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People
Food Can Make Pets Sick
Treating pets to leftovers can cause malnutrition, obesity, digestive diseases-even death. Examples: Cats should not drink milk-they lack the enzyme to digest it. Dogs should not have bones-bits of bones can cause choking or intestinal-tract
blockage and a splintered bone may puncture a dog's stomach or
intestines.
Source: Linda King, DVM, Altanta veterinarian specializing in small-animal medicine and surgery
Lyme Disease Season
Self-defense: Look very carefully for tiny (two millimeters by three millimeters) black ticks on all parts of your body-and your pets-immediately after coming inside. The ticks are most active from April through July. The primary sign is a large pink-red bull's-eye rash on the skin-at least three inches in diameter-usually around the tick bite. It is often accompanied by fever or flu like symptoms. What seems like a summer flu even without a rash may be a sign. For pets, symptoms can flare up within a month or days, where stiffness in joints appear and in some cases, paralysis. If you see a tick, remove it carefully by grapping it with fine-pointed tweezers and lifting it straight away from the skin. Be careful not to break it. Please check behind and in your ears and your pet's. If Lyme Disease develops, early antibiotic treatment is usually effective.
Source: Michael F. Finkel, MD, medical director, Western Wisconsin Lyme Disease Center
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