Posts

The Relationship Between Fleas and Tape Worms

/in , , , , , , , , , /by

Not only are fleas a menace, but they also play a notorious role in enabling the life cycle of a specific type of tapeworm, known as Dipylidium caninum.

The Flea’s Role in Hosting Tapeworms

The fully matured tapeworm attaches itself to a cat or dog’s intestinal walls using hook-like suckers and teeth. From there, it feeds and develops. An adult tapeworm is segmented into a head, a neck and numerous tail segments. Each segment is approximately the size of a rice grain. Even though the individual segments are small, an adult tapeworm can reach up to approximately 15 centimetres long! One by one, the segments are released and passed through the digestive tract. As the segments dry, they split open and release the eggs inside.

Flea larvae encounter tapeworm eggs via infected bedding or carpets and they subsequently ingest the tapeworm eggs. Adult fleas don’t play a role in this part of the tapeworm life cycle. The contaminated flea larvae then develop into adult fleas. As they mature, so do the tapeworm eggs. At this point, a dog or cat may ingest an adult flea when grooming themselves or gnawing at the skin in response to a flea bite. The tapeworm is then released when the flea is digested in the cat or dog’s intestine. The tapeworm hatches, attaches itself to the intestinal lining of its host and matures into an adult tapeworm.

The good news is that tapeworms cannot be transmitted directly from dog to dog or cat to cat. For the tapeworm to reach full maturity, it must live part of its lifecycle within the flea. The egg must mature before it’s able to contaminate a mammal.

Symptoms of Tapeworm

Segments of the growing tapeworm may break off into the dog’s intestines and what may resemble cream-coloured sesame seeds may be visible in their stool or in the fur of the underside of their tails. On occasion, a dog may rub their buttocks along the ground to relieve the irritation. This is also known as scooting but can also be attributed to compressed anal sacs.

Symptoms in puppies, however, are more serious as tapeworm infestations can cause growth deficiencies, anemia as well as intestinal obstructions.

Treatment:

An infected pet must be treated with medication intended to eradicate tapeworms. Treatment can be administered orally, topically or it can be injected. The adult worms are then killed but do not escape in the stool. Instead, they are absorbed by the pet’s body.

However, the presence of tapeworm indicates a prior or present flea infestation and your pet stands a good chance of facing further tapeworm infections if the flea concern isn’t addressed accordingly.  

The tapeworm is unable to exist without its intermediate host, the flea. This notion concludes that if a dog or cat has tapeworm, there is no doubt that they ingested the contaminated flea. If they ingested a flea, this indicates the presence of fleas in their environment, regardless of whether the owner has seen the pests or not. Treating tapeworm is fairly easy but preventing it is easier by keeping fleas at bay and away from your furry loved ones and their immediate environment.

Written for inFURmation
by Taliah Williamson

Disclaimer: The information produced by Infurmation is provided for general and educational purposes only and does not constitute any legal, medical or other professional advice on any subject matter. These statements are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new diet or treatment and with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. If you suspect that your pet has a medical problem, promptly contact your health care provider.

Dogs love liver – but how much liver is too much – can too much do harm?

/in , , , , , /by

Dog

Dogs love liver – but how much liver is too much – can too much do harm?

Everyone who loves dogs knows that dogs love liver! Treats containing liver abound, recipes for liver “brownies” are perennial favourites (you can find one here on this blog, but there are countless versions) and simple baked treats are a mainstay as “bait” for show dogs and rewards for hard working canines in all kinds of sport and performance work. In home made recipes, some organ meat is always included, to boost nutrient levels, especially Vitamin A, and copper. But how much liver is enough, and is it possible to overdo it? Are all kinds – beef, lamb, chicken, pork – created equal? In this entry we’ll take a little closer look at liver; what it offers your dog, how to prepare it – and why you really can get too much of a good thing.

Let’s start with what’s good about liver, why it should be included in a canine diet, if it’s tolerated.

  1. Liver is nature’s most abundant source of Vitamin A, in the  most bioavailable form for carnivores. (This is why cod liver oil is so different from fish body oil, the vitamin content).
  2. Liver is an excellent source of protein, all the B vitamins, and iron.
  3. Liver is very high in copper, an important nutrient that can be low in home made diets.
  4. Liver contains Vitamin D which supports the immune system, muscles & bone growth
  5. Oh yes, and dogs love the stuff…can’t forget that one.

Look for a supplier that uses rural raised, clean air living, grass fed, hormone free Beef – always buy the best you can afford.

Now, what might some of the issues be?

