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Good Boi Tries to Eat Camera During Photo Session

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Marijuana Overdosage in Pets

With the legalization of medical marijuana for people, poisonings in pets have increased as well. For instance, an article out of San Francisco by a local CBS affiliate reports that California is leading the nation in marijuana poisonings in pet dogs.

Marijuana poisoning is most likely to be caused by accidental ingestion of a pet owner’s marijuana (whether obtained legally or illegally) or through the purposeful administration of a toxic dose to a pet by a well-meaning but misinformed pet owner.

Signs of toxicosis usually occur within one to nine hours of ingesting marijuana, although symptoms can appear as quickly as 5 minutes after ingestion in some animals. Dogs are most often involved with marijuana poisoning but cats have been known to become intoxicated as well. Signs can last for several days.

Typical symptoms of marijuana poisoning include incoordination, listlessness, dilated pupils, slow heart rate and sometimes urinary incontinence. Vomiting may occur in some animals but marijuana actually has a protective effect against vomiting in most cases. While depression is most common in poisoned pets, some animals may become agitated rather than depressed. In extreme cases, coma and death can occur. Marijuana toxicity can look similar to intoxication with numerous other sedatives.

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Ollie and Crimson havin’ a heckin good time swimming this afternoon!

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Ticks and Fleas and Mosquitoes…Oh My

Ticks

Why are ticks dangerous for dogs and cats? For many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that these parasites feed on your pet’s blood, much like little vampires. In severe cases, and especially for smaller or otherwise debilitated animals, this blood loss can cause anemia.

But one of the most dangerous threats posed by ticks is the risk of infection with another disease. Ticks can carry a number of different diseases and, if bitten, your pet can actually be infected with more than one disease simultaneously. To make matters even worse, though we know and can name many of the diseases that ticks carry (such as Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis, anaplasmosis, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever), new tick-borne diseases are emerging and there are likely others that have yet to be discovered that are still able to affect our pets.

Take a look at these prevalence maps provided by the Companion Animal Parasite Council. If you look at the maps that illustrate the prevalence of tick-borne diseases, you will find that certain diseases are more prevalent in different areas of the country. However, those areas that are less at risk for Lyme disease are frequently at higher risk for ehrlichiosis and/or anaplasmosis.

While we tend to think of diseases like Lyme disease as a disease affecting our dogs, we do not fully understand whether or how Lyme disease affects cats, although we know that cats can become infected. We do know, however, that ticks can spread a serious and usually fatal disease known as cytauxzoonosis to our cats.

What does that mean for your pet? It means the safest way to protect your pet from any or all of these diseases is to prevent your pet from getting ticks.

Another thing to keep in mind is that many of these diseases, though not directly transmissible from your pet to you, are still capable of causing illness in humans. The same ticks that feed on your pet can also feed on you or your family member, with the same results in terms of disease transmission.

Fleas

Fleas are common pests for both dogs and cats. They can cause a variety of problems. Like ticks, fleas feed on blood. And, like ticks, a severe flea infestation can cause enough blood loss to result in anemia. Fleas also can cause discomfort, skin irritation, “hot spots”, allergic dermatitis, and many other health conditions.

In addition, though the range of diseases spread by fleas is different than those spread by ticks, fleas can and do carry disease and can pass those diseases on to our pets. And, like many of the tick-borne diseases, some of the flea-borne diseases can pose a threat to you and your family as well. Tapeworms are commonly carried by ticks and can infect your dog or cat. Flea tapeworms are not generally a threat to people, however. This cannot be said of some of the other diseases associated with fleas, such as cat scratch disease, plaque, and others. (There are also other types of tapeworms not associated with fleas that can cause serious disease in people.)

Like ticks, the best form of medicine when it comes to fleas is prevention. Far too often, pet owners avoid flea preventives until they actually see fleas on their pet. By then, the infestation is typically well-established and difficult to eradicate.

Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes carry heartworms, which can infect your dog or cat when bitten by an infected mosquito.

Though mosquitoes can carry a number of nasty diseases, in dogs and cats probably the most well-known and dangerous disease carried by mosquitoes are heartworms. Heartworms can infect both dogs and cats. And, apparently, according to Steve, they can also infect sea lions, which I did not know before Steve’s session. Of course, I don’t treat many sea lions so this is, for most of us, simply an interesting side note. However, infection for both dogs and cats is very real. Though there is a treatment for heartworm disease in dogs, the treatment is not without risk and it is costly. In cats, though, there is no treatment. Symptomatic relief of clinical signs is the best we can offer and a certain number of infected cats simply die suddenly with little to no advance warning.

Again, as is the case with fleas and ticks, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” We have a number of different heartworm preventives for both cats and dogs that are safe and effective. In my opinion, pet medications that act as mosquito repellents are useful but I would not rely solely on them for heartworm prevention.

What’s the bottom line when it comes to parasites? Parasite prevention is an essential part of proper health care for all pets. If the parasite is not allowed to infect your pet, it cannot inflict any damage. However, there is no “one-size-fits-all” recipe when it comes to parasite prevention. Like so much of your pet’s health care, your pet’s parasite prevention should be tailored to fit the needs of your pet. This will vary from one location to another and will also depend on the lifestyle of your pet, your pet’s general health, and other factors. Rather than simply going to the nearest pet store or “big box store”, discuss your pet’s risk factors with your veterinarian and implement a parasite prevention program that will provide the best protection in the safest way for your pet.

For those of you who lean toward more natural or holistic forms of parasite control, such as garlic, brewer’s yeast, essential oils, and the like, consider that these forms of control may not be effective enough to completely prevent and/or eradicate all parasites, leaving your pet susceptible to even more serious disease. Also consider that some of these remedies, such as many of the essential oils, can be dangerous in themselves to your pet, particularly if your pet is a cat.

Tips For Keeping Mosquitos Off Your Dogs!!!

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i left to go pick up takeout and mochi Was Not Having It.