Rabies!

I think almost everyone knows about rabies virus and that it is just about 100% fatal - really scary stuff.  What you may not realize is how prevalent it is and that your pets have a real risk of exposure which is why vaccination is so critical in our companion animals.  In 2012 there were 60 animals that tested positive for rabies the District of Columbia.  That means in one year Animal Control confirmed 39 raccoons, 20 bats and 1 fox tested positive in the 68 square miles that make up DC. 

These critters aren't staying holed up in Rock Creek Park either, they are around our neighborhoods and in our backyards.  In April a raccoon ran up to a man in Georgetown while he was loading his car and bit him on the leg.  That raccoon was later captured by animal control and tested positive for rabies.  A few years ago we had clients bring their cat into the hospital after a raccoon climbed down their chimney, popped out of the fireplace and attacked their cat. 

This is as close as my cats get to the outdoors

I routinely have a conversation with owners of cats who are indoor only and never venture out into the world about why they need to be vaccinated for rabies.  The short answer here is that it is required by law; unfortunately that is not always a convincing argument for some people.  I then tell them that bats can worm their way into tiny spaces including a hole in a screened window.  These tiny bats have tiny teeth that don’t always leave a mark on the skin after a bite.  It is entirely possible that your indoor only cat could be exposed to a rabid animal without you knowing about it.

If that doesn't sway them I then refer to a recent story out of Georgia about a 15 year old, indoor only cat that had been vaccinated for rabies in the past but the vaccine was past due.  The cat bit the owner and ended up testing positive for rabies.  You can read the story by clicking here. 

Finally dog and cat owners need to keep in mind that if at any time their pet bites someone and is not up to date on the rabies vaccine the person who was bitten can request rabies testing.  Rabies testing is done by euthanizing the animal and taking sample of the brain.  In my opinion, unless there is a medical reason not to vaccinate it is much safer for everyone to just keep your pet up to date on the rabies vaccine.

Brachycephalic Airway Disease - what you need to know!

Frank the Pug

As the weather is heating up I want to send a special advisory out to my smushy-faced canine pals.  I am talking to the owners of those adorable Pugs, Frenchies, Boston terriers and bulldogs that need to be the most watchful for heat stroke as the temperatures rise.  You must know what Brachycephalic Syndrome is so you can keep your dog safe from heat stroke.

The anatomy of brachycephalic (fancy word for smushy-faced) breeds is not compatible with efficient breathing and when combined with high temperatures and humidity can be extremely dangerous.  Selecting individuals for breeding that had the most “smushed in” muzzles created these breeds.  This then resulted in dogs with highly abnormal airways and excessive soft tissue formation in the throat.

The components of Brachycephalic Airway Disease are as follows:

• Elongated Soft Palate – Through evolution these breed’s noses got pushed back and the soft palpate went with it.  As a result the soft palpate is too long for the throat and will intermittently obstruct the windpipe making it difficult to breathe.  This causes the dog to struggles to suck in air and over time the soft palate gets even longer making the problem even worse.

• Stenotic Nares – This refers to the size of the dog’s nostrils.  If you look at the nose of a brachycephalic dog you will usually see two slits rather than nice oval openings as in non-brachycephalic dogs.  To see why this is a problem, I will ask you to lightly pinch your own nostrils, obstructing them just a bit and breathe deeply.  You should notice how much more difficult it is inhaling than with normal wide open nostrils.   Once again this causes the dog to struggle to breathe in which creates increased negative pressure in the throat adding to the elongation of the soft palate. 

• Everted Laryngeal Saccules – These are two meaty clumps of soft tissue that normally sit on either side of the windpipe tucked out of the way.  With the constant negative pressure created by the above two conditions these pop into the throat and can further obstruct the trachea.

• Hypoplastic Trachea – The trachea, also know as your windpipe, is a hollow tube and the entrance to the lungs.  Brachycephalic breeds are born with a very narrow trachea, which serves to limit airflow into the lungs.  Think about the difference in breathing normally verse trying to suck in air through a straw.

