What Happens When I Get An Animal From A Shelter?

When people adopt an animal from a shelter most of the time your adoption fee will cover some initial vaccines and a spay/neuter surgery depending on the shelter you adopt from, but sometimes that is not the case.  Always make sure you know what is covered by your adoption fee before leaving with your new pet.  Nevertheless, as a new pet parent an initial vet visit should be one of the first things you do to establish a baseline evaluation and so your vet can meet your new wonderful pet.

Also, it is important to note that there are a lot of 'cooties' in shelters so your new pet may come down with a cold after you get him/her home.  This is not uncommon.  The stress of being in the shelter and then moving to a new home will lower your pet's immune system making him/her more susceptible to illness.  You may hear your vet say something like URI or upper respiratory infection.  This is nothing more than a cold that antibiotics will take care of successfully.

If you adopt a dog, you may hear things like kennel cough and distemper from people.  Those are two very good reasons to take your dog to the vet soon after adoption but no reason to panic.  Most shelters will vaccinate against these two things which protects the dogs against these two things.  Kennel cough is very contagious, however, which is why it is very important for shelters to not only do an exam in addition to vaccines to ensure dogs do not contract this viral and bacterial disease.  Antibiotics will treat the bacterial part of kennel cough but NOT the viral.

http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/respiratory/c_dg_canine_tracheobronchitis#.UW6inaASRsg

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/kennel_cough.html

http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/dogdiseasesconditions/a/CW-Distemper.htm

http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/distemper-symptoms-treatments-dogs

There are things you can do to help keep your pet as healthy as possible to help prevent illnesses in the first place.  L-Lysine for cats is a great way to help their immune system.  It's a human amino acid that stops the replication of viruses and allows their immune system fight off any viruses that may be trying to rear it's ugly head.

Some natural options for your dog are Echinacea and Dandelion.  The Echinacea will help the immune system much like the L-Lysine and the Dandelion will help with the liver and digestive health.  I do use the L-Lysine with my personal cats and have used it with former foster cats.  I have found it to be extremely effective in helping to prevent illness and the ones who were sick when I got them have gotten over their illness quicker.

http://www.nativeremedies.com/petalive/ailment/cats-dogs-viral-infection-remedies.html

I hope I have given you some information you can take home to your pets and you will use or tell your family and friends about.  It is our goal to be as informative as possible about topics you want to know about so if you have something you'd like to know more information about please send us a note.

As always we welcome any and all respectful comments and questions.  Don't forget to follow us from this page on Facebook and Twitter.  Tell your family and friends about us and once again, thanks for reading!

Feline Herpes...What Is It and Can I Get It?

This is an extremely common question and the answer to the second part is no, you cannot catch feline herpes.  The answer to the first part, "what is it", is a bit more in depth but I will try to give some insight.  The most basic answer to this question is it's a virus much like a cold which 99% of cats are exposed to very likely early in their lives.  While the exposure may not lead to any outbreaks the virus will lay dormant and stress will lower the immune system and can lead to an outbreak.

For instance, if you move to a new home and all of a sudden your cat starts sneezing a lot and his/her eyes are red and watery then it is likely he/she has an outbreak of the feline herpes virus.  The very long, complicated name for this is feline viral rhinopneumonitis (FVR), rhinotracheitis virus and feline herpesvirus type 1 (FHV-1) and can lead to upper respiratory infections, but not always.

http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/cat-care/cat-care-herpes.aspx    

The kitty to the right here appears to have an upper respiratory infection which is a bacterial infection which is what antibiotics will treat.  Vets often given antibiotics in order to ward off any bacterial infections that may be lurking behind the herpes virus itself.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but just keep in mind that if your kitty is on antibiotics for a number of times then he/she will build up an immunity to them and over time they will not work for any infection he/she may have and that is definitely a bad thing.

Giving L-Lysine every day to your kitten/cat can help ward off any viruses that may be laying dormant in their system.  L-Lysine is an amino acid that help stops the replication of viruses which allows their immune systems to fight off whatever is holding them down.  Several rescue organizations give it to their wards to help with the stress of coming into a new place, getting used to a new way of life, new kitties, puppies, etc.  It is available at any store you can get vitamins and is available in capsules so it can be pulled apart and the powder can be put on their food. 

Here is a picture of swollen conjunctiva in a cat which is pretty indicative of feline herpes virus.  It looks really painful and while none of them have ever told me it is I can only imagine it does hurt and it appears to also itch. 

I know this seems a little graphic, but I really wanted you as pet owners to know what to look for with this virus. 

