health_warnings

Cocoa Mulch, which is sold by Home Depot, Foreman's Garden Supply and other Garden supply stores, contains a lethal ingredient called "Theo bromine". It is lethal to dogs and cats.

It smells like chocolate and it really attracts dogs. They will ingest this stuff and die. Several deaths already occurred in the last 2-3 weeks. Just a word of caution -- check what you are using in your gardens and be aware of what your gardeners are using in your gardens. Theo bromine is the ingredient that is used to make all chocolate -- especially dark or baker's chocolate -- which is toxic to dogs.

Cocoa bean shells contain potentially toxic quantities of Theo bromine, a xanthine compound similar in effects to caffeine and theophylline. A dog that ingested a lethal quantity of garden mulch made from cocoa bean shells developed severe convulsions and died 17 hours later.

Analysis of the stomach contents and the ingested cocoa bean shells revealed the presence of lethal amounts of Theo bromine.

Dangerous Foods For Dogs

Some foods that are safe to eat for humans can be poisonous to dogs. These include chocolate, onions, garlic, macadamia nuts, grapes and raisins and rising bread dough.

Chocolate contains chemicals, such as Theo bromine and caffeine, to which dogs are particularly sensitive. The darker or more bitter the chocolate the more toxic it is. Signs of chocolate toxicity include hyperactivity, increased heart rate, tremors, vomiting, diarrhea, increased water consumption and urination, lethargy and potentially death. A 10kg dog could be poisoned by consuming just over 50g of dark chocolate or 500g of milk chocolate.

Onion

Plants of the onion family (onions, garlic, leek, shallot and chive) can cause damage to the red blood cells, which may lead to anemia, weakness and vomiting in both dogs and cats. None of these foods, whether raw, cooked or dried, should be fed to pets.

Macadamia nuts can cause weakness, depression, vomiting, in coordination, tremors and high body temperature in dogs.

As little as 24g of Macadamia nuts can poison a 10kg dog.

Grapes and raisins have caused kidney failure in dogs when eaten in quantity. The amount of grapes or raisins that may cause kidney failure is not currently known and so any amount could potentially be dangerous.

Rising bread dough,

If dogs eat rising bread dough, then the dough may swell in the stomach due to the animal’s body heat and ethanol may be produced that can lead to Intoxication. Clinical signs may include abdominal pain, bloating, vomiting, depression and in coordination.

All of these foods should not be fed to your pet. If your animal does happen to eat one of these foods, you should seek immediate veterinary advice. Prompt induction of vomiting may potentially save your animal’s life.

The Scoop on Poop

Though it's the opposite end of nutrition, checking your pet's stool can help you and your veterinarian decide if your animal companion has any health issues that need addressing. What may seem like an offensive pile of feces can actually shed light on your pet's internal functions.

The first sign of health issues is the form of the stool. If it's liquid or loose (overly soft), there's something happening inside the pet. Other examinations and tests can assess exactly what may be wrong.

Another sign that the animal isn't in optimal health is if there's a covering over the stool that looks like plastic food wrap. This means that there is an irritation within the digestive tract. If it only occurs occasionally, then harsh snacks or plants are usually to blame. This condition may be more common in younger animals while they're teething, which results in chewing on and ingesting extraneous material.

If the stool is darker than normal, it's wise to bring it to your veterinarian for examination. The stool may contain blood at varying amounts. Before jumping to the conclusion that there's something wrong with your pet if the stool is dark, make sure to take into consideration that some foods can cause darker stools.

If the stool is loose, and you're recently switched your pet's diet, here's some great information on how to properly introduce new food and what to do if your pet's stools are loose, as a result. Click here on How to Introduce New Foods to your Pet!

For example, darker meat like lamb contains increased levels of myoglobin in the muscle, which causes dark stools in healthy animals.

On the lighter side of the spectrum, if your pet produces stool that is hard and white-colored, the pup's diet contains too much calcium. Not as easily related to a simple food imbalance, hard and small pieces of feces warrant a visit to the veterinarian.

On the other hand, if the stool contains large, very soft pieces, then it can be the sign of a couple issues. It may mean that the animal is being fed too much. Otherwise, the pet may have an enzyme deficiency. If this is the case, your veterinarian can check the level of trypsin in the stool or blood sample; and the doctor may want to provide an enzyme supplement if needed.

If the poop problem is due to an absence or difficult passage, your pet likely needs more roughage in the diet. Dry food has more roughage than wet food, and more roughage will produce more stools that are not as hard. This is why it's often recommended to feed wet food to animals while housetraining-them: it produces less stools.

