Stop Your Dog From Itching!
Dr. Marty Becker, America's Veterinarian

Spring is almost here, but the bad news is that so are allergies for our dogs. But, there's good news in that there are two new medicines to help.

Dr. Marty is excited as a veterinarian about new medicines, because he knows that skin problems are the number one reason people take their dogs to the vet.

When humans get allergies, we sneeze and sniffle and have red runny eyes. But when dogs inhale something, it starts an itch cycle over their bodies. They will then tear open their skin by chewing and scratching, possibly resulting in bacteria and fungal infections. For most pets this is a forever disease.

One of these products actually came out in January 2015. Apoquel was a pill you gave your dog everyday to break the itch cycle. They originally thought they had a 3-year supply, but it was gone so quickly, most people couldn't get it. It is now back in stock and available to everyone. In fact, more than 2 millions dogs have used Apoquel. The good thing about Apoquel is that it works very quickly - with no side affects!

The other product is Cytopoint. Cytopoint targets the specific protein that induces itching in a dog and gets rid of it also with no side affects. Cytopoint is an injectable that lasts 4 to 8 weeks, but some dogs can go even longer than that.

All veterinarians in North America now have two powerful anti-itching tools as their disposal that are simple and safe with no side affects, so don't let your dogs suffer.

Visit Fear Free Happy Homes for tips on making your home fear free and to locate a Fear Free Veterinarian near you. Go to Fear Free Pets to become certified.

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Why Am I Here? Look To Your Dog For The Answers
Sanjay Gupta, Perceiving Purpose

Sanjay Gupta is our guest this week. He says he learned more from his dog than he did during 25 years of Philosophy education. His dog's insights clarify what really is important in life. Sanjay will share the most poignant message his Basset Hound taught him.

Sanjay Gupta is a serial entrepreneur and advisor to Fortune 100 CEOs and Forbes 50 billionaires. He started his first company after graduating with a degree in Philosophy so he could bring his dog to work.

Sanjay's book, titled 'Perceiving Purpose,' offers a way to look at ourselves through the mind of a dog and learn how to be happy as a result. His book was inspired by his Basset Hound Cody. Strangely, Cody taught Sanjay more about philosophy than 25 years of actual philosophy and theology, which included a lot of reading.

Sanjay explains that the thing with dogs, and Basset Hounds in particular, is that they have this presence about them that makes them look very wise. When you're looking at them, you get the sense that they have something going on in their heads.

This made Sanjay start to think about what was actually going on with his dog. When he started actually looking at the actions that Cody was doing on a daily basis, he found some very, very strange things!

One of the most unusual things that Sanjay observed was when he took Cody out on a canoe trip. Cody hated water and would avoid it whenever he could. However, when they got the canoe in the lake, the first thing Cody did was to jump into the water. Sanjay could not understand why Cody would do this. But in thinking about it, Sanjay felt that Cody perceived that the black looking lake was actually asphalt.

Sanjay used this as being the groundwork for how Cody perceived the world vs. what he wanted to do with the world. This is how the book started.

Sanjay feels that dogs are actually the one creature that we relate to really well that can actually make sense of the world. We just don't pay attention to how much they actually know. This is sad, because look at how happy they are!

One of the things Sanjay tried to remind himself of was the fact that he can't pretend to know what goes on in other people's heads, but when he looks at Cody, he would love to know what he is thinking about. It's a really arrogant presumption for Sanjay to think that a human being could possibly know what God's creature is thinking.

So maybe his dog is very brilliant and knows something that he doesn't. This is something he wanted to turn the tables on in terms of his own thought process about how he looks at the world. Sanjay encouraged other people to do the same with their own lives. He states you need to look at things from a different perspective, not just the one you were taught to look at from.

So what is the most important thing Sanjay learned from Cody? Life is not at all what we could possibly even imagine it to be. Sanjay knows that when he picked up Cody from the pound when he was 2 years old, he might have had some type of conception of what his life at the "farm" was going to look like when he was first born and raised there. But when he was dropped off at the pound, Sanjay doesn't know if Cody thought that was where his life was going to end up and then his life was going to transition to another life with him.

