Animal Airwaves

Does your dog love to spend the day at the beach? If so, remember that a day of fun can quickly go south if your dog drinks too much seawater.

A five-pound dog only needs to ingest 1 teaspoon of salt to develop severe salt toxicity — about the amount in just two-thirds of a cup of seawater.

Salt toxicity can result in serious kidney and neurologic symptoms within about 3 hours of a dog consuming too much salt. Without immediate veterinary care, the condition can be fatal.

Besides seawater, other items to avoid include rock salt, homemade play dough, paintballs, and salt dough used to make ornaments.

It’s just another case of preventing a problem that can cause a world of hurt for your pooch.

You’ve found a great pet sitter, so now you’re planning a vacation without your beasty buddy. But how can you help the sitter act as your agent in an emergency if you can’t be reached?

Along with your feeding, medicating and other care instructions, consider creating a pet care emergency authorization document, which states your veterinary care preferences. Then give a signed copy to your pet sitter and veterinarian.

That way, if you or your travelling companions can’t be reached, the document will state your financial and ethical concerns regarding emergency care.

Also, be sure you and your pet sitter have agreed on how expenses will be handled while you’re gone — whether that involves reimbursement or providing a form of payment.

Grizzly bears eat all sorts of things, including many types of mammals and plants — even mushrooms and dirt. But one of their most crucial food sources may surprise you.

Every summer in the Rocky Mountain West, grizzlies gorge on army cutworm moths. Chock full of fat, the moths provide a key source of energy before the bears hibernate.

The thought of a bear eating up to 40,000 moths a day has prompted tourists to come see it for themselves. Sadly, they scare many bears away, depriving them of up to 20,000 calories per day — just when they need them the most.

Grizzly bear populations have come back from dangerously low levels, thanks in large part to the Endangered Species Act, but they remain vulnerable. Let’s do all we can to help them survive.

Many dogs love to scarf up “treats” whenever and wherever they find them. You might be surprised how dangerous a common household or yard source can be.

Compost is a tempting grab bag of goodies for some dogs. On the surface, it might seem safe enough. After all, it’s just bits of food we might share with our dogs when they’re fresh. But once these items sit for a while and get moldy, they develop toxins that can cause severe neurologic problems when ingested.

Within 30 minutes of eating food containing these mycotoxins, dogs can develop weakness and tremors, which can lead to seizures. At that point, they need emergency care ASAP.

So, before this happens to your pooch, make sure your compost pile is off limits.

Chronic kidney disease, or CKD, affects 50% of cats in general and up to 80% of cats over 15 years of age. There’s no cure, and nutrition is the only intervention known to slow its progression.

That’s why veterinary specialists now recommend that cats start a therapeutic diet as soon as they’re diagnosed with CKD — one with enough protein to help maintain lean body mass but not so much that the kidneys are taxed. A good choice for most cats with CKD is an easily digestible diet low in phosphorus, high in omega-3 fatty acids and rich in essential amino acids — and of course it needs to be tasty.

As cats age, they’re more at risk for CKD. Be sure to adjust veterinary visits accordingly to catch signs of CKD as soon as possible.

We do everything to help our feline friends, so it’s heartbreaking when a medication that’s meant to help ends up being life-threatening.

Ingredients like eprinomectin [epp-rin-oh-MEC-tin], ivermectin [eye-ver-MEC-tin], selamectin [sell-ah-MEC-tin] and cisapride [SIS-ah-pride] are found in popular medications, including parasiticides. They’re safe and effective in most cats but can cause serious adverse effects in cats with a mutation in the MDR1 gene. These cats can’t prevent drugs like these — and maybe others —  from entering the brain and causing severe, sometimes fatal, neurotoxic reactions.

Researchers estimate that up to 4% of cats — about 4 million just in the U.S. — have at least one copy of the MDR1 mutation. That’s why they recommend that all cats be tested to ensure their medications won’t hurt them.a

In the U.S., H5N1 avian influenza — aka the bird flu — has been sickening and killing wild and commercially raised birds since 2021. The virus has also spread to some mammals, including livestock and pets.

Cats are particularly vulnerable, especially outdoor cats that hunt birds. They don’t need to eat their prey — close contact is enough for an infection to spread. And once infected, cats have a high death rate from bird flu.

Feeding cats raw meat diets, especially poultry — also increases the risk of infection. Now with the appearance of H5N1 in cattle, feeding raw beef is risky, too. Offering unpasteurized milk also puts cats at risk.

Avoiding these risks can give cats the best chance of dodging potentially deadly infections.

If your dog seems to have morning sickness, it might be BVS

Dogs can vomit for many reasons — even if they haven’t eaten for a while.

If your dog throws up yellow fluid or foam first thing in the morning, it could be from bilious [BILL-ee-us] vomiting syndrome, or BVS. For some dogs, waiting all night to eat is a bit too much. Come morning, they may not be interested in food or may exhibit nausea by drooling or smacking their lips.

If this sounds familiar, schedule a visit with your veterinarian to sort out the cause. If it’s due to BVS, the recommendation might be to feed more frequent smaller meals, including one just before bedtime. If that’s the case, take care not to add more total daily calories, just readjust feedings. Every dog has different needs, so check with your veterinarian before making changes.

Similar to people, pets are living longer lives these days due to improved veterinary care and dietary habits. But with extended lives comes a whole new set of age-related conditions, which in turn affects the care needs of these “pet elders” – our beloved senior pets. This show’s guest, Dr. Amy Stone, who heads the primary care and dentistry service at UF, will discuss some of the common conditions that affect older pets, which are among the same problems that affect older people: cancer, heart disease, diabetes, kidney/urinary tract disease, senility, among others. She’ll also talk about how to work with your veterinarian at every stage of your pet’s life to ensure that the aging process is as graceful and as painless as it can be.