All the Creatures

My little min pin is spoiled rotten…..well not really but my husband thinks he is. For his own special bed he has a huge thick quilt that I was originally going to throw out. In fact all of our old blankets and quilts are now recycled into pet beds. At one time I use to actually buy doggy beds and then find out that the dogs would never use them. But they loved the old blankets and quilts that I gave them. No more dark circle under eyes from looking at my computer screen, trying to shop for a dog bed that ended up being a waste of money.

Do yourself a favor and recycle for your pets. Even an old t-shirt that has been stuffed and all of its openings sewed shut can make a great pillow for your pet.

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With the yearly winter holiday season coming up fast, it is also time to keep an eye on your pets if you bring any seasonal plants into your home. Poinsettia, mistletoe and ivy are several of the obvious ones that come to mind. Which ones are poisonous and which ones aren’t?

Let’s take a look at some the common poisonous plants that your pet might come into contact with. First there is the poinsettia.  A small bush that has leaf brackets that change color to mimic flowers. The “flowers” come in a wide variety of colors from red, white to purple. The plant is pretty to look at and it is not poisonous to humans or pets. In order to just get sick from ingesting the plant, a pet would have to eat about a pound of leaves to get an upset stomach. Not to worry, because the plant leaves are reported to be extremely bitter to the taste so it is unlikely that your pet would taste or eat more than one bite.

What about mistletoe? Well the same thing as the poinsettia, the berries are toxic but only in very large quantities. So unless you have pounds of berries all over the house then you don’t have to worry about your pet ingesting them.

English Ivy on the other hand is toxic to pets and horses. The symptoms are vomiting, abdominal pain, hypersalivation, diarrhea.

While doing some brief research on this subject I found many misconceptions on the subject. The old one about poinsettias being poisonous is still making the rounds after being proved false almost 50 years ago. If you really need some accurate information on what plants are poisonous to your pets and livestock. please invest in a book with photos of the plants so you can refer to it when you need to. I am sure you can find one on sale at your nearest bookstore. Don’t rely on questionable hearsay from slapped together websites and blogs put up just for advertising. You pet’s life is worth more to you than that.

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If you have not noticed by now, this time of year marks another spurt in the flea population. Even as the weather gets cooler outside, it gets warmer inside. That means that any flea eggs that are hidden in your home will now hatch out and become a problem for your pets and you.

Warmer indoor temperatures that are brought on by heating your home will be loved by those biting fleas. Before they take over your home, you have to stop the tide of a rising population of them. Here are a few tips:

• Bathe your cat or dog, using a good flea shampoo that also conditions the coat and soothes the skin
• Use Advantage or Frontline spot on treatments on your dog or cat
• Spray your couches and pet beds with flea premise spray and let it dry
• Thoroughly vacuum the carpet, including the areas under the couches and beds

Don’t get discouraged if you don’t notice an immediate difference. It sometimes takes up to a week before the flea population is knocked down.  Here are a list of some items I will not buy even if they are on sale. They are Hartz, Zodiac and Biospot spot-on treatments for fleas. I have tried them all and they just don’t seem to work longer than a week. The Advantage and Frontline at least last the entire month. Also I find that Advantage is much cheaper when you buy it online than getting from your vet, and I have even found it pretty cheap on eBay.

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