∙SPAN Thrift Store is open to the public and looking for donations of adult clothing, household items and tools. SPAN Thrift Store regularly provides $10 spay and neuter clinics for low income households for cats and dogs. Upcoming clinics include: Tuesday, August 16th, parking lot of Shiells Park, 649 C St, Fillmore; Tuesday, Aug 30th, parking lot of SPAN Thrift Store 110 N. Olive St, Ventura. Please call to schedule an appointment (805) 584-3823.

∙What are vaccines, and why do they matter?

Vaccines are products designed to trigger protective immune responses and prepare the immune system to fight future infections from disease-causing agents. Vaccines stimulate the immune system’s production of antibodies that identify and destroy disease-causing organisms that enter the body.

Experts agree that widespread use of vaccinations within the last century has prevented death and disease in millions of animals. Vaccinations protect your pet from highly contagious and deadly diseases and improve your pet’s overall quality of life.

Reasons to vaccinate your pet

Vaccinations prevent many pet illnesses.

Vaccinations can help avoid costly treatments for diseases that can be prevented.

Vaccinations prevent diseases that can be passed between animals and also from animals to people.

Diseases prevalent in wildlife, such as rabies and distemper, can infect unvaccinated pets.

In many areas, local or state ordinances require certain vaccinations of household pets.

For most pets, vaccination is effective in preventing future disease or decreasing the severity clinical signs. It is important to follow the vaccination schedule provided by your veterinarian to reduce the possibility of a gap in protection.

Any type of medical treatment has associated risks, but the risk should be weighed against the benefits of protecting your pet, your family and your community from potentially fatal diseases. The majority of pets respond well to vaccines.

“Core” vaccines are recommended for most pets in a particular area or geographical location because they protect from diseases most common in that area. “Non-core” vaccinations are for individual pets with unique needs. Your veterinarian will consider your pet’s risk of exposure to a variety of preventable diseases in order to customize a vaccination program for optimal protection throughout your pet’s life.

∙Dogs sometimes don’t like certain people, and their owners can’t explain why. But scientists are increasingly learning more about dog behavior and cognition. Since 2005, scientists have studied dogs more intensely, and they’ve gained greater insight as to how dogs collect information to determine when someone is growl-worthy.

A dog’s sense of smell is profoundly more sensitive than humans. Whereas humans have about five to six million smell receptors, dogs have 220 million — some breeds have 300 million. Dogs can detect scents that humans won’t notice until it is 50 times concentrated. In some instances, a scent needs to be concentrated 100 times before a human can detect it.

Studies using magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs) have identified that dogs do not have a large frontal lobe like humans. Instead, they have a massive olfactory bulb that takes up 10 percent of their brains.

Since a dog’s sense of smell is 10,000 to sometimes 100,000 times better than ours, dogs can not only smell things humans can’t register, but they also apply more meaning to the scents they sniff. Whereas humans tend to notice smells that are either good or bad, dogs collect and store information about all sorts of odors.

In some instances, odors create an association for dogs. In The Other End of the Leash, an applied animal behaviorist described a dog she worked with who welcomed some visitors, but bit others. She interviewed the client to determine what the bite victims had in common. They didn’t see any patterns in terms of not liking specific people (i.e. fear of tall men), but they could see a similarity in smell among the bite victims. All had eaten pizza before visiting the house, and the dog could still smell it hours later.

Smelling faint scents and forming associations is one way dogs might not like a person. Research also shows that dogs can smell different human emotions through changes to chemosignals, such as adrenaline, sweat and body odor. And when it comes to their humans, they can determine if fear produced sweat.

Other studies have found that dogs have the ability to sense changes seen within a fight-or-flight response, including changes to facial expressions, as well as gestures. Studies have found that service dogs can assist veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Dogs can provide a distraction after they sense the slight changes their person exhibits when they experience intrusive thoughts.

∙It’s a popular myth that if a cat is an indoor-only pet, it does not need regular vet visits and vaccinations. But just like dogs, cats need to see a vet at least once a year.

Not only do even strictly indoor cats need regular vaccinations, but vet visits are necessary for more than just shots.

Regular wellness exams can help with a cat’s socialization skills. Having exposure to new people, places and environments, and not being relegated to just the family home, also helps decrease stress and anxiety.

Annual vet care can help detect illness. It is often hard to tell when the family feline is under the weather because cats are known for concealing sickness and pain.

This is especially true for chronic conditions like heart disease, and dental and kidney issues. Owners may not know there is a problem until the condition is advanced when there are no physical signs something is wrong.

Regular checkups with the vet and being observant of a cat’s physical appearance and behaviors are important for early detection of a possible medical problem.

Vet visits are necessary to discuss behavioral changes such as suddenly not using the litter box, or new, out-of-character aggressiveness.

These are often signs of an underlying issue, such as pain (arthritis, urinary tract or bladder infection, etc.), stress (new pet or baby, change in routine, new living arrangements, etc.), or an undiagnosed medical condition.

Behavioral problems are some of the most common reasons why cats are surrendered to shelters, banned from living indoors or even euthanized, so let your vet help find what’s behind them before taking drastic measures.

Regular checkups are also a great time to discuss and evaluate flea and parasite medications. Even indoor-only cats should be on regular preventatives. Indoor cats can still get fleas, intestinal worms, ear mites and heartworms.

Andoni Bastarrika is an artist from the Basque region of Spain who specializes in turning wet beach sand into sculptures of animals so realistic that people want to pet them.

SPAN Thrift Store is open to the public and looking for donations of adult clothing, household items and tools.  SPAN regularly provides $10 spay and neuter clinics for low income households for cats and dogs. Upcoming clinics include:  Tuesday, Aug 9^th, Albert Soliz Library parking lot, 2820 Jourdan St., Oxnard; Tuesday, Aug 30^th , SPAN Thrift Store parking lot, 110 N. Olive St, Ventura. Please call to schedule an appointment (805) 584-3823.

∙ Dogs are capable of learning the instruction “do that again,” and can flexibly access memories of their own recent actions—cognitive abilities they were not known to possess, researchers report.

Teaching a dog to sit or roll over? That’s easy. But what about that cute head tilt that you’ve never seen before, which happened while your phone was out of reach? Now you want a picture.

But how do you get a dog to repeat an action it hasn’t been trained to perform? For dogs taught to “think back” on cue, you just need to ask, the new study shows.

“We found that dogs could be trained to repeat specific actions on cue, and then take what they’d learned and apply it to actions they had never been asked to repeat,” says Allison Scagel, a graduate student in the University at Buffalo psychology department at the time of the research, and corresponding author of the study in the Journal of Comparative Psychology.

“Our findings showed that they were able to apply the concept of repetition to new situations. More generally, we found evidence that dogs are capable of forming abstract concepts.”

Historically, there has been a notion that conscious awareness of past personal experiences is the exclusive domain of humans, but recent research isn’t supporting that conclusion, Scagel says.

