flyboytim

I apologise if I have upset anyone, by being somewhat lighthearted at this time of the year, about some of the issues I raised into the toxicity issues with some foodstuffs. Dogs (particularly beagles) have long been used as experimental animals to test the toxic properties of substances: 1/implicated in various human disease conditions, and 2/used as food additives/constituents for human foodstuffs. As far as onions are concerned, the search points out that over 50-odd years, in only 24 published papers, there have been 2 anecdotal reports of onions affecting dogs, an identification of the causal agent, the mechanism of pathology, and the range of species in which an effect has been noted. The experimentation has been performed on dogs, in vivo and vitro, and found that onion extracts or in the diet have a transient and minimal effect on dogs who are not predisposed to problems with handling some sulphur compounds in their blood. Presumably, dogs who have this problem should not be given garlic either, since similar sulphur-containing chemicals are found in garlic, being a closely related Allium species. Apparently, although this agent also affects some humans, by exactly the same mechanism as found in dogs, there is no cause for concern for humans, and the veterinary evidence for animals other than dogs says basically; don't let your cattle and horses feast exclusively on onions, although your sheep should probably be all right. The causative agents of problems with grapes and raisins in dogs have not been defined. Substances with beneficial properties in grape seeds and skin have also been proposed, and have a synergistic action, affecting the stickiness of blood platelets in both dogs and humans. The rationale behind this is to define the heart-disease protective qualities found in grape products, particularly red wine, with a view to being able to market a product, a "neutraceutical" if you like (I don't like the term at all!), dietary supplement. However "neutraceutical" researchers are possibly a bit miffed if they can't feed their favourite lab animal grape products to excess without killing them prematurely. Whether this is the whole story, no doubt time will tell, but there is still only anecdotal evidence regarding toxicity of onions or grapes for all dogs. I loved this abstract: "Subchronic feeding study of grape colour extract in beagle dogs. Becci PJ, Hess FG, Gallo MA, Johnson WD, Babish JG. The effect of feeding Welch's Special Grape Color Powder Type BW-AT at dose levels of 7.5 and 15% w/w in the diet for 90 days was studied in beagle dogs. Body-weight gain of male and female dogs at the high dose level was significantly decreased compared with control dogs. No other treatment-related effects were seen in food consumption, haematology, clinical chemistry, ophthalmology or gross and histopathological findings." I.e. if you replace 15% weight for weight of a group of beagles diet for 90 days with extract of grape colour powder, they show a significant decrease in body weight gain! They were otherwise healthy (apart from the purple poo, no doubt!) Doesn't seem too poisonous to those beagles, but no doubt they would prefer 100% dogfood, rather than 85% dogfood and 15% adulterant. Dogs have also been poisoned by mycotoxins in cheese - J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2003 Jan 1;222(1):52-3, 35. Tremorgenic mycotoxin intoxication with penitrem A and roquefortine in two dogs. Young KL, Villar D, Carson TL, Ierman PM, Moore RA, Bottoff MR. Ban feeding cheese to dogs! Just in case. At the same time I do realise that a dog can quite easily gorge themselves on chocolate and that there is the potential for that to cause serious illness for a small animal. My 18 Kg BC would have to ingest 2070 mg Theobromine to reach the (low) 115 mg/kg toxic dose indicated, which would be 47.05 oz (almost 3 pounds of milk chocolate!) or 5.3 oz of premium baking chocolate - maybe a big problem if you are careless with your brownie mix, I guess. The best course of action is not to leave treats or food of any kind where your pets can help themselves. But, to broadly demonise certain commonly available foodstuffs on the basis of a very few anecdotal poisonings by excess is simply scaremongering of the tabloid newspaper variety. Merry Christmas to you all, but hide the chocolates from the dogs!

