#STUFFEMMETTEATS

Emmett is a 2 year old Great Pyrenees, and he is tall enough to get to anything unattended.  This can be a pet owner’s worse nightmare.  When you have a curious puppy or young dog, there are all kinds of household hazards you need to constantly be aware of, so we are going to use Emmett’s constant escapades to help our pet owner’s navigate through the tricky health concerns of all puppies and young dogs.

Episode #3 Xylitol

Xylitol is a common sugar substitute most commonly seen in sugar free gums and toothpaste.  It has also recently been added to peanut butters, making it more widely accessible to the canine population. 

The encounter:   Your child’s Halloween candy supply is dwindling, and really all that’s left in there is that awful pink gum you and your children don’t really want to eat anyways.  One of your children has left out their bag of useless candy, and now Emmett has eaten all those leftovers your child has rejected.  Now you panic.  You know your dog shouldn’t eat sugar free gum, but how do you know if the gum was sugar free? You quickly do an internet search of the gross pink gum that was sitting in the bottom of that Halloween bucket, and sigh with relief, because it’s full sugar gum, and give your dog a pat on the head for not dying today. 

The scoop:

Xylitol is a sugar substitute that is found in sugar free chewing gums and toothpastes.  Generally, these items are less frequently ingested by pets, but recently xylitol has been added to certain peanut butters as well.  This is a big deal, because many people use peanut butter for treats or medicating their pets, and there are no warnings on these new peanut butters that this is harmful for dogs.  There is also no good way to inform all pet owners of this new serious health hazard. 

Xylitol can cause health problems in two main ways.  It can lower the dog’s blood sugar, hypoglycemia.  Essentially, the dog’s body confuses xylitol with real sugar and releases insulin to store the sugar. Blood sugar levels plummet resulting in weakness, disorientation, tremors, and potentially seizures.

The second potential threat is Liver disease, and essentially death of the liver cells.  Veterinarians have not quite figured out how xylitol causes this effect, but the doses required are higher than low blood sugar symptoms.  Signs also take longer to show up. 

The plan:

If the incident is recognized and brought to the vet’s attention quickly, than certain measures may be taken to risk fatality or serious harm from this toxin.  Your veterinarian will definitely want to run baseline bloodwork to evaluate the liver, and probably continue to monitor this organ and its function.  In addition, pets are treated with IV fluids, and sometimes with a sugar added into the IV fluids to reduce the effects of the low blood sugar.  Liver protecting medications may also be started, depending on the dose of the xylitol ingested.

Join us in the next episode of #stuffemmetteats

#STUFFEMMETTEATS

Emmett is a 2 year old Great Pyrenees, and he is tall enough to get to anything unattended.  This can be a pet owner’s worse nightmare.  When you have a curious puppy or young dog, there are all kinds of household hazards you need to constantly be aware of, so we are going to use Emmett’s constant escapades to help our pet owner’s navigate through the tricky health concerns of all puppies and young dogs.

Episode #8 Onions and Garlic…..

Emmett has had multiple close encounters with Garlic, but luckily no Onions yet.  It is likely that your pets come in close proximity to both when you are whipping up a salad or your favorite Italian meal.

Many owners have seen warnings about onions and garlic, but are unaware of the types of symptoms and problems they can
potentially present; because their toxic effects are more subtle.

The encounter: Imagine you have just lovingly prepared spaghetti and meatballs for your family, with a large loaf of garlic bread to complete the ensemble.  Of course, minus the meatballs for one kid, and the sauce for the other because kids are so picky.  You go to happily gather your family to the dinner table, and you come back to find the whole entire loaf of garlic bread missing, and in reality eaten, by your not even guilty looking dog.  The good news, in almost all cases of #stuffemmetteats, is that he is very large, so it would take a lot of garlic to slow him down.

The scoop:

Dogs who eat onions and garlic can experience a very serious disease called immune mediated hemolytic anemia.  This is a disease in which the body begins to destroy its own red blood cells.  As the red blood cells are responsible for so many important jobs within the body, the effects of their loss can be quite severe.  Signs you may notice at home could include weakness, lack of appetite, pale gums, or changes to the color of your pet’s skin, gums, or urine.  Sometimes your pet may have a fever.  Cats are more sensitive than dogs, and garlic (being more odiferous) is more toxic than onion.  Even cooked onion and garlic can be a problem.

The plan:

If the incident is recognized and brought to the vet’s attention ahead of time, measures can be taken to decontaminate the dog’s stomach prior to the toxic effects taking hold.  Unfortunately, if caught when the effects are already occurring in the body, the hemolytic anemia can be very difficult to combat.  Your vet will first confirm a diagnosis of hemolytic anemia with a complete blood cell count, and a Coomb’s test to confirm that diagnosis, but there are many other blood tests that will be recommended, because as the red blood cells are not functioning as they should, other organs can start having dysfunction as well.  Once a diagnosis is confirmed, there are treatment protocols in place based on the level of severity of the disease your pet is experiencing.  Sometimes, this may include a blood transfusion, or several days of IV fluids and ICU care.  In almost all cases, the pet will need to be on several different immune suppression drugs, for an extended period of time.

