The Truth About Dog Kisses

We’ve all heard the line “dog kisses are healing” at some point or another.  The truth is, as therapeutic as it is to have a dog by our side when we are sick or injured, a dog’s tongue is not a medical device.  Some people don’t like being licked, and some people love it; that’s personal preference.  A few years ago, a discovery was made at the University of Florida where they isolated a protein in the saliva of mice called nerve growth factor.  Following this discovery, they found that nerve growth factor (purified and isolated), when applied to wounds, resulted in faster healing times.  There were many conclusions drawn, but the most publicized was “dog kisses heal wounds”.

While I rarely get offended when my patients lick me during appointments, I will never advocate the use of dog saliva as a healing agent.  Firstly, if you were to base your argument on this study, you’d have to have pure isolated nerve growth factor from MOUSE saliva.  I’m not sure where you get that.  Secondly, there have been no studies that actually link dog, cat or human saliva (complete with all its non-nerve growth factor ingredients) to better wound healing.  Thirdly, dog saliva can be potentially pathogenic.   If you still need another great reason not to impregnate a wound with saliva: we live in a lovely world with readily available soap and water.

The dangers in dog saliva are abundant and variable.  They can range from parasites to bacteria to viruses .  If you cultured the saliva of a dog, you would be able to isolate many bacteria populations.  Some of these are pathogenic, some not.  In the case of a normal immune barrier (intact skin and a good immune system) these bacteria are unlikely to cause disease.  In the case of an open wound, or a person with a less competent immune system (the very young, the elderly, people on certain medical therapies), these bacteria can infect a wound.  Aside from the bacteria, it is possible for dogs to pass parasites, perhaps the most common being giardia (“beaver fever”) and roundworms.  Roundworms in particular can result in visceral migration throughout the body (this is one of the main reasons why we recommend internal parasite control programs aka dewormer).  It is highly unlikely for rabies to be present in a dog’s saliva if they are up to date on vaccination and haven’t been exposed to rabies, but licking open wounds is just as dangerous as a bite if a pet had rabies.  These problems are not common, but still possible. 

The best thing you can do to prevent any of these diseases from being transmitted is to wash your hands.  It is also a great idea to discuss your situation with your veterinarian to know what is best for your family.  In medical school, physicians study humans, but in veterinary school veterinarians study animals and public health, so they are the best to discuss this with.

So, as far as cleaning your wounds go, my advice would be the following: If you have a competent immune system, no access to fresh water or soap, and you can’t find a mouse, I suppose a dog kiss would be an OK last resort, but as soon as you get home, I’d wash with soap and water.

Dr. Heather James

P.S.  One of my favourite resources for finding out about common dangers to us from our pets is from Dr. Scott Weese and the University of Guelph.  You can access his website at www.wormsandgermsblog.com

DId you feed the dog spaghetti?

 

Little worms, big trouble.

(Roundworms, round here?)

 

Roundworms are one of the most common parasites in dogs and cats. Seldom seen, but often lurking inside your pets intestines, roundworms are round and light tan in colour. The reason these worms are rarely seen in that the adult worms live inside the intestines and for the most part only their microscopic eggs are passed in stools. We often hear people say that their pet does not need to be dewormed simply because their “stools look normal” and they “haven’t seen any worms in their dog’s stool”. Unfortunately looking at stools with the naked eye is simply not an accurate way to find intestinal worms. Most commonly roundworms are diagnosed from routine stool testing that can be done at your veterinary clinic. A special solution is used to float the eggs and collect them on a microscope slide and they can then be seen under microscope. Rarely, some “lucky” owners will get the pleasure of finding roundworms which have been vomited up onto their floors.

 

Now let’s give you an idea of how common roundworms are. A survey has found that a third (30%) of puppies less than 6 months of age carry roundworms, and that one quarter (25%) of cats are infected with roundworms. Dog and cat roundworm infections are not restricted to certain geographical regions, but are common throughout North America. Raccoons also carry their own type of roundworm which is a little more regional, the West coast being one of the most prevalent areas. Roundworms are therefore a parasite of significant concern to us here on the Sunshine Coast.

 

So how can my pet pick up a roundworm? Puppies and kittens can get roundworms directly from their mothers either in utero (puppies) or while nursing (pups and kittens). Mature dogs and cats in general will pick up roundworms by ingesting eggs from contaminated soil or eating prey species which are infected with roundworms. This may not seem like that much of a threat, especially if you think your pet doesn’t eat other animals stool or eat prey animals. However, roundworm eggs are hardy and can remain infective in the environment for years! Once the eggs have contaminated the soil they can’t be removed or destroyed without extreme measures such as complete removal of topsoil, controlled burns or steam treatment. This makes it easier than you think to pick up a roundworm from the local park, beach or even your own backyard.

In adult dogs and cats the symptoms of roundworm infection are often mild, such as diarrhea with mucous. In puppies and kittens they are more likely to cause slow weight gain, poor hair coat, pot bellies, and severe infections can even cause death.

