Wag Reflex

Dry Skin Can Get Worse in the Winter

The dry, cold months of winter can exacerbate dog’s dry skin problems. Dogs that have a year-round problem certainly may be more prone to problems in the winter time but all dogs are more likely to develop dry, flaking, scaling skin and a dull coat in the winter time.

Your pet’s normally healthy skin and shiny coat might turn all-over dry, flaky, dull, or itchy in winter. You may have noticed the change in your pet’s coat and skin right around the time that the heat turns on. The dry air of home heating systems can contribute to the outer layer of skin losing excessive amounts of moisture. Cold air and wind outside especially on thin coated or short-coated dogs can also dry out the skin. Loss of moisture from the external skin layer leaves the skin dry, weak, itchy and prone to secondary problems (like skin infections) due to decreased local immunity or self-trauma (such as licking, biting or scratching).

The flaky skin and dull, dry coat prompts many owners to increase the frequency of shampooing their pet. In some cases this can exacerbate the condition. Many over-the-counter human and pet shampoos contain perfumes and other ingredients that may further irritate weakened skin and may not be properly pH balanced for your pet. Shampooing will also remove any remaining natural oils on your pet’s skin thus exposing your pet’s sensitive skin to further drying and irritation. At this time of the year it is more important than ever to ask your vet to prescribe or recommend a gentle, moisturizing, pH balanced pet shampoo and a coat conditioner or conditioning spray to use after and between shampooing. Start managing your pet’s dry skin early to avoid secondary infections.

Protecting your pet’s skin from the inside means first of all making sure that your pet’s diet is a good quality food and nutritionally balanced. If you have any questions about your pet’s food being balanced, look for the AAFCO label on the food. If your pet’s diet is home-made or does not contain an AAFCO label it is unbalanced until proven otherwise. If this is true, you should: A. Find a balanced commercial diet for your pet, or B. Talk to your veterinarian about having your pet’s home diet balanced by a veterinary nutritionist, or C. Find a local testing lab that will analyze your pet’s diet for you, then go to A. or B.

Many pets will also benefit from the addition of omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids to the diet. There are a number of formulations on the market for pets. These vary in fatty acid content and quality. Some also tend to smell very fishy which may or may not put off your pet. So you can sample some of the many formulations out there or just ask your vet for a recommendation or a prescription. My personal favorites come from DermCaps. If you choose a liquid version (versus gel caps) don’t buy a huge bottle to last you 6 months, it will turn rancid. Buy enough for 2 months at a time. Gel caps will last longer. Some of these supplements packaged in size specific doses: extra small, small, medium and large, so make sure you get the right one for your pet. If your pet is eating a therapeutic diet or has a history of hyperlipidemia or pancreatitis do not add fatty acids to the diet without consulting with your vet. By the way, you can use these supplements to improve your cat’s coat too.

Severe or persistent skin problems or lack of response to the above recommendations may signal a more serious problem. If your pet’s skin is already damaged enough that he/she is severely itchy or has a skin infection this will require immediate medical treatment. Your veterinarian may need to rule out other causes for skin and coat problems including parasites, infections, hormone imbalances, nutritional imbalances, allergy and systemic disease.

Photo from babydoll365's photostream.

--Dr. Park
---------------------
Dr. Park practices small animal medicine in Fairfield, CT and is a regular contributor to Wag Reflex.

Disclaimer Regarding Veterinary Information 

Fleas Survive in the Winter

This morning in Connecticut we woke up to a snowstorm. During the day we enjoyed a high of 17°F, “feels like 5°F” according to weather.com, and dropping in the evening to a low of 5°F. The most hardened outdoor cats are spending more time indoors these days, dogs are testing the upper limits of their bladders.Tthey don’t want to go out, I don’t want to go out, it’s cold. Brrr.

Anyway, Marc dropped off his indoor/outdoor cat, Kit, after lunch today for an exam. Among other things Kit has fleas. Lots of fleas!!! Warm, happy, well-fed and joyfully proliferating fleas! You see, it’s winter in Connecticut and Marc, like many other well-meaning pet owners, stopped using Kit’s flea preventative to save a little money because he thought fleas couldn’t possibly survive the cold winter.

Guess what, they made it! They are surviving and thriving during the winter! It might be cold outside but it’s a balmy 100°F or thereabouts on Kit’s furry body where fat, happy fleas are overwintering. Now Marc will be treating Kit for her fleas and for her bartonella infection (passed on by fleas) as well as treating his home for a flea infestation. Some savings!

