Pistachio recall

The FDA and the California Department of Public Health are investigating another Salmonella contamination - this time in pistachio products. Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc has voluntarily recalled approximately 1 million pounds of its products, which likely will impact many food items out there. Unfortunately, Setton hasn't listed their recall on their website, so please check with the FDA with any concerns, as this will likely be updated frequently.

The contamination involves multiple strains of Salmonella. In young children, immunosuppressed individuals (those undergoing chemotherapy, HIV +, etc.), or in the elderly, Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections. Clinical signs include vomiting, diarrhea (often times bloody), and generalized malaise. While we don't expect this to be a problem affecting our pets, heed caution for yourself!

Spring time toxins

By Erica Cargill, CVT and Justine Lee, DVM, DACVECC

Spring is just around the corner! Plant bulbs are just as excited to break through the ground to add some color to our yards as we are to see some greenery! That said, we need to be aware of the potential dangers spring plants can be for our pets. Here is a list of some of the most common spring plants and their toxicities… so you know how to pet-proof your garden and keep your pet safe!

Tulips and Hyacinth
Tulips contain allergenic lactones while hyacinths contain similar alkaloids. The toxic principle of these plants is very concentrated in the bulbs (versus the leaf or flower), so make sure your dog isn’t digging up the bulbs in the garden. When the plant parts or bulbs are chewed or ingested, it can result in tissue irritation to the mouth and esophagus. Typical signs include profuse drooling, vomiting, or even diarrhea, depending on the amount consumed. There’s no specific antidote, but with supportive care from the veterinarian (including rinsing the mouth, anti-vomiting medication, and possibly subcutaneous fluids), animals do quite well. With large ingestions of the bulb, more severe symptoms such as an increase in heart rate and changes in respiration can be seen, and should be treated by a veterinarian. These more severe signs are seen in cattle or our overzealous, chowhound Labradors.

Daffodils
These flowers contain lycorine, an alkaloid with strong emetic properties (something that triggers vomiting). Ingestion of the bulb, plant or flower can cause severe vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and even possible cardiac arrhythmias or respiratory depression. Crystals are found in the outer layer of the bulbs, similar to hyacinths, which cause severe tissue irritation and secondary drooling. Daffodil ingestions can result in more severe symptoms so if an exposure is witnessed or symptoms are seen, we recommend seeking veterinary care for further supportive care.

Lilies
There are dangerous and benign lilies out there, and it’s important to know the difference. Peace, Peruvian, and Calla lilies contain oxalate crystals that cause minor signs, such as tissue irritation to the mouth, tongue, pharynx, and esophagus – this results in minor drooling. The more dangerous, potentially fatal lilies are true lilies, and these include Tiger, Day, Asiatic, Easter and Japanese Show lilies – all of which are highly toxic to cats! Even small ingestions (such as 2-3 petals or leaves) can result in severe kidney failure. If your cat is seen consuming any part of a lily, bring your cat (and the plant) immediately to a veterinarian for medical care. The sooner you bring in your cat, the better and more efficiently we can treat the poisoning. Decontamination (like inducing vomiting and giving binders like activated charcoal) are imperative in the early toxic stage, while aggressive intravenous fluid therapy, kidney function monitoring tests, and supportive care can greatly improve the prognosis.

Crocus
There are two Crocus plants: one that blooms in the spring (Crocus species) and the other in the autumn (Colchicum autumnale). The spring plants are more common and are part of the Iridaceae family. These ingestions can cause general gastrointestinal upset including vomiting and diarrhea. These should not be mistaken for Autumn Crocus, part of the Liliaceae family, which contain colchicine. The Autumn Crocus is highly toxic and can cause severe vomiting, gastrointestinal bleeding, liver and kidney damage, and respiratory failure. If you’re not sure what plant it is, bring your pet to their veterinarian immediately for care. Signs may be seen immediately but can be delayed for days.

Lily of the Valley
The Convallaria majalis plant contains cardiac glycosides which will cause symptoms similar to digitalis (foxglove) ingestion. These symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, a drop in heart rate, severe cardiac arrhythmias, and possibly seizures. Pets with any known exposure to this plant should be examined and evaluated by a veterinarian and treated symptomatically.

In addition…Fertilizers
As we gardeners work on our rose garden, be aware of those fertilizers. While most are not very toxic (resulting in minor gastrointestinal irritation when consumed), some fertilizers can be fatal without treatment. Here are a few ingredients to be aware of so you know what toxins and symptoms to watch out for.

