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This page will be used for articles and facts that come my way that I feel you, my loyal patrons, will find interesting and/or informative. Enjoy! ~Karen
To view the different articles just click on the link below!
A
New Deadly, Contagious Dog Flu Virus Is Detected in 7 States
Deadly
Dog Disease on the Rise
Senate
Bill 1139
Why vaccinate your pets?
The
Hair of the Dog
History
of Dogs
Origin
of Modern Dogs
September 22, 2005
A New Deadly, Contagious Dog Flu Virus
Is Detected in 7 States
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. and CARIN
RUBENSTEIN
A new, highly contagious and sometimes deadly canine flu is spreading in kennels
and at dog tracks around the country, veterinarians said yesterday.
The virus, which scientists say mutated from an influenza strain that affects
horses, has killed racing greyhounds in seven states and has been found in
shelters and pet shops in many places, including the
Dr. Cynda Crawford, an immunologist at the University of Florida's College of
Veterinary Medicine who is studying the virus, said that it spread most easily
where dogs were housed together but that it could also be passed on the street,
in dog runs or even by a human transferring it from one dog to another. Kennel
workers have carried the virus home with them, she said.
How many dogs die from the virus is unclear, but scientists said the fatality
rate is more than 1 percent and could be as high as 10 percent among puppies and
older dogs.
Dr. Crawford first began investigating greyhound deaths in January 2004 at a
racetrack in
"This is a newly emerging pathogen," she said, "and we have very
little information to make predictions about it. But I think the fatality rate
is between 1 and 10 percent."
She added that because dogs had no natural immunity to the virus, virtually
every animal exposed would be infected. About 80 percent of dogs that are
infected with the virus will develop symptoms, Dr. Crawford said. She added that
the symptoms were often mistaken for "kennel cough," a common canine
illness that is caused by the bordetella bronchiseptica bacteria.
Both diseases can cause coughing and gagging for up to three weeks, but dogs
with canine flu may spike fevers as high as 106 degrees and have runny noses. A
few will develop pneumonia, and some of those cases will be fatal. Antibiotics
and fluid cut the pneumonia fatality rate, Dr. Crawford said.
The virus is an H3N8 flu closely related to an equine flu strain. It is not
related to typical human flues or to the H5N1 avian flu that has killed about 100
people in
Experts said there were no known cases of the canine flu infecting humans.
"The risk of that is low, but we are keeping an eye on it," said Dr.
Ruben Donis, chief of molecular genetics for the influenza branch of the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, which is tracking the illness.
But with the approach of the human flu season and fears about bird flu in
Dr. Crawford said she was fielding calls from kennels and veterinarians across
the country worried that they were having outbreaks.
"The hysteria out there is unbelievable, and the misinformation is
incredible," said Dr. Ann E. Hohenhaus, chief of medicine at the
Dr. Hohenhaus said she had heard of an alert from a
"We don't believe that's true," she said, adding that no dogs in her
Dr. Donis of the disease control centers said that there was currently no
vaccine for the canine flu. But he said one would be relatively easy to develop.
The canine flu is less lethal than parvovirus, which typically kills puppies but
can be prevented by routine vaccination.
Laboratory tests, Dr. Donis said, have shown that the new flu is susceptible to
the two most common antiviral drugs, amantidine and Tamiflu, but those drugs are
not licensed for use in dogs.
The flu has killed greyhounds at tracks in Florida
, Massachusetts
, Arizona
, West
Virginia , Wisconsin
, Texas
and Iowa
. Tracks and kennels have been forced to shut down for weeks for
disinfection.
In Chestnut Ridge, north of
About 17 of the infected dogs were treated at the
The Best Friends chain owns 41 other kennels in 18 states, and no others have
had an outbreak, Dr. Larry J. Nieman, the company's veterinarian, said.
In late July, at Gracelane Kennels in
About 25 of the dogs were treated by an
"The dogs came in very sick, with high fevers and very high white blood
cell counts," Dr. Zeitz said, making him suspicious that they had something
worse than kennel cough.
A spokesman for the New York City Health Department said that there were "a
few confirmed cases" in
Veterinarians voluntarily sent samples to the
Copyright
2005 The New York Times Company
Deadly
Dog Disease on Rise
A deadly
disease is threatening more and more of mans best friends. Leptospirosis a
disease that causes kidney and liver damage in dogs and can lead to death is
reportedly on the rise across the nation.
Although
leptospirosis isn't as well known as Lyme Disease or rabies, it can be just as
dangerous to dogs. Dogs can get the disease from drinking contaminated water in
which other animals, like rats or raccoons, have urinated.
The key to treatment is recognizing the symptoms. Dogs with leptospirosis can experience vomiting, lethargy, anorexia, muscle pain, joint pain and jaundice. Leptospirosis is highly preventable. Veterinary experts recommend talking to your veterinarian to find out about vaccinating your dog against the disease.
