Animal Medical Centre of Medina blog

Special Edition: AMC’s top 10 holiday pet gifts

 

With Santa’s reindeer gearing up for a sleigh full of deliveries to families around the world, pet owners are hitting the stores to do their own shopping for their furry friends this season. 

Animal Medical Centre’s veterinarians and staff decided to put together our top 10 holiday pet gift ideas.  Listed below are some of our favorite pet items that we feel will leave your dogs and cats howling, meowing, and drooling for more.

Number 10:  Home-made doggie treats.

Your dog will go crazy over Mr. Cookies.  Each bag of treats is packed with lots of flavor yet contain simple ingredients.  You won’t have to worry about artificial dye or flavoring in these treats.  Each bag of treats is made with care from one of our very own AMC team members.

Number 9:  JACK dog toy

This jack toy is made by Premier Toys which features both nylon and rubber components and allows you to insert chewy rawhide disks in different places.  This toy is sure to mentally engage your dog as he/she tries to find and chew the treats.  These toys have a strong chewing strength and complement our Bristle Bone toy.  Not only a fun toy but great for dental health too.

Number 8: Cat Feeding Ball

FunKitty is another favorite here at AMC.  Fill this toy with your cat’s food or special treats.  Your cat will then paw, nose and kick at this toy to work on gathering the food from inside.  Not only will your cat use his/her hunting instincts but he/she will also burn energy while eating.  It’s a personal favorite of Dr. Prada’s cat Lexus! 

Number 7:  Holiday Plush Toys

We are carrying very cute holiday toys.  You’ll only have to spend a dollar or two and your dog will love it.

Number 6: Dental Treats

It’s always fun to give your cat or dog a treat.  Why not reward them with dental healthy treats?  Here at AMC we carry Greenies for your pets.  

Number 5: Toe Nail Trim

Call and schedule a time to bring your dog or cat in for a quick pedicure.  

Number 4: Lupine dog and cat collars/leashes

Lupine collars are not only durable and strong, but have beautiful patterns and colors too.  These collars are guaranteed for life by the company and they will replace their product at any time.  We have many designs and sizes to choose from.

Number 3:  Feliway Diffuser

Feliway is a synthetic copy of the feline facial pheromone, used by cats to mark their territory as safe and secure.  Feliway creates a state of familiarity and security in the cat's local environment and can be used to help comfort and reassure cats while they cope with a challenging situation and help prevent or reduce the stress caused by a change in their environment.  Feliway is a perfect addition during the hustle and bustle of the holidays.

Number 2: Through a Dog’s Ear: CD

Your dog will enjoy this 60 minute CD specifically composed of music to calm and relax the canine mind. The music of Through a Dog’s Ear builds on the ground breaking psychoacoustic research of Dr. Alfred Tomatis (1920-2001). Tomatis discovered the extraordinary powers of sound as a “nutrient for the nervous system.”  These recordings are psychoacoustically designed to provide easeful auditory assimilation and support you and your dog’s immune or nervous system function.  This is the perfect gift – this music can be played to ease your dog’s mind while you’re out of the house or taking a long car ride together.  The possibilities are endless.

Number 1:  Spending Extra Time with your Pet

What cat or dog wouldn’t love some extra TLC?  The holidays can bring about a lot of coming and going but don’t forget to take some time out for your furry friends.   Ten minutes with a toy or five minutes with a brush can go a long way. 

Why not consider stopping at Animal Medical Centre of Medina for something extra special for your pets?  We know your dogs and cats will love you for it!

 

Many of you may have read an article last month detailing a bat testing positive for rabies virus in Medina.  Everyone should use this case as a reminder to be certain that your pet is up to date with its rabies vaccination.  Even if your pet is an indoor only cat or ferret or if your dog only goes outside to “go potty”, bats are known to find their way into homes at which time your pet could be exposed. 

