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Pets & health: Tick season is in high gear, and keeping pets and humans protected is crucial

Unlike places like Tennessee and Kentucky where ticks are always a problem, Michigan has explosions of ticks. We are in the middle of one now!

Since the beginning of May, Ann Arbor Animal Hospital has been pulling ticks off dogs, and sharing tick adventures of ourselves and families. We expect this tick bloom to last from mid April through early July. Walking our family dog Maddie in Saginaw Forest, a University of Michigan property west of Ann Arbor on the north side of Liberty Road, has resulted in ticks on the dog, ticks crawling on the car seats, and ticks scampering on my hat and ears and attached to me.

The grooming facility in our building, Groom and Go, has been removing many ticks from dogs coming for grooming. Ticks can and do attach to cats, but my experience so far this year is seeing ticks on dogs only.

Pets: Fearful dogs who bite must have their confidence built slowly by calm owners

Photo courtesy of zazzle.com

Editor's note: National Dog Bite Prevention Week is May 19 - 25. Click here to read a post from Monday on preventing dog bite incidents, which includes a comprehensive guide from the American Veterinary Medical Assocation.

“I’ve done everything right!” my client Jane sobbed. “I‘ve taken the puppy to be socialized. I go to dog parks. Nothing seems to work.”

Jane’s puppy was now a dog — a rather large dog. The problem? Erratic biting.

Let’s start at the beginning. The puppy, Max, was the shyest one in the litter. Jane felt sorry for him when she went to pick out a puppy. She felt sure that she could “bring the puppy out of its shell” with a lot of TLC.

Next step — Jane takes the puppy to puppy class. At puppy class, Max always hid behind a chair. When another puppy approached him to play, Max would cower.

As difficult as it can be for big-hearted owners, shy puppies must be taught to sit at your side — not to cower behind you. Sitting at your side builds the puppy’s confidence. If an overly-rambunctious puppy approaches the shy puppy, you can block the rambunctious puppy with your body.

Many puppies come to class with fear or shyness, just like Max. But most often, to the happiness of not only puppy’s owner but the supportive class mates, the puppy comes out of its shell.

Next came the dog park. Jane was convinced Max could romp and play with other small pups. She was happy to chat with her friends at the dog park, but her inattention left Max defenseless, and soon the snapping began. Why? Max was fearful. He needed to build up his confidence.

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Pets: Understanding dog body language is crucial in preventing dog bites

Flickr photo by Hunter Desportes

If you've ever been bitten by a dog, you don't forget it. It usually happens so fast that it leaves you stunned.

May 19-25, 2013 is National Dog Bite Prevention Week, so it seems fitting to kick off this week with the topic.

The following statistics speak to me clearly:

Dog bites are highly preventable, and it comes down to humans (both kids and adults) understanding what facilitates them and how to best deal with a dog who bites.

These incidents happen in all sorts of scenarios.

Photo Gallery: Pet Photo Friday: polydactyl cats, new friends and sunshine

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Pets: Sustainability and pets: is pet food the only area that needs serious consideration?

Lorrie Shaw / Contributor

For so many of us, our lives have come to encompass our pets. Co-existing with companion animals means a lot of things — how we care for them, the toys that they need and the important area of nutrition.

As Kelly Swanson, a University of Illinois animal sciences researcher tells it, when it comes to pet food, sustainability should be paramount.

But how realistic is the prospect? Swanson, who with The Nutro Co. (they produce pet food brands like Natural Choice & Ultra), propose that this area of sharing life with a pet can easily be made more sustainable.

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Pets: Pets are living longer, healthier - but which states have pets that fared best?

Lorrie Shaw | Contributor

But what it really comes down to, according to a recent study by Banfield Pet Hospital, is the human factor.

The State of Pet Health 2013 Report fleshed out some interesting findings, including how far both dogs and cats have come in recent years in terms if their longevity, how advances and availability of specific kinds of preventative care have influenced the change — even pinning down in which geographic regions they have a higher quality of health and life.

