Raw Pet Food Diets

Often clients ask about raw food diets and assume that they are a better choice for pets.  However, it is important to realize that raw diets often contain large quantities of bacteria and may be contaminated with salmonella, listeria, parasites, and protozoa.  This can be health hazard for your pet and for you when handling the diet.  Another large concern with these diets is nutritional adequacy as they may or may not be nutritionally balanced.

Check out the FDA's website below for a very good explanation of some of the concerns when using raw food diets, especially the concerns of salmonella and listeria contamination.


References

Chandler ML, Takashima G. 2014. Nutritional concepts for the veterinary practitioner. In Vet Clin Small Anim 44 p 645-666.

Get the Facts! Raw Pet Food Diets can be Dangerous to You and Your Pet

<http://www.fda.gov/animalveterinary/resourcesforyou/animalhealthliteracy/ucm373757.htm>

Canine Influenza

What is canine influenza?

Canine influenza is a respiratory infection that has been identified to be caused by two virus strains in the US: H3N8 and H3N2.

H3N8

This strain was identified in 2005 and there have been only a few documented cases in Oregon.  This strain does not affect cats.

H3N2

The 2015 outbreak in the Midwest was caused by this strain as were the cases in Washington.  In Asia it has been reported to infect cats, but in the US this has been rare in occurrence.  At this time there have been no documented cases in Oregon.

How is canine influenza transmitted?

Canine influenza is an airborne disease.  The virus can also be transmitted by contact with contaminated objects.  If your dog rarely has contact with other dogs then the risk of getting the virus is low whereas if your dog has contact with other dogs the risk may be higher.

What are the symptoms?

Infected dogs may cough, have a runny nose, be lethargic, and/or have a fever.  Coughing is the most common symptom.  If your dog is coughing keep it away from other dogs until cleared by your veterinarian.  Coughing is a symptom of a variety of illnesses and conditions so refer to your veterinarian for an appropriate diagnosis.

How do I prevent my dog from getting sick?

Wash your hands after contacting a sick dog before you touch other animals.  Avoid contact with dogs that seem ill.

There are vaccines available for both strains of the virus however the vaccines available for H3N2 only have conditional approval from the USDA.  Consult your veterinarian to discuss if a vaccine would be appropriate for your dog.

References
-Oregon Veterinary Medical Association <oregonvma.org>

New Informative Links on Salem Park Veterinary Clinic's Website

Check out salemparkvet.com for some new links to help out our equine patients.  From AAEP there are links for information concerning infectious disease guidelines, vaccination guidelines, and parasite control guidelines.  From the University of Guelph there is a link to a Biosecurity Risk Calculator.  Also check out the link for the Equine Disease Communication Center.

Guides for Finding Nutrition Info on the Internet

It is very common for all of us to turn to the internet when we have questions about our pets and their care.  When we do this it is a good idea to verify the information we find and ensure that it is coming from reputable sources.  Below are some links with some tips for owners when turning to the internet in search of nutrition information for their pets.  These tips come from the World Small Animal Veterinary Assocation (WSAVA) which is made up of veterinary associations from all over the world and the Global Nutrition Committee (GNC) which is the part of WSAVA focused on animal nutrition.

http://www.wsava.org/sites/default/files/nutrition%20on%20the%20internet%20cats.pdf

http://www.wsava.org/sites/default/files/Nutrition%20on%20the%20Internet%20dogs.pdf

-Jennifer D'Amato-Anderson, MS (Animal Nutrition)

Dog Intelligence

Hi everyone!  Have you ever wondered how smart your dog is?  Does he or she really experience "happiness" when you come home from work or is just excited to be fed?  Wanda mentioned a 60 minutes episode she watched this past weekend that had me intrigued.  I had to take a look myself.  It's a little over 13 minutes long but I feel is quite enlightening.  Take a look at this link and enjoy!
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/smart-dog-anderson-cooper-60-minutes/

-Dr. C

Heartworm disease: What is it and why should we prevent it?

INTRO

Happy July everyone, I'm going to briefly discuss heartworm disease in the dog and cat.  In short, heartworm disease is a parasitic disease that is spread by the mosquito into an animal's blood stream where it grows to be an adult worm and often resides within the heart of a dog or cat.  It is often times fatal, but can be prevented.

