• Diabetes
• Arthritis and other joint disorders
• Heart disease
• High blood pressure
• Skin problems

How can you tell if your pet is overweight?  All pets have an ideal weight for their size and breed. We refer to this as an ideal “Body Condition Score” (http://www.hillspet.com/weight-management/pet-weight-score.html). Some of the following signs are also indications that your pet is overweight:

• Ribs are not easily felt when running your fingers along your pet’s side
• Loss of an obvious waist and tuck under their abdomen
• Their collar needs loosening
• Difficulty in walking
• Slower movement/less energy                                                 
• Sleeping more than usual                                                
• Shortness of breath
• Bad temper/irritability

 *Even if your pet does not show obvious signs of being overweight it is important to have regular weigh-ins to make sure their ideal weight is maintained. Feel free to pop in to the clinic any time to use our scale. *

How can you help your pet lose those unwanted love handles?  Weight loss can be very successfully managed and maintained through changes in food and/or a nutrition program, combined with increased exercise.

Ask us about our “Fat Fighters” weight loss management program…We can help you and your furry family member(s) get started, with a weight loss plan and starter kit with lots of tips and information to help along the way.

Being overweight or obese isn’t just something that affects how your pet looks – it affects how your pet lives.

 Heartworm is a very preventable heart disease.  The incidence of heartworm in the Kelowna area, although low, is unpredictable due to the many visitors we have from areas with a high incidence (Southern U.S.) and from our wildlife population.  Therefore we recommend erring on the side of prevention in order to keep this disease under control.

 Heartworm is transmitted by mosquitoes.  If a mosquito has fed from an infected animal the young, immature worm remains in the mosquito until they develop to the next stage. That is why the temperature is a key factor as to when to start the preventive medication.  Even though we may see mosquitoes in early spring, the overnight temperatures are too low to allow this growth.  The temperature must remain at about 15 degrees C (60 F) for at least two weeks overnight in order for worms to mature.  At that point if an infected mosquito bites your dog, the worms mature in your dog over the next 6 months into full adult heartworms.

 The flavoured Interceptor tabs treat any potential heartworm infection in the previous 30 days so starting in June or July is recommended and continue treating once per month until October/November.  Another option is a topical treatment called Revolution and is applied to the skin and again is used June to November.

Chocolate

Caffeine can be fatal for dogs. The lethal dose is 150mg/kg of body weight. Instant coffee contains about 60 mg of caffeine per tsp, so for a small dog, it would only take a few teaspoons to be lethal.

Grapes/Raisins are tricky because no one is certain yet why they cause toxicity, however it’s just best to avoid them. Symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea will start which can lead into kidney failure.

Xylitol although not a food, is a common non-sugar sweetener used in mints, sugar free gum, and some baking. Xylitol causes a rapid an dangerous drop in blood sugar levels in dogs, and also may cause liver failure.

Raw Yeast Dough like bread dough can be deadly for your dog. The yeast will continue to grow in the dog’s stomach causing bloat and, potentially, death.

Raw Salmon can contain a micro-organism that causes “salmon poisoning.” Only dogs are affected by this, and cooking the salmon kills the parasite. In addition, raw fish contains a protein that binds up one of the B vitamins (thiamine) making it unavailable to the body. So feeding large amounts of raw fish can result in a vitamin deficiency over time.

Milk/Dairy can be tasty for dogs and cats, but it is not something they need in order to have a balanced diet. As our pet ages they are not equipped with the enzymes needed to digest the protein and sugar in dairy products. Some studies show that the proteins in milk can interfere with the absorption of other nutrients and if consumed in large quantities, the extra calcium can cause problems with bone development.

Onions & Garlic contain sulfoxides and disulfides, which can damage red blood cells and cause anemia. Cats are more susceptible than dogs. Garlic is less toxic than onions.

Tuna/Liver as an occasional treat will not cause harm to your pet. However, they can cause problems if fed without any other foods. It’s best to keep your pets diet balanced, so never feed one food and exclude the other.

Animal bones, although dogs love to chew on them they do pose a risk to their health. The bones can splinter and cause injuries to your dogs mouth, intestines or stomach. They can break teeth and have been known to cause obstructions in the intestines, which would require surgery.

Avocado leaves, seeds, fruit, and bark contain persin, which can cause vomiting and diarrhea.

