CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE (CHF)

Q: My 9 year old Jack Russell Terrier who is very active has been coughing after resting and occasionally throwing up yellow. My Vet believes he is starting to have congestive heart failure. Beau is currently eating Halo Spot's Stew and it is recommended for dogs in his condition to have low sodium diets. Is Spot's Stew low enough sodium for his condition?

A: There are many important points I would like to make about congestive heart failure (CHF) as well as the proper dietary management of heart failure.

• The early signs of CHF can be easily confused with lung conditions. Coughing can signify things other than CHF and x-rays must be taken to determine if a dog has lung disease (like allergic or chronic bronchitis) or is indeed having problems with heart failure before starting any medications.


• Severe sodium (salt) restriction is not recommended-except in very advanced cases of CHF.


• It is more important to keep salt intake consistent and stable so the body can adapt to a particular salt load. High-salt foods, which cause sudden spikes in sodium, should be avoided. See below for a list of foods to avoid.


• For dogs with evidence of heart disease (like a murmur) but no evidence of CHF, normal salt or only mildly salt restricted diets are recommended. When CHF becomes mild or moderate, a little more salt restriction is recommended. Halo dry dog foods are acceptable for both of these stages of heart disease. Only when CHF becomes severe should a dog be placed on a therapeutic (veterinary-prescribed) salt restricted diet.


• The following foods and treats should be avoided in all dogs with heart disease and CHF: baby food, pickled foods, bread, pizza, condiments (like ketchup, soy sauce), lunch meat/cold cuts, cheese, processed foods (like rice mixes, macaroni and cheese, etc), canned vegetables (with added salt), potato chips and other snack foods, soups (with added salt) and most commercially available pet treats.


• It is critical to get your dog with heart disease or CHF to lose weight if they are overweight or obese. Even a little excess weight adversely affects heart function by increasing heart rate and blood pressure which may accelerate heart failure progression.


• Fatty acid supplements that contain fish oil have been proven to decrease inflammation and some of the abnormal hormonal signals that occur during advancing CHF. In general it can help your pet feel stronger with an improved appetite. Try Halo's Dream Coat which supplies 5 other beneficial oils in addition to fish oil.


• If pets with CHF are on diuretics (aka "water pills") they are likely to have additional vitamin B requirements. The diuretics cause them to lose excess B vitamins in their urine which can have a direct negative effect on muscle strength and immune function. Try a vitamin B supplement such as Halo Vita-Mineral Mix to insure adequate levels.


• There are additional supplements that may benefit your pet. You should ask your veterinarian for advice on their usage. These include taurine, carnitine, coenzyme Q10, and antioxidants such as vitamin C and vitamin E.

Good Luck with Beau! Keep us posted on his condition.

mnemonic to commemorate Endal

Just got this email in from Mei Lee and I wanted to share it with you as she sets us a great challenge, and those of you that are on Twitter will know I do love word games!


For those who maybe from another Universe who might not be familiar with the Endal story - or for those still unaware of the most famous dog in the world's passing The Sky documentary is next repeated this evening, Saturday 16th May at 11pm on Sky Real Lives, channel 243. Have the tissues handy. (Wish I had when we were filming it, I had flu as those who decide to watch in HD will unfortunately be very aware of!).


If you want to add to the 98 tributes already recorded on this blog

Dear Beverley,


Words simply cannot describe ENDAL who was just Love on 4 Legs. Allen and Endal proved to the world that there is nothing greater than love.




Extremely


Noble


Divinely


Angelic


Labrador




Allen brought the best out of Endal too, as much as Endal did Allen!




May I suggest an annual award in Endal's memory to either train a "Hound for a Hero" or to honour a "Hound for a Hero"? and maybe a competition to find out the best 5 word phrase for




E.


N.


D.


A.


L.




One other note - what your magazine has done to stop cruel inbreeding of pedigree dogs is amazing. You are more than a doggy magazine - Dogs Today is an advocate for dogs.