Rabies is known to be common within the bat population but can also infect other wildlife such as raccoons, foxes, coyotes, etc.  In fact, rabies is known to infect all mammals, including humans.  Symptoms do not occur immediately, although once symptoms do occur the disease will rapidly proceed to death in as little as 10 days.  Rabies is nearly untreatable once symptoms begin and it results in the deaths of several humans and hundreds of dogs and cats every year in the United States. 

The bat in the aforementioned story was killed by 3 pet cats but no humans were thought to be exposed.  Tragically the three pet cats were not up to date on their rabies vaccinations (I do not know if the cats were “overdue” for their rabies vaccinations or if they had never received one) and were euthanized as there is no way to test a living animal for rabies.  The only alternative would have been a strict 6 month in-house quarantine with euthanasia being performed if the pet showed any symptoms of rabies.  If the pet then tested positive for rabies, anyone in contact with the pet would then need to contact their physician to see if postexposure rabies vaccinations should be pursued. 

Rabies vaccinations can be given as early as 12 weeks of age.  The initial vaccination provides protection for 1 year and subsequent boosters provide protection for 3 years. 

For more information on rabies, please contact your veterinarian, the Center of Disease Control (http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/) or the Medina County Health Department (http://www.medinahealth.org/).  If you are unsure if your pet is up to date on their rabies vaccination, please contact your veterinarian.  If your pet is overdue for their rabies vaccination or has never received one, please consider getting them vaccinated for their own health and for the safety and health of your family. 

Heartworm infection is a serious and potentially life threatening disease diagnosed in both dogs and cats.  Fortunately, it is a disease that is virtually completely preventable with any one of a number of medications administered monthly. 

Dating back to 2003-2004, the American Heartworm Society (AHS) started to receive emails from veterinarians and owners regarding “loss of efficacy” of various heartworm preventatives (meaning dogs on heartworm prevention were testing positive for heartworm disease).  These cases were primarily concentrated in the Mississippi River Valley but were also reported in other parts of the country.  These reports have remained consistent since that time although they have not dramatically increased.  A recently published study questions the efficacy of some heartworm preventatives currently on the market and is being aggressively marketed by the major animal pharmaceutical company, Bayer.  The study showed that 3 of the active ingredients in heartworm preventatives currently on the market did not completely prevent heartworm infection with a specific strain of heartworms (the mp3 strain) following a single oral dose 30 days after infection.  The study showed another heartworm preventative, Advantage Multi® (produced by Bayer), completely prevented heartworm infection with the mp3 strain with a single dose 30 days after infection.  Bayer then began aggressively marketing this study to veterinarians claiming it showed their product to be effective at treating “resistant” heartworm infections.  The company even marketed the information directly to owners in specific areas claiming:

“… medications that you probably give your pet every month to prevent heartworms are no longer effective.  Only one product was shown to be effective against this mp3 strain and it is called Advantage Multi®.” 

At face value, this could easily be seen as evidence of heartworm resistance and many owners or even veterinarians may feel a need to transition their pets/patients over to Advantage Multi® in order to provide protection against the resistant mp3 strain of heartworms.  Obviously, this is why Bayer was so aggressive in marketing this study.  However, there is a lot of information not shared with owners or veterinarians by the drug company that should cause us to question if this assumption is correct. 

Loss of Efficacy

                In order to better understand heartworm resistance, if it is occurring and if Advantage Multi® is a better heartworm preventative, it is important to understand what is being reported in regions like the Mississippi River Valley which is a “loss of efficacy”.  Loss of efficacy in heartworm preventatives is very serious, but is not equivalent to resistance.  Many factors can result in a loss of efficacy:

-Client compliance: This is defined as a client carrying out all of the recommendations made by the veterinarian without deviation.  The gold standard for heartworm prevention is year-round preventative medication given monthly.  56% of dogs seen in the south where heartworm disease is most prevalent never receive a single dose of heartworm prevention.  Another study showed that in clinics that recommended year-round heartworm prevention, the average number of doses purchased for a dog was 6.2, which is about half of what would be needed for year round prevention.  Clearly, client compliance is a significant role player in loss of efficacy.  Products cannot be effective when they are not used appropriately. 

