New Genetic Technique Fixes Muscular Distrophy in Dogs
April 23, 2009
MIT Technology Review announced that a new variation of traditional gene therapy called antisense — in which a short strip of synthetic DNA or RNA molecules bind to a region of the host’s DNA and blocks its function — has been proven effective for a form of muscular dystrophy in dogs. Hope is high that this will lead to a breakthrough on human treatment for MD. For the complete article , go here.
For an amazing video of how this treatment can restore muscle function, go here.
Best, Short Dog Book Ever – Nicholas Dodman’s “The Well-Adjusted Dog”
March 17, 2009
Dr. Nicholas Dodman, Director of the Animal Behavior Clinic at the Cumming School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University has produced a small gem of a book, The Well-Adjusted Dog.
There’s more good, solid information in its 250 pages than in a whole host of other books written by dog ‘experts’ who have little or no credentials in the science and study of canines (Cesar Milan, I’m looking at you).
“Your job as a dog owner,” Dodman writes “is to try and understand your dog’s life fro his point of view, and to lead and protect, not to dominate, punish, and force a dog into submission, as popularized on too many of today’s TV shows.”
When this book comes out in paperback, I can see giving out multiple copies to neighbors and fellow dog owners, rather than trying to answer their questions myself.
One of the first and most vital points he makes is his belief that most dogs are under-exercised and bored out of their minds. (From my own experience I think this analysis is on the money). This leads to a multitude of behavioral problems including barking, inappropriate chewing, aggression, tail chasing, licking to the point of skin damage and more.
The average dog needs a minimum 30 minutes of aerobic exercise a day, every day. How many dogs do you know that meet that requirement?
Given that behavioral problems are the primary reason dogs are surrendered to shelters (the majority of whom are fated for euthanasia/destruction) proper handling of these issues may be essential to save the life of someone’s pet.
What I especially appreciate is his easy prose style and the clarity of his thinking even in controversial areas like herbal treatments and nutraceuticals. Here’s a sample of his writing about alternative medicine for dogs:
“Homeopathy—wherefore art thou, homeopathy? Though it’s popular in Europe, I have serious concerns about this branch of alternative medicine. The theory, of course, is that a little does of what ails you does you good. I can see how the concept applies to vaccination and desensitization to allergens, because inoculates stimulate an immune response—but I can’t see how it applies in other situations. Various homeopathic behavioral remedies containing microscopic concentrations of herbal products are now on the market.”
“One such remedy — anti-anxiety drops— was originally developed by an Irish veterinary practitioner who whipped up a dilute concoction of herbs to treat mastitis (inflammation of the udder) in cows. Being a large-animal vet, cows and mastitis were dear to his heart. In a moment of brilliance, he decided to bottle the cattle remedy for use in dogs to treat what else but . . .anxiety. And thus anti-anxiety drops were created. Whether the product actually works is doubtful, but bottles of the stuff are flying off the shelves. Naturopaths are positively swarming for it. Testing of this product presumably went like this:
- Take a worried-looking, baking dog and film him.
- Put the anxiety drops on his tongue.
- Wait until he has calmed down.
- Film him again.
- He’s calm.
- It’s a miracle!
The point they seemed to miss is that the only mental state that can follow a disturbed one is calm. It’s just a matter of time. I sent a sample of the anti-anxiety drops to the Department of Biochemistry and Experimental Therapeutics at Tufts medical school to see whether I ws missing something about the ingredients. The reply came back, ‘Nick, there’s virtually nothing here. It’s water.’ I guess that’s the point.”
Dodman also has constructed a pyramid Hierarchy of Canine Needs (adapted from psychologist Abraham Maslow’s triangle of human needs) that neatly summarizes what you as a caring dog owner should be striving towards. See how close you are coming to these goals with your own dog. Click image for larger size.
The bottom line: Buy This Book!
More Peanut Corp. of America recalls: 3 Flavors of Alaska Canine Cookies
March 13, 2009
The peanut butter, “power-bone” and carrot cake flavors of Alaska Canine Cookies are among the latest dog treats being recalled due to possible Salmonella Typhimurium contamination. Source.
They were all manufactured with re-called batches of peanuts processed at the Blakely, Georgia processing facility of the now bankrupt Peanut Corporation of America. This plant, operating since 2005 had never been licensed and was never inspected. Yet is was contributing to America’s food supply.
It is alleged that PCA plant managers shipped peanuts that tested positive for salmonella a dozen times in 2007 and 2008. Inspectors also found unsanitary conditions: mold, roaches, a leaking roof, dead rodents, rodent excrement, and bird feathers in a crawl space above a production area. And it was contributing to America’s food supply. Source.
