get the lead out....

Should you consider having your pet tested for lead exposure? Did you know the Center for Disease Control (CDC) considers lead poisoning in children as the #1 environmental threat to children? Did you also know that we pets typically chew things, lick everything in site, and scratch all over your house?

Does your pet live or visit a house that was built before 1978? Has your pet lived through repairs, painting, or remolding a house built before 1978? (wait this is making me worried, I live in a house built in 1785! That is definitely before 1978!!) Does your pet live with anyone that has a job or hobby that may use lead (for example jewelry or stained-glass making, plumbing, renovations, working with automobile batteries, fishing with lead sinkers).

And Petunia thought the peanut thing was scary enough!

If you answered yes to any of the above you might want to consider having your pet tested. The best news is Stonecliff Animal Clinic of N.H. has teamed up with Magellan Biosciences, to offer a free, that is correct free test to identify elevated lead levels in pets. This fast simple test can be run right at Stonecliff.

So what are you waiting for? Free, simple, pretty painless...... and could save a pet or a child's life. If there is lead poisoning in a pet it is important to consider that children living in the same household could also have elevations. You should discuss this with your child's pediatrician.

Because only high levels of lead exposure show symptoms, long term exposure could be building in your pet's system. Does your pet have a history of seizures? Signs of lead poisoning in dogs can be behavioral changes such snapping, depression, seizures, hiding, and aggression. Frothing at the mouth, loss of appetite and vomiting can also be signs.

Petunia and I are headed for a test! Shouldn't you be?

Tata for now