-Clinic compliance: This is defined as the veterinary clinic instructing the owner on how to appropriately administer the heartworm prevention (i.e. giving oral medications orally and topical medications topically, avoiding bathing or swimming soon after application of topical medications, etc.).  This is an uncommon cause of loss of efficacy but still worthy of mention as products cannot be effective when they are not used appropriately. 

-Resistance: This is defined as a heritable change in the sensitivity of a parasite to a specific medication or class of medications that is repeatable and reproducible in a laboratory environment.    This cause has been theorized as a cause for loss of efficacy but never proven. 

Additional Information 

                Does this new study document heartworm resistance and is Advantage Multi® the answer to heartworm resistance?  Bayer is making that argument, but some additional research would question these beliefs.   

Why does this study fail to prove heartworm resistance? 

-An unpublished study was conducted by Dr. Atkins that evaluated approximately 100 of the “best” cases of reported loss of efficacy (essentially cases where veterinarians suspected resistance).  Of these cases, 99% of them had obvious lapses in compliance, which was the cause for the loss of efficacy.

-Dr. Blagburn (the author of the new study) estimates that the failure rate of heartworm prevention is <0.0001% based on the number of dogs on heartworm prevention and the number of unexplained failures. 

-Dr. Blagburn reported at the 2007 Heartworm Symposium that heartworms did not differ in their sensitivities to a macrocyclic lactone (the type of drug used in every heartworm preventative).   

-The mp3 strain of heartworm purported to be resistant by the new study was isolated from a dog in Athens, GA in 2006.  If this strain was truly resistant, you would expect to find a hotbed of infection in that area and this has not been documented.  It is also unknown if this strain is even clinically relevant as it was isolated 5 years ago and has never been shown to be active in outside of Athens, GA. 

-Hurricanes in the past have traditionally resulted in higher incidence of heartworm disease.  From 1992-2001, only 3 tropical storms affected the area of the Mississippi River Valley (3 storms in 9 years).  From 2002-2005, 8 tropical storms affected the same region (8 storms in 4 years).  With the change in frequency of these storms, one would expect to see an increase in heartworm prevalence regardless of any issue of “resistance”. 

 

Why does this study fail to prove that Advantage Multi® is a better heartworm preventative?  

-Moxidectin, Ivermectin, Selamectin and Milbemycin are the four active ingredients found in the various heartworm preventatives and are all in the “macrocyclic lactone” drug family.  Advantage Multi® contains Moxidectin and therefore does not contain a significantly different active ingredient when compared to other heartworm preventatives.   

-Relatively higher doses of Advantage Multi® were used relative to all of the other heartworm preventatives tested. 

Active Ingredient	Number of dogs receiving >1.5 times the minimum approved labeled dose	Number of dogs receiving >2 times the minimum approved labeled dose
Moxidectin (Advantage Multi®)	7/8	4/8
Ivermectin (Heartgard®, Triheart®, Iverheart®)	1/8	0/8
Milbemycin (Sentinel®, Interceptor®, Trifexis®)	1/8	1/8
Selamectin (Revolution)	6/8	2/8

 

-It has been shown that the “ineffective” heartworm preventative medications are 100% effective against the mp3 strain of heartworms when used once monthly for 3 months.  Heartworm preventatives are recommended to be given monthly year-round so the results of the new study do not provide any strong evidence to support the use of Advantage Multi® over other heartworm preventative medications and certainly fall short in proving resistance. 

 

Now what? 

                For the reasons outlined above, I do not feel that there is current compelling evidence for resistance to heartworm preventative products currently on the market.  I also do not feel that the new study makes a strong argument that Advantage Multi® is a superior product to others on the market.  This is an issue that should be watched closely as recommendations in the future may change should additional research provide more compelling evidence for heartworm resistance or if one particular product proved to be more effective than another.  For now, year-round heartworm prevention (regardless of the specific product) and annual heartworm testing is the best way to keep your dog’s protected. 