· Blood meal – This is dried, ground, and flash-frozen blood and contains 12% nitrogen. While it’s a great organic fertilizer, if ingested, it can cause vomiting (of some other poor animal’s blood) and diarrhea. More importantly, it can result in severe pancreatitis, which is inflammation of the pancreas. Some types of blood meal are also fortified with iron, resulting in iron toxicity, so make sure to know what’s in your bag of blood!

· Bone Meal – This is made up of defatted, dried, and flash-frozen animal bones that are ground to a powder. This “bone” is also what makes it so palatable to your dog, so make sure to keep your pet from digging in it and ingesting the soil. While this also makes a great organic fertilizer, it can become a problem when consumed as the bone meal forms a large cement-like bone ball in the stomach – which can cause an obstruction in the gastrointestinal tract – resulting in possible surgery to remove it!

· Rose and plant fertilizers – Some of these fertilizers contain disulfoton or other types of organophosphates (OP). As little as 1 teaspoon of 1% disulfoton can kill a 55 lb dog, so be careful! Organophosphates, while less commonly used, can result in severe symptoms [including SLUD signs (which abbreviate for salivation, lacrimation, urination, and defecation), seizures, difficulty breathing, hyperthermia, etc. In some cases, it can be fatal!

· Pesticides/Insecticides – Most pesticides or insecticides (typically those that come in a spray can) are basic irritants to the pet and are usually not a huge concern unless a pet’s symptoms become persistent. Some may contain an organophosphate which can be life threatening when consumed in large quantities. It is always best to speak to a trained medical professional if there are any questions.

· Iron – This is commonly added to fertilizers, and can result in iron toxicity (from ingestion of elemental iron). This is different from “total” iron ingestion, and can be confusing to differentiate. When in doubt, have a medical professional at Pet Poison Helpline assist you with finding out if the amount ingested was toxic or not. Large ingestions can result in vomiting, bloody diarrhea, and potential cardiac and liver effects.

The best thing any pet owner can do is to be educated on the household toxins (both inside the house and out in the garden!) - that way you make sure how to pet proof your house appropriately. Make sure to keep all these products in labeled, tightly-sealed containers out of your pet’s reach. When in doubt, please feel free to Pet Poison Helpline at 1-800-213-6680 with any questions or concerns if you’re worried that your pet could have inadvertently gotten into anything!

Please feel free to spread the word – feel free to copy this to distribute – spread the word on springtime toxins and help keep your pet safe!

References:

Lieske CL: Spring-blooming bulbs: A year round problem. Veterinary Medicine 580-588;2002.

Burrows GE, Tyrl RJ: Toxic plants of North America. Iowa State Press. Ames, IA. 2001. Pp. 773-776, 778-780.

Poppenga R H: Toxic household, Garden and Ornamental Plants. Western Veterinary Conference; 2002.

Making Man's Best Friend Better: Bone Marrow Transplants for Canine Lymphoma

Dogs suffering from lymphoma are now able to receive the same medical treatment as their human counterparts through a new bone marrow transplant procedure offered by the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Thanks to Dr. Steven Suter, assistant professor of oncology, NC State is the first veterinary program in the nation to offer canine bone marrow transplants in a clinical setting! This is huge breaking news!

The relatively new procedure involves the use of leukophoresis machines—the same equipment used in human medicine—that are designed to harvest healthy stem cells from the peripheral blood. The machines are used in conjunction with drug therapy to harvest stem cells that have left the patient's bone marrow and entered the bloodstream.

Harvested cancer-free cells are then reintroduced into the patient after total body radiation is used to kill residual cancer cells left in the body. This treatment is called peripheral blood stem cell transplantation.

“Canine lymphoma is one of the most common types of cancer in dogs,” says Dr. Suter. “While the survival rate with current treatments is extremely low—about 0 to 2 percent—the cure rate for dogs that have received a bone marrow transplant is at least 30 percent. We see from human medicine that peripheral blood stem cell transplantation, in conjunction with chemotherapy, has raised human survival rates considerably.”

The harvesting procedure itself takes six hours and the patient remains in the hospital for two weeks following the procedure. The bone marrow transplant process is completely painless for dogs, although the dogs do experience some GI distress, manifested mainly as diarrhea, from the total body radiation.

