Novartis Plant Still Shut Down

In January, I posted about the Novartis plant shutdown in Lincoln, NE.  I haven’t seen anything new come across the wire about this and had assumed everything was back to normal.  When I was unable to buy Interceptor (made by Novartis) today due to shortage of product, I began looking around.  The Interceptor website doesn’t have any information.  This Novartis press release, dated February 2, seems to indicate production has resumed at the Lincoln plant – until you read more closely.  It’s a rather deceptive media release basically stating the company has resumed shipping old products they found in the back closet.  Production has not been resumed.  (See the weird disclaimer at the end.)

I eventually called Novartis and a recording told me to visit a website called PetWellness.com.  From there I was led to this FAQ page which gives information about the shortage and addresses the funky press release from February 2.  The bottom line:  The plant is still shut down and there is no estimated date when it will be operating again.

In re-reading the comments at my original post, reader Charlotte shared a link for where she buys Interceptor (Thank you!).  I went ahead and checked and they do have product so I ordered a package.  Now I’m sitting here with a case of buyer’s remorse, wondering if I should have ordered a product from a company that seems less than forthcoming.  On the other hand, outside of Novartis, I know of no company that makes any product containing just the (non-ivermectin) heartworm and intestinal parasite drugs – which is all I want.

I wonder what is going on at that Novartis plant.

Remember When?

Ironically, I’ve done a post on a theme like this in the past but I can’t recall where it is.  (It’s been a long time – at least I remember that much.)  So here we are again.

What are some things you remember regarding pet care, ownership, feeding, etc. from years gone by?  I’ll start:

When I was a kid, I remember all of us in the neighborhood knowing that when the GSD at the end of the street was out, we had to get off our bikes and walk – not run.  It was our responsibility to keep from getting bitten and the general sentiment among parents was that if a kid got bit by a neighborhood dog, it was our fault and we needed to tell what we did that resulted in the bite.  Bites were very rare (I can only remember one – mine!) but certainly nobody sued anyone and no breeds got banned.

Dog Death by Hot Car – 100% Preventable

How to avoid becoming one of this summer’s “Dog dies in hot car” statistics:

1. If the weather can be described as warm, hot, or not cold – do not leave your dog unattended in the car.
2. When in doubt about whether it would be ok to leave your dog in the car, do not leave dog in car.

My thinking is that the overwhelming majority of owners who kill their dogs by leaving them in a hot car thought the dog would be ok.  (There are a small number of people who actually forget the dog is in the car altogether or something along those lines.)  People think things like:

• He’s a dog, he’s used to the heat
• He’ll be fine, I left the window cracked
• I’m only going to be gone for like 2 minutes, max

Problems arise when:

• He was a dog, he was used to the heat, and he died
• He wasn’t fine, even though I left the window cracked
• I was gone for a little longer than 2 minutes, and he died

Here’s the thing:  No matter what your reasoning – which may on its face be sound – you are leaving your dog.  As such, you do not know what will be happening to him in your absence.  The clouds may shift and place him in direct sunlight or he may become stressed due to a factor other than the temperature – you just don’t know.

Anytime you are preparing to leave your dog unattended in the car:  Plan as if you will be abducted by aliens, medically probed for 7 hours, and returned to a spot near your car with a vague “Whaaaa?” feeling.  Will your dog be ok while you’re gone?

Needs Room to Roam – or Not

When I see a dog rehoming ad that says  “Needs large yard to run in”, I translate that to:  We don’t exercise our dog.  We expect him to do that himself but he doesn’t seem to be doing it in our yard so I guess our yard is too small.

Many dogs don’t exercise themselves to the point where they are worn out, which is where most owners want them to be.  At my house, the Beagle will follow her nose all over our property, sometimes for hours.  She does in fact exercise herself.  But of all the dogs I’ve had over the years, she is the exception.  The Flatcoats for example, if left outside to exercise themselves, will bark at the back door like, “Hullo!  We’re outside and you’re not!  What’s the hold up?”

Dogs want human companionship.  If you don’t plan to walk your dog, try an alternate form of exercise such as throwing a ball.  It’s not the size of the yard that is important – it’s the quality time spent together.  Did you know that New York City is a very popular residence for dog owners?  And they don’t have any yards at all!