Also, please know that it is really is not an emergency vet visit either.  If you'd like your vet to see your pet that is fine, however, giving him/her Lysine for a week or so to see if it helps and a nice quiet environment will more than likely help if there is no color to the discharge.  If you think to when you go to the doctor, don't they ask if there is color to the discharge?  That's because they want to know if there is bacteria or not.  Clear discharge means no bacteria.  If your pet doesn't appear to be doing better with Lysine twice a day and a calm quiet environment in a few days then you can call your vet.  I do NOT advocate not calling your vet by any means whatsoever.

If you'd like an eye professional to take a look at your pet that is wonderful too.  Those experts can definitely tell you if there is any damage to your pet's eye or not.  If you are in the Raleigh, NC, USA area I'd like to recommend Dr. English as he is one of the best.  Check out his website:

http://aecassociates.com/

All of his colleagues are wonderful and extremely knowledgeable so if you take your pet to any of them you will not be sorry and will get the best care available.

I know sometimes things with our pets seem emergent (I know they do with my own personal ones sometimes) but if we take the time to educate ourselves a little bit prior to anything happening then maybe things won't seem so bad at the time.

As always, we welcome your comments, questions and any topics at all you'd like to see discussed here.  Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter and be sure to tell your friends and family about us!

FIV vs Feline Leukemia...Myths and Facts

Today I want to touch on another controversial topic...FIV and Feline Leukemia (FeLV) because there are a lot of websites out there giving misinformation and scaring people and getting the two mixed up.  Here is the basic difference; FIV is extremely difficult to transmit and FeLV is much easier to transmit.  FIV can only be transmitted through a very deep intramuscular bite as seen in unneutered feral males and can be transmitted from mom to baby.  FeLV can be transmitted by sharing water and food bowls and through shared grooming.  Unfortunately, some cats are double positive which means they test positive for both FIV and FeLV.  It doesn't mean they should be euthanized immediately either.

Now for the more indepth information and the clinical stuff.  First, neither of these viruses can be transmitted to humans or other non-cat species.  Second, if your vet calls FIV "feline AIDS" you should find another vet because he/she has antiquated thinking and is not up to date on the latest research.  FeLV is a retrovirus which means it's a family of viruses that can cause a variety of health issues and diseases and sometimes death.  FIV belongs to a different retrovirus family called Lentivirus which means they are slow-progressing and long-life.  However, with FIV the cats immune system can fight off the virus and the cat can eventually test negative as the cat ages and develops.  In my work in rescue I have personally seen two kittens do this as they grew to adults.  Their names are Bang and Tango (from the 80's big hair band Bang Tango) and they were recently adopted through http://www.calvinspaws.org/. This is just one group who has FIV cats.

This picture came up when I searched for FIV cats...cute huh

According to Winn Feline Health, there are 4 possibilities once a cat is exposed to to FeLV and each one depends on the cat's immune system and how it handles the virus.  Once exposure occurs the potential is for the virus to be completely fought off and the cat is resistant for an undetermined amount of time, it is not fought off and the cat secretes the virus through saliva, the cat does not produce an immunity to the virus immediately and it lies dormant in the bone marrow for an undetermined amount of time and these cats will either overcome the virus or the fact that they did not develop an immunity will allow the virus opportunity, and finally some cats will develop "latent or sequestered infection" which means they will not ever develop the infection and will not become contagious (winnfelinehealth.org).


http://www.v63.net/catsanctuary/vet_question.html

http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/health/felv-fiv.html

FIV, in my opinion and the opinion of several vets in my area, is not a big deal although you should keep these animals as healthy as possible.  That being said, you should always keep your pet as healthy as possible no matter what.  Giving your cat the amino acid L-Lysine can help stop the replication of any viruses that may be going on (http://www.l-lysinebenefits.net/lysine-for-cats/).  This link mentions the herpes virus which is completely different than that in humans and another topic for another day.  L-Lysine can be taken by humans as well so if you have some at home you can sprinkle approximately 1/5 tsp on your cat's food and it will help.  It can be found at any health store or online.

FIV positive cats can also be put with negative cats without worry since it is so difficult to transmit.  These cats are often the sweetest cats and will often live long healthy lives without any extra care needed.  I personally have them integrated with my personal cats without incident.

http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/brochures/felv.html

http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/askDr/CW_FeLV.cfm

Please do your research and ask lots of questions before euthanizing a cat with EITHER positive test.  Since the initial test was more than likely a simple SNAP test, which only tests for antibodies and not the actual virus, do the more indepth testing (IFA and Western Blot) before making any decisions.  There is tons of research out there about both of these viruses and some things that can be done and you may find that nothing needs to be done.

I am more than willing to discuss this topic so please send me any question you have and if I don't know the answer I will find out.  I do have contacts at the local Veterinary School here and can ask them questions as well.

As always I welcome your comments, questions, and concerns about this topic or any others.  If you have a topic you'd like discussed please send it on and we will definitely put it out there for you and everyone else.  Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter and tell your friends and family about us.