I was sorry to miss the Sky broadcast on Endal - would you by any chance know when it might be repeated? Or is there a DVD I could borrow?




Thank you for a wonderful magazine and giving Endal the Millennium Dog honour - paws down, he was the right choice.

Bless you, Mei

I'll start you off... here's my go...


Every


Now and again a


Dog can


Astound us by reminding us what


Love can achieve


or is we stick to a list format, how about




Empathetic


Numenesque


Divine


Adored


Love-on-a-lead


I like the word numen, I think it sums up Endal. He was almost human! For those unfamilar with the word it means...


nu·menAC_FL_RunContent = 0;var interfaceflash = new LEXICOFlashObject ( "http://cache.lexico.com/d/ g/speaker.swf", "speaker", "17", "15", "", "6");interfaceflash.addParam("loop", "false");interfaceflash.addParam("quality", "high");interfaceflash.addParam("menu", "false");interfaceflash.addParam("salign", "t");interfaceflash.addParam("FlashVars", "soundUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fcache.lexico.com%2Fdictionary%2Faudio%2Fahd4%2FN%2FN019 2100.mp3"); interfaceflash.addParam('wmode','transparent');interfaceflash.write();

n. pl. nu·mi·na (-mə-nə

1. A presiding divinity or spirit of a place.


2. A spirit believed by animists to inhabit certain natural phenomena or objects.


3. Creative energy; genius.

Please post your best efforts here...

2008 Bedrock "Ode to Lulu" Mourvedre Rose

2008 Bedrock Rose


"Ode to Lulu"


Sonoma Valley




The grapes were originally planted in 1888 in Sonoma Valley. The winemaker worked for Lulu Peyraud of Domaine Tempier and made this in her honor. It is juicy and crisp enough to drink on its own but substantial weight and complexity of flavors make it delicious with food. This is a very dry rose with some serious body and weight to stand up to different dishes.




Aromas: dusty raspberry


Body: medium


Color: coral




An Essay from the Bedrock website: "The Importance of Rosé; Rose' is a wine I drink as much for pure pleasure as for intellectual stimulation. In the warmer months there is something sacred about a late afternoon meal of cold chicken, fresh garden tomatoes, and rose'. It is one body in the sacred trilogy of rustic simplicity.




Proper rose' is refreshing, life-nourishing stuff that revives the soul, much the same way that dark, smoky, red wines replete with rich fruits replenish and warm in the depleting months of winter.




However, anything equivalent to the delicately colored roses I adore from Bandol and Provence are hard to come by from the New World. Too often, the economic-ease of bleeding off some juice from grapes picked for red wine, is used as the guiding philosophy for making pink wine. The results are often times horrendous. The juice, picked at high potential alcohols, lacks the vivaciousness of fruit and brightness of good rose'. Frequently, high levels of residual sugar are left in to cover-up a lack of character.




Rose', in my opinion, should bear a closer resemblance to white wine than to red.




It is for this reason that I pick at potential alcohols lower on the scale where brightness and lift still exist. This is not to say that fruit does not matter-I use Mourvedre from a block planted over 120 years ago for requisite concentration of complexity of flavor-but like fine champagne, the wonders of rose' lie in its unbearable lightness of being." Morgan Twain-Peterson

Dogs play an important role in our lives

Dogs play an important role in our lives, and deserve to be protected from individuals and industries that would do them harm. Dog racing is cruel and inhumane. While at the racetrack, dogs are confined in small cages barely large enough for them to stand up or turn around for long hours each day.




There are two race tracks that have greyhound racing in Massachusetts - Wonderland and the Raynham Greyhound Park. In 2001, a law was passed which mandated the reporting of injuries at the tracks. According to state records, more than 800 dogs have been injured while racing in Massachusetts. Nearly 80% of these injuries involved broken legs. Other reported injuries include paralysis, death from cardiac arrest and a broken neck.

What is Kitten Season?