“This is not a new technology, it’s just a new application of an existing technology” says Dr. Suter. “Doctors have been treating human patients with bone marrow transplantation for many years, and there have been canine patient transplants performed in a research setting for about 20 years, but it’s never been feasible as a standard therapy until now.”

Homemade remedies for poisonings

When it comes to our pets and poisons, we don't want to chance endangering our pet's lives with some made up, Internet-discovered, erroneous home remedies! We hear it all - owners who use milk, peanut butter, vegetable oil, or salt...and these remedies are all WRONG! Please know that these products should NEVER be administered as they don't work, unless you consult your veterinarian first! Of all these products, only milk may help... but you may or may not use it at the right time. Consult your veterinarian or Pet Poison Helpline to find out:

1) if the product ingested was poisonous to begin with,
2) what the true antidote is, and
3) if emesis (inducing vomiting) is warranted or medically indicated.

Remember, there's a lot of good AND bad information out there on the Web, and you must be able to separate the wheat from the chaff!

Top 10 toxic titans: Why you should keep your household medications away from your pet!

Want to avoid a phone call to Pet Poison Helpline? Child and pet-proof your house! Due to the curious nature of cats and the sharp teeth of dogs (who are able to chew through any "child-proof" cap), pets get into YOUR medications, which can be deadly.

Top 10 human medications that poison pets include:

* NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that result in severe GI signs or even kidney failure)
* Antidepressants
* Acetaminophen (Tylenol)
* Methylphenidate (for ADHD)
* Fluorouracil (a chemotherapy drug - often topically applied - that is EXTREMELY toxic to pets!)
* Isoniazid (an anti-tuberculosis medication that is EXTREMELY toxic to pets!)
* Pseudoephedrine (commonly found in cold medication)
* Anti-diabetics (oral antihyperglycemic agents that help lower the blood sugar)
* Vitamin D derivatives (found in Viactiv chocolate chews, certain types of rat poison!)
* Baclofen (a muscle relaxant)

When in doubt, call PPH at 1-800-213-6680 for medical advice on what to do. While it's a $35 fee/case (which is the most cost-effective animal poison control out there!), it's worth making sure your pet is safe. It's always safer for your pet to call as soon as you find out about the poisoning - as decontaminating your pet (pumping his or her stomach, inducing vomiting, or giving activated charcoal) can only be done within a short window of time.

Are there pet wheelchairs?

If your dog or cat were born with a congenital handicap, or if he becomes acutely paralyzed from spinal cord cancer or a slipped disc, you can get him a cart. Carts are designed to support your pet's back legs, provided that his front legs are normal and able to pull the cart around. This is most common in dachshunds, who have a long back and are more predisposed to a slipped disc and acute paralysis. We generally do not recommend riding in the cart with these dogs or having them carry groceries, however fun it may seem.

I didn't ethically believe in dog carts when I first started my vet career, as I felt they reduced a dogs quality of life. However, after putting my first patient in one (a young Shih Tzu that was hit by a car and had a broken back), I realized that with some environmental changes to the house (no stairs, only ramps), this dog did great! He tore around the hospital on recheck examinations and even the nurses were converted to believers. Since then, I do believe that some pets do well in carts. Hunting dogs - no; lazy couch potatoes - yes.

Material from "It's a Cat's World... You Just Live In It", available at Amazon.com. Copyright Justine Lee Veterinary Consulting, LLC. 2008.

Can dogs see color?

Veterinarians used to believe that dogs saw only black and white, but recently studies suggest that they actually do have some color vision - its just not as bright as a human's color spectrum. Cone photoreceptor cells are what control the perception of color, and while cones make up 100 percent of the photoreceptors in the central part of the human retina, they make up only 20 percent in the same part of a dog's retina. While we can't ask dogs to read an eye chart or pick out colors, behavioral tests suggest that dogs may be colorblind, meaning they don't see green and red hues well.

A dog's ability to see (acuity) is much less than a humans; some believe that dogs only have 20 to 40 percent of the visual acuity of a human, which means dogs may be 20-90 compared to our 20-20. This means that what you as a human see at 75 or 90 feet, a dog may see only at 20 feet. Veterinary ophthalmologists believe that dogs vision has evolved to help them hunt. With the combination of a dog's ability to see color, their ability to focus their large field of view, and their depth perception, dogs actually do pretty well in comparison with the rest of the animal kingdom. Even blind dogs seem to acclimate well to familiar surroundings, and this may be due to their ability to compensate and utilize other senses such as their strong sense of smell and hearing.