The most compelling conclusion is that spaying and neutering pets plays a huge role in extending their healthy years.

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Pets: American Heart Association says having a pet may help reduce heart disease

Lorrie Shaw | Contributor

We know that levels of anti-stress hormones are known to be released when we have close physical contact with an animal. Our blood pressure tends to drop when we are petting and interacting with animals, too.

Previous research has shown that the affection and connectivity that pets promote can reduce stress, anxiety, depression and loneliness in their owners and elevate a sense of self-esteem.

Another valuable aspect of sharing time with animals — enhanced physical health — has long been assumed to be a peripheral effect of having that mental boost.

That idea is now better supported after a panel of heart disease experts reviewed research linking heart health and owning a pet and discovered that owning a pet may correlate with a lower risk of heart disease for those without a history of heart problems. Additionally, the findings indicate that heart disease patients may have a higher survival rate.

Photo Gallery: Pet Photo Friday: A Great Dane puppy on a slide, hugging cats and hungry squirrels

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Pets: Is using the term 'pet owner' such a bad thing?

Lorrie Shaw | Contributor

One sticking point I'm often caught in the middle of is the use of terms like "pet owner," "guardian" and "pet parent."

In fact, I interjected this conundrum and my own thoughts about it on social media several weeks ago, and the responses were sometimes scathing.

It wasn't surprising — that level of emotion often accompanies the idea of referring to our pets in a way people feel is more or less than they deserve prompted me to raise the topic then, and to write about it now.

Photo Gallery: Pet Photo Friday: Spring has sprung!

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Pets: Scat-tracking dog teams aid conservationists in protecting endangered species

Wild animals, like this gorilla, are being helped by scat-tracking dogs.

Flickr photo by Velo Steve

But this built-in ability has a small group of dogs doing work that you might find even more unusual: they're helping endangered species.

A team of nine dogs of varying breeds are part of a nonprofit group called Working Dogs for Conservation, and many of them came from shelters. The handlers — with whom the dogs live — trained their furry friends to help conserve these threatened species.

So what does a dog's sense of smell have to do with protecting wildlife?

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Pets: Veterinarian seeks to have clinical trial established on medical marijuana for pets

Flickr photo by Moriartys

Areas that have come into focus for both humans and animals are issues associated with end-of-life care, pain management and mitigating the debilitating side effects of some very useful drugs — including those used to treat cancer.

Exploring viable options to help in those situations hasn't been without controversy: modalities like acupuncture and other areas of alternative medicine have sparked some pretty vigorous debate amongst clinicians and lay people alike.

Acceptance of these treatments has been as swift, especially as they've demonstrated that they are helpful.

But one topic that never ceases to create intense drama — the medicinal use of marijuana — is now heading toward the top of the list in veterinary circles.

In 2011, I wrote about an entrepreneur in Washington state who wanted to market a cannabis patch for veterinary use.

The safety and efficacy of the patch immediately came to mind when I first heard about the product. Because it's transdermal, an area of the pet's body would need to be shaved in order for the patch to adhere to the skin. Further, pets have a tendency to lick or gnaw at anything foreign on their body. (Just how effective is the patch, then?)

I also wondered about the possibility of another pet — or even a child — having contact with the patch and it causing a reaction.

Doug Kramer, DVM concurs and expands further.

Photo Gallery: Two dogs who got a second chance at life and other animals are the focus of Pet Photo Friday

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Pets: Cicadas will be emerging in a few weeks - but do they pose a risk to pets?

Flickr photo by USDAgov

They live about a foot underground as nymphs for most of their lives, feeding on roots of a tree. We do see these insects more often then every 17 years, as there are 12 groups, or broods, of them that emerge in a staggered timeframe across the region.

Noted for the unique noise that the male cicadas create by way of an organ under their wings called a tymbal, the one objective that they have once they make their way from underground once the soil reaches a certain temperature is to find a mate.