Onion toxicity. Apparently, onions cause haemolytic anaemia in dogs. From a search in Pubmed using the search terms " anaemia onions " the following 20-odd results were found: In the period 1952 - 1953, in six published papers, an Italian researcher, C.Nardio, noted an association between onions in the diet and anaemia and blood changes in humans, rabbits and dogs. In 1976, a Canadian Veterinary Journal reported a case of onion-related anaemia in a single dog, and the next year the same journal published a report on anaemia in cattle, again due to onions. In 1979, an American Journal reported a similar case in Sheep, and in 1980, a Dutch report on a similar problem in a horse. Six years later, dogs fed experimentally with dried onions were reported to show transient changes to their blood cells, and Dutch workers reported "Onion poisoning in cattle". In 1992, the effects of onion diet and changes in the blood of cattle was again published, and the following year a review article on Heinz body formation in dogs exhumed some of the previously published data. Five years after, in 1998, a researcher called O. Yamato, in a paper called, intriguingly, "Induction of onion-induced haemolytic anaemia in dogs with sodium n-propylthiosulphate." stated: "The haemolytic effect of sodium n-propylthiosulphate, which had been isolated from boiled onions, was studied to determine whether it could be one of the agents responsible for induced haemolytic anaemia in dogs. The oral administration of 500 mumol/kg bodyweight of the compound to dogs resulted in a haemolytic anaemia associated with an increase of Heinz body formation in erythrocytes, which was more severe in dogs with the hereditary condition which results in erythrocytes with high concentrations of reduced glutathione and potassium than in normal dogs. In the affected dogs there was a 10-fold increase in the concentration of oxidised glutathione in their erythrocytes 12 hours after the administration of the compound, whereas in normal dogs there was almost no change." This groundbreaking work was followed within a few months by a paper where adult cats were fed human baby food with and without onions which resulted in the warning: "CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Baby food or other foods containing similar amounts of onion powder should be avoided for use in cats because of Heinz body formation and the potential for development of anemia, particularly with high food intake. Cats with diseases associated with oxidative stress may develop additive hemoglobin damage when fed baby food containing onion powder." In 1999, a herd of cattle were poisoned by onions in Canada, and Yamato published 2 more papers, on sheep and onions, and this time on dog blood samples with reduced glutathione levels. In 2000, a report on a herd of sheep fed exclusively on onions was published. Why on earth would anyone want to feed their sheep exclusively on onions??? Why not mint? However, they reported: "on the basis of this study it appears that pregnant ewes may be fed a pure onion diet with minimal detrimental effects." For the most recent three papers on the subject I have copied their pubmed entries in full Crespo R, Chin RP. Effect of feeding green onions (Allium ascalonicum) to White Chinese geese (Threskiornis spinicollis). J Vet Diagn Invest. 2004 Jul;16(4):321-5. PMID: 15305744 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] Chang HS, Yamato O, Sakai Y, Yamasaki M, Maede Y. Acceleration of superoxide generation in polymorphonuclear leukocytes and inhibition of platelet aggregation by alk(en)yl thiosulfates derived from onion and garlic in dogs and humans. Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 2004 Jan;70(1):77-83. PMID: 14643182 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] Munday R, Munday JS, Munday CM. Comparative effects of mono-, di-, tri-, and tetrasulfides derived from plants of the Allium family: redox cycling in vitro and hemolytic activity and Phase 2 enzyme induction in vivo. Free Radic Biol Med. 2003 May 1;34(9):1200-11. PMID: 12706500 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] The overall thrust is that onions disagree with some individuals, humans and dogs included, and they can be toxic, if fed exclusively to cattle and horses, but not to sheep, apparently. Onions also are protective against cancer. However, most dogs and people are not going to be poisoned by eating moderate amounts of onions, on a day-to day basis. Perhaps someone on the boards would like to have a laugh by finding the scientific evidence that grapes or chocolate are the deadly poison that seems to be entering the consciousness of the dog loving public?

Bones in the diet provide bulk and make solid faeces, which should help naturally express the anal glands. Either raw bones, which will help teeth and gums too, or bones that have been pressure cooked long enough so that they become soft and can be mashed with a fork - even fish and poultry bones will break down in this way.

Thanks Blackacre. Clear as daylight now! Thankyou. Borderbob, I don't agree with you, I am afraid. You can castrate a young rooster - and you would be hard put to find a scrotum anywhere on a rooster! You can also perform the castration chemically, without removing anything at all.