So, finally, here’s my point...If you live in an area where pets are susceptible to external parasites, treat your pets year round for parasites. If you aren’t sure of your pet’s parasite risk, ask your veterinarian. If you think fleas and ticks don’t survive in winter, and your winter is less cold than my winter, you are wrong! They survive, they feed on your pets, they pass on disease and they infest your house!

So you think it’s safe to discontinue your pet’s flea and tick preventative over the winter? You’ve been warned.

(Names have been changed to protect the innocent and the flea-infested)

Photo from elipson's photostream.

--Dr. Park
---------------------
Dr. Park practices small animal medicine in Fairfield, CT and is a regular contributor to Wag Reflex.

Disclaimer Regarding Veterinary Information 

The Stay at Home Cat Part 2: Hunting for Food

Cats are hunters. I didn’t have to tell you that did I? In the wild, felines spend the majority of their waking hours seeking food. They use their minds, their bodies, all of their senses. While hunting, they are engaged, interested, and focused. They forage and hunt ALL DAY. Wild cats know that nothing is free.

Indoor cats rarely experience the thrill of hunting. Food acquisition is a matter of sliding off the couch to waddle over to a bowl of kibble and chow down. There is no thought required, no physical activity, no challenge and it’s over in 5 minutes or less. When the bowl is empty they might have to expend some energy seeking  the food-giver (you) at any hour of day or night to demand food (and you get up and feed him don’t you!). Or maybe your cat has one of those overflowing, never-empty bowls and the cat grazes all day long.

Let’s get this straight--cats are hunters, not grazers.

Here’s a reminder of The Goal:
To provide a challenging, fun, safe and exciting indoor environment for your cat; one that stimulates your cat’s natural instincts and curiosity, redirects energy used for unwanted behavior and encourages mental and physical activity.

Ok, so how do we stimulate the housecat to hunt--to use its mind, its body and its senses to find food? First, throw away the cat food bowl. The food bowl is too predictable, too easy and an uninteresting way to find food. If you take my advice, food dispensing toys (containing small amounts of dry food, not treats--most pet cats are overweight anyway) will soon become your indoor cat’s best friends.

There are a variety of these items available on the market. Here some good ones to choose from:

The staple of food dispensing toys for cats is the treat ball. The best treat balls are adjustable so that you can control the amount of food that comes out. It should be challenging but not impossible to get food out. The Slim Cat is my favorite of these. The non-adjustable ones are often too easy; many cats will empty them in a few minutes.

If the adjustable treat ball is too easy for your cat, try the Buster Cube. It’s made for dogs but some cats are just too crafty for the treat balls (my cats are so crafty they use the large dog Buster Cube).

Try out some different types of dispensers such as Pavlov’s Interactive Treat-and-Food Dispenser and Kitty Kitchen Food and Treat Dispenser. These will force your cat to figure out new methods of retrieving food. 

Get a few of these products and every day load 2 different food dispensers with 1 dry meal (about ¼ cup dry is enough for most adult cats). Hide each food dispenser in a new place in the home. Your cat will have to forage around the house to find the item. This will begin stimulate your cat’s hunting instinct by forcing him to use his senses as a cat would in nature. Once the cat finds the food dispenser it will have to think and spend some time getting the food out. You can also leave small amounts of kibble in several little surprise bowls in places where your cat can search them out during the day. By the way, you can use these methods at night for cats who get the midnight munchies and would otherwise try to wake you for a meal.

If your cat only eats canned food I have a solution for that too. Invest in some of timed, portion-controlled meal feeders. There are relatively simple and inexpensive models like this one, or more complex models like this one that will even feed your pet for a short vacation. Make sure you use feeders that are equipped with freeze packs to keep your pet’s canned food fresh. As with the treat dispensers, put these feeders in new places in the home every day. You can even coordinate a radio music alarm to go off one minute before the feeder opens. Your cat will learn that when the music starts it’s time to find the feeder and wait for it to open.

So liberate Fluffy from the bottomless bowl and awaken the latent hunter inside! With food dispensing toys, what was previously a five minute event requiring no thought becomes a half-day foraging expedition with the benefit of mental and physical stimulation. Your cat also will eat smaller meals, have some fun and take breaks in between hunting expeditions to nap and to interact with some of the other environmental enhancing items that I will be discussing in my next blog.

--Dr. Park
---------------------
Dr. Park practices small animal medicine in Fairfield, CT and is a regular contributor to Wag Reflex.

