April has two pet related awareness topics. Pet first aid awareness and heartworm awareness. When we travel with our Great Danes we always have a backpack of supplies. It is easy to just grab it out of the closet, add a meal if needed, and go.
Pet First Aid Kit
There are basic supplies which are in both human and pet first aid kits. These are not exhaustive lists. You can buy pre-stocked pet first aid kits or put one together yourself.
The basics for human and dog:
- gauze rolls and bandages
- medical tape or bandages
- scissors
- tweezers
- antiseptic wipes
- antibacterial ointment
- vet wrap, its good on humans too
- elastic bandage (Ace bandage)
- Benadryl for allergies or insect stings/bites, Aller-tec is also safe
Pet specific items:
- foot protection for injury prevention or wound protection (Pawz work well for this)
- muzzle for your protection when treating an injury
- tick remover, tweezers also work
- styptic for blood clotting on broken nails (corn starch can also work)
Pet specific medications:
Diarrhea
- pumpkin (either canned or dehydrated) acts as a bio-sponge
- Pepto-Bismol (1 teaspoon for every 10 pounds) make sure it doesn’t contain Xylitol
- Imodium
- FortiFlora
Gas relief
- simethicone (Gas-X)
- famatodine (Pepsid AC 10mg)
Gas relief may give you some extra time to deal with bloat. In other words, extra minutes to get to a veterinarian. It is not a cure for bloat.
Poison
- milk of magnesia
- activated charcoal
Milk of magnesia or activated charcoal can bind to or neutralize some poisons.
Numbers for animal poison control are:
- 888-426-4435 ASPCA
- 800-213-6680 Pet Poison helpline
Heartworm Awareness Month
What causes heartworm disease?
The parasitic worm, Dirofilaria immitis, which cause heartworm disease, are spread through the bite of a mosquito. Mosquitos act as an intermediate hosts transferring the worm from an infected dog to an uninfected one. It has been found in all 50 US states, Canada, Africa, Australia and United Kingdom.
Prevention is much better than treatment
A blood test is needed to diagnose and is recommended every 12 months, even when your dog is on a preventative. It is easy to prevent heartworm using monthly tablets or topical applications. The added benefits are that most of the preventative treatments are also effective on some intestinal worms, fleas, ticks and mites. We use Sentinel and have for all our Great Danes. Sentinel also controls fleas but not ticks which we have few of at home.
The treatment however is not where you want to be. The drugs used in treatment contain arsenic and can cause serious life threatening conditions. It is also extremely expensive.
If left untreated, heartworm disease will cause heart, lung, liver and kidney damage leading to death. One pill or topical a month is all it take to prevent it.
For map nerds there are heartworm incidence maps covering the US from 2001-2019.
https://www.heartwormsociety.org/veterinary-resources/incidence-maps
Stay Pet First Aid Aware
When you are out and about with your Great Dane for a day trip or longer, a first aid kit doesn’t take up a lot of room. But it does provide a lot of piece of mind that you can handle the small stuff.
