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PREVENTING HEAT STROKE IN DOGS
- July 2008 -

Summer is Heat Stroke season. Heat Stroke is a silent killer and it is much easier to prevent than to treat. Please read the following links for more information on how to protect your dog.

http://www.wikihow.com/Prevent-Heat-Stroke-in-Dogs

http://www.healthypets.com/heatstroke.html

http://www.workingdogs.com/deboer_heatstroke.htm

CANINE INFLUENZA
- June 2008 -

We are posting these articles to help make the public aware that there is a "dog flu" going around the city of Chicago. The symptoms look very much like kennel cough, but it is a different bug. There is currently no vaccine for this condition. It is generally not life threatening, but it is very contagious. It is spread by breathing the same air or coming in contact with any type of body fluids from a sick dog.Ê Dogs can catch this anywhere that an infected dog is/or has been (ie: dog parks and beaches, shelters, kennels...even sharing a sidewalk with another dog). Owners of very young, very old or already sick dogs need to be especially careful.

According to Rachel Fluegge DVM with My Vet Animal Hospital in Chicago-phone# (773) 235-8387. "Owners should look for the dry hacking cough. This is usually the first sign." She recommends not waiting to see if the dog gets better on it's own, since this can turn into pneumonia, a more dangerous condition. Also, she recommends avoiding dog parks during peak times like weekends and evenings.

At Bark Avenue, we are working very hard to educate the the public regarding this condition. Please forward this to everyone you know who cares for a dog.

Please read the following articles:

http://cbs2chicago.com/health/dog.flu.canine.2.748035.html

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-dog-flu-web-jun14,0,5063594.story

http://www.avma.org/public_health/influenza/canine_guidelines.asp>

K9 ADVANTIX WARNING
- This is an email from a friend of Bark Avenue that we received on June 30, 2008 -

Hello Fellow Dog Lovers,

Pat, Titan and I just returned from our vacation and I wanted to pass along a warning about our experience with K9 Advantix.

We were headed up to Holland Michigan and treated Titan with K9 Advantix with his second dose of the summer. The first couple of days I noticed some bumps on the backs of his legs but couldn't find any bugs and since Titan does have some sensitivities to foods, we gave him benadryl, and treated with some cortisone cream. On Friday Pat took Titan for a long walk, and by the time he returned (about an hour later) Titan had lumps all over his face. I called around and was able to find a vet to meet us for an emergency appointment. By the time we arrived at the vet's office (about 20 minutes later) Titan was covered in hives - the pictures are a good representation of his face and underside but the lumps all over his body didn't show up as well with his brown coat.

The vet said that considering that he had been treated with K9 that it was probably an allergic reaction to a bee sting or mosquito bites. Then I found a tick. And another. And another. And two more...etc. The vet then said that he wasn't really a fan of K9 because he found that it wasn't so effective on ticks, and that apparently the dog ticks up in Western Michigan weren't too impressed with K9 either. By the end of the visit we had found about a dozen ticks on Titan and as the swelling went down over the course of the evening, I found several more. We figure he had anywhere from a dozen to two dozen ticks on him which is what caused his body to react the way that it did.

Upon speaking with my sister she told me that her vet just told her that K9 isn't waterproof, although the instructions specifically state that it "remains effective after bathing and swimming" and her vet recommended Frontline (as did the vet up in Michigan). Titan did go for a swim on Thursday (see pics) but he had already had a few of those lumps on him before swimming, so the odds are that the medication itself was just completely ineffective. Of course after hearing the story, Michael said he's never bought into the concept of a topical treatment being able to repel and kill ticks and mosquitoes for weeks at a time....

I just wanted to pass along this message because apparently if we had left Titan alone and gone out to dinner, this would have been a much different email. We thought that we did everything we were supposed to to protect Titan and our story should serve as a warning to always check your pooch from ears to toes when they return from frolicking in a known tick area. Many of the ticks were found in between his toes.

I'm going to be contacting K9 Advantix and the retailer, Drs. Foster and Smith to advise them of our situation in the event that it was just a bad batch, but wanted everyone else to be on alert in the meantime.