Happy Halloween Everyone!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Hope you all have a great time trick or treating. Petunia and I sure will. Remember, dogs and cats don't understand that your wearing a silly mask.... it can be very frightening and we may even feel like protecting the rest of the family from you. Please be careful that our instincts don't get the best of us

Remember that we LOVE chocolate as much as you.... but chocolate can kill us. See just how little chocolate it can take to make us REALLY sick by dialing into the chocolate toxicity chart at the top of the page!

Who would guess I could so resemble that famous snowboarder??

Be safe out there!

you are what you eat?

Is it true what they say, "you are what you eat"? What exactly does this mean? Originally this phrase  ( 1826-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, Physiologie du Gout, ou Meditations de Gastronomie Transcendante) was meant  as statement that the food you eat has a bearing on what your state of mind is. Not until later (1942 EEnglish nutritionist Victor Lindlahr published, What You Eat: how to win and keep health with diet).  It is a common belief that if you eat badly you are much more susceptible to sickness. Now sometimes the line between healthy and not healthy is blurred by lots and lots of different views. For dogs some say the best diet is a brand name quality dog food that comes in a can or bag. But what about preservatives, I looked at my bag of food and it stays fresh (expiration date) for many, many months. Would my mom feed my human brothers and sisters food that stays fresh for years?

I Love Raw Eggs!

I love my food! Mom gets me Candidae, it is holistic, hypoallergenic and yummy. But if you read on the Internet with all the pet food recalls and such it makes you worry about the general health of the pet food industry! I know my mom and dad keep informed and with West Lebanon Feed and Supply next door to Stonecliff I have a never ending choice for dinner!
So this blog post is not for the squeamish! We are continuing to talk about things we pets will eat and not think twice about! One of the most common illness that the veterinary staff encounter at S.A.V.E.S. (Small Animal Veterinary Emergency Services in Lebanon, NH.) comes from our ability as pets to eat ANYTHING! Mom always says after a surgery to remove this or that from a pet's intestines, "can you imagine (she always emphasizes this word) swallowing this! So read on if you don't mind the site of gross stuff, remember, I warned you!

So we'll ease into this slowly, and please don't steal these photos from my mom. She doesn't know I am borrowing her food shots and she may get a little cranky if you take them and use them elsewhere since there copyrighted, what ever that means.
So last blog we talked about the evils of chocolate for us pets. Well I think we should all take a moment a think about all of the things we ingest in a day. This morning I ate horse poop, then cow poop, the squeaker to my new Christmas toy, part of my brother's sock, and some cat food! I am actually pretty proud of the score for the morning until I started thinking about my friends that I have met at the hospital.
A few days ago I met a dog that likes to eat sticks! Well so do I but I chew them up and spit them out! This guy swallows pieces of stick, like big pieces!

Well that took it's toll on this poor fellow. Unable to hold water or food down and a bad case of diarrhea, his people brought him into S.A.V.E.S. to find out what was wrong. Turns out a stick (pictured here) was lodged in his intestine. The only choice was to surgically remove the object and save the dogs life.

The surgeon (that's my dad!!) made an incision into the intestinal wall and removed the stick.

This poor fellow is going to be fine now. I hope he somehow realizes that dog food is for eating, sticks for chasing and the occasional chew. Not swallowing!

If you suspect your pet has an intestinal blockage timing is very important. If you pet is vomiting, not eating, and not passing stool or passing small amounts of watery diarrhea this may be a sign of an impaction or blockage. The longer the object remains in the bowel, the more damage can occur to the tissue. Don't wait, call your veterinarian right away.

 Leave you with something sweet. TaTa for now!

HoHoHo...Oh No

Wow, the year is coming to an end. January means my 1st birthday! I love the holidays but once again I have to wonder about human's traditions. This month my humans lugged a 15 foot tree into our house. Then they decorated the tree with shiny things and bright lights. I thought about lifting my leg on it (I have perfected that stance) but decided last minute it would be a bad idea.
S.A.V.E.S. has been so busy. With the holidays brings many different hazards. Chocolate has been a huge offender. So many dogs have been admitted to the hospital for ingesting this candy. I have to say, my sister got a bar for Christmas and it sure does smell good.

The substance in chocolate that is so harmful to pets is called Theobromine. Different types of chocolate contain different levels of this substance. Unsweetened (Baker's) chocolate contains 8-10 times more Theobromine then milk chocolate. White chocolate contains the lowest amounts and is usually least likely to cause poisoning.
The toxic dose of theobromine (and caffeine) is 100-200mg/kg (1 kg=2.2lbs.) though there have been even smaller doses that have been found to be harmful.
Theobromine levels-
Dry Cocoa= 800mg/ou.
Unsweetened chocolate= 450mg/ou.
Semisweet chocolate= 150-160mg/ou.
Milk Chocolate= 44-64mg/ou.
**so the size of the pet, type of chocolate, and the quantity consumed determines the danger
Within 12 hours of eating the chocolate your pet may become excited, nervous or tremble. Vomiting and diarrhea and excessive thirst and excessive urination may occur. As the symptoms progress, muscle spasms, seizure and even death are possible.

When the pet arrives at the hospital the first thing the staff does is try and get the pet to vomit. Intravenous fluid therapy and anti-seizure medications are commonly used. Another useful bit of information, unborn and nursing offspring are also susceptible, Theobromine crosses through the mother's placenta and into milk!

Chocolate is not the only culprit for pets this holiday season. This pile of vomit came from a pet that had eaten 4 boxes of raisins. Grapes and raisins are toxic to pets. Raisins are a dried grape, and since their dried the toxin is concentrated in the fruit. Ultimately your pet's kidneys are damaged if the patient goes untreated.
Within the first 24 hours your pet will show signs of anxiousness, then stop drinking and urinating as the kidneys fail. The medical staff firsts induces vomiting, then administers activated charcoal to absorb the toxin. Intravenous fluids help flush the toxins out of the body and support the kidneys.
p.s. only induce vomiting if instructed by your veterinarian. 3% Hydrogen Peroxide is commonly used to induce vomiting at the rate of 1 teaspoon per 10 pounds body weight (1 teaspoon- 5 mls). Remember to watch your pet closely for vomiting, we have been known to re-eat our vomitus if allowed to (yea, yea, you humans do some pretty gross things also).
So people, don't leave your Godiva's laying around, we dogs love chocolate! And the next time you bring your moldy grapes out to the bird feeder, remember, the cold wind blows and down will come grapes and raisins in all. TaTa for now.