Doping in pets and the veterinary response.

The number of incidents of dogs ingesting pot, intentionally or unintentionally, is on the rise. Many veterinary hospitals have seen canine patients with marijuana or THC toxicity in the past year or two and some practices see cases much more frequently in New York. THC or tetrahydrocannabinol is the chemical in marijuana that is responsible for psychological or “high” effects. Veterinarians and animal hospital staff are in the business of keeping pets healthy and addressing their medical needs. So, when a dog or cat comes to the hospital after consuming or inhaling pot, the interest is not in who owned the marijuana . Veterinary staff are not police and are not in the business of sleuthing out any details other than any information about the possibility of the pet being exposed to pot and if it was in a baked good that contained chocolate. Veterinary staff don’t need to know any other details from owners about the pot and are grateful when pet owners indicate that this may be a cause of the pets’ behavior. How a pet happens to eat or inhale pot is as varied as the number of dogs that have eaten marijuana or inhaled quantities of smoke. A baggie may be an appealing chew toy, a joint or cigarette can be a curiosity and food containing pot is an immediate attraction to many dogs. Cats do not seem to be as attracted and cases of cats consuming pot in any form are much less frequent, although many of their symptoms are similar to those in dogs. Once a dog has consumed pot, symptoms may start showing within 15 minutes or can take an hour or two. Many dogs will initially begin to have some difficulty with balance when walking, tilt their heads, bark or whine and become anxious or hyperactive. They may have some twitching that can look like small seizures. For a veterinarian who is unaware of the possibility that the pet has eaten pot, these symptoms can mean many things. During a triage physical, a veterinarian will also see dilated pupils, decreased respiration, low heart rate, lethargy, nausea, hypersensitivity to stimuli and vomiting. Dogs rely so heavily on their senses of smell, sight and hearing, the effects they have from ingesting pot are much different from humans. Dogs on marijuana are seldom relaxed and euphoric-looking, as their dependable senses are altered and they have no concept of why or what is happening to them. Where pot has an anti-nausea effect on humans, the opposite is often true for dogs. The following two scenarios may help give pet owners a view of two possible care plans for a dog with marijuana poisoning: A family is settling down to an evening of television when their young, previously healthy dog suddenly becomes very wobbly on his feet, is stumbling and can’t seem to settle down. When the owners try to hold the dog, his head keeps twitching to one side. The dog does not seem to be responding to their voices. On the way to the vet practice, the dog starts to retch and falls over, unable to keep his balance in the car At the animal hospital, after an emergency assessment, the veterinarian considers a possible seizure, neuro-toxins, brain injury and epilepsy along with many other possibilities. Blood is drawn and in-house blood panels are run while an intravenous catheter is placed. The blood panel comes back normal, so fluid therapy is started after an ultrasound is performed. An ECG and blood pressure monitors are attached to follow heart activity due to depressed heart rate. Flow-by oxygen is supplied due to decreased respiration. The dog is restless and acting erratically with its head dipping, and it begins cowering and frantically trying to hide. The veterinarian speaks with the owners again about the possibility that their dog might have consumed something he should not have, and they answer “no.” Inducing vomiting is next until the dog empties his stomach contents, which reveal that there is a substance that might look like marijuana and have a distinctive odor. This is followed with anti-vomiting medication and then getting the dog to ingest a large amount of liquid charcoal that is not pleasant to eat. An enema might be ordered next. The veterinarian returns to the owners, explaining that there is a strong possibility that the dog has consumed marijuana but, if they are certain this is not the case, additional testing can be done, including hospitalization. The owners then state that their dog may have gotten into a visiting friend’s backpack that may have contained pot. In fact they become more and more convinced that this happened for certain. Their veterinary hospital trip took three to four hours and their bill was anywhere from hundreds of dollars to more than $1,000. Now look at the exact same scenario up until arriving at the veterinary hospital. As initial assessment is underway, the owners explain that a friend was visiting their home and they believe that their dog may have eaten some marijuana that was inside the friend’s backpack. The veterinarian induces vomiting in the dog and observes remnants of pot. An anti-vomiting medication is given and the owners are asked to sit with their dog in a quiet room with the lights dimmed for about an hour to help the dog, whose altered state makes it hyper-sensitive to noises and visual stimuli. Before discharging the dog to go home, respiration and heart rate are rechecked and the owners are given some home-care information. The veterinary hospital visit takes about 75 minutes and costs about $100. Recovery prognosis is usually very good, although a dog hurting itself from a fall or biting its tongue are possible complications. And, in the case of pot brownies, chocolate toxicity can be very serious. There are instances of dogs that have pre-existing heart or respiratory conditions suffering more long-term or fatal effects after consuming marijuana.continue

Japan and Africa team up to boost agriculture.

