Gardening is a summer passion for many pet owners. Poisons in gardening products can make your pet seriously ill and at worse cause death. Cocoa Mulch is one such product. It has been out for years. It smells like chocolate and some dogs will eat it. It causes seizures and death. The harmful ingredient is "Theo bromine" and comes from cocoa bean shells. Check the labels of your garden mulch for this ingredient and don't use it if your pets will wander around the yard where you mulch.
Other products to be aware of are slug poison, rat poison, ant poison, weed poison, insect poison and other toxic garden items. If you spray it, keep pets away for a while to be safe. A friend of mine bought slug poison. She asked the clerk at the store if it would be harmful to her dogs. The lady, who must have wanted the sale badly, said, "No, of course not, it's safe." My friends dog ate the slug poison and almost died. Fortunately, she was rushed to the vets and saved. Read labels and if it doesn't say safe for pets, assume it isn't safe. If you search the internet, you can find recipes for natural pet insecticides and fertilizers that are not harmful to pets or wild life. That is a much better solution than poison.
Check out plants before you purchase them. Different plants may be toxic to your dog, cat, horse, etc. If you think your pet may have eaten a poisonous plant or toxic poison, call the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center: 1-888-426-4435, Massachusetts SPCA 1-877--226-4355, ww.smspca.org, PROSTAR International Poison Control Center 1-888-232-8870. Check you area now, before a tragedy hits, and see if there is an Animal Poison Control Center near your home. Post these phone numbers with your families other emergency numbers.
If you know your pet swallowed something poisonous, you need to get to a vet. First you want to make sure they have thrown up. They may have already done this. Do not make the pet vomit if he is in a stupor, unconscious, convulsing, or having very heavy breathing.
To induce vomit, give dogs a 3% mixture of Hydrogen Peroxide to water. One teaspoon for each 10 pounds the dog weighs. They can receive this up to three times, 15 to 20 minuets apart and walk the dog between doses.
Syrup of Ipecac can be used but is not as effective as Hydrogen Peroxide for dogs. Call the poison control and your vet and get them to the vets office as soon as possible.
Heat stroke is a big risk in the summer heat. Make sure your pets have plenty of fresh water at all times. Don't leave them locked in a hot car. Cars left in the sun can be 20 to 30 degrees hotter inside the car, especially if the windows are rolled up. Don't take pets to the store and leave them in the parking lot. If the temperature is high, leave them home and keep them safe. Make sure pets have shelter and shade when outside to protect them from hot direct sunlight.
Heat stroke is a real risk and can cause death. Dog don't have pores to sweat and cool off like people do. They cool off by panting and a tiny bit through their paws. Heat is harder for them to handle than it is for their human owners. Call your vet right away if you pet has been exposed to high heat.
Signs of heat stroke are:
heavy breathing and panting
tongue and mucus membranes are bright red
a lot of thick saliva
vomiting
unsteady
passes bloody diarrhea
as the dog goes into shock the mucus membranes turn gray
collapsing pet will go into seizures and death takes place
This is a serious emergency. Treatment you can give is take measures to cool the pet off. Put into an air conditioned area. Place in cool tap water (not ice water) for a few minuets. If you have a room fan, put the wet pet in front of the fan. Cool packs can be used on the groin. Keep the paws wiped with cool water. If you have a rectal thermometer, take the temperature every few minuets until the temperature is 103 degrees or lower. Then the pet is safe. Dry them off and keep them out of heat for 24 hours while they recover from their experience. It is advisable to take them to a vet right away as there are other complications from heat stroke that a vet should check.
Advice on these topics and more are found the the "Dog Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook" and can be purchased at EverythingNaturalPetFood.com in the pet education book section. Everyone should have a book like this on hand for dogs, cats, or horses because you never know what emergency you may have to deal with in the future.
Weight loss is a good thing to help your pets with so they can be healthier and enjoy the summer. I recommend you feed them a natural, human grade, organic, holistic dog or cat food that is high in protein and low in fat. One that is developed for overweight pets. EVO makes an excellent natural high protein dog food. Here are the details:
Ingredients:
Turkey, Chicken, Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, Potatoes, Herring Oil, Natural Flavors, Egg, Tomatoes, Apples, Carrots,Cottage Cheese, Alfalfa Sprouts, Potassium Chloride, Vitamins/Minerals, Dried Chicory Root Extract, Ascorbic Acid, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract
Guaranteed Analysis %:
Protein 52
Fat 15.5
Moisture 10
Fiber 2.5
Extra Information:Calories 1643 Kcal/lb Calories 3615 Kcal/Kg Calories 440 KCals/Cup
EVO also makes canned and dry cat foods that are as equally impressive as far as natural human grade ingredients. Try some and see the difference at EverythingNaturalPetFood.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment