November 2005
Animal News Alerts
Subscribers Only A scary flu; a move to change laws to save pets.
Correcting Canine Skin Problems
Subscribers Only When the dog’s skin is healthy, we don’t give it a second thought. But when it is out of whack – greasy, itchy, smelly, flaky, bumpy, or raw – it becomes the center of attention for our dogs, and us, too. There is no more miserable dog than one with a serious skin problem. The skin is the epithelial and connective tissue covering of the body. Skin is also referred to as the “integument,” a term meaning “a covering or investment.” Cutaneous is also used to describe the skin.
Vaccination and Canine Distemper Virus (CDV)
Subscribers Only When we decided not to vaccinate Caleb, our Bouvier des Flandres, against anything other than rabies, my friend Janice and I knew we ran a risk that he might develop a dreaded disease. We also knew that vaccination doesn’t always protect against disease, and believed it sometimes causes illness. We felt the home-prepared BARF (bones and raw foods) diet we fed him would help his body fight off many health problems. Naturally, we hoped that Caleb would never come down with anything serious like canine distemper virus (CDV). But, when he was three years old, we had to face and overcome exactly that challenge.
Understanding How Your Dog Communicates
Subscribers Only Play bows. Averted eyes. Tail wags. Flattened ears. Our dogs are not only masters at reading our body language, but also experts at sending messages with an incredibly expressive tool – their own bodies. If we humans were half as good at reading their signals as they are at reading ours, there would be a lot less miscommunication between our two species.
Canine Cancer Crisis
Subscribers Only Cancer has to be the most feared diagnosis in all of medicine, one that sends patients and their families on a bewildering journey through statistics, treatment options, and life-or-death decisions that have to be made right now. Cancer has become so widespread that the care and treatment of its human patients is one of the world’s largest industries. Now cancer affects a significant percentage of veterinary patients as well.
Preventing Your Dog From Escaping
Subscribers Only How to safely confine burrowers, bounders, beavers, and bolters. Otis the Bloodhound was an opportunistic escapee. I discovered his talent one day while working at the front desk at the Marin Humane Society, early in my animal protection career. A woman came in asking if we might know where a Bloodhound lived, because he kept visiting her house every day. He was charming, she said, but she worried that he might get hit by a car.
Do Fence Them In
Subscribers Only Hannah, my brother’s dog, is a reformed escape artist. Keith lives in a house that is situated in a five-acre fenced compound in the country (it’s a self-storage facility). You’d think this would be dog heaven! But as a pup, Hannah learned that there is much more fun available outside the fence and down the road – other loose dogs, kids playing, ponds to swim in, deer to chase. Her mentor was a neighbor’s dog…