What verbiage do you see in pet ads that makes you cringe?

I Chortled

Terrierman has a post up about Veterinarians pushing for twice yearly well pet exams.  One justification is the idea that every year is actually 7 “dog years” so you’re really only bringing your dog in every 3.5 years.  No sale there:

Question: Do you think this vet tells hamster-owners that because their animals live for only three years, “every month in a hamster’s life is really two years in human years, so you need to bring in your hamster every month just to see what’s going on.”

*coffee spew*

I tend to agree with much of the post although I don’t get my dogs’ teeth cleaned at the Vet’s under anesthesia.  That’s not to say I wouldn’t if some situation ever arose where my dog needed to have a veterinary teeth cleaning in order to maintain a good quality of life.  It’s just that situation hasn’t presented itself yet (knock on wood).  I don’t brush my dogs’ teeth either.  File that under Things-I-haven’t-found-the-need-for too.  I’m not knocking anyone who does provide veterinary and/or at-home dental care for their dogs.  My motto is Do whatever works for you and your pets.

I do think vaccines probably last for the life of a dog (except in cases of vaccine failure) and I don’t revaccinate mine as adults, except as required by law for Rabies.  I wish there was a more reliable and cost-effective means of testing how long vaccines remain effective.  My Vet requires titers if a dog has to be hospitalized and the owner doesn’t revaccinate.  Titers give us only limited info and really don’t answer the question of whether the dog still has any immunity from a prior vaccine.  But I understand she has liability issues as well as other clients who follow her yearly revax protocol.

Needless to say, I don’t bring my dogs to the Vet for semi-annual well pet exams.  For starters, I can’t afford to do that.  And that pretty much negates the need for providing any additional reasons.  But even if I win the lottery tomorrow, I don’t envision myself changing on that point.  A visit to the Vet means stress for the dog.  And I’m big on minimizing stress.  I tend to think stress contributes to the deterioration of otherwise healthy animals in a much bigger way than is often considered.  That’s just my opinion, not based on scientific studies of the effects of stress on pets or anything like that.

Anyway, I enjoyed the post and thought many of you would as well.  Plus with so much bad news in the media this weekend, it’s good to laugh and read a little plain talk.

The Stay with an Exclamation Point Mat

I would guess that the average house dog has some amount of training, at least in appropriate house manners.  And as many of us know, there are times when we can expect our dog to “break” (go against his training).  For example, a dog with a bladder infection may not be capable of waiting until you return from your errands to be let out like usual.  A doorbell causes many normally quiet house dogs to erupt in a torrent of yip-yaps, despite sometimes diligent efforts by the owner to counter this tendency.  Of course some owners, myself included, do teach their dogs to generally be quiet indoors but just can’t be bothered to worry about things like doorbell barking.  Therefore, I expect my dogs to break the “no barking in the house” rule when someone comes to the door.

Likewise, many dogs are taught to stay on a rug or mat of some sort.  This comes in useful at dinner time when owners don’t want to deal with a begging dog underfoot and I know some owners use it for other occasions as well.  But it’s hardly something I would expect the average pet dog to rigidly adhere to for any length of time.  That’s why I hate this product:

The Stay! Mat functions by detecting your dog’s weight on the mat. If your dog leaves the mat while the unit is turned on, the mat will send a radio signal up to 6 feet in all directions. The receiver collar will receive the radio signal and produce a beep or beep and mild static correction until your dog returns to the mat. The correction type depends on the setting you choose. Once your dog returns to the mat, the beep and static correction will cease. (Two week training period required.)

Regardless of how you feel about using electric shock as a correction in dog training, I can easily envision a number of scenarios where the dog will be shocked when he shouldn’t be:

If the dog starts to throw up, he will move off his mat.  Does anyone really want his dog to get a shock because he got sick?

If the dog falls asleep on the mat and rolls over in his sleep (some of mine like to have their paws in the air while sleeping), the mat will register that his weight is not on the mat and shock him.

If someone accidentally drops a piece of food on the floor, the dog may stretch himself off the mat to get it.  He may well return on his own and unless you are a STAY Nazi, you probably don’t care about minor infractions of this nature.  I don’t.  But in this case the dog would get shocked.