  1. ​Liver is very high in copper (yes, this can be a problem if fed too much. We want to hit in around the  Recommended Allowance, not go, you know, 20 times above it. That carries its own problems)
  2. Liver is very high in phosphorus, which we like to watch especially with growth diets, seniors and very carefully with kidney disease.
  3. Liver is high in purines, a big no-no for dogs with uric acid stones(especially common in the Dalmatian, and serious stuff)
  4. Although we mention above that what is good is that liver contains Vit. A, we need to be aware that too much Vit. A can poison dogs, creating symptoms that in include tremors, convulsions and peeling skin. 
  5. There is always the risk of salmonella and campylobacter in raw organs which can be particularly harmful to young, old or unwell dogs. 
  6. When a dog has an allergic reaction, it is very often the protein that is the culprit. A good idea is to do an allergy test
  7. Always check with your vet before giving liver to your dog if your dog suffers from any disease. With some diseases, liver can do harm. 

This part can get technical, so bear with me.  I don’t, for the record, believe that every meal has to be “perfectly balanced” but I can easily demonstrate how not paying attention and relying on guesswork will create imbalances- which in turn, can have serious backlash over time. It’s good to know what is in our food – not just the toxins, which many are concerned about, but the nutrients! So to figure out how much liver to add, it’s smart to start off calculating your dog’s phosphorus and copper requirements. Then, calculate how much is in the diet. Often, there will be plenty of phosphorus but low copper.  Add just enough liver to bring the copper into the recommended range or a little higher. The exceptions to this of course, would be a cancer or renal diet where we need to restrict copper, or of course, any dog with urate stones. Just take a pass in those cases.

In a cooked diet, I generally need to add anywhere from 1 – 5 ounces per week, depending on the size of the dog. I did a St. Bernard diet yesterday and we’re using six ounces of liver; the dog’s recommended allowance is 35 mgs, and the recipe has 36. The dog’s allowance for phosphorus is 14,000 mgs; with the liver, we have 14,079.(this is beef liver I’m referring to here).

To calculate your dogs RA for phosphorus, follow the same basic procedure I’ve referred to in past entries; take the bodyweight in kilograms to the power of 0.75, then multiply by 100. That’s the DAILY recommended allowance. To find the copper recommendation, take the metabolic number as above, and multiply by 0.2, for the daily ideal level. Of course, you just X these levels by 7 to get the weekly amounts.

That’s the easy part. Figuring out what’s in the diet is harder. You can use a tool like nutrition data, or you can slog it out using the USDA database. In general, my feeling is one ounce a week for a small dog, 2 – 3 for a medium, 4-6 for large and giant breeds. This is not precision nutrition, but it gives an idea of how much we might use in a recipe. I often suggest to clients they reserve the liver I include in their dog’s recipe, and feed as treats. It doesn’t have to go into the batch, just into the dog. 

Dog

What about different types of liver?

I am often asked if they can be interchanged –  and I think, as treats they can ( given I am recommending not using liver in general all the time) but when we’re looking to meet a dietary requirement, different types of liver have different profiles.  Here’s a peek at four popular varieties:

Beef Liver
​82 grams, cooked weight (this will apply to all varieties)
Calories – 156
Phosphorus- 407 grams (this is substantial, when you consider an equivalent amount of lean muscle meat has about 168 mgs).
Copper– 11.7 mgs  (this too is a lot, consider my 72 kg St. Bernard needed only 5 mgs daily.)
Iron – 5.3 mgs
Zinc – 4.3 mgs

​Calf’s  Liver
​Calories – 155
Phosphorus – 377 mgs
Copper – 12.3 mgs
Iron – 4.19 mgs
Zinc – 9.2 mgs
Not much difference other than more zinc. These two are more or less interchangeable. But then there is…

Chicken Liver
Calories-136
Phosphorus – 332 mgs
Copper – 0.4 mgs
Iron – 9.5 mgs
Zinc – 3.26mgs
This is significant particularly if one is adding liver to amp up the copper. Note the higher iron, too; seems like a small difference, but small dogs can really be affected. Not interchangeable with calf’s of beef liver. And then we have…

Lamb Liver​
Calories– 180
Phosphorus– 344 mgs
Copper -5.8
Iron– 6.79 mgs
Zinc – 6.47 mgs

Other differences include Vitamin A, B12 and selenium. In dietary formulation we learn to pay attention to all of these levels, and aim for an optimal range. Very nutrient -dense foods like liver offer great benefits, but we need to use them properly. Liver is not to be fed as a main protein source, but a garnish, an addition, a booster of the nutrients we’ve highlighted here. Now, as TREATS, I feel you’re ok with a healthy dog, to mix liver types up and use judicious amounts. I like to emphasize heart, muscle meat and eggs, so as to minimize  the chance of driving some nutrient levels out of balance. But in a  recipe, where we are trying to reach specific levels, yes indeed, all liver is not created equal.

Source: Friends of the Dog

Laying Hens

/in , , , , , , , /by

hen

Laying Hens

With over 300 eggs per year: the high-performance chickens in the egg industry

Female chickens with a particularly high laying performance are called laying hens and are used in the egg industry. The laying performance of these animals has increased over the years through intensive breeding and highly concentrated feed. With around 300 eggs per year, a hen lays about 120 eggs more than than it would have 50 years ago. Unwanted side effects in overbred laying hens are the tendency for feather pecking and cannibalism, reinforced by the extreme tightness of cages, that they’re forced to live in.