The prevalence of intestinal worms among pet owners in the USA

A recent study from the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (March 2009) showed that despite our push as veterinarians to deworm dogs, there are still lots of wormy dogs out there! Being that gastrointestinal worms can be associated with symptoms in pets (like diarrhea, vomiting, weight loss, etc.) and in humans (like blindness from cutaneous larval migrans), it's imperative that all our pets be dewormed.

This study looked at 2,785,248 fecal tests, and found that dogs less than 6 months of age had higher odds of roundworm and whipworm infection compared to dogs over 6 months of age. Sexually intact male and female dogs were also more likely to have gastrointestinal parasites, along with those dogs from the southeast area (Texas, Louisiana, and those dirty, dirty southern states!).

When in doubt, get your dog or cat dewormed and make sure everyone in the household (2-legged and 4-legged creatures) are all healthy!

Cloud Star Corporation - Pet Product Review - PART II

First of all, let me say that I love this company's motto: wag more, bark less. Oh, we should all take this advice! Cloud Star even has cool bumper stickers touting this logo, which sometimes come free with product purchases. What I wonder is whether or not it'll be considered inappropriate to slap one of these stickers on the bumpers of some particularly bad two-legged human types.

One aspect about Cloud Star that I really treasure is their tithing. Cloud Star donates 10% of net profits to multiple organizations that benefit animals, women, children, and the environment. They also selectively donate products (like sample dog treats) to non-profit organizations (such as shelters, human societies, etc.) that support the well-being of animals. They’re quite discriminating in who they donate to, and list specifics on their website. Next, this company appears to be pretty “green” (see “How to go green with your pet.”), and they use some recyclable materials in their product containers. To top it off, Cloud Star belongs to the 1% for the Planet, which means that 1% of all sales goes towards environmental organizations.

Next, as a vet concerned about pet-overpopulation, I was glad to see that this company supports pet adoption. In fact, Cloud Star was initially started when the founders adopted a food-allergic dog which required a special diet. After home-cooking for their pet, voila, their company was born! Lastly, and most importantly, Cloud Star uses human-grade products, with no artificial preservatives or flavors. And their pet products are all made in America; knowing that we have stricter regulations (USDA, FDA, AAFCO) than other countries, this is a must nowadays, particularly after the pet food scare with melamine last year.

At any rate, JP and I reviewed a few of their products recently. Just to warn you, JP is extremely discriminating, and often leaves pig ears untouched…

Farmstand Sweet Potato Slices: JP definitely prefers meat over veggies, but these dehydrated sweet potato slices are a hit! As with all Cloud Star products, all the ingredients are USA-grown, so rest assured. The ingredients are simple and fresh: sweet potatoes, potato flour, maple syrup, sorbic acid, and mixed tocopherols (which is a natural preservative)... that's it! As soon as you open the bag, you can smell the authentic, fresh sealed sweet potato. This product is wheat and corn free, easy to chew and digest, and looks like the dog version of "Tofurkey" - your dog will be fooled that it looks like a dried piece of chicken when it's really quite healthy for him! If your dog is overweight, this low-calorie, low-fat treat is a great healthy alternative - plenty of vitamins and fiber!

Roasted Chicken Madness Soft & Chewy Treats: These small 1" treats are shaped in the form of small "Buddy" biscuits - they look like small, brown, stinky, soft gingerbread men. The foul smell is a bit overwhelming when you open the bag, but JP seemed to like them nevertheless. These treats are super soft, chewy, and crumbly, and contain no corn, soy, artificial colors, artificial flavors, or byproducts. Chicken is the #1 ingredient, followed by unbleached wheat flour, tapioca starch (which is likely what's making the product so mushy and soft), maple syrup, glycerin, rice flour, wheat gluten, gelatin, natural flavor, sea salt, garlic powder (don't worry - while garlic in large amounts is poisonous, small infrequent amounts with moderation are OK), natural smoke flavor, phosphoric acid, sorbic acid, and mixed tocopherols. Overall, a palatable treat... but if you are putting these in your pocket, they're likely to leave a stink and crumble in your pocket.

