Tag Archives: death

Underweight Pets

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Underweight dog

Underfed Oatmeal at her January 15, 2011, arrival at the shelter.

If your pet looks like this, make sure that you’re feeding them enough; check the package on their food and make sure that you’re meeting or exceeding the feeding recommendations. If you are, check with your veterinarian: weight loss can be caused by parasites, thyroid disorders, diabetes, and other serious but treatable conditions.

Normal-weight dog

Oatmeal on January 23, 2011, after gaining weight from proper feeding at the shelter.

Since her arrival at the shelter, Oatmeal has filled out nicely and has been adopted!

Volunteer to help dogs

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Forget Me Not Animal Shelter now has both cat buildings and dog buildings open and accepting adoptable pets – YAY!

Unfortunately, the only way we can continue accepting dogs into the adoption program is if more people sign up to volunteer as dog caregivers. We are losing two of our primary dog caregivers, and will no longer have enough volunteers to provide the necessary daily care for us to safely and humanely house dogs. Please do not make the mistake of thinking “someone else will do it” – so far, Someone Else has not stepped up, leaving us in danger of closing just when we finally got going. We need your help!

There are 14 caregiver shifts per week: 7 morning shifts, generally starting around 8:30 (although a bit earlier or later is OK), and 7 evening shifts, generally starting 5:30-6:30.

Depending on the type and number of dogs in the shelter, each shift generally lasts from 1 to 2 hours.

Dog caregiver duties include:

  • removing dog from kennel & bringing outside, either to a tie-out or for a walk if time permits
  • cleaning kennel if soiled, straightening kennel if not soiled
  • filling food and water bowls
  • occasional medication and grooming needs

The types of dogs being cared for are usually quite varied; we’ve had everything from 5-pound hyper chihuahua mixes, to 10-year-old slowpoke senior bulldogs, to a 75-pound crazy, goofy, untrained lab mix. Dog caregivers must be comfortable working with a wide range of dogs, though we do NOT intake aggressive or dangerous dogs, so you would not be asked to care for an aggressive dog.

If you can spare 2 hours per week to help Ferry County’s homeless dogs, or if you’d just like to sign up to be an occasional fill-in dog caregiver, please let us know. Contact Kim at kim@forgetmenotshelter.org to make an appointment for shelter duty introduction and training, to see if you’d like to take on a shift.

To make it extra-fun, sign up with a buddy! It’s always easier if there are 2 people per shift. We can also pair you up with another volunteer as needed. You can sign up as either a shift supervisor, or as a shift assistant, depending on your preferences.

Shift supervisors are the primary dog caregivers, and need to be in fairly good physical condition (duties include working with all the dogs of all sizes, sometimes hauling 40-pound food bags, and some physical work scrubbing, rinsing, and drying soiled kennels). Shift assistants will work with shift supervisors, and can perform whatever duties they are physically capable of doing.

Can’t do a morning or evening shift? We could also use dog walkers on a drop-in basis in the afternoons; let us know if you’d like to sign up as a dog walker and we’ll arrange an orientation visit for you. Dog walkers may choose which dogs they prefer to walk; you do not need to walk all the dogs, just whichever dogs you are most comfortable with, and on whatever days and times work with your schedule.

Prefer cats to dogs? Let us know that, too, and we’ll get you connected to some cat volunteers.

If you are unable to help out in person, please pass the word along to as many of your friends, neighbors, and coworkers as possible. We need at least 8 new dog caregiver volunteers to sign up before the end of the year.

We’ve worked hard to reach the point where Ferry County now has an actual shelter for our homeless and unwanted pets; now we need your help to continue this work, and to make a difference in the lives of these dogs and cats. Thanks for caring about shelter pets!

Ringworm

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Note: This blog was mistakenly blogged before the blog was to be blogged in our blog. If you read this blog before 5:30 PM PST on November 15, 2010, note that some information in this blog was changed at that time and reblogged.

You’ll sometimes hear people talking about pets – or themselves – contracting “ringworm.” With such an ominous-sounding name, it must be bad, right?

Here’s a little quiz. Don’t worry, it won’t count toward your final grade.
Which of these is ringworm most closely related to?
A. Common cold
B. Tapeworm
C. Mushroom
D. Earthworm

If you answered A, understand that ringworm isn’t a virus, and it can be treated in many ways, unlike the common cold, to which the only remedy is chicken-noodle soup.
If you answered B, you’re on the right track, but ringworm isn’t a parasite in the usual sense, and it isn’t deadly. And it isn’t a worm.
If you answered C, congratulations, you’ve won… nothing. Your answer was correct, though – ringworm is a fungus, just like the mushrooms you eat. But try not to eat ringworm, please.
If you answered D, ringworm isn’t actually a worm, and it would be difficult to catch fish with it.

So what is ringworm?

Tricophyton rubrum

Dermatophytosis

Ringworm is a contagious skin disease caused by a fungal infection, generally from either the Tricophyton rubrum [right] or Tricophyton mentagrophytes fungi.

Usually, though, when you hear people talking about ringworm, they’re referring to the symptom of this disease, itchy, red “rings” on the skin, shown on the left on a human arm. This is where ringworm gets its name.

To avoid confusion, the remainder of this post will use the scientific terms tinea corporis for the skin disease and dermatophytosis for the symptom caused by the skin disease. When referring to the infection that causes the skin disease, ringworm infection will be used, ringworm fungus for the fungi that causes the infection, and ringworm for these four elements as a whole.

In other words, ringworm consists of a ringworm fungus causing a ringworm infection causing tinea corporis causing dermatophytosis.

Ringworm can be transferred in either direction between humans and pets, most commonly cats, dogs, horses, and rabbits, in that order.

You shouldn’t be afraid of ringworm. If you see dermatophytosis on your pet or yourself, don’t panic, and don’t rush to the nearest (pet) hospital. Tinea corporis just isn’t that big of a deal. It’s not going to make you sick – it’s more similar to athlete’s foot than anything, and even less severe in many cases.

So what should you do in the case of ringworm? If you see dermatophytosis on your pet, make sure to keep it away as best you can from other pets and humans. If you contract ringworm, try to avoid contact with others, wash your hands often, and refrain from touching your eyes, nose, or mouth.

Tinea corporis can be treated and ringworm fungi killed in four ways:

  • The normal best option, for pets and people, is applying over-the-counter creams to dermatophytosis-ridden areas of the skin. Look for creams to treat athlete’s foot; we recommend clotrimazole creams (brand names include Lotrimin and Mycelex).
  • For more serious cases, prescription oral treatments (pills) may be given; we recommend griseofulvin (brand names include Grisovin) or itraconazole (brand names include Sporanox). Talk to your veterinarian or physician.
  • For more serious cases in pets, a solution of lime sulfur (available at your local gardening store, we don’t know why) diluted (16:1 to 32:1) can be used as a pet dip. Make sure to dilute it; if you don’t, it will cause serious injuries and possibly dissolving of your pet.
  • For minor cases in pets, try washing them with specialized shampoos and sprays; we recommend EQyss Micro-Tek. Make sure to read the instructions on the bottle.

It is also often recommended to use a 10:1 diluted bleach solution on household surfaces to eliminate ringworm fungus spores.

Note also that ringworm will usually die down in varying amounts of time even if left untreated.