Boosting agricultural productivity and food security in Africa will require colossal collective efforts by African countries and their partners. Japan already plays a significant role in contributing to sustainable agricultural development on the continent. Sub-Saharan Africa represents the greatest food security challenge in the world today with the highest prevalence of undernourishment near 25 percent, or almost one in every four people. By 2050, the population in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to exceed two billion, and even if food production grows as projected by about 170 percent, this would still leave some 120 million people undernourished. Clearly, efforts to improve food security and malnutrition need to be stepped up. Yet, climate change effects, such as higher temperatures and extreme weather events will hamper food production in various regions. Countries acting alone cannot resolve these enormous challenges. Strong collaboration with other nations, international organisations, NGOs, civil society and the private sector will be key to finding sustainable solutions. For FAO, Japan is an essential ally in promoting rural development and food security and nutrition worldwide. Japan is not only one of FAO’s major resource partners in Africa, it also provides the expertise of skilled Japanese specialists for various agricultural projects in the region.More Japan is also supporting FAO in building resilience in African countries, where threatening levels of food insecurity result not only from climatic hazards but also from ongoing internal conflicts. Civil unrest must come to an end to achieve food security and improving food security will in turn help build sustainable peace in Africa. Japan and FAO believe that – with a predominantly young and rural population and over 11 million youth expected to enter labour markets over the next decade – Africa’s agriculture sector should be a catalyst for inclusive growth and improved livelihoods. Therefore, major effort should focus on making agriculture attractive and profitable for young people. Africa’s future depends very much on the development of its rural areas. Strengthening the capacities of poor farmers by providing them access to modern technologies and best agricultural practices will enable them to increase their agricultural output and income and contribute to rural economic growth. In 2013, Japan committed to supporting African countries with $32 billion aimed at increasing agricultural production and productivity, especially for rice, and empowering farmers including through the Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD) initiative. Its aim is to double rice production in sub-Saharan Africa between 2008 and 2018 and disseminate the New Rice for Africa (NERICA) a high-yielding hybrid rice. Another example of such cooperation is a closely related five-year $2.5 million project aimed at strengthening agricultural statistics in the CARD countries.

National Dog Day: Could your rescue dog have rabies?.

While the zika virus poses worrisome human health concerns, another potential health problem is brewing that threatens both humans and domesticated animals --the importing of foreign dogs for adoption. Many people are unaware that the U.S. has become something of a favored nation for countries looking to export their rescue dogs due to several reasons. First, Americans are big-hearted, and when seeking dogs many chose animals made available through rescues. Second, there’s a readymade market here – Americans love canines and own an estimated 80 million dogs.Lastly, import rules on dogs can be easily flouted, allowing foreign exporters to send us their sick animals. The vast majority of imported rescue dogs are not tracked in the United States – either upon arrival or after they enter rescue channels. Patti Strand, founder and national director of the National Animal Interest Alliance, a non-profit that studies shelter trends and the importation of rescue dogs, estimates that close to one million rescue dogs are imported annually from regions not known for stellar canine health and safety standards. They include dogs from Puerto Rico, Turkey, several countries in the Middle East and as far away as China and Korea. That compares to about 8 million dogs annually acquired as pets in the U.S.All of this underscores that without improved oversight of pet rescue organizations, there’s no way of definitively identifying how many foreign rescue dogs are put up for adoption here. These foreign rescues may be well-intentioned, but they are courting disaster. While it is often a challenge to gather information on an abandoned dog here in the U.S., it is even harder for a dog that originated overseas. Information may be missing, poorly translated or unreliable. Challenges are especially serious when it comes to health and safety. Animals from other countries are not subject to the health and welfare laws of the U.S. and may arrive carrying serious and infectious canine diseases. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), although importation laws require all dogs to be examined by a licensed veterinarian, foreign paperwork is hard to verify and is commonly invalid or forged. Continue

One health.

Animal and human sectors work together to protecthealth and ensure foodsafety and security. This is how #veterinarians play an integral part of the OneHealth concept: see

Poultry companies need to balance consumer preferences with flock health, welfare and food safety.

