Pets Care : Pet care involves responsibility just like helping children grow up - Keokuk Gate City Daily

Pet care involves responsibility just like helping children grow up - Keokuk Gate City Daily

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 11:36 AM PDT

It's easy to pass the blame. We must be talking about "those" type of pet owners, the scofflaws, the neglectful owners highlighted on Animal Planet's various pet police shows.

They do exist, of course, but the various professionals whose job is to provide health and well being to pets say that, as a general rule, "We're too busy." So we water and feed our pets and take the dog out a few times a day to go to the bathroom and think how our pet has "an easy life, just lying around the house all day."

But that's not enough as the following will explain.

Parkview Veterinary vet Dr. Don Shannon compiled five requirements that all pet owners should post on their refrigerator or bathroom mirror or wherever it can be seen as a constant reminder.

While each pet owner is responsible for their own care, Fort Madison Veterinary Clinic Dr. Marlin Hentzel said, "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so everybody needs to do their part."

At wiki.answers.com, the question was posed, "How many kittens can a cat have on average?"

A cat can have up to five litters per year at six or more kittens each time. Females can start having kitten as early as four months of age, and most cats live at least 10 years, some more than 20.

That works out to 300 kittens over a 10-year span. The site reduced it to four kittens each litter, 2 1/2 times per year for five years, equalling 50 kittens in that stretch.

Unchecked, it would only take nine generations to cover the world, according to the site. It's an extreme case in one sense, but the world doesn't have to be covered with cats for there to be too many.

Dr. Anthony Beale of Krichel Animal Hospital in Keokuk said there's another reason to spay or neuter your pet.

"Most dogs that are hit by cars are unneutered males," Beale said. "They're going to be running loose looking for that female."

Sandy Brown loves working for P.A.W. No-Kill Animal Shelter but she noted, "If everybody would spay and neuter their pets, we (shelters) would all be out of business.

"People get an animal, get a pet and either they don't think about it or don't care," Brown said. "All of a sudden, 'I've got six puppies' or 'six kittens.' One drip fills a bucket."

If animal welfare isn't a concern for some, Brown is willing to appeal to a person's pocketbook.

"Look at how much money you could save the (local and country) governments. A lot of shelters are run by cities and counties."

Joyce Young of the Keokuk Humane Society said her place has been getting help from rescue groups, both near and far.

"We've had some programs through the homeless animal fund in the West Hancock Canine Rescue in Hamilton," Young said.

Young is in charge of the Homeless Animal Fund in Donnellson.

"We're transporting animals to Minnesota, the Chicago area, the suburbs," said Young. "They don't have the (pet) overpopulation problem. They have so many more people. Ninety-nine percent of them go into foster homes."

A major group in Brooklyn Park, Minn., is the Midwest Animal Rescue Services.

"They have their own veterinary clinic and great big training place. Once a dog enters a no-kill facility, they should never be homeless, never be in danger again," Young said.

But there are still the wanted pets that aren't always being cared for properly.

Television and movies portray groomed dogs as only belonging to the high-society set. But Caron Ison of Cuddling K9s said, "Grooming is upkeep on hygiene.

"If nails don't get trimmed, they will grow up underneath the paw, and it will be painful," Ison said. "I check for lumps and tumors. I check the ears because dirt and debris can get in there. I can smell an infection in a dog's ears and mouth."

Brushing, even on a cat, is necessary because it circulates the blood flow.

"If you start when the dog's young when you take it to a professional groomer, the dog will look forward to it," Ison said."

Any moist spot, especially on a long-haired dog, can get infested with maggots, which is another reason why grooming is important.

"Every year we get at least 10 dogs with maggots," Shannon said. "Any raw tissue attracts maggots."

Ison also said grooming will help socialize a pet, which leads to the next issue and one that may address many of the problems with "vicious" dogs.

"Good people skills" is not just a character trait sought after by many prospective employers.

The concern over vicious animals could be reduced if more pet owners would provide a variety of interactions for their animal, especially dogs, but cats as well.

"Not only will (pets) need to be around other pets, but also other people and children," Beale said.

"If you have an outside dog, spend time with it."

Train it — at an obedience school if necessary — to not jump over fences and to heel on command when the owner accidentally lets go of the leash.

"You've got to be well-rounded," Beale said. "Taking it to a dog park on a leash will help." (Except that there are no dog parks in Lee County or Hancock County; Beale was apparently dropping a hint.)