Macadamia Nuts Contain an unknown toxin, which can affect the digestive and nervous systems and muscle.

Mushrooms Can contain toxins, which may affect multiple systems in the body, cause shock, and result in death.

*Contact your veterinarian if your pet consumes any of the above or anything else of concern*

If you are warm, they are boiling.  

Check out the following websites for more details.

Spear grass awns have sharp points with fine, hair-like stems that spread back from the point. The awns can burrow between the toes of dogs and can migrate through the tissues of the leg. They are also often found in pet’s ears, moving down the ear canal against the eardrum, causing severe irritation. Often sedation is required to remove these annoying grass awns.

Anytime your dog or cat has been in long, dry grassy areas, please check between their toes and around their ears and eyes for any plant material and remove it before it can become a major problem. Prevention is easy and will keep your furry family member more comfortable during the summer months!

Main symptoms:

Restlessness, discomfort

Circling to bite at tail

Unable to sit

It can be a prickly situation, but you might find yourself dealing with the sharp realities of a porcupine incident.

Do not cut off the quills! This makes removal much more difficult and can often lead to the quill burrowing under the surface of the skin.

If you have a very cooperative dog and very few quills, you can try removing the quills by grasping close to where they enter the skin and pulling straight out.

If there are more than a few don’t even attempt removal. Bring the dog to the clinic and we can remove the quills under anesthesia. It is easier and much less stress and discomfort for your poor dog.

The Okanagan area is a virtual convention centre for ticks. Learn how to prevent ticks from getting as attached to your pet as you are.

A common parasite that we start to see each spring in the Okanagan is the tick. Ticks are present in woody and grassy areas and are indiscriminate parasites. In other words, they don’t care if their blood meal comes from a dog, person, bear, coyote or all of the above. They are small, slow moving crawlers about the size of the end of a pencil eraser before they attach. Once on board a host, they migrate to a nice warm area and attach themselves to the skin with their mouth parts.

On people they favour armpits, groin and the scalp under the hairline. I still recall my surprise as a young lad when I discovered a tick attached to me during my evening bath time. Once a tick attaches to the skin it becomes engorged with blood and feeds for several days. At this stage it looks like a little grey blimp about the size of a raisin. If you flip it up you can see eight tiny legs waving around. To remove a tick you grasp it close to the mouth parts and pull it off with steady traction. Soaking the tick first in an insecticide or rubbing alcohol helps loosen the grip.

Now, you may be asking yourself, “what problems can ticks cause? The answer is a whole bunch! Because they feed on numerous different species and hosts during their life cycle they are ideal vectors or transmitters of different diseases. Viral, bacterial and protozoal diseases have all been documented to have spread by ticks. One of the most dramatic diseases I have seen caused by ticks is tick paralysis. It can affect any species, including humans. The symptoms start with a wobbly gait and progress to a full paralysis in less than 24 hours. This frightening condition can be completely reversed in several hours by removal of the tick. We see several cases of tick paralysis each year here in the Okanagan.

How do you prevent ticks?  There are a few great products on the market today to help kill off any ticks that manage to find their way onto your pet.  Our staff will be happy to help you find the product which will be best for you and your pets. Regardless of using a tick prevention product, people should still check themselves and their pets carefully after hiking, golfing (especially if you stray from the fairway a bit like yours truly), camping or any other outdoor activity.

With proper vigilance and preventive measures you and your pet can safely enjoy all kinds of outdoor recreation.

There is no other area of veterinary medicine where more progress has been made in the last ten years than flea control. The products available now are light years ahead of where they were in terms of safety and efficacy.

In the Okanagan we have pockets of flea infestation. There is often a burst of flea activity in the spring, a bit of a lull during the dry heat of summer, and another peak in the late summer extending into the fall. Animals differ tremendously in their sensitivity to flea bites. Some will be in a scratching frenzy with just a few bites, whereas others can support a thriving population of fleas with relatively little irritation.

In comparison to the slow moving tick, fleas are lightning fast. You have to be quick to see them on your pet and they are also able to jump several feet in a single bound. Sometimes the only visible evidence of an infestation is flea dirt – the dried up digested blood that the flea passes during feeding.

There are excellent products on the market for use in flea control, which can be used for both dogs and cats.  Our well trained staff can answer any questions you may have about flea control products.