Disclaimer Regarding Veterinary Information 

The Stay-at-Home Cat, Part 1

We Americans have collectively about 80 million pet cats. Some of us choose to let our beloved felines brave the often perilous outdoors because we feel that their quality of life is better if they are free roaming--that this keeps them active and mimics their natural habitat. But we also know that a housecat’s freedom to roam about outside comes at a grave cost. Our outdoor cats often fall victim to parasites, predators, motor vehicles, disease, and even human cruelty. In fact, the average lifespan of an outdoor cat is well under 5 years. Yes, some outdoor cats will have long lives, but the reality is that most don’t. Most indoor cats with proper care will have longer, healthier lives than outdoor cats and will often live over 14 years.

Those of us who choose to keep our cats safer, cleaner and protected in an indoor environment find that our cats don’t always appreciate our well-meaning plans for them. Even though cats have been domesticated for something like 10,000 years, many of the cats’ natural instincts remain. Life with humans means that their physical and psychological needs are often unfulfilled. The indoor life, designed by humans for human convenience and comfort, and without a cat’s needs in mind, can be quite dull and unchallenging for our feline companions. With some basic understanding of the cat’s needs and a bit of creativity, you can improve your pet’s indoor experience greatly and prevent or reduce boredom and stress related problems.

The Problem
Many indoor pet cats exhibit undesirable behavior in an attempt to find things to occupy their time or to engage other people or animals in some kind of interaction. By the way, getting yelled at or chased is still interaction and some cats crave this type of excitement.  Other indoor cats develop obsessive-compulsive type behaviors, such as wool-sucking, compulsive eating or excessive grooming that may stem from lack of mental stimulus or anxiety.

The Goal
To provide a challenging, fun, safe and exciting indoor environment for your cat; one that stimulates your cat’s natural instincts and curiosity, redirects energy used for unwanted behavior and encourages mental and physical activity.

The Disclaimer
Boredom and anxiety related behaviors are generally mild, long-standing and progressive and are rarely extreme, aggressive or self-destructive. Any sudden change in your cat’s behavior, energy level or attitude can be a warning sign of disease. If this is the case, stop reading and call your vet.

The Plan
I’ll share some of my personal recommendations for enhancing your cat’s indoor experience in upcoming blogs. Readers… any good advice?

In the meantime, check out The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine’s Indoor Cat Initiative for some great information.

--Dr. Park
---------------------
Dr. Park practices small animal medicine in Fairfield, CT and is a regular contributor to Wag Reflex.

Disclaimer Regarding Veterinary Information 

Consider Pet Insurance

If you demand quality veterinary care for your pets, then you already know that this is not inexpensive. If your pet becomes unexpectedly ill or injured you may find yourself suddenly facing hundreds to thousands of dollars in veterinary bills. Many pet owners have found that pet health insurance can be a convenient way to help cover the costs of routine or emergency treatment for their pets.

Don’t expect pet insurance to save you lots of money--insurance is a business after all. You buy a policy, pay your premium and collect as you can, depending on your plan’s coverage. The insurance company hopes your pet will be relatively well, costing the insurance company as little as possible (equal to or less than the amount you’ve spent on your pet’s insurance premium) , and hopes your pet doesn’t run out in front of a truck and require expensive (covered by your policy) veterinary care. But having a pet insurance plan can give you some peace of mind knowing that if your pet suddenly needs life saving treatment, your expenses will be at least partially reimbursed.

The types of insurance packages offered and benefits associated with specific care vary greatly among insurance carriers. Companies offer plans ranging from all-inclusive illness plus preventative care plans to accident only plans. Factors that will affect your pet’s eligibility include age, breed, general health status and  pre-existing conditions. Elderly pets may be difficult to insure.

My advice is to shop around, call several insurance companies, and ask a lot of specific questions about the plans that are available. Compare limitations, renewal policies, deductibles, percent coverage, caps, etc. Check out Pet Insurance Review for more tips, pet insurance carrier information and reviews of some insurers.

If you don’t have pet insurance and you need a payment plan to help pay for veterinary care you may qualify for Care Credit. You will need to be pre-approved (if your credit is poor you may not qualify) and not all veterinarians accept Care Credit, so ask first.

My clients who use pet insurance seem to view it favorably in general. Only one of my clients raves about her pet insurance company. That company had the highest score on the Pet Insurance Review consumer reviews.

--Dr. Park

---------------------

- Dr. Park practices small animal medicine in Fairfield, CT and is a regular contributor to Wag Reflex.

Disclaimer Regarding Veterinary Information