In Bankcruptcy court in Lynchburg, VA owner Stewart Parnell and family members put on a dumb show. He plead the Fifth, his right not to give self-incriminating evidence, when asked if he knowingly shipped salmonella-tainted peanut products from his plants in Blakely, Georgia and Plainview, Texas.
He answered, “I don’t know” to routine business questions and left most of the talking to his daughter, Grey Adams, the firm’s bookkeeper, claiming that “she knows more than I do” about the plant’s operation.
On the stand Ms. Adams was unable to tell the court the salary her mother was paid as office manager. When asked if the company paid dividends to its stockholder from their $20 million in sales in 2008, she replied, “What’s a dividend?” Source. Does it seem like the extended Parnell family suddenly came down with a severe case of the Stupids?
The numbers: Since Jan. 12th 2009, 3,420 products containing peanut ingredients processed by Peanut Corporation of America have been recalled. They include snacks, peanut butter, brownies, cakes, pies, ice cream, candy, cereal, cookies, crackers, donuts, and pet food and treats. 683 people in 46 states have been sickened, a quarter of them requiring hospitalization and 9 have died — although these deaths have not yet been linked definitively to the salmonella outbreak. Source.
Another number: Total cost of this outbreak? In excess of $1 billion, said Don Koehler, executive director of the Georgia Peanut Commission while speaking before a House small business subcommittee. Source.
The big question: how are we going to secure the safety of the American food supply chain in the 21st century?
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Pet Food – Nutrition & Contamination: Educate Yourself
March 11, 2009
Want to understand the issues surrounding pet food nutrition and contamination? Read these two books.
Ann Martin and Marion Nestle have done the research and pulled together the facts to make their books essential reading for everyone who cares about what they feed their dog or cat.
Martin’s book gives you the sordid truth behind the ingredients in many pet foods while Nestle recounts in great detail the Menu Foods recall and settlement of 2007, dealing with the failure of regulatory oversight.
In the current economy paying more for dog food is, I realize, a hard sell but when you consider the true cost (including veterinary bills) of the cheapest brands you might be willing to cut back elsewhere on your budget.
Outstanding Canine Freestyle Dance Routine — Gin, the Border Collie
March 11, 2009
OK, I’m not certain I can consider Canine Freestyle Dancing a true art form — it’s more like a throwback to the days of Vaudeville — but you’ve simply got to watch this clip from “Britain’s Got Talent” featuring 16 year-old Kate and her 6 year-old border collie, Gin.
I apologize in advance for the fact that you’ll be forced to bear a few moments of that demon Satan-spawn Simon Cowell — you can take a long, hot shower afterward. Click on photo for a larger image.
Please Donate to help Jasper, a Pit Bull struck by a Car, then hit with Gangrene and Tetanus
March 7, 2009
If, in these dismal economic times, you can spare any funds at all, please consider this canine appeal. The complete story is on the left.
<Click image for larger view. Connecticut Post, 3/05/09
Donations should be sent to the Friends of the Shelton Animal Shelter, P.O. Box 2036, Shelton, CT 06484. Checks can be made out to FSAS with “Jasper” written in the memo line.
Most vets are nice enough people, competent and caring. But Sheldon Yessenow is a cut above the rest. I can say this because I got to know him during the 5 years I spent volunteering with a Labrador breed rescue group, Labs4Rescue “Save a Lab, have a friend for life.” What he and his staff have done for Jasper, the pit bull is what they’ve always done — go above and beyond.
Dr. Sheldon Yessenow, DVM runs the Oronoque Animal Hospital in Stratford, CT. In practice for over 30 years, he’s a recipient of the Connecticut Veterinary Medical Association’s Best Vet of the Year Award. When Hurricane Katrina ht the Louisiana coast in August of 2005, he left his practice for 6 weeks to help treat the thousands of lost and abandoned dogs and cats the storm left in its wake. Here’s a little more about him in his own words from a New York Times profile:
“I was always interested in animals. I remember coming home on the school bus one day and noticing an injured squirrel on the side of the road. I hooked a wagon to the back of my bike and rode over to where I had seen the squirrel. Although I found a mother squirrel dead, one of the babies was still alive so I picked it up, brought it home, put it in an incubator, nursed it back to health until it bit me, and I let it go.“
“We deal with a lot of emotional, psychological and personal issues outside of the pets’ physical problems. There are people who come to us with hopelessly ill pets who want to do everything they can to help, regardless of the cost. On the other hand, you might be involved with people whose pets have very treatable conditions and who don’t want to spend any time or money whatsoever. It’s hard to know.”