Thankyou, Sue, I am sure you are right - the glands are not always obvious - but it is the first male dog I have ever had, and I had never noticed anything like this before. I was also surprised that he gets randy sometimes - but only with his bedding!

Pippin is 2, and I have had him for just under 1 year. He came as a rescue, and his records state he was castrated at about 6 months. His scrotum is not apparent, as I would expect, but sometimes it is evident that he has 2 solid round lumps, the size of large hazelnuts, on either side of the shaft of his penis at the point where it joins his belly. Does anyone have any idea what these are, and should I be concerned? His behaviour with other dogs is what I would expect of a neutered dog - he has no particular "male" habits regarding bitches or dogs, in fact a few dominant whole dogs (big and little!) have shown attempts to mount him, and his reaction is basically to shuck them off, or in the case of the jack russell, to ignore him, walking around with the little dog hanging onto his leg!

Correction: Not (drop them into a glass of water) but "release the flea in a glass of water below the water surface, making sure it sinks"

Both our BCs have been hypersensitive in late summer. However, we know the cause - cat fleas. Other fleas also have population explosions in late summer, bird and rodent fleas in particular. These may bite or irritate your dog, without breeding, or surviving very long on them, but the irritation can annoy the dog for weeks. The dog is it's own worst enemy under these circumstances, with obsessive licking, scratching and nibbling causing sore patches on the skin, which may get infected. One flea can cause about two weeks of misery. We take flea precautions - Frontline on all the animals, Acclaim on furnishings and carpets, but they still make an appearance late summer. To catch a flea on a BC is not difficult - as long as the dog has white bits! An itchy dog usually will respond favourably to brushing on the neck and back, avoiding any sore areas, of course, and looking for any dark moving bits, particularly on the belly where the hair is sparse. Here it is possible to catch the flea between thumb and forefinger, and take them off the dog. The best way to get rid of them is to drop them into a glass of water, leaving the insect there for at least 24 hours before throwing it away. Make sure the flea sinks to the bottom, it will kick a couple of times and then hold it's breath for several hours before dying. You can also get a vet to identify the dead flea for you to discover the source, which may help you to avoid future problems.

I saw a novel solution on getting animals to use toothpaste. It was at a wildlife park in the UK, and the animals in question were otters. They froze the veterinary toothpaste in icecubes! I wonder if this is worth trying for dogs?

In my experience, BCs are generally friendly or aloof towards other dogs if free, but hate being approached whilst constrained on the leash by strange dogs, however friendly. The "control freak" nature of BC, I guess. They want to decide who they want to see and whom sniffs whom first, and it has to be on their terms. If Pippin sees a new dog he eyes it and drops until the dog is within a suitable distance, then usually the greeting is friendly. Dogs approached from behind are usually handled better than face to face encounters. Training will stop this but it will not be an instant fix. If this apparent aggression is usual behaviour, there are several options. You can avoid close passes, by reversing or moving away from the oncoming dog, distract your BC by making your dog stop sit and be praised while the other dog passes or distract with noise (both dogs!!) using a can with gravel in it, clicker or other noisemaker that works.

LOL! I've flown a kite or two when younger, and a few aeroplanes (paper) (the best ever landed on the lecturer's notes after circling the auditorium - standing ovation!!!) and been on a few airliners, and a hovercraft or two, oh and a boomerang and some frisbees. Just a handle otherwise tho. CuSO4 - I wondered how well it was absorbed and assimilated, compared to bioorganic sources of the element, or whether it could cause organ damage at regular low doses throughout an animal's lifetime. I would guess the research on feeding CuSO4 has been done with regard to livestock, which have relatively short lives compared to their potential longevity than domestic pets, or even working dogs.

So many pet (dog and cat) foods seem to have this as an additive here in the UK. I guess it is to give the element copper in the diet, which is naturally found in meat, and presumably not in plant derived proteins that make up a large proportion of commercial pet foods. Isn't copper in this form poisonous?