Apps for Pet Owners

Many of us have smart phones today and use them frequently, but did you know there are some apps available that could help your care for and have fun with your pet? Here are a few of our favorites. 

1. APCC by ASPCA (Free)

Home page for APCC app (Image Source)

This app is great for pet owners! It lists common house hold items and plants and tells you if they are poisonous and weather you should call your veterinarian or poison control. The information is put together by the ASPCA poison control hotline. It can be a great resource for pet owners. If you ever have any concerns though you should always contact your veterinarian. 

Example of what information the app gives you (Image Source)

2. Map My Dog Walk (Free)

This is a great app to help track you and your pet's fitness! (Image Source)

This is app will help track the route you take on your daily walks. It can help you map trends, connect with friends and view alternative routes. It also will give you your pace every mile. 

3. Bring Fido (Free)

This app could help make travel with your pet a little easier! (Image Source)

Do you like traveling? Do you like traveling with your pet? This app can help you find places that your pet can vacation with you. I would always recommend following up with a call to the hotel or resort to ensure they don't have any restrictions, but this app can be a great starting point. 

4. Pet Diary (Free)

Keep all your pet's information in one easy location! (Image Source)

This is a great place to store information about your pet. It could include vaccinations, allergies, food you are currently feeding and any medications they are on at any given time. It would be great for traveling as well as routine visits to the veterinarian. This way you won't have to try to remember the names of prescriptions or the brand of dog food! You could even set a remind every few months to make sure the information is up to date and accurate. 

5. Dog Boogie (Free)

This app may help you capture the perfect photo of your pet (Image Source)

Ever tried to get the perfect picture of your pet but they look away at the last second? This app could help you snap that shot! It has sounds that are built in to draw your pets attention to the camera. This app is free but they do upload the photos to their website as well. There are numerous other options including pose a pet, but some of them do require purchasing the app. 

So those are some great apps for pet owners, which do you use for your pets? Let us know! 

#STUFFEMMETTEATS

Emmett is a 2 year old Great Pyrenees, and he is tall enough to get to anything unattended.  This can be a pet owner’s worst nightmare.  When you have a curious puppy or young dog, there are all kinds of household hazards you need to constantly be aware of, so we are going to use Emmett’s constant escapades to help our pet owner’s navigate through the tricky health concerns of all puppies and young dogs.

Episode #1  Grapes, and Raisins…..and this means your favorite yogurt covered raisins, and raisin nut bran, too.

Emmett, and his accomplice Haley, have had multiple close encounters with grapes and raisins.  It is likely that these foods are pretty common components of your kitchen as well, especially with children afoot.

Many owners are now aware that grapes and raisins are some of the key toxic foods they are taught to avoid feeding their pets.  But often times, the pet gets into the food in more sneaky ways, and it can be easy to forget in the aftermath of your pet’s naughty food stealing adventures, that the food they just snagged is truly toxic.

The encounter:

Scenario 1: Imagine you just baked a whole batch of oatmeal raisin cookies.  They are sitting on your counter cooling, as you have guests over that will soon enjoy your baking endeavors.  Your puppy sneaks into the kitchen, and even though they are still very small, they somehow manage to knock over the cookie sheet, and happily ingest all 12 cookies.  This is disastrous, you really were looking forward to those cookies, and now your naughty puppy will definitely have a belly ache.  It’s easy, in the scurry of the events, to forget that there are a large number of raisins in those cookies that can lead to catastrophic consequences to your puppy’s health.

Scenario 2: Your toddler is wandering around, happily munching on yogurt covered raisins in one of those great kids’ snack cups with the little lid that helps prevent spills.  Perfect, because she is eating the raisins, but is unlikely to drop any on the ground; proceed with finishing dinner.  Until that cute little toddler dumps a whole handful of yogurt raisins down on the ground for your dog, who is only too happy to help clean up this mess before you can even realize this disaster has occurred.

The scoop:

Dogs who eat grapes and raisins typically vomited within a few hours of ingestion.  Many dogs will show a lack of appetite or energy, initially.  However, our main concern with grape/raisin ingestion is acute kidney failure.  The kidney damage continues until the dogs are no longer producing urine, and this condition is fatal. 

The plan:

Testing of the grapes/raisins for toxins, heavy metals, and bacterial contamination has not really yielded an exact medical cause for the renal failure some dogs experience with this ingestion.  However, prompt treatment can successfully prevent or minimize the damage these foods can do to your pet’s system.  Pet’s seen promptly at a veterinary office for either type of ingestion, are first decontaminated, removing as much of the food from their stomach as possible by vomiting, or activated charcoal binding agent.  They are then placed on IV (Intravenous fluids) to keep their kidneys flushing out these toxins.  Your veterinarian will be continually be monitoring your pet’s kidney values until the danger has passed.

Join us next time for #STUFFEMMETTEATS-CHEETOS.