A Dog And A Comic Walk Into A Bar
Comedian Brian Donnelly

Brian Donnelly had been performing at ImprovBoston for many years. But he was no longer performing alone; he added a new partner in his act, his dog BT.

Brian stated that BT was his comedy muse. Brian adopted BT and said that ever since, he had been pushing out better stuff than he did in the five years he previously worked in Boston.

Brian brought BT into his act because he had an almost human-like personality. BT was the focal point of a coupe of his sketches. Brian had a Web series, "StepFriendz," which he created along with Mike Varejao.

StepFriendz was about two guys who grew up as best friends. In the series, Brian marries Mike's mother later in life and became his stepfather, still remaining best friends.

In BT's sketch, BT was going to be adopted by Brian, but then become Brian's master. BT starts bossing Brian around. For example, when Brian buys a crate for BT, BT turned the table and had Brian sleep in it.

But what did BT stand for? Brian states that most people hate him when he said it stood for Boston Terrier. Real original!

Brian become one of those obsessive dog people and had to delete photos of BT off his phones because he had so many, he couldn't take any more photos!

Pups Unstress Airline Passengers at LAX
Heidi Huebner, PUPS

Traveling can sometimes be stressful. As a result, the Los Angeles International Airport launched the PUP program (Pets Unstressing Passengers), a customer service initiative designed to unstress passengers and take the hassle out of traveling.

There are therapy dogs at the boarding gates, baggage claim and ticketing lobbies, to de-stress passengers. These passengers who visit with these dogs could be leaving and missing their dog, or just be anyone who wants to pet a dog.

Therapy Dogs, Inc., provides the dogs, which is a national non-profit organization that has therapy dog programs all over the United States. The dogs can easily be recognized, as they wear red vests with the PUP Logo, as well as, "Pet Me." This tells people that they are not only working dogs, but these workings dogs are approachable.

The program was a huge success. There is nothing like seeing people smiling, and having their stress level lower immediately, at an airport. Strangers start talking to each other and don't mind the fact that traffic was terrible getting to the airport, or that their flight has been delayed. The dogs make their day!

E-Cigarette Toxicity in Pets - Dr. Debbie

Think that vapor cigarettes (a.k.a. electric cigarettes or e-cigarettes) are a healthier alternative to traditional cigarettes? The vapor habit might be better for you and decrease your pet's exposure to second hand smoke, but can increase the chance of a pet's toxic ingestion of nicotine. A story from England told of the tragic death of a puppy that died after chewing on an e-liquid container.

Ivy was a 14 week on Staffordshire Bull Terrier that chewed on her owner's bottle of e-liquid used to refill the electric cigarettes. Within 30 seconds of nibbling on the container, she fell sick with vomiting and disorientation and was rushed to a veterinary office. Sadly Ivy died within 24 hours due to heart and respiratory failure.

What's in E-liquid?
The ingredients in e-liquid vary but include carriers such as propylene glycol, polyethylene Glycol 400 and vegetable glycerin, as well as flavoring agents and nicotine. The amount of nicotine in e-liquid varies with some products not containing any nicotine, to others ranging from 18 mg/ml to 100mg/ml.

How toxic is nicotine?
The toxic dose of nicotine for pets is 0.5 to 1mg per pound of body weight. The fatal dose is 4mg per pound. So if you consider a 20 pound dog, toxicity would occur if 10mg were ingested, and the pet would die if 80mg were ingested. Therefore with the high nicotine levels in e-liquid, it wont take much to reach those fatal levels. That hypothetical 20 pound dog could die from less than 1ml of the highest potency liquid nicotine.

Pets likewise can develop toxicity if other sources of nicotine are ingested such as cigarettes, chewing tobacco, nicotine gum, or nicotine nasal sprays. The typical amounts of nicotine in these products are: Cigarette 9-30 mg; Nicotine gum 2 - 4 mg per pieces; and Nicotine patches 8.3 - 114 mg.

Even cigarette butts can be toxic if enough are ingested - cigarette butts retain 25-percent of the nicotine in the original cigarette.

What are symptoms of nicotine poisoning?
Symptoms usually develop within one hour of ingestion. Pets may display excitability, rapid heart rate, drooling, vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, seizures, and coma.

How are pets treated for nicotine toxicity?
The first step is to decontaminate by inducing vomiting. Nicotine typically causes vomiting when ingested, but further decontamination is advised at the veterinary office. Other emergency care includes intravenous fluids, medications to manage elevated blood pressure and heart rate, and anti-seizure medications. Nicotine is metabolized by the liver and excreted within 16 hours after ingestion. Pets that survive the initial four hours after ingestion have a favorable chance of survival.