The cacophony that they create can be surprisingly loud, but it's all in an effort to find a partner and reproduce.

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Pets: Annual event to offer free vision screenings for service animals

Flickr photo by Secretary of Defense

Each have gone through extensive training, and although they use all of their senses to do their jobs, one in particular is essential — their sight. Even if smell is the predominant sense that is used, as in bomb or drug sniffing, these dogs couldn't manage without good vision.

One annual event will help the handlers and families of these dogs stay on top of things where their animal's ocular health is concerned. Board certified Diplomates of the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists and their staff have for six years generously donated their time and services to provide free screening ocular exams to qualified service animals who are currently active.

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Pets: Natura expands recall of pet food for cats, dogs and ferrets because of Salmonella

Flickr photo by News21 - Natonal

The recall now includes all dry pet food products and treats with expiration dates prior to and including March 24, 2014.

Photo Gallery: Dogs with busy lives are at the center of Pet Photo Friday

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Pets: 'Pets Unstressing Passengers' program aims to make the experience of air travel more pleasant

Traveling is one of my great joys, and hopping on a plane to visit a destination far from home is an exciting prospect. However, it can be stressful at times, I grant you that.

Trying to get through security with as little confusion as possible, the possibility of missing a connecting flight and dealing with crowds can put people on edge.

For some people, the act of actually getting on a plane can pose some serious anguish.

And let's face it, traveling by plane isn't just a way to get to a fun destination: sometimes we need to go someplace for not-so-pleasant reasons, and that can exacerbate any challenges that people feel when flying.

One of the busiest airports in the world, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), is aiming to make the experience at the facility less-stressful with a unique program that was launched just this month.

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Pets: Study indicates that confrontational or punishment-based dog training linked to aggression and other behavior problems in canines

Lorrie Shaw | Contributor

Sadly, it's one of the most cited reasons for a dog owner to make the decision to relinquish a pet. In some cases, if a dog is deemed behaviorally unsound and they cannot be rehabilitated, euthanization is necessary.

I field countless phone calls and emails per year from people who are reaching out for help to address their pet's problem behavior — which most often is aggression or fear-based — and are seeking a referral to a reputable behaviorist or trainer.

I find that in the majority of these cases, the wrong resources have been tapped: books written by unqualified people (lest we forget the television shows) offering training or rehabilitation advice, self-professed trainers who are either unskilled in understanding canine behavior and/or use techniques that actually do more harm than good.

As it's been said: "...the road to Hell is paved with good intentions."

I think most people genuinely want what's best for their pets. Sometimes, with all of the information and opinions out there, it can be challenging to know what is helpful and what's downright dangerous.

The good news is that aggressive behavior in dogs is more easily prevented than resolved.

Pets: Meet an adorable little dog who enjoys the quiet things in life - Beans, the AnnArbor.com Pet-of-the-Week

Adopt Beans, a lap dog in need of a forever lap.

Beans travelled all the way from Louisiana on the PetSmart Charities Rescue Waggin’ so that he could find a forever home. This small dog takes a little while to feel comfortable with new people, but as soon as he gets to know you, he’ll come to you for attention, treats and pets.

Beans is often seen behind our adoption desk, or on the lap of one of our adoption staff, greeting people who come to visit. He’s a quiet little dog who is crate-trained and house-trained. He likes small walks but does not need a lot of exercise to be happy.

As many small dogs do, Beans has a condition called luxating patella, where his knee-caps don’t meet correctly. He is showing no signs of discomfort from this and gets along just fine. A daily joint supplement, keeping Beans lean, and providing anti-inflammatory medication for any pain that could result, is the way to manage this. Beans can jump and play and live a normal life but as he ages, his condition may or may not need additional care.

If you have room in your heart and home for a small dog who gets along fine with cats, and would like to enjoy the quiet times with you, please come and visit Beans. He’s ready to go home with you today.