DISEASE LIFE CYCLE

An infected mosquito will land on a dog or cat and in the process of obtaining a blood meal transmits heartworm larvae into the animal via saliva.  The larvae continues to develop for approximately 2 months within the animal's tissue.  The larva then develops into an adult in the animal's blood stream which takes around 4-5 months.  This is a period when sometimes a blood smear can be done to see "microfilaria" or tiny worms in the blood stream.  This is also the same time when worms will start to reside within the pulmonary artery of the heart.  After about 6 months the adult worms become mature adults and can reproduce and produce more larvae.  Mosquitoes can then "retrieve" these larvae and go on to infect other dogs or cats.  Heartworm in cats follows the same life cycle however larvae in cats seldom develop into adult worms because they are atypical hosts of heartworms (like humans).  Sometimes this means cats may have heartworm and show no clinical signs.  However, even the immature worms can cause death in cats.

WHY IS IT SO BAD?

The heart, as we all know, is critical in life.  The pulmonary artery is a vessel that exits the heart in order to transport blood that needs to retrieve oxygen from the lungs.  When it's occluded in any way, that means that blood that needs oxygen, has a harder time getting it.  The heart will want to pump harder or faster which causes the heart muscle to enlarge resulting in heart disease.  It also means that if any worms get swept "downstream" they can lodge themselves into the lungs which is a fatal condition known as pulmonary thrombosis (lung clot).  Take home message is that these worms, when in a high enough concentration, will cause heart disease.

WHERE IS IT?

Heartworm has been found in all 50 states.  It definitely is more prevalent in certain regions (Gulf Coast, Atlantic Coast, etc) but the prevalence is increasing.  To add, each state has its own microclimates throughout like irrigation ponds, reservoirs, and backyard ponds making it difficult to say "heartworm doesn't exist in my county".  There have been 80 cases in Oregon in 2015, most noted in southern Oregon, but a few (7) even in Marion county.  I should add this is only a number from a study done by Idexx Laboratories, which means this does not include a lot of the in-house heartworm testing done in veterinary clinics.  The number is likely higher.

You may wonder why is heartworm more prevalent in certain areas of the U.S.  The answer is climate, temperature and humidity.  In order for larva in a mosquito to become infective it must go through several temperature changes.  8-10 days at 82-86 degrees, followed by 11-12 days at 75 degrees then 16-20 days at 71 degrees.  This is not exact and just a set of ranges.  If you think about it, most of Oregon could fit this picture, especially due to this year's warm weather.  Luckily development stops at around 57 degrees, though if the temperature warms up again the cycle can restart itself.

PREVENTION

Prevention is crucial because treatment of heartworm disease can be costly and carry a significant amount of risk.  We recommend year round prevention for dogs.  There are several forms of prevention that are offered and most often is as easy as a monthly pill.  Currently, we carry Interceptor which prevents heartworm disease as well as treats hookworm, roundworm and whipworm infections.

This was just a brief summary about the important aspects to know on heartworm disease.  If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to give us a call!  Thanks for reading.

-Dr. C

References:

Key factors influencing canine heartworm, Dirofilaria immitis in the United States.

H. Brown, L Harrington, et al

http://www.capcvet.org/parasite-prevalence-maps/

http://www.morrisvetcenter.com/morrisvet/companion%20animal/Wellness-Care/Heartworm.asp

*NEW* KidneyTest

We've mentioned to a handful of clients about a new kidney test that was becoming available this summer.  Well now its here!  The test is called SDMA (Symmetric dimethylarginine) and allows us as veterinarians to provide a better and more accurate picture of kidney disease in your cat or dog.  In the past, we looked at two values when trying to figure out kidney issues in companion animals.  These values are called BUN and creatinine.  In dogs and cats with kidney disease, these values were generally increased.  However, in most cases, the kidneys are likely 75% damaged by the time these values are raised above normal reference values.  As you can imagine, we sometimes can't diagnose kidney disease till late stage disease.  Now, we can run an SDMA with the BUN/Creatinine and discover kidney damage much earlier (at approximately 40% damage).  This is great news because we can manage the disease sooner.  Please give us a call if you have any questions or would like to schedule a screening.
-Dr. C