 

Roundworms are not just a concern to your dog or cat. Roundworms are one of the parasites that can be picked up by humans too! Most commonly it is children who pick up roundworms from playing in contaminated dirt or sandboxes and then ingesting the infective eggs. Roundworm infections in children can be quite severe, causing issues as varied as liver problems, neurologic problems, and eye disease.

 

The best way to prevent infection and spread of roundworm infection is to deworm your pet regularly, have your pet’s stools checked for roundworms, and wash yours and your children’s hands regularly and especially before eating. The current recommendations are to deworm your puppy or kitten from 2 weeks of age at 2 week intervals until they are 6-8 weeks of age, at which time they can be started on a monthly deworming control product. Having a stool sample examined for parasites once or twice a year is recommended even with regular deworming. There are lots of deworming products available to treat roundworms so feel free to give us a call to discuss which product will best meet your pet’s needs.

TERNERSHBERLS!!!

                We’ve been having some gorgeous weather here on the Sunshine Coast, and that means that the trails are rife with roaming Rovers, and the parks are full of frolicking Fidos.  There are few things in this life that I find more contenting than taking my dog, Lemon, through the trails and to the park for some hiking and play-time.  One of Lemon’s favourite games is Fetch, and every time I throw the ball (with my trusty Chuck-It) she explodes into an all-out run that inevitably results in over-shooting the ball, tripping herself into somersaults, and then the triumphant joy on her face when she finally gets a hold of it.  Unfortunately, Lemon doesn’t always understand the last part of that game; sometimes she brings it back to me, but more often she lifts the ball up in the air as if to say “I got it!” only to drop it back on the ground and come running back to me without it.  As a result, and because we often play this game in the bush and by the ocean, we lose a lot of balls.  Lemon gets the Chuck-It Whistle Balls and the Ultraballs, which are not exactly a dime a dozen, so when we lose them, it’s a little frustrating.  Some people tell me to just stop playing in the bush or by the ocean, but seeing as that’s where Lemon has the most fun, I figure that a couple of lost balls is an acceptable consequence.  The other option I am most often presented with is: Just buy tennis balls.  They’re cheap, they float, dogs love them, so why spend extra money on a fancy rubber ball?

                Here’s why: tennis balls are bad for a dog’s teeth, are a possible risk for a foreign body, and are a possible risk for choke. 

                Now what on earth could a tennis ball do to a dog’s teeth?  It’s soft and squishy, so there’s no risk of tooth breakage, and it’s covered in fuzzy stuff, just like any other toy.  Right? Wrong! The fuzzy covering on a tennis ball is there for several reasons, but the main one that concerns us here is: Friction.  Tennis ball fuzz is very coarse and helps the racket “grip” the ball for better control; dimples on a golf ball provide the same effect.  That same fuzz that helps grip the racket can also act like sandpaper on your dog’s teeth.  This isn’t something that will happen overnight, but over the course of several months or years (depending on your dog’s chewing style) the teeth will wear down until the pulp becomes exposed.  The picture on the left shows a relatively mild case.  The pulp of the tooth is where the blood supply and nerves live, so if that becomes exposed, it can be painful, and it can provide oral bacteria with direct access to the blood stream which puts Fido at risk for local infections (like tooth abscesses) and systemic infections (like septicemia).

Tennis balls are also relatively fragile, and dogs have very strong jaws, so it’s pretty easy for a determined chewer to rip the ball to pieces.  If the dog can rip it to pieces, he may also decide to swallow it, and that piece of tennis ball is indigestible.  Instead of getting broken down in the digestive tract like food does, it will pass through intact, and may end up getting stuck in the intestinal tract somewhere.  This is a very serious condition that requires emergency (and life-saving) surgery.  The picture on the right shows half of a tennis ball that was swallowed whole, and is now stuck in the intestines.  Even if the dog is unable to actually rip a tennis ball apart, they can still compress it in their mouths and that may result in choke.  If the compressed ball pops open in the back of the throat it can become lodged there, and cut off the airway resulting in respiratory distress and death.

So does this mean you should run home right away and have a big bonfire in your backyard to get rid of any trace of these menacing tennis balls and their diabolical green fuzz?  Of course not.  You just need to be smart about it.  Make the tennis ball exclusively for the game of fetch; this means the dog runs, picks it up, brings it back, and drops it in front of you.  There should be no games of “keep away” and it should not be an unsupervised chew toy.  Make sure the tennis ball is an appropriate size for your dog.  It’s unlikely that Floofy the Pomeranian will be able to rip a tennis ball apart or aspirate it, but Butch the English Mastiff could easily do both those things, so make sure the tennis ball (or any toy for that matter) is size appropriate.    

A better alternative is to replace your tennis balls with Kong, Chuck-It, or otherwise dog-friendly, size appropriate toys.  Yes, you may be cringing a bit when your pooch loses something that is more expensive than a tennis ball, but it will be better for your dog's well-being in the long run.  As for me, I will continue to buy and lose the Ultraball for the ocean because it floats and is super bouncy, and the Whistle balls for the park because…well, because they whistle when you throw them, and when you have a dog with radar dishes for ears, it’s really amusing to see the ears follow the ball before the rest of the dog does.

Lemon seems to think that whenever she loses a ball, that it magically comes back to me… ~By: Lisa Horne, RAHT