Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats (39 page)

The most common means of contracting spotted fever is from a direct bite by an infected tick. Pets can readily transport these infected ticks into a house or yard, where people can later be bitten. (All the tick’s young will carry the infection, too.) It also is possible to become infected while pulling a tick off your animal if the tick’s body is crushed or its feces released. So it’s safest to wear gloves when you remove ticks.

Scabies
(
Sarcoptic mange
): In dogs, this form of mange is less common than the demodectic (“red”) mange. It does, however, occur in both dogs and cats and causes itching, irritation, and thickening of the skin. People can be infected by contact—usually from holding an afflicted animal close. The result is intense itching, especially at night, and in those areas that were most in contact with the animal (like the inside of the arm, the waist, chest, hands, and wrists). Though the animal mange mite can live in human skin, it cannot reproduce there. So eventually the problem ends on its own—lasting just a few weeks at most. If, however, reinfection occurs, then of course it can keep happening. Note that we humans have our own brand of scabies mites, which can cause us prolonged aggravation and is not self-limited like the dog scabies.

Prevention of Diseases from Skin and Hair Contact

A healthy animal is less likely to harbor parasites like fleas, ringworm, and mange mites. Therefore, proper nutrition and overall care are important preventive measures for both of you. In addition, frequent grooming and inspection, along with herbal repellents, will catch most of these problems early. Be especially attentive when your animal has been in
contact with other pets or is under stress from disease, emotional upset, or a stay in a kennel.

Nuzzling and hugging animals can be great fun, but if you like to do a lot of this, you take your chances whether your animal may carry these diseases. Wash your hands after prolonged contact. Minimize contact with animals that may have ringworm. Also, since stray hairs can carry active ringworm spores, too, keep the house clear of hairs if your animal is infected (or keep your pet confined outside in a pen or fenced yard until the problem is cured).

Avoid or minimize bodily contact with an animal with mange and do not let it sleep on your bedding, clothes, or towels.

D
ISEASES
C
AUSED
BY
B
ITES
AND
S
CRATCHES

Cat scratch fever:
After being scratched by a cat, some people develop a fever, malaise, and enlarged lymph nodes near the area of the scratch or bite. These symptoms usually occur one to two weeks after the injury. The condition is not serious or fatal, but it is uncomfortable and may be followed by complications. Nobody knows what causes it. A cat bite infected with the bacteria
Pasteurella
multocida
looks similar and should be differentiated from cat scratch fever by your doctor.

Rabies:
Everyone has heard of this disease and of its high fatality rate (close to 100 percent once the clinical signs appear). Caused by a virus transmitted through the saliva of a biting animal, it travels from the bite area to the brain in a matter of days or weeks. There it causes severe tissue inflammation, with symptoms such as convulsions, hysteria, and frothing at the mouth. The most common sources of human exposure are skunks, foxes, raccoons, bats, and dogs, though theoretically almost any warm-blooded creature can acquire the disease and transmit it.

The animal with clinical signs of rabies shows peculiar or erratic behavior. For instance, a wild animal may uncharacteristically approach humans or be sluggish and unable to dodge a speeding car. A dog may show evidence of a personality change—acting friendlier than usual or hiding in dark places. Eventually, a staggering, glazed-eyed, aggressive condition may develop—the stereotype of the rabid dog.

Prevention of Diseases Caused by Bites and Scratches

The best way to prevent cat scratch fever is to be cautious when handling cats, as suggested earlier. Cats, however, are not always predictable and might turn on you suddenly if they become frightened or ill. After a scratch or bite, encourage the wound to bleed for a minute or two to help flush it out. Then wash the wound well with soap and water and soak it in a hot Epsom salts solution.

Alternate the hot soak with a soak in some cold (not ice) tap water, going back and forth several times to stimulate blood flow and immune response. Do your final soak in the cool water.

Stray dogs or wild animals should never be handled unless you have special training or equipment to do so safely. If you see a dog or wild animal with symptoms resembling rabies, get away from it and phone an animal control agency or the police as soon as possible. One complication is that a dog can transmit rabies through a bite (or saliva-contaminated scratch) three days
before
any clinical signs appear. So if you’re bitten by any stray or wild animal, get help, and try to follow the animal to learn where it lives so it can be caught and tested. The testing procedure for dogs begins by putting a live animal in quarantine for ten days, during which time it is observed by a veterinarian. If rabies symptoms develop, the animal is killed and the brain sent to a lab for verification. If necessary, you might try to catch a small creature like a bat or a skunk, using a bucket, tub, or dog carrier. If you must kill it, don’t injure the head.

If you are bitten by an animal that’s a stranger to you or by one you suspect might be rabid, follow the same procedure as for cat scratches and bites. Also, report to your doctor as soon as possible. Your chances of getting rabies are really very low. About 35,000 Americans require rabies post-exposure treatment annually. Only about 30 percent of untreated people bitten by animals known to be rabid actually get the disease. Dog bites account for less than 5 percent of the rabies cases in North America.

THE PET POPULATION PROBLEM

Finally, one of the most important ways to be a responsible pet caretaker is to ensure that your animal does not add to the burgeoning pet overpopulation problem.