Crash the French Bulldog

I hope you can see from the above descriptions that brachycephalic breeds are not designed to breathe easily.  If you then consider that the main way a dog dissipates body heat is by panting you can see how these breeds can so easily and so quickly overheat.

Here is where the cool part of preventative medicine comes in!  We can help minimize and at times even prevent Brachycephalic Airway Disease.  The best time to start is when your dog is young, before too much damage has occurred.  At Friendship we recommend that at the time of spay or neuter all brachycephalic breeds have their stenotic nares widened and their soft palate evaluated to see if it needs to be shortened.  



Stenotic nares before




After repair - note how much more open the nostrils are


 

These two simple procedures can go a long way to helping your adorable smushy-faced friend enjoy the warm weather AND live a longer, more comfortable life.  Sounds like a win-win to me!

Fashion for Paws 2013 was a huge success!

Fashion for Paws was absolutely amazing this year!  Frank and I were thrilled to have raised nearly $18,000 of the more than $700,000 the event brought in overall this year for the animals of the Washington Humane Society.  That put us third in the fundraising competition between models and we were honored to be invited on stage to accept an award.  The winner, Susan Ostrowski, raised an astounding $38,000 - big congrats to her!

I wore Lilly Pulitzer who is a personal favorite of mine.  I am such a fan of Lilly that I actually named my Chihuahua mix after her.  Lilly the dog does not participate in Fashion for Paws as she would absolutely hate being dragged up onstage but Frank is a natural on the runway.  You can see him below greeting is adoring fans after the show.

Thank you to everyone who supported us by donating, you have made a huge difference in the lives of the 30,000 animals that WHS cares for!

Happy Paws Spring Fair - April 7th

Fashion for Paws is rapidly approaching; the dogs take over the catwalk at the Nation Building Museum in a little over a week.  Frank and I are thrilled to have raised over $14,000 so far.  To raise as much money as possible to help the nearly 30,000 abused, abandoned and neglected animals that WHS cares for each year we have teamed up with Happy Paws to host a Spring Fair on Sunday, April 7th. 

We invite everyone, dogs included, to join us for a day of family fun.  There will be games for the kids, a raffle with amazing prizes, a professional photographer taking dog portraits and Friendship veterinarians to make sure your dog is a healthy weight.  The WHS Adopt Force One van will be there with adorbale animals looking for forever homes.

The raffle prizes alone are worth the trip – 10 days of boarding or day care at Happy Paws, Friendship Hospital for Animals gift cards and 6 months of food from Hill’s Science Diet!  In addition Rito Loco food truck will be serving up the best burritos in town for lunch.  All proceeds from the day will go to support Frank and me in Fashion for Paws.

I hope to see you there!

April 7th 
11 am to 1 pm
Happy Paws
4904 Wisconsin Avenue NW

Lilly Loses Weight Too!

Here is Akanya after 1 week on her new diet of Hill’s new prescription weight loss food Metabolic.  Her owner, Erin reports she is loving the food and doing great.  We will plan on weighing her in one month to see how she is responding.  Based on Hill’s Healthy Weight Protocol I expect her to lose about 0.2 pounds per week so she should be under 12 pounds and one paw closer to her ideal weight of 8 pounds.

I was so excited about this new breakthrough in weight loss for our pets that I decided to sign my dog Lilly up for the challenge.  Lilly is an eight-year-old Chihuahua mix and being so tiny she has always struggled with her weight.  Due to her size and love of sitting on the couch she simply can’t consume that many calories without gaining weight. 

About a year ago she topped out at over 13 pounds and I think she felt the extra weight.  She would run around at the dog park but at home she would sit by herself and not really interact much with my other dogs.  I have been feeding her and my 11-year-old rat terrier Hill’s j/d (joint diet) because Sparkle has knee issues.  Lilly was getting a quarter cup of food twice a day, which is really not that much.  I further decreased the amount to an eighth of a cup and she lost about 2 pounds over the next 6 months. 