“I wanted to work on animals, not people. In human medicine, you need to specialize, but in veterinary medicine you could be a generalist and do obstetrics, dermatology, dentistry, neurology, internal medicine. I do everything from orthopedic surgery to trimming toenails. One time, this dog went into the woods to tangle with a porcupine. With the pet under anesthesia, it took me an hour and half to take out all the quills.” — from “My Job; I See Your Pets as Your Children,” The New York Times. Feb. 7, 2001
Locally, a Town Does it Right: Non-Breed Specific “Vicious Dog” ordinance
March 5, 2009
The awkwardly named Shelton, CT Board of Alderman’s Public Health and Safety Committee has got it right with the draft of an ordinance that allows the town’s animal control officer to label a dog ‘vicious’ without respect to breed. This designation would allow Shelton to hold the owner liable for property damage and for attacks on other animals, according to a story in The Connecticut Post.
They’re also considering fines, requiring signs at the home of a ‘vicious’ dog, a special, pricier dog license and permanent tattooing of such dogs. The town ACO would also have the ability to euthanize a ‘vicious’ dog.
As everyone here knows, attacks by dogs are not a breed-specific issue. It’s an issue of “irresponsible ownership.”
I’m curious as to what conditions they use in this new law to label a dog vicious. Will the common-sense “every dog gets one bite free rule” still apply? Exactly what does your dog need to do in order to qualify as vicious? Let’s hope that the final draft of this proposal gives the ACO a fair standard to apply.
Where I live the town has a nuisance barking ordinance that sets the bar so low there isn’t a single dog not in violation at some point: 4 barks within 15 minutes is considered “excessive” and you can be fined.
When the rule is this bad you know that it can only be selectively applied, meaning of course, that if you live in a low income section of town you can forget about ever seeing this enforced.
Purina Alpo Ad Campaign: Corn for the Real Meat Lover in the Family
March 1, 2009
Purina Alpo dog food has a new campaign running that gets to the “meat of the problem” with the line, “Quick, get that dog some Alpo!”
OK, if the choice is between no food at all and Alpo, the Prime Cuts with Gravy wins that challenge every time. The only point in favor of Alpo’s dog food is the price. . .however, considering what you’re getting, is there any price that can make this food a bargain?
Note that they go to some effort to make the product visually appealing to the human consumer, when visual appeal is the last thing a dog considers when eating. They eat the inedible, remember? Their tag line is that their Prime Cuts Meaty Shapes are “for the real meat lover in the family.” But Alpo must have a loose definition of the “real meat lover” because the top ingredient isn’t even close to meat, it’s ground yellow corn.
Why? Corn is cheap. Corn is also largely indigestible by dogs. This makes their stools larger with no nutritional benefit. So that’s actually the top ingredient in Alpo that you’re picking up in your yard and on all your walks.
Next up is beef and bone meal. This is a byproduct unfit for human consumption that is an inexpensive, low quality ingredient used to boost the protein percentage in the food. According to its definition by the Association of American Feed Control Officials, beef and bone meal is “the rendered product from beef tissues, including bone, exclusive of any added blood, hair, hoof, hide, horn, trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents, except in such amount as may unavoidably occur in good processing practices.”
Then there’s soybean meal. This is one of the lowest quality proteins available to dog food makers. Some people make the case that most allergy problems in today’s dogs stem from the unnatural amounts of corn and soybean in their diet.
Beef tallow is fat, processed from suet. If you rendered it from a pig, it would be lard.
Animal digest is a concentrated soup which can be made from the “unspecified parts of unspecified animals.” This includes the so-called 4-D animals (dead, diseased, disabled or dying prior to slaughter), goats, pigs, horses, rats, dogs and cats euthanized at animal shelters, roadkill, restaurant and supermarket refuse. There is no control for quality or any check for possible contamination.
This is how barbiturates like pentobarbital (delivered by an intravenous or intracardiac injection) and used to euthanize pets can get back into the dog population, via their food. How much of this contamination do you need to rise to the level of harm? I don’t have the answer to that.
Though it’s helpful to remember that Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy — a fatal, neurodegenerative disease that causes a spongy degeneration in the brain and spinal cord — is passed on by feeding infected, ground up dead cows to living cows. (BSE is commonly known as Mad Cow Disease and Soylent Green is PEOPLE!) Cows are herbivores, not carnivores or cannibals so it’s strange on more than one level.