“Our study shows that dogs are capable of conceptualization, placing them in an expanding category of other animals that includes bottlenose dolphins and chimpanzees.”

The findings present new flexible training possibilities for dogs, Scagel says.

“Dogs can do more than learn the relationship between a person’s cue and which specific trick they should perform,” she says. “They can understand the concept of repetition: Whatever you just did, do that again. It can apply to anything they do.”

Animals are often tested on their ability to recall things in the external environment they have recently observed, such as objects, sounds, or scents. Memories of actions are different because they’re not outwardly perceivable. Memories are entirely internal; they are purely mental representations of previous personal experiences that can be recalled in ways that might influence what an animal chooses to do in the future.

For this study, the researchers looked at dogs’ memories of their own recently performed actions to determine if they could voluntarily think back to what they had just been doing and reproduce those actions.

Traditional dog training is cue and response. When dogs hear or see a trained cue, they respond with a behavior associated with that cue. For a baseline, the researchers started training the dogs in that fashion, with simple cues like spin in a circle, lie down, or walk around an object.

The dogs then learned a separate repeat cue (the word “again” accompanied by a hand gesture), which instructed them to reproduce the action they had just completed. To assess whether the dogs had actually learned a general concept of repeating recent actions, they were asked to repeat novel actions that they had never been asked to repeat before. Despite never being trained to repeat these actions, the dogs passed this test.

“This is an important step toward a greater understanding of how other species form abstract concepts,” says Scagel. “And we’re learning that humans aren’t that cognitively unique after all.”

Source: University at Buffalo

∙ Cornell researchers have provided the first documentation that dogs’ sense of smell is integrated with their vision and other unique parts of the brain, shedding new light on how dogs experience and navigate the world.

“We’ve never seen this connection between the nose and the occipital lobe, functionally the visual cortex in dogs, in any species,” said Pip Johnson, assistant professor in the Department of Clinical Sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine and senior author of “Extensive Connections of the Canine Olfactory Pathway Revealed by Tractography and Dissection,” published July 11 in the Journal of Neuroscience.

“It makes a ton of sense in dogs,” she said. “When we walk into a room, we primarily use our vision to work out where the door is, who’s in the room, where the table is. Whereas in dogs, this study shows that olfaction is really integrated with vision in terms of how they learn about their environment and orient themselves in it.”

Erica Andrews, a former analyst in Johnson’s lab, is the paper’s first author and currently works in canine aging research.

Johnson and her team performed MRI scans on 23 healthy dogs and used diffusion tensor imaging, an advanced neuroimaging technique, to locate the dog brain’s white matter pathways, the information highways of the brain. They found connections between the olfactory bulb and the limbic system and piriform lobe, where the brain processes memory and emotion, which are similar to those in humans, as well as never-documented connections to the spinal cord and the occipital lobe that are not found in humans.

“It was really consistent,” Johnson said. “And size-wise, these tracts were really dramatic compared to what is described in the human olfactory system, more like what you’d see in our visual systems.”

Tractography, a 3D-modeling process, allowed Johnson and her team to map and virtually dissect the white matter tracts. The findings in the digital images were later confirmed by a co-author and white matter expert at Johns Hopkins University.

Johnson said the research corroborates her clinical experiences with blind dogs, who function remarkably well. “They can still play fetch and navigate their surroundings much better than humans with the same condition,” Johnson said. “Knowing there’s that information freeway going between those two areas could be hugely comforting to owners of dogs with incurable eye diseases.”

Identifying new connections in the brain also opens up new lines of questioning. “To see this variation in the brain allows us to see what’s possible in the mammalian brain and to wonder – maybe we have a vestigial connection between those two areas from when we were more ape-like and scent-oriented, or maybe other species have significant variations that we haven’t explored,” Johnson said.

Johnson plans to examine the olfactory system’s structure in the brains of cats and horses, which aligns with the broader goals of her research program – to leverage the most advanced imaging techniques, used commonly in human clinical research, to better understand animal brain physiology and disease.

Johnson is also part of the Cornell Margaret and Richard Riney Canine Health Center.

∙ An Alaska family had given up hope of finding their blind, elderly golden retriever who wandered away from their home three weeks ago, but a construction crew found Lulu in salmonberry bushes after initially confusing her for a bear.

Lulu was barely alive after being found but she is being nursed back to health and is back home with her family, the Daily Sitka Sentinel reported.

“She means everything,” owner Ted Kubacki said. “I have five daughters and they’re 4 to 13 years old, so they’ve spent every day of their life with that dog.”

The Kubacki family searched for weeks after Lulu wandered off June 18.

“She’s just so helpless, and you kind of imagined that she can’t get real far because she can’t see,” he said.

∙ SPAN Thrift Store is now open to the public and looking for donations of adult clothing, household items and tools. SPAN Thrift Store regularly provides $10 spays and neuters for low income households with cats and dogs.

Upcoming clinics: Free spay and neuter cat clinic: Monday, July 18th at the Albert H. Soliz Library – El Rio, 2820 Jourdan St., Oxnard, 93036, and dog and cats on Tuesday, July 27th at Shiells Park in the parking lot at 649 C St., Fillmore, 93015.

∙ Research confirms what dog lovers know — every pup is truly an individual.

Many of the popular stereotypes about the behavior of golden retrievers, poodles or schnauzers, for example, aren’t supported by science, according to a new study. “There is a huge amount of behavioral variation in every breed, and at the end of the day, every dog really is an individual,” said study co-author and University of Massachusetts geneticist Elinor Karlsson.

She said pet owners love to talk about their dog’s personality, as illustrated by some owners at a New York dog park.Elizabeth Kelly said her English springer spaniel was “friendly, but she’s also kind of the queen bee.” Suly Ortiz described her yellow Lab as “really calm, lazy and shy.”

And Rachel Kim’s mixed-breed dog is “a lot of different dogs, personality wise — super independent, really affectionate with me and my husband, but pretty, pretty suspicious of other people, other dogs.”

That kind of enthusiasm from pet owners inspired Karlsson’s latest scientific inquiry. She wanted to know to what extent are behavioral patterns inherited — and how much are dog breeds associated with distinctive and predictable behaviors?

The answer: While physical traits such as a greyhound’s long legs or a Dalmatian’s spots are clearly inherited, breed is not a strong predictor of any individual dog’s personality.

The researchers’ work, published in the journal Science, marshals a massive dataset to reach these conclusions — the most ever compiled, said Adam Boyko, a geneticist at Cornell University, who was not involved in the study.

∙ HealthDay News- Dogs may be famous meat lovers, but canines who follow a vegan diet might be a bit healthier, a new survey suggests.

British and Australian researchers found that dogs on vegan diets (one without animal products or byproducts) tended to have fewer health problems, based on their guardians’ reports, than those who ate “conventional” meat-based products. Owners in the vegan group reported lower rates of obesity, digestive troubles, arthritis and issues with eye and ear health.