. The same people asking for more animal welfare are also asking us to take antibiotics out of poultry production,” lamented Suzanne Dougherty, DVM, a consulting poultry veterinarian based in Alabama, in a recent interview with Poultry Health Today. She noted that veterinarians take very seriously their oath to do what’s best for the animal, which increasingly presents ethical and welfare dilemmas when dealing with sick birds in an antibiotic-free (ABF) program. “We need to consider what’s going to be best for the bird before we just throw all of the antibiotics out,” Dougherty said. “For veterinarians it’s a very difficult ethical issue — it goes against what’s best for the bird.” In some cases, the best treatment option for the bird is an antibiotic to help prevent suffering and even minimize mortality. “At times it is a critical animal-welfare option to have antibiotics available for treatment of the bird,” she said. Antibiotic-free, raised without antibiotics and no antibiotics ever are just a sampling of the claims being used in poultry production and marketing today — and they all say something a little different. For instance, some systems allow the use of ionophores or animal-only antibiotics while others are not using any antibiotics.“Flocks can be raised successfully in an ABF system, but sometimes flocks get sick — just like you or your kids,” she said, adding that veterinarians “should try to explain to consumers why this is an important topic.” Some growers in ABF systems have the option to treat sick birds and sell them through the conventional market following withdrawal times while others have limited options. But regardless of the production system, all growers feel the pressure, she insisted. They want to do the right thing for their birds while meeting the needs of their customers and consumers. Intestinal health is the key to successful ABF production. If the intestinal tract is happy, the bird is productive. When the balance of the bird’s intestinal health becomes disrupted, more opportunistic bacteria often proliferate — Salmonella being the major concern. “We’re all striving to maintain our progress in food safety,” she said. “Sometimes we need to use antibiotics to treat the disease and help keep the animal healthy enough to prevent Salmonella from becoming a problem.” “

AGRIBUSINESS: Litter management.

Litter management using litter amendments which play a crucial role in controlling ammonia. Amendments that decrease litter pH increase ammonia suppression.This can be done solely or as an adjunct to windrowing. The first step in reconditioning litter is de-caking or removing wet material primarily below drinkers. Amendments are then applied on top of the litter these create unfavorable conditions for the bacteria and enzymes that contribute to ammonia formation and production to thrive. Litter amendments form a pH barrier on top of the litter preventing or slowing the formation of ammonia (NH3+). Acidifiers are most commonly used, binding the volatile ammonia (NH3+) with an acid to form the nonvolatile ammonium salt (NH4+).

Windrowing litter can reduce pressure from poultry viruses, insects and bacteria.

Poultry producers looking to improve litter quality and flock health should consider windrowing — a practice that not only works to control ammonia in the reconditioned litter but also reduces pathogen and insect pressure. Windrowing involves raking or rolling the litter into even rows. The moisture present in the rows increases litter temperature, which releases ammonia while reducing pathogens including bacteria, viruses and pests. Producers interested in windrowing should begin incorporating it into their litter-management program during moderate or warm weather, according to Casey Ritz, PhD, poultry-waste management, University of Georgia. Ammonia levels will likely increase following the windrowing process, requiring the use of a litter treatment. The intense heat generated by windrowing inhibits microbial and viral growth while allowing the floor to dry between rows of piled litter. The windrow also traps insects, which can make insecticide treatments more effective. It is critical for windrowed litter to reach a temperature of at least 130° F (54° C) for 3 to 4 days to effectively reduce pathogen levels, the specialist said. Ritz also stressed that the windrow process requires 12 to 14 days of downtime between flocks. He also emphasized the need for time to heat the windrows, treat litter for ammonia and pests, and then level the material allowing it to cool and dry before the next chick placement. He shared these 10 additional tips for effective windrowing: 1)Schedule a minimum of 12 to 14 days of downtime between flocks. 2)Start with a litter depth of 3 to 6 inches.3)Form windrows within 2 days after bird catch. 4)Maintain a temperature in windrow of 130° F or higher for 3 to 4 days to ensure that pathogens are killed. 5) Turn windrows every 3 to 4 days (2 to 3 turns is optimal). 6) Shift entire windrow when turning to allow the floors to dry.7) Level material at least 4 days before chick placement to decrease litter temperature, litter moisture and ammonia levels. 8) Apply litter amendment to control release of ammonia.9) Utilize moderate weather conditions primarily in spring, summer, fall. 10)ventilate during windrow process to decrease ammonia levels. “Windrowing is not for everyone,” Ritz insisted, “but it can provide economic benefits to many average and below-average producing flocks through improved feed conversion and weight gain and reduced mortality.” Poultry producers need to evaluate the time, equipment and labor costs associated with windrowing before committing to the system. contributed by poultry health.