Though it's certainly easier to monitor what an animal eats than what it excretes, it's wise to know the appearance of your pet's normal stools. If that appearance ever changes, it gives you a head start to examine possible health issues developing!

When Your Pet Has Diarrhea

"Diarrhea is one of the most common medical symptoms of cats and dogs," says Dr. Sheila
McCullough, veterinarian at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine
Teaching Hospital. "An owner's first reaction to diarrhea should be to note when it started,
how often it is happening, how much your pet is straining to defecate, and what the
character of the diarrhea is--bloody, black, mucous-like, or otherwise. In addition, you
should try to recall unusual items that your pet may have eaten."

Diarrhea occurs when an accumulation of dissolved substances in the intestine causes
excess water to move into the intestine. "This accumulation may be a result of decreased
absorption of food, increased secretion of electrolytes by the intestine, or both. An example
of overload of an absorbable solute is fructose overload. For instance, if you eat three
pounds of grapes, an hour later you may be in trouble," says Dr. Aslam Hassan, professor
of gastrointestinal physiology at the college. Fructose needs help to be absorbed into the
body. These helpers come in the form of carriers. If there is too much fructose, carriers may
not be numerous enough to be effective. A lot of fructose will be retained in the bowel
causing diarrhea. If your pet eats something it cannot absorb--i.e., adult cats and dogs can't absorb milk sugar lactose--the overload of solutes in the intestine may cause diarrhea.

If not much intestine is functioning, there is a decreased amount of area to absorb food. This decreased surface area can be caused by surgical removal of a part of the bowel, diseased state of the bowel, or decreased interaction time between the intestine and food.
Mucosa--the lining of the intestine--needs time to absorb what is ingested. Diseases can
cause more rapid movement of food through the intestine.

Veterinarians may suggest motility modifiers (drugs that can increase or decrease movement
of food through the intestines) to help control the diarrhea for 24 to 48 hours until diagnoses can be made. Motility modifiers should not be used long term. "For example, if your pet has E. coli-induced diarrhea, motility modifiers will retain the toxin that E. coli secretes and may cause life-threatening distention of the bowel," explains Dr. Hassan.

It is important to realize that a high frequency of bowel movements is not synonymous with
diarrhea. Your pet can have more than one bowel movement a day; as long as the amount
of fecal water is normal, that's OK.

When diarrhea begins in your pet, notify your veterinarian for help in deciding whether you
should wait the diarrhea out or make an appointment to have the problem assessed. This is
especially significant in young pets. "If your puppy or kitten who has not had its vaccination
series gets diarrhea, you should call your veterinarian right away," says Dr. McCullough.
"Viral diarrheas, such as parvo virus, could kill your young pet. Puppies and kittens
dehydrate very quickly." Veterinarians can initiate rehydration and fluid support.

For diarrhea in adult pets, Dr. McCullough suggests withholding food for 12 to 24 hours.
"Then start your pet on small frequent meals of boiled hamburger and rice and see if the
diarrhea stops." However, if blood, foreign objects, or greasy feces are being passed, you
should make an appointment with your veterinarian. Chronic diarrhea with sustained weight
loss needs to be assessed by your veterinarian as well. "We need to find out whether weight loss is associated with diarrhea or something else," explains Dr. McCullough.

Coming home to a pet unable to control bowel movements because of diarrhea is not a
pleasant experience, as most pet owner's know. When Dr. McCullough's own animals have
diarrhea, she puts them in a room with a linoleum floor that can easily be cleaned. Crating
your dog with diarrhea may lead to a bigger mess. Not only will pets potentially cover
themselves with their own feces, but pets may also direct the diarrheal spray outside of the
cage and damage household items.

Dr. McCullough suggests these tips to prevent diarrhea in pets:

Don't feed pets people food. People food may cause diarrhea as well as pancreatitis.
Keep pets away from foreign objects they can swallow.
Get puppies and kittens vaccinated and keep your pets away from unvaccinated
animals.
Keep pets on a steady balanced diet; ask your veterinarian what the best diet is for
your pet.
Have your pet's stool checked every year to control parasites.

Feces consistency and content are clues veterinarians rely on to tell them what might be
occurring with your pet. You can use these clues as well if you watch your pet's feces for
changes. Also, when you do bring your pet to the veterinarian, bring a fresh stool sample.
For further information about diarrhea in pets, call your local veterinarian.

Article Courtesy of College of Veterinary Medicine Illinois

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