Overall, 70% rated their vegan canine companion as “healthy,” versus 55% of owners whose dogs ate conventional dog food.

Those numbers, however, do not prove vegan diets are healthier for dogs, according to veterinary nutritionists who reviewed the findings. “This is really a study of owners’ perceptions,” said Dr. Julie Churchill, a professor of veterinary nutrition at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine.

It’s very likely, Churchill noted, that “pet parents” who give their dogs a vegan diet are themselves vegan. That complicates the survey results for a number of reasons.

Because those individuals believe veganism is the healthiest diet choice, they may see their dogs as healthier. Beyond that, Churchill said, vegan humans probably have generally healthier lifestyles — including more physical activity for themselves and their dogs.

In general, evidence is lacking that vegan dog foods actually help dogs live longer, healthier lives, said Dr. Joseph Wakshlag, a professor at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.

Like Churchill, he said the current findings may reflect the perceptions and lifestyles of the humans surveyed, rather than effects of their dogs’ diets.

Overall, half of respondents in the conventional-diet group said their dog had some type of health issue, versus 43% of those who used raw meat, and 36% in the vegan group.

Dogs eating raw meat made fewer visits to the vet. But that does not necessarily mean they were healthier, all three veterinarians stressed.Vets generally warn against giving dogs raw meat, because of the risk of contamination with pathogens. So people in that raw-meat group may have tended to shun veterinarians’ advice, the experts said.

∙ Officials with the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine said in response to questions that they have been reviewing scientific literature regarding the role and amount of copper in dog foods for the past year.

Anne Norris, spokesperson for the CVM, said the FDA has received some reports of dogs that developed liver disease with suspected links to excess dietary copper. Those complaints have been uncommon, and evidence suggests some dog breeds have genetic predispositions for diseases that affect their ability to metabolize copper.

“The FDA has been reviewing the relevant facts and current scientific literature to assess whether regulatory intervention is appropriate,” she said. “As part of its assessment, FDA scientists are looking at the level of copper in the food, the physiology of the particular animal the food is intended for, how much of the food the animal is likely to eat over the course of a lifetime, and other potential exposures that might add to the animal’s overall dose.

“We are aware of some papers on the topic of copper toxicosis in dogs and will continue to track this issue as the veterinary community advances its understanding.”

Norris said CVM and AAFCO officials have discussed establishing a maximum amount of copper in dog food. In the absence of such a limit, manufacturers remain subject to a regulatory principle that no more of an ingredient should be used than is necessary to provide the intended effect.

“For copper-containing ingredients, this would be no more than is needed to meet the animals’ nutritional requirements,” she said.

Dr. Valerie J. Parker is a professor of small animal internal medicine and nutrition at The Ohio State University. She is an internal medicine specialist and nutritionist and is not connected with the work by Dr. Center and Dr. Wakshlag. She thinks the February 2021 JAVMA commentary made a valid point that it’s worth considering how much copper is in pet foods, whether that amount is justified, and whether it should be lowered.

Dr. Parker said it’s unclear whether dog food generally contains too much copper, though, since the amount can vary by tenfold or sometimes even thirtyfold between two products. She said the low-copper diets available today tend to be general formulations for dogs with liver diseases, including liver failure or hepatic encephalopathy.

“The lowest-copper commercially available diets are not necessarily diets that you would want to feed a 2-year-old otherwise healthy dog because they are lower in protein,” Dr. Parker said. (HealthDay News) — Chasing light shimmers reflected onto a wall. Obsessive licking or chewing. Compulsive barking and whining. Pacing or tail chasing.

SPAN Thrift Store is open to the public and looking for donations of lightly used adult clothing, household items and tools. SPAN Thrift Store regularly provides $10 spays and neuters for low-income households for cats and dogs. Upcoming clinics: Tuesday, July 5th at Albert Soliz Library, 2820 Jourdan St., Oxnard; Tuesday, July 12th, Shiels Park, 649 C. St., Fillmore; Tuesday, July 26th, SPAN Thrift Store, 110 N. Olive St., Ventura. Please call to schedule an appointment – (805) 584-3823.

∙ Just like people, dogs can get stomach aches for a variety of reasons, from eating something they shouldn’t have to catching a disease. Because these causes have a wide range of severity, many dog owners are unsure of how to respond to a dog showing gastrointestinal (GI) upset and if a trip to the veterinarian is always necessary.

Dr. Emily Gould, a clinical assistant professor at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, discusses the common causes and symptoms of digestive issues, as well as what owners can do to help their pup through the pain.

“The most common gastrointestinal issues causing owners to seek veterinary care for their dogs are dietary indiscretion (eating of food that upsets their GI tract), ingestion of a foreign object, intestinal parasites, pancreatitis, and chronic inflammatory intestinal disease (caused by food allergies/intolerance or immune-mediated inflammation),” she said.

The most common symptoms for any form of GI upset are vomiting and diarrhea, which can appear as acute symptoms with a sudden onset or chronic symptoms with multiple episodes over several weeks.

“Some animals with GI upset will also become nauseous, which can manifest as excessive drooling/salivation, lip licking, and lack of interest in food,” Gould said. “The development of flatulence and/or loud ‘gut sounds’ (known as borborygmi) might also be noted in some cases.”

Many cases of GI upset will resolve on their own, but there are several symptoms owners can watch out for to determine if a trip to the veterinarian is necessary, including if the dog stops eating or drinking, is depressed/lethargic, has frequent or persistent vomit or diarrhea (lasting beyond 24 hours), blood in the vomitus or diarrhea, or is known to have ingested a foreign object.

“For the most part, if your pet is still acting like itself and eating and drinking normally, there is not always a need to bring them in for signs lasting less than 48 hours,” Gould said. “If signs continue for more than 48 hours or any of the earlier criteria are noted, veterinary care is warranted, as vomiting and diarrhea can cause life-threatening dehydration if medical care is not provided.”

One notable cause of GI upset in puppies, specifically, is parvovirus, a condition that can be life-threatening for dogs that have not been fully vaccinated. Unvaccinated puppies with GI issues should always be taken to a veterinarian because parvovirus can cause extreme dehydration and death within 24 hours without supportive care.

“Boiled, skinless chicken or turkey breast mixed with white rice or low-fat cottage cheese can be offered in the short term,” Gould said. “The low-fat component makes the food easier to digest and helps the stomach empty its contents quickly.
Other dietary changes that may help resolve and prevent GI upset are feeding smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day and not giving a dog table scraps, raw meat, or foods high in fat.

Because the causes of digestive issues can range from mild to severe, dog owners should always be on the lookout for any signs of discomfort. A quick response, and trip to the veterinarian, if necessary, can save time, money, and even a dog’s life.

“Gastrointestinal upset can be very distressing for owners, and it is always better to be on the safe side with having your dog evaluated if you are at all concerned,” Gould said. “While many causes of GI upset are not life threatening, some can be, which is why assessment by a veterinarian is never wrong.”