Spaying and neutering pets is always important, but if there is a time when spay/neuter programming is absolutely critical, it’s kitten season.

Kitten season is the time of year when cats give birth, flooding animal shelters across the nation with homeless litters.

Kitten "season" is really three seasons in one, starting in spring, peaking in late spring or early summer and ending in the fall. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that there’s an easy solution to kitten season! The simplest way to help curb the overwhelming numbers of unwanted cats is to spay and neuter your own cat and encourage others to do the same.

But unwanted cats and kittens, when not left on the street to fend for themselves, often turn up in high volume at shelters. Typically, the adult cats feel the most immediate effects, as they are often overlooked by potential adopters when kittens are in abundance.

The vast numbers of cats that shelters accommodate across the nation during kitten season will not drop overnight. But, there are simple ways that you can make a big impact:

• Spay or neuter your cats. It is extremely difficult to prevent unaltered cats from fulfilling their instinctual drive to mate, even if you do your best to keep them indoors. Kittens as young as 2 months and weighing two pounds can be safely altered. Contact your vet or, if you live in western Pennsylvania, contact Animal Friends’ Low-Cost Spay Neuter program at 1.800.SPAY.PGH for more information.
  
  
• Help homeless cats. Donate supplies, funds or your time to shelters like Animal Friends!
  
  
• Become a foster parent. If you live in western Pennsylvania, call Animal Friends at 412.847.7097 to learn how.
  
  
• Adopt. Open your home to new cat or adopt a playmate for your existing pets!
  
  
• Sponsor a spay. Click here to sponsor the spay of a pet that would otherwise go unaltered.

With proper community support, pet overpopulation is 100% preventable. !

Canine Brucellosis

No one seems to be in charge of the alleged 'outbreak' of Canine Brucellosis in an enormous Irish Puppy Farm.
Because Canine Brucellosis isn't passed to farm animals it doesn't fall under the remit of the Department of Agriculture. And according to the Irish Independent the puppy farming family are still refusing to co-operate and allow Gov vets access to the estimated 1,000 dogs in their kennels.
It is assumed that they are continuing to trade through this period.
The breeders are denying the outbreak but local vets are quoted in the article as saying there have been cases.
Here's the Irish Indie article.
Apparently legislation to cover puppy farms in Ireland is still being written, but presumably this will not attempt to outlaw breeding on this scale - it will merely (hopefully) provide some minimum standards.
To stop puppy farming on this scale we need to remove the demand. The public needs to stop buying pups from pet shops and dealers and taking more care as to where their pets were reared.
I suspect this farm in Ireland is the biggest in the world and I also suspect that the UK is the biggest customer.
Why aren't they letting anyone in to see what goes on behind those closed doors?

Take your Pet along on family SUMMER VACATION!

Pet Airways is the world’s first pet-only airline offering travel for your best friends! Flights are scheduled to begin on July 14, 2009 from New York, Chicago and Los Angeles for a special introductory one-way price of $149. After being dropped off at the Pet Lounge in select airports, pets travel in style within the main cabin of special pet-designed turbo-prop airplanes. They are tended to every 15 minutes throughout the duration of the flight and allowed a potty break upon landing and before being delivered to their owners. For peace of mind, pet owners can track their pet’s course right on the Pet Airways website.

While most pets are considered family members, they are often excluded from family vacations because of the challenging logistics of travel. There are very few ways to safely and comfortably fly pets with commercial airlines. Traveling in cargo can be very dangerous and has caused many pet deaths. It is great to have an alternative for including your pet in family travel. Way to go Pet Airways!