The vapor cigarette trend is becoming more popular world wide. It's important to recognize that nicotine is a toxin and poisonous to animals and children. Consider the e-liquid a hazardous material and store it safely in a locking cabinet, away from children and pets.

To read more about Ivy's toxicity after ingesting e-fluid go to "Dog dies after chewing e-fluid container."

Featured veterinarian known as "Dr. Debbie" on national pet radio program, Animal Radio. Ebook author of "Yorkshire Terriers: How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend"; "Pugs: How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend"; "Mini Schnauzers: How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend"; and "Shih Tzu: How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend." Dr. Debbie's books.

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Animal Disaster Management
When a disaster strikes, immediate measures are taken to save human lives, but the loss of animals has a huge impact on livelihoods. Recognizing the fact that healthy animals help people rebuild their lives after any disaster, central and state government officials met to discuss how animal welfare could be integrated into national disaster management programs. A national animal disaster management conference, the first of its kind in Asia, was held in New Delhi. "In case of disaster, we tend to fend for ourselves, animals are forgotten. It is only when recovery starts that we realize the importance of saving livestock," said Dr. A K Sinha, Senior Research Officer, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). "It is especially crucial in a country like India where 70-percent of the population is dependent on farming." NDMA released national guidelines on biological disaster management, which also included a special chapter on animal disaster management. "The idea of the conference is to integrate all stakeholders, sensitize them about the guidelines, and increase connectivity at the grassroots level," said Dr. Sinha. "We are pursuing a policy of holistic disaster management." NDMA co-hosted the conference along with World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), which has been working with governments across the globe during disasters.

Wonder Pug Detects Guardian's Breast Cancer
An animal rescue worker received a rescue of her own when her dog alerted her to a cancerous growth in her breast. The woman said she knew something was up when her six-year-old pug kept repeatedly nudging her right breast. The woman performed a self-exam and realized she had a lump. She received medical attention and was declared cancer-free. "I thought she was just being annoying, but without her I'd probably be dead. "The lump was so deep I wouldn't ever have found it without Flo the wonder pug." Doctors told her she had a grade 3 malignant tumor. At this stage, tumors are expected to grow rapidly, spreading the cancer faster. But her tumor was discovered in time for it to be successfully removed. He dog isn't the only pooch to help sniff out disease. Cancer-sniffing canines are a growing area of medical research. Scientists around the world have studied dogs' ability to detect bladder cancer from urine samples, and lung and ovarian cancers from sniffing a person's breath, to name a few examples. In a 2011 Japanese study, a black Labrador was able to sniff out colorectal cancer with 98-percent accuracy, a better rate than common medical tests.

Pets Create Comfort And Reduce Stress In Patients
Year ago, a woman lay in intensive care in a hospital in Florida, with severe pneumonia, delirious and hallucinating that she was in jail. With the permission of a doctor on the unit, her husband cooked up a plan. He would bring the family dog to see if the pet could calm his wife down. In the hospital room, the dog ran to the woman's side and nuzzled her hand. She stirred from her delirium just a little bit and began to remember where she was. It was a turning point. From that point on, she seemed to take a turn for the better. It was a one-time deal: after a hurried meeting, hospital staff members decided they wouldn't allow the dog to come again, nor would they let other family members bring family pets to see other patients. That's the policy at most hospitals across the country. But a few medical institutions have taken a different approach and thrown open their doors to patients' own dogs and cats, letting them visit along with spouses, children and friends. (Lots of hospitals have pet therapy programs using trained dogs, but that's a different matter.) The University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore lets family pets visit their owners, so long as certain requirements are met, as does more than a dozen other medical centers. Policies vary at the institutions that allow visits by patients' pets, but many share some of the same requirements. A doctor's order allowing the family pet to visit is typically necessary, as is an attestation from a veterinarian that the animal is healthy and up to date on all its shots. Most institutions require that dogs, the most common visitors, by far, be groomed within a day or so of a visit and on a leash when they walk through hospital corridors. Cats must be taken in and out of the institution in a carrier. Sometimes the visits can be hard on dogs, who often respond viscerally to an owner's illness and may take a day or two to recover from a visit. In the end, officials decided that the benefits, comfort and reduced stress for patients, were more substantial than the risks.

Legal Marijuana A Problem For Dogs In Colorado
Veterinarians are warning Colorado dog owners about the possibility of their animals overdosing on marijuana edibles. Health officials say they've seen a steady rise in marijuana toxicity cases as the drug becomes more readily available. Severe symptoms can include vomiting, tremors, urinary incontinence and even death.

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