If the owner gets distracted by a phone call in another room or whatever, he may forget that the dog is on the mat and leave him there for an extended period.  When the owner eventually realizes he hasn’t seen his dog in awhile, he may call the dog.  In responding to the owner – ZZZZZT!

If some emergency occurs – fire, intruder, serious injury to a family member – the dog will likely leave the mat and the owner will in fact want the dog to move as quickly as possible.  ZZZZZZZT!

If the unit malfunctions (always a possibility with these type of radio devices), the dog will get shocked while on the mat.  He will likely move away from the mat and probably be shocked again.  How confusing for the dog!

At any rate, it looks like the vendor at the link is discontinuing the product.  I’m glad.  I only hope no one buys any of the remaining units because they’re on sale and it seems like a good idea.

Ontario Shelter Manages Ringworm Outbreak with Death

A shelter in Ontario, Canada is pioneering a new treatment for pets with ringworm:  mass killing.  But let’s back up a second and look at this dastardly skin infection in pets.  There are oral medications, topical medications, a ringworm “vaccine” for cats which can be used in treatment and finally:

There have been several studies which showed that this fungal infection should eventually resolve on its own. Typically, this takes four months, a long time in a home environment for contamination to be occurring continuously. We recommend treatment for this infection rather than waiting for it to go away.

In summary, it’s a very annoying fungus to deal with and humans can contract the infection from pets.  But it is highly treatable and ultimately may go away on its own, even without treatment.  So under what circumstances would mass killing of shelter pets be appropriate?  If you are the Ontario SPCA, the answer would be – after trying once to get rid of the problem:

Approximately 350 dogs, cats, rats and other small animals—will be put down over the next two or three days after an attempt to contain the fungal infection failed, said the society’s chief executive officer Kate MacDonald. [bold=mine]

[...]

[...]MacDonald said the shelter has been fighting the outbreak for three weeks.

If you feel inclined to give the OSPCA the benefit of the doubt, feel free.  After all, maybe it was a really great “attempt” to treat the ringworm.  And maybe after their failure, they reached out to the community for help but no one was willing to help.  Or maybe not:

Leanne Tucker, a volunteer dog walker for nine years, said staff and volunteers were told of the mass euthanasia late Monday afternoon and asked to leave the premises.

“It’s horrible,” Tucker said. “There are people in the community who are willing to take these animals home and help them.”

So these 350 pets have been exposed to a highly treatable fungal infection and there are people in the community willing to help.  But OSPCA barrels on with the killings:

On Monday night, the shelter was under lockdown as Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals officers went in and out of the building and emotional volunteers waited in the parking lot.

“This is unbelievable—how can they kill all the animals,” said one distraught woman who has been volunteering at the shelter for two years.

The OSPCA called police and hired a private security firm to monitor the shelter.

Two security guards from IGI Security sat in their SUVs at the entrance of the shelter Monday night.

“We have had some individuals declare that they might try to remove the animals,” MacDonald said.

Heaven forfend somebody try and actually save these evil ringworm pets.  By all means, call in the jackbooted thugs.

H/T:  One Bark at a Time

When to Euthanize

This is a subject that is a part of every pet owner’s life – how to handle a pet’s last days.

My first dog I ever had to put to sleep was terminal with cancer. I asked my then Vet more than once, “How will I know when it’s time?” and she always answered, “You’ll just know”. This was not at all helpful to me. When I did make the decision, I questioned myself right up to the emergency clinic.

I realize now that for me, this is normal. It is no small thing to end the life of a pet, even when you are doing it as a kindness to relieve suffering. Questioning my own judgment is not a bad thing.

Likewise, it is normal for me to look back and wonder if I made the decision at the right time. The only thing I refuse to dwell upon is “If I’d known then what I know now, the dog could have lived longer”. I didn’t know then what I know now just as I will (hopefully) know more in future. It’s not fair to judge my past decisions on when to euthanize against a standard of knowledge I did not possess at the time. I won’t beat myself up like that.

To get into some specifics, the dogs I’ve had to put to sleep have been Flatcoats. They have all been happy dogs who enjoy companionship but more than anything – food. I wish I could flatter myself by saying they valued my company more than life itself but that would be a lie. (Side note: I once took a nursing dam to the emergency Vet because she refused a meal. That’s how much my Flatcoats have loved food. Turns out, she had mastitis.) So one factor that has been useful for me in deciding when to euthanize is whether the dog can be enticed to eat. When we reach the point that food is consistently refused, I know that dog is miserable.