Pet Talk is a service of the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University.

By Laura Polacheck

∙ Temperatures are rising soon, so Salt Lake County Animal Services is reminding people that keeping pets safe in the heat will prevent tragic accidents.

On a 70 degree day, the temperature in the car can soar to 116 degrees in as little as 10 minutes.

Animal Control Officers respond to over 500 calls about dogs kept in sweltering car temperatures annually, with over 100 such calls already this year.

Because dogs can’t release heat from sweating, their internal body temperature rise quickly and cause heat stroke, which can be deadly.

Senior dogs, puppies, and those with flatter faces, suffer even more in hot weather.

Here’s what to do if a dog is spotted in a hot car:
If a pet inside a vehicle excessively panting, non-responsive, drooling, or listless, call 911.

Take a photo of the pet, the license plate, and give that information to Animal Control Officers.

Ask managers of nearby businesses to page the owner to return to their vehicle immediately.

What not to do:
Never break a window of a vehicle on your own to pull out a pet, you could be liable for damages.

Don’t just leave the A/C on. It’s best to leave your pet at home where they can lounge in a comfy, cool place, with plenty of water.

Signs of pet heatstroke include excessive panting, a rapid or erratic pulse, muscle tremors, convulsing, and vomiting.
Pets with these signs should be moved to a cool, shady place, cooled down with water in a tub or stream, fanned to reduce the animal’s core temperature, and taken to a veterinarian as soon as possible.

Don’t forget to take water for animals on hikes, and make sure to avoid trails with hot sand that can burn an animal’s paws.
If the pavement feels too hot to the touch after five seconds, it’s too hot for dogs.And while balconies seem like a safe spot, they too can become overheated quickly. When in doubt, leave your dog at home to steal the couch and have access to long drinks of water.

∙ Gardeners should keep in mind that not all plant varieties are safe for pets. In fact, some are deadly and should be avoided if there are pets in the household.

Choosing the right plants to make our gardens bloom but also be safe for pets can be a daunting task — some plants are toxic for dogs but not cats, and vice versa, so it is important to do your homework before choosing what to plant.

Some of the most common poisonous plants that should be avoided for pets include:

SAGO PALM: Also known as the Palm Sunday palm. The entire plant, and the seeds in particular, contain a potent toxin called cycasin that can be fatal, even if the animal only eats a single seed.

AZALEAS: Ingesting even a few leaves can cause serious issues such as upset stomach, drooling, loss of appetite, weakness and leg paralysis, and in some cases, coma or death.

HYDRANGEAS: These are poisonous to cats, dogs and horses. All parts of the plant are toxic because they contain cyanogenic glycoside. Signs of ingestion include diarrhea, vomiting, lethargy, confusion and depression.

BIRDS OF PARADISE: Toxic for both dogs and cats, they also can be fatal for rabbits. They can cause intense burning and irritation of mouth, tongue and lips, excessive drooling, vomiting, diarrhea, difficulty swallowing and loss of coordination is possible.

∙ Why would Ventura include dogs among their treasured visitors? The real question is Why not? No place loves dogs more, so why wouldn’t Ventura welcome our visiting dogs – and their two-legged friends – with something special?

Meet Visit Ventura’s free Pooch Pouch. What’s in it? Fun dog treats — doggie bandana, dog biscuit, and coupons for a free puppy ice cream at Coastal Cone and a free doggie meal at Peirano’s Market (choice of scrambled eggs or unseasoned chicken). And, down the line, more fun changes and different offerings.

How does it work? When visitors traveling with their dogs check-in at a pet-friendly Ventura hotel, the welcoming front desk team hands the two-legged guest (the four-legged one is busy snuffling) a Pooch Pouch redemption card and kindly points all the guests in the direction of the Ventura Visitor Center (101 South California Street). Guests present the redemption card – along with their dog – at the Visitor Center and receive their free Pooch Pouch (Visitor Center hours are Sunday through Wednesday, 10 am to 4 pm, and Thursday through Saturday 9 am to 5 pm).

Dogs have always held a special place in Ventura’s heart. From Roxy and Flynn who pad about our Visitor Center like they own it (they do) to Ventura’s forever immortalized Haole, who loved unconditionally and played unconditionally and gave unconditionally (Haole’s Rock Garden, on the Ventura beachfront promenade, tells a story of everything right.) Plus, Ventura offers a host of dog-friendly fun.

And, of course, the late Dr. Scamp PhD (pretty happy dog).

∙ SPAN Thrift Store is open to the public and looking for donations of adult clothing, household items and tools. SPAN Thrift Store regularly provides $10 spays and neuters for low-income households for cats and dogs. Upcoming clinic: June 25 in the parking lot of SPAN Thrift Store, 110 N. Olive St., Ventura. Please call to schedule an appointment – (805) 584-3823.

∙ Paws for Reading is back!

The Paws for Reading Program brings together young readers and affectionate, canine listeners to help boost the confidence of beginning readers.

Hill Road Library — Wednesdays, 3:30 to 5 pm

E.P. Foster Library — Thursdays, 4 to 6 pm

Join PAWS dogs for one-on-one reading sessions. Arrive at the library early to choose a book and get in line to read to a special pooch. Children of all ages are welcome and love reading, and learning with the dogs.

∙ U.S. Postal Service releases dog attack national rankings during National Dog Bite Awareness Week.

More than 5,400 postal employees were attacked by dogs in the United States in 2021. From nips and bites to vicious attacks, aggressive dog behavior poses a serious threat to postal employees and the public. To highlight the enormity of this serious issue, the U.S. Postal Service is providing information on the do’s and don’ts of responsible dog ownership as part of its annual National Dog Bite Awareness Week public service campaign.

The campaign ran Sunday, June 5, through Saturday, June 11. This year’s theme is “The USPS Delivers for America — Deliver for Us by Restraining Your Dog.” Spread the news of the campaign by using the hashtag #dogbiteawareness

“Every year, thousands of postal employees are attacked by dogs as they deliver America’s mail. And while it’s a dog’s natural instinct to protect their family and home, we ask all customers to act responsibly by taking safety precautions with their dogs while the mail is being delivered,” said USPS Employee Safety and Health Awareness Manager Leeann Theriault. “When a carrier comes to the residence, keep the dog inside the house and away from the door — or behind a fence on a leash — to avoid an attack.”

Dog owners with friendly dogs often expect a friendly reaction from other dogs. However, even friendly dogs will bite, depending on the circumstance. Dogs are primarily territorial in nature and protective of their owners and their owners’ property. Defending its territory sometimes means attacking — and possibly biting — the letter carrier. Dog owners are responsible for controlling their dogs. The best way to keep everyone safe from dog bites is to recognize and promote responsible pet ownership.

Most people know the approximate time their letter carrier arrives every day. Securing your dog before the carrier approaches your property will minimize any dog-carrier interactions.

