Animal Airwaves

Our pets are family, so they often travel with us — and that means lots of car rides. Minding the travel environment can keep us all safe.

Temperature is a key factor. Even in mild weather, the inside of a car can become 40 degrees warmer than outside in just an hour — even in the shade with the windows cracked. And in cold weather, being in an unheated car is virtually no warmer than being outside. So, don’t leave pets unattended in a vehicle—ever.

Pets also need to be restrained in a moving vehicle — for their sake as well as ours. Just like you wear a seatbelt, your pet should be in a secured carrier or wear a harness attached to a seat belt. And never let pets ride loose in a truck bed or hang their head out the window.

Keep the good times rolling by making pet safety a priority.

A culprit moving our way from the south could devastate livestock and cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars.

The New World screwworm — or NWS — fly produces maggots that cause severe soft tissue injuries. Unlike those of other flies that eat dead tissue only, NWS maggots burrow into live tissue. Untreated animals often develop secondary infections and can die in a week or two.

The U.S. government is taking this threat seriously. The Food and Drug Administration has been granted emergency use authorization for certain animal drugs to treat or prevent NWS infestations. In addition, a planned $750 million dollar facility in Texas is expected to produce millions of sterile flies to reduce the NWS population.

Livestock producers and veterinarians on the front lines are also key players in the fight.

Each year, increasing areas of the country get hit with natural disasters. That’s why it’s important to have a disaster plan. But how do you keep your livestock safe?

Some plans include shipping livestock to other facilities. But depending on the time you have before disaster strikes, that might not be possible. So, in case you can’t evacuate, plan ahead to create safe zones where both animals and people can shelter in place. Those might be green areas without much tree cover — like irrigated pastures or elevated meadows. Short of that, areas cleared of flammable materials could suffice.

This is when it pays to have an established veterinary-client relationship in case you need to immediately provide medical care for your animals. Be sure you have animal care supplies in place, too.

Most veterinarians recommend keeping cats indoors to reduce the risk of injury and disease and minimize their predation. But that can come at a cost if cats can’t be cats.

Certain diseases and behavioral disorders stem from the stress that may affect cats living indoors. That’s why the Feline Veterinary Medical Association highlights the importance of providing the five pillars of a healthy cat environment. First, provide a safe home, including one that honors all a cat’s senses. Next, provide opportunities for play and hunting behavior, as well as positive and consistent human-cat social interactions. And for homes with more than one cat, provide multiple and separate resources — like litter pans, feeding bowls and more.

Keeping cats safe and happy is what it’s all about.

As holidays near, it’s time once again to plan how to keep our pets safe.

Since food is such a big part of the fun, let’s focus on that first. Spicy, salty or fatty foods — as well as bones — can make your pet sick, so stick with their regular diet. Certain foods — like chocolate, grapes, raisins and anything containing xylitol [ZĪ-lit-all] — are definitely off limits. That goes for alcohol too. And don’t forget the trash because your pet won’t. That could be full of all kinds of toxic treats as well.

Holiday decorations can be dangerous too — like tinsel, ornaments, candles and wiring for lights. Even snow globes contain ethylene glycol, which is highly poisonous to all pets.

This is just a partial list, so do your due diligence. Most of all, keep a close eye on your pet and watch for anything unusual.

Ticks are truly annoying pests, but the real danger lies in the diseases they spread. One is anaplasmosis [anna-plaz-MOH-sis], a potentially fatal bacterial disease that can affect both dogs and people. And because of expanding tick populations, anaplasmosis is spreading to more areas, too.

Depending on the specific organism that infects a dog, symptoms may range from fever, joint pain and loss of appetite to uncontrollable bleeding. It’s important to contact your veterinarian if your dog is showing suspicious signs or has come in contact with ticks. Fortunately, treatment with doxycycline is usually effective — particularly early on in the illness.

That said, prevention is better than a cure. That includes using a year-round tick preventative and checking your pooch for ticks after they’ve been outside.

The country recently marked 20 years since the heartbreak of Hurricane Katrina.

Back then, people were told to evacuate and leave their pets behind. It’s tough to say just how many pets were abandoned but estimates range from thousands to hundreds of thousands. Rescue vehicles and shelters often refused pets, so nearly half of the 200,000 people who stayed behind did it for an animal. There’s no telling how many of them perished.

Since then, Congress passed the Pet Evacuation and Transportation Safety Act, which authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide rescue, care, shelter and essential needs for household pets and service animals following major disasters.

Since Katrina, the dynamic has changed: if you evacuate, take your pet with you.

October 31 is Halloween and Dr. Jim Wellehan is embracing spooky season for Animal Airwaves Live. An expert on the evolution and ecology of nondomestic animal pathogens, with an emphasis on molecular diagnostics and pathogen discovery, Wellehan will talk about bat pathogens, the evolution of infectious diseases and the overall clinical impacts of those diseases on wildlife animals, populations and ecosystems. Despite the bad rap that bats get for their association with disease outbreaks, he’ll explain the important role bats play in supporting agriculture, their history of co-existing with viruses and how flight patterns and adapting to new pathogens have been factors in their evolution.

The successful identification of animal abuse – and deaths caused by such abuse – typically involve not just the veterinary forensic pathologist who can confirm the cause of death, but also representatives of various agencies and organizations ranging from animal shelters to law enforcement at multiple levels. On this archived episode of Animal Airwaves, Dr. Adam Stern, a veterinary forensic pathologist, will discuss the process through which successful prosecution of animal abusers typically occurs and how members of the public can play a role in bringing such abusers to justice.

When it comes to saving a pet’s life, every second counts. On this archived episode of Animal Airwaves, Dr. Jake Wolf, an emergency and critical care specialist, discusses last year’s updates to veterinary CPR standards that are enhancing the quality of emergency care and improving survival rates for our beloved furry companions. As a key contributor to the RECOVER initiative’s updated guidelines, Dr. Wolf shares insights on improved chest compression techniques, safe breathing methods for cats and dogs and critical updates in medication administration and defibrillation.