Itty Bitty Buddy Biscuits Molasses Madness Treats: These small 1" treats are the dried version of the treat above... they are small, brown, dry gingerbread men treats. No foul smell here - as these biscuits are bone dry and are the doggy equivalent of the animal cracker (for humans, that is). These aren't quite as palatable as the meat-containing chewy treats, and actually don't contain any meat at all... so if your dog is one of those rare vegetarians, you can use these biscuits instead! The ingredients include unbleached white flour, rolled oats, blackstrap molasses, vegetable oil, and mixed tocopherols. If your dog digs these treats, these treats make the perfect pocket training treat - they won't leave a stink or a mess in your pocket, and are small enough to reward your dog without filling him with too many calories!

Is my pet's pacemaker from a deceased human?

Why, yes, it is. Your dog or cat may be the lucky recipient of Dick Cheney's old pacemaker, but unfortunately, we'll never know - we don't have the clearance level. The cost of pacemakers is very expensive ($5,000 to $15,000) and becomes cost prohibitive to many pet owners. We're fortunate enough to have them donated from companies such as Medtronic - we veterinarians used to get them donated from deceased humans. While this sounds gross, these pacemakers are recycled to help save a life of someone hairier and happier! Furthermore, since a pacemaker will still be functioning in a deceased animal, we have to remove them when your pet outlives its use. We can still recycle those to use in another animal, as pacemakers are a hot commodity and sometimes hard for us to get. Don't worry - the pacemakers are well sterilized before we even think about putting them into another pet!

Material from "It's a Dog's Life... But It's Your Carpet", available at Amazon.com. Copyright Justine Lee Veterinary Consulting, LLC. 2008.

Why does Fido's back leg scratch when I rub his belly?

While there's no abdominal wall-femoral nerve connection that I know of, Fido will often scratch his back leg in the air while you rub his belly. While I'd hate to anthropomorphize, as a vet Id guess that hes trying to redirect your hand to rub a bit lower down. Oh, if only I were joking . . .

Material from "It's a Dog's Life... You Just Live In It", available at Amazon.com. Copyright Justine Lee Veterinary Consulting, LLC. 2008.

Book review of "It's a Cat's World" from www.blacklinsreadingroomreviewsandmore.com

Check out a recent book review from www.blacklinsreadingroomreviewsandmore.com!

Everyone who owns a cat or who is adopting a cat should have a copy of It’s A Cat’s World. . .You Just Live In It by Justine A. Lee, DVM. Dr. Lee answers many questions that owners and owner wannabes have about cats–behavior, nature, care and feeding. Questions include (but are not limited to):

* How many kitty litter boxes do I need?
* Does my cat have an inner clock, and how do I turn it off?
* How do I exercise my fat, indoor cat?
* How many vaccines does my cat really need?
* Why does my cat like NASCAR?

Even though I consider myself a veteran cat owner, I learned a lot It’s A Cat’s World. . .You Just Live In It. For example, I learned that those neat glow sticks that some restaurants give out are not kitty friendly. If bitten by kitty, said glow stick will leave (among other things) an incredibly bad taste in his or her mouth. I immediately went on a seek and destroy mission: Operation Glowstick. I haven’t found it, so I think I have thrown it out, but I’m still keeping an eye out for it. In addition to Operation Glowstick, Dr. Lee’s book inspired me to get off the couch and perform a kitty proofing security check. This check ensured that I had:

* Safely disposed of all used hearing aid batteries.
* Safely disposed of all used dry bricks for conditioning my hearing aids. I suddenly realized that dry bricks make potentially cool chew toys.
* Safely stored the plastic cleaning wires for my hearing aids (great toys for batting around and chasing.)

And of course, I double checked many other things around my home. As I continued to read Dr. Lee’s book, I continued to feel inspired to be an awesome pet parent.

Dr. Lee’s advice comes not only from her experience as a veterinarian, but also as an owner of two cats: Seamus and Echo. She relates her own lessons learned as a cat owner and her experiences as an emergency and critical care veterinarian. She provides these experiences through a straightforward writing style and plenty of humor. In the beginning, her parenthetical style of humor became irritating as Lee often compares changing male cat behavior (in particular) to changing behavior in one’s boyfriend or husband. However, as I continued to read It’s A Cat’s World. . .You Just Live In It, Dr. Lee abandons this comparison and her humor becomes themed to general cat owner humor.

I enjoyed this book and I believe every cat owner should have this book on his or her shelf. I will be keeping this book on my shelf not because of the humor, not because of the absolutely adorable cover, but because of the quality of information, advice, and resources provided. Dr. Lee includes a resource section in the back of the book complete with email addresses.