 

Dietary supplements are gaining in popularity and are used across the country by both animals and their owners.  Glucosamine is a common supplement used to aid in the treatment of arthritis.  Probiotics are “good” bacteria that are often used to aid in the treatment of diarrhea.  Fatty acids are used to help in the treatment of various ailments from arthritis to allergies.  Multivitamins are commonly used to help balance diets.  These are just a few of the examples of dietary supplements that are used in both animals and their owners.  The market for these types of products has grown exponentially over the years and now many stores will have aisles of products from which to choose.  However, choosing a quality product to ensure the best results can be a challenging proposition. 

Dietary supplements are not regulated as closely as prescription medications or even over-the-counter medications.  There are numerous studies which have shown that many over-the-counter supplements fail to contain what is guaranteed on the label.  An independent group called Consumer Lab was formed to help protect consumers by testing products on the shelf for content and purity.  In their most recent review of multivitamins, Consumer Lab found that 30% of the products studied failed the testing.  Failure resulted from excessive levels of certain vitamins, deficiencies in others and contamination with toxic ingredients such as lead.   Similar studies have been done with probiotics, glucosamine and omega-3 fatty acid products with similar results.  In one study of glucosamine, some products were found to contain as little as 5% of the guaranteed ingredients listed on the label. 

So what does this mean to you as a consumer?  With over-the-counter supplements it is a “buyer beware” market.  There was no correlation between price and quality in most of the studies, so buying a higher priced product does not guarantee a quality product.  So how do you ensure that the product you are using or giving to your pet is safe and effective?

-Ask your veterinarian or doctor if they recommend a specific product.  They may have had good success with the use of a specific product and may have access to studies proving it is a high quality product. 

-If you are shopping for an animal product, look for the “National Animal Supplement Council” (NASC) quality seal.  If you see this seal, the product has been independently tested to ensure quality.  The lack of the seal does not mean a product is bad, you just don’t have the assurance that it is a good product.   

 

-You can also pay to join Consumer Lab and have access to their specific test results regarding what brands passed and what brands failed their testing. 

 

 

 

Consumer Lab Research (excerpts copied from their website)

 -Three of four popular children's multivitamins reviewed were too high in vitamin A.

 -One men's multivitamin was contaminated with lead and another had too much folic acid -- associated with more than doubling the risk of prostate cancer.

 -One general multivitamin had no more than 50% of its folic acid.  Another was missing 30% of its calcium.

 -A senior's, a prenatal, and a women's multivitamin each had only 44.1%, 44.3%, and 66.1%, respectively, of their vitamin A.

 -A vitamin water had 15 times its stated amount of folic acid, so drinking one bottle would exceed the tolerable limit for adults; less than half a bottle would put children over the limit.

-A pet multivitamin was contaminated with lead and another had only 46% of its vitamin A and 54.7% of its calcium.

-Specific types of probiotic bacteria or yeast have been shown to alleviate symptoms of irritiable bowel syndrome (IBS), reduce diarrhea caused by antibiotics or viral infection, and help treat certain infection among other uses.  But tests by ConsumerLab.com show that some probiotics may contain as little as 7% to 58% of the cells listed on their labels.  What's more, the amount of viable (living) cells actually provided by probiotic products ranged from less than one hundred million to over ten billion cells -- more than a 10,000% difference.

-Chromium is an essential mineral, important for insulin function.  Few people are deficient in chromium, but supplementation may be helpful to some people with diabetes.  It is also commonly found in supplements for weight loss, where it may provide a small benefit. However, among the chromium supplements that ConsumerLab.com recently selected for review and testing, 3 out of 6 were found to be contaminated with a carcinogenic form of chromium known as hexavalent chromium (chromium VI).  Hexavalent chromium was at the center of the movie Erin Brockovich.  If you are going to take a supplement with chromium, it seems prudent to skip those with the hexavalent form.