Current
proposed legislation Senate Bill 1139
which basically will
establish the extinction of the domestic pet in the
Check out www.pet-law.com
Then go to www.saova.org
to find out what you can do to prevent this from being made into law.
You can also
call 1-202-224-2035
and say "I oppose Senate Bill
1139"
— It won’t
happen in your town/county/state.
(You think)
Yes, it will. Seriously
bad laws are being proposed from
In
In
PETA or HSUS
members don’t have to be a visible presence in your town for this to happen.
Those organizations have websites, conferences, and literature teaching people
how to get animal rights bills and laws passed.
All it takes is one
burned out shelter worker who decides that all the problems of the world can be
blamed on breeders.
Or an individual whose
child gets bitten by a particular breed of dog, so the whole breed should become
illegal....etc....
God gave us humans the
responsibility and privilege to own and care for animals, He gave both animals
and people alike, the ability to love and provide companionship to each
other.
Certain evil forces in
this world would love to see pet ownership to become only a memory from the
past.
If Americans do
not act and work together, to preserve our God-given right to own and care for
the world's animals, and keep animals as pets what kind of future will be
written for our children and grandchildren without the joy and love of a pet?
~~~Majestic View Kennels
Why Vaccinate your pets? Chief's
battle with Leptospirosis.
One of our NAID owners battles to save their pet.....
“Hi Karen,
I got the red tortoise shell male from Whitney & Saranac Sam born the
end of February (Chief), he has been a fantastic dog. Last week he
started acting sick, sleeping all day and quit eating and drinking, he
has started shedding and his coat really smells, had some diarrhea,
threw up only once that I know of. Been at the vet every day, they
have run blood work, stool and urine samples, x-rays, the vet has no
clue what's up, all the tests come back OK. Any thoughts about
what could be wrong? Thanks for any thoughts you may have, --Matt
..........found out his kidneys have shut down.........might lose him
now for sure...........
Hi Karen,
Thought I would drop you a line and give you an update on Chief. He was
at a hospital for a few days for fluid therapy and his kidneys kicked
back in. This hospital you would not believe..... they were nicer than a
human hospital and more professional. They ran all sorts of tests
and did an ultra sound and everything came back good, it was driving the
doctors crazy (they called every specialist they could think of!!!!).
When I checked him out on Monday one of the vets took him back and
pulled one more blood sample. The results came back today and it
was positive for Leptospirosis. Lepto is very very rare in AZ, and
we don't even vaccinate for it because it’s so rare. The
lab could distinguish between the lepto vaccine you gave him and the one
he has, I guess there are several strains. He must have picked it
up two weeks ago at our cabin, he spent three days in a pond chasing and
catching fish, frogs and crayfish could not even get him out of the pond
all weekend. Lol!!! They really do love water!
He seems to be doing fine now and even though the vets had no clue what was wrong they did everything right with antibiotics and fluid therapy. The prognosis looks good I think we caught it early and did all the right things. You now have several people from the vet office and hospital who want a NAID after spending time with him, I gave them your info. Attached are some new pictures he is now a BIG boy and getting bigger every day! Thanks for the help---Matt”
The Hair of the Dog
By Michael Conlon
Reuters
CHICAGO (Aug 28) - The hair of the dog may cure more than hangovers.
Researchers in a report released on Tuesday said infants living in a home with
two or more dogs or cats during the first year of life are less likely to have
the kind of allergic reactions that lead to asthma and other problems later on.
In addition the impact of early exposure to the animals seems to have a
protective effect against other common allergens such as mold and grass.
"Physicians have been told for 30 years that having dogs and cats in the
household in the first few years of life increases the child's chance of being
allergic (but) our study shows just the opposite," said the report's chief
author, Dennis Ownby of the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta.
"Exposure to two or more cats or dogs in the house during the first year of
life reduces the probability that a child would have any positive skin test to
common allergens by about 50 percent," he said.
"I think at this point if the parent isn't allergic to pets, but they do
have other allergies and they're very concerned, then having multiple pets in
the house is probably a good idea, at least for the first couple of years of the
child's life," Ownby added.
The report, published in this week's Journal of the American Medical
Association, said the mechanism involved for the protective effect remains
unclear.
One possibility is that early exposure causes the immune system to produce
protective antibodies but without allergic sensitization. Another thought, the
authors said, is that the antibodies are triggered by exposure to bacterial
products from the animals.
SKIN PRICKS
Ownby's study covered 474 healthy, full-term infants born between April 15, 1987
and Aug. 31, 1989, in suburban Detroit. The children were followed up yearly to
between the ages of 6 and 7 at which time they were tested for allergic
sensitization with skin pricks using several common allergens including dust
mites, dog, cat, short ragweed and blue grass.
The tests found that more than 33 percent of the children with no dog or cat
exposure in the first year of life had positive results, indicating allergic
sensitivity to one or more of the skin pricks.
Slightly more children who had been exposed to one cat or dog had a positive
result but only 15.4 percent of the youngsters exposed to two or more dogs or
cats had a positive allergy showing, the study said.
