twin County Humane Society
may play a role in the improving numbers. In 2004, 176 dogs and 72 cats were
adopted from the shelter.
Amazingly, 141 of those adopted dogs and 22 of those adopted cats were returned to the shelter. In other words, two out of every three
animals adopted end up back at the shelter where they again have about an 85%
chance of being euthanized. Officer Woods said the number one reason
for returning a dog to the shelter was the unexpected expense of taking care
of a pet. Officer Woods believes that if we are to improve the
lives of dogs and cats everywhere, we will have to change the thinking of
residents in our counties. He said
that many people believe that neutering a pet is not justified. Officer Woods believes that if more people
would neuter their pets, it would significantly alleviate the problem of
massive euthanasia. For this to
happen, more people will have to believe that neutering dogs and cats helps
create better lives for the population in general. The other thing that people can do to help is to
make the local animal shelter the first stop when considering a new cat or
dog. The Galax – Carroll – Grayson
Animal Shelter is located on an easy-to-miss lot behind Felt’s Park in
Galax. Adopt Your Pets at Galax – Carroll – Grayson Animal Shelter Open Tuesday – Saturday (276) 236-8501 |
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Be Part of the Solution! The Twin Co. Humane Society helps
the situation described above by providing financial assistance for spays and
neuters, promoting shelter adoptions, and educating the public about pet
population problems. Your membership
helps. It’s
easy to join. Visit their website and
click on membership. |
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Bovi-Shield®
Gold FP™ Creates Hope of Beating BVD for Good |
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Healing
Springs sponsored a lecture for cattle owners this past month. At Galax Elementary School, Kenneth Redman
from Pfizer Animal Health, described a new vaccination that immunizes unborn
calves, that stopped 100% of BVD deaths in controlled trials, and that could
realistically prevent all future BVD deaths on farms. |
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Modified Live
vs. Killed: Since Bovi-Shield® Gold FP™ is a modified live vaccine, and
since many producers are still on the fence about modified live, Redman
started by describing how and why modified live works better. He described the immune system as having
three main players: 1. Antibodies: Antibodies catch viruses in the
blood stream and neutralize them.
Killed vaccines help the body produce antibodies. 2. Macrophages: Macrophages eat the remains
neutralized by antibodies. 3. Killer Cells: Killer cells recognize infected
cells, break their walls, and enable antibodies and macrophages to digest and
clean-up the contents of infected cells.
Modified live vaccines help the immune system create both antibodies
and killer cells specific the disease targeted by the vaccine. The
big shortcoming of antibodies is that they can only attack viruses
free-floating in the blood. Antibodies
cannot reach viruses inside cells.
Viruses live inside cells. They
only get in the blood stream when they are trying to infect more cells. Some viruses can even create bridges
between cells. With these bridges,
viruses can infect neighboring cells without getting in the blood stream and
without exposing themselves to antibodies. This
is why killer cells are so important.
Infected cells put of proteins that killer cells “smell.” Each killer cell has one disease that it
seeks out. When it encounters a cell
that smells like its disease, the killer cell breaks the walls of the infected
cell. The contents of the cell spill
into the blood stream where antibodies and microphages can neutralize and
consume the viruses. Both killed
vaccines and modified live vaccines teach the body to create antibodies. Only modified live vaccines teach the body
to create killer cells. Modified live
vaccines allow the animal to have a more robust immune response. Bovine Viral
Diarrhea (BVD): BVD
compromises reproductive performance. Persistently Infected (PI) calves are
the largest reason for the spread of BVD.
Calves become PI calves in the womb.
PI calves are formed when the cow has or is
exposed to the BVD virus. Even a very
small amount of the virus can create a PI calf. The cow does not need to be sick to create
a PI calf. When the unborn calf is exposed to BVD, the calf’s immune system learns to
recognize BVD as a normal part of its own body. It does not fight the BVD as a normal
immune system would. For this reason,
a PI calf will always be a PI animal, and there is nothing
anyone can do about it. The PI
calf can spread BVD to other members of the herd, undetected for a long
time. Bovi-Shield® Gold FP™: This
new vaccine works by protecting both the cow and the unborn calf. When a pregnant cow is
vaccinated with Bovi-Shield® Gold FP™, the
unborn calf also receives the BVD immunity.
When used consistently and correctly, Bovi-Shield®
Gold FP™ is supposed to eliminate the problem of PI calves for good. The vaccine was shown
to be safe at 1,000 x the recommended dosage.
The vaccine provided 100% protection from BVD-PI in Pfizer’s
controlled study. A
pregnant cow should not be vaccinated with Bovi-Shield® Gold FP™ unless she was vaccinated with it
once before she was bred. The first
dose must be delivered while the cow is open. It provides 12 months of protection. No booster shots are required. With this vaccine, it is safe to
re-vaccinate pregnant cows. Do not
give calves on the ground modified live, unless
their dams were previously vaccinated with modified
live. If a calf receives a modified
live vaccination while nursing a dam that did not receive modified live
vaccination, the vaccine could revert to the virus and get back up in the cow
through the teat. For
reasons noted above, the vaccine will do no good for an animal that is
already a PI animal. At the meeting, Jamie
Cassell, DVM stated that PI animals receiving BVD
vaccinations will become terribly ill. These animals should be
culled. Modified
live vaccines are less stable than killed vaccines. They must be used
within 24-hours of being mixed. Keep
them refrigerated until delivered.
Keep them in a cooler, on ice, when vaccinating. Healing
Springs Animal Hospital is uniquely dedicated to
farming and farmers. Anytime you have
questions on herd health, call Healing Springs. |
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The Animal Health
Bulletin is a FREE service of Healing Springs Animal Hospital (276) 236-5103 Galax, VA 24333 Visit our website at
www.HealingSpringsAnimalHospital.com |
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Administrative: Request an article topic. Click
Here. To ask questions about a
specific pet, call Healing Springs at (276) 236-5103. You
have permission to forward this bulletin in its entirety to a friend. If
you did not receive the Animal Health Bulletin directly and would like to
begin receiving them, simply e-mail us at the link below. Healing Springs Animal Hospital provides
the Animal Health Bulletin free of charge to all residents of surrounding
counties. When you subscribe, please
provide your name and address. The
Animal Health Bulletin is developed and distributed with the assistance of Brazzell Marketing Agency. © BMA 2005 |
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