When a letter carrier comes to your home, keep dogs:

Inside the house or behind a fence; Away from the door or in another room; or on a leash.

Pet owners also should remind their children not to take mail directly from a letter carrier as the dog may view the carrier as a threat.

∙ If you feel fine, but your dog’s looking at you funny – trust the dog.

A new study on COVID detection found that trained dogs were actually better at correctly determining an infected person’s status in some cases than the typical nose swab antigen tests, according to a paper published Wednesday.

The peer-reviewed work, led by researchers from a French veterinary school and published in PLOS One, is the latest in a long line of research on dogs being used to sniff out COVID. Already they have been used at airports and in concert venues, among other places, to flag potential risk.

Researchers found that the overall sensitivity of the dogs — correctly giving a positive result for an infected individual — was 97%, and got all the way to 100% in those who were infected but asymptomatic.

As to specificity — the ability to correctly diagnose a negative result in an uninfected person — the dogs were right 91% of the time.

“The sensitivity of canine detection was higher than that of nasopharyngeal antigen testing … but the specificity was lower,” the authors wrote in an abstract to the results.

The dogs, a mix of animals from French fire brigades and security dogs from the Middle East, took anywhere from three to six weeks to train.

But don’t throw away your test kits; the authors said that while dogs appeared to be highly reliable, PCR tests were still needed to confirm infection, especially for variants.

∙ The American Humane Association estimates over 10 million dogs and cats are lost or stolen in the U.S. every year. One in three pets will become lost at some point during their life.

Microchips are a unique means of identification for pets. The rice-sized radio identification device provides a permanent and distinctive form of identification for dogs, cats and many other animals.

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), “A study of more than 7,700 stray animals at animal shelters showed that dogs without microchips were returned to their owners 21.9% of the time, whereas microchipped dogs were returned to their owners 52.2% of the time. Cats without microchips were reunited with their owners only 1.8% of the time, whereas microchipped cats went back home 38.5% of the time.”

In the United Kingdom, where microchipping has been mandatory for the last 5 years, the return rates are significantly higher.

Unlike collars and tags that can be easily removed, microchips are implanted under the skin of the pet and can’t be lost.

Microchips have aided in the return of pets to their original owners many years after being lost. In some cases, the pets were found hundreds or even more than 1,000 miles away from home!

No identification system is 100% fool proof, but when microchips are implanted correctly, registered correctly and the database is kept up to date, they significantly increase the odds of getting your pet home to you!

If you find a pet who you think is lost, most veterinary offices and animal shelters will allow you to bring the pet in and “scan” the pet for a microchip. This quick process can help reunite pets with their families.

The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) has a universal look up tool to help aid in this endeavor. Microchip numbers can be loaded into the website and the veterinarian or shelter can then find the right database where the pet should be located. petmicrochiplookup.org. Another helpful site is petchipregistry-us.info.

∙Researchers with Kyoto University and other institutions found that cats recognize other felines in the same household when the names of the latter are called. Team members said cats conjure up a mental image of other felines in such situations.

“What we discovered is astonishing,” said Saho Takagi, a research fellow specializing in animal science at Azabu University in Kanagawa Prefecture neighboring Tokyo who initiated the study when she worked at Kyoto University. “I want people to know the truth. Felines do not appear to listen to people’s conversations, but as a matter of fact, they do.”

The finding was published in the scientific journal Scientific Reports.

Just like humans, animals also react to unexpected situations, causing them to pay close attention to whatever is happening for prolonged periods.

Realizing this was the case, team members wanted to determine if cats can identify the names of their “friend” felines. For the study, they selected 25 cats from households with three or more pet felines each.

With them seated, the researchers let the cats hear human voices calling names of other felines in the same household. The images of named cats and others were then displayed on a monitor to examine their reaction.

The results showed that felines kept looking at the photos of unnamed cats longer, suggesting they know the names of those they live with.

This difference was not apparent when felines kept at cat cafes were used. The researchers said this was probably because so many cats live in the facilities that the name of each one is called less frequently.

The survey also checked if domestic cats can distinguish various human family members. Felines from larger households tended to stare longer at the facial images of unnamed people.

∙ Cornell University scientists warn that some commercial dog foods may contain too much copper, which can increase the risk of liver disease for all dogs but particularly in certain breeds.

Food and Drug Administration officials are considering evidence regarding whether the concentrations in dog food could be harmful.

Dr. Sharon A. Center is an emeritus professor of internal medicine at Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine, where she specializes in liver disease. She said chronic consumption of excess copper can lead to copper-associated hepatopathy, signs of which include abdominal swelling, decreased appetite, diarrhea, increased thirst and urination, jaundice, lethargy, and vomiting.

Doberman Pinschers are among dog breeds with predispositions toward copper-associated liver disease, but scientists at Cornell University warn that high copper concentrations in dog diets puts other dogs at risk as well.

A veterinarian who is monitoring a pet’s liver enzymes can identify increased alanine aminotransferase as an early sign of the disease, she said, but confirmation requires a liver biopsy. Treatments with chelation can cost several thousand dollars, and affected dogs need to permanently switch to copper-restricted diets.

by Andrei Ionescu

Earth.com staff writer

A team of researchers from the University of Adelaide in Australia has found that veterinary visits can be highly stressful experiences for dogs. By measuring the heart rates of 30 dogs of various ages and breeds during a mock veterinary examination, the scientists found that one-third of the dogs’ heart rates nearly doubled between the waiting room and the examination table.

“Regular veterinary care is integral to companion dog health and welfare, but fearful patients can inhibit provision of care and pose a risk of injury to veterinary staff,” wrote the study authors. “This study aimed to identify the physiological and behavioral responses of a sample of 30 dogs of various age and breed, to a standardized physical examination in a simulated veterinary setting.”

While in the waiting room, the dogs’ average heart rate was 97 beats per minute (bpm), during the physical examination, one third of the dogs’ heart rates nearly doubled, peaking at an average value of 180bpm (with a greyhound experiencing a heart rate as high as 230bpm). The heart rates were the highest during the first stage of the examination (when dogs were patted by the examiner), as well as the last one (a simulated vaccination). By contrast, the middle stage – involving a teeth examination – elicited the lowest heart rates.

The researchers noticed that the elevated heart rates were correlated with body language showing fear, such as tails tucked between the legs or ears tilted back. Overall, females seemed to be more anxious than males during veterinary visits.

∙ SPAN Thrift Store is open to the public and looking for donations of adult clothing, household items and tools. SPAN Thrift Store regularly provides $10 spays and neuters for low-income households for cats and dogs. Upcoming clinics: May 24th at Shiells Park, in the parking lot at 649 C St., Fillmore, 93015. And May 31st in the parking lot of SPAN Thrift Store, 110 N. Olive St., Ventura. Please call to schedule an appointment – (805) 584-3823.

A dog was found abandoned and tied to a fire hydrant in Green Bay, prompting the Wisconsin Humane Society to remind everyone it will never turn away an animal in need.