After taking into account such factors as parental smoking, dust mite allergen
levels, older siblings and presence of dogs or cats later in childhood, children
who were exposed to two or more cats or dogs in the first year of life had a 77
percent lower risk of having a positive reaction on a skin prick test, the study
said.
More research will be needed to determine if the effect persists beyond the age
of six or seven, the authors said.
The study was funded by the National Institute of Allergic and Infectious
Diseases, Henry Ford Hospital and by a grant from the National Institute for
Environmental Health Sciences.
The authors said a review of medical literature found that most studies had
concluded early exposure to dogs and cats increased the risk of asthma and
wheezing in children older than six.
But they said there have been some earlier isolated studies that went in the
other direction, including reports that children living on farms having contact
with livestock had lower allergy problems in later life.
Thomas Platts-Mills of the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center said in
an editorial in the same issue commenting on the study that its most striking
and unexplained finding is that the protective effect extends beyond animals to
other common allergens such as grasses, pollens and molds.
"Although the underlying mechanisms remain to be resolved, this finding
presents an opportunity to investigate the immunopathology of allergic disease
including asthma," he said.
08/27/02 13:23 ET
Copyright 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication
or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters
shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions
taken in reliance thereon. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by
AOL.
Written by the veterinarians at PetPlace.com
THE
HISTORY OF DOGS AND NATIVE AMERICANS
According to Native American legend, the dog freely chose to become a companion to man. This legend has the virtue of being romantic, and in a way, true at least according to some scientific theories..
No one can determine exactly when the Native Americans welcomed the wolf into their homes and villages and developed the domesticated dog, but every dog loving person in the world owes them a debt of gratitude.
It seems logical that the Native Americans would welcome the dog into his home and community. Over time, the dog was bred for qualities the Native Americans needed. These dogs were considered part of the family and were given names based on their personalities, appearance and their abilities. Some excelled in hunting, some in load pulling or carrying, some in protection.
Native American legend has it that the dog’s only wish was to live with people, share his food, help them hunt, guard their children and possessions, and help transport them and all their belongings from location to location. Some of the dogs willingly sacrificed their lives for their families.
Another legend states that a dog’s life originally spanned 20 years, but that the dog willingly gave up 10 of his own years so people could live longer.
For the most part, tribes revered the dog and included them in religious ceremonies, believing the dog helped people navigate the journey to the afterlife. A few tribes, however, considered the dog to be the symbol of promiscuity and filth.
Today, the Native American dog is a distant cousin to the original primitive dog. Many people feel that the true Indian dog was likely driven to extinction due to interbreeding with wolves and various imported European breeds. As the early settlers migrated across the country, Indians were forced on to reservations and the dog’s popularity and population suffered. Currently there are a few breeders dedicated to maintaining the rare American Indian dog also called the Native American dog or Plains Indian dog.
Origin of Modern Dogs
STOCKHOLM
(Nov. 22) - From Chihuahuas to Saint Bernards, all modern dogs originate from a
small number of female wolves living in East Asia some 15,000 years ago, Swedish
scientists said Thursday.
By analyzing hair samples from more than 500 different breeds from all over the
world, the scientists discovered that all dogs share the same genetic pool but
that East Asian dogs had a higher genetic variation.
''This makes it probable that dogs originated in East Asia and spread all over
the world,'' said Peter Savolainen, a senior scientist at the Swedish Royal
Institute of Technology.
The main reason why modern dog breeds look so different is the enormous interest
in breeding that swept across Europe after the Middle Ages, Savolainen said.
The few dogs which still look almost like their ancestors include the Mexican
hairless dog, the Australian dingo and the greyhound, which has been found in
the pyramids of Egypt.
In two articles due to be published Friday in the U.S. journal Science,
Savolainen and his colleagues report the results of a four-year study of dogs'
genetic codes.
The study looked at dogs' mitochondrial DNA, genes directly inherited from the
mother which present a straight historical lineage. According to Savolainen it
was possible to see genes from at least five female wolves in today's dogs.
Archeological findings, the oldest being a 12,000-year-old canine jaw bone found
in Israel, had previously led scientists to believe the domestic dog originated
in the Middle East.
The new research also shows native American dogs used by American Indians
originated from East Asia, brought by people over the Bering Straits some 14,000
years ago.
But researcher Carles Vila of Sweden's Uppsala University, who has studied
remains of native American dogs found in South America and Alaska, said there
were no traces of these native dogs in modern American canines.
''It is very clear that the modern American dogs derive from dogs brought by the
Europeans,'' he said.
The dog is widely believed to be the first domesticated animal, but it is not
known why wolves were tamed. Theories include that they were bred for food or
were scavengers around human sites and later used as sheep dogs.
Per Jensen, professor at the Swedish Linkoping University, believes the question
will remain unanswered.
''It is all wild speculations and all we have to work with is a piece of jaw
bone. With the new technologies we can find out more about when and where the
dogs were domesticated but we will probably never know why,'' he said.
Reuters 15:00
11-21-02