For you dog owners out there, Dr. Lee also owns a dog and she has written It’s A Dog’s Life... But It’s Your Carpet.

Particularities about the Greyhound breed

Greyhounds are great dogs, but do have some issues. They are very laid back, and perfect as "old people" dogs (that's the way I like to describe them - sorry!). Most people have the misconception that they need a lot of exercise b/c they are so muscular, but they are actually SPRINT dogs. They don't like running long distance, and actually prefer long walks instead, but can have short bursts of break-neck speed (hence, why they should NEVER be let off leash alone, and need a designated special collar they can't pull out of or break their neck on!). They don't USUALLY get the bloated stomach b/c they are thinner and have a tucked abdomen. They have very frail skin, which can tear easily if they "brawl" or play with other dogs, so you may have to prepare for the occasional laceration repair at the ER vet. Also, due to their thin coat, they definitely need a winter jacket to protect them from the cold elements.

Greyhounds are also a bit more "sensitive" as a breed - they are unique in that they have more "separation anxiety" than a normal dog. You do have to crate train them and be careful how you acclimate them. Most grow up needy, having missed out of people-interaction all those years on the track, and you have to be careful giving them "too" much attention (or inappropriate positive or negative feedback). For example, if you come home and your greyhound is whining to get out of the crate, IGNORE HIM and do not show him any attention for 10-15 minutes until he settles down... once he's settled and quiet and ignoring you, then you can let him out of the crate. If you let him out of the crate while he's whining and "bad," then you inappropriately give him + feedback for a negative action!

Finally, greyhounds are also very prey-driven - they'll often chase and kill a cat, squirrel, etc. so can't be trusted with small creatures. They can never tolerate E-collars (those funnel hats vets torture dogs with), and tolerate basket muzzles instead. Finally, they have slightly different abnormal blood work compared to other dogs - but these are typical and normal for greyhounds (so make sure you use a vet who knows about these particularities!). They have a slightly lower platelet count, a slightly higher red blood cell count, a soft, low-grade heart murmur (from being so athletic), and a slightly higher kidney value (creatinine). These are normal for greyhounds.

Overall, these are amazing athletes and really good dogs. They're unique in appearance, and absolutely a laid-back love. They just want to snuggle, veg, and lie next to you, getting spoiled in the process thanks to your rescuing them from the track!

Book signing and author event at Highland Park Library 3/9/09 at 7 pm

Join us for a book signing and author event next Monday, March 9th at 7 PM! We'll be at the Highland Park Public Library in Saint Paul, MN. Dr. Justine Lee will be discussing her book It's a Cat's World... You Just Live In It, and will be available to answer all your feline questions! Free vet advice - what more could you ask for? She'll have both her dog and cat books available for purchase ($10/cash) and for autographing also.

Pet spending

Did you know that according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, Americans spent about $43.4 billion on their pets in 2008? That's a 5.5% increase from 2007 (40.3 billion), and more than double what pet owners spent a decade ago. Apparently, high-end products and services (like luxury pet gifts, pet spas, and doggy day cares) are becoming more popular, resulting in the spike in spending. In addition, it appears that pet health insurance is the new hot item. "Our pets are being treated like members of the family," said Bob Vetere, president of APPMA. "Pet owners want to protect themselves and their pets against unexpected medical expenses." APPMA also anticipates that more owners will start subscribing to pet insurance. Currently, less than 1% of the pet-owning population carries health insurance for their pet, but APPMA estimates this will increase to 5-7% over the next few years.

The prevalence of intestinal worms among pet owners in the USA

A recent study from the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (March 2009) showed that despite our push as veterinarians to deworm dogs, there are still lots of wormy dogs out there! Being that gastrointestinal worms can be associated with symptoms in pets (like diarrhea, vomiting, weight loss, etc.) and in humans (like blindness from cutaneous larval migrans), it's imperative that all our pets be dewormed.

This study looked at 2,785,248 fecal tests, and found that dogs less than 6 months of age had higher odds of roundworm and whipworm infection compared to dogs over 6 months of age. Sexually intact male and female dogs were also more likely to have gastrointestinal parasites, along with those dogs from the southeast area (Texas, Louisiana, and those dirty, dirty southern states!).

When in doubt, get your dog or cat dewormed and make sure everyone in the household (2-legged and 4-legged creatures) are all healthy!