Spaying your female pet will keep packs of males from invading your property every time she comes into heat, and neutering a male will reduce his desire to roam and fight, which your neighbors will appreciate. Moreover, that one simple procedure in a cat will spare you years of trying to remove the offensive odor of tomcat urine from your house.

Why do people allow their pets to breed when there are already too many being born? They believe:

• Their children should witness the process.
  
• They can find homes for the litter, or they assume the local humane society will do the job.
  
• A spay or neuter operation costs money, can be painful, and holds possible adverse health effects if all does not go smoothly.
  
• Neutering a pet is unnatural and takes away a pet’s true self.
  
• It’s easy and fun to make a little extra cash selling purebred offspring.
  

Yet when you consider the vast suffering that befalls unwanted, homeless dogs and cats,
these reasons have little merit. For example, it is surely more important to teach children responsibility to animals in general than it is to bring more surplus pets into the world as “an experience” for the children. Humane societies cannot find homes for most of the animals they receive. And even if you could find homes for the animals you breed, how many pets will be kept? And how many offspring will
they
produce? If she and her descendants are allowed to breed freely, one female dog can be the source of thousands of animals in just five or six years. Cats are even more prolific. And assuming you are able to find good, responsible people to care for each puppy or kitten, consider that these people might otherwise have adopted animals that were destroyed for want of homes.

Anyone who can afford to provide decent care for a pet can also afford a spay or neuter operation. Many towns and cities have low-cost clinics. Ask your local humane society for information about these. The operation is painless, performed under anesthesia by skilled veterinarians, and involves very little risk. It not only prevents unwanted births and discourages straying and fighting among the animals, but it prevents health problems like cancers of the reproductive organs, stress and complications from breeding, and abscesses and injuries from mating. Contrary to popular belief, neutered pets do not automatically get fat. Because they may be less active, they may burn less energy. So the solution is just to feed less.

If you are extremely conscientious, the old-fashioned methods of animal birth control, the door and the leash, may work for a female dog. Lock her up securely inside your house during the two-to three-week period of her heat. Be prepared for the fact that male dogs for miles around are likely to gather on your doorstep.

Confinement does not work for cats. They come into heat more often than dogs, they can be very vocal, and they are very persistent in trying to get out. They almost inevitably succeed at some point. You should also know that an unspayed female cat prevented from mating may develop hormonal imbalances from complications, cystic ovaries, or uterine problems caused by not completing the reproductive cycle.

The idea that keeping pets reproductively intact is best because it’s “more natural” is very short-sighted. We don’t live in a natural world. These are not animals out in the woods hunting for their food and being hunted, falling victim to disease and hardship, living as an integral part of a balanced ecosystem and being governed by a complex interplay of hormones, social systems, and territories that regulate their breeding. These are descendants of wild animals living in close company with us and with thousands of other animals in an entirely unnatural and overpopulated environment. A male wolf in the wild is exposed to the scent of females in heat only a few weeks out of the year. An intact male dog is bombarded by the same
scent much more frequently. That’s a long way from being natural or fair.

As for the profit incentive behind breeding pets, not only do such ventures often yield little financial return, but repeated breeding can cost you money if the female’s health breaks down. Most puppy mills, which add 2.5 million puppies to the glut of dogs born annually in this country, are actually small home businesses run by amateurs whose ignorance and carelessness in breeding is a direct cause of much of the rise in congenital and health problems in many breeds. Surely there must be a better way to earn a buck.

I can understand and appreciate people’s desire to see their pets bear young. But, unlike most people, I have had direct exposure to the scope and everyday reality of the pet overpopulation problem. I worked for several years at a humane society clinic associated with an animal shelter, where I saw firsthand the tragic results of uncontrolled breeding. One walk into the refrigerator containing barrels of euthanized animals is enough to convince anyone of the needless suffering involved in uncontrolled animal reproduction.

The sheer numbers are staggering. Estimates are that 5 to 12 million animals are euthanized each year in U.S. shelters. The reality—in flesh and blood and not just as abstract statistics—is devastating. Each one looks at you, and each is capable of much love and potential. And most never leave that shelter alive. When everyone takes responsibility for pet overpopulation, we’ll see an end to the suffering it causes. It’s best for society and best for the animals.

CHAPTER 12

LIFESTYLES: TIPS FOR SPECIAL SITUATIONS

E
very now and then you read the true-life story of a remarkable pet. Perhaps it’s about a cat that survives without food or water for a month after being trapped accidentally in a transcontinental delivery truck. Or a tale of the family dog that gets lost during a cross-country move and somehow tracks down its home hundreds of miles away. Such stories of resourcefulness and devotion are both inspiring and amazing.

But all too often such incidents end badly. Everyday life poses special challenges for animals living in a human world. For example, there is the emotional stress of travel and moving, the
ease with which an animal can get lost in our busy cities, the dangers common household gadgets hold for our four-footed house-mates. With a little planning, we can make the going smoother for all involved.

VACATIONS AND TRAVEL

For many of us, travel is part of day-to-day living. Sometimes it’s just an overnight business or a weekend fun trip; sometimes it’s a month-long vacation. Whether your four-legged friend travels with you or stays at home, you need to give some thought to your pet’s special needs at such times.