I have never been of the mind to go for extensive treatment when a pet is terminal or simply old. Even if I won the lottery tomorrow, I don’t think that would change. My pets are like most people’s I would imagine – they don’t like going to the Vet and definitely wouldn’t like staying there for days. I can relate. I am a homebody and being at home gives me a sense of peacefulness and comfort. I think age increases the attachment to home and routines. I’ve been able to keep my pets at home until the final Vet visit was needed. I tend to think that would be their choice too, if they could be The Decider.

This is in no way meant to disparage owners who choose extraordinary measures and hospitalizations. Nor do I look down upon those who opt for a natural death, allowing the pet to starve himself or whatever the circumstances may be. We must each make the decision that is right for our situation and with our pet’s best interests in mind. Aside from something extreme (e.g. a pet who has been badly mangled by a car and the Vet gives little hope for survival even if the owner opts for heroic measures), I don’t think there are “wrong” end of life decisions for ailing pets. The best we can do is the best we can do.

One of the many things I’ve learned from my pets is to live in, and cherish, the moment. For me it’s question=yes, regret=no.

What has been helpful to you in deciding when the time is right to euthanize a pet?

Walking 10 Miles in the Snow to School Wearing Cardboard Shoes

I’m not elderly mind you but I am old enough to notice how much things have changed since I was a kid, particularly with regard to pets. For example:

When I was a kid…

• We were told to stay well clear of the path of a chained dog.
• We were told that if we were riding our bikes and a loose dog came around, we should stop and walk the bike home because if we sped away, the dog would chase us.
• If a neighborhood kid got bit by a dog, that kid would likely be in trouble with a parent demanding to know what the kid did to provoke the dog.
• When our females came in heat, we could let them outside only when my Mom was there to supervise and then it was just for a quick potty break.
• Table scraps went into the dog bowl because “There are people starving in China and we don’t waste food”.
• The Vet was for giving rabies vaccines and putting pets to sleep when the time came. Sick pets were given a cardboard box with warm blankets in a quiet corner of the house, same as abandoned baby squirrels and injured birds. Mostly though, our pets were hale and hearty. At least that’s the way I remember it now. The wildlife did not fare so well.

Now I’m not saying that “only the old ways are right” by any means but it’s interesting to note how attitudes toward pets seemed more common sense then than what we often see today. Then, we expected dogs to bite, especially chained dogs and those who were unsupervised around kids. It was an assumed risk. And on rare occasions, someone in the neighborhood did get bitten. But nobody’s parents were running to the town council to ban the breed of dog who did the biting. Nor was the owner of the biting dog worried that authorities would seize and kill his dog. It was just a thing that happened. Like my neighbor cracking his head open after a bad fall off his bike (nobody wore helmets then) – we didn’t have to all turn our bikes in to authorities, we were just supposed to “be more careful because this is what can happen”.

Spaying and neutering pets was a convenience for owners who could afford it. We couldn’t so we just safeguarded our dogs from unintentional breedings. And it was 100% successful, much to my dismay.

We fed our pets kibble but never questioned adding table scraps and sharing extra special bits on holidays and such. There either wasn’t a massive blackballing effort against table scraps by the pet food and veterinary industries back then or if there was, it didn’t reach our house. And the idea of taking a pet to the Vet for a dental cleaning or baseline bloodwork was utterly preposterous.

As I look over my little list, I think about how quick I am sometimes to judge how people care for their pets. I try not to jump to conclusions and yet, it happens. I wonder what the adult me would think about the kid me if I read about how my family took care of their pets in a blog post or online article. I hope I wouldn’t be too quick to condemn because of course I thought then that we were good owners. I guess I still think that, even if my views have expanded and changed over the years.

What do you think about how you and your family raised your pets when you were a kid?

Food Porn, Part Three

Excerpt from the book British Dogs – Their Varieties, History, Characteristics, Breeding, Management and Exhibition by Hugh Dalziel (circa 1879)

(click images to enlarge)

Previously in this series:
Food Porn (Part One)
Food Porn, Part Two