Naples Pet Vet Blog

This is a good topic for discussion.  Today's NDN had a big article about Lee County's "Barn Buddy" program which allows some cats to be adopted out to become  "barn cats".  This program is somewhat controversial ; Collier county does not allow cats to be adopted out to be outdoor cats.  What are your thoughts - is this a good idea or a bad idea? Why or why not? Here is a link to the article : http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/jul/27/photos-barn-call-home-lee-shelters-barn-buddy-prog/ - Waiting for your opinions...

Posted by Lesli Reiff, DVM at 09:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Congratulations on prompting your in-laws to vaccinate their puppy.  I also commend you for encouraging them to spay the dog in a timely manner.  Let me offer you some facts that may help persuade them to heed your advice:  First, there are a number of reasons "for the general good of all" ; each year between 3 and 4 milllion dogs and cats are euthanized in animal shelters.  There are more animals surrendered than families willing to adopt.  Spay/neuter is the only 100% effective way to insure that your pet won't contribute to this growing number. Even if you were to find homes for the puppies,  that would mean less room for the already homeless.   Many pets have already been abandoned and become problematic by getting into garbage, spreading disease, and urinating and defecating on property.  Many suffer and become ill or injured.  

Secondly, I 'd like to offer some specific reasons for your inlaws; 

 1.  An unspayed animal will go through heats about twice a year.  During this time , unneutered males will be attracted to your property and can become destructive or aggressive.  It is very difficult to keep dogs separated and only takes one "connection" to produce puppies.  This may be especially important in the country, as many more dogs are uncontained.

2.  Female dogs in heat are messy. Do you really want to change diapers?

3.  Pregnancies can be expensive - complications in childbirth, prenatal care, postnatal care, puppy food, etc often is a financial burden.  A single litter of puppies can produce alot of poop when weaning.

4.  Spayed females are healthier.  - Females spayed before their first heat have a much smaller risk of developing breast cancer - that benefit decreases with each heat experienced.  Of course, females who have had an ovariohysterectomy will not get uterine or ovarian cancer.

You also want to encourage good parasite control - deworming and flea and tick control - Parasites can spread disease to people.

Posted by Lesli Reiff, DVM at 01:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

It was great seeing our dog park buddies on the front page of the paper today.  I think that it would be wonderful for  Naples to add another off leash park - and a dog beach would be nice too.  On a sadder note, the story about the Black Shepherd being euthanized despite having a microchip  suggested a good topic  - Is microchipping worth it? - YES - but the benefits are realized only if the registration information is kept current.  Microchip manufacturers keep records of who the microchips are sold to, but rely on the pet owners to register their pets' microchips and  update this information as needed.

In case you missed the story, the dog was found in Bonita by someone who took him home and called Domestic Animal Services.  The dog was scanned for a microchip, and when one was found, the pet was taken to their facility pending contact with  the owner.  The microchip was originally registered to someone in the Miami area who was not able to be located, and the dog was later euthanized. 

Unfortunately, this scenario is not uncommon.  Years ago, my husband was in Greensboro, NC on business and spotted a small black cocker spaniel running frantically in the middle of a 6 lane highway.  When he got to the dog,  she was thankfully unharmed but scared,  jumped right into his back seat, curled up   and promptly went to sleep.  After driving around for an hour unsuccessfully trying to locate an owner,  he brought the dog home.  I was relieved to find  that she was microchipped - only to be disappointed that the chip was sold to the local animal shelter and never registered to the new owner. The  information the animal shelter obtained at adoption was outdated.  After all other efforts to track down the owner failed, Blueberry became and still is a member of our family. The owner may still be wondering what happened to her . 

There are several microchip manufacturers - some charge a fee for registration .  The ResQ chip, which we recommend,  does not.  We feel that the easier it is to register, the more people that will follow through, and the greater the liklihood of reuniting a lost pet with its family.

There are 2 basic types of microchips - ISO complient and non ISO complient chips - so not all are alike.    For more information on microchips, visit our website at www.NaplesPetVet.com and click on the Hot Topics page.

If your pet has beem microchipped, please take a moment to make sure that  registration is complete and all  information current. 

P.S. We have found homes for all of our  kittens - now we need a home for Lollipop.

 

Posted by Lesli Reiff, DVM at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

4 out of 5 of Lollipop's kittens have been adopted! One tabby female is still looking for a home - she is very sweet!! Yesterday we spayed Lollipop and repaired her injured tail. She now has a very cute "bobcat" tail. Lollipop is a cuddler and almost as small as her kittens -come see her. Buddy, the Chihuahua, is still hoping that someone will take him home. We also have some interest in Scotty - we'll let you know about the others. Check back on our adoption page at www.NaplesPetVet.com for more info and photos. Dr. Reiff

Posted by Lesli Reiff, DVM at 09:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's tempting to want to show off your new puppy as well as expend some of that extra energy by taking him or her to one of the  Dog Parks or Dog Beaches in Southwest Florida  to socialize.  If your dog is still young, this can be a risky proposition.  We recommend that puppies under 4 months of age avoid places where lots of dogs congregate for good reason.  Even if  puppies are receiving scheduled vaccinations, they may not have developed sufficient immunity to protect them from diseases that they may encounter - here's why:  Puppies receive "passive immunity" from their mother at birth by ingesting colostrum when first nursing.  The level of immunity aquired varies  depending on the mother's immune status and the amount of colostrum each puppy gets.  Consequently, this means that not only can  protection vary from litter to litter , but also from pup to pup in the same litter.  We do know that this passive immunity decreases as the puppy gets older.  Vaccinations are administered to stimulate the puppy to develop his own  immune cells for protection - "active immunity".  The challenge arises because a high level of passive immunity may "cancel out" the vaccination before your puppy can develop his or her  own immune response and leave your buddy vulnerable.  This is why we booster vaccines for puppies at regular intervals.  Our goal is to catch the puppy at the stage where the maternal immunity has decreased enough to allow the vaccination to stimulate the appropriate immune response for protection.   Because many diseases can remain infective in the environment for extended periods of time, it makes sense to keep your puppy away from "hot spots" until older.  If you have relatives, friends or neighbors with healthy animals, consider group play in a private area for socialization.

Posted by Lesli Reiff, DVM at 09:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

It was nice to see Leslie Williams' article about Scotty, the Golden Gate Estates Fire Cat in today's Naples Daily News. There are so many animals in our area being surrendered or abandoned. The best case scenario for Mr. Nichols and Scotty is that he is able to keep his home and cats, but if not we will be helping to place them. In the meantime, we do have 3 kittens up for adoption and as well as their very petite (5 lb) mother who is being spayed this week. We also have a very cute senior, special needs Chihuahua that needs a home. For their story and more on Scotty visit our web site www.NaplesPetVet.com. We'll keep all informed about the rest when we have more details. In the meantime - if anyone has a question or topic that they would like to discuss, let me know- and if anyone has room in their home for a new addition - we need you. Lesli Reiff, DVM

Posted by Lesli Reiff, DVM at 08:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

We're getting ready to start a blog to cover pet related issues, new products, events, adoptions and interesting cases for the Naples community - stay tuned for more.

Posted by Lesli Reiff, DVM at 07:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)