Pet Airways founders give their Jack Russell Terrier, Zoe, credit as the master-mind behind the exclusive airline idea.You can visit:www.petairways.com for more information.

funny cat pictures

Here are some funny pet cats pics
Hope you will enjoy

Battersea Dogs & Cats Home at bursting point

Battersea Dogs & Cats Home has issued a warning that it is at bursting point due to an unprecedented increase in the number of stray dogs into the Home this year. The world-famous rescue organisation believes that the more than 1,000 increase in stray dogs is partly due to people not knowing where to find lost dogs because of new legislation and partly as a result of the credit crunch.
You can post your pet story at 8pets.com

Jan Barlow, Chief Executive of Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, says:

‘We are urgently appealing to anyone who may have lost their dog recently to make contact with their local authority animal warden and Battersea’s Lost Dogs & Cats Line to see if Battersea may have their dog, so we can reunite as many lost dogs with their owners as possible before Christmas.’

Battersea is finding that fewer dogs are being reunited with their owners outside the Home since the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act came fully into force in April, and so is striving to raise awareness that stray dogs are now the responsibility of local authorities.

The Home has taken in 6,430 stray dogs so far this year, compared with 5,335 at the same stage in 2007. Strays currently account for 82% of dogs at the Home

Jan Barlow says:

‘We are just over a week away from Christmas and are almost full. While we think part of the rise in numbers of strays is because people can’t afford to keep their dogs any more so are dumping them on the streets, we’re also extremely worried that people losing their dogs don’t where to turn to try and find them.

Many people are not being reunited with their lost dogs because they don’t realise that, since the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act came into force fully in April, stray dogs are dealt with by local authorities and in London the majority of these strays are brought direct to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. The last thing we want is for families across the capital to have their Christmas ruined by being apart from their beloved pet, so If you’ve lost your dog, you could be reunited with it in time for Christmas by contacting your Local Authority.’

‘We’d recommend dog owners find out the details of their Local Authority and of Battersea’s Lost Dogs & Cats Line. They should also get their dog microchipped and ensure it is fitted with a collar and identification tag. All of this information is available on Battersea’s website www.battersea.org.uk’

Jan Barlow adds:

‘With the increase in numbers we are now looking for even more new homes for the dogs in our care, so we would ask anyone who is considering getting a dog to visit Battersea, or other rescue centres.’

PAWS and WHISKERS

he women at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women work hard all year to care and train the hundreds of animals that are taken out to the Whiskers and Paws programs. As a reward, we are wanting to provide a hygiene kit for each of the women. There are 8 women in each program so our goal is to construct 16 kits. Please see the list of approved items provided by the ICIW *Please email Joy Talmon at jtalmon@arl-iowa.org for the approved list prior to bringing in any of the following items and please drop items off directly at our Main location to Joy Talmon or Scott Wilson. The items for the women can include:

Deodorant, Toothpaste, Body Wash, Shower Sponges, Shampoo, Conditioner

There are also various supplies that help keep the facilities and animals at the prison clean, odor free, and comfortable. These supplies are important to provide to keep a positive relationship with the prison and also the health of the animals as high as possible. Some of the supplies requested are:

Whiskers: Spot & Stain Remover, Air Freshners (ex: Febreeze, Renuzit), Turbo Scratcher Cardboard (keeps the kittens scratching on toys they are supposed to and not the furniture), Microwave (heating up canned food for unweaned/newly weaned kittens), Clorox Wipes, Dry and Wet Kitten Food, Litter

Paws: Box Fans (longer haired puppies get warm in the summer), Baby Wipes, Renuzit Air Freshener, Puppy Pool (fun play time for the supplies outside during the summer months), Pooper Scooper and Bucket, Clear TV Converter Box, Fabric Paint, Fabric Markers, Garden Hose, Plain Gray T-shirts (sizes XL, XXL, XXXL), Paper Towels, Wet and Dry Puppy Food, Zip Lock Baggies

If you have any questions about our program, or want a copy of the approved list, please contact Joy Talmon at jtalmon@arl-iowa.org or 515-473-9110.

A nice Black Rabbits

We occasionally have rabbits for rehome at our Benton Shelter.

We currently have three female rabbits looking for new homes, if you are interested in rehoming one of these lovely three please contact Benton North Farm on 0191 215 0435.

Please remember Rabbits like all animals do take up a lot of time so please dont rush in to buying any pet.