Monthly Archives: April 2017

Cats

How Environmental Enrichment Benefits Cats

When we talk about environmental enrichment for indoor cats (and for many other pets), the conversation is about more than just getting toys for your cat. Due to their nature and depending on their home environment, domestic cats can be exposed to a lot of stress.

The discomfort can come from a wide variety of sources. Many cats often live in a very comfortable house, but struggle to be able to do what they would normally do in their natural environment. Climbing, resting in high spots, playing, scratching and hunting with all its different stages (seeking, capturing, and consuming) are just a few examples of their normal behaviour. Domestic cats often struggle to find structures to climb and areas to scratch (without annoying their owners), ´toys` to play with, and ways to display hunting behaviour.

When discussing stress inducing factors, poor human-cat relationship and conflict between cats should also be on the list. A cat living with another cat or cats often has to share food bowls, common areas and the litter box with his or her feline housemates. Cats tend to avoid cats they don’t get along with to prevent more serious conflict and over time, this affects their access to important resources. A cat might actually drink less water for example if getting to the water bowl means crossing paths with another less friendly cat.

Other factors include unpredictable schedules, less interaction with their caregivers and even unexpected physical manipulation.

Cats have different personalities and some cats may be more affected by these daily occurrences than others. However, after several studies it is pretty clear for the scientific community that lack of environmental enrichment can lead to domestic cats suffering from numerous disorders such as anxiety, stress, obesity, behavioural changes (urine marking, house soiling, some forms of aggression), and feline idiopathic cystitis.

Providing cat towers, a wide variety of toys, scratching areas, resting spots, feeding toys, and enough food and water locations as well as litter boxes taking into consideration the number of cats in the household will have a very positive impact on your cats’ health and welfare.

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Dogs

Mycotoxin poisoning in pets Keep your pets away from any mouldy leftovers!


Did you know that your waste bin can hide dangerous and unexpected poisonous substances for your pets? Let’s talk about mycotoxin poisoning in pets.

Most humans know that eating decomposing mouldy food is not the best idea, not only because the flavour might not be very pleasant but also because it can make you sick. The same cannot be said for our four-legged canine companions, who will often eat the most surprising things with a very happy look on their faces.

Not all moulds are poisonous but the mould that normally grows over certain decomposing foods such as bread, cheese, pasta, walnuts, and other decaying matter like compost can be life-threatening if ingested by our pets.

When these foods start decomposing inside our rubbish containers they provide the ideal environment for the proliferation of different types of fungus such as Aspergillus flavus and Penicillium spp.. These fungi don’t take long to grow and they produce toxins which can be very poisonous if ingested by our pets, even in small amounts. All it takes is for a curious dog to lick some mould residue from the inside of an unwashed food caddy for the toxins to cause serious illness.

Mycotoxin poisoning is an acute toxin induced gastroenteritis that can also cause neurotoxicity. Affected animals present abdominal pain, vomiting, liver damage, uncoordinated movements, muscle tremors, seizures, and a dangerous increase in body temperature.

Affected animals can show signs within just 30 minutes of eating the poisonous mouldy food. Depending on the amount ingested and how early the animal is treated, this type of poisoning can be fatal.

If you notice any of these signs on your pets it is very important to take them to the vet immediately. The sooner they are diagnosed and treated, the better are the chances for a full recovery.

The best way to avoid your pet from ever having to go through this is to go over your daily recycling routine and ensure your dog never has access to any potentially dangerous leftover foods, rubbish bags or waste containers.