The dog had a note with her explaining the owners could not take care of her anymore.

The dog, named “Baby Girl,” was left with a bag filled with dog food, treats and toys.

Baby Girl is now being cared for at the WHS, and she’s “doing great.”

∙Fake meds from online sellers could prove dangerous to your pet

By Keely Arthur, WRAL consumer reporter

Seventy percent of U.S. families own a pet, according to the National Pet Owners Survey, and they are spending more money on their furry friends, including $10 billion on pet medications alone, according to a Pet Medications in the U.S. report. Shopping online for medication can expose consumers and their animals to knockoffs that either do not work or could be dangerous.

Dr. Jennifer Shults is a veterinarian and the owner of Veterinary Emergency Care of Cary. Shults is seeing more pets with faulty medications in their system in the Triangle, especially during and since the pandemic. She tells Five on Your Side that fake heartworm and flea prevention medication and fake injectable arthritis medications are the biggest offenders. She says that in all cases the medications were purchased online.

“If you your pet takes the wrong medication, there is certainly a risk of death,” Shults said.

At the very least, she says a pet will not get the treatment it needs or get the preventative treatment it needs to keep a problem from arising. Shults suggests pet owners get their prescriptions through their local vet

If you suspect your pet has received counterfeit parasite preventative products, please call the National Pesticide Information Center (N.P.I.C.) toll-free at 1-800-858-7378. To report the retailer you purchased the product from, alert the E.P.A.

∙HealthDay News: If longevity were a priority when choosing a pup, Jack Russell terriers and Yorkshire terriers would be top picks.

Those little dynamos have the longest life expectancy of a host of common dog breeds, according to a new study by Dr. Dan O’Neill, an associate professor of companion animal epidemiology at the Royal Veterinary College in Hertfordshire, England.

Jack Russells and Yorkies have a life expectancy of nearly 13 years, O’Neill and his colleagues found after poring over thousands of dog records in the United Kingdom.

On the other hand, flat-faced breeds such as French bulldogs (Frenchies) and pugs tend to depart this world earlier than average, the study found.

Although they’re all the rage now, Frenchies live only around 5 years, which is less than other flat-faced breeds, including English bulldogs (7 years) and pugs (8 years), according to the study.

Those that are healthiest and live the longest are dogs that “look like dogs” — not too big or too small with snouts and tails, according to O’Neill.

“We’re looking at different configurations of dogs, mainly by breed, and we’re seeing that life span tells us a story about the general health of these dogs,” he said.

O’Neill and the team analyzed more than 30,500 records of dog deaths throughout the United Kingdom between 2016 and 2020. They categorized dogs into18 breeds recognized by the Kennel Club and also some types of crossbreeds. Using these data, they created tables that calculated life expectancy starting at birth.

Besides Jack Russells and Yorkies, other long-lived breeds include border collies and springer spaniels, with an average life span of 12 years.

Across all breeds, the average life expectancy for male dogs was 11.1 years, about four months shy of the estimate for females. Neutered dogs had a life expectancy of close to 12 years for females and 11.5 years for males. Life expectancy for unneutered dogs was about 10.5 years for males and females.

O’Neill recommends putting some thought into choosing a dog: Be conscious of the animal’s health and life span and the life that the animal would like to live.

“When you go out to buy a dog, think about the world from the dog’s point of view. Why buy a dog that will only live seven years and is likely to be plagued with illness?” he said.

O’Neill noted that human meddling is the cause of some unhealthy and short-lived breeds.

When people started keeping dogs for hobby and not for work, and the era of dog shows arrived, people started inventing breeds that didn’t exist in nature, and this stopped dogs from evolving naturally, O’Neill said.

“The ones that have the very short life span tend to be the ones with extreme configurations,” he pointed out.

These extremes include bigger or smaller than normal dogs, flat-faced dogs, dogs without tails and dogs with excessively wrinkled coats, O’Neill said.

Many of these engineered breeds have breathing problems, crowded teeth and eye abnormalities. Some can’t give birth normally, O’Neill noted.

Breeders have become more conscious of the health problems that shorten the lives of some breeds and are breeding dogs to eliminate these traits, said Dr. Jose Arce, president of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

When selecting a dog, Arce suggests making sure it matches your lifestyle.

“How many hours you’re going to spend in the house, how long you’re gone, the size of where you live, because certain breeds need exercise regularly and to socialize. Other breeds can adapt to apartment life and don’t need as much social life,” Arce said.

Also, taking good care of your dog can extend its life and yours, he said.

“We want our pets to live as long as possible,” Arce said. “We know how positive, how important the human animal bond is, and how dogs living with people help people live longer, healthier lives, so the longer the pet lives, the healthier and the longer the owner is going to live.”

Dr. Jerry Klein, chief veterinary officer at the American Kennel Club, said the application of life tables is still in its infancy.

However, “life tables generated in the current study promote not only a better understanding of the life trajectory of dogs, but also may offer several applications for the veterinary profession and research to study and improve the health and welfare of dogs,” Klein said.

∙ The Ventura Police Department adopted a therapy comfort dog to improve the physical, social, and emotional well-being of officers, staff, and community members in crisis and after having experienced trauma.

Asher, a 1-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and Poodle mix, or Cavadoodle, was donated to the department by VIP Dog Teams, a local non-profit dedicated to improving people’s health through promoting the human-animal bond that leads to healing.

“When first responders are equipped to deal with adverse reactions to stress, they are better prepared to handle situations fairly, calmly, respectfully, and empathetically,” said Police Chief Darin Schindler. “I am excited to add Asher to our dedicated team of public servants to help enhance the health and wellness of our employees and residents.”

As a therapy comfort dog, Asher’s functions include easing tension and lowering post incident stress and anxiety levels for employees, soothing victims and witnesses of crimes, providing support to those impacted by traumatic events, and visiting other City departments and various community events for educational purposes.

After an internal interview and selection process, Business Services Officer, Roger Wang, was selected to serve in a collateral assignment as Asher’s handler. Asher has completed American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen certification. Prior to being ready for service, Asher and his handler will complete Canine Good Citizen Testing and a Public Access Test.

When Asher is not on the job, he will be on-call 24/7, but will go home with his handler and serve as a family dog.

Asher joins a robust wellness program consisting of time dedicated to physical fitness, a peer support team, critical incident stress management debriefings, and mandated annual mental health check-ins with a certified clinician. Learn more about the Ventura Police Wellness Program at www.CityofVentura.ca.gov/Wellness.

Continued veterinary expenses, food, and grooming for Asher will be covered by the Ventura Police Community Foundation. Learn more about the Ventura Police Community Foundation at www.VenturaPoliceFoundation.org.

∙ Join us at Ventura Bark and Meow for a fun-filled dog-friendly day at Mission Park in Ventura. It’s a party for your dog, but you can come too!

