Spring Issues
By Clifford Mardinger, The Animal Clinic
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With the warm weather and melting of the snow, dogs and outdoor cats will be getting more reign to roam around as they will no longer be limited by the avalanches of snow Toronto has received this winter.
As the snow disappears, the landscape starts to reveal things left behind before the winter: lots of trash. Many dogs will get into these things on their walks just because they are there. Some things will just cause a bout of vomiting and possibly diarrhea, while others may cause complete obstruction of the intestine resulting in incessant vom-iting and severe illness. Other things, like batteries, slug bait, and rat poison, can be deadly.
Know the surroundings in which you take your dog for her walks. Ensure the pathway is safe and devoid of foreign objects your dog can get into. A basket muzzle, as shown in my blog, can prevent a nosy (and voracious) dog from getting into trouble.
With the melting of the snow and subsequent increase in the number of puddles and moisture of the soil, the dogs are at an increased risk of contact leptospirosis, a po-tentially life-threatening infectious disease that can cause kidney and liver failure. This disease, though, is indeed more prevalent toward the end of the summer and the fall, as the organisms that cause the disease do not survive well in the cold.
Heartworm season is coming up so be sure to book an appointment with your vet. Remember, heartworm disease is transmitted by mosquitos, so the risk correlates with the temperature outside and your geographic location. City dogs are at a far lower risk for contracting the disease, at least in Toronto. South-western Ontario appears to be the region in Canada that has seen the highest number of heartworm cases. Ontario ac-counts for 90% of the heartworm cases seen in Canada. In a study from the late 1980s, the incidence of heartworm disease was 0.006% of dogs tested for the disease. Though the incidence is low, one of the reasons why I like most dogs to be on heartworm preven-tion is for the far greater incidence of intestinal parasites and fleas, that some heart-worm preventives deal with as well. Using such a product monthly, such as Revolution ®, will deal with intestinal parasitism, fleas, and heartworm disease at the same time. The heartworm prevention, in this case, would be a benefit.
With the warm weather, and increased co-mingling of our pets, fleas will con-tinue to be a problem. Consider a monthly flea-prevention or the purchase of a flea comb to regularly check your dog for fleas.
Many lawn fertilizers are toxic for dogs so be sure to look into this before using them on your property. Cocoa mulch, made from cocoa bean shells, has the same ap-peal to dogs as chocolate, and can be deadly if ingested. Don’t use this on your property or allow your dog into gardens where it is found. This spring, common sense and pre-vention can save your dog from illness, or even worse. Be safe!
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About The Author
Dr. Clifford Mardinger - Veterinarian, The Animal Clinic
Dr. Mardinger received his Honours Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Concordia University. After working with children as a “Mad Scientist”on cruise ships for one year, he attended Universite de Montreal and received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. After practicing in Montreal, he moved to Toronto where he worked for The Blue Cross Animal Hospital until joining The Animal Clinic in May 2005. His professional interests include internal medicine, dermatology and infectious diseases.
Clifford has been a guest on several television programs including Roger’s Daytime Toronto and CP 24's Animal House Calls with Ann Roehmer. Clifford can be contacted at 416 868-1545.
Clifford welcomes questions regarding your pet’s health. Please post them on his blog site and he will gladly respond www.tovet.blogspot.com. |
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