Caring for our Furry Loved Ones

As I've mentioned before, but it bears repeating, my little dogs are a constant source of delight, comfort and love and my life would be pretty desolate without them. Their uncomplicated sweet natured selves provide a solace amidst the maelstrom of a world lurching from one senseless disaster to the next. They are a breath of calm at the centre of my often pointlessly frantic existence. Unlike most other relationships, they are undemanding, non-judgmental, constant and happy just to be.

Of course, not only do our pets fill important emotional needs for many of us, they are very useful little critters in other ways as well. Medical research has found that in addition to the well known benefits of pets as helpers for the handicapped, they possess other therapeutic qualities including the ability to lower blood pressure, decrease depression and something that will become increasingly significant in our society - ease the social pain of ageing. This is certainly not news to this ageing dog lover!

It really is incumbent upon us then to provide the best care for our pets we possibly can. Part of that is ensuring to the best of our ability their continuing good health and freedom from pain and suffering.

In a recent RSPCA newsletter, to which I subscribe, was an article alerting pet owners to various things that are poisonous to pets, particularly cats and dogs. Some of these I knew about but some I didn't, so it was very valuable information, which I'm sure my fellow pet devotees would love to know about too. So, here they are.

1. Grapes and raisins – grapes can cause kidney failure. Raisins are even more dangerous as they contain concentrated toxins.
2. Bread dough – dough can expand quickly in the animal’s stomach resulting in severe abdominal pain and bloating – even death if enough is eaten.
3. Chewing gum – the artificial sweetener in many types of gum and breath mints can be deadly to pets.
4. Macadamia nuts – macadamia nut toxicity can cause tremors, weakness, unsteadiness, depression, a rapid heart rate and a dangerous rise in body temperature.
5. Nicotine – nicotine in cigarettes if ingested is highly toxic and can cause seizures, coma and death
6. Chocolate – caffeine-like stimulants in chocolate can cause severe symptoms, in dogs, even death
7. Alcohol – pets are much more sensitive to alcohol than people and alcohol ingestion can quickly result in a life threatening situation
8. Pain Relievers – never give pets drugs intended for human use – not even aspirin. One tablet of paracetamol can kill a cat.
9. Tea – caffeine in tea is toxic to both cats and dogs
10. Onions – onions can cause hemolytic anemia in dogs and cats are highly sensitive to onion toxicity. This applies also to meat or stir fry or anything cooked with onions, as well as onions themselves.
    

Scully once had a very lucky escape when, following a major dental operation, she was having an obviously painful and uncomfortable night. Nothing I did seemed to ease her distress and eventually in desperation I gave her half a "human" painkiller, not realising how dangerous they can be for dogs. It was only when I was talking about the incident the next day to a friend, I learned that my attempted kindness could have backfired. Fortunately Scully didn't suffer any ill effects from my clumsy ministrations, but I can scarcely imagine how terrible I would have felt if she had. Of course, now I am better prepared and make sure I have veterinarian prescribed medications on hand following any trauma. Especially so, knowing from personal experience how completely horrible I feel for a while after any surgery! And I'm a lot bigger than they are!