Whatever preconceived notions that we have about how we are supposed to live our lives, Sanjay feels we need to reexamine them, which is what Cody has done for him. If we hold on to them too tightly, we will never have the capacity to be happy - it's just not possible. Cody gave Sanjay so much in that release that he can't thank him enough!

Sanjay, who was born and raised in New England, was educated at Georgetown and Oxford and was honored by the World Economic Forum (Davos) as a Young Global Leader in 2010. His dog, Cody, passed away in 2016 after a courageous battle with cancer.

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 Radio News - Lori Brooks

Can Cats Cause Schizophrenia?
As if parents of young children didn't have enough things to worry about, here's another. Some scientists think pet cats might increase a child's risk of developing schizophrenia. But there's good news out of this growing field of research, which focuses on the links between a cat-borne parasite that causes toxoplasmosis and mental health disorders. A study of about 5,000 children in the United Kingdom found no evidence that cat ownership during gestation or childhood was associated with psychotic experiences that can be early signs of mental illness, such as hallucinations or paranoia, when they were teenagers. However, the study's authors write there's good evidence that T. gondii infections (which cause toxoplasmosis) are associated with psychosis. Some researchers are now hypothesizing that owning cats in childhood increases the risk of developing mental illnesses, particularly schizophrenia and a handful of studies have supported this idea. But, they note that people can also become infected with T. gondii from undercooked meat or contaminated water. This new study is much larger than previous studies and it's based on data collected from children born in the early 1990s and tracked for decades. What the research doesn't answer is whether cat ownership during pregnancy and childhood is linked to schizophrenia later in life, because the participants haven't yet reached the age of onset of that disorder, which typically develops between 18 and 25. The researchers added that if there were a cat-mental illness connection, the early signs would be detectable when the participants were screened for psychotic experiences at ages 13 and 18. However, they warn pregnant women should continue to avoid the litter box, because T. gondii infections can cause serious birth defects and complications. At the end of the study, the authors added an unusual conflict-of-interest statement - they all own or have owned cats, but that did not affect their work.

Unusual Things Confiscated by Airline Customs
You can only imagine some of the incredibly unusual things that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have confiscated at Washington Dulles International Airport, now they can add horse genitals to that list. The CBP at the airport confiscated 42 pounds of horse meat, including 13 pounds of horse genitals from two women who had flown into the U.S. from Mongolia. During a routine questioning and search for agricultural items, CBP specialists found the horse meat, which was hidden inside juice boxes along 3 liters of yak milk. One woman said the meat was for medicinal purposes. Authorities say people often travel with food products that are normal to their culture but are not allowed in the U.S., unless it is certified by the country it came from and horse meat from Mongolia is specifically prohibited because of concerns of exposing diseases to U.S. livestock.

As The Saying Goes, Everything Is Bigger In Texas!
Only in Texas would you walk into someone's home and be greeted by a 2,500 pound family pet buffalo named Wild Thing. He's been living in his human parents house since he was a three-month-old calf and is treated just like he's a member of the family. Ronnie and Sherron Bridges even gave Wild Thing his own bedroom, where they say he likes to watch cartoons. They also let him eat at their dining room table and are OK with him wandering in and out of the house whenever he pleases. The Bridges say, "It's like having a small car in the house." Although Wild Thing does his best not to damage his parents' home, Dad Ronnie admits that there have been a few close calls when something spooked him and he accidentally ran off, picking him up with his horns, running around with him holding on.

Dog Shoots Sleeping Girlfriend
A man who claims his girlfriend was shot while she was sleeping blamed the dog! Brian Murphy says his partner was shot in the leg after their dog Diesel leaped on the nightstand where he keeps his gun and accidentally set it off. He told Jacksonville, Florida Police that the dog woke him up that night so he decided to take him for a nighttime walk. When they returned, Diesel ran ahead of him into the couple's dark bedroom where his girlfriend was soundly sleeping. He then saw a flash accompanied by a loud bang and realized the girlfriend was injured. She made a full recovery.

Fake Service Animals Is A Crime
Misrepresenting a pet as a service animal has become a crime in Wyoming under a bill in the state Legislature. The issue stems from people claiming their pet is a service animal in order to bring it into a place like a restaurant, store or rental property that doesn't allow pets.

Listen to the entire Podcast of this show (#1108)