Cats may be naturally aloof, but they shouldn't be raised to be a lone ... er ... wolf.

"Cats are a little bit tougher," Beale said. "Petting and brushing are very important because they get matts. With (younger) kids, it's tough, but it is important. Slow interaction" is the key, Beale said.

Pets, said groomer Tedra Edwards of Peavine Lane Pet Spa, "need just as much stimulation and social interaction" as their human owners. "They've been resting all day.

"A lot of dogs are bored. My dogs don't run off; they're kept busy."

It's time, she said, to change your perspective and "put the dog up on the priority scale. Contact professionals, groomers for tons of ideas," Edwards said.

Animals in a shelter or a pound may be viewed as a pet with too many problems to deal with. But Gaige, a Great Dane mix, was taken to Parkview's holding area (in lieu of an actual city pound) two years ago.

The dog is now a "receptionist" at the clinic and a paid one at that (room and board), and she greets the customers as they come in the door.

Hentzel said, "Any time you invest in the human-animal bond, there can be positive benefits. A well-behaved dog can be seen walking in the park on the leash, it sits when you visit with your friends and allows you to pet it. Just like well-behaved children, that is always more preferential."

Ison said, and Brown emphatically agreed, that pit bulls get a bad rap. Yes, there bite can do more damage than that of another breed, but, "it's not the pitbull's fault, it's the way they're brought up."

The nearby bank thermometer says 75 or so, but the temperature inside a car with the doors shut and even the windows open a crack could get up to 40 degrees hotter; especially if the sun is shining directly through one of the windows.

Whether it's your pets or your children, they shouldn't be left inside a closed vehicle.

"A dog will pass out from overheating," said Shannon.

He also said the heat is much more severe in a flat-nosed dog.

The same attention to the weather must be paid at home.

"If a dog is tied up outside and the owner is not providing proper shelter and water, at 85 to 90 degrees, it doesn't take long to get in danger," Shannon said.

Feeding and watering your pet may seem an easy task, but the water must be fresh. In the summer, "even a dog tied up outside that's in the shade needs access to water," according to Parkview vet technician/groomer Natalie Dauma.

Dog food high in fat can get rancid a lot quicker, Shannon said.

Several of the experts recommend implant microchips inside pets. Hentzel uses the HomeAgain brand.

"It helps to save the lives of many of the pets that are lost," Hentzel said. "A pet owner reports a lost pet to a 24/7 recovery specialist. They take down the vital information. They issue a lost pet alert to local veterinarians, shelters and lost pet rescuers."

Hentzel said one family was traveling from Colorado to Florida, but when they stopped at a rest stop in Missouri, the family pet got lost.

"The recovery company paid for the pet to be flown to their place in Florida," Hentzel said.

According to the HomeAgain brochure, an implant does not harm a pet and doesn't require surgery; it's a one-time insertion with a syringe.

Edwards paraphrased the U.S. Cellular advertisement by saying your chances of recovering a lost pet "is only as good as your support team."

"Rabies is probably the greatest concern," said Hentzel.

When a person has been bit, the two areas he would check first are the lips and the eyelids, the high-nerve areas on the body.

"This is where rabies likes to attack, the nerve tissue, going to the brain," Hentzel said.

When a child is bitten, the child is likely to be scared, but Hentzel said it's still important to ask, "What did the dog look like? Did it have a collar? Was it long hair or short hair?" The key is to find the offending dog immediately.

Beale agreed. "If a person shows clinical signs of rabies, it's almost 100 percent fatal."

He noted that cats can get rabies as well.

He also said it is important to vaccinate cats and dogs for their health as well. Before going to an area where other dogs will be, "make sure your pet is vaccinated."

Mosquitoes transmit heartworm disease, such that even if your dog is always in your own yard, it could still share a disease with other dogs if a second mosquito bites your infected dog.

———

Although it would seem these things should go without saying, all the sources spoken to said they would be glad to answer questions pet owners, especially prospective pet owners, have.

Edwards did acknowledge that "a lot of problems aren't ever going to be solved." But there would be fewer if people realized "dogs are a privilege – not a right."

"It's a lifelong member of the family," Hentzel said.

"Owning a pet is a responsibility," Beale said. "When you take that on, you need to do what's necessary to keep them in good health."

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