But including the carcasses of poisoned dogs back in their food supply (even a little bit) can’t be a good thing, can it?
The next most prevalent ingredient is salt. So beef and bone meal and animal digest are as close as this product gets to real meat. You couldn’t do worse if you were buying your meat from a NYC street vendor offering “Roasted Substance on a Stick.”
Here’s the full list of ingredients in Alpo Prime Cuts Meaty Shapes Dog Food (below). They are listed according to weight from most to least (it’s usually enough to look at the top three to six ingredients to get a good sense of the quality of the food). Note that Alpo has to add back in vitamins and supplements that are lost even from their substandard filler due to processing.
Interestingly enough, this list is NOT from the Alpo.com web site. Remember that they’re selling food, right? I searched for but could not find any list of ingredients for any of their products on their web site. They don’t want to boast about what you’re actually buying in their dog food. And they have absolutely no reason to boast.
- Ground Yellow Corn
- Beef And Bone Meal
- Soybean Meal
- Beef Tallow Preserved With BHA
- Animal Digest
- Salt
- Choline Chloride
- Zinc Sulfate
- Vitamin E Supplement
- Ferrous Sulfate
- Added Color (Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 2)
- Manganese Sulfate
- Niacin
- Vitamin A Supplement
- Calcium Carbonate
- Brewers Dried Yeast
- Copper Sulfate
- Calcium Pantothenate
- Natural Flavor
- Pyridoxine Hydrochloride
- Vitamin B12 Supplement
- Thiamine Mononitrate
- Vitamin D3 Supplement
- Riboflavin Supplement
- Calcium Iodate
- Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source Of Vitamin K Activity)
- Folic Acid
- Biotin
- Sodium Selenite
Bottom line, the safest and healthiest thing you can feed your dogs is a home-cooked diet. Add supplements and vitamins if you need them. Yes, it takes more time and planning, but you’ll find a routine that works once you make the switch. Switching to a home-cooked diet can even be cheaper, provided that you are already overpaying for “premium” brands that charge $50 for a 25lb bag of food and not feeding cheap filth like Alpo.
Peanut Dogs for those with Severe Allergies
February 26, 2009
We’ve all read about the rise of severe peanut allergies over the past 25 years. Lots of jokes are made about this by those who don’t suffer from it. I’ve made a few myself.
But if you’re as allergic as eight year old Riley Mers — who has a scar on her foot from the time a peanut shell slipped into her sandal and burned her like an acid — you wouldn’t make jokes about it. Riley has also struggled to breath from inhaling peanut reside too faint for a human to smell.
But not too faint for a dog to smell.
Add another category of the amazing things are canine pals can do for us and meet the Peanut Detection Dogs.
Riley’s dog, a Portuguese water dog named Rock’O was trained by Bill Whitstine, a Certified Master Trainer at Florida Canine Academy in Safety Harbor, Florida. Whitstine usually trains detection dogs for the threat of bombs, drugs, flammable materials and bed bugs.”This really is a bomb dog for this child,” said Whitstine, “because the peanut is a bomb for her.”
For more on Riley’s story go here.
Using Your Dog to Find Love
February 23, 2009
“A lot of people are more emotionally touched when you do something for their pet, more than if someone brings flowers on the first date,” says Stephanie LaFarge, director of counseling services for the ASPCA and an expert on the human-animal bond.
In Heavy Petting: When animals dog a new relationship the AP’s Linda Lombardi writes about the issues (read: conflicts and connections) that modern singles with pets are coping with today.
Leashes and Lovers is an online community devoted to connecting dog lovers for friendship and possibly more. I can certainly think of worse ways to start a relationship. At least this one doesn’t involve alcohol.
Kids, go ask your parents how wasted they were when they first met at that club/bar/party/wedding. See how well that worked out for them?
Having a mutual interest in canines might be a better foundation to build a life together. It’s not weird or sick like Litterboxes & Lovers, Where Crazy Cat Ladies Meet their Disturbing Male Counterparts, for example.
Update 2/24: But there’s a great deal more than just connecting with other dog lovers available on the Leashes and Lovers site — Blogs, Forums, a Directory of Dog Products & Services, Training Advice & Tips, Photos, Videos, News, Events, an E-zine and more. So you don’t have to be a dating single to use the many resources on this site.
I’d say that this is another example of the ongoing development of contemporary Dog Culture, like The BARK magazine. For thousands of years dogs have been an integral part of human society as partners, work mates and companions. Today they are being recognized for their important contributions to our lives in ways that highlight this as never before. Now go hug your dog and give her a treat — she deserves it!