Client Education for a Healthier, Happier Pet

Congestive heart failure is a chronic condition characterized by the heart’s weakened ability to pump enough blood to maintain body functions. The body fluids start to “back up” behind the heart, either in the lungs or the abdomen. Signs seen by the owner include:

• Shortness of breath
• Exercise intolerance
• Deep, dry cough
• Weight loss
• Enlarged abdomen; swollen, puffy limbs
• Cyanosis – blue discoloration of the tongue and gums
• Fainting spells

Combine:

• 1 quart Hydrogen Peroxide
• ½ cup Baking Soda
• 1 tbsp of Liquid Dish Soap

Bathe in solution mix, let stand 10 minutes, rinse and repeat up to 3 times. The animal will smell up to 1 year when it gets wet.

DO NOT GET INTO EYES!!!!
Can double or triple amounts depending on the animal’s size.

Pets with the following symptoms should be seen ASAP:

• Coughing and/or Respiratory Distress (difficult or labored breathing)
• Neurological Abnormalities: collapse, off balance, head tilt, seizures, circling, head pressing, visual deficiencies, etc.
• Seizures: more than one in 24 hours
• Unproductive Retching or Dry Heaving
• Rapid/Progressive Abdominal Distension
• Vomiting and/or Inability to Hold Down Food/Water
• Diarrhea or Straining to Defecate
• Slow or Rapid Heart Rate
• Bleeding from Orifices (mouth, nose, rectum, abnormal vaginal bleeding)
• Lethargy, Weakness
• Pale Mucous Membranes (pale gum color)
• Inability to Urinate or Straining to Urinate
• Difficult or Long labor
• Toxin Ingestion
• Trauma
• Pain/Discomfort (trembling, yelping, unwillingness to move, aggressive behavior when moved)
• Squinting one or both eyes
• Facial Swelling and/or Hives
• Penis is Stuck Out of Sheath

If you are concerned about any symptoms that your pet may be experiencing, please call (810) 238-7557. We recommend that all concerns warrant an exam and consultation with a veterinarian.

Shelter

Keep the puppies or kittens in a box with high sides. Cover the bottom of the box with a padded flooring like a towel or carpeting. Do not use materials that can become slippery when wet, such as a newspaper.

Warmth

Newborn puppies and kittens cannot regulate their own body temperature and can become hypothermic very quickly. You will have to provide a heat source for the first few weeks. Acceptable heat sources include warm water bottles, a heating pad, or a heat lamp. A heating pad or a lamp must always be on the low setting. Higher settings can result in severe burns or death. Never cover the entire floor of the box with a heating pad. An overheated newborn must be able to get away from the heat source. Normal rectal temperature should be between 97-100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Feeding

Until the newborn is able to start eating solid food (about 3-4 weeks) it will need to be bottle fed a replacement formula. There are commercially made formulas available that closely compare to the mother’s milk and meet the nutritional requirements for the puppy or kitten.

Use a bottle specifically designed for puppies and kittens or a medicine dropper to administer the formula. If the hole in the bottle is the right size then you should be able to turn the bottle upside down and see milk slowly drip from the nipple with just a gentle squeeze. If milk flows from the bottle without squeezing it, the hole is too large. If you have to squeeze firmly on the bottle to get milk to flow, the hole is too small. The hole can be enlarged by piercing it with the tip of a hot needle.

Warm the formula to 100 degrees Fahrenheit or to a temperature close to the newborn’s temperature. Feed the puppy or kitten on its stomach and hold the bottle so it does not ingest air. Never squeeze the milk out of the bottle when it is in the newborn’s mouth or they may aspirate the formula into the lungs. Never feed a chilled newborn or a newborn that does not have a strong suckling reflex. Follow the directions on the commercial formula packaging for feeding amounts. They often require you to weigh the newborn on a gram scale. Newborn puppies and kittens need to be fed every 2-3 hours. If the newborn is not able to be bottle fed, contact a veterinarian about potentially tube feeding the puppy or kitten.

Eliminations

After feeding, it is important to stimulate the newborn to urinate and defecate. Use a moistened cotton ball or tissue and swab the anal region until elimination occurs. Do this after each feeding until 3 weeks of age.

Parvo is a viral disease of dogs that causes severe diarrhea, usually bloody, vomiting, loss of appetite, depression, fever, and is often fatal if untreated.

Parvo is spread through both direct transmission when an infected dog comes in contact with a healthy dog, especially via stool; or through indirect/fomite transmission as the viral particles can be easily spread on shoes, clothing or other inanimate objects. The virus is very hardy, able to survive extremes of temperature (i.e., freezing or extreme heat) and is unharmed by detergents, alcohols, and common disinfectants.

It is most commonly seen in young, unvaccinated or partially-vaccinated puppies, but can be seen in unvaccinated adult dogs as well.

If your pet is having severe diarrhea (with or without blood) or vomiting or has stopped eating for more than a day, please have your pet evaluated.

There are several different types of Rodenticide (Rat Poison) on the market. The classic form interferes with clotting factors in the blood making it difficult for an animal to clot their blood (anti-coagulant). This can lead to internal bleeding, bruising, difficulty breathing or coughing due to bleeding into the lungs, neurologic signs such as seizures, and even death if not treated. Once an animal is suspected of having ingested rodenticide, depending on when it could have eaten it, treatments can include inducing vomiting, administration of activated charcoal, performing blood work to evaluate clotting times and the red blood cell count, radiographs to evaluate the lungs, administration of either plasma or whole blood transfusions, and hospitalization for IV fluid therapy and monitoring.

There are also rodenticides on the market which cause Vitamin-D toxicity leading to permanent kidney damage as well as one that causes brain swelling, comas, seizures, and death. It is extremely important that your pet is treated immediately to prevent life-threatening disease.