We are Homes Fur All, a 501©3 Non-profit organization dedicated to saving rescue pets. Our mission is to bring fun dog friendly community festivals and pet adoption to communities in and around Los Angeles and raise awareness that “Fostering Saves Shelter Pets”.

Ventura Bark and Meow will take place on Saturday, June 25, 2022 from 12 Noon to 5pm. There’s free admission and will be filled with activities, contests, freebies, along with a rescue pet adoption! Come check out the Dog-o-sphere and the Furball Express Rescue Train where kids and doggies can take a ride. We will also have live entertainment, food trucks, and raffles!

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please contact us – www.barkfest.org

Free tickets can be found on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ventura-bark-meow-tickets-66485093705 Homes Fur All: www.HomesFurAll.org

∙ The National Training Center is once again filled with visiting search teams!

Over the last few months, we’ve welcomed visiting teams to our campus with increasing frequency, providing them with the unique training opportunities needed to keep them ready to deploy. Canine disaster search teams from California, Utah, and Nebraska task forces came to our National Training Center to sharpen their skills and practice their search technique on various disaster simulations that mimic real-world scenarios.

We have had several visits from the handlers enrolled in our Handler Training Program, which combines classroom learning with real-life disaster scenarios designed to teach canine handlers new skills and sharpen their competencies in preparation for pairing with a canine partner.

Lending valuable authenticity to these scenes were our very own SDF volunteers who participated as victims during the searches. Even though we had one day of uncharacteristically rainy weather for Southern California, our volunteer victims were eager to help and didn’t let muddy conditions on campus dampen their enthusiasm!

Everyone had a blast gaining first-hand experience, and the visiting teams appreciated SDF’s support in exposing their canines to new human scents and increasing the number of searches they could perform. We expect many of these teams, along with those who could not travel due to COVID, to be back for follow-up training in the coming months!

Your gift to Search Dog Foundation could have double the impact. Many employers offer matching gift programs that double, or even triple, charitable contributions made by their employees. Ask your employer today if they will match your donation!

National Disaster Search Dog Foundation
6800 Wheeler Canyon Road
Santa Paula, CA 93060

∙ SPAN Thrift Store is open to the public and looking for donations of adult clothing, household items and tools if you have any of these items you no longer use.  SPAN Thrift Store regularly provides $10 spay and neuter clinics for low-income households for cats and dogs. Three upcoming clinics are Thursday, May 5^th at 2820 Jourdan St., Oxnard; Tuesday, May 10^th in the parking lot of Shiells Park, 649 C St., Fillmore and Tuesday, May 24^th, also in the parking lot of Shiells Park. Please call to schedule an appointment (805) 584-3823.

∙ The loss of a loved one can have a profound impact on humans, affecting everything from sleep patterns to appetite. Now researchers say they have found similar behavior changes in dogs who have lost a canine companion. While the team say it is not clear if the findings can be described as grief, they say the work potentially indicates an overlooked welfare issue.

Dr Federica Pirrone of the University of Milan, who is one of the study’s authors, said: “Dogs are highly emotional animals who develop very close bonds with the members of the familiar group. This means that they may be highly distressed if one of them dies and efforts should be made to help them cope with this distress.”

Expressions of grief are not unique to humans: great apes, dolphins, elephants and birds are among species that have been observed to take part in rituals around death and appear to mourn.

Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, Pirrone and colleagues describe how they analysed the responses of 426 Italian adults who completed a “mourning dog questionnaire” online to investigate how canines experience grief.

All of the participants had experienced the loss of one of their dogs while at least one other dog was still alive, and the questionnaire looked at the behaviour and emotions of the owner and their surviving dogs after the death.

The results reveal that 86% of owners said their surviving dogs had shown behavioural changes after the death of another canine in the household.

Pirrone said: “Overall, dogs were reported to play and eat less, sleep more and seek more for owners’ attention.” She said the results did not appear to be affected by the level of attachment between the owner and their dog or whether they humanised their pets, suggesting the owners were not simply projecting their grief.

The team said the changes did not turn out to be linked to how long the dogs had lived together or whether the surviving dogs had seen the corpse.The researchers said there were a number of possible explanations for the findings, including that the death may have disrupted shared behaviors for the surviving dogs.

“In support of this hypothesis we found that if dogs used to share food during life, the surviving dog was more likely to reduce her/his level of activities and sleep more after the loss,” the authors wrote.

The results also revealed behavioral changes were stronger for dogs that were reported to have had a friendly relationship with the animal that had died, or who had been their parent or offspring.

∙ Pet scams

By Shawndrea Thomas

Pet scams are on the rise and the Better Business Bureau has a warning for anyone looking to buy online. Cats, dogs, and birds, you name it, scammers are working overtime to get your money. Denisse Alvarez with the BBB of Southern Arizona says scams are growing by the day and victims are losing thousands of dollars online.

“We’ve seen up to $5,000. It is something that we have seen increase during the pandemic, and it continues we get calls about it all the time,” Alvarez said. “They are selling them for an unbelievable price and people are thinking oh this breed is thousands of dollars and I’m getting it for $500.”

Thieves are preying on those who have spent a lot of time alone during the pandemic and want companionship. One red flag is an excessive line of questioning about where the animal is going. Scammers use this tactic to gain a buyers trust while giving victims a false sense of security.

“Research shows that 80% of those ads are fake,” Alvarez said. “They are sponsored ads, so they put in money to get the sponsor ad out there on social media.”

Alvarez says victims send in a down payment, then suddenly the fake seller is asking for more money to pay for hidden charges like travel and veterinarian fees, fees that start to stack up for a pet that never arrives or doesn’t exist. “People fall in love with those pictures, and they start sending money,” Alvarez said. “The ads that they see online are really enticing for them to pay a low price for the type of breed that they want to get.”

∙ The faces of dogs have evolved over tens of thousands of years to make them more appealing to humans, unlike the wild wolves they descended from, a new study suggests.

The research shows that the facial muscles of dogs have a much higher proportion of “fast-twitch” muscle fibers than wolves, and scientists think this lets dogs more effectively communicate their feelings to their owners.

The same researchers were involved a few years ago in the discovery that dogs have developed a muscle above their eyes that they use to make their eyes look larger and create that endearing “puppy dog eyes” expression. That study found that the muscle was undeveloped in wolves, which suggests that “puppy dog eyes” is something dogs have evolved specifically to manipulate people.

Taken together, the muscle changes suggest dogs’ faces have evolved anatomically to improve their connections with people, said biological anthropologist Anne Burrows, a professor of physical therapy at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and the leader of the project.

“It’s quite a remarkable difference between dogs and wolves,” she said. “They just don’t move their faces in the same way.”

Burrows and animal physiologist Kailey Omstead, a colleague at Duquesne, presented preliminary findings of their research at the Experimental Biology 2022 meeting in Philadelphia.

They found that the muscles in dogs’ faces are 66 percent to 95 percent fast-twitch fibers, while wolves average about 25 percent.

