PAWPRINTS

Archive for November, 2008

The typical Thanksgiving meal consists of turkey with gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, an assortment of other vegetables, and pumpkin pie for dessert.

Should you let your beloved furry family member indulgein this feast?  After all, what are holidays for? You love your dog. You want to share with him.

There is no good reason why you should not…BUT don’t forget about portions. To a small dog, just three hefty slices of turkey, chicken, or ham is like you eating at least a half an entire turkey, chicken, or ham.

The impact can be more severe than an upset tummy. Vets see more pancreatitis around the holidays than at any other time of the year. Eating very fatty food may cause pancreatitis, and it can be life threatening. Ham is often especially fatty as well as salty ( very bad for your dog).

Keep an eye on your pet. There are lots of cases of counter surfing dogs scarfing huge hunks of meat when their owners’ backs are turned, and their pancreas just can’t process all that fat at once.

Even lean meat can take a toll if everyone at the table contributes. At a large family dinner  little Muffin may be offered “tidbits” by everyone as they surreptitiously sneak her more turkey under the table. By the time the night is over, little Muffin will have had more to eat than anyone else at the dinner table.

Refrain from feeding your pet at the table -  do so only by putting the the food in her food bowl. That way you can control the amount of food.

Also, feeding your pooch from the dinner table can inadvertently trains him to beg for food.

Enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with your pet…just be discriminating about the amounts he is offered.

Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa (Nov 13th, 2008)

Iowa State University veterinary researchers may have found a cure for a previously incurable disease that causes dogs to go blind suddenly.

In the past few months, two dogs have been successfully treated for sudden acquired retinal degeneration syndrome (SARDS) by a research team led by ISU veterinary ophthalmologist Dr. Sinisa Grozdanic in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

The experimental treatment is the first to reverse blindness and restore sight to dogs diagnosed with SARDS. The treatment restored sight to the two dogs that were treated on April 12 and April 27.

SARDS was first identified in the 1980s and blinds as many as 4,000 dogs each year in North America, he said. The dogs have a sudden loss of vision despite no structural changes to the eyes or damage to the retinas in the early stages of the disease. Their eyes appear completely normal, but their retinas show no electrical activity.

Although the treatment has worked in two SARDS dogs, not every dog is a good candidate, Grozdanic cautions. Dogs with severe cardiac or kidney disease cannot tolerate IVIg. And it won’t work in a dog whose retina degeneration is advanced. “Once a dog gets SARDS, the retina degenerates quickly, so it’s important the dog is treated with IVIg very soon after diagnosis,” he said. “Usually dogs that have SARDS for longer than two months have severe retinal changes. The sooner it’s treated, the better chance it will work.”

Diagnostic tests cost about $700. If the dog is a good candidate for treatment, hospitalization and intensive care fees will be about $1,200. The IVIg cost will be between $35-40 per pound of the dog’s body weight. Grozdanic recommends owners visit the nearest veterinary ophthalmologist as soon as a dog exhibits any loss in vision.