With this drop in weight her energy level and attitude completely changed.  She became much more interactive with both the people and animals in the house.  Still I thought she was a bit chubby at 11.3 pounds so I decided to measure her using Hill’s Healthy Weight Protocol.  After entering her measurements and current weight into the computer program it came out that her body fat index was 48% and she should weigh 7 pounds!

I have to admit I was shocked and immediately re-measured her about three more times, each time getting about the same thing.  I knew she weighed more than I would like but this put her at serious risk for some nasty diseases.  She started eating Metabolic that night!

So far Lilly seems to be happy with her new diet.  She gobbles down her food and gets to eat a whole third of a cup of food, clearly way more than she was eating before.  I also add in a fish oil supplement to make sure she has enough omega-3 fatty acids in her diet.  I am looking forward to seeing how she responds and watch those pounds melt away.  If only they made a food like this for people….

Tackling Obesity One Cat at a Time

Meet Akanya!  She is a two and a half year old kitty owned by Erin who works as one of Friendship’s Client Care Technicians.  Erin has graciously volunteered to let Akayna be my guinea pig in testing out Hill’s new Healthy Weight Protocol and corresponding Metabolic Diet. 

Akayna has come a long way from the streets of Botswana where Erin rescued her while serving the in Peace Corps.  She is now a fat (literally) and very happy housecat who needs to shed a few pounds.  As I’m sure most cat owners know this is no easy task and unfortunately this is the most common recommendation I make to owners during annual exams. Click here to read my post about the obesity epidemic cats.

Hill’s has teamed up with the University of Tennessee to create a better system to estimate body fat in overweight animals.  They found that if we could more accurately determine how much a pet was overweight then we could devise a more precise feeding plan that would results in more effective weight loss.

Erin brought Akayna to Friendship so that I could take a few measurements and get a baseline weight.  We then entered this information into a computer program and found out that at 12.4 pounds she had a body fat index of 47.5% and was in the “serious risk” category.  Her ideal body weight was given as 8.1 pounds.

Click on chart for better visualization

Armed with this information we then calculated she should eat one-quarter cup and one half of a can of Hill’s new Metabolic prescription diet every day.  This is the newest of Hill’s diets that was formulated using nutrigenomics to affect gene expression working with the animal’s metabolism for more effective weight loss.  

I am so excited to track Akayna’s progress!  Obesity is something that so many pet owners struggle with and it is one of the few concrete things we can address to ensure our pets live a long and healthy life.  Let me know if you are interested in joining us on this weight loss endeavor!

Fashion for Paws 2013!

Spring is on the way and with it comes Fashion for Paws!

 My husband Hugh, Frank and I kicked off our fundraising by attending A Sugar and Champagne Affair last week.  This wonderful event, now in its 12th year, honors the hard working humane law enforcement officers of Washington Humane Society (WHS).  We meandered around the Ronald Regan Building with other dogs and their humans while sampling tasty treats from pastry chefs around town.  Hugh and I also indulged in champagne tasting - Frank was not allowed because he is not of age.

This week launches the eight week countdown for fundraising until the Runway Show on April 13th at the National Building Museum.  Below are some numbers that will hopefully persuade you to donate (preferable in support of me and Frank) to WHS.  They provide critical care to countless abused, neglected and abandoned animals of the District.

• WHS Field Officers (Animal Control & Humane Law Enforcement) responded to nearly 14,212 calls for help in 2012

• WHS provided low-cost spay/neuter services to more than 7,460 cats and dogs in 2012

• WHS' low-cost vaccine clinic vaccinated approximately 8,000 animals in 2012

• For the past 26 years, WHS has been teaching DC school children about the importance of respect and compassion for all living beings. The WHS Humane Education program worked with more than 2,630 students and adults at schools, workplaces, career fairs and special community events in 2012.

• WHS' DOG TAGS program brings together wounded warriors in the DC metro region with homeless dogs at WHS, providing therapy and training for both the soldiers and dogs

Please consider giving to this truly wonderful cause!  You can visit http//:support.washhumane.org/goto/ashleyandfrank for more information or to make a donation

Me and Frank on the runway in 2013