Hens are often driven long distances to the slaughterhouse. As a result of these animal transports, many chickens are injured or die in agony – in crates that are far too narrow, with no food or water. There are studies that show at least one fresh bone fracture has been found in around 30 percent of the chickens arriving alive at the slaughterhouse. Severed heads are also observed again and again. From a purely economic point of view, injured or dead animals are insignificant given a market value of these ‘soup chickens’ of around seven cents.

There are three groups of farm chickens in total. On the one hand, there are the highly specialised chicken breeds: broiler chickens that are used for meat production and laying hens that are used in the egg industry. On the other hand, there is the so-called dual-purpose chicken, which is suitable for both. FOUR PAWS is committed to sustainable chicken breeding with a focus on dual-purpose chickens, as the current practice of killing unwanted day-old male chicks of laying breeds would no longer be necessary.6

What you should know

  • Chicks: Hatched in huge incubators without any contact with the mother.2
  • Life expectancy is falling: A chicken can live up to 15 years. In intensive animal husbandry, they hardly get older than 20 months, as their performance decreases afterwards.6
  • Egg producers: The USA and China are the largest producers of eggs in the world.
  • Hidden eggs: Every second egg is processed. Most of them come from cages. This is incomprehensible to the consumer. Learn more about hidden cage eggs in processed food here.
  • Interventions on chickens: Due to lack of space and boredom and other influencing factors, chickens are prone to feather pecking or cannibalism. In intensive animal husbandry, their beaks are therefore shortened without anaesthesia, along with other painful mutilations.2
  • The majority of chickens worldwide live in laying cages or in intensive barn housing (floor housing). Each chicken has space of an A4 sheet of paper. Learn more here.
  • Day-old chicks: Since the male chicks of laying hens hybrids are of no use to the egg industry, they are sorted out and shredded alive. This is cruel and unnecessary. Learn more about it here.

FOUR PAWS Calls for…

…the end of cruel practices: 

They are inducing fear, pain, and distress, thus diminishing the immune system, altering brain function and the natural behaviour of animals.

  • Ban on the painful mutilation procedures:
    • A general ban on beak trimming. Beak trimming is a mutilation which adapts the animal to the keeping conditions instead of adapting the keeping conditions to the animals. No beak trimming of any kind should be allowed.
    • A general ban on mutilations such as toe clipping, dubbing, or pinioning. Housing conditions should be adapted to the animal, providing them with more space and prevent injuries.
    • Castration of young male roosters for capons is a cruel practise, done without anaesthesia and the production of capons should be banned completely in all countries, otherwise it crates loopholes where farmers can import castrated animals from countries where it is allowed.
  • The end to the unnecessary and cruel killings of male chicks (learn more about it here).
  • Phasing out laying hens in cages (all cage systems) – throughout the EU.
  • Retailers to refrain from selling caged eggs and products containing caged eggs.
  • General obligation to label egg-containing products according to the way the laying hens are kept.
  • Food manufacturers to refrain from using cage eggs in their products.

hen

…fulfilment of basic needs:

If neglected it leads to poor welfare states and therefore to suffering, acute pain, distress, fear and long-term negative welfare states.

Basic needs of laying hens are:

  • Chickens are very active animals, therefore they require a lot more space than the cage can offer them, as well as a more structured stable. Stables should have quiet and separated places, raised areas, dustbathing facilities and give access to sun light via roofed outdoor run. Areas for foraging, substrate to scratch and peck at, enrichment materials (e.g. straw), are also essential for the animals.
  • Raised perches should be easily accessible for roosting and sleeping and are safe to use for the chicken (e.g. have non-slippery material) and do not injure breast bones.
  • Adequate lightning conditions – UV light is essential for the animals, as well as a good air quality with low ammonia concentrations.
  • A diet, appropriate for chicken (varied – grass, leaves, seeds, fruit), is not only essential for maintaining their physical health, but also gives them the possibility to express their natural behaviour as foraging and feeding are both a major item in their daily activity that has a strong social facilitation.
  • Nest should be separated but easily accessible, floor with mouldable material, nests with litter in which the chicken can sit are mandatory.
  • Shelter should give protection from extreme weather conditions and have good air quality, as well as appropriate temperature, with readily available water and food.
  • Animals should be kept in good health and receive veterinary care if needed.

What you can do for laying hens

Your daily buying decisions make a difference!

  • Reduce, refine and replace animal products in your diet. Find out more about the 3R’s here.
  • If you do continue to consume and buy eggs, opt for organic or free-range eggs.
  • Always check the stamp on the egg – do not be fooled by terms such as ‘small group housing’, ‘farmer eggs’ or ‘country eggs’.
  • Pay attention to the ingredients in processed products and opt to buy egg-free or organic products.
  • Ask the manufacturers of processed products with eggs exactly what type of husbandry those eggs came from.
  • Ask in restaurants where the eggs in the dishes come from.

Source: FOUR PAWS