The muscles of all mammals, humans and dogs included, are made of millions of fibers of a protein called myosin. Each muscle has a mix of fast-twitch fibers that contract quickly but are fast to fatigue, and slow-twitch fibers that are slower to contract but don’t tire as fast.

The muscles in human faces are dominated by fast-twitch fibers, so we can express thoughts on our faces in an instant, but not for long.

By Tom Metcalfe

∙With spring planting in full swing, gardeners should keep in mind that not all plant varieties are safe for pets. In fact, some are deadly and should be avoided if there are pets in the household.

Choosing the right plants to make our gardens bloom but also be safe for pets can be a daunting task — some plants are toxic for dogs but not cats, and vice versa, so it is important to do your homework before choosing what to plant.

Some of the most common poisonous plants that should be avoided for pets include:

SAGO PALM: Also known as the Palm Sunday palm, these plants are widely popular in our area, especially this time of year. The entire plant, and the seeds in particular, contain a potent toxin called cycasin that can be fatal, even if the animal only eats a single seed.

Ingestion of any part or amount of this plant warrants immediate emergency veterinarian treatment. Symptoms include drooling, vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy, loss of appetite, abnormal fluid accumulation in the abdomen, abdominal pain, jaundice and black-tarry stool. A dog may also experience weakness, seizures, tremors and severe liver failure. Even with aggressive treatment, the survival rate is about 50%.

AZALEAS: Ingesting even a few leaves can cause serious issues such as upset stomach, drooling, loss of appetite, weakness and leg paralysis, and in some cases, coma or death.

HYDRANGEAS: These are poisonous to cats, dogs and horses. All parts of the plant are toxic because they contain cyanogenic glycoside. Signs of ingestion include diarrhea, vomiting, lethargy, confusion and depression.

BIRDS OF PARADISE: Toxic for both dogs and cats, they also can be fatal for rabbits. They can cause intense burning and irritation of mouth, tongue and lips, excessive drooling, vomiting, diarrhea, difficulty swallowing and loss of coordination is possible.

With spring planting in full swing, gardeners should keep in mind that not all plant varieties are safe for pets. In fact, some are deadly and should be avoided if there are pets in the household.

∙ Medication is an often-underutilized tool that can greatly help with managing aggression in dogs, according to veterinary behaviorist Dr. Karen Overall.“I’ve never not treated aggression with medication, because aggression is fundamentally an anxiety disorder,” said Dr. Overall, a professor of behavioral medicine at the University of Prince Edward Island Atlantic Veterinary College. “We change how the dog thinks by using selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and tricyclic antidepressants that work by remodeling neurons and make acquiring new behaviors easier,” she explained.

Approximately 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs in the United States each year, and more than 800,000 dog-bite victims require medical attention, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dogs with unaddressed behavioral problems not only threaten public health but are more likely to be surrendered and euthanized. To the untrained eye, a snarling or barking dog may be seen as overly threatening or aggressive when in fact the dog is behaving normally in the particular situation. As Dr. Overall explained, agonistic behaviors are complex social interactions that manifest as displays of dominance, submission, and reconciliation.

These behaviors can appear aggressive and include biting but are ultimately a normal part a dog’s behavioral repertoire. “Maybe there are communication errors or uncertainty, or maybe a dog was behaving aggressively but reconsidered after obtaining more information from one of the participants,” Dr. Overall said. “Implicit here is one party makes a statement, the other party responds, and they go from there.”

Determining whether aggressive behaviors are normal or inappropriate is the context in which they occur. One example of normal aggression is a dog snarling when another dog in the household, after eating its own meal, tries to eat the meal that the snarling dog is eating. In contrast, abnormal or pathological aggression occurs out of context or over an extended period of time. It also manifests as an extreme overreaction given the situation.

“Inherent in these comparisons is that the response to a triggering circumstance is episodic in fear and fear aggression, but chronic in anxiety since the initial trigger is the underlying state itself,” Dr. Overall said.

Fearful dogs choose to withdraw. They want distance between themselves and whatever is scaring them. They’ll back off and lower every part of their body. Anxious dogs, on the other hand, won’t retreat but must scan and monitor the situation. Their anxiety prevents them from interrupting what is happening in a given context.

Key to treating aggression is identifying the context and causes for the behavior. Before a dog becomes aggressive, there is first an arousal phase in which the dog reacts to negative stimuli. The arousal phase can occur quickly and is easily missed, Dr. Overall said.

“You don’t realize how fast it happens,” she said. “The window closes so quickly, maybe a tenth of a second. People say they tried to redirect the dog when it becomes aggressive, but it’s too late at that point.”

Clients can participate in their dog’s treatment by using a smartphone to make a recording of their pet that a veterinarian can review. “We want videos. We want to see what they do in their home environment. All the information is right there,” Dr. Overall said.

Four drug compounds are currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat some forms of canine anxiety: clomipramine, fluoxetine, dexmedetomidine, and imepitoin.

Dr. Overall considers treatment with drugs as a complement to behavioral modification, which rewards positive behaviors and ignores unwanted behaviors.

National Dog Bite Prevention Week, sponsored by the AVMA, is being held this year from April 10-16.

∙ Do’s and Don’ts for Communicating with Your Cat
From body language to training tips, here’s how to build better bonds with feline pals.

by Brittany Edelmann

Do: Watch Their Body Language

If your cat approaches you with his or her tail up, like a question mark, this can mean it is “probably going to be friendly, or at least comfortable with the interaction that is going on so far,” Lilly explains. But, if there is slow movement and low-to-the-ground posture, pretending as though the cat “doesn’t exist” to increase comfortability prior to interaction can help, Lilly says. Likewise, if the ears are pinned back, “then they’re not a happy cat,” says Marina Jaworsky, associate veterinary at Green Tree Animal Hospital in Libertyville, Illinois.

Don’t: Reprimand Your Cat

If you pet your cats or try to get them to come near you and they become scared or uncomfortable, they may decide they’ve had enough, “and they might even nip at you,” Jokela says. Even if you think your pet is being mean — what cat owner hasn’t? — don’t act out against them. Yelling, scolding, or even spraying water on them will “definitely break the bond,” Jokela says.

Don’t: Use Laser Pointers

Playing with your cat can help you form a stronger bond, Jokela says. But laser pointers, which many cats seem to love, may not be the best toy. The caveat? When cats are constantly chasing something that they will never catch, it can create or worsen OCD and obsessive tendencies, where your kitty is “always looking out for this thing because they don’t get the satisfaction of catching it at the end,” Castro says. Left with nothing to nab, this can leave cats stressed and contribute to health and behavior issues. One 2021 research study showed increased reports of abnormal repetitive behaviors the more that laser light pointers were used.

Every cat is different. Understanding what they like and don’t like, keeping stress to a minimum and making them as comfortable as possible is key to a better relationship. What’s most important? “Respecting their boundaries and interacting in a way that they want to interact, versus the way you may want to interact, can be beneficial for your relationship,” Castro says.