Image: “jedi puppy kitchen tricks” by lecates, was built upon and is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

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Horses

Tight nosebands in equestrian competitions raise welfare concerns

A recent study focused on collecting noseband data from 750 horses competing in Ireland, England and Belgium. What they found could have serious behavioural and physiological implications for horses and important consequences for the riders.
The noseband is the part of the horse’s bridle that goes around the nose and jaw. It is recommended to keep some space between the animal’s skin and the noseband. The general recommendation is to keep the noseband loose enough to allow space for 1,5 and 2 adult human fingers to fit under a fastened noseband.
However, according to a recent study only 7% of the horses had their noseband fitted to include the extra space for two fingers and more than half of all the nosebands tested were excessively tight (0.5 fingers or tighter). This can have negative consequences for the horses and for the riders.
Among the possible harmful consequences for the animals are discomfort, pain, stress, preventing normal oral behaviour and tissue damage. It also impacts how the riders are communicating with their horse, influencing the horse’s present and future behaviour and performance.
Riders use the bridle and all its bits (the bit, the straps, and the noseband) attached to the reins to connect and communicate with the horse. Tight nosebands prevent the animal from opening its mouth to evade the pressure of the bit and this increases their sensibility to the bit. As a result many riders often rely on the tightening of the noseband to get a better response from their horse in terms of behaviour and performance on competitions, rather than taking the time to address the underlying issue causing their lack of response and putting the necessary time into training their horse to respond to the required action from a rein cue.
Previous studies have shown that excessively tight nosebands can cause a physiological stress response and compromise welfare. Ill-fitting tack is often the source of health issues and behaviour problems in horses. Ultimately, the use of excessively tight nosebands may be counterproductive in competitions and lead to long term behaviour problems.
Noseband tightness is barely regulated in equestrian events which contributes to the lack of data on this matter and on the possible consequences of resorting to very tight nosebands as an attempt to improve the horse’s performance.

Image: “Gray dressage horse” by barnimages.com, was built upon and is licensed under CC BY 2.0

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Cats, Dogs

Keep your pets safe and have a great Easter!


We bet you are all looking forward to the Easter weekend! Spending quality time with your family, your friends and with your pets is always a happy thought, especially during such a lovely time of the year. Don’t forget that there are several traditional Easter foods that can be dangerous for our pets!

In order to avoid any accidents or unscheduled visits to the vet, we would like to remind pet owners of all the foods that should be kept away from pets during this time of the year.

The first item on our list is definitely chocolate. From Easter eggs to chocolate bunnies, chocolate seems to be everywhere during Easter. This is great for humans with a sweet tooth, but it’s not so great for our furry companions since chocolate is dangerous for dogs. Chocolate contains theobromine, a substance that is toxic for them and the consequences of this type of poisoning depend on the type of chocolate and the amount ingested. The higher the amount ingested and the higher the cocoa content, the more toxic the chocolate.

Our dogs can easily take advantage of a moment of distraction and snatch a chocolate egg or a box of chocolates. Common signs of chocolate poisoning in dogs include digestive upset (vomiting, diarrhoea), restlessness, incoordination and seizures.

Next on our list are grapes, raisins, currants, and sultanas. These are also toxic for dogs, often leading to kidney failure. It is still not known what is the substance that causes these effects and some dogs are able to eat these foods without any side effects. However, it has been proven that grapes, raisins, currants, and sultanas are in fact poisonous for dogs and many have sadly died after eating them. They are commonly used in cakes and hot cross buns so please make you keep your dog away from these.

It is also recommended to keep sweets in general away from our pets. Many sweets contain xylitol, an artificial sweetener often used in chewing gum, tea, coffee, baked foods, and even in some types of peanut butters. Xylitol is poisonous to dogs affecting the liver, the digestive system, the heart, the nervous system and it can lead to death.

Last but not least, please remember to keep your cats away from lilies. These plants are very popular during spring. Unfortunately, some lilies (particularly the Lilium and Hemerocallis genera) are extremely toxic for our feline friends. All parts of these plants are poisonous, including their pollen. This means a cat can simply brush by the flower and then lick the pollen off the fur to be affected. Clinical signs of lily toxicity in cats include salivation, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, tremors, seizures, and kidney injury which can lead to death.

Image: “Basket full of trouble” by BigDuff, was built upon and is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Would you like to